How does Hinduism justify idol worship when Christianity and Islam forbid it? || Acharya Prashant

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.”

~ John 13:16

Question: The Abrahamic religions, all of them, are against idol worship. Not only Christianity, but also Islam, Judaism. But in Hinduism, there is a lot of idol worship. How to reconcile them? And whether or not, they can be reconciled?

Acharya Prashant(AP): What is the sutra (verse) for tonight? What does it read? Read it aloud please.

Questioner: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.” ~John 13:16.

AP: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.”

This establishes one relationship between the center and the expression of the center. What is that relationship?

That the One that you are seeing, is the servant of the One who has sent him. That this world is not really separate from the Lord. It is related in the same way as a servant is related to the world.