Let all idolators go to hell (article on hindu awareness)

Well,  all this would sound offending in the first place when you read the title, but I have attempted to clarify certain things and set a few things in the right track.... If you belong to the vEdic tradition then you will agree upon my words in this post.. No doubt about that..


A small pre-read before we delve into the matter of the post: 
When you read the "prAtaH saMkalpa gadya" of "shrI rAghavEMdra swAmy", you will come to see some of the qualities of GOD, which are stated by him as : sarvasthitha (stands in all), sarvAvasthya (present in everything and everything is present because of him), sarvAMtaryAmi (all pervasive), sarvamAraka (all destroyer), sarvakaaLa (all destroyer), sarvakaalaka (all timer), sarvAnaMta (all infinite), sarvniyAmaka (all manager), sarvOtpAdaka (all generator), and on and on and on.... (actually you must read this complete, this is intellectually stimulating beyond words, spiritually very awakening, intense, mind bogglingly beautiful in its composition and meter. If you are looking for 'a single sentence' type of condensation of the meaning contained in the entire vEdic literature, it is the one and only prAtaH saMkalpa gadya written by "shrI rAghavEMdra swAmy". This work which runs into good 3 - 4 pages, is in essence a single sentence!!. And no words about the level of samskrita used, simple to understand yet profoundly deep and serious. Will make it a post in coming days). Now after this small pre-read, lets look into the matter:
 The title of this post is: Let all idolators go to hell
Idolatory can have two meanings: 1) Worship of idol as GOD. 2) Worship of GOD in idol.

With these two meanings, can we now answer the question "Who is an idolator ?". He is an idolator who worships an idol as an idol. So, if you do pooja in your home, you think you are doing pooja for the idol.. ?.... Are you offering all the flowers to decorate the idol.. ?... While doing pooja do you see the idol as an idol.. ?....Are you offering all the fruits and delicious food items, which prabably toook you hours and thousands of rupees to prepare ... ?.. Are you keeping aside your valuable 1 hr of time for doing pooja to the idol... ?..... IF YES THEN I AM SORRY TO SAY, THERE IS NO REASON WHY YOU SHOULD NOT GO TO HELL.... ( BY HELL, i mean deep ignorance and stupidity). [[[[[[ OR ]]]]]], Do you do pooja to the GOD inside the idol ..?.... While doing pooja do you see the GOD in idol instead of just an idol ..?.... Are you offering all the fruits and delicious food to the GOD inside the idol so that he pays a little attention to you by tasting your food ..?... Are you offering all the flowers to decorate the idol so that our minds and hearts feel the GOD more easily clearly since GOD is associated with beauty and flowers also are... ?... Do you light the lamp in front of the idol so that even though we are constant darkness called ignorance and stupidity, the light helps us to see the idol clearly and hence the image of GOD in our minds become stronger and deep rooted and stable and enchanting and loving and divine and personified.. ?...... If yes, then you are not that which the lexical meaning of the word idolator but instead a true bhakta :)...

Clearly, I gave you two sets of questions to ponder upon. Those who YES to the first set deserve the hell of ignorance and stupidity and those who YES and practice the answers to the second set deserve that which they see inside the idol....

HENCE, let all idolators go to hell....

There is subtle standpoint hidden here which i chose to write at the end.... :
in the pre-read section, i have given in this post a small extract from "prAtaH saMkalpa gadya" written by "Shri rAghavEMdra swAmi". I will start from this point. If GOD is all pervasive, all pervasive and on and on and on, do you really think it is that difficult for him to take on the form an idol and sit in it (sarvesthitha). It is because of the fact that he sits there, that the idol exists and we are even able to see it and percieve it. The all-mercifull nature and sarvaniyAmaka nature of GOD is what allows our perception of the idol to be turned into a feeling of seeing GOD in the very same idol we are looking at. We see GOD in the idol because he allowed us to see him in it, which is again because he wants us to come out of our ignorance, and which is why the use of light in the lamp is concieved as the first step to shedding darkness and ignorance..

