Polytheism, Pantheism, Idol Worship in Hinduism(Part XIII)

In this piece of speech on "Paper on Hinduism", Swami Vivekananda clarifies the misconceptions of Hinduism. He explains the reason behind Idol worship. According to Hinduism, Idol worship is for the beginners, and for the experienced it is not mandatory.
This is the starting step of the search, to recognize that the God is omnipresent.
Explanation from Srimath Bhagavad Gita...
Krsna, Supreme Personality of Godhead said, "Those who fix their minds on My personal form and are always engaged in worshiping Me with great and transcendental faith are considered by Me to be most perfect." Bhagavad Gita (12.2)

"For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied." Bhagavad Gita (12.5) [Bhagavad-Gita dot us].

"Unintelligent men, who do not know Me perfectly, think that I, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, was impersonal before and have now assumed this personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is imperishable and supreme." (Bhagavad Gita 14.27).

"Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature as the Supreme Lord of all that be." (Bhagavad Gita 9.11).

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[tanny4]

hindus say they have the idol there to concentrate on then y so much idols shudnt there be 1?

and why do the idols hav a look as animals and made up people etc?

id say this religion was made from day 1 when the people went astry from the right passed and has progressed from there where now it adapted in to daily life which people find easy and i think is why was produced!!!

[ramnirmal]

Basically Hindu's have done too much of research in the inner science and they have come up with different methods & means to reach the God. And that's why you see too many Moorthys (idols) each corresponding to a method or a route to reach God. All of them lead to the only omni present God. Like in Western countries research on automobile technology, has lead to a thousands of verities of Cars with varied features while the ultimate purpose of it being transportation.

[ts4linga]

Recently one Hindu thief was arrested and he disclosed that he had stolen more than

134 statues in different places and sold them for a good price. This smart their

questioned the police, “if these are real Gods they would have stopped or punished

me. So I should be booked for stealing statues and not Gods”.

See, how funny it is! If these Gods cannot save themselves, how can they save you?

[ramnirmal]

The thief is correct with respect to his comment. He just stole statues and not God. They are just the means through which we see God. They are not god themselves. It is not insane, if you speak with a photo of a person whom you like the most, if you could not see him in person. But it is insane to think that you killed your enemy by stabbing his photo. Hope you understand.

[imagine92020]

Jesus said,

"I am the way, the truth, and the light. No one comes to the father except through me."

Allah said,

'Make war on them until no more temptation remains'

and Krsna said,

"ALL PATHS LEAD TO ME"

This is philosophy of hinduism.

[Suki40330]

Hinduism is NOT polytheistic. Their so-called "idols" are manifestations of the many facets of the One true God. We must begin to respect other people's religions and stop listening to those who would have us believe that they are inferior to our own. There are many ways to worship God. How can we be so arrogant as to limit God within out own limited human perceptions?

Shalom.

[annaknowsu]

Faith and Religion are two different things. He touches upon that here. People against organized religion are not necessarily against faith. Religion can be twisted to suit ones own selfish needs while Faith cannot.

[rajeshy84]

religion is nothing but in oder to help each other to get closer to god the holy divine soul .

[Vaishakh94]

The same thing i say to all who oppose it but then it makes no difference as how i present it is never as good as how it is presented here.. I hope to send this video to all of my critics and i think it is the best way to bring back faith (you can try this too).. This man is truly great and makes me proud to be a hindu.. :)

[gujjucheap]

and its not monotheism, in polytheism disguise, its transtheism

[mywords4u]

One who has devotion in God can see God in idols, stones, Humans , animals, in earth, in moon etc. For him everywhere is he and everything into him. God is ready to live in idol for the hapiness of his devotee. My imagination always runs to draw a picture of God whenever I think about him. Does that mean I should deliberately stop it. God has given this freedom to disciple to Imagine him, give him a name and even see him in a stone.

[diliprai]

type "Sakela~The Greatest Festival of Kirat People" and you find more about these people history, religion and culture who are believed to have started the religion of worshiping phallus stones.

also type "Kirat Temple"

This video you will see three phallus stones which is the main deities of these people. But you won't see any image of Shiva unlike other Hindu Shiva temple.

Kiratas are the Indo-Mongoloid people in ancient India.

[shastrayana]

This is a spontaneous speach given by swami vivekananda about hinduisam at the wold religious conference held at chicago in 19th century, his allocated time was only 10 minutes which was invariably extended to hours because he was an unshceduled speaker. You are right it has a flow of a good poetry.

[rajendran1940]

proud to be a hindu.

[kannabhais]

Hinduism is Nothing but Trying to Know GOD. JESUS CHRIST. HImself came to earth to solve their Problems in vedas it is written God should shed blood for the remission of sins of the mankind. No one in hindu gods are qualified for this Only Jesus Christ is Qualified Be-coz He Shed Blood for the sins of the world on Cross and buried and rose again from the death Mruthyunjaynamaha.. By Meditaing and chanting his name we will be liberated Or Salvation(moksa). Vedas clealry Describe Jesus Christ.

[YaLifeslikethat]

it is telling that idol worship helps one with the spirtual conduit. if its the only reason one( who dont have any idol) should nt be as connected to god as a hindu does. can you accept that ?

wt i suppose is that some places with their temples( including the idol ) helps us with a better connection, in addition to the fact above said-idols help concentrate etc...beyond this i believe idol worship has a very important social role.