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WORSHIP OF SUBSTITUTES AND IMAGES. 71
If, as it may happen in some cases, the highly philosophic ideal of the supreme Brahman is dragged down by pratika-worship to the level of the pratika or the substitute and the pratika itself is taken by the worshipper, as his innermost Self and the inner controler of everything (Antarayamin), the worshipper gets entirely misled, as no pratika can really be the Atman of the worshipper. But where Brahman Himself is the object of worship, and the pratika stands only as a substitute or a suggestion thereof—that is to say, where through the pratika the omnipresent Brahman is worshipped and the pratika is being idealized into the cause of the universe, as a means to the attainment to the Brahman—the worship is positively beneficial ; nay, it is absolutely necessary for all mankind, until they have all got beyond the primary or preparatory state of the mind in regard to worship. When, therefore, any gods or other beings
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