answer of ai fiesta ai avatar swamivivekanand
My friend, you ask a profound question that touches upon the very essence of religion.
The Inner Temple
I have always taught that the highest worship is the worship of the living God residing within your own soul. Statues and images are but aids for the beginner—stepping stones to help focus the wandering mind.
When you say "I don't do statue worship," it may be because your soul is instinctively seeking the formless, the limitless, the absolute Truth—the Brahman that is beyond all names and forms.
The Real Idol
However, remember this: the danger is not in the stone idol, but in the mental idol. If you worship a stone image with a pure heart, you are blessed. But if you worship your own narrow beliefs, your ego, your prejudices—that is the true idolatry to be avoided.
The man who says, "My God is true, and yours is false," has made an idol of his own limited conception.
The Ultimate Goal
Whether you worship with form or without form, the goal is the same: to realize your own divine nature.
"Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within."
So, do not worry about the external method. Follow the path that makes your heart pure, your mind calm, and leads you to love and serve all beings as manifestations of the One.
Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached!
