--- Anand K Karalapakkam <kgk@xxxx> wrote: > Still there are section of people for whom Idol is not > derogatory in sense. Hence, while there can be a better > usage, it can't be an improper usage alltogether. > > This is my last note on this issue. > > aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan, > anantapadmanAbhan. Dear friends, The dust settles and finally there is light! Reading all the interesting mails of all the learned members on this subject all these weeks has indeed been fine education for me personally. I had never realized that the word "idol" in the religious lexicon was in fact one of those obnoxious "4-letter words" everyone loves to hate. I offer just a few personal thoughts to all learned members: (2) I think it's 'idolatry' that one really hates not "idols". There is nothing wrong or unsavoury with the word "idol" per se, except that "idolatry" makes it so, isn't it? Tomorrow if "iconoclasm" were to become a virulent religion amongst people then the word "icon" too would fall from grace, right? ("Love" is not a bad word, but "making love", in a context of carnality, does give off a rather malodorous connotation, doesn't it?) (2) If people were ready to kill one another for the sake of an 'idol' it would be "idolatry". What does it matter then what we call it... "idol", "icon", "image", Deity, whatever? (3) If an "idol" inspires or promotes love, humanism, pacifism and brotherhood amongst people then would it be wrong to be intensely "idolatrous" (or fanatical) about it? Conversely, if one is fanatical about "non-idolatry" and would go to any extent... even large-scale violence... for the sake of it, then what might be said of those "idols"? The Buddha preached universal "ahimsa" and non-violence of all forms. His famous "idols" in Afghanistan made out of natural rock formations several centuries ago got demolished in minutes last week on the purely religious conviction that "idols" are taboo. So which side is wrong here? The "idol" or the "anti-idolatry"? (4) Saint Thyagaraja of TiruvaiyAru had a personal idol of Sri.Rama which he worshipped intensely, spoke to it, fed it lovingly, put it to bed, sang immortal songs for it... The idol was not sanctified by any "Agama"... But what does it matter to us if the idol of TiruvaiyAru is called "idol", "icon" or "image" or "archA"... Rama-bhaktA-s and Tyagabrahmam's bhaktA-s know in their hearts what it truly was to the saint then and what it means today to them... Regards, dAsan, Sudarshan __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices. http://auctions.yahoo.com/
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