What exactly is idol worship?

Hare Krishna,

What exactly is an idol worship?

From Back to Godhead

By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Lecture given on July 16, 1969, in Los Angeles

A talk given on the occasion of the installation of the deities Sri Sri Rukmini Dvarakanatha.

This function of installing the deity is authorized. Several times I have given the example that when you put your mail in a box on the street, because it is written there “US Mail” you know that it is an authorized box. And if you put your letters within this box, they will surely reach the destination. The post office will work. So there is no difference between the huge post office building and that small box, because it is authorized.

Similarly, the difference between idol worship and deity worship is like that. Unless the authorized process is accepted, it is idol worship. That is the general rule. If somebody thinks, “There is a box, red and blue, on the street. Why shall I go to that box? Let me have a similar box at my door, and it will be cleared by the postman because it is blue and red,” oh, that will not be. Because the box you put at your door is not authorized.

Similarly, we have to worship the deity according to the authorized system. In our Gaudiya-sampradaya there is an authorized system given by the Gosvamis, and that is presented in a big book called Hari-bhakti-vilasa. Everything is stated there, especially how a Vaishnava family should perform its religious functions.

No Rubber-stamped Devotees
We are introducing deity worship in this temple, but actually the deity can be worshiped only by the bona fide brahmanas. There was agitation in India, perhaps you know, when Gandhi stamped some persons as harijana, or “God’s people.” They were bhangis – sweepers, or cleaners of the toilet room. The British government was creating factions – high caste, low caste. So Gandhi thought, “I shall make these bhangis harijanas, great devotees.” But simply by rubber-stamping, how can they become devotees? That is not possible. Without following the pañcaratriki-vidhi, they remain the same unclean drunkards or people with many nonsense habits. Simply by rubber-stamping they become harijana? No.

Here, what we are doing, is not rubber-stamping. We are actually training according to the pañcaratriki-vidhi. We are training our students to become brahmanas: to refrain from four kinds of sinful activities, to take bath regularly, and so on. And above all, they are chanting Hare Krishna, which cleanses away all sinful activities. In this way a harijana can be made, but you cannot just pick some nonsense person with bad habits and rubber-stamp him “harijana.” No. There must be a process.

There is no hindrance for anyone to become a harijana, God’s person, or a devotee. Hari means God, Krishna, and jana means His person. Just as we have government servants, harijana means the servant of the Supreme Lord. That is not an ordinary thing. There is no harm in creating harijanas by a regular process, but you cannot make harijanas simply by stamping.

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There is a wax meusum called Madame Tussaude, lot of hero heroines super models are made into wax statues. They are idols. They cannot become deity.

can they?

There is no life in them.

But when we get Idol of Krishna from a shop which is made of brass, wood or earth or marble it is also just a murti or idol.

But then we do devotional service and invoke the Lord into the idol by a specific processess called Praan Prathisthapana procedure done by brahminas. The idol becomes a deity a worshippable because.. we invoked the Lord into it. Now Lord is coming and sitting into the Vigraha to partake whatever you are offering ( flowers, fruits, naivedya your emotions ) bhaav bhi grahan karke respond karte hai ab kyon ki tumne bhagwan ko mantron se wahan pe viraajmaan kiya hai.

There is a specfic way in which this is done. You saw that Lord Shri Rama of Ayodhya the new deity when it was brought and how the praan prathistapana procedure done before installing there in the center. Before the procedure it is just an idol. Now it is deity.

When we worship a idol without doing this it is of no use it is just going nowhere.

for all idols of Lord which cross the size of your palm they require Praan Prathisthapan procedure without which the idol is just a just a show peice for decorating your house.

Hare Krishna

Replies

Gayatri December 15, 2025 at 10:36pm

Hare Krishna,

What exactly is an idol worship?

From Back to Godhead

By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Lecture given on July 16, 1969, in Los Angeles

A talk given on the occasion of the installation of the deities Sri Sri Rukmini Dvarakanatha.

This function of installing the deity is authorized. Several times I have given the example that when you put your mail in a box on the street, because it is written there “US Mail” you know that it is an authorized box. And if you put your letters within this box, they will surely reach the destination. The post office will work. So there is no difference between the huge post office building and that small box, because it is authorized.

Similarly, the difference between idol worship and deity worship is like that. Unless the authorized process is accepted, it is idol worship. That is the general rule. If somebody thinks, “There is a box, red and blue, on the street. Why shall I go to that box? Let me have a similar box at my door, and it will be cleared by the postman because it is blue and red,” oh, that will not be. Because the box you put at your door is not authorized.

Similarly, we have to worship the deity according to the authorized system. In our Gaudiya-sampradaya there is an authorized system given by the Gosvamis, and that is presented in a big book called Hari-bhakti-vilasa. Everything is stated there, especially how a Vaishnava family should perform its religious functions.

No Rubber-stamped Devotees
We are introducing deity worship in this temple, but actually the deity can be worshiped only by the bona fide brahmanas. There was agitation in India, perhaps you know, when Gandhi stamped some persons as harijana, or “God’s people.” They were bhangis – sweepers, or cleaners of the toilet room. The British government was creating factions – high caste, low caste. So Gandhi thought, “I shall make these bhangis harijanas, great devotees.” But simply by rubber-stamping, how can they become devotees? That is not possible. Without following the pañcaratriki-vidhi, they remain the same unclean drunkards or people with many nonsense habits. Simply by rubber-stamping they become harijana? No.

Here, what we are doing, is not rubber-stamping. We are actually training according to the pañcaratriki-vidhi. We are training our students to become brahmanas: to refrain from four kinds of sinful activities, to take bath regularly, and so on. And above all, they are chanting Hare Krishna, which cleanses away all sinful activities. In this way a harijana can be made, but you cannot just pick some nonsense person with bad habits and rubber-stamp him “harijana.” No. There must be a process.

There is no hindrance for anyone to become a harijana, God’s person, or a devotee. Hari means God, Krishna, and jana means His person. Just as we have government servants, harijana means the servant of the Supreme Lord. That is not an ordinary thing. There is no harm in creating harijanas by a regular process, but you cannot make harijanas simply by stamping.

--------------------------------------------------

There is a wax meusum called Madame Tussaude, lot of hero heroines super models are made into wax statues. They are idols. They cannot become deity.

can they?

There is no life in them.

But when we get Idol of Krishna from a shop which is made of brass, wood or earth or marble it is also just a murti or idol.

But then we do devotional service and invoke the Lord into the idol by a specific processess called Praan Prathisthapana procedure done by brahminas. The idol becomes a deity a worshippable because.. we invoked the Lord into it. Now Lord is coming and sitting into the Vigraha to partake whatever you are offering ( flowers, fruits, naivedya your emotions ) bhaav bhi grahan karke respond karte hai ab kyon ki tumne bhagwan ko mantron se wahan pe viraajmaan kiya hai.

There is a specfic way in which this is done. You saw that Lord Shri Rama of Ayodhya the new deity when it was brought and how the praan prathistapana procedure done before installing there in the center. Before the procedure it is just an idol. Now it is deity.

When we worship a idol without doing this it is of no use it is just going nowhere.

for all idols of Lord which cross the size of your palm they require Praan Prathisthapan procedure without which the idol is just a just a show peice for decorating your house.

Hare Krishna

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