Idol Worship Is Ideal For All Of Us!

Four tall medium sized rectangular aluminum grain containers had been put together to create a kind of a low sturdy table.  A well washed soft cotton dupatta was draped on it. On it resided our myriad assortment of idols and Gods. Some photographs, some small cute talismans of God, a bead of rudraksh, a medium sized black idol resided merrily with another glass green idol which was half an inch tall and all the other idols lived in our humble home freely.

I flung the medical reports in front of all the idols. 

Smile all you want. Just sit there on that pedestal of yours and watch my life going for a toss. 

Why? Why do you do this? Why to me? Where am I going wrong? What am I supposed to do now? Where will I get the strength to deal and cope with this new challenge? How much more do you have in store for me?

And all those dear Gods of mine laughed at me with the same benign smile. I thought they had a look of amusement on their faces. All of them. Even my favorite elephant God.

Here was an educated fool like me grappling with the mini challenges that came my way. I had enough good food in my house and the stock of grains could feed my entire family for one full year. We had a decent house to live in. We wore decent clothes and could lead a life of comfort. More importantly, I was educated. I could read and write and comprehend at least two languages. 

Google or the lending library near our house could provide me with enough material if I ever had the inclination to understand a concept called God. He was a complex phenomenon. He was an extremely simple phenomenon. He could well be a She. He and She could well merge to form They. I developed a love for all kinds of Gods somewhere along the journey called my life.

Yet, I questioned him, argued with them, worshipped her and expressed my deepest fears to him, her and them. 

I had to face the challenge. Well they were not going to alight from the pedestal of theirs to solve my problems for me. I knew that.

Yet, I felt lighter. Yet, I felt stronger. Yet, my faith became quietly deeper.

Those idols that grace my house today have been a part of my life for almost 3 decades.  They knew me and I knew them. We had emerged out of each crisis because all of them had blessed us with immense faith.

Yet, there was this simpleton maid of mine. Jaya was her name. She was not educated like me. Unlike me she did not know where her next meal would materialize from. She did not even attempt to understand a concept called God.

All she knew was she was in good hands. That somehow, somewhere, something would give her the strength to cope with the humongous challenges that she faced on a daily basis.

Her husband was in the clutches of a loan shark and unfailingly every month they came and coolly collected his entire month’s salary to pay for the interest of his loan. Yes. Only the interest. The principal sum was yet to be paid off and over years they had paid off almost three times the principal sum in interest alone. 

Sad. Yet completely true.

Why? Why do you do this? Why to such naïve and innocent people? How much more will you test them? 

Strange that Jaya never even had the nerve to question her God like this.

Her concept of God was very simple.

Fast during Navratri. Go barefoot to the Tulja Bhavani temple by walk from Solapur. Which is quite a distance. If that is not possible, finish the entire day’s work and walk barefoot to the Devi temple at night. Cannot afford a rickshaw. So walk. 

This dark damsel will use her entire month’s salary to adorn the temporary idol that she creates in her hut. She will buy all the pooja material with the money and adorn her Goddess with love. She will wear her best sarees during Navratri. She will fast on any and every day dedicated to any and every God that she knows. He or She or They……it did not matter. 

God or Goddess or all of them blessed her with faith and serenity. She would go hungry but would not take up the household work of my neighbour’s house when her maid fell sick. 

Where did she get this kind of strength from?

Ganapati could well be a supari for her. If even that was not available a mound of moist soil shaped into a ball would suffice.

God is everywhere. A word like omnipresent and omniscient sounds way too complicated for a simple concept called God.

He can take the form of a monkey or an elephant or a serpent or an eagle or a hermit or a rakish flirtatious cowherd. 

People who question an intangible concept like faith will question idol worship.

People who accept God as a higher force will also understand that as tiny human beings we can only hope to decipher the vastness of his grace and his universe.

Facts and science belong to the real world. The world of logical thinking human beings. The real materialistic world where things can be counted and measured and taken stock of.

Faith and spirit belong to the inner world. A world in which a divine being resides within every living organism and non living thing. Idols are non living. We need to remember that in the world of science.

Yet those same non living idols throb and pulsate and radiate with faith. Sacred books can refine our hearts and purify our minds. 

God does not deny access to people like Jaya. Jaya is uneducated. Sacred books mean nothing to her. Yet God creates a channel for people like her.

If you cannot find me amidst the pages of a sacred book simply surrender to me. If you cannot memorize or recite any chants simply surrender to me. Choose a form of your choice dear one and I will reside in that form for you. Choose a different form every day. I will soothe you and placate you and nurture your faith through that form.

I am time. And time has this amazing ability of touching and changing lives. Time and tide may turn in your favour or against you. It will do so for every single living being residing on this planet and all the other worlds that exist in this cosmos.

Your faith in me will give you the courage and the strength to move on with your life. I will come to you in many forms and in many ways. I will test you and I will challenge you but I will also hold your hand firmly when you suffer with intense pain. All those trials and tribulations will bring you closer to me. Know this Jaya and know this you educated fool who is typing this article. I am the ultimate reality and as long as I am standing beside you, within you and around you…you can shed your worries, anxieties and fears at my feet. Focus on me. Choose a form of your choice. For I am the ultimate reality and nothing else should matter or ever will. 

The frowns on our brows disappear. The fears in our hearts disappear. The future does not look so scary anymore. Nothing matters anymore. Nothing should ever matter in fact. We repeatedly pray to the idols that adorn our humble homes so that we can experience and drink again and again from this wondrous nectar called God.