SB 7.5.23 – Deity Worship

Giriraj Swami:

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto Seven, Chapter Five: “Prahlāda, The Saintly Son of Hiraṇyakaśipu,” Text Twenty-three and Twenty-four. However, we will just chant responsibly, Text Twenty-three

TEXT 23

śrī-prahrāda uvāca

śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ

smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam

arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ

sakhyam ātma-nivedanam

TRANSLATION

Prahlāda Mahārāja said: Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Viṣṇu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one’s best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words) — these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service. One who has dedicated his life to the service of Kṛṣṇa through these nine methods should be understood to be the most learned person, for he has acquired complete knowledge.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

When Prahlāda Mahārāja was asked by his father to say something from whatever he had learned, he considered that what he had learned from his spiritual master was the best of all teachings whereas what he had learned about diplomacy from his material teachers, Ṣaṇḍa and Amarka, was useless. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra ca (Bhāg. 11.2.42). This is the symptom of pure devotional service. A pure devotee is interested only in devotional service, not in material affairs. To execute devotional service, one should always engage in hearing and chanting about Kṛṣṇa, or Lord Viṣṇu. The process of temple worship is called arcana. How to perform arcana will be explained herein. One should have complete faith in the words of Kṛṣṇa, who says that He is the great well-wishing friend of everyone (suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām). A devotee considers Kṛṣṇa the only friend. This is called sakhyam. Puṁsārpitā viṣṇau. The word puṁsā means “by all living entities.” There are no distinctions permitting only a man or only a brāhmaṇa to offer devotional service to the Lord. Everyone can do so. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (9.32), striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās te ‘pi yānti parāṁ gatim: although women, vaiśyas and śūdras are considered less intelligent, they also can become devotees and return home, back to Godhead.

COMMENT

So because we have gathered specifically for the installation of the deities of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai, and because our time is limited, we shall proceed to the discussion of arcanam—deity worship. Srila Prabhupada has given an elaborated purport here where he discusses one by one all of the different nine items of devotional service, but we will proceed to arcanam. 

PURPORT (continued)

After pāda-sevanam comes the process of arcanam, worship of the Deity. If one is interested in the process of arcanam, one must positively take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master and learn the process from him. There are many books for arcana, especially Nārada-pañcarātra. In this age, the Pañcarātra system is particularly recommended for arcana, Deity worship. There are two systems of arcana — the bhāgavata system and pāñcarātrikī system. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there is no recommendation of pāñcarātrikī worship because in this Kali-yuga, even without Deity worship, everything can be perfectly performed simply through hearing, chanting, remembering and worship of the lotus feet of the Lord. Rūpa Gosvāmī states:

śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe parīkṣid abhavad vaiyāsakiḥ kīrtane

prahlādaḥ smaraṇe tad-aṅghri-bhajane lakṣmīḥ pṛthuḥ pūjane

akrūras tv abhivandane kapi-patir dāsye ‘tha sakhye ‘rjunaḥ

sarvasvātma-nivedane balir abhūt kṛṣṇāptir eṣāṁ param

“Parīkṣit Mahārāja attained salvation simply by hearing, and Śukadeva Gosvāmī attained salvation simply by chanting. Prahlāda Mahārāja attained salvation by remembering the Lord. The goddess of fortune, Lakṣmīdevī, attained perfection by worshiping the Lord’s lotus feet. Pṛthu Mahārāja attained salvation by worshiping the Deity of the Lord. Akrūra attained salvation by offering prayers, Hanumān by rendering service, Arjuna by establishing friendship with the Lord, and Bali Mahārāja by offering everything to the service of the Lord.” All these great devotees served the Lord according to a particular process, but every one of them attained salvation and became eligible to return home, back to Godhead. This is explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

