4.2 - Worship

Some people do not have faith in worship and hence there is no point in discussing what to worship? Majority of Indian Population have some spirit of worship in them. They raise the question about what objects ought to be worshipped. Amongst the Hindus there is wide range of worship. The omnipresent nature of God enables the dedicated Hindu mystic to perceive him in any and every object and to worship him in that object. Local heroes and saints with superhuman powers and Daivi sampath or Vibhuti-that is divine qualities in abundance naturally get worshipped in many places.

According to the doctrine of Bhakti, it is the spirit and faith with which an object is worshipped that matter, not the object itself and hence the objects without Vibhuti also can be and are worshipped. According to higher systems of thought, every object in the Universe is a manifestation of God, therefore might be or ought to be worshipped.

The Upanishads refer to both sets of cases, and the Gita, which is the gist of the Upanishads, justifies both sets. In Chapter VII of the Gita, Lord Krishna says that one does not know and realize God unless one knows and realizes Him in everything, in the Universe.

That is, The Para prakriti which is manifest as the Universe and which includes the five elements five elements (Pancha bhutas), namely Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether and Manas, Bhuddhi and Ahamkar as well as.

The Aparakriti or Mulaprakriti, the substratum of all. The Para and Apara put together constitute God.