The Encyclopedia of World Religions

symbolism in religion S 435

associations can go on and on. Religious people moreover feel comfort in the fact that they will see many of the same familiar symbols in all houses of their religion. Symbols are numerous. Today each religion seems to have a “main” symbol, like those just mentioned. But enter a religious edifice and you will see many more. In Hindu temples each of the gods is not only a symbol in his or her own right of spiritual lines of force, but also is surrounded by more symbols, like the moon and serpents of S IVA or the conch shell and discus of V ISHNU . Even the deity’s hand gestures are symbols in their own right. In C HRISTIANITY the SAINTS and APOSTLES have

their particular symbols. Lights and candles, vest ments worn by religious leaders, sacred books on the ALTAR —all these are symbols as well as just what they are, for they evoke associations that lead one deeper into the faith. It is not always necessary to know a one-to-one meaning for each symbol in a religion. These kinds of things can have meanings special to each person, and the main point anyway is not to put it into words but to let the symbol lead one beyond words. This is particularly true of what might be called general symbols. Certain things seem to appear over and over in the world’s religions as symbols: things like sun, moon, water, tree, heroic figures

The interior of an Ashkenazim synagogue in Jerusalem (Library of Congress)