Vannakkam: Many devotees observe some sort of 'energy' in temples, around holy men, in nature sometimes, in crowds, etc. It's not at all well defined, other that 'some sort of energy', but does have names like shakti, or darshan attached to it. Some people don't believe this energy even exists, just as 400 years ago, nobody would have believed electricity existed in wires. A time traveller with a couple of batteries probably would have been put to death for practicing sorcery.
200 years or so ago, we learned to harness electricity, a different type of energy. We learned how to measure it. Same with gravity, electromagnetic fields, etc. None are visible to the human eye.
When people talk of a murthi being 'alive' or had its eye-opening ceremony done, it means that this energy is activated, something like the electrical switch being turned on. When you approach a bare copper wire connected on both ends to 'something', in a house, or elsewhere, like in a physics lab, you cannot tell whether or not it is 'live'. Most people know enough from studying electricity in school not to touch it, certainly not if there are two wires.
There are other subtle energies like pheromones, perhaps not measurable yet.
So do you think there will there be a day when scientists, from some ingenious discovery, can measure and/or harness shakti, darshan, or whatever you want to call it?
Aum Namasivaya
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