29.06.06
Why should a young woman’s touching the idol of Sabarimala mean its defilement? How can God be defiled, particularly by His devotees?
Why should a young woman’s touching the idol of Sabarimala mean its defilement? How can God be defiled, particularly by His devotees?
Such questions are valid only if the idol of Sabarimala is indeed God. God, by definition, being the absolute, total, infinite – the creator and all that, cannot be contained within a mere idol. In fact, God cannot be contained even by all of man’s capacity to imagine or express himself. It must necessarily be so for that is our very definition of God - the absolute. Since we are finite and need to comprehend the infinite (which is the most intriguing phenomenon of all – how has man come to realize that he is finite and how arose his eternal fascination with the infinite?), we need to have symbols as our jumping stones to a final leap into the infinite. Let us understand that idol worship is one such stepping stone towards man’s eternal journey towards the destination that lies beyond the borders of his most fertile imaginations. In that journey, which is not merely a linear one, but a multi-dimensional one, idols such as Sabarimala’s are hallowed sacred re-charge centres that should not be defiled.
Now that the defilement has taken place, there is no other go but to perform the purificatory rituals that have been prescribed by the sages who have taken all possible and probable failings of man (and woman!) into consideration and laid down the way out of such pitfalls.
The idols are thus man’s precious help in reaching God and if the idols are destroyed or faith in them shaken, those who have taken the path of idols to God will find themselves lost in the midst of the journey.
Of course, it can be argued that if one pathway is closed, there are other pathways. Sure there are – thanks to the culture of acceptance of different pathways to God. But beware of people who argue so. They will lead you finally, after closing all other pathways, to their 'unique' path to God. That’s precisely the danger – if there is just one pre-determined path, then we turn out to be regimented soilders marching to defeat those who don't want to take that path, instead of free-thinking pilgrims on our own path towards divinity and peace onto mankind .
Therefore, while we can question the logic and desirability of the idea of 'defilement of God’, we have no right to stop anyone from believing such a view, so long as such a view is not something that can be said to be a view that is a defilement of mankind or its values.
The idols are thus man’s precious help in reaching God and if the idols are destroyed or faith in them shaken, those who have taken the path of idols to God will find themselves lost in the midst of the journey.
Of course, it can be argued that if one pathway is closed, there are other pathways. Sure there are – thanks to the culture of acceptance of different pathways to God. But beware of people who argue so. They will lead you finally, after closing all other pathways, to their 'unique' path to God. That’s precisely the danger – if there is just one pre-determined path, then we turn out to be regimented soilders marching to defeat those who don't want to take that path, instead of free-thinking pilgrims on our own path towards divinity and peace onto mankind .
Therefore, while we can question the logic and desirability of the idea of 'defilement of God’, we have no right to stop anyone from believing such a view, so long as such a view is not something that can be said to be a view that is a defilement of mankind or its values.
The sense of defilement of an idol is a sense that arose in the culture of man’s sincere attempts to journey on into the stratosphere of greater understanding of God and fulfillment in God.
