“The Lord heard the story of Sakshi-gopala with great pleasure because He wanted to impress upon the atheists that the worshipable Deities in the temples approved by the great acharyas are not idols, as alleged by men with a poor fund of knowledge.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, Introduction)

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1. Offering food to a picture

“Wow, I love this newfound interest. It is about time you step foot in there. You know, that foreign place called a kitchen? The one you thought you needed a visa to enter? You must really enjoy these baked goods. Your cookies and cakes have a special taste to them, I must admit. Just what exactly triggered the change, though? You have admitted to me many times in the past that this was women’s work, that you never want to step foot in the kitchen, either to cook or to clean.

“Hold on, so you are going to all this effort just for presenting everything before a picture? This is supposedly some ancient practice that aligns with dharma, which is like religion? You feel that you are offering this food to God? I mean, I don’t want to burst your bubble. I think it is nice to be good, to be mindful of the afterlife. None of us gets to stay here forever. That is a fact.

“But you do realize that the picture you are assigning divine status to was likely created somewhere in a factory? There was the famous economist and his video explanation on what goes into making a pencil. You have these disparate interests, spread across regions, who don’t know each other, but somehow they come together to produce something like a pencil. The same is true of that picture you are worshiping. How is bringing your food in front of that picture going to do anything? Why is that special? You say that the result is prasadam, or the Lord’s mercy, but how can you actually tell? The whole thing seems a little crazy to me.”

2. Worshiping a hill

“What exactly is going on today? I see people busy in the kitchen. This is more than your average Thanksgiving feast. I believe the Sanskrit is chhapan-bhoga. Fifty-six unique preparations. I guess everyone in the area will be eating nicely today.

“Wait, so you are bringing everything to a nearby hill? You are making a formal offering? Umm, you do realize that the hill consists mostly of rock. I am pretty sure rocks do not have consciousness. That is the whole reason for comparing a lazy and inspiration-less person to a rock. The rock is the epitome of the lack of life.

“You are following out of tradition? You think that this hill is a living being, with its own identity? You are hoping that the hill will accept your food? I don’t know. The whole thing seems a little crazy to me.”

3. Making a promise before a deity

“Is this going to hold up in a court of law? There was no handshake. You lack a signed contract. But you say that this other person made a promise. They took that vow in front of the deity. Okay, but that is only a collection of marble, stone, or resin. Not that I am insulting your religion, but I don’t see how anyone is going to be held accountable in that interaction. It is not like the deity will personally vouch for a claim. I think you are a little crazy to think this way.”

4. Talking to a womb

“Listen, I get it. The prospect of becoming a parent makes people do silly things. They get excited. They want to prepare as best they can. They chronicle each development as if they are participants in this grand narrative. They can’t get over the miracle of a brand new life, developing on its own within the womb of the mother. Yes, that is a real, living human being kicking inside right now. They are moving nonstop. Just wait until they have the entire world as their playing field. Nothing will be able to contain them.

“At the same time, don’t you think you are taking things a little too far? You are reading to the stomach of the mother every day. You are passing along the science of self-realization. You are transmitting sound describing the movements of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Shri Hari. You are describing His names, His forms, His attributes, and the relationship we have to Him. That is fine for your own good, for self-purification. But you do realize that the child in the womb cannot hear or understand you, right? There is no difference that will be made. You are a little crazy if you think the child is somehow going to miraculously become enlightened by this interaction.”

…

On the surface, the practices described above should not yield anything tangible. Ordinary sound does not produce the object described by that sound. A picture produced from the expert ability of the artist does not bring to life the object depicted. The child in the womb cannot respond to communication. If a person wants to maintain faith, to follow a specific religion, that is one thing, but they should not expect miracles to occur. They should not expect a breach of the bounds of the strict laws of the universe, which are perfect and apply equally, in all periods of time and in all situations.

The exception here is that the science of self-realization, the culture of devotion, bhakti-yoga or sanatana-dharma, is at its essence transcendental. The object of the devotion, of the affiliation, of the allegiance, is the one who creates the laws of nature in the first place. If He is not able to circumvent those laws, then He is a subordinate. If He is a subordinate, then He can never be God or Almighty. He can only be the Supreme Being if He has full control over the energies that He Himself creates.

There are countless examples from history that prove the efficacy to the practices described above. Saints have been given coordinates to dig up archa-vigrahas that no one else would find. The information was provided to them in a dream. In their daily practices, sadhakas have witnessed their food being eaten. They left something on the altar and returned to find the preparation either completely gone or partially enjoyed. The objects of worship have appeared in dreams to describe the experience with such offerings, to give suggestions for preparation or even to complain about deviations from the established schedule.

The worship of Govardhana Hill took place at the very insistence of Shri Krishna, who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna assumed the identity of the hill and spoke to the residents to validate their efforts. That massive collection of rock then served as the world’s largest umbrella, to shelter the innocent people from the supposed adharma of skipping the puja in honor of King Indra.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu loved hearing the story about of the deity known as Sakshi-gopala. This was the Supreme Lord serving as the witness in a dispute between two brahmanas. There was a vow made before the deity. One participant later reneged on the deal and thought there was no way for the vow to be proven. Gopala personally walked behind the other brahmanas to give witness to the original promise. This proves that a deity, when worshiped properly and under authority, can be considered identical to the object of worship.

The five-year old son of the Daitya king named Hiranyakashipu was inclined towards devotional service from the time of birth. Prahlada Maharaja even kindly enumerated the ways that bhakti-yoga can be practiced. It is more than theory. There is a practical implementation. There are ways that the active principle, the spark inside, can act upon their inclination for devotion.

श्रीप्रह्राद उवाच
श्रवणं कीर्तनं विष्णो: स्मरणं पादसेवनम्
अर्चनं वन्दनं दास्यं सख्यमात्मनिवेदनम्

śrī-prahrāda uvāca
śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ
sakhyam ātma-nivedanam

“Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Vishnu, 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.” (Prahlada Maharaja, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 7.5.23)

Prahlada learned of devotional service while within the womb. His guru was Narada Muni. Narada Muni spoke to the womb. He did not hang around for the subsequent birth. There was no opportunity for the disciple to offer direct service or inquire in a submissive manner. Nevertheless, that interaction with the womb was potent enough to cause Prahlada to go against the very nature of the Daitya. Prahlada was going against the entire kingdom, in fact, which was led by his father. This proves that sound itself is potent enough to bring about the required purification in consciousness, which is the ultimate objective of the human birth.

In Closing:

Consider the potency of sound,
Of potential for turning around.

Where even in Daitya kingdom appearing,
And obstacles of atheism clearing.

Just by in the womb hearing,
Prahlada to devotion steering.

Means that practices valid and true,
Blessed by guru and Krishna too.

Categories: the four

Tags: bhakti, dailyprompt, god, hare krishna, poem, poems, poetry, yoga