It is therefore recommended that initiated devotees follow the principles of Nārada-pañcarātra by worshiping the Deity in the temple. Especially for householder devotees who are opulent in material possessions, the path of Deity worship is strongly recommended. An opulent householder devotee who does not engage his hard-earned money in the service of the Lord is called a miser. One should not engage paid brāhmaṇas to worship the Deity. If one does not personally worship the Deity but engages paid servants instead, he is considered lazy, and his worship of the Deity is called artificial. An opulent householder can collect luxurious paraphernalia for Deity worship, and consequently for householder devotees the worship of the Deity is compulsory. In our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement there are brahmacārīs, gṛhasthas, vānaprasthas and sannyāsīs, but the Deity worship in the temple should be performed especially by the householders. The brahmacārīs can go with the sannyāsīs to preach, and the vānaprasthas should prepare themselves for the next status of renounced life, sannyāsa. Gṛhastha devotees, however, are generally engaged in material activities, and therefore if they do not take to Deity worship, their falling down is positively assured. Deity worship means following the rules and regulations precisely. That will keep one steady in devotional service. Generally householders have children, and then the wives of the householders should be engaged in caring for the children, just as women acting as teachers care for the children in a nursery school.

Gṛhastha devotees must adopt the arcana-vidhi, or Deity worship according to the suitable arrangements and directions given by the spiritual master. Regarding those unable to take to the Deity worship in the temple, there is the following statement in the Agni Purāṇa. Any householder devotee circumstantially unable to worship the Deity must at least see the Deity worship, and in this way he may achieve success also. The special purpose of Deity worship is to keep oneself always pure and clean. Gṛhastha devotees should be actual examples of cleanliness.

COMMENT

So, Srila Prabhupada has explained that there are two processes in devotional service—bhāgavata-mārga, and pāñcarātrikī vidhi. Bhāgavata-mārga means mainly hearing and chanting Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and remembering the pastimes of the Lord from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam basically describes the Lord’s pastimes with His liberated devotees, with His personal associates who serve Him with pure love, and devotees in Vrindavan serve Him with spontaneous affection. They don’t even consider Krishna is God or not. In fact, they consider Him to be the darling son of King Nanda and Mother Yasoda. They are not thinking that He is God and therefore I must serve Him. Rather they are thinking he is the most beautiful young man, and I love Him, and I want to serve Him, and I want to make Him happy, or He is my best friend, and I want to make Him happy.

So that is bhāgavata-mārga, and in Kali-yuga one can achieve perfection or any age in principle, one can achieve perfection just by hearing and chanting abut Krishna. But practically we are not at the stage where we can hear and chant about Krishna all day and night. Even devotees living in the temple have other engagements, and householders certainly have other engagements. So what do we do with the other time? We are not able to just sit down and chant Hare Krishna for twenty-four hours, or twenty-two hours. What do we do for the rest of the time? How do we engage ourselves? So one of the important processes is deity worship, whereas hearing and chanting basically involves the tongue, and the ears, and of course the mind, deity worship involves all the senses. Gathering the paraphernalia for worship, bathing the deity, dressing the deity, cooking for the deity, offering the food to the deity, offering ārati to the deity. There are so many activities which resemble the activities of people in general. Getting up in the morning, taking bath, getting dresses, eating, and so on. 

Of course the one thing that the deities don’t do it is go to work. They (unintelligible 00:23:50–53) the Lord has no work to perform. He has His agents to do His work for Him. Srila Prabhupada gives the example that even in the material world, a very rich person like the Birlas for example, they don’t have to do much work themselves. But they have their agents. Mr. Birla wants to create a factory, he just calls his secretary and tells the secretary, “I want to make such and such type of factory, at such and such place.” Then the secretary tells the others, and the others do the work. But Krishna has no work to perform at all. He simply enjoys pastimes of love with His pure devotees. And in fact Krishna does not need anything from us, but we need to serve Krishna, to develop our love for Him. And therefore we do with Krishna what we would do with any other person, with who we want to develop a loving relationship. 

