In plain words
Though God pervades all, people strive to attain Him in a personal way, through arcana and through acts of ārādhana. There are some sects. Does God dwell inside a temple? Is He in stone and paper? That is how they argue. This is not right. Through arcana, pūjā and bhajan it is possible to attain God.
Pūjā is truly the first step. There are many who gave up food and sleep, did tapas in the depths of the forest, and won God's grace as its fruit. But the path of ārādhana, through pūjā, arcana, bhajan, saṅkīrtana and the like, is an easy path. Mīrābāi, Sakkubāi, Sūradās, Kabīrdās, Śaṅkarācārya: every one of them followed this very path, experienced the Supreme Principle and rejoiced in it. If the claim were right that all these are useless tasks and the time spent on them is wasted, how could all of them have seen the all-pervading Divine Principle face to face in a form?
Without arcana, pūjā and japa, this is not possible. In all the books of the English language, what we find is only the 26 letters. Without being taught to write and to read those letters, without learning them, how could anyone be called educated? The image or the picture to which arcana is offered is only a sign of God. We must not turn God into stone and paper. The Maharaja of Alwar argued before Swāmī Vivekānanda that for Hindus to see the all-pervading God in an image was laughable. Vivekānanda heard it and burst out laughing. Calling the minister, he told him to take down the Maharaja's large portrait that hung on the wall. “Minister! Spit on that picture. What is there in it but canvas and colour?” he said. “It is not your Maharaja,” he said. But the minister was afraid, and stood before it with palms joined, in devotion and faith. That was all! Everyone made it plain to Vivekānanda that the form was to be looked up to just as the Maharaja was. Though the all-pervading God is present everywhere, we take images as the support and behold directly the One they support.
If we worship and adore the form that serves as the support, and, in the way the śāstras lay down, with the sixteen offerings, regard it as His very presence, purity of citta is sure to come, and God is clearly reflected in the antaḥkaraṇa. If instead we think of it as paper, the fruit is just that much.
Man must make the effort that purity of citta calls for. When a good dish is cooked in a dirty vessel, it goes to waste. Bury a good seed in barren ground, and there is no gain.