SIGNIFICANCE OF IDOL WORSHIP

Basic Forms Of Worship

In worshipping Divinity there are three basic forms...1) Nirguna - meditating on the formless, attributeless Absolute Divine 2) Saguna - meditating on a form of Divinity in which certain attributes are credited to that Form; 3) Saguna-Nirguna meditating not on humanly designed forms but invoking forces of nature like Wind, Lightning, power of the swirling waters, resilience of the bending bamboo, heat of the Sun, serenity of the Moon, etc.

In the Bhagavat Gita

The Blessed Lord says In whatever form a devotee wishes to worship me and offer his salutations, I accept that myself and bestow the wishes. So, even philosophical devotees need not have a complex as to whether they are falling from their perfect state of realization if they have an attachment to any idol form. A day will come when you will attain the perfection to realize God within yourselves and in every living being or for that matter in every quark and atom, just by following the path of devotion to your personal Deity. It is better to walk with the help of a stick and reach your destination safely rather than stumble and fall along the road due to false pride that may cause you to shun the walking stick. Idol worship is a useful walking stick that helps to balance the inherently imperfect human mind along the path to reach Divinity and Salvation. Once the goal of self-realization is reached and you are above wants, the walking stick (Idol worship) can be discarded conveniently, and others will use it intelligently following your example. In fact many great saints have done it that way and the idols worshipped by them during their spiritual progress are enshrined in many temples across India and are great centres of spiritual power to this day, and help millions in solving their mundane and spiritual dielemmas.