In the Upadeśāmṛta, Srila Rupa Gosvami describes the six symptoms of love shared by devotees—dadāti pratigṛhṇāti, dadāti means gifts. So we give the deities all sorts of paraphernalia. We give them new outfits on special occasions, we bring flowers to them, we give them whatever we are able to give them. Then guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati. We reveal our mind to the deities. First of all, we pray to them to engage us in their service, we pray to them to help us to serve them properly, and we reveal our mind to them in every respect. We can completely open our hearts to them and reveal our hearts deepest desire and most confidential thoughts and they can, they will also reciprocate according to our surrender. And then, bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva, offering food. That is also an important element in deity worship. We offer food to the deity, and then we accept the deity’s remnants as mahā-prasāda. 

So the whole purpose of deity worship is to engage us, engage our senses in the service of the Lord. That is the definition of sādhana-bhakti—to engage the present senses in the service of the Lord. We practice serving the Lord with the present senses, and then when we become perfect, we are able to serve the Lord with transcendental senses. We develop our spiritual body to serve the Lord with spiritual senses. But sādhana-bhakti—that means serving the Lord with the present senses, and deity worship enables us to engage all of our senses in the service of the Lord. With our eyes we see the beautiful form of the Lord, with our ears we hear the mantras, and of course Jiva Gosvami has recommended especially that chanting of the holy name should go along with the process of deity worship. Before we worship the deity, there should be kirtan, and after we worship the deity, there should be kirtan. And Srila Prabhupada has introduced the same system in ISKCON. So that is another point that the two should go together, and if there is time we will read more from the purport. But yes, with our tongues we taste the remnants of the prasāda and of course, utter the mantras, and with our working senses we cook, we bathe the Lord, we dress the Lord, we offer ārati and so on. So we can engage all of our senses in the service of the Lord, senses of perception and the working senses. And with the ultimate goal to revive our eternal relationship with the Lord, to awaken our dormant Krishna consciousness.

PURPORT (continued)

Deity worship should be continued along with hearing and chanting. Therefore every mantra is preceded by the word namaḥ. In all the mantras there are specific potencies, of which the gṛhastha devotees must take advantage. There are many mantras preceded by the word namaḥ, but if one chants the holy name of the Lord, he receives the result of chanting namaḥ many times. By chanting the holy name of the Lord, one can reach the platform of love of Godhead. One might ask, then what is the necessity of being initiated? The answer is that even though the chanting of the holy name is sufficient to enable one to progress in spiritual life to the standard of love of Godhead, one is nonetheless susceptible to contamination because of possessing a material body. Consequently, special stress is given to the arcana-vidhi. One should therefore regularly take advantage of both the bhāgavata process and pāñcarātrikī process.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada has explained that for neophyte devotees to make progress, for us to make progress we need both tracks, the bhāgavata process, and the pāñcarātrikī process. And he gave the example of a train. A train proceeds on two rails. As long as it moves forward on two rails, it can proceed, but if it tries to proceed on only one rail, it will become derailed, it will fall of the rail. So in the same way because we have material body and we live in a material atmosphere, we are prone to going off the track or falling down. Therefore, we require both processes—hearing and chanting, and worshipping the deity. And if we do both, we can progress. Although it is fact that hearing and chanting or bhāgavata-mārga alone is sufficient, but not for us. 

Once we rented, we did not actually rent, one of our good supporters in Bombay Mr. Bridgerton Motta, gave us one of his apartments to use as a center in downtown Bombay, because at the time we were much embroiled in the struggle to get the Juhu Land and because of the complications with the Juhu Land, we couldn’t construct. And at the same time we were under attack in Juhu, and most of our friend, most of the government officers, most of the people that could help us were in central Bombay. So we took the apartment from Mr. Motta, and we were meeting people, and raising fund, but I must say that we didn’t have a morning program. And the result was that we would sleep late in the morning. Of course we were very busy all day long, and in some way we were very successful in raising funds, and getting support. Anyway about three days before Srila Prabhupada was scheduled to arrive in Bombay, Tamal Krishna Goswami was the leader of team. Tamal Krishna Goswami decided we better like paint the flat, and set up an altar, and make it look like a proper center, and please Srila Prabhupada. 

