ple, 'The body of Agni made of Ayas or of silver or of gold,' or 'the presiding deities of night and dawn having fine sculptures, etc.' (Shah 5). In addition to the Vedas' references all throughout its scriptures of many deities such as Surya (sun ), Indra (air), and Agni (fire), the Brahamanas which are considered to be an integral part of the Vedas and are essentially the "how to" texts of Vedic sacrifice. Dayananda was probably aware of this angle of argument and appropriately so, dismissed that the "Brahamanas were not Vedas, the Vedas meant only Samhita (mantra portion)" (Arya Shastri 67). It seems that only if the Brahmanas are excluded, Dayananda's argument against idol worship seems sufficient. In addition, the second view that Dayananda held profoundly since childhood was that "God was everywhere, He has no shape or form" (Kulageri 1998). Therefore quite fittingly Dayananda had used the Vedas as a source to further prove his view. He had felt that the Vedas were the only significant texts because they were written by richis (Granthas). But more importantly, because they had started with "Om" or "Artha" which to him obviously meant one God. Furthermore, since it stated in the Vedas that, "God is Formless (nirakara) and is Perfect, (and He is) Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient" there could be no such thing as a manifestation of God, or Avatara (Arya & Sharma 66). Ram, Krishna and any other great incarnations are "not Gods to be worshipped" rather one should only worship one God, what he called Parameshawra or true divine (Arya & Shastri 66). In addition, Dayananda went on to say that Godliness could not be circumscribed within the body of one man (or prophet), and be present at one place (Arya & Shastri 67). So worshipping the former or any other deity is not only against the Vedas but to do so was to him, "irrational behavior" (Arya & Shastri 66). We see that a single God certainly holds true in many other religions s...
