Deities play an important part in most temples of Krishna. But
what is the significance of Deities and Deity worship? One thing to
understand is that all the images or Deities in the Vedic pantheon,
as found in the temples, are made according to explicit details and
instructions found in the Vedic texts. Then they are installed in
the temple in an elaborate ceremony wherein the Divine
personalities are called to appear in the form of the Deity. Some
of the Deities are demigods, while others, such as Krishna, Vishnu,
or Ramachandra, are forms displaying various pastimes of the
Supreme Being.
Some people, however, do not believe that God has a form. But
many verses in the Puranas and particularly the Brahma-samhita
establish that the Supreme Being does have specific forms according
to His pastimes. These texts also describe His variegated features,
which include His spiritual shape, characteristics, beauty,
strength, intelligence, activities, etc. Therefore, it is
considered that the authorized Deities of the Supreme that are
shaped according to these descriptions provide a view of the
personal form of God.
Those who have no knowledge of God or His form will certainly
consider the temple Deities as idols. But this is because they
think that the Deities are simply the products of someone’s
imagination. Of course, there are those who say that God has no
form, spiritual or material, or that there is no Supreme Being.
Others think that since God must be formless, they can imagine or
worship any material form as God, or they regard any image as
merely an external representations of the Supreme. But images such
as those of the demigods are not additional forms of an impersonal
God, nor are they equal to God. All such people who think in the
above mentioned ways have resorted to their own imagination to
reach such conclusions and are, therefore, idolaters. The imaginary
images and opinions of God that are formed by those who have not
properly learned about, seen, or realized God are indeed idols, and
those who accept such images or opinions are certainly idolaters.
This is because these images or opinions are based on ignorance and
are not a true likeness of the Supreme Being’s personal form.
Nonetheless, God is described in the Vedic literature, which
explains that God is sat-chit-ananda vigraha, or the form of
complete spiritual essence, full of eternity, knowledge, and bliss,
and is not material in any way. His body, soul, form, qualities,
names, pastimes, etc., are all nondifferent and are of the same
spiritual quality. This form of God is not an idol designed from
someone’s imagination, but is the true form, even if He should
descend into this material creation. And since the spiritual nature
of God is absolute, He is nondifferent from His name. Thus, the
name Krishna is an avatara or incarnation of Krishna in the form of
sound. Similarly, His form in the temple is not merely a
representation, but is also qualitatively the same as Krishna as
the archa-vigraha, or the worshipable form.
Some people may question that if the Deity is made from
material elements, such as stone, marble, metal, wood, or paint,
how can it be the spiritual form of God? The answer is given that
since God is the source of all material and spiritual energies,
material elements are also a form of God. Therefore, God can
manifest as the Deity in the temple, though made of stone or other
elements, since He can transform what is spiritual into material
energy, and material energy back into spiritual energy. Thus, the
Deity can easily be accepted as the Supreme since He can appear in
any element as He chooses. In this way, even though we may be
unqualified to see God, who is beyond the perceptibility of our
material senses, the living beings in this material creation are
allowed to see and approach the Supreme through His archa-vigraha
form as the worshipable Deity in the temple. This is considered His
causeless mercy on the materially conditioned living beings.
In this manner, the Supreme Being gives Himself to His
devotees so they can become absorbed in serving, remembering and
meditating on Him. Thus, the Supreme comes to dwell in the temple,
and the temple becomes the spiritual abode on earth. In time, the
body, mind and senses of the devotee become spiritualized by
serving the Deity, and the Supreme becomes fully manifest to him or
her. Worshiping the Deity of the Supreme and using one’s senses in
the process of bhakti-yoga, devotional service to the Supreme,
provides a means for one’s true essential spiritual nature to
unfold. The devotee becomes spiritually realized and the Deities
reveal Their spiritual nature to the sincere souls according to
their spiritual development. This can continue up to the level in
which the Supreme Being in the form of the Deity engages in a
personal relationship and performs reciprocal, loving pastimes with
the devotee, as has previously taken place with other advanced
individuals.
At this stage, having darshan or seeing the Deity is not
simply a matter of looking at the Deity in the temple, but to one
who is spiritually realized it is a matter of experiencing the
Deity and entering into a personal, reciprocal relationship with
the Supreme Personality in the form of the Deity. At that stage,
you may view the Deity, but the Deity also gazes at you, and then
there is a spiritual exchange wherein the Deity begins to reveal
His personality to you. This is what separates those who are
experienced from those who are not, or those who can delve into
this spiritual exchange and those who may still be trying to figure
it out. For those who have experienced such an exchange with the
Supreme or His Deity, at this stage the worship of the Supreme
Being in the Deity moves up to a whole different level, with no
limits as to the spiritual love that can be shared between the
devotee and the Deity.
