idol? and if he is in the idol, shall we not worship him as in the idol? It is not the idol, but God in the idol, that we worship.”
The poor cooly did not before know how philosophic a thing idolatry was, and nods his approbation; so do others. This logic, however, does not satisfy you. You remark that if, because God is everywhere, he is to be worshipped as in the idol, for the same reason they must worship every stone in the street, every tree in the tope, (grove,) every dog in the street, and even the polluted leather shoes to which they would not touch a finger. Moreover, if God be everywhere, and hence in the idol, why is it that you, my Lord Brahmin, must be called, after the image has been made, to bring the god into it with your Prana Prathishta?[1] Truly it is a waste of money to pay you for thus getting the god in, when he is already there."
The cooly and his fellows smile again at this cut at the Brahmin. He, however, is in no wise disconcerted. “Ah!" says he, “you are labouring under the mistaken idea that we worship the stone. Are we fools? Do we not
- ↑ Prayer by which the divine beings are brought into the images.
