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A murti (also spelled murthi or murthy) is a deity or image used by Hindus and also by some Mahayana Buddhists during worship as points of devotional and meditational focus.
They are sometimes abstract, but more often anthropomorphic representations of forms of God like Shiva or Ganesh, Rama or Krishna, Saraswati or Kali. Because the mind is in turbulence (vritti) and incapable of focussing on God as a formless, abstract concept, God is worshiped in a form. Murti are made according to the prescriptions of the Silpasastra (typically of the alloy Panchaloga) and then installed by priests through the prana pratistha ('establishing the life') ceremony. Afterward the divine personality is present in the murti but in cases of serious discrepancies in worship may leave the form.
Devotional (Bhakti) practices are centered on cultivating a deep and personal bond of love with God through one of His or Her forms, and often make use of murtis. Some Hindu denominations like Arya Samaj however reject image-worship.
Murti worship is sometimes equated with idolatry; critics of this point of view argue that the Hindu concept of murti worship consists of veneration of the image or statue as representative of a higher ideal or principle, while idolatry objectifies divinity as the material object itself.
See also
External links
- Deity worship site (ISKCON, Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya)
- Bhakti Dayita Madhava Gosvami Maharaja on difference between idol and murti
