[Advaita-l] Idol worship question

[Venkatesh Murthy]

Namaste

On Wed, Dec 26, 2012 at 9:48 AM, Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com> wrote:

> He is in every stone. Can we worship a stone lying in the street thinking
> it is God?
>
>>  yO yO yAm yAM tanum bhaktaH shraddhayaarchitumitimicchati..pls. refer
> geeta shloka..if you feel the presence of Ishvara sannidhAna in the street
> side stone, that would be your archa-vigraha.
>

Then what is the purpose of doing Pooja to Idols? Anyone can pick up a
stone and worship it.

Some people say the Idol worship in temples came afterwards. Before
there was only Vedic Yajna. They offered things to Agni and Agni
conveyed the same to Gods. But Idol worship is not necessary. If Idol
worship was not started the Muslims could not have attacked our
temples and looted us.

> What is difference between that stone and Idols in a temple?
>
>>  its all depends on bhAva of that bhakta...How ever, Idols in the temple
> would undergo vaidikAgama pratishtApana vidhi, (like mahAsnapana,
> kalAkarshaNa, netrOnmilana, prANa pratishtApana etc.)
>
> Some scholars are saying in Vedic worship there is no Idol.
>
>> shankara at various places talks about vishNu ArAdhana is sAlagrAma.
>
> There is only Yajna. We have to offer worship to any God through Agni
> only. No
> need for Idols. Is this correct?
>
>>  dAna, archana, upAsana, dhyAna, yajna-yAga, tapas etc. have their own
> place & importance in vaidika saMpradAya.  Hence you see
> chandramouleeshwara pooja and chandi-rupra hOma/yAga both even in
> traditional Amnaya mutts.
>

-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh