One Question for Hindus...

[abdussattar]

Okay so the most surprising thing I find about Hinduism is the Ganesha festival...

You make an Idol with your own hands, worship it, then throw it in the river, and even throw footwear on it??

Okay I can understand that you have to worship it for only some days, and then throw it away....

But Why do you throw footwear on it and kick it? how can you throw footwear on a God ? how can you KICK A GOD?? thats just a sign of plain... disrespect...


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[Charzhino]

I was not aware of this type of festival, maybe its a cultural thing, unless it says specifically to perform the ritual in a Hindu scripture. And also, you can never disprect a being which is perfect no matter what you do. You only end up disrespecting of your own self, not God.

 

[bhakti]

Okay so the most surprising thing I find about Hinduism is the Ganesha festival...

You make an Idol with your own hands, worship it, then throw it in the river, and even throw footwear on it??

Okay I can understand that you have to worship it for only some days, and then throw it away....

But Why do you throw footwear on it and kick it? how can you throw footwear on a God ? how can you KICK A GOD?? thats just a sign of plain... disrespect...

thats certainly funny...wonder where you heard that story man! got a link?

 

[abdussattar]

Hmm I see it every year here in Hyderabad...

 

[bhakti]

Hmm I see it every year here in Hyderabad...

what...no way! If there was something like that and if its as widespread as you claim the news would have made it to the mainstream media and would have been all over the internet. Could be a stray incident or some dude from another opposing faction or something trying to create mischief.

 

['Aleena]

Why do you throw footwear on it and kick it? how can you throw footwear on a God ? how can you KICK A GOD?? thats just a sign of plain... disrespect...

Assalamu alaikum,
erm... brother to be honest i have never seen this... atleast not in Mumbai.

I dont know about its origin but it was popularized by Lokmanya Tilak to strenthen the freedom movement.

You make an Idol with your own hands, worship it, then throw it in the river

I wud love to know the reason/logic behind this. Any answers?

 

[tango92]

I was not aware of this type of festival, maybe its a cultural thing, unless it says specifically to perform the ritual in a Hindu scripture. And also, you can never disprect a being which is perfect no matter what you do. You only end up disrespecting of your own self, not God.

i wasnt aware humans could sculpt perfect beings with with their own hands. unless you mean to say humans are perfect themselves?

 

[Predator]

what...no way! If there was something like that and if its as widespread as you claim the news would have made it to the mainstream media and would have been all over the internet. Could be a stray incident or some dude from another opposing faction or something trying to create mischief.

Err .. wake up . It is spread all over the internet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohgc8Go9gIE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgQ4CYt_rqA

This is pathetic .What a waste of money which could have been better spent in charity . No wonder ,these statues will be fuel for hellfire as stones and stubborn unbelievers make the fuel of Hell as God says:


“…then fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers.” (Quran 2:24)

“Indeed, you (disbelievers) and what you worship other than God are the firewood of Hell. You will be coming to (enter) it. Had these (false deities) been (actual) gods, they would not have come to it, but all are eternal therein.” (Quran 21:98-99)

 

[abdussattar]

what...no way! If there was something like that and if its as widespread as you claim the news would have made it to the mainstream media and would have been all over the internet. Could be a stray incident or some dude from another opposing faction or something trying to create mischief.

Are you An Indian? :X

 

[Charzhino]

i wasnt aware humans could sculpt perfect beings with with their own hands. unless you mean to say humans are perfect themselves?

The icons/avatars (Ishvar) are representations of a formless God, used to aid worship. A finite mind cannot know something which is infinite.

 

['Abd Al-Maajid]

I'll try to get some pictures. They do all that crazy things.

 

[tango92]

The icons/avatars (Ishvar) are representations of a formless God, used to aid worship.

cool a contradiction already and were not even into the depts of your theology.....

A finite mind cannot know something which is infinite

agreed.. on the original point do you not accept kicking an idol to be disrespect? clearly it is (even if it is only disrespect aginst yourself), i bet you wouldnt like it if i kicked you?...

 

[Danah]

All what I can say is Alhumdulilah for the grace of Islam.

But seriously thought, how do you feel when you see your gods broken like that, covered with dirt and thrown in the river and can't even remove the dirt from their own faces?? Do you still have any respect for them? or how it works with you?

 

['Abd Al-Maajid]

But seriously thought, how do you feel when you see your gods broken like that, covered with dirt and thrown in the river and can't even remove the dirt from their own faces?? Do you still have any respect for them? or how it works with you?

That is part of their faith.

While you are riding or driving through the roads where these ganeshs are placed you have to be very careful, your one wrong move or one wrong comment would cost you your life. they may beat you to death. So I wear a smile (fake smile) as if my heart is filled with communal harmony and have respect towards their faith. ;D I did this today as there was a traffic jam and a Hindu was controlling the traffic and he was scary and I thought if I do something stupid he'll beat me and I'll not be able to reach my home.

