Idol Worship
Devapuja means worship of Thirthankaras. It is done in front of icons of any liberated souls such as Tirthankara, Siddha or Arihant. There are no reference of idol worship in canonical texts. Sthanakavasi there for opposed idol worship. They believe in meditation and silent prayers.
Erecting Jain temples started around 300 BCE.
Jain idols have no miraculous powers, daily rituals help the worshipper towards a reverent state of mind. They are seen as a personification of ideal state which one should attain.
During medieval period, worship of some Yaksha and Yakshini, divine gods who are not liberated souls, started. They are believed to help a person by removing obstacles in life.
Elaborate forms of ritual usually done in the temple. Jains wear clean three clothes for many rituals and enter temple with words related to respect for Tirthankara. He bows down to Tirthankara at main shrine and will circumambulate him three times.
Main ritual can be devided in two parts:
- Dravya puja (worship with materials)
- Bhava puja (Psychic worship, no need of materials)
Read more about this topic: Jain Rituals And Festivals, Rituals
Famous quotes containing the words idol and/or worship:
“One should never direct people towards happiness, because happiness too is an idol of the market-place. One should direct them towards mutual affection. A beast gnawing at its prey can be happy too, but only human beings can feel affection for each other, and this is the highest achievement they can aspire to.”
—Alexander Solzhenitsyn (b. 1918)
“Rationalists are admirable beings, rationalism is a hideous monster when it claims for itself omnipotence. Attribution of omnipotence to reason is as bad a piece of idolatry as is worship of stock and stone believing it to be God. I plead not for the suppression of reason, but for a due recognition of that in us which sanctifies reason.”
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948)