August 2, 2013: No! A thousand times No. Hindus are not idol worship­ers in the sense implied by Webster’s dictionary – which defines “idol” as a false God or a form or appearance visible but without substance. A sacred image used in Hindu worship represents a particular manifestation of the ultimate reality Brahman. The substance that the sacred image represents is the ultimate reality and none other. Thus, Hindus’ worship of the sacred images of God is neither a false God nor is it without substance. How can then image worship be called idol worship in the sense implied by Webster’s Dictionary? The image itself is not God, but a symbol of God. The Hindus do not worship the image as God but they worship God through an im­age. To worship an image as God is idolatry but to wor­ship God through an image is a valid form of worship.

Symbolic Form of God

In every religion, God in some form is worshipped. Christians worship the crucifix as a symbol of Christ, and Muslims adore Kabba in Mecca as the most sacred symbol of God. Other examples are Adi Granth Shrine in the Golden Temple of Amritsar, or the Arc and Torah of the Jews, the image of meditating Buddha, the totems of indigenous faiths, and the artifacts of many holy men of all religions. The examples go on and on, but the bot­tom line is that in every religion, God in some form is worshipped. Hinduism has the courage to admit it to the world. It is interesting to note that when sacred images are used in other religions, they are called icons and regarded as holy works of art. But when sacred images are used by Hindus, they are called idols. In the words of Dr. David Frawley, the scholar from USA, “An image of Christ as the good shepherd is called an icon and viewed with respect. An image of Krishna as the good cow herder - which is a similar image of the Divine as watching over the souls of men – is called an idol, which encourages one to look down on it. This is prejudice and negative stereotyping in language of the worst order.”

Why So Many Images?

Now one may say they can understand the symbolic meaning of image worship by Hindus, but may question why so many forms, are they not very confusing? Yes, it is confusing, if one doesn’t understand the following logic. First, Hindu religion recognizes the diversity of the hu­man mind and the potential for a different level of spritiual development in each individual. Hindu religion does not thrust everyone into the pigeonhole of a single creed. The Hindu scriptures declare “Aakashad pathitham thoyam yatha gacchathi sagaram. Sarva deva namaskaraha Kesha­vam prati gacchathi.” Meaning, just as the rainwater that falls from the sky, eventually reaches the ocean, so also all the worship offered to Him (that is God, Brahman), by whatever name you wish or in whatever form you like, ultimately goes to the one, the only one ultimate Infinite Supreme Reality. Second, being the creator of innumer­able forms in this universe, the Supreme Being is able to assume any form to please his devotees. Furthermore, the Supreme Being cannot be said to have only one particular form or one particular name, as that would imply putting limitations to his infinite power. This is why Hindus wor­ship various names and forms of the Supreme Reality.

No Superior or Inferior Forms

No name or form is considered superior or inferior to the others, because all are various manifestations of one Supreme Being. When a devotee chooses to worship one form or one image of the Supreme Being, the chosen de­ity is called  “isht-dev” or" isht-devata". This personal "ishtdev" becomes the object of the devotee’s love and adoration, satisfying his spiritual longing. Another thing about the Hindu philosophy of the image worship must be under­stood. When a statue of a deity is carved in Jaipur, india, nobody worshipped it. Nor when it was packed, shipped, loaded and unpacked, laying in the temple for months nobody worshiped it. When does it start getting wor­shipped? When there is a ritual by highly trained priests to invoke the physical presence of the deity into the stone image. This ritual is called "pran-pratishtha", which literally means making the image a sacred medium to help devo­tees offer their devotion to God.

Source: Speaking Tree, DT. August 2, 2013.