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The goal of adhyatma is for a person to realize that he is but a slave of the lord who is driving every single action in this body. Jiva has zero independence or power. Paramatma residing inside us does everything /1
Thus every single action we perform - eating, sleeping, bathing, etc - is all to be offered to the paramatma inside us - that's when true detachment occurs - and ahankara ends. However, reaching this stage is no trivial task /2
To reach a stage where we think "everything I do as a person is for the deity inside me" it is necessary to go through a stage of "do everything to a deity as if he is a person". That is the precise goal of a temple built around agama principles. /3
While the concept of murthy worship at home also embodies the same principle, it is much more evident in a temple. The temple itself is the body of the deity. The building of the temple is the conception. Prana pratishta is the birth of the 'person'. /4
Every day the 'person deity' goes through the same set of activities that a human 'person' would undergo. The chief components of the worship are the upacharas - arghya (water for hands), pAdya (water for washing feet), achamana (water to drink)....snAna (bathing)..../5
alankara (dressing up)....naivedya (food for consumption)....rajopachara (comforts for sleep) and so on. The 'person deity' is giving these at least two times. Once a year is the utsava - an equivalent of the person's birthday celebration. /6
Once every 12 years - the temple - body of the person - undergoes a rejuvenation - jeernodhara. In between if there are doshas detected - equivalent to defects/diseases - dosha parihara is resorted to with help of devaprashnam - equivalent of medication /7
Every single day - the temple undertakes anna daanam - the 'person' doing his bit for dharma sadhana - similarly support for shastra studies and general education that temples support /8
Thus we see from every single point of view - physical, economic, social - the deity's worship follows an equivalent to a person's life. When one practices this with devotion - over time - he gains the ability to transpose this on to his own self /9
From then on - every single activity he/she performs - becomes a ritual for worshipping the deity/paramatma inside! Thus the extreme importance of worshipping deities in temples using agama methods /10
Looking at this from another angle - when a deity is literally living the life of a 'person' - physical, social, economic and other params included - naturally the deity also qualifies as a 'legal entity' - which is what our courts have recognised for nearly a century now!! /11
And the same point has been highlighted by @People4Dharma in the #Sabarimala case too. /e
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