Why worship deities?

Originally Posted by psychoslice

God is not a person at all. You cannot worship God. You can live in a godly way but you cannot worship God -- there is nobody to worship. All your worship is sheer stupidity, all your images of God are your own creation. There is no God as such, but there is godliness, certainly -- in the flowers, in the birds, in the stars, in the eyes of the people, when a song arises in the heart and poetry surrounds you... all this is God. Let us say "godliness" rather than using the word 'God' -- that word gives you the idea of a person, and God is not a person but a presence.

Hi psychoslice,
You are absolutely right that God is not a person, but He is a conscious Being - a vast and Infinite ocean of consciousness of which we all are a part. If God is conscious that mean He is "Aware" of all His creation, just as you and I are aware of the world we live in. He feels all our sorrows and joys just as if they were His.

We each develop our own relationship with Him, in our own ways, some people through worship of images, some like yourself through appreciation of the beautiful world (God's creativity) and through manifesting His qualities of goodness in your own self, some through meditating on Him etc.

All these are but different methods of arriving at the same truth. So I feel that we should keep our minds open and while we may not agree with other peoples methods/paths, we must accept that those methods and paths are good for them. They may not be good for us, but they are good for them.

The greatest gurus of India all worshipped idols - because these idols were symbolic representations of God Himself. Ramakrishna Paramhmasa was a great worshipper of Kali - a symbolic representation of the destructive forces of God. (God is the Creator and the Destroyer of the Universe)

We are all Gods children and however crude or great our choosen paths are to each of us, they all take us back to Him, and Him alone.
May God shower you will all His blessings

One of the beauties of Hinduism is it's broad scope. While maddeningly complex it is not exclusionary as compared to many religions.

You demonstrated that quality beautifully.

[psychoslice]

Originally Posted by SpiritualBee

Hi psychoslice,
You are absolutely right that God is not a person, but He is a conscious Being - a vast and Infinite ocean of consciousness of which we all are a part. If God is conscious that mean He is "Aware" of all His creation, just as you and I are aware of the world we live in. He feels all our sorrows and joys just as if they were His.

We each develop our own relationship with Him, in our own ways, some people through worship of images, some like yourself through appreciation of the beautiful world (God's creativity) and through manifesting His qualities of goodness in your own self, some through meditating on Him etc.

All these are but different methods of arriving at the same truth. So I feel that we should keep our minds open and while we may not agree with other peoples methods/paths, we must accept that those methods and paths are good for them. They may not be good for us, but they are good for them.

The greatest gurus of India all worshipped idols - because these idols were symbolic representations of God Himself. Ramakrishna Paramhmasa was a great worshipper of Kali - a symbolic representation of the destructive forces of God. (God is the Creator and the Destroyer of the Universe)

We are all Gods children and however crude or great our choosen paths are to each of us, they all take us back to Him, and Him alone.
May God shower you will all His blessings

Yes I agree on that level, but the truth is we are already there, we cannot be anywhere else, and this is all I am really saying.

Originally Posted by WhiteShaman

No dieties means noone is watching over your children and your loved ones. This realization, for me, was hard to swallow. So much so that for a time i chose to make believe like I still believed in them to avoid the pain of the truth of it. I understand very well why people worship dieties.

Hi WhiteShaman,
Actually the deities all exist. Strange isn't it? Even I found it hard to believe at first. But here is how I understood it, so bear with me

The idol is a symbol for a particular aspect or “portion" of the infinite formless spirit (God) that works in the Universe. The spirit behind is real, the idol is just giving this formless spirit an image for our own minds to grasp its importance.

For example take the Goddess Kali - "She" is the destructive energy of God, or we can say a "subset or portion or wave" of the infinite spirit of God that is responsible for the dissolution of the Universe.

So when you pray before the image of Kali, you are in actuality praying to a specific "portion" of God that contains his destructive powers. A "portion" of God is also God - one that is conscious, alive and can hear my and your prayers.

Thus when you pray before a deity, you are in reality offering your prayers to Him. So there is someone/something listening to your prayers and looking after each and everyone of us.

PS: To be clear God is neither male or female, He has no Sex, because He is the infinite ocean of consciousness, but God’s destructive powers (Kali) are referred to as “She” in Hinduism.

According to Advaita Vedanta, you, me (by this I mean our souls) the various Gods, Goddesses and Prophets of the world are all portions of the same infinite God. We are like waves in the infinite ocean of consciousness, called God. Some waves are bigger and carry more power than others, but ALL are a part of Him alone. We may choose to pray to these bigger waves and call them Jesus, Krishna, Moses or Kali etc. but they ALL contain the same waters and powers as God Himself.

Originally Posted by Henri77

One of the beauties of Hinduism is it's broad scope. While maddeningly complex it is not exclusionary as compared to many religions.

You demonstrated that quality beautifully.

Thanks. Yes I agree, hinduism and its Vedanata Philosophy are very inclusive of all points of view.
Love Your signature, I so wish John Lennon's words would come true.

[Unity]

you can just visualize + pray to use laws of attraction.
no need of dieties.

[psychoslice]

Originally Posted by Unity

you can just visualize + pray to use laws of attraction.
no need of dieties.

Yes I agree, the mind needs something tangible, when one is Self Realized, the idol worshiping mind is no longer needed, but until then one will continue to worship.

[Internal Queries]

Originally Posted by psychoslice

Don't be childish, where's your sense of humor, I have shared positive information, but there was a smart remake made and i dealt with it, its non of your business, its between Internal Queries and I.
, now give me a smile lol.

lol well, this is an open forum so "childish" folks can take note of and comment on what is going on between you and me.

the thing is, slice ... i don't worship a deity or deities but i can understand the desire to externalize the emotion one feels once one has touched and been touched by divinity. there are concepts that cause me to snort with derision but sincere expressions of awe and devotion isn't among of them.

[Internal Queries]

Originally Posted by psychoslice

Yes I agree, the mind needs something tangible, when one is Self Realized, the idol worshiping mind is no longer needed, but until then one will continue to worship.

Truth is Beauty, Beauty is Truth.

sometimes Beauty is all that is needed to cause one to sink to one's knees.

[psychoslice]

Originally Posted by Internal Queries

lol well, this is an open forum so "childish" folks can take note of and comment on what is going on between you and me.

the thing is, slice ... i don't worship a deity or deities but i can understand the desire to externalize the emotion one feels once one has touched and been touched by divinity. there are concepts that cause me to snort with derision but sincere expressions of awe and devotion isn't among of them.

Yes on that level you are right, but on the level that I have described is true also, so its really whatever level you want, that is where you will be.