does god have a form or god is nirakara? and is idol worship valid?
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does god have a form or god is nirakara? and is idol worship valid?
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God has a form. If you have seen a picture of lord Krishna to put it simple that is what he looks like. But his body is not material. He has no Flesh. He is a sprit. his body is Samvit sandini haladini shakti. but that he has a body that is a fact.
Hare Krsna
Does god have a form or god is nirakara ?
God has a transcendental form. God also has a manifestation that is formless. Sri Krsna is the Supreme personality of Godhead.
īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes. (Brahma Samhita 5.1)
The Supreme personality of Godhead Sri Krsna also has an impersonal manifestation that is also spiritual.
vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam
brahmeti paramātmeti
bhagavān iti śabdyate
Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān. (SB 1.2.11)
Is idol worship valid ?
Worship of idols like that of politicians on roads etc are not authorized by scriptures.
Worship of deities like Balaji deity in Tirupati temple or Sri Krsna deity in Udupi temple or Jagannatha deity in Puri is authorized & recommended.
An idol is just a carving of stone, wood or metal. Deity on the other hand is established by a bonafide vedic process of Prana pratishtha.
Hare Krsna
Hare KRsna Mataji,
PAMHO.
Does God have form or is nirakara - how do we know the answer to this? None of us can profess to have seen God. So does that mean that He is formless simply because we have not seen Him? We go to authority of scriptures. There is a particular scripture known as Brahma Samhita. IN this, Lord Brahma is praying to Krsna as follows: Isvara paramah Krsna Sat cidananda vigraha, anadir adi Govinda sarva karanah karanam.... meaning God is Krsna, He is full of knowledge, is eternal and full of bliss. He has form. He is the cause of all causes, the primeval God.
THis means that God has form, coming from Lord Brahma. As you may be aware, Brahma is the creator of the universe, parampita to all living entities in the universe. So if He says that He prays to KRsna, who is God and has form, we believe.
God is infact so merciful that if one prays to Him as formless, He accepts that also. The formless God is a light, that light is the effulgence from the lord. This is the primary realisation of God. If one sees the light and accepts that this light is only God, doesnt try to go beyond to find out the source of light, one thinks God to be formless. Krsna accepts such souls in his Brahmajyoti, where they remain between the material and spiritual worlds.
Idol worship is valid because it is allowed as per our scriptures. There are specifications of material of which the deity is made, the features, number of hands, what He is holding in each hand, clothes, ornaments - everything is mentioned in details in the scriptures. When a deity is made of these specifications, and proper prana pratishtha is done of the deities, They are recognised as forms of the lord and non different from the lord.
There are enough pastimes where the deities have reciprocated to the devotee - eg - Sakshi Gopal, Kheerchor Gopinath. 'Please ask if you have any further questions.
Haribol,
Your servant,
Radha Rasamayi DD