Hinduism and Visualization

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    Dasan and Puja are important parts of Hinduism as discussed in Diana Eck's writings in Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India. During these rituals the image of god is deeply connected to spirituality as you envision the god in which you are praying to. Not only do you envision the god you are worshipping in that moment, you also have physical idols or some sort of physical imagery to guide you to do that. There are shrines and statues used to help us visualize the deities we worship. Even during religious festivals, hindu religions are very sight oriented in how they must be decorated and celebrated. Diwali must have bright colors and lights and is often associated with gold, the biggest factor of a Holi celebration is throwing the dye on each other, filling the area with color. Specific colors represent specific things and must be used to celebrate particular festivals. Sight is a sense heavily leaned on for the Hindu religion

    Interestingly enough, however, I learned about a group under Hinduism called the Arya Samaj, which is vastly different from this idea. Rather than worship idols and deities or specific gods, they pray to the concept of god. For them, there is no visualization of a god, only themselves and their connection to god. I thought that this was insanely interesting, considering the stark contrast to the usual norm of Hinduism. 

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