Why do we go to temple? What for do we pray? Is it because we believe that there is God or supreme power who will grant what we ask for in return to our prayers and offerings including precious ones like offering gold and large sums of money ? If we do so, then it is only superstition. Some donate large sums of money or gold or things worth fortunes to show off their opulence. Does God need our money or wealth? It is absurd to think that God needs what we offer. If that is so, is all temple worship an act of superstition? Certainly not. If we know the real purpose of temple worship and do it in proper spirits, we will gain benefits. What is the real purpose of temple worship? In our mundane life we dont think that there is a power beyond us, which is sacred. When we go to the temple, we dont think about our day to day matters. We focus our attention to the Idol representing the deity. We realize that the God has more power than we have or all powerful .when we recognize power more than we have, we develop an attitude of surrender or deference and we develop humility. God stands for virtues or moral/ethical /human qualities like simplicity in living , honest way of acquisition of wealth , moderate habits , love , compassion , justice, truth, service to the needy, altruism as opposed to selfishness and being greedy and so on . So a true devotee in his ista devatha or the deity, he worships as embodiment of all those virtues and try to assimilate/ cultivate those virtues. The more virtues we have, nearer we are to God and more powerful we are. One may do many misdeeds, thus commit sins and feel those can be redeemed by temple worship. This belief is not correct. Temple worship is to improve our life, correct past mistakes we have committed and reform our life, apart from it helps to calm down our mind and make us free from apprehensions and stress. We have goodness and supreme power latent deep within us. The worldly temptations, cravings and passions envelop the divinity in us and ordinarily, it does not show up .Our day to day life is governed by cravings, temptations, and passions which run after sources of fleeting pleasures outside world. As it is difficult for us to be aware of inner being , who is no other than God himself , we are trying to see our inner being on the idol and try ourselves to be guided by our inner being .The God within us is the higher self . Cravings, needs and passions which govern our worldly life is lower self .Our life is guided by lower self most of the time and we experience little joy followed by greater sorrow. When our higher self directs life, we experience sorrow less joy or enduring happiness and realization of our full capacities. So when we are before the deity, we should make our mind completely free from worldly thoughts which are mostly in the form of worries, unfulfilled desires, and cravings for objects of happiness and so on. The higher- self takes over the reign of our life and our life becomes more wholesome. This should be the purpose of temple worship. In other words, temples are like mirrors to discover the God within us just like mirrors are for us to see our body and appearance. In other words Gods do not stay in Idols even when they are made of precious metals like Gold and silver and Gods cannot be confined within the four walls of the temples. It is a special place earmarked for invoking God in us, just like we have earmarked rooms in our house as bed room, living room etc .It is a place to be kept neat and clean in terms of both physical atmosphere and mental atmosphere. People while in the temple should not indulge in mean activities like gossiping, shouting, stampeding, pushing each other etc. They should show utmost discipline, being cordial to each other and exhibiting human virtues of conduct. They should show high quality human behavior. Often we find in the midst of rush, people push each other to have a glimpse of deity. Showing those who are mighty win. Such acts are acts against God .Everyone is equal in the eyes of God , so no one who ever he may be richest of the rich or most powerful should enjoy any special privilege over others . Infect temple worship should help us to cultivate the human virtues of sense of equality which we dont display in his public life. We have heard that Lord Siva moved by the faith of Nandanar an out-caste who was denied temple entry appeared before him, when he prayed from outside precincts of the temple. Temples can also be compared to Kalari or gymnasium. Just like gymnasium helps us to build our body and physical fitness, Temple worship should help to develop our divine nature, which is deep hidden with us. The temple setting and the rituals are for creating an atmosphere for focusing our attention to the Almighty in us via Deity whom we worship. Just as it is easy for a child to know what elephant is , if a model is shown to him than describing an elephant , it is easy for common people like to see God in an idol that having form than seeing a formless or abstract God . We should see our fellow beings as God, because he is omnipresent. Everywhere in the cosmos and all the creations. Searching God in places other than it its creations is like a blind man searching a black cat in a dark room which is not there. Even the minutest particle called Atom is vibrant with energy. This ancient wisdom has been proved by the modern scientific theory of Quantum theory of particles .The question is where there is no God. Idol or temple worship is means to the end of realization of God which is our indweller. So the means should not be seen as end itself. In other words , we should not indulge simply in rituals .Often religion and spirituality is commercialized .It is made to believe that we can wash of our sins or we can increase our longevity or ward off misfortunes that may be fall on us by performing the so-called religious rites which amounts to shelling out some money . In many cases we follow rituals which are rather easy or due to our ignorance rather than following the spirit behind the rituals. When we offer things dear to us to God, it is not God wants them, but the effect is we eschew the spirit of selfishness and part with those things. Similarly, the same thing happens when we part with anything to other as matter of help. The beneficiary gives us an opportunity for us to give up our selfishness and cultivate a good quality in its place of sharing with us, as nature shares its bounties with everyone without distinction and become a reformed person or person with higher purpose in life.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 01:42:33 +0000
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