Omnipresent God and the importance of Pooja area in contemporary homes

God is everywhere. It is an oft recited prose on the omnipresence of God : "हम में, तुम में, खर में, खल में", meaning "He is in me, he is in you, he is as much in a dried weak leaf of grass, as he is in a rock pestle."

Why then, many Hindus ask, do we have to give God form? Why should we worship idols? Why confine God in a form and an area of our evershrinking homes? The answer in itself is an unarguable definition of Hinduism: It's not superstition, it is faith.

Worshiping photos and idols in a Puja Room is not limiting God, it is liberating our minds by providing a singular visible point of devotion which is hard to come by in the hustle bustle of our daily urban lives. Faithful devotion to a physical form, even for a split second in our busy day, is our way of invoking God.


Faith is the reason we go to temples and bow before an idol. We have no hesitation standing in front of it and talking, even speaking or whispering to it as if we were talking to an individual, albeit a divine one. Rich, poor, seeking money, fame, forgiveness, nirvana, justice, revenge all driven by their omnipotent faith.They may be seeking something or they may be simply praying without any expectation, but their commitment to what they are doing at that point in time is unquestionable. That is faith.

Then comes the question if is all this in vain. After all, what different can be achieved by worshiping the idols which stand before us, that can't be done by meditating in a convenient place? Is the whispering to some mere replicas of ancient Raja Ravi Verma paintings just an illusion we create?

The idol or photograph is not just a symbol of faith. It is a form with which the mind connects and concentrates upon. Kaliyug unfortunately has changed the human mindset to seek proof rather than seek reality. Proof means cause and effect. If I have sought, have I received? However, the ultimate reality is beyond the senses, beyond the known field of illusion and maya where proof also resides. Only true knowledge can free us humans from seeking proof and the vicious cycle of cause and effect.

This true knowledge can only be achieved through devotion. If there is enough devotion in our hearts at that second when we bow down to that small idol placed in a pious corner of our house, God will respond. He has been known to. The lives of Mirabai, Sant Tukaram, Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Shri Yogananda did happen.

If God is omnipresent, visualizing Him in an idol or framed poster in a pious corner is our way of recognizing his omnipresence.

In my coming posts, I will guide you through this path of worship and the guidelines and methods i.e. vidhi and samagri of worship as described in our ancient scriptures, which can be implemented in our urban lifestyles with minimal effort.

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