Demigod Worship

[Guest guest]

Haribol,

 

Worship of Lord Shiva is recommended by Lord Rama and Lord Krishna. Also, demigod worship is recommended in Ramayana (e.g. Sita worshipping Gauri to get Rama as husband).

 

However, Prabhupada told us not to worship the demigods. How are we to follow instructions of Lord Rama/Lord Krishna and also follow Prabhupada's instruction simultaneously?

 

I look forward to hearing your reply. Thanks.

 

Your Servant.

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna.

 

Lord Krishna clearly states in the Bhagavad-gita that only the less intelligent worship the demigods.

 

Only worship Lord Krishna.

 

Read chapter 6 or listen now www.gitamrta.org/bg_6.m3u

[Guest guest]

It is alright to worship demigods with the intention of asking them to worship Krsna more sincerly and to ask them to help in your journey toward Krsna.

Such is my understanding.

Hare Krsna

[sumedh]

Hare Krishna and dandavat pranam

 

Lord Rama did worship Lord Shiva playing the part of a human; i do not know when he recommended it. In this context the following quotes may be helpful:

 

 

tvam aradhya tatha sambho grahisyami varam sada

dvaparadau yuge bhutva kalaya manusadisu

svagamaih kalpitaistvanca janan madvimukhan krru

manca gopaya yena syat srstiresontarontara

Padma Purana, Uttara khanda (42.109-110)

and Narada-pancaratra (4.2.29-30)

Visnu said: "O Sambhu, although I am Bhagavan, still I have worshiped different devatas and devis to bewilder the asuras. In the same way, I shall worship you as well, and receive a benediction. In Kali-yuga you should incarnate amongst human beings through your partial expansion. You should preach from sastras like Agama, and fabricate a philosophy that will distract the general mass of people away from Me, and keep Me covered. In this way, more and more people will be diverted away from Me, and My pastimes will become all the more valuable."

 

 

 

In Varaha Purana, Bhagavan tells Siva:

 

esa moham srjamy asu ye janan mohayisyati

vanca rudra mahasaho mohasastrani karaya

atathyani vitathyani darsayasva mahabhuja

prakasam kuru catmanamprakasanca mam kuru

 

I am creating the kind of illusion (moha) that will delude the mass of people. O strong-armed Rudra, you also create such a deluding sastra. O mighty-armed one, present fact as falsehood, and falsehood as fact. Give prominence to your destructive Rudra form and conceal My eternal original form as Bhagavan.

 

 

 

Therefore, we should only follow the instructions as given in Bhagavad-Gita etc and as brought to us by the authorized sampradayas. As guestji has said above demigod worship rarely with the view to advance in KC (seeing demigods as exalted vaishnavas) is okay, but even then it should not stem from our lack of confidence in our devotional practise or mahamantra; also there is no question of regular worship of demigod(s) in any case.

[imported_yasodanandana]

"It is alright to worship demigods with the intention of asking them to worship Krsna more sincerly and to ask them to help in your journey toward Krsna.

Such is my understanding.

Hare Krsna "

 

i completely agree.. and i make it even more simple:

 

our friends has simply to add to his religious practices the chanting of a fixed number of japa mala rounds of mahamantra hare krsna with the strong desire to find a pure vaishnava spiritual master..

 

then the infinite mercy of sri krsna bhagavan will do everything

[Guest guest]

Haribol,

 

Thank you very much Sumedh for those examples from Shastra. It clears everything up, and actually those portions from Padma Purana and Varaha Purana will be very useful for preaching purposes.

 

Hare Krishna,

Your Servant.

[sumedh]

Hare Krishna and dandavat pranam

 

These quotes have been cited by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur in Jaiva Dharma Chapter 18, and not found by me /images/graemlins/smile.gif ; my only credit is copy-paste.