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WORSHIP OF SUBSTITUTES AND IMAGES
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stants, in rejecting all concrete helps to religion, tre drifting away every year farther and farther from
irituality, till at present there is scarcely any dif'erence between the advanced Protestants and the Followers of Auguste Comte, or the Agnostics who breach ethics alone. Again, in Christianity and Mohammedanism whatever exists of image-worship s made to fall under that category in which the Pratika or the Pratima is worshipped in itself, but not as a "help to the vision” ( sfee ) of God; therefore it is at best only of the nature of ritualistic Karmas and cannot produce either Bhakti or Mukti. In this form of image-worship, the allegiance of the soul is given to other things than Ishvara, and therefore, such use of images or graves, of temples or tombs, is real idolatry; it is in itself neither sinful nor wicked—it is a ritema Karma, and worshippers must and will get the fruit thereof.
