Worshipping the Divine in any form?

[YoungSpiritualSeeker]

This is my first post, aside from my introduction, but, I've wanted to know this for awhile now, but, from what I've read, in Hinduism, it's said you can worship the Divine/God in any form, as people have diverse needs and desires and that it doesn't matter what form you worship the Divine in, but, would that extend to anything, like could you worship anything that is meaningful to you?, such as fictional characters (either in books or a TV series).

Thanks for any help.

David.

[Eastern Mind]

Good question. I'll give you some thoughts. Yes, there is a concept in Hinduism that god permeates all form, all matter I believe. He/she is everywhere. Sat-chit-ananda. So we have trees becoming shrines, rocks and mountains becoming sacred places. It is a one energy. A sadhu sits by the sea, and forms a temporal lingam out of sand, and later watches it merge back with the rest of the sand. You can findd God in smiles.

Now as to fictional characters. Well, firstly, do they have form? Depends on your concept of form, I suppose. They are creations of the mind. Someone's mind. Kind of like asking if happiness has form. So on this I am not sure. Others will likely have views, though.

Aum Namasivaya

[Znanna]

Cherries are in season here. As I was washing and de-stemming the cherries, individually, each cherry into the bowl was a prayer.

Participating in the Spirit can take any form; life really can be a bowl of cherries :)


ZN

[YoungSpiritualSeeker]

Good question. I'll give you some thoughts. Yes, there is a concept in Hinduism that god permeates all form, all matter I believe. He/she is everywhere. Sat-chit-ananda. So we have trees becoming shrines, rocks and mountains becoming sacred places. It is a one energy. A sadhu sits by the sea, and forms a temporal lingam out of sand, and later watches it merge back with the rest of the sand. You can findd God in smiles.

Now as to fictional characters. Well, firstly, do they have form? Depends on your concept of form, I suppose. They are creations of the mind. Someone's mind. Kind of like asking if happiness has form. So on this I am not sure. Others will likely have views, though.

Aum Namasivaya

Thanks for the reply, and that's what I've read, the reason why I asked is, if God or the Divine is in everything, would that mean we could craft an image to worship the Divine in, from our imaginations or from someone elses minds.

I think it was on one thread here when I was browsing the forum where someone said, it doesn't matter whether Krishna is real or not, even if he is just a figment of someone's mind, he is still real and divine 'cause our mind is God's mind, if I understand it right.

David.

[Eastern Mind]

Cherries are in season here. As I was washing and de-stemming the cherries, individually, each cherry into the bowl was a prayer.

Participating in the Spirit can take any form; life really can be a bowl of cherries :)


ZN

Lovely. There is something so grand about God's creations in nature. Enjoy the cherries, if you haven't already.

Aum Namasivaya

[RamaRaksha]

God is not a person or being but just thought. We ourselves are a bundle of thoughts, in this life we carry this vehicle we call the body. The vehicle moves because of our thoughts and not vice versa - we say let's go there and our legs move there automatically. Without these thoughts, once the brain goes dead, the body ceases all functions.

Let's say you are involved in an accident and are lying there helplessly, crying in pain. A person can come over and help you to a hospital or rob you. They do so because of their thoughts.

Namaste literally means I bow to the God within you. See the God within the person who came to help you.

[amra]

So participating in the spirit can take any form, how about worshipping a pile of dogshit, this is part of one spirit why can't you find joy and love in dogshit. It is true you can worship anything but there are certain energies that are auspicious and inauspicious. Certain shrines where sants have done tapsya become purified and auspicious energy gets diffused in the surrounding area. As more people pay worship to this shrine it becomes imbued with more energy. It is the same with deities, which live in another reality and can manifest on this plane if nourished with worship, there are myriad deities the veda talk of 33 million but the one behind the deity the absolute should be the real object if worship is to be real. One man worshipping cherries in a forest will not create enough energy to have much effect unless he is a rishi. A million people worshipping the absolute through the image of the cherry god can imbue the cherry god with enough mental energy for him to lead them to the absolute which is the goal of anything.

