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Thread: Authority for Murti-worship ?

  1. #1
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    Authority for Murti-worship ?

    Namaste,

    Worshiping Murtis of Vishnu, Shiva, Mother Goddess etc. whether in temples of or at home is in the blood of more than 90 % of Hindus. However, what I find that this has no support in Shruti or even Smritis, as far as I could know. My understanding based on whatever I have read makes me believe that it has basically come from AgmAs which elaborate on Temple construction and Murti-pooja. Today's Hinduism cannot be seen divided on AgamA-followers and Veda followers as over time, both traditions have got mixed and have given us the form of Hindu Dharma as we find today.

    I could find a few references in Upanishads which suggests that this tradition of Murti-worship is not new to Hindus but has ancient history. However, it has not been given a very respectable status as comparison to other ways Hindus worship God. These are some of the ways we worship God(s) :

    a) Invoking Gods with mantras and performing sacrifices for them in holy fire --- This has very strong support in Veda-samhitA.
    b) Chanting the name(s) of God and doing bhajan and kirtans (Support in Bhagwad Gita)
    c) Doing Japa in mind silently
    d) Meditating on form of God, Meditating on Mantra dedicated to God
    e) Meditating on Self (JnAna-Margis) (Support in Upanishads and Bhagwad Gita)
    f) Worshiping God in forms

    In spite of strong support for other forms of worship in the VedAs SamhitAs, VedAnta and Bhagwad Gita and very weak support to Murti-pooja, the most popular form of worship to Hindus today has become Murti-pooja which surprises me.

    I would like to know how others see it.

    OM
    "Om Namo Bhagvate Vaasudevaye"

  2. #2
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    Re: Authority for Murti-worship ?

    I am sure some smriti somewhere will have some sanction for murti puja to appropriate and sanction a distorted form of the agamic culture within the vedic religion. I know pippalada atharvavedins of Orissa appropriated many shaiva material within their srauta ritual structure - Aravind who writes the Manasataramgini blog has mentioned it, Alexis Sanderson has a very good thesis on this.
    Last edited by Twilightdance; 19 January 2013 at 03:19 AM.
    Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9 per cent Of everything you think, And of everything you do, Is for yourself —And there isn't one

  3. #3
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    Re: Authority for Murti-worship ?

    It seems Tirumanthiram may contain verses on murti worship, apart from the agamas. From Adishakti.org website:

    "There are a great many quotes in the various scriptures of the different sects of Hinduism referring to the worship of murthis — the Saiva Agamas, Vaishnava Agamas, and the Shakti agamas, as well as the ancient Tirumantiram of Tirumular and much more. The Karanagama, Silparatna and Kasyapa silpa deal in great length the details of the various murthis. The Pratima Kosha, or Encyclopaedia of Indian Iconography gives various research on the art form of icons and how the murthis are to be designed."
    jai hanuman gyan gun sagar jai kapis tihu lok ujagar

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    Re: Authority for Murti-worship ?

    To me, a murti is a manifestation of the image of the god we hold in our mind - our hridaya - thus, worshipping this external image is none other than worshipping the image in our heart itself - and thus 'purificatory'. Besides, our gods have been envisioned by sages - the images are procured by the divine vishions of the sages and thus my belief or the common hindu belief is to hold the form of the murtis for the true form of the god itself. The external murti thus provides me with a handle for the worship of the form that is believed to be correspondent to the actual form of the deity itself.
    jai hanuman gyan gun sagar jai kapis tihu lok ujagar

  5. #5

    Re: Authority for Murti-worship ?

    Namaste

    In Canto 11 of Shrimad BhAgvad mahApurAN, (a.k.a. Uddhav GitA) Lord KRshNa Himself elaborates a lot on mUrti pUja of Himself with quite a bit of detail. One whole chapter dedicated to it:

    http://srimadbhagavatam.com/11/27/en

    Had it not been for temples, paintings and home worship prathA (tradition), people would not hav an inkling about the Lord's extremely transcendental rUp (form), lAvaNya (beauty), lIlA (pastimes), svabhAv, His extreme compassion, audArya and generosity, guN (transcendental qualities in infinite amounts - the Lord being shadaishwarya-sampanna - having wealth, fame, strength, beauty, renunciation and knowledge in infinite amounts.)

