Idol worship (Conv and Letters)

Expressions researched:
"idol is being worshiped" |"idol they are worshiping" |"idol worship" |"idol worshiper" |"idol worshipers" |"idolatrous worshipers" |"idols that we must worship" |"worship an idol" |"worship idol" |"worship idols" |"worshiping an idol" |"worshiping idol" |"worshiping one idol" |"worshiping some idol" |"worshiping the idol"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "idol* worship*"@5

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Garden Conversation -- June 14, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: You can see by every one of us in this temple, like that. There will be, as the gopīs said, that "Since You are here, the opulences, all opulences are there." Since You are in the temple, since Kṛṣṇa is present there, all opulences will be. Just see that in the temple since Kṛṣṇa is present there, all opulences is there. If you think that this is idol worship, that is another thing. Kṛṣṇa is present here. You should believe like the gopīs, then everything (indistinct).

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 12, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Śravaṇam kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanaṁ (SB 7.5.23). This is arcanā. Just like we perform in the morning, in the evening, at noon, arcā-vigraha. Viṣṇu, arcayam, Viṣṇu. It is not idol worship. Arcayaṁ viṣṇu-śilā-dhiḥ. If one thinks the arcā-mūrti, the worshipable Deity in the temple, as stone or as wood, arcayaṁ viṣṇu-śilā-dhiḥ guruṣu nara-matiḥ...

Morning Walk -- June 12, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Because Kṛṣṇa is everything, that does not mean I have to worship the dog. That you worship. Because you are impersonalist, you worship dog. And you are doing that. In the morning, you take a dog and worship it. That is your business. Our business is to worship the form of Kṛṣṇa. That is the, required. (pause)

Bhagavān: Could we say that anyone who is engaged in glorifying the body is actually engaged in idol worship?

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Bhagavān: Anyone who's engaged in...

Prabhupāda: That is already answered. Kṛṣṇa says, "The body is Myself, but still, I am not there." So you cannot say by worshiping your body, you're worshiping Kṛṣṇa. At that time, he's not there, although the body's also Kṛṣṇa.

Room Conversation with Devotees -- July 2, 1974, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Produce millions of TV machine. Simple they are used for wasting time. One or two or five made for some important business. Now they are producing millions of sets. They must sell. And people are induced to purchase. And as soon as they purchase, they simply see television. Idol worship.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- November 30, 1975, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: How they can worship? The worship is done by devotee. Unless you create devotee, where is the question of worshiping? Without devotee it is idol worship. There is no life. And without life, how can you pull on artificially? Aprāṇasya hi dehasya mandanam loka-rañjanam. Which way I shall go?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 11, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Unless there is devotee, where is God? God is not a stone. Any stone is God? Unless there is devotees, there's no God. Therefore, without devotee: the idol, this is idol worship. That is not worship. Therefore they cannot understand what is the form, what is the distinction between form of the Lord and idol. They do not know how to worship in devotion.

Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:

Guest (4): Could I ask you another question? Could I ask you another question? You've been hitting on some of the Ten Commandments tonight like "Thou shall not kill." Now, if you believe the Ten Commandments like that, it also says in there that you shouldn't worship idols, bow down to idols.

Prabhupāda: Yes, we don't worship idol. We worship God.

Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: So you criticize the person who is keeping the statue within a temple, "the heathen worship, idol worship," and you keep your father's statue exposed for passing stool on his head.

Evening Darsana -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Woman guest (2): Could you... Do you think you could explain to me about the Deities and how it's different from idol worship? Because no one has been able to explain that to my understanding.

Prabhupāda: Idol means your imagination. And Deity is not imaginary. Deity is installed by the authorized person and it is worshiped according to authorized methods. So it is not idol. Idol worship, you imagine something and, some doll or idol, and do in your own way, that is idol worship.

Morning Walk -- December 5, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: You are seeing also Kṛṣṇa, but because you have no love, therefore you cannot appreciate how we are seeing. If you love some person you keep his photograph on the breast. Is it not? So you are seeing Kṛṣṇa in the temple, but because you have no love you think that "I am not seeing Him." That is the defect. They are seeing Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise why they have sacrificed everything for worshiping Kṛṣṇa, for dressing Kṛṣṇa, for feeding Kṛṣṇa? They are seeing Kṛṣṇa. They are not wasting their time. But you have no love for Kṛṣṇa. You're thinking that "They have not seen Kṛṣṇa. They are worshiping an idol." That is the difference.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: "God is dead." So it is like that. By breaking the Deity, he thinks that "Now Hindu's Kṛṣṇa is dead now, finished. We have finished." (laughs) But does it mean that he has broken the Deity, therefore Kṛṣṇa is finished? But he thinks like that, "Yes, we have finished the Hindu Deity." So that he will continue his foolishness that "These people worship idol and we can break that, finish." This is the answer.

Room Conversation with Two Indian Guests -- January 27, 1977, Jagannatha Puri:

Guest (1): No, I mean desires... Just like your idol worship. Idol worship is not actually fruitless or anything. It's only to imagine God in it and just to have the concentration.

Prabhupāda: No, but idol worship is... These atheists, they say "idol worship," but we do not say. The... Here is Sākṣi-Gopāla. You know the story, Sākṣi-Gopāla? Two brāhmaṇas? So he never saw that He is idol. He saw Kṛṣṇa. So he said, "Kṛṣṇa, before You this man has promised. Now he's declining. So please come and give witness." And that is Sākṣi-Gopāla. So for a devotee, no. There is no idol.

Room Conversation with Two Indian Guests -- January 27, 1977, Jagannatha Puri:

Guest (1): No idol. No, that idol is actually, they are planned to...

Prabhupāda: No, no, that is actually happened. The so-called idol, He went to be witness. He came from Vṛndāvana to Cuttack. So "idol worship" is they say. But devotee... Just like people are coming by thousands to see Jagannātha. Do they come to see idol? Wooden Jagannātha? They come to see real Jagannātha, Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise why they will spend so much money and take so much trouble and come here? The atheists may say, "How foolish they are. They are coming here to see a wooden figure and spending so much money." That is the statement of the atheist. But a devotee comes to see—"Kṛṣṇa is here." Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu saw—immediately fainted.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Syamasundara -- Los Angeles 15 July, 1969:

Our Deity worship is not heathenism. If we keep Forms of the Lord without worshiping the Deity under regulative principles, it will gradually turn into idol worship, which is an offense. The Deity of the Lord and the Lord Himself are identical. Krishna can act through the Deity perfectly.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Trivikrama -- Vrindaban 8 September, 1976:

Unless one understands what is Krishna they will simply accuse us of having idol worship. They must first understand the science of Krsna then they may appreciate the temple. So go and and distribute as many books as possible.