A living entity obtains human birth only after undergoing birth as worms, reptiles, animals, and birds for thousands and lakhs of times. And of all the forms of life, human birth is precious because God has given the discriminative intelligence only to humans. This refers to the intelligence that helps the person distinguish bad from good. This helps in leading a righteous life devoted to God. Otherwise he would be reducing himself to the life of an animal.

Some people question whether God is present in idol. God is present everywhere! And as such, He cannot be absent in the idol. It is foolish to look at the idol as a mere stone or metal. The artisan while making the idol puts his whole heart and soul into it as a service to the feet of the Lord. When the idol is consecrated in the temple, it is sanctified by the love and devotion of the devotees who repose their hearts and will into it. This is called bhava prathistha. Therefore, the idol assumes spiritual significance.

The omnipresent God manifests more in human beings than in other forms of life. Many want to know- if God is indeed present in us, then why are we not able to see Him? It is because our surrender is not unconditional and also because we consider God to be away from us. We believe that He resides in Vaikuntha or Kailasa.

We must understand the purpose behind offering food as naivedya to God. Is God short of food that we have to offer the same to Him? No. The whole world is His creation and He has chosen the food which He gives us to eat. Therefore, as a mark of gratitude before we eat, we offer our food to Him. We need to consider God as our family member. He is the eldest member in our house. Without giving food to our eldest member, do we eat? No.

Why is flower used in worship? Flower is symbol of purity and sublimity. It denotes our buddhi. Offering flowers implies offering our intellect at His feet.

Why do we offer Tulasi? Tulasi shows us that everything in the world is short-lived. A leaf lives on the tree for a short while, then withers and falls. In this world, everything including our body is short-lived. So, when offering tulasi, remember the ephemeral nature of the worldly things and remind yourselves to detach from them.

Offering fruits means offering our mind. Because in the mind we taste the sweetness of the eternal fruit called bliss. Water for abhishekam denotes the tears of joy at the sweet thoughts of the Lord. Breaking coconut is symbolic of destroying our ego. The sweet water from within the coconut represents the bliss or knowledge obtained after ego is destroyed.

By burning camphor we request God to give us pure vasanas. Ringing the bell is to draw our attention towards the Lord.

(Speech given 21-9-1982; Bhaktimala October 1982)