pranamas

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Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Sirla Prabhupada.

 

>Well, the guru is a representative of the Lord, member of the parampara. I

>find it sensible to recite guru pranama to Deities.

 

This makes perfects sense also because of the clear admonition of the sastra

to approach the Deity only via Their pure devotee, who engages us in Their

worship. As it is stated in SB 11.3.26 purp.:

 

"®r…la Bhaktisiddh€nta Sarasvat… µh€kura mentions that one cannot develop

the godly qualities mentioned in the preceding verses unless one accepts the

shelter of the lotus feet of a bona fide VaiŠava spiritual master. Tasm€d

guruˆ prapadyeta jijñ€suƒ reya uttamam [sB 11.3.21]. In this connection, he

has quoted the following statement:

 

arcayitv€ tu govindaˆ

tad…y€n n€rcayet tu yaƒ

na sa bh€gavato jñeyaƒ

kevalaˆ d€mbhikaƒ smtaƒ

 

“One who performs worship of Lord Govinda but fails to worship His devotees

should be understood to be not a devotee of the Lord but simply a victim of

false pride.” For one who has accepted shelter at the lotus feet of a pure

devotee of KŠa, it is very easy to execute worship of the Lord Himself."

 

This verse speaks directly of the Deity worship (arcana).

 

It seems that chanting the pranama mantra out loud while offering obeisances

to the Deities qualifies us, in the Deity's eyes, as Their servants. It

guarantees us Their attention and consent to accept our worship, which

obeisances are an important part of.

 

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura would always stand by Garuda stambha

far away from Lord Jagannath while taking His darsan, and when motioned by

his disciples to come closer to the Deity, replied: "Who am I to present

myself directly before the Lord? By if I stand next to the Lord's most dear

devotee, Garudadev, who is always granted loving and affectionate glances of

Lord Jagannath, I can at least expect that one of them would accidentally

fall upon me as well."

 

This is further corraborated the famous verse from Adi Purana quoted in CC

Madhya 11.28:

 

ye me bhakta-jan€ƒ p€rtha

na me bhakt€ ca te jan€ƒ

mad-bhakt€n€ˆ ca ye bhakt€s

te me bhakta-tam€ mat€ƒ

 

“[Lord KŠa told Arjuna:] ‘Those who are My direct devotees are actually

not My devotees, but those who are the devotees of My servant are factually

My devotees.’

 

and SB 9.4.63

 

r…-bhagav€n uv€ca

ahaˆ bhakta-par€dh…no

hy asvatantra iva dvija

s€dhubhir grasta-hdayo

bhaktair bhakta-jana-priyaƒ

 

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said to the br€hmaŠa: I am completely

under the control of My devotees. Indeed, I am not at all independent.

Because My devotees are completely devoid of material desires, I sit only

within the cores of their hearts. What to speak of My devotee, even those

who are devotees of My devotee are very dear to Me.

 

Begging to be further enlightened on this topic.

 

your servant,

Madana-mohana das