BANGALORE: Every village has a temple. There is not a single village in our sacred land without a temple.
From when has this tradition come down to us? Is there any need for a temple in every village? If a village were to exist without a temple, what would happen to it?
The answer to all these questions is just this. Everyone possesses an inate desire to live in peace and harmony. A peaceful and happy
existence is not possible without the grace of God, and to secure the grace of God, the existence of temples is
necessary.
Strictly speaking, according to the tenets of Sanathan Dharma, God is omnipresent. There is hardly any place where God does not exist.
Some people therefore pose a question. If it be granted that God is omnipresent, then why does the need for temples arise? By enclosing the omnipresent God in a temple, His all-pervasiveness is being needlessly limited. Just as you limit the authority of a high-ranking official by making him in charge of just one village, you limit the all-pervasiveness of God by enclosing Him in a temple.
People who raise such doubts are those who have not understood the truth properly but are in no way ignorant.
They pose such a question, as they have not understood the truth in its entirety.
The answer is that there is absolutely no doubt that God is omnipresent. For want of adequate competence, it is not given to the common man to perceive the omnipresence of God.
This competence was found in a blessed person like Prahlada. If we read the Srimad Bhagavatam, we learn that a great devotee like Prahlada used to have the vision of God everywhere.
His father asked him, “You say, ‘Bhagavan, Bhagavan’, but can you ever show Him to me?” Prahlada’s reply was, “What can I say? Bhagavan is present everywhere. If you do not have the competence to see God, what can I do?”
His father then asked in anger, “Is God present in this pillar?” Prahlada replied, “Leave alone the pillar, He is to be found everywhere”. His father persisted, “Can you show me God in this pillar?” Prahlada said, “Why should I show, you yourself can see Him there.”
God then emerged as Narsimha from the pillar. The object of Narsimha Avatar is to establish the omnipresent of God. The common man’s Samsharas and competence are unlike those of Prahlada who could see God everywhere.