Sri M said...

Adesh To Sir! In past there was no script developed for languages and people used picture to depict thoughts,One person may understand one language and other one another, We know one picture is worth thousand words. Spiritual practice oriented paths like Dhamma of Buddha and Jinas/Jains(both are called Shramanas)started the usage of idols and Pictures to let people understand the deep spiritual meaning. That time Brahmans, a section of people seeing Brahm in all, only restricted themselves with fire ceremony of Yagnas. Latter they too adopted the Shrmana techniques. But now instead of understanding what idol or picture or religious ritual convey to us in spiritual matter, we have started to worship them in order to get something back for personal gains. Among Sikhs, words are written in the form of Holy Texts, very few follow words and many just worship the text and pray for worldly things, while idols, pictures or holy text mentioned above in case of Sikhs are manifestation of divine which liberate us from worldly entanglements and for that purpose only they came into being.