There are real energies that can affect you which are created by worship and by thought negative and positive. Some energies have thousands of years of force behind them and can elevate or destroy you. Fictional characters are minute energies created by weak beings that are like flies made of smoke they are nothing. A sadhu doing tapasya for thousands of years will have an ability to create something create real worlds. Modern ideas have no reality no basis in anything they are just wishy-washy feeble thoughts about love and spirit with no depth in these concepts. Real worship is only through blood and sweat you have to literally kill yourself for your deity and this is only after lifetimes of service to the deity. your duty is to enquire into yourself to see what stage you are at and only after self enquiry will you know who and what to worship. Hindu deities are not in some sort of supermarket where you go and choose one that is fashionable. Rather human beings are lined up and sold like cattle to discerning deities so make yourself attractive to a force that will elevate you for if you neglect your appearence you may attract something unpleasent.

[Znanna]

amra,

With all due respect to your age (89! wow), I would say that Godz presence is in dogshit, too ... else the dog would die. (in other words, remember the skull!)

Regarding *worship* I do agree that directed energies, particularly over time and done by many, have a cumulative and material effect.


Namaste,
ZN

[bhargavsai]

Even I agree that Dog's presence is even in Dogshit. Look at the story of Prahlada and Hiranyakashyapa, Prahlada says "God is everywhere, don't think that a God present here is not present somewhere else, God is everywhere".

[atanu]

Even I agree that Dog's presence is even in Dogshit.


I think that things are taken care.:)

[amra]

Also my point was that God is present in everything to differing degrees. There is auspicious and inauspicious worship. To worship dogshit will probably destroy your mind and make you perverted. To say God is in everything is true from the point of the absolute, but 99.9999% of humans have not got this type of drishti they cannot see the world in this way. To see the absolute in all is not an intellectual operation but an elevation of being, and until you possess this high level of being believing practically in real life that God is in everything can land you in hot water and retard your spiritual evolution by opening you up to maelevalent forces if you try to apply this high knowledge to life without acquiring the necessesay level of being. The problem is it is very nice to talk about concepts like unity and oneness but to actually acquire them requires hard work and tapasya and suffering and nobody wants to go through this, it is easier to imagine things about ones' self.

[Eastern Mind]

Also my point was that God is present in everything to differing degrees. There is auspicious and inauspicious worship. To worship dogshit will probably destroy your mind and make you perverted. To say God is in everything is true from the point of the absolute, but 99.9999% of humans have not got this type of drishti they cannot see the world in this way. To see the absolute in all is not an intellectual operation but an elevation of being, and until you possess this high level of being believing practically in real life that God is in everything can land you in hot water and retard your spiritual evolution by opening you up to maelevalent forces if you try to apply this high knowledge to life without acquiring the necessesay level of being. The problem is it is very nice to talk about concepts like unity and oneness but to actually acquire them requires hard work and tapasya and suffering and nobody wants to go through this, it is easier to imagine things about ones' self.

Excellent post. I would add that it would seem pointless to choose any form when there are so many beautiful forms out there. There is a story of Sri Ramakrishna going into samadhi when seeing two dogs copulating. This further illustrates your point about the reality of who can and who can't. In fact I would say that its also a small minority of us who actually have had the opportunity to sit beside truly realised souls.

Aum Namasivaya

[Znanna]

The problem is it is very nice to talk about concepts like unity and oneness but to actually acquire them requires hard work and tapasya and suffering and nobody wants to go through this, it is easier to imagine things about ones' self.


Um, who is nobody ... you?

My own father ranted about how I was the only one who would defy him.

He was in his 80s, too, and at the end, it was me who guided him beyond because he knew I was for real, I did not disappoint.

With all due respect, and I mean that sincerely, I walk the talk.

I have accepted the sacrifice. I AM the sacrifice.

If you wish, just ask and I will offer to guide you beyond, too.


ZN/ashes are fertilizer

[atanu]

amra,

With all due respect to your age (89! wow), I would say that Godz presence is in dogshit, too ... else the dog would die. (in other words, remember the skull!)

Regarding *worship* I do agree that directed energies, particularly over time and done by many, have a cumulative and material effect.

Namaste,
ZN


Namaste,

One of the five pranas makes excretion possible. So, I see your point 'else the dog would die ---'

Om Namah Shivaya