Q44. Does everyone worship God via an image?

Yes. *

The Muslims bow down in the direction of the black stone in the Kaaba when they pray. They also kiss and circumambulate the black stone. They believe that God is not present in the stone.

*

The Christians face the cross when they pray or carry a cross to remind them of God.

*

The learned Hindus, face an image of Lord Krishna when they pray, with the knowledge that He is personally present. This is Deity of God worship and not stone or idol worship.

Thus, everyone worships via an image of some sort. “Those who without deviation, meditate upon me, worship me, fix their mind on me, and become attached to Me, I very quickly deliver them from material existence, which is an ocean of birth, death, and miseries.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 12.6-7) Lord Krishna is saying that if we worship Him in the Deity form, then we can be freed from material existence and go back to the spiritual manifestation where people live eternally in the same body which is completely beautiful, completely blissful, with no trace of misery, disease, or old age.