The different forms of worship and rituals in Hinduism, these different
gods and goddesses all these are meant for the one and the same purpose – God
realization. There is so much difference between one man and another in their
taste as in their temperament that no on golden means can be assigned to them
all for their sadhana or spiritual development.
Different temperaments require different ways of Sadhana or
worship. To meet these varying demands the scriptures have, therefore,
prescribed four principal modes, - Samadhi, dhyana, japa and prayer, and
external worship.
The best kind of worship is Samadhi or the direct worship of
the Brahman – the realization of the omnipresent reality face to face.
The second in importance is Dhyana or meditation. In it
exist two things; ‘Himself’ and ‘myself’; - japa and prayer and the like have
no room there.
When mediation deepens, one constantly experiences the holy
form of one’s ishta devata or chosen deity, - form, pure and simple, japa and the
rest being totally left out of account.
The next step is japa and prayer. At this stage one sings
the glory of the god in prayer or chants or mutters the hallowed name of one’s
chosen deity, simultaneously meditating upon the blessed form that is borne out
by that holy name.
The last is the external worship. This consists in
worshipping the Supreme Being in pratika or images. These different forms of
worship, different gods and goddesses – all these are but the creation of the
human mind. They mark the different degrees of progress of the mind, its
evolutionary stages, in its onward march to God. A man desires to perform
Sadhana. Now, what should he do? Should he begin from any place? No. He must
start exactly from where his mind stands and gradually proceed stage after
stage till the Goal is reached. Take the case of an ordinary man: if you ask
him to meditate upon the supreme Brahma who is without name or form; or if you
ask him to practice Samadhi, he will not be able to comprehend anything; nor
will he be well-disposed towards it; and consequently the result will be that
he will give up his Sadhana altogether. But on the other hand if he worships
the Brahman in an image with offerings of flowers and sacred leaves, he will
think he has done something. For sometime at least, his mind will be free from
all distractions to which every moment it is liable to fall. He will be unperturbed,
and verily he will rejoice in it; and by and by will he outgrow that state
even.
The finer the mind grows, the lesser becomes the joy of a
man in the enjoyment of things ‘gross’ and secular. If you are doing puja or
external worship now, some time after, you will naturally feel the impulse that japa is a better substitute. Sometime still later, you will again find in
meditation a far better substitute, and so on. This is therefore called the gradual
process for the natural growth of the human mind. In the course of this mental evolution, the
little experiences the mind acquires do not get spoiled; it retains them and
stores them up in the memory.
Take another illustration: you are standing down in the
courtyard and you are to get on to the terrace. What will you do? Surely you are
to find out the staircase and crossing over the steps one after another you
reach the roof. Instead of this gradual process if you are thrown across the air
right up to the house top that certainly means a great deal of trouble and
hardship to you. You can avoid any hurt or injury only the following the
gradual process. Similar is the case with the world within. To avoid all
untoward circumstances in your march towards spiritual realizations, you are to
follow the graduated path that is chalked out for us by the seers of the past.
And these different forms of worship constitute that path. Ways and means,
processes and procedures, rules and regulations – these exist in the physical
world as well as in that of the mind. The same phenomenon rules both.
Source – Spiritual Talks of Swami Brahmananda – Published in
Vedanta Kesari June 1928 issue – page 42 – 44.