Symbols

We all know what are symbols. They are representations. They are a kind of Placeholders for something else. Symbol is just a reference to some other idea or reality, it is not the reality itself. A symbol borrows the essential reality from its reference and does not contain any essence of its own.

I need not to reiterate the understood fact here, that the Symbols are for specific audience of a specific location. For instance, "donkey" may be a symbol of ignorance for the audience of region A, but a symbol of intellect for audience of region B. The location may be regional or cultural.

You can take the example of a portrait. A portrait is a symbol (in the most general terms) of any person. The portrait of Mona Liza is not the Mona Liza herself in the frame smiling for us. Mona Liza died a long time ago. The portrait just reminds us of her. The portrait just represents her, it is not Mona Liza herself with all her flesh and bones. So, the essence of the portrait lies in Mona Liza. (There goes a debate that the artist made that smile look mysterious, some say the artist just showed what he saw. We are not getting into that)

A symbol is always in a state of representation. It never becomes the reality itself. In order to understand the reality behind a symbol, we must go behind it and see what it has to offer. We must not stop our search just by looking at the symbol, and nothing but the symbol, because the reality resides not in the symbol, but beyond its existence. The essence is somewhere else - not in the symbol.

Here is another example - for which I wrote this article.

The Namaz (Muslim Prayer). It is just a symbol of another reality and idea. The Sajda (the prostration) is a symbol of complete submission of one's existence before Allah. Unless a Muslim does not realize the idea of complete submission his Sajda is futile. A Muslim's existence exalts by submission. The soul rises when the existence annihilates. The essence colors by decoloring the existence. Namaz is a symbol - it holds within it a reality that cannot be acquired without investing your Self in this quest. Without realization of this reality a Namazee is just vomiting out what he crammed - no exaltation required, no purification achieved - nothing. Just vomiting and exercising.