So Srila Prabhupada visited and everything looked very nice but somehow Srila Prabhupada detected the fact, somehow or other, that we were not really having regular temple programs, that we were basically his words, ‘eating and sleeping’, and then going out and collecting. He used the word joint mess. Of course it was a bit messy before he came, but I think what he meant by joint mess is that the group of men live together, and they eat together like mess hall, they eat together, and during the day they go out and work, and then they come together and have dinner together again and go to sleep, until the next morning when they wake up and eat together, and go out again. So Tamal Krishna Goswami said to Srila Prabhupada that, “But Srila Prabhupada I thought that if we just chant sixteen rounds and follow the four principles, that is enough.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Yes, it is enough. But not for you.” So yes, this is important, in our condition we need both. We need deity worship, we need that regulation, we need to get up early in the morning, we need to be clean. And we need to engage all of our senses, and our minds in gathering the paraphernalia and performing the different items involved in deity worship. So both pāñcarātrikī vidhi and bhāgavata-mārga, and I must say that whatever we do is the example. So many householders come to the temple. We are meant to show them the example of how to live. So even if we feel we don’t really need to do this or we don’t really need to do that, even then we should do it to set the proper example for others.

I remember once in India Srila Prabhupada raised the question that why do we even need temples because people can be Krishna conscious at home. In India people have a sense, they can worship at home. And Srila Prabhupada said that only a few people will be able to live in the temple, most will live at home. So why do we have the temple? Srila Prabhupada said that we have the temples to set the example, that people can learn how to be Krishna conscious at home, how to worship at home. Basically there is nothing we do in the temple that people can’t do at home, but the temple shows the example. And of course gives the instruction, and inspiration so that people will do the same at home, if they don’t live in the temple or close enough to the temple. There are pages more in the purport just on the subject of deity worship. There is the offence. And there are different lists of offences, in different scriptures. Anyway I think we do have a few more minutes, so I will read the offences. We may not discuss them but we should be conscious of the offences. And that will also help us to regulate our thinking, and our act.

PURPORT (continued)

Deity worship has two divisions, namely pure and mixed with fruitive activities.

COMMENT

I believe in this context Srila Prabhupada means, he is referring the householders who are sort of like karmis, and therefore they engage in fruitive activities. But are not completely blind materialists sense enjoyers. They are also pious. So they do engage in devotional service but they also engage in fruitive activity. It is not meant to apply to us. 

PURPORT (continued)

Deity worship has two divisions, namely pure and mixed with fruitive activities. For one who is steady, Deity worship is compulsory. Observing the various types of festivals, such as Śrī Janmāṣṭamī, Rāma-navamī and Nṛsiṁha-caturdaśī, is also included in the process of Deity worship. In other words, it is compulsory for householder devotees to observe these festivals.

Now let us discuss the offenses in Deity worship. The following are offenses: (a) to enter the temple with shoes or being carried on a palanquin, (b) not to observe the prescribed festivals, (c) to avoid offering obeisances in front of the Deity, (d) to offer prayers in an unclean state, not having washed one’s hands after eating, (e) to offer obeisances with one hand, 

COMMENT

In other words, we should not be lazy when we offer obeisances. We should offer proper obeisances.

PURPORT (continued)

(f) to circumambulate directly in front of the Deity, (g) to spread one’s legs before the Deity,

COMMENT

In the, anyway there is not time to comment on everything.

PURPORT (continued)

