How to understand?

[Guest guest]

Dear Prabhu/Maharaja,

Pamho! AgtSP!

 

One text states that a person who is ignorant of His presence in all living

entities never pleases Him by the worship of His Deities in the temple, and

another proclaims that one should worship the Deity of the Supreme Personality

of Godhead until one realizes His presence in his own heart and in the hearts

of other living entities as well. So how to be able to understand this? Please

reply me.

 

SB Canto 3, Ch.29th

TEXT 24

 

aham uccavacair dravyaih

kriyayotpannayanaghe

naiva tusye 'rcito 'rcayam

bhuta-gramavamaninah

 

aham--I; ucca-avacaih--with various; dravyaih--paraphernalia; kriyaya--by

religious rituals; utpannaya--accomplished; anaghe--O sinless mother; na--not;

eva--certainly; tusye--am pleased; arcitah--worshiped; arcayam--in the Deity

form; bhuta-grama--to other living entities; avamaninah--with those who are

disrespectful.

 

TRANSLATION

 

My dear Mother, even if he worships with proper rituals and

paraphernalia, a person who is ignorant of My presence in all living entities

never pleases Me by the worship of My Deities in the temple.

 

PURPORT

 

There are sixty-four different prescriptions for worship of the Deity in

the temple. There are many items offered to the Deity, some valuable and some

less valuable. It is prescribed in Bhagavad-gita: "If a devotee offers Me a

small flower, a leaf, some water or a little fruit, I will accept it." The

real purpose is to exhibit one's loving devotion to the Lord; the offerings

themselves are secondary. If one has not developed loving devotion to the Lord

and simply offers many kinds of foodstuffs, fruits and flowers without real

devotion, the offering will not be accepted by the Lord. We cannot bribe the

Personality of Godhead. He is so great that our bribery has no value. Nor has

He any scarcity; since He is full in Himself, what can we offer Him?

Everything is produced by Him. We simply offer to show our love and gratitude

to the Lord.

This gratitude and love for God is exhibited by a pure devotee, who knows

that the Lord lives in every living entity. As such, temple worship

necessarily includes distribution of prasada. It is not that one should create

a temple in his private apartment or private room, offer something to the

Lord, and then eat. Of course, that is better than simply cooking foodstuffs

and eating without understanding one's relationship with the Supreme Lord;

people who act in this manner are just like animals. But the devotee who wants

to elevate himself to the higher level of understanding must know that the

Lord is present in every living entity, and, as stated in the previous verse,

one should be compassionate to other living entities. A devotee should worship

the Supreme Lord, be friendly to persons who are on the same level and be

compassionate to the ignorant. One should exhibit his compassion for ignorant

living entities by distributing prasada. Distribution of prasada to the

ignorant masses of people is essential for persons who make offerings to the

Personality of Godhead.

Real love and devotion is accepted by the Lord. Many valuable foodstuffs

may be presented to a person, but if the person is not hungry, all such

offerings are useless for him. Similarly, we may offer many valuable items to

the Deity, but if we have no real sense of devotion and no real sense of the

Lord's presence everywhere, then we are lacking in devotional service; in such

a state of ignorance, we cannot offer anything acceptable to the Lord.

 

TEXT 25

 

arcadav arcayet tavad

isvaram mam sva-karma-krt

yavan na veda sva-hrdi

sarva-bhutesv avasthitam

 

arca-adau--beginning with worship of the Deity; arcayet--one should worship;

tavat--so long; isvaram--the Supreme Personality of Godhead; mam--Me; sva--his

own; karma--prescribed duties; krt--performing; yavat--as long as; na--not;

veda--he realizes; sva-hrdi--in his own heart; sarva-bhutesu--in all living

entities; avasthitam--situated.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Performing his prescribed duties, one should worship the Deity of the

Supreme Personality of Godhead until one realizes My presence in his own heart

and in the hearts of other living entities as well.

 

PURPORT

 

Worship of the Deity of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is prescribed

herewith even for persons who are simply discharging their prescribed duties.

There are prescribed duties for the different social classes of men--the

brahmanas, the vaisyas, the ksatriyas and the sudras--and for the different

asramas--brahmacarya, grhastha, vanaprastha and sannyasa. One should worship

the Deity of the Lord until one appreciates the presence of the Lord in every

living entity. In other words, one should not be satisfied simply by

discharging his duties properly; he must realize his relationship and the

relationship of all other living entities with the Supreme Personality of

Godhead. If he does not understand this, then even though he discharges his

prescribed duties properly, it is to be understood that he is simply laboring

without profit.

The word sva-karma-krt in this verse is very significant. Sva-karma-krt

is one who engages in discharging his prescribed duties. It is not that one

who has become a devotee of the Lord or who engages in devotional service

should give up his prescribed duties. No one should be lazy under the plea of

devotional service. One has to execute devotional service according to his

prescribed duties. Sva-karma-krt means that one should discharge the duties

prescribed for him without neglect.

 

Your servant,

Vishwarupa Das