Murti's, temples and Pithas

[Singhi Kaya]

We hindu's worship the supreme using external murtis (I avoid using the term idol). We set up temples housing these murthis in specific places under strict guide lines. We all know and believe at the same time that God is not limited to murti or a place. This at the face of it appears contradictory, but I'm sure some of us are very well aware of the deep sceince behind using murti's and specifying paricular places for their geo-physical superiority as pithas and places to build temples. request all and the more knowledgable memebers of the forum to share light on this. This topic is of immense practical importance to ahindu. To outsiders this is what makes us different and often a object of ignorant redicule.

The theory I'm aware with regards to pithas or superior places of worship based on their geo-physical loaction is that, these are places where connection to higher planes of existence is more direct. Looks a bit new age? ...but let's do a little more philosophy. Monist hindu's consider the universe (the macroscom as well as microscom or our body) to be composed of 5 levels.
1.Annamaya~the gross universe of physcial particles. Or body
2.Pranamaya~the universe of energy. Or breadth
3.Manomaya~Mind. yes the unverse also has a mind
4.Vijanamaya~state of subtle interactions. every gross action in this world is actually a gross reflection of an interaction in the vijanmaya kosha. Eg when 2 persons fight or feel affections, it is a gross reflection of actually a corresponding action at this subtelest level. In essence this is the unverse at seed state. Bija.
5.Anandamaya~Blissfull state. starts with turiya.A the centre is the god head in active form. Represented by 8 para-shaktis which together represnt adya shakti or purushottama. Nirgun Brahma is another aspect of this level of existence which stays when all other 4 levels are not there. This is God.

We live with our conciousness attached to Annamaya kosha or material world. Pranamaya kosha is the agent which trasmits information between the higher koshas in particular vijanmaya kosha and this world. This is the occult aspect of pranayama. Prana is the means by which God rulez the world. without going more into psychology, the theory behind having siddha pithas is that "energy fields" connecting higher vijanmaya and anadamaya kosha to the material universe is more pronounced in these locations. There are similar centres in our body~some referred as chakras.

Similar theory holds for murti puja. Prana Prathista or establishing a life in the idol is the first step when worshiping a murti. This just means setting up a energy connection and the muri becomes a medium to higher occult worlds.

Murti also has another philosohic aspect~and deep philosophies are conveyed through murti dhyanas~but this cannot be justification of external worship of murtis which has deep occult significance.

In summary our arya ancestors were nothing less than sceintists and most of even ritualistic aspects of dharma are not wishful thinking or childish customs s many would think.

I request more knowledgable persons to shed light on this aspect with reference to sastras so that this becomes a knowledgebase of the science of murti puja and temples.

[Jade Bridge]

[quote=Singhi Kaya]We hindu's worship the supreme using external murtis (I avoid using the term idol). We set up temples housing these murthis in specific places under strict guide lines. We all know and believe at the same time that God is not limited to murti or a place. This at the face of it appears contradictory, but I'm sure some of us are very well aware of the deep sceince behind using murti's and specifying paricular places for their geo-physical superiority as pithas and places to build temples. request all and the more knowledgable memebers of the forum to share light on this. This topic is of immense practical importance to ahindu. To outsiders this is what makes us different and often a object of ignorant redicule.

It is actually because of what you say above that I think makes Hinduism the perfect religion I tried to be a "good Christian" and while I liked the whole ritual of praying , I just could not get my heart to love the Christian deity. I had preferred his mother Mary and the patron saint of animals, St Francis!! It wasn't at all hard for me to fall in love with Ganesha, Durga Maa, Shiva, Hanuman and Rama. I don't have the same joy with Krishna, Laxmi, etc and that is o.k. nobody is going to tell me I'm wrong. That is what is different and what is wonderful about it.