(h) to sit before the Deity while holding one’s ankles with one’s hands, (i) to lie down before the Deity, (j) to eat before the Deity, (k) to speak lies before the Deity, (l) to address someone loudly before the Deity, (m) to talk nonsense before the Deity, (n) to cry before the Deity, (o) to argue before the Deity, (p) to chastise someone before the Deity, (q) to show someone favor before the Deity, (r) to use harsh words before the Deity, (s) to wear a woolen blanket before the Deity, (t) to blaspheme someone before the Deity, (u) to worship someone else before the Deity, (v) to use vulgar language before the Deity, (w) to pass air before the Deity, (x) to avoid very opulent worship of the Deity, even though one is able to perform it, (y) to eat something not offered to the Deity, (z) to avoid offering fresh fruits to the Deity according to the season, (aa) to offer food to the Deity which has already been used or from which has first been given to others (in other words, food should not be distributed to anyone else until it has been offered to the Deity), (bb) to sit with one’s back toward the Deity, (cc) to offer obeisances to someone else in front of the Deity, (dd) not to chant proper prayers when offering obeisances to the spiritual master, (ee) to praise oneself before the Deity, and (ff) to blaspheme the demigods. In the worship of the Deity, these thirty-two offenses should be avoided.

COMMENT

So the basic idea is that Krishna is the center. As conditioned soul we are accustomed to keeping ourselves in the center. We see everything in relation to our self. We think we are the center, and everyone, and everything should revolve around us, and everyone and everything is meant for our enjoyment, our use. So the process of deity worship, of course the process of devotional service in general but in particular the process of deity worship is meant to reform the selfish mentality of thinking of our selves first, and everything and everyone else second. But in deity worship we have to think of the deity first, we have to think of what the deity will like. And therefore when we are in front of the deity, we should always be mindful of the deity, that the deity is the center not us. And therefore we don’t lose our temper in front of the deity, and chastise someone, or we don’t flatter an ordinary person in front of the deity, if the deity did not exist. But the focus of our attention should be the deity and we should only do things which will please the deity. That is the basic idea here. I will read a little more and then I will explain one exception.

PURPORT (continued)

In the Varāha Purāṇa the following offenses are mentioned: (a) to eat in the house of a rich man, (b) to enter the Deity’s room in the dark, (c) to worship the Deity without following the regulative principles,

COMMENT

And this is a very important point, that we are initiated on the basis of chanting sixteen rounds and following the four principles, and we have to maintain the regulative principle. We have to continue to chant sixteen rounds and following the four principles to be properly fit to worship the deity. Yes.

PURPORT (continued)

(c) to worship the Deity without following the regulative principles, (d) to enter the temple without vibrating any sound, (e) to collect food that has been seen by a dog, (f) to break silence while offering worship to the Deity, (g) to go to the toilet during the time of worshiping the Deity, (h) to offer incense without offering flowers, (i) to worship the Deity with forbidden flowers, (j) to begin worship without having washed one’s teeth, (k) to begin worship after sex, (l) to touch a lamp, dead body or a woman during her menstrual period, or to put on red or bluish clothing, unwashed clothing, the clothing of others or soiled clothing. Other offenses are to worship the Deity after seeing a dead body, to pass air before the Deity, 

COMMENT

In The Nectar of Devotion, Srila Prabhupada explains the inclination is that one should have digested one’s food before one begins the worship. And that may mean that one should not over eat. In any case one should not over eat. But we should just eat enough so that we will have strength to do the deity worship, and digest it in time. 

PURPORT (continued) 

to show anger before the Deity, and to worship the Deity just after returning from a crematorium. After eating, one should not worship the Deity until one has digested his food, nor should one touch the Deity or engage in any Deity worship after eating safflower oil or hing. These are also offenses.

In other places, the following offenses are listed: (a) to be against the scriptural injunctions of the Vedic literature or to disrespect within one’s heart the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam while externally falsely accepting its principles, (b) to introduce differing śāstras, (c) to chew pan and betel before the Deity, (d) to keep flowers for worship on the leaf of a castor oil plant, (e) to worship the Deity in the afternoon, 

COMMENT

In other words, the deity takes rest in the afternoon. 