There are some people (even a few big ones) who speak thus: GOD is nirAkAra (formless) and hence idol worship is wrong and its practice must therefore be shunned. Actually, these people even go the extent of doing japa such as "GOD is nirAkAra, GOD is formless, GOD is formless, ....... on and on and on". But whats the use of doing a japa such as this, of whose central and core idea is so flawed, foolish and stupid... ANSWER: He is not nirAkAra (formless), but instead he is sarvAkara (all formfull). You tell GOD is nirAkAra, but yet he has appeared as rAma, as krishna, . When the vEdAs, 'aakAsham shareeram brahma', it is not saying aakaasha is formless, brahma is like aakaasha and hence brahma is formless. No. What it says is aakaasha has a form. brahma (the parabrahman) is like aakaasha, and when they say this they are trying to give a quantification to some of his qualities - GOD is everywhere, aakaasha is also everywhere, hence aakaasha can be used to describe the 'being everywhere' quality of GOD. If you take the literary meaning of some of the verses of vEdAs, then there is no greater fool and ignorant than you... remember, GOD is sarvAkAra and not in any way nirAkAra. only the non-exitent has the quality of nirAkAra, but qualities sarvakAlaka (all timer) and sarvastitha (allways standing) and even sarvAvasthya (all existent) clarifies this point that GOD is not 'non-existent' but infact 'existent' in the most fullest form, which again reconfirms and reiterates the fact that he is definitely with his own AkAr. The fact that he can take any AkAra which he chooses also does not in any way tell that he is nirAkAra. His ability to take on any form only reiterates and reconfirms his quality of being 'sarvasamartha (meaning all capable)'. It does not mean he is formless.. A water droplet has a certain form when its on the lotus leaf, and different form when it is in air and dropping down to earth during a rain, when it evaporates into molecules its form now explodes into numerous forms, the exact number of forms being equal to the total number of molecules into which that water droplet has evaporated into; but this does not in any way mean that that the water is formless. In which ever form it is, that is its form. It does not mean formless. the universe is changing and evolving constantly does not mean it is formless, it only means that it is taking on a particular form at every instant of the change. A more subtler point : The entire universe is in GOD (again let me clarify not GOD.. haha, we are back to the idol thing again. When you worship the universe and the surrounding around you, it does not mean you are worshipping the universe for the universe. No. It means that you worship it for two reasons: A) A part of GOD, however infinitesimally small and minute it might be, is in this universe and B) Universe is a creation of GOD and you respect him by respecting his creations which includes yourself) and the fact that it (the universe) is taking on a multitude of forms as it evolves in the course of time does not neither mean that the universe is formless nor that the GOD who creates, takes care and consumes (sarvaniyAmaka, all controller) it is without form or formless. It only means that he has the power to control the evolution of a multitude of evolutionary forms of his created universe in a way he wants it to. The killer sentences: If GOD is formless, the universe is formless, that means that you and I are formless. There is nothing in something which is formless. So you and I do not exist. But we are still here and I wrote this blog here and you are reading it now. Thus, how pitiful and fun isn't it, that statement that GOD is formless leads inadvertently to the fact we don't exist and nothing is real. I say that the universe is real, positively and confidently because, GOD is TRUTH and REAL. Why would GOD who is TRUTH and REAL produce something which is unreal and inexistent. It is truly an absurd thought that GOD is formless. Hence, i again reiterate that GOD is sarvAkAra and not nirAkAra

ONCE AGAIN, let all idolators go to hell....

In the next article I will talk on "Do we need an idol to worship GOD or do we not need it ?"

Oh and one more thing (I would have loved to write (an article on awareness for the people of the vaidika sampradAya) but in today's world in bhaarata dEsha (India i mean), the sentence (article on hindu awareness) seemed more appropriate)....

asatOma sadgamaya tamasOma jyOtirgamaya mrutyrmAmrutaMgamaya. aum shAMtiH shAmtiH shAMtiH

- Sunil Anandatheertha (inspired by the words of my mAnasika guru vidyAvAchaspathi shri. Dr. bannanMje gOviMdAchArya (padma shree))