The same applies when some 'muslims' celebrate 'urs' (dargah thing) and Shia celebrate 'alam' during muharram.

 

[Charzhino]

cool a contradiction already and were not even into the depts of your theology.....

Its no contradiction, only your lack of education in Adviata Vedenta theology.

agreed.. on the original point do you not accept kicking an idol to be disrespect? clearly it is (even if it is only disrespect aginst yourself), i bet you wouldnt like it if i kicked you?...

I dont know about the details of the festival, I woud suspect its largly cultural, but I would consider it disrespect yes.

 

[bhakti]

lol...you guys really have no idea do you?

of course I know of Ganesh chaturthi....but the OP was talking about beating the idol with footwear...which is clearly retarded!

I think the whole problem comes from a basic difference in theology. You guys think you are actually praying to Allah directly and that by doing so Allah is going to get happy so you can notch up a lot of points which you can redeem later for a ticket to paradise.

The Hindu belief however, is that God doesn't need to get happy by his devotees doing something. He is the very essence of happiness itself. When a devotee is praying he is practicing bhakti yoga which results in a communion between the joy of the devotee's soul and the supreme unaffected happiness. As such, the IDOL IS NOT GOD! But something you can pray to so you can tap into your inner divinity. How hard is this to understand?

Please look at my earlier post in another thread for my views on idol worship. I believe idol worship is beautiful and puts joy in your heart, a smile on your face and a song on your lips rather than grim and serious worship. http://www.islamicboard.com/comparative-religion/134299248-hinduism-vs-islam-5.html#post1356303

As for the problem of pollution due to dumping of idols, that is purely a social problem that certainly needs to be addressed. Every theology has some social ramifications or the other that are undesirable. But there's nothing that cannot be solved by educating people about environmental damage, eco-ganeshas etc.

 

[bhakti]

Another thing I cant comprehend is why you guys are so obsessed with "logic of worship". Seriously, get over it guys! Worship is personal. Every man chooses to do it his way. The Ganesh Chaturthi festivals are awesome fun! When you can mix happiness with worship, enjoy worshiping and have so much fun while at the same time engage in prayer, what's so bad about that?

If you really want to talk about logic, then we need to talk about the higher echelons of philosophy in Hinduism that is contained in the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. Searching for logic in how common people pray and worship is just retarded.

 

[bhakti]

This is pathetic .What a waste of money which could have been better spent in charity . No wonder ,these statues will be fuel for hellfire as stones and stubborn unbelievers make the fuel of Hell as God says:


“…then fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers.” (Quran 2:24)

“Indeed, you (disbelievers) and what you worship other than God are the firewood of Hell. You will be coming to (enter) it. Had these (false deities) been (actual) gods, they would not have come to it, but all are eternal therein.” (Quran 21:98-99)

You really believe I'm going to eternal hell coz I was born into a Hindu family? And you are going to paradise coz you were born muslim? So if I was, by chance, born into a muslim family then that would change my destiny right? Who decides who's being born where and in what family and why? Who decides what faith a guy is going to follow in his life? You don't believe in reincarnation and Karma right? So what's the criteria to decide who's gonna be muslim or non-muslims? Or in other words, who's goin to paradise and who's goin to burn in an eternal hell?

 

[Insecured soul]

IDOL IS NOT GOD!

We always say that

I think the whole problem comes from a basic difference in theology. You guys think you are actually praying to Allah directly and that by doing so Allah is going to get happy so you can notch up a lot of points which you can redeem later for a ticket to paradise.

He doesnt need our prayer to be happy, its we who need him

Another thing I cant comprehend is why you guys are so obsessed with "logic of worship". Seriously, get over it guys! Worship is personal. Every man chooses to do it his way. The Ganesh Chaturthi festivals are awesome fun! When you can mix happiness with worship, enjoy worshiping and have so much fun while at the same time engage in prayer, what's so bad about that?

May be fun to you, but it causes a lot of problem to those who are going to work and find traffic jams, so much of noise.

 

[Insecured soul]

You really believe I'm going to eternal hell coz I was born into a Hindu family? And you are going to paradise coz you were born muslim? So if I was, by chance, born into a muslim family then that would change my destiny right? Who decides who's being born where and in what family and why? Who decides what faith a guy is going to follow in his life? You don't believe in reincarnation and Karma right? So what's the criteria to decide who's gonna be muslim or non-muslims? Or in other words, who's goin to paradise and who's goin to burn in an eternal hell?

A person will definately go and burn in hell eternally if they dont worship allah azzawajal

you are missing the point, the issue is not about where a person is born, its about how a person dies, if he dies in faith (being muslim) he will be pardoned but if he rejects faith then he is accountable