Page 21 - Hinduism

Nāyanmārs and other devotees. What appears a graven image to the critic or the materialist, is to the devotee with a spiritual eye a speaking Beauty radiating life and love. The so-called idol is not an idea or ideal; an image or symbol; but is the loving, all-pervading presence of the Lord who resides permanently as arca in response to the prayer of the bhakta. The image is only the embodiment of divine mercy and it is easily accessible to all who have eyes to see and ears to hear. The devotee seeks the Lord in a particular form as Viṣṇu, Śiva or Śakti and Divinity beyond all name and form incarnates into that form and he melts with love and is lost in the rapture of communion. The Ālvārs sought refuge at the feet of the Lord and preferred to be a stone step at the altar of Śrinivāsa to be trodden by the faithful to even bhakti and mukti.
Mother
The doctrine of Motherhood is a special feature of Hinduism as it brings out the tender love and mercy that is the special mark of divine mercy. The idea of Īśvara as the almighty and the holy draws out the quality of reverence and awe around in the worshipper as an unworthy creature. The prayer to God as the father in Heaven or lokapati is based on the doctrine that every man is made in the image of God or son of God. Even this view does not fully bring out the nature of divine love and mercy and it is only the fact of the motherhood of God that appeals to mercy and love as the very heart of 21