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મૃતિપૂજાને અથ २८८ તમને પોતાને તો મૂર્તિ એ કશી મદદરૂપ થતી નથી. લોકોને પોતાની મરજીમાં આવે એ રીતે પૂજા કરવા દેવી એ એક વાત છે, અને એવા ખ્યાલ આપવા કે એ જાતની પૂજાને તમે પણ ટેકે આપે છે એ જુદી aid ." 2 714 UXLI: "Because I do not find a particular thing helpful for me I may not be indifferent about others and not take the trouble of knowing whether it is helpful for them. I know that that particular form of idolatry is helpful for millions. not because they are less developed than I am, but because they are differently constituted. What must not be forgotten about me is that not only do I not consider idolworship to be a sin, but I know that in some form or other it is a condition of our being. The difference between one form of worship and another is a difference in degree and not in kind. Mosque-going or Church-going is a form of idolworship. Veneration of the Bible, the Quran, the Gita and the like is idolworship, and even if you don't use a book or a building, but draw a picture of divinity in your imagination and attribute certain qualities, it is again idolworship. And I refuse to call the worship of the one who has a stone image a grosser form of worship. Learned judges have been known to have such images in their own homes. A philosopher like Pt. Malaviyaji will not eat his meal without offering worship to the household deity. It would be both arrogant and ignorant to look down upon such worship as superstition. Again in the imagination of the worshipper, God is in a consecrated stone and not in the other stones lying about him. Even so the sanctuary in a church is more sacred than any other place in it. You can multiply for yourself instances of this character. All this is a plea not for laxity in thought or worship, but it is a plea for a definite recognition of the fact that all forms of honest worship are equally good and equally efficient for the respective worshippers. Time is gone for the exclusive possession of right by an individual or group. God is no respector of forms or words, for He is able to 4 H-24
