Why Worship of a Deity is Necessary?

In Hinduism, one sect worships the God as subtle, formless, un-visible, unmanifest, nirankar & the one God who cannot take any shape. In fact Sikhism also talks of the same formless, unmanifest God. Bhagwat Gita also tells us that God is present in all creation as Supersoul who is formless, un-visible with naked eyes & unmanifest in nature. But how can a person concentrate on God who cannot be seen, who is formless but is present all around us & in all the creation? So to concentrate our mind on God we need to worship Sakaar God, the God who takes a Form & incarnates in different forms. As we need to concentrate our mind on something during our prayers, worship, so that is why it is necessary to have a Deity, a form of God on which we can concentrate our mind.

Swami Vivekananda in his youth age was in search of a true master who would lead him to God. Whenever, he used to meet any saint, he would ask him, "Have you seen God?", but no one would say with conviction that he has seen God. Same question he put to Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa when he saw him for the first time. At his question Sri Ramakrishna replied,"Yes, I have seen God as real as I am seeing you before me."

Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa was the caretaker of Kali Temple at Calcutta. He used to worship the stone image of Goddess Kali in the temple but due to his devotion, Mother Goddess Kali, used to take the live form & used to talk to him. As per Sri Ramakrishna:

"ALL doubts disappear when one sees God. It is one thing to hear of God, but quite a different thing to see Him. A man cannot have one hundred per cent conviction through mere hearing. But if he beholds God face to face, then he is wholly convinced.

Formal worship drops away after the vision of God. It was thus that my worship in the temple came to an end. I used to worship the deity in the Kali Temple. It was suddenly revealed to me that everything is Pure Spirit. The utensils of worship, the altar, the door-frame - all Pure Spirit. Then like a mad man I began to shower flowers in all directions. Whatever I saw I worshipped."

God is all pervasive Pure Spirit. This universe is infinite only due to that Infinite Pure Spirit pervasive all around us. Pure Spirit as infinite being is limitless, omnipresent & the one who fills this limitless space. Such an Infinite Pure Spirit exists everywhere. Below are few verses from Bhagwat Gita which describe about the infinite nature of Pure Spirit :

"sarvatah pani-padam tat
sarvato ’ksi-siro-mukham
sarvatah shrutimal loke
sarvam avrtya tishthati" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Thirteen verse 14)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, Everywhere are His (God's) hands and feet, His eyes, heads and faces, and He has ears everywhere. In this way the Super Soul exists, pervading everything in this world."

"mattah parataram nanyat
kincid asti dhananjaya
mayi sarvam idam protam
sutre mani-gana iva" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Seven verse 7)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, there is nothing else besides Me (Pure Spirit) in this world. Like clusters of yarn-beads formed by knots on a thread, all this world is threaded on me (Pure Spirit).

So though God is there in clay Idol in unmanifest form but that un-manifest God is Pure Spirit who is present everywhere & encompasses whole universe in it. That un-manifest God as Pure Spirit only takes live form before a true devotee. That infinite, un-manifest, Pure Spirit is realized in meditation as God & that Pure Spirit only helps us when we think of God & ask for His help. That all pervasive Pure Spirit is only called Bráhmn. So let's understand that Bráhmn, the all pervasive Pure Spirit & once we are able to understand & realize that then we shall transcend from Deity to Infinity as everything in this universe is Pure Spirit only.

God is Infinite Pure Spirit,
Whole world dwells in Infinite Pure Spirit,
Whole world comes from Infinite Pure Spirit,
Whole world goes back in Infinite Pure Spirit,
Whole world breathes in Infinite Pure Spirit,
Let's worship that Infinite Pure Spirit, the God.

Jai Sri Krishna