    AS WELL AS

    the observational science of the ever-developing bhAv and sharaNAgaati (surrendering spirit) between bhakta and bhagvAn.
    (many experiences - anubhav, of devotees come from interaction with the Deity of BhagvAn)

    om namo bhagavate vAsudevAya ~
    Last edited by smaranam; 20 January 2013 at 04:14 AM. Reason: Added link to Deity Worship chapter
    || Shri KRshNArpaNamastu ||

  6. #6

    Re: Authority for Murti-worship ?

    Because there is a difference between the [material] body and AtmA in case of ordinary jiva whereas, the Supreme being Absolute, there is no difference between His [transcendental, non-material] form and AtmA,
    therefore,
    a mUrti of KRshNa is KRshNa
    a painting of KRshNa is KRshNa
    the Words of KRshNa are KRshNa
    the Words about KRshNa are KrshNA

    and are full of His mercy, compassion, love and qualities.

    We have this evidence, for instance, when one says "KRshNa or Radha is so beautifully dressed today" and not "look how beautifully the pujAri has dressed Him"

    A necklace, flowers, dress, mukut can be ordinary otherwise, but get immediately beautified once the Lord wears them.
    Food cooked may be nothing special, but becomes so tasty once offered as naivedya and received as prasAd.

    The Shrimad bhAgavatam is KRshNa's vAngmay rUpa (literary incarnation).

    om namo bhagavate vAsudevAya, shri kRshNAya, paramAtmane, janArdanAya, adhokshajAya, devakinandanAya, dwarakAdheeshAya, gopjana-vallabhAya namo namah:
    || Shri KRshNArpaNamastu ||

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    Re: Authority for Murti-worship ?

    Namaste Smaranam,

    Are you referring to this :

    Quote Originally Posted by Uddhava Gita
    Chapter-11, Verses 43-45. My dear Uddhava, one should worship Me within the sun by chanting selected Vedic mantras and by performing worship and offering obeisances. One may worship Me within fire by offering oblations of ghee, and one may worship Me among the brahmanas by respectfully receiving them as guests, even when uninvited. I can be worshiped within the cows by offerings of grass and other suitable grains and paraphernalia for the pleasure and health of the cows, and one may worship Me within the Vaisvavas by offering loving friendship to them and honoring them in all respects.

    Through steady meditation I am worshiped within the inner space of the heart, and within the air I can be worshiped by knowledge that prana, the life air, is the chief among elements. I am worshiped within water by offerings of water itself, along with other elements such as flowers and tulasi leaves, and one may worship Me within the earth by proper application of confidential seed mantras. One may worship Me within the individual living entity by offering food and other enjoyable substances, and one may worship Me within all living entities by seeing the Supersoul within all of them, thus maintaining equal vision.
    Though it prescribes various ways to worship God, it doesn't prescribe Murti-pooja. May be it is somewhere else. Can you give me any reference ?

    OM
    "Om Namo Bhagvate Vaasudevaye"

  8. #8

    Re: Authority for Murti-worship ?

    Quote Originally Posted by devotee View Post
    Namaste Smaranam,

    Are you referring to this :



    Though it prescribes various ways to worship God, it doesn't prescribe Murti-pooja. May be it is somewhere else. Can you give me any reference ?

    OM
    No, Devoteeji, please see the link to Chapter 27 of BhAgvat purAN Canto 11 i just added in the first post above - especially verse SB 11.27.12 and up : (So this would be smRti.)

