Buddhism also declaimed against idols
though, strangely enough, Buddhists have erected the statues of the Enlightened One at
various places and worship them and the relics of their Teacher like His tooth etc.
Yet, at the hands of all these people, our religion comes in for common condemnation as
indulging in idolatry as if to worship idols is a sin against religion. It is necessary to
be clear about the meaning of worship of God in idols and pictures.
Our religion recognizes the psychological limitations of ordinary men. Not all of
them can at one bound contemplate God in His abstraction from physical features. For
directing the mind to wards God and keeping it steady during contemplation of Him, a
concrete image or idol is an in valuable help. The frail mind must go from the concrete to
the abstract, from the forms of God in images to God without form.
It is true that God is omnipresent; but,
for purposes of worship, He is conceived of as localized in a particular object.
Moreover, there is nothing self-contradictory in thinking of the supreme God as having a
form even a multiplicity of forms. If it is granted that God is the All, even though in
the ultimate conception He is formless, there is nothing inherently impossible in His
assuming a variety of forms for the sake of His devotees. |