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Deity worship is one of the pillars of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The whole spiritual process we follow is based on cultivating a personal relationship with God, breaking with the widespread mentality of seeing God as an order supplier. Instead of simply asking Kṛṣṇa to fulfill our ambitions, we try to offer some service to Him. Any real relationship is a two-way street; if we never do anything for our friend, the relationship will never be true friendship. With God it is not different. A devotee tries to realize that.
However, how can we serve God? There are certainly many indirect ways to do that, but what about personally serving God, just as we may serve a friend? Is this even possible? This is where we come to the beauty of deity worship. We can’t see Kṛṣṇa in His spiritual form with our current eyes, much less touch Him with our current hands, but because we have some sincerity in serving Him, He appears in a form we can see and touch, as a deity composed of wood, metal, or stone. His form is still fully spiritual but manifested in a way we can see.
Here, however, we come to an essential distinction. There is an essential difference between worshipping a statue as Kṛṣṇa and worshipping Kṛṣṇa when He personally appears in the form of a statue. The first is idol worship, clearly condemned in the scriptures. The other is deity process, the authorized process that can bring us to Him. To understand the difference is one very essential part of our spiritual path.
Devotees tend to call deities that are not installed as “murtis”. So, what is the difference between a “deity” and a “murti”? This question is actually more difficult than it may seem.
Christians and Muslims are, in general, very opposed to idol worship. It is very clearly condemned in their scriptures. What we may not realize is that the same is found in our teachings. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was also very strongly opposed to it, just as our previous acaryas. Idol worship is as condemned in our culture as it is in Christianity and Islam.
Vaiṣnavism, however, offers a higher understanding. The deity is not an idol, but the personal form of God. Not only are Kṛṣṇa and His form not different (just as Kṛṣṇa and His name, His pastimes, and so on), but Kṛṣṇa is present in His energy, up to the smallest atom. If Kṛṣṇa is non-different from His form and He is already present in material elements anyway, it’s not difficult for Him to manifest in the form of the deity.
In many of His purports, Śrila Prabhupada explains how deity worship is essential to break with impersonalism. We can practically see that followers of cultures that don’t practice deity worship tend to think that God doesn’t have a form.
It’s easy thus to understand what a deity is. A deity is Kṛṣṇa Himself, manifested in a form that we can see. However, what is a “murti”?
Well, that’s a little more complicated. The word “murti” means “statue” in Sanskrit, nothing more, nothing less. Sometimes “murti” can be used in the sense of “deity” or “form,” but often, in the modern context, we use the word differently, to describe a “non-installed deity”.
Once, visiting a small community of devotees, someone asked if it was more important to worship the “murtis” at the temple or the “deities” he had at home. I was puzzled by the question and asked what he meant.
He explained that the deities in the temple were not installed; they were just “murtis”, while his deities at home were “installed”. This devotee was engaged in both worshiping in the temple and at home, but somehow in his mind he was making such a distinction. He believed that he was worshiping statues at the temple and deities at home. I found this quite inappropriate. If one believes the deities are just “murtis”, or statues, then why is he worshiping them? We are not idol worshipers. If one believes it is simply a statue, he should not worship it. If they are simply statues, then put them in a box, or maybe in the corridor. If, however, one understands that they should be worshiped, then he should understand it is not a statue, but the Lord Himself.
One can make a form of the Lord from stone or metal and put it in the window of his shop with the purpose of selling it. At this point it’s not a deity. We offer a certain respect, but we don’t worship it. However, after bringing it home, cleansing it and painting it, we do some sort of ceremony to ask the Lord to come to this form. This may be a formal “installation” ceremony or just a small kirtana, but once it’s done, it’s not a statue anymore; now it’s the Lord. There is thus a moment when we make this switch in our minds. Now it’s not a statue anymore; now it’s the Lord. It’s from this moment that we start worshiping.
When Śrila Prabhupada established the deities of Krsna Balarama in Vṛndāvana, he hired local caste brahmanas to perform an elaborate installation ceremony, but shortly afterward, he mentioned that it was just a show to convince the local population that the temple was genuine. In reality, he said, the installation was done by the kirtana of the devotees. As soon as a devotee chants the holy names and asks Kṛṣṇa to come to this form, Kṛṣṇa becomes present there; it is not a matter of bathing the form with yogurt or not.
In short, the concept of “murti” in the sense we often use it is thus fundamentally incorrect. There may be deities with higher standards of worship or lower standards of worship, according to the worshiper and the facilities available, but there is no such thing as a “murti” on the altar.
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Extremely clear. This was very helpful to me. Thank you.