The meaning of Idol ( Vigraha in Sanskrit ) in Hinduism ?

Question

Are Idols just pointers in Hinduism ?

Perhaps in Sanskrit its said, "Viseshal Grahyathe ithi Vigraha", somewhat meaning An Idol is an adjective of God, thru which some aspects of God can be understood and identified.

Is Idol something like an adjective of God, which explains God in someway as adjectives explain the next word, the Bigger thing, with a theme Is and Beyond ?

The same way an adjective explains a thing, but the thing is and much more than the Adjective.

For example "The Sweet Sweet". The Sweet is Sweet, but can be of Jaggery, Sugar or Ghee or all together. Does the adjective Sweet praising the Noun Sweet, the relation between the Adjective Idol (Vigraha) and the Noun God ?

What are your thoughts in this regard ?

Only the thoughtful need to answer ...

May read "The sweet Sweet"

Vigrha is the Sanskrit Word for Idol, (Its perhaps not same as Viagra.)

Here One link into aspects of the Totally Unrestricted God..

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiFjECkB9alKn3pi95IO5HQjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20060822193746AAMbVNv

SAI RAM

So many thoughtful and thought provoking answers answerers. jk can not pick a single best, so let it go for a vote ..

SAI RAM to ALL...

Answer 1

The rituals in a Pooja such as invoking god into a vigraha, giving sacred bath to with chanting, decoration, offering food and waving lamp to the Vigraha helps the seekers to internalize the spiritual energy. Also, the seekers can make connections though five senses to focus their mind on God. A Vedic Hindu festival is significant in several ways namely, spiritual, philosophical, religious and socio-cultural. Celebrations of various festivals have sustained the dynamic nature of Vedic Hindu values and culture.

The icons or Vigrahas of Gods and Goddesses also help the seekers to focus on the concepts. These icons are not imaginations but they are manifestations of the Supreme Being in the inner Yogic visions of the seers. Thus the icons depict the divine forces in a visible form.

For example see an idol or picture of Goddess Saraswati, the Goddess of speech, music and knowledge. She is seated on a lotus denoting the heart. In Her right hand, the rosary (akshamala) represents the alphabets of a language (Sanskrit). The musical instrument (Veena) represents the spinal cord important in physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of life. The book in Her left hand denotes the knowledge. The swan as Her vehicle represents the devotee. The peacock signifies the joy of knowledge. She is clad in white cloths to indicate the purity in pursuit of knowledge. Similarly, we can see the qualities and other aspects of each deity in their idols, which are derived from our Vedic Cultures. Thus we can see that deity worship is an important means to internalize and develop the spiritual insight.-

Answer 2

Check this out... its not really an answer but a response to what you wrote.

about 500 years ago there was a Brahman man named

Sri Adwaitacarya

.... ok......... why am I telling you this.???

Because he lived in India... were there are many people acting like they are worshiping Vigraha... Idol.... deity.

When ever he would go before some ones Idol... if they were being properly worshiped... meaning that they really felt the presence of the Deity of the Vigraha ( such as Shiva, Durga, and Visnu avataras...)

when he would pay his pranam there would be no problem...

what do I mean by problem...

When he would go into a home or temple that was not bonified... false... ( which would be considered and Idol... not Vigraha... )

when he would pranam to the false Vigraha... the Idol would crumble.

He was well know for this quality.

Pretty cool !

If Sri Adwaitacarya showed up you better hope you religion and Vigraha wasn't false... or it may just crumble before your very eyes.

FE

Answer 3

An idol is just a statue of something, be it an animal, human or God. A Vigraha is a statue of a deity into which the Shakti or power of that particular deity has been invoked. This invocation of a deity into a statue can be done with a Prana Prathishta pooja or by Mantra Japa for the idol. Once these poojas have been performed, the idol is an embodiment of the deity so is called a Vigraha and can be worshipped.

Answer 4

Interestingly, in Sanskrit, 'vigraha vakya' provides a dissection of 'compound words' to help in understanding the connotations of the word, to help in grasping the purport of the word fully! Now, if one looks at the word 'vigraha', esp. with the 'apagradhana' or analysis provided by you through the explanation of the prefix 'viseshena' (or, 'viseshat'), and the root 'grah', (thank you for that, and, for the great thought behind a question like this that keeps some level and triggers off some mind agitation of a higher kind!), the meaning that occurs to one (an average lay-man like me!), is that a vigraha helps one to attribute 'guna' of a shape and figure to the God who may be 'nirguna' and 'avyaya' and 'avyakta', and, therefore beyond comprehension and reach for a seeker at this level, except through help from simple concepts like the vigraha: hence the word 'vigraha', very much similar, indeed, to the word 'vigraha' in sanskrit grammar! -- The sweet sweet, may be a redundant, in the sense that sweet is anyway sweet, whether you qualify it or not with the adjective sweet: unless you want to imply that it is too sweet! In the same breath one may comment that the word 'idol', may be inadequate to mean 'vigraha', except to indicate that the 'shilpa' or 'figure' indicates a kind of 'model' through which to visualise God in early stages of one's quest, when a representative form becomes necessary: hence the 'word' idol, perhaps, to represent the 'word' vigraha, in a loose sense!

Answer 5

I think what the questioner wishes to say is "Viseshathaha Graahyathe Ithi Vigraha"=the real meaning of this sentence is "The One which is acceptable (or liked or hold passionately) is Vigraham----just like the Vedha Mantram "Yath Rochathi Tat Graahyam--Yan Na Rochathi tat Thyajyaajyam"--But I do not think the annotation of the syllable "Vigraham" is that simple.

Answer 6

Vigraha is not merely an adjective for god.

We see danger sign... a skull with two bones what it signifies ? a possible death... this is called iconography.

Our ancient rishis were very intelligent and artistic. To tell people about the the attributes of a particular god or goddess, they worked on her Vigraha, so that the moment we see the vigraha, we know the attributes of God., without going into the details and its beeja mantras and deep sanskrit explanations about the deity.

I will here take an example of Mother Kali. Kali we see as dark colored naked woman have a garland of skulls and weapons, blood pot, tongue full of blood...and one hand in Blessing mudra.

Mother Kali is not like this.... this vigraha was made to depict the attributes of Mother Kali.

Dark color : She is the master of Tamoguna, when she wakes up there is no sun, moon or stars..hence total darkeness... To show this she is shown black

Garland of skulls : When Kali's time comes (Maha Pralaya)...no living beings are left alive....but their minds with all their vrittis go to mother kali and she keeps those individual souls intact for next creation.

Blood pot : In Maha Pralaya the living beings are killed by Mahakaal, the harful rays of the sun will suck blood or life fluids from all living beings... this is depicted as Kali drinking blood.

Blessing hand : Is an assurance to her bhaktas that those who worship and love her, should not be afraid of her fierce form or Mahapralaya.

similarly Shiva, krishna Ganesha all vigrahas of these Devas actually tell us about the attributes of the god.

It is a deep philosophy, not a wind imagination of an eccentric artist

Aummmmm

Answer 7

Idol means a statue.It used for gods mostly in India.

Answer 8

1

Answer 9

Vigriha= (Vishesham Grihamiti)Special abode.
Pratima = (Mam prati)In front of me.
Bimba = Image.
Moorti= The utensil to fill

Important thing to understand that these words are indicating..that, they are not "GOD"

But they are `helping tools` to deal with the `God` easily.

Answer 10

an idol is like a statue of any material