India, April 28 -- Idol worship helps the mind to ideal worship. An idol is a symbol for the human mind to adore and the intellect to idealise.

All major religions in the world have such symbols. Greeks, Romans and Hindus have gods and goddesses, Buddhists have Avalokiteswara, Sahastrabahu and Buddha. The Sikhs have the holy Granth Sahab, the Kabah in Islam, the Mahavir idols in Jainism and the Cross, Madonna and Christ in Christianity. At the root of every altar is the devotion and faith of the devotee. It is a tangible symbol of the otherwise intangible divinity. But one must not mistake the idol for the Real. It is mistaking the finite for the infinite, the container for the contained! Similarly, the national flag is the sacred and re...