    SB 11.27.9: A twice-born person should worship Me, his worshipable Lord, without duplicity, offering appropriate paraphernalia in loving devotion to My Deity form or to a form of Me appearing upon the ground, in fire, in the sun, in water or within the worshiper's own heart.
    SB 11.27.12: The Deity form of the Lord is said to appear in eight varieties — stone, wood, metal, earth, paint, sand, the mind or jewels.
    SB 11.27.13: The Deity form of the Lord, who is the shelter of all living entities, can be established in two ways: temporarily or permanently. But a permanent Deity, having been called, can never be sent away, My dear Uddhava.
    SB 11.27.14: The Deity that is temporarily established can optionally be called forth and sent away, but these two rituals should always be performed when the Deity is traced upon the ground. Bathing should be done with water except if the Deity is made of clay, paint or wood, in which cases a thorough cleansing without water is enjoined.
    SB 11.27.15: One should worship Me in My Deity forms by offering the most excellent paraphernalia. But a devotee completely freed from material desire may worship Me with whatever he is able to obtain, and may even worship Me within his heart with mental paraphernalia.
    SB 11.27.16-17: In worshiping the temple Deity, my dear Uddhava, bathing and decoration are the most pleasing offerings. For the Deity traced on sacred ground, the process of tattva-vinyāsa is most dear. Oblations of sesame and barley soaked in ghee are the preferred offering to the sacrificial fire, whereas worship consisting of upasthāna and arghya is preferred for the sun. One should worship Me in the form of water by offering water itself. Actually, whatever is offered to Me with faith by My devotee — even if only a little water — is most dear to Me.
    SB 11.27.18: Even very opulent presentations do not satisfy Me if they are offered by nondevotees. But I am pleased by any insignificant offering made by My loving devotees, and I am certainly most pleased when nice presentations of fragrant oil, incense, flowers and palatable foods are offered with love.
    SB 11.27.19: After cleansing himself and collecting all the paraphernalia, the worshiper should arrange his own seat with blades of kuśa grass whose tips point eastward. He should then sit facing either east or north, or else, if the Deity is fixed in one place, he should sit directly facing the Deity.
    SB 11.27.20: The devotee should sanctify the various parts of his body by touching them and chanting mantras. He should do the same for My Deity forms and then with his hands he should clean the Deity of old flowers and the remnants of previous offerings. He should properly prepare the sacred pot and the vessel containing water for sprinkling.
    SB 11.27.21: Then, with the water of that prokṣaṇīya vessel he should sprinkle the area where the Deity is being worshiped, the offerings that are going to be presented, and his own body. Next he should decorate with various auspicious substances three vessels filled with water.
    SB 11.27.22: The worshiper should then purify those three vessels. He should sanctify the vessel holding water for washing the Lord's feet by chanting hṛdayāya namaḥ, the vessel containing water for arghya by chanting śirase svāhā, and the vessel containing water for washing the Lord's mouth by chanting śikhāyai vaṣaṭ. Also, the Gāyatrī mantra should be chanted for all three vessels.
    SB 11.27.23: The worshiper should meditate upon My subtle form — which is situated within the worshiper's own body, now purified by air and fire — as the source of all living entities. This form of the Lord is experienced by self-realized sages in the last part of the vibration of the sacred syllable oḿ.
    SB 11.27.24: The devotee conceives of the Supersoul, whose presence surcharges the devotee's body, in the form corresponding to his realization. Thus the devotee worships the Lord to his full capacity and becomes fully absorbed in Him. By touching the various limbs of the Deity and chanting appropriate mantras, the devotee should invite the Supersoul to join the Deity's form, and then the devotee should worship Me.
    SB 11.27.25-26: The worshiper should first imagine My seat as decorated with the personified deities of religion, knowledge, renunciation and opulence and with My nine spiritual energies. He should think of the Lord's sitting place as an eight-petaled lotus, effulgent on account of the saffron filaments within its whorl. Then, following the regulations of both the Vedas and the tantras, he should offer Me water for washing the feet, water for washing the mouth, arghya and other items of worship. By this process he achieves both material enjoyment and liberation.
    SB 11.27.27: One should worship, in order, the Lord's Sudarśana disc, His Pāńcajanya conchshell, His club, sword, bow, arrows and plow, His muṣala weapon, His Kaustubha gem, His flower garland and the Śrīvatsa curl of hair on His chest.
    SB 11.27.28: One should worship the Lord's associates Nanda and Sunanda, Garuḍa, Pracaṇḍa and Caṇḍa, Mahābala and Bala, and Kumuda and Kumudekṣaṇa.
    SB 11.27.29: With offerings such as prokṣaṇa one should worship Durgā, Vināyaka, Vyāsa, Viṣvaksena, the spiritual masters and the various demigods. All these personalities should be in their proper places facing the Deity of the Lord.
    SB 11.27.30-31: The worshiper should bathe the Deity every day, as opulently as his assets permit, using waters scented with sandalwood, uśīra root, camphor, kuńkuma and aguru. He should also chant various Vedic hymns, such as the anuvāka known as Svarṇa-gharma, the Mahāpuruṣa-vidyā, the Puruṣa-sūkta and various songs of the Sāma Veda, such as the Rājana and the Rohiṇya.
    SB 11.27.32: My devotee should then lovingly decorate Me with clothing, a brāhmaṇa thread, various ornaments, marks of tilaka and garlands, and he should anoint My body with fragrant oils, all in the prescribed manner.
    SB 11.27.33: The worshiper should faithfully present Me with water for washing My feet and mouth, fragrant oils, flowers and unbroken grains, along with incense, lamps and other offerings.
    SB 11.27.34: Within his means, the devotee should arrange to offer Me sugar candy, sweet rice, ghee, śaṣkulī [rice-flour cakes], āpūpa [various sweet cakes], modaka [steamed rice-flour dumplings filled with sweet coconut and sugar], saḿyāva [wheat cakes made with ghee and milk and covered with sugar and spices], yogurt, vegetable soups and other palatable foods.
    SB 11.27.35: On special occasions, and daily if possible, the Deity should be massaged with ointment, shown a mirror, offered a eucalyptus stick for brushing His teeth, bathed with the five kinds of nectar, offered all kinds of opulent foods, and entertained with singing and dancing.

