“The Deities of Radha and Krishna, Lakshmi and Narayana, and Rama and Sita are very attractive to devotees, so much so that when they see the statue decorated in the temple of the Lord they become fully absorbed in thought of the Lord. That is the state of liberation.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 3.25.36 Purport)

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His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada asks the rather logical question: what can you change? The sun has been rising and setting for billions of years. The seasons come and go. Okay, this year the winter might have been a little worse. There was that huge snowstorm that dumped feet of precipitation that immediately turned to ice. That ice then did not melt for over a month. But again, it is winter. Should anyone be surprised that it is cold during that time of year? Bhagavad-gita references the seasons as a fixture of the living experience, to serve as a reference point for tolerating the ups and downs that have the corresponding responses of happiness and distress.

मात्रा-स्पर्शास् तु कौन्तेय
शीतोष्ण-सुख-दुःख-दाः
आगमापायिनो ऽनित्यास्
तांस् तितिक्षस्व भारत

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
āgamāpāyino ‘nityās
tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata

“O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.14)

If there is ice in the winter and scorching heat in the summer, what can we really do to change anything? Just what will our progress do? In what direction have we actually progressed? The superior path, in a decision reached after sober and rational thought, is to find a way out of the experience altogether. To that end, the Vaishnava presents the science of self-realization. More than taking a seat in a theater to consume a major motion picture, this is an interactive experience. You try things and see how they work. You realize the potential of your past experiences in order to avoid the same potential in the future. As Goswami Tulsidas so nicely puts it, you can correct many past lives through a few basic adjustments.

बिगरी जनम अनेक की सुधरै अबहीं आजु
होहि राम को नाम जपु तुलसी तजि कुसमाजु

bigarī janama aneka kī sudharai abahīṃ āju
hohi rāma ko nāma japu tulasī taji kusamāju

“The many past births you spoiled can be rectified right now, today, if you start chanting Shri Rama’s holy name and renounce bad association, says Tulsi.” (Dohavali, 22)

Of course, there will be detractors. The naysayers. The skeptics. The ones who think that the Vaishnava is crazy. After all, one of the corresponding implementations, for putting the principles of the science into practice, is worship of the deity. The person objecting says that the Vaishnava is worshiping an idol. A painting. A piece of paper. A sculpture. This is a waste of time, you see. This is madness. The worship is of false gods. This is a path leading to peril, for sure. Better to try something else.

Has thought been given as to what the individual limited in their understanding can really know? Just how much of reality are they even privy to? There is the concept of avyakta, which refers to the unmanifested. We barely have discoverability of the universe. What we have drawn out so far, in a kind of map, represents but a fraction of the sum total. The rest is avyakta. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist; it’s just that we can’t see it. We don’t know what we don’t know. Therefore, how can we say that the unknown doesn’t exist?

“Avyakta means unmanifested. Not even all of the material world is manifested before us. Our senses are so imperfect that we cannot even see all of the stars within this material universe. In Vedic literature we can receive much information about all the planets, and we can believe it or not believe it. All of the important planets are described in Vedic literatures, especially Shrimad-Bhagavatam, and the spiritual world, which is beyond this material sky, is described as avyakta, unmanifested. One should desire and hanker after that supreme kingdom, for when one attains that kingdom, he does not have to return to this material world.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, Introduction)

As I base my entire judgment off the vyakta, which is seen, I am really a fool. I have no clue what is actually going on. The worship of the deity is for my benefit. It is the highest being of all reaching out, extending a lifeline. I should accept the assistance. I should bring my tendency for worship towards that area. At least I have a location. At least I know where to go.

Meanwhile, those outside of the Vaishnava tradition are the ones worshiping false gods. They bring everything for their spouse, only to later have that spouse leave them; abruptly, at that. They bring their offerings to their place of employment, only to later be treated like a number on a bottom line. They bring their offerings to a celebrity or politician. Instead of the dog chasing its tail, it is the superior human being chasing the tail of its dog, in a kind of dutiful worship. They bring offerings left and right, but since they base everything off the vyakta, they are fooled in the process. They take the temporary as permanent. They take the false as real. This is known as maya, or illusion.

Better to worship the deity, in the authorized tradition, to gain insight into the avyakta. The Supreme Being is both seen and unseen. This dichotomy is only per our understanding. Whether we see Him or not makes no difference on His existence, His standing, or His presence. He is kind enough to give an idea of what His features are, through the deity manifestation, and we can make our lives perfect by directing our travels to that location, regularly and repeatedly, in a mood of devotion.

यत् करोषि यद् अश्नासि
यज् जुहोषि ददासि यत्
यत् तपस्यसि कौन्तेय
तत् कुरुष्व मद्-अर्पणम्

yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi
yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya
tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam

“O son of Kunti, all that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all austerities that you may perform, should be done as an offering unto Me.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.27)

In Closing:

Travels towards directing,
Timeless tradition accepting.

Such that finally to land,
On puzzling mysteries at hand.

Otherwise tiny and limited based,
Soon after by time erased.

Repeatedly in the cycle around,
Blessed that worship of deity found.

Categories: deity worship

Tags: dailyprompt, hare krishna, poem, poems, poetry, worship