{"id":7341,"date":"2026-07-19T08:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T02:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arshaworld.org\/avs\/?p=7341"},"modified":"2026-07-19T08:18:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T02:48:05","slug":"swami-vivekanandas-brilliant-lesson-on-idol-worship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arshaworld.org\/avs\/swami-vivekanandas-brilliant-lesson-on-idol-worship\/","title":{"rendered":"Swami Vivekananda&#8217;s Brilliant Lesson on Idol Worship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A king once questioned Swami Vivekananda, saying that he could not understand why Hindus worship idols made of stone or metal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead of giving a direct answer, Vivekananda asked for the king&#8217;s portrait to be brought before him. He then requested one of the courtiers to spit on the portrait. Everyone was shocked and refused. They replied, &#8220;It may only be a picture, but it represents our king.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vivekananda then explained that a murti is understood in the same way. Hindus do not worship the stone or metal itself; they worship the Divine that the murti represents. Just as respect shown to a photograph is directed toward the person it represents, devotion offered before a murti is directed toward God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This powerful anecdote from Swami Vivekananda continues to answer one of the most common misconceptions about Sanatana Dharma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you found this video insightful, don&#8217;t forget to Like, Share, Comment, and Subscribe for more such content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Swami Vivekananda&amp;apos;s Brilliant Lesson on Idol Worship\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/V4i2_VLyIig?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Swami Vivekananda said about Idol Worship &#8211; Hindus do not worship the stone or metal itself; they worship the Divine that the murti represents. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7273,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23,27],"tags":[51,590,588,582,583,586,587,129,584,589,585],"class_list":["post-7341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-blog-english","tag-aarsha-vidya-samajam","tag-bharat","tag-hinduism","tag-hinduwisdom","tag-idolworship","tag-indianphilosophy","tag-murtipuja","tag-sanatanadharma","tag-spirituality","tag-swamivivekananda","tag-vedanta"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/arshaworld.org\/avs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Remembering-Swami-Vivekananda.jpg?fit=1800%2C1125&ssl=1","wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/arshaworld.org\/avs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Remembering-Swami-Vivekananda.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"cvmm-medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/arshaworld.org\/avs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Remembering-Swami-Vivekananda.jpg?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1",300,300,true],"cvmm-medium-plus":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/arshaworld.org\/avs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Remembering-Swami-Vivekananda.jpg?resize=305%2C207&ssl=1",305,207,true],"cvmm-portrait":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/arshaworld.org\/avs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Remembering-Swami-Vivekananda.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1",400,600,true],"cvmm-medium-square":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/arshaworld.org\/avs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Remembering-Swami-Vivekananda.jpg?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1",600,600,true],"cvmm-large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/arshaworld.org\/avs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Remembering-Swami-Vivekananda.jpg?resize=1024%2C1024&ssl=1",1024,1024,true],"cvmm-small":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/arshaworld.org\/avs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Remembering-Swami-Vivekananda.jpg?resize=130%2C95&ssl=1",130,95,true],"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/arshaworld.org\/avs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Remembering-Swami-Vivekananda.jpg?fit=1800%2C1125&ssl=1",1800,1125,false]},"categories_names":{"23":{"name":"blog","link":"https:\/\/arshaworld.org\/avs\/category\/blog\/"},"27":{"name":"blog-english","link":"https:\/\/arshaworld.org\/avs\/category\/blog-english\/"}},"tags_names":{"51":{"name":"aarsha 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