Hare Krishna to all!
What do the Vedas say about worshiping Dieties?
1. Why are they worshiped?
2. How are they worshiped?
3. What makes them worshipable?
4. How do I respond to a peson who says that worship of the Deities, is equal to worshiping idols?
5. How do the Deities differ from idols?
I'd really appreciate some answers to these questions. I am new to Krishna Consciousness and feel a little awkward about worshiping the Deities. I feel I need to understand the answers to the above questions if I am ever going to be able to worship the Deities, especially with sincerity. Thank you all so much for your helping me in the understanding of spiritual things!
-Cody
Diety Worship
http://hadit418.blogspot.com I'm afraid I can't help you very much--I have never "gotten' Diety Worship--isnt "Diety" just an Idol under a different name? Isnt it just "worshipping little dolls?"
Like Mary Baker Eddy, the great Vaishnav philosopher, says: "We have no formal creed, but we have a set of tenets-" which is just a creed under a different name! I sometimes think I would be happier as a Sikh--Guru Nanak couldnt "get" Diety worship either, nor could the rest of the Silh gurus--for the rest, they have kirtan and prasadam also. And King David wrote a whole Psalm poking fun of this kind of worship. Our God is a Diety--your God is an Idol! I do not get it.
Deity worship
As Krishnali points out in her reply, we cannot see and interact directly with Krishna because of His being all spirit, and our vision is conditioned. So out of His mercy, Krsna kindly appears in a form we can worship. And that is the Deity form and it is called arca vigraha. This form is non different from the Lord.
The Deities are installed in elaborate rituals - prana pratishta - "giving life" to the deities (meaning this is when the Lord appears within the deity), netra milana - opening the eyes of the deities, and so on. The deities are worshipped by bathing them using various things - like honey, milk etc. They are then dressed.
For normal day to day deity worship, please refer to deityworship.com.
Idols are different. Idols are false images. Deities are authorized forms of God carved out in material elements like marble, brass etc. Since our eye is not pure enough to see spirit, God, who is all spiritual, kindly appears in a form we can see and worship. Idols also indicate modern day heroes in various fields. But this euphoria of worship is temporary as material nature keeps changing and so do our heroes.
When the worship of deity is neglected, and/or become ritualistic with no true loving feelings towards Krishna, then that same worship changes to idol worship.
Radhikesh das
also the word idol is rooted
also the word idol is rooted in the word imagination.
Its all a question of faith - nishtha.
Hare Krishna
Dear Cody
The goal of human life is to worship the Supreme Lord, Krishna and understand our true eternal relationship with Him. As long as we are conditioned souls in a material world, we cannot "see" and interact with Him . So , out of kindness the Lord lets us worship His symbolic representation - turning the abstract into concrete.
Depending on your faith , the Deity responds , and you get attached to it slowly. Those who keep thinking "this is an idol" will never feel the Deity's presence. The devotees see the Lord in the deity, and interact with "it" as if it were a person, in fact the Supreme Person. That is when God manifests in that piece of matter. The Deity accepts their offerings , and reciprocates.
>> Forum topic "What is the difference between deity and idol worship" - below.
How do we worship :
You are in the right place. I can only give you some pointers. It will be better if someone else answers.
(First we have to have enough faith in the deities. We can always show our devotion to a picture of Krishna.)
1. "Offering food to Krishna" http://www.krishna.com/en/node/633
2. Forum topic "Deity worship in the home" below - read NityanandaChandra Prabhu's answer.
Krishnali.