Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 4.59
॥
Devanāgarī
शिवमात्मनि पश्यन्ति प्रतिमासु न योगिनः । अज्ञानं भावनार्थाय प्रतिमाः परिकल्पिताः
Transliteration (IAST)
śivamātmani paśyanti pratimāsu na yoginaḥ | ajñānaṃ bhāvanārthāya pratimāḥ parikalpitāḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
शिवम् आत्मनि पश्यन्तिśivam ātmani paśyantiShiva in the self they see
प्रतिमासु न योगिनःpratimāsu na yoginaḥnot in images — the yogis
अज्ञानं भावना-अर्थायajñānaṃ bhāvanā-arthāyafor the ignorance, for the sake of imagination
प्रतिमाः परिकल्पिताःpratimāḥ parikalpitāḥimages have been devised
Translation
"Yogis see Shiva in the self, not in images; images have been devised for the ignorant, for the sake of imagination."
Version
97336774a2f9 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
It is said parikalpitah, "devised" — and this word settles the matter. It means "invented, composed by imagination"; and it is asserted, then, that the image is our own product, set up for one who cannot manage otherwise. Here lies the difference between the two understandings, and it is not in the valuation of images, but in the question of whose arrangement this is.
If the image is devised by us, then it is a crutch, and everything said here is just: a crutch is thrown away once one has learned to walk. But if it is archa-avatara, "the descent into an image," that is, His way of making Himself accessible, then there is nothing to throw away, for it was not we who arranged this. The dispute, then, is settled not by reasoning, but by testimony: is it said anywhere that He Himself agrees to be present there?
The Vaishnava side answers that it is said, and cites places; chief among them the Padma Purana, where seeing stone in an image is called naraki-buddhi, "a hellish understanding," and the image itself is placed on a level with the teacher and the Name. Let us add a consideration from practice that seems to me stronger than any testimony. If the image is a crutch for the ignorant, then why do the knowing use it? The history of Indian devotion is easily checked: the very schools that wrote lines like this one maintained temples, and their greatest teachers served images daily.
This contradiction deserves noting, not as a reproach, but as an indication. It is usually so: in reasoning, people reject what they in fact live by; and the living testimony of practice is more reliable than a written denial.