PURPORT (continued)

(f) to sit on the altar or to sit on the floor to worship the Deity (without a seat), (g) to touch the Deity with the left hand while bathing the Deity, (h) to worship the Deity with a stale or used flower, (i) to spit while worshiping the Deity, (j) to advertise one’s glory while worshiping the Deity, (k) to apply tilaka to one’s forehead in a curved way, (l) to enter the temple without having washed one’s feet, (m) to offer the Deity food cooked by an uninitiated person, (n) to worship the Deity and offer bhoga to the Deity within the vision of an uninitiated person or non-Vaiṣṇava, (o) to offer worship to the Deity without worshiping Vaikuṇṭha deities like Gaṇeśa, (p) to worship the Deity while perspiring, (q) to refuse flowers offered to the Deity, 

COMMENT

In other words, one accepts prasāda, flower prasāda offered to us after the worship, we should not refuse.

PURPORT (Continued)

(r) to take a vow or oath in the holy name of the Lord. If one commits any of the above offenses, one must read at least one chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. This is confirmed in the Skanda-Purāṇa, Avantī-khaṇḍa. Similarly, there is another injunction, stating that one who reads the thousand names of Viṣṇu can be released from all offenses. In the same Skanda-Purāṇa, Revā-khaṇḍa, it is said that one who recites prayers to tulasī or sows a tulasī seed is also freed from all offenses. Similarly, one who worships the śālagrāma-śilā can also be relieved of offenses. In the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa it is said that one who worships Lord Viṣṇu, whose four hands bear a conchshell, disc, lotus flower and club, can be relieved from the above offenses. In the Ādi-varāha Purāṇa it is said that a worshiper who has committed offenses may fast for one day at the holy place known as Śaukarava and then bathe in the Ganges.

COMMENT

 And then there is a description of worshipping the deity in the mind. If one is unable to worship physically, then one can worship the deity in the mind. The example is given of the brahman who worshipped the deity in the mind, and offered hot sweet rice to the deity in his mind, and when he touched the sweet rice, his finger got burnt, although the whole process was done within his mind. And then Lord Narayana in Vaikuntha saw that his meditation of his servant was so intense that he burnt his finger by touching the hot sweet rice in his meditation that the Lord called him to his personal service in Vaikuntha.

But the one point I did want to say to qualify what we read about not praising someone in front of the deity, not offering obeisances to someone in front of the deity, concerns the glorification of the Vaishnavas, or the worship of the spiritual master. Because Srila Prabhupada did accept guru-puja in front of the deity and disciples asked him about the injunction not to offer obeisances in front of the deity, or not to worship someone in front of the deity. Of course, the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa says that the spiritual master is the one person to whom you may or must offer obeisances even in front of the deity. But the higher principle is that, a neophyte devotee he only knows the deity, the neophyte devotee cannot appreciate other devotees or Vaishnava, but a more advanced devotee can appreciate Vaishnava and their relationship with the deity. 

So there was one incident in Bombay. Our godbrother Gurudas Prabhu was glorifying another godbrother named Dinanath Prabhu, who was a good kirtan leader. So he was praising the way Dinanath Prabhu lead kirtan, and then he sort of checked himself because he saw Prabhupada’s little brass Radha-Krishna deity. And he said, “Oh Srila Prabhupada I am sorry. I committed an offence because I was praising someone in front of the deity.” And Srila Prabhupada replied that, “Krishna is already glorified. But he takes more pleasure when his devotees are glorified.” So glorifying a devotee, or offering obeisances to the spiritual master in the consciousness of their relationship to the deity, and in consciousness of the fact that the deity takes pleasure in hearing his devotee glorified, and seeing his devotee worshipped, that is not forbidden. But otherwise in general it is not that oh some big person comes, and we forget about the deity, and we start to flatter him or worship him. No, but in the case of a Vaishnava, dedicated his life to the service of the deity, with due respect to the deity and the regulative principle, we can offer obeisances, glorification, and worship, knowing that the deity will actually be pleased.

So, in the mood of serving the Vaishnavas, I must respect their request that the class ends early. I think I have already gone over the time, and pray for their forgiveness. We will help in whatever way you need to get things ready in time.

Sri Sri Radha-Madhava Hari ki jaya!

Srinathji Gopal ki jaya!

Gaura-Nitai ki jaya!

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Gaura-bhakta-vṛnda ki jaya!

Nitai-Gaura premānande