    SB 11.27.46: Placing his head at the feet of the Deity, he should then stand with folded hands before the Lord and pray, "O my Lord, please protect me, who am surrendered unto You. I am most fearful of this ocean of material existence, standing as I am in the mouth of death."
    SB 11.27.47: Praying in this way, the devotee should respectfully place upon his head the remnants I offer to him. And if the particular Deity is meant to be sent away at the end of the worship, then this should be performed, the devotee once again placing the light of the Deity's presence inside the light of the lotus within his own heart.
    SB 11.27.48: Whenever one develops faith in Me — in My form as the Deity or in other bona fide manifestations — one should worship Me in that form. I certainly exist both within all created beings and also separately in My original form, since I am the Supreme Soul of all.
    SB 11.27.49: By worshiping Me through the various methods prescribed in the Vedas and tantras, one will gain from Me his desired perfection in both this life and the next.
    SB 11.27.50: The devotee should more fully establish My Deity by solidly constructing a temple, along with beautiful gardens. These gardens should be set aside to provide flowers for the regular daily worship, special Deity processions and holiday observances.
    SB 11.27.51: One who offers the Deity gifts of land, markets, cities and villages so that the regular daily worship and special festivals of the Deity may go on continually will achieve opulence equal to My own.
    SB 11.27.52: By installing the Deity of the Lord one becomes king of the entire earth, by building a temple for the Lord one becomes ruler of the three worlds, by worshiping and serving the Deity one goes to the planet of Lord Brahmā, and by performing all three of these activities one achieves a transcendental form like My own.
    SB 11.27.53: But one who simply engages in devotional service with no consideration of fruitive results attains Me. Thus whoever worships Me according to the process I have described will ultimately attain pure devotional service unto Me.


    In verses 36,37,38 of this chapter (SB 11.27.36,37,38) the Lord describes how one should perform hom-havan (Vedic sacrifice) AFTER the mUrti pUja-abhishek ,(i believe at, or outside the Temple),
    and invoke NArAyaN in the sacrificial fire.

    Recently i had this wonderful opportunity to attend and participate in a Yajna (Vedic sacrifice) at a Temple. Actually i went there to visit the svayambhu Lakshmi-Narsimha nearby, but the group i went with halted at this Dattatreya temple where they have 9 homa-kunda and 60+ people participated in the homa.

    This yajna was performed across the street from the temple after the morning puja abhishek, and is done every year around Datta jayanti.

    om namo bhagavate vAsudevAya
    Last edited by smaranam; 05 February 2013 at 06:38 PM. Reason: added 11.27.9 - who has authority
    || Shri KRshNArpaNamastu ||

  9. #9

    Re: Authority for Murti-worship ?

    Namaste

    Talking about "authority for Deity Worship",
    Only the 1) twice born
    2) who are given dikshA,
    have the authority to perform this elaborate vidhi that KRshNa describes, 3)plus it needs to be perfect,
    4)and to be learned from the diksha Guru.

    SB 11.27.9:
    arcāyāḿ sthaṇḍile 'gnau
    sūrye vāpsu hṛdi dvijaḥ
    dravyeṇa bhakti-yukto 'rcet
    sva-guruḿ mām amāyayā
    A twice-born person should worship Me, his worshipable Lord, without duplicity, offering appropriate paraphernalia in loving devotion to My Deity form or to a form of Me appearing upon the ground, in fire, in the sun, in water or within the worshiper's own heart.

    om namo bhagavate vAsudevAya ~
    || Shri KRshNArpaNamastu ||

  10. #10
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    Re: Authority for Murti-worship ?

    Thanks, Smaranam !

    OM
    "Om Namo Bhagvate Vaasudevaye"

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