Murti and Murthi Staphana....

Just felt like writing a few points about the importance of Murti and Murti-Staphana...... (although am travelling this week I just cannot resist visiting this forum when I get the chance.... )

All Hindus and many Non-Hindus know that Idol worship is considered as valid form of worship in hinduism - It is recognized as one of the several paths that lead to God if not done simply as empty rituals or pompous displays of meaningless worship....but with genuine faith and love.......There are unlimited choices and paths that lead to God... .All paths are equally valid and no path is inferior or superior..as long as faith is the guiding light..

Worshiping the idol is considered as a simple way of letting us humans express our love and devotion to God...

In early Vedic times Idol worship did not exist - it only came out later - maybe because the very learned and erudite scholars concluded that it is in human nature to connect better with a 'personal form' of God rather than with his Nirakar (formless)...roop - as an abstract concept.

Hence while God is definitely Nirakar....God can still take thousands of aakara (forms),,, and become your personal God.....for you to love in any relationship you want... like a father, like a mother...an elder brother.. sometimes even a lover like Meerabai saw Lord Krishna...or like how Radhika sees the Lord as her best friend and confidante..

Just like how a pregnant woman loves the child in her womb but is desperate to see it and when the child is finally born the immense pouring of love is incomparable to that of the 'invisible foetus'...

Similarly having an idol to see and worship allows us humans a chance to show our devotion.....so we offer the best food to God, the best flowers...the best clothes... everything that man can do in their limited ability to show someone how much he love them... put simply the very human ways of showing affection towards God.

Loving this personal form of God gives greater pleasure and greater sweetness to many people than worshiping the Nirakar form of worship...

In Hinduism NO path will lead you to God if devoid of Bhakti ... in front of the true Bhakt both the Karmi and the Gyaani will be defeated....

Karmi will achieve heaven but not God. [In Hindu philosophy going to Heaven is NOT the same as Salvation]

In fact Gyaan (Knowledge) without the right desire of god realization is considered leading to path of darkness...

Hence embracing our ignorance because of indisputable faith is the mark of a real Bhakt...and Idol worship is in a way admitting to God - I know you are omniscient and omipresent and formless and I can never really know you through my sense and logic..only through my faith....

Literally speaking Murthi Staphana in a temple means establish the breath of God in the Stone image... It used to also be called as Prana - Pratishta.... It is like God is agreeing to descend into the Idol and the bhakt has vowed to serve the Idol as if it has God's spirit in it... So the Bhakt will do puja every day both morning and evening,,, offer food to god... etc. It is really a very serious responsibility to do Murti staphana and hence is never recommended for homes but only suited to temples where there is a priest who will never fail in these activities.

But philosophically speaking the real purpose of murti-staphana is to awaken the mind of the bhakt through the power of ritual, to the presence of divinity within that sacred image. In the begining the devotee may only see stone or metal and scoff at it ... but eventually as their fath become strong... they begin to see God.... The real staphana/installation is NOT of the stone or the Metal idols in the temple but that of God in the minds of the devotee. This is the power of ritual leading to formation of Faith.

Hence Shastrijie says 'Logoin ki ismein Aastha hai.. Manyata..hai.' ....

I dont know enough about removing an installed murti and installing it elsewhere especially for the motive of personal gain but I would guess that it would be a grave departure from the protocol of ritualistic worship... the temple is the Idols home...Unless under some threat of desecration, the Idols are never removed from their 'home' ...

I am not sure what repercussions this will have... but they might be serious...

Thanks Kuku for an excellent post.
Yes it is little of concern as to what will happen to Shastriji and Rads. The question will be about rads wedding now.

What an insightful article about importance of idol's in Hindu culture! I really admire your way of narration and reasoning. Cheerful!

well written kuku...
the consequences of shastriji's actions I am afraid will leads to the path fo the future of the show...vishaka, vaishali..amma...it will go on and on, I am afraid.

Bot on the positive side, I beleive Shastriji's bhakti cannot be questioned because of mere idols, his faith and his belief in God is in his heart and soul and I hope God forgives him for this...

Kuku, what a tremendous voice of knowledge you have! Thank you! I read your post several times.

Shastriji was so reluctant to move the Murtis.

Kuku: Very nice analysis............Even I am very apprenhensive about removing the idols and doing the Pran Pratisha in the home of Daksh..........What will be the consequence of this will be is in the hands of time............but I think Shastriji will face lot of difficulties.........also ppl may question how he managed to conduct wedding on such grand scale...............

Amazing ...kuku ...both the content and the way you have written!!

Originally posted by: interest

Shastriji was so reluctant to move the Murtis.

He even cried before carrying them away .

But he had to bow down to the will of those who can bend even the sacred rituals for their benefit due to their money power ..

Like Shastriji said , Even Ram knew there was no golden Marichh but went to hunt it down .

I personally feel , it is all a matter for the mind .

Nothing ontoward happened to all those invaders who desecrated Hindu temples with our deities . They prospered & ruled over us for centuries .

But this transfer of Murti can be moulded anyway by the creatives .

Hello Interest,,,

It is true that Intention has a lot of weghitage when finally evaluating ones actions...And God is in Shastrijies heart so who know how God will view this...

However the whole point of being a principled pandit means that you stick to your principles NO MATTER WHAT....A true Pandit would not have bowed down for material gain ( irrespective of wether it is for his adopted daughters stature in society) .... So I do feel disappointed by Shastrijies actions.... He has basically sold his idols to someone who is not even worthy of them.....Made their home in a house which is by the owners own admission full of Paap.. what guarantee that in that house the Idols will be truly worshipped as deserved ?....that God will be loved and revered..... Time will tell how this will play out....

One wonders if Radhika's paap of doing Pati tyaag is greater than the paap than Shastrijie murti tyaag..... because paap it is .......even if it is done in the name of sacrifice for the happiness of a loved one....And we saw how much Shastrijie was affected by this decision of his...

As far as those people who desecrated Idols and still lived happily - I will only say that they may not have suffered from their deeds in that particular life...but don't forget that there is a life after death and that is when you are truly held accountable to God for your actions. Also it was the desecration of Idols that led to the revival of the Bhakti movement in India which had taken a backseat becasue of Buddhist philosophy of greater emphasis on Gyan.