Why Murti-puja is an antidote to fundamentalism
Forgive me, Oh, Shiva, my three paap!
I came on a pilgrimage to Kashi forgetting that you are omnipresent.
In thinking about you I forgot that You are beyond thought.
In praying to You I forgot that You are beyond words.
Adi Shankaracharya
The injunctions from Judaism, Christianity and Islam forbid “graven images” in which a key distinction is made between the concept of a “creator” who is transcendent, separate and distinct from “His” creation. All “worship” is reserved for the creator alone; it is a serious offense to worship anything other than the creator. This leads to iconoclasm, literally. The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas, for instance, was no random act of vandalism. It was duly authorized by the Supreme Court of the Islamic government of Afghanistan constitute