Concept of form-worship in Hinduism:
According to Hinduism, worship by forms like idol worship is neither prohibited nor inspired. It is wishable.
"Whoever resorts to Me in any manner(form or formless worship), in the same manner do I favour them; men experience Me alone in different ways..." (Bhagabat Gita, 4:11)
"Even those who are devoted to other divinities(god or goddess) with faith in their heart, worship Me alone...."
(Bhagabat Gita, 9:23)
**But it is considered a lower type of worship.**
"Controlled by their inherent nature and deprived of knowledge by various desires, worldly-minded men resort to other gods, observing various disciplines"
(Bhagabat Gita, 7:20)
"Deep into shade of blinding gloom fall 'Asambhuti's worshippers'(those who worship natural elements).
They sink to darkness deeper yet who on Sambhuti(human made things for worship like idols, symbols etc) are intent"
(White Yajurveda, 40:9;
tr. Ralph T.H. Griffith; source - http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/wyv/wyvbk40.htm)
Furthermore we are giving two more translations of Yajur Veda, 40:9 below:
Translation by Dr. Tulsi Ram:
"Down into the darkest dark do they fall who worship only the primordial prakriti. Still deeper and darker do they fall who worship only the existential forms and are lost therein."
(Yajurveda, 40:9,
translated by Dr. Tulsi Ram)
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.
Translation by Devi Chand:
"Abandoning God, deep into the shade of blinding gloom fall the
worshippers of eternal, unborn Matter. They sink to darkness deeper yet who are engaged in the material pleasures of the world."
(The Yajurveda, 40:9;
translated by Devi Chand)
In commentary of Yajurveda, 40:9, Devi Chand has written:
"They who worship the eternal uncreated matter are spiritually degraded, and are put to suffering. Those who worship and enjoy the material objects of the world are
more degraded. God alone is worthy of worship.
Asambhuti is undeveloped Prakriti, Nature in its causal or germinal state when it has not been evolved as the universe which is the
effect. It is also called tamas, darkness or chaos. This worship is mere blindness, and ignorance."
[Commentary of Yajurveda 40:9 by Devi Chand]
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Swami Vivekananda concludes form-worship like this way:
""External worship, material worship," say the scriptures, "is the lowest stage; struggling to rise high, mental prayer is the next stage, but the highest stage is when the Lord has been realised.""
.
(The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Addresses at The Parliament of Religions/Paper on Hinduism;
source - https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volume_1/Addresses_at_The_Parliament_of_Religions/Paper_on_Hinduism)
.
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But Why Islam does not accept such worship by forms????
ANSWER:-
=>Vedic philosophy is contradicted to Islamic monotheism:-
a) Everything as the portion of Param Atma(The Supreme Soul):
According to vedic religion or Hinduism, GOD is considered as "Param Atma"(The Supreme Soul) who created everything from His own portion.[1]
"He(the divine Self-existence or God), desiring to produce beings of many kinds from his own body...."
(Manusmriti, 01:08)
"The Supreme Person(God) in whom all beings abide and by whom all this is pervaded...."
(Bhagabat Gita, 8:22)
“And when you have thus learned the truth, you will know that all living beings are but part of Me-and that they are in Me, and are Mine.”
(Bhagabat Gita, 4:35)
b)Only souls are eternal according to Hinduism:
According to Hinduism, souls which are the part of God is eternal and other things like body, matter etc are damagable.
"...It(soul or supreme soul) is eternal, all-pervading..."
(Bhagabat Gita, 2:24)
"It(soul) is never born; It never dies....Unborn, eternal, abiding and primeval, It is not slain when the body is slain"
(Bhagabat Gita, 2:20)
For this, the souls in the living creatures are considered in the bondage of illusion. To be free from such bondage and to return to the previous divine source or to mix with God, souls need to be purified by being seperated from all worldly desires and wants. For this, the first stage in hinduism is considered as form-worship where one worships by an idol or image or worships a personality or natural elements etc considering all as the part or manifestation of the same God. Then gradually it comes meditation and other process without form when the mind is more matured.
c)Islamic view:
Islamic monotheism does not accept such view. According to Islam, Allah is the Almighty and He is not "Param Atma"(The Supreme Soul), rather Allah is the Creator of all the souls and the universe. Allah does not create anything from His own portion, but He creates from nothing. Allah just gives His order "be" and then it becomes(it is created). So the creation is actually the result of the commandments or order of Almighty Allah.
"...when He(Allah, the Almighty) determines a matter, He only says to it, "Be", and it is"
[Al-Quran, 19:35]
In the actual concept, Islam says that human and animals have souls, plants and planets etc have no soul and Allah is the Creator of all the souls and everything in the universe. For this, we do not consider souls eternal, Allah(s.w.t) is al-hayy(ever-living). Allah can destroy anything including souls also if He wishes.
"All that is on earth will perish: But will abide [for ever] the Face of thy Lord,- full of Majesty, Bounty and Honour."
(Al-Quran, 55:26-27)
As Allah creates everything, we consider them as just the creation and thats why worship of forms is a worship of creation to us. According to physics, the total amount of both energy and matter is constant and we can not create or destroy any matter or energy, we can only transform one thing to another. And same thing is said in the Vedic Philosophy that the whole Creation is part or manifestation of God and it is not actually created or destroyed, but it is transformed from one form to another. But we Muslims believe that whatever matter, energy or manifestation of any other power it may be, Allah is the ultimate Creator and Controller of all these things.
"He(Allah) to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth: no son has He begotten, nor has He a partner in His dominion: it is He who created all things, and ordered them in due proportions.
Yet have they taken, besides him, gods that can create nothing but are themselves created; that have no control of hurt or good to themselves; nor can they control death nor life nor resurrection."
(Al-Quran, 25:02-03)
(Idol worship can be different types, for details, visit - http://www.submission.info/perspectives/monotheism/idolworship.html)
[1] Hindu philosophy says that Purusa or Param Atma has made the universe from His own portion or Divine Body.
Manusmriti, 01:08 says,
“He(Purusa or Param Atma), desiring to produce beings of many kinds from his own body….”
So, the universe is actually a transformation of the portion of Param Atma.
According to physics, the whole amount of matter and energy is fixed. It can not be created or destroyed, just can be transformed from one to another.
Now if a chair is made of wood of a tree, then the chair is actually a transformation of the wood of the tree, it is not actually a new creation in the universe. Here wood is raw material and chair is a new product, but both the elements or the matter of chair or wood is fixed. So making chair is not actually a new creation.
Similarly, if Purusa or Param Atma makes the universe by transforming His own portion, then it will also not be considered a new creation. Here like the wood of the chair, we can also consider the "Purusa" or "Param Atma" just as raw material, not any Creator.
So it is very clear that Hinduism fails to say about the ultimate Creator.Though one may call God as "Siva", " Krishna", "Bhagwan", " Param Atma" etc, from Islamic point of view, there is no description of Actual Creator in Hinduism.
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You can read the 2nd part of this article here:
http://uniqueislamblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/why-islam-prohibits-worship-by-forms_13.html?m=1
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