Why is stitched cloth not used for Deity Worship?
Transcript
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Question. Why is stitch cloth not used in deity worship? Answer.
Because stitch cloth involves karma. In general, whatever is natural, is considered to be, because it is not infested with material desires of human beings, it is considered to be pure. Just like fruits are considered to be pure as compared to cooked food.
So, fruits we can take from anyone, but cooked food we prefer to take from devotees who have cooked it and then offer it to Krishna and then honour it. So, in general, when we take cotton or any other natural resource, then there is weaving and at that time, when the cloth is made in the loom, at that time, it’s a mechanical process which does not involve the use of a needle or any kind of cutting. So, it is done in a non-violent and non-fashionable way.
So, purely woven cloth without any stitches is basically a functional necessity. But generally, once stitching starts, then various patterns are stitched and then the cloth serves many purposes other than just the functional purpose of covering the body. So, generally, karma gets infested in a particular activity to the extent to which either there is some violence involved in getting that thing done or that activity is done by some desires for some form of worldly enjoyment.
So, unstitched cloth, just like natural food in the sense of fruits, which can be, anybody can bring food and offer it to the deities and it will be offered to the deities. But if it’s cooked, then generally, it is the food that is cooked by devotees with proper consciousness that will be offered to the lord. So, unstitched cloth, in that sense, is said to be, is considered to be not contaminated by any consciousness of any person’s desires and is not infected by karma.
That’s why it is not used, it is used in the deity worship and unstitched cloth is avoided. Of course, anybody, any kind of cloth can go into the temple and take darshan of the deities. But in general, for the worship of the deities, unstitched cloth is used because it is karma,