is not idol worship

Here is a description of the astaṅga-yoga system, to which Dhruva Maharaja was already accustomed. Astaṅga-yoga was never meant to be practiced in a fashionable city. Dhruva Maharaja went to Badarikasrama, and in a solitary place, alone, he practiced yoga. He concentrated his mind on the arca-vigraha, the worshipable Deity of the Lord, which exactly represents the Supreme Lord, and thus thinking constantly of that Deity, he became absorbed in trance. Worship of the arca-vigraha is not idol worship. The arca-vigraha is an incarnation of the Lord in a form appreciable by a devotee. Therefore devotees engage in the temple in the service of the Lord as arca-vigraha, a form made of sthula (material) objects such as stone, metal, wood, jewels or paint. All of these are called sthula, or physical representations. Since the devotees follow the regulative principles of worship, even though the Lord is there in His physical form, He is nondifferent from His original spiritual form. Thus the devotee gets the benefit of achieving the ultimate goal of life, that is to say, becoming always absorbed in thought of the Lord. This incessant thought of the Lord, as prescribed in the Bhagavad-gita, makes one the topmost yogi. (More...)

The devotee offers eatables in the form of vegetables, fruits, leaves and water to the arca-vigraha. The Lord, being bhakta-vatsala, compassionate upon His devotees, accepts these offerings. Atheists may think that the devotees are engaged in idol worship, but the fact is different. Janardana, the Supreme Lord, accepts bhava, the attitude of service. The neophyte devotee engaged in the worship of the Lord may not understand the value of such worship, but the Supreme Lord, being bhakta-vatsala, accepts His devotee and in due course of time takes him home. (More...)

And there is no power to prevent the primeval Supreme Being from coming before us in the material world in His supreme personal form. For example, the Lord can appear in the form of Deities supposedly made of earth, stone, or wood. Although engraved from wood, stone, or other matter, these forms are not idols (as the iconoclasts contend). In our present state of imperfect material existence, we cannot see the Supreme Lord because of our imperfect senses. Yet those devotees who want to see Him by means of material vision are favored by the Lord, who appears in a so-called material form to accept His devotees' service. One should not think that such devotees are worshiping an idol. They are factually worshiping the Lord, who has agreed to appear before them in an approachable way. Nor is the Deity form fashioned to the whims of the worshiper. (This is the actual meaning of the Biblical injunction, "Thou shalt not worship a graven image"-one is forbidden to imagine a form and worship it as God.) The Deity form is authorized by scripture and exists eternally with all His paraphernalia. This can be actually felt by a sincere devotee, but not by an atheist. For the surrendered soul the Lord is always within reach, whereas for the unsurrendered soul He is far, far away and cannot be approached. (More...)

The Lord's Sri Vigraha which is installed in the temples by the authorised Acharyas who have realised the Lord in terms of the Mantra No. 7 is also non-different from the Original Form of the Lord. The Original Form of the Lord is the Form of Shri Krishna. Shri Krishna expands Himself by unlimited number of Forms like Valadeva, Rama, Nrishingha, Baraha, Kurma etc., and all of them are one and the same Personality of Godhead. Similarly the Archa Vigraha which is worshipped in the Temples is also like the forms of other expanded Vigrahas or Forms of the Lord. By worshipping the Archa Vigraha of the Lord one can at once approach the Lord who accepts the service of the devotee by His omnipotent energy without any reproach. The Sri Vigraha of the Lord descends by the requests of the Acharyas and works exactly in the original way by His omnipotent energy without the least difference. Foolish people who have no knowledge of these mantras of the Ishopanishad or any other Shruti Mantras consider that the Sri Vigraha Who is worshipped by the pure devotees is made of material elements. To the imperfect eyes of the foolish people or the Kanistha Adhikaris the Sri Vigraha Archa Murti is considered as Material. But such persons with poor fund of knowledge do not know that the Lord being omnipotent and omniscient He can transform matter into spirit and spirit into matter as He desires. (More...)

Therefore here it is said, bhaktya puman jata-viraga. Bhakti is so powerful that if you engage yourself in the bhakti-marga or bhakti-yoga... Here it is said, rjubhir yoga-margaih. Rjubhih means very easy to perform. How? Now, drsta-srutan mad-racananucintaya. Drsta. You can see Krsna. Krsna is kind enough. Although Krsna is beyond our vision-we cannot see with these eyes Krsna-but Krsna has agreed to be seen by you or by us. How? He has assumed this arca-vigraha. Krsna, this vigraha, don't think it is stone. Even it is stone you think, but Krsna can become visible before you like a stone, because you cannot see beyond stone. That is Krsna's mercy. Because your eyes or senses are so imperfect that you cannot see Krsna present everywhere in His original, spiritual... We have got difference between spiritual and material. We have got, because we are imperfect. But Krsna has no such distinction. Because He is Absolute, He can become spiritual, He can become material, as He likes. That does not make any difference of Krsna. Then how Krsna is almighty, all-powerful? He can change matter into spirit, spirit into matter. That is Krsna. So don't think that, as the atheist class men they think, that "They are worshiping an idol." Even it is an idol, still Krsna. That is absolute. That is absolute nature of Krsna. Even you think it is stone, it is metal, it is wood, still, He is Krsna. (More...)