Kokila A TO Z INDIA ● MARCH 2022 ● PAGE 6 Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi India and Culture: Q: What of idols? M: They have a deep significance. Worshipping them is a method of concentrating the mind. The mind is apt to move externally. It must be checked and turned within. Its habit is to dwell on names and forms, for all external objects possess them. Certain names and forms are symbolic concepts used to divert the mind away from external objects and make it dwell within its elf. Thus the idols, mantras, sacred syllables, rites etc, are all meant to give food to the mind in its inward course so that it may become capable of being concentrated. Only after this can the supreme state be reached - Conscious Immortality.