Page 10 - Dawn of Reality an Exposition of REALITY AT DAWN of Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj

no worship at all. They only play the part of a labourer, so to say, and at the close they get their day’s wages for the physical labour done. The solid material form of God entertained by them in the mind and worshipped with faith and devotion leads to internal grossness and if the practice continues for a long time they become more and more solid, barring their approach to Reality. The result in such cases is evident to almost every eye. Ancient sages finding worship of the Immaterial Absolute, a difficult task for the masses to start with, had devised certain convenient means for their uplift. They made a start by taking up something apparent in the solid form, which the masses could easily grasp or understand. Now the things, which could be easily grasped or understood, were different for different people. For the people of the lowest standard they adopted something in the apparently solid form. For others, more elevated, some abstract form, e.g., splendour, light or any godly attribute was introduced to start with. For highly cultured minds a subtle idea of God was enough. Thus it was only for the people of the lowest standard that they had adopted the solid form such as picture or image and that too only as a temporary measure. When they attained some progress they gave it up and embarked upon the next stage, taking up a finer form. It is just like teaching writing to a baby making her move her pen along the prints of letters. After a little practice the process is given up and the baby is able to write independently without the help of the prints. Thus the solid form or the image was to be adopted by beginners for a time only, after which, they came to the next stage. Besides, the image set up for the purpose was fully charged with the spiritual force so that those sitting by, in devotion and worship, gained some of its through constant radiation. Now persons of caliber, having the power to infuse into the image the spiritual force, are rare, although the process of Pran Pratishta still continues as a matter of mere formality. The result is that the places and images thus charged thousands of years ago, have by this time, almost lost all their effect and consequently no practical gain is derived by those going there for devotion and worship. It is, however, beyond doubt that the process was introduced only for the people of the lowest standard with little brain who could not otherwise devote themselves to the Lord in any way. It is but certain that the practice, if tenaciously followed to the last, defeats its very purpose and does not provide any spiritual advantage. Saint Kabir has nicely expressed the idea in the following lines: -
“If by worshipping stone one can reach God I shall be ready to worship a mountain. But for this purpose the grinding-stone which grinds the corn to feed the world may be better.”
To my view those who stick to this sort of worship throughout their life, are wading deep through the mire of ungodliness. It is extremely difficult to extricate them out of it. In course of time after constant practice they become