God Is Worshipable - The Supreme Object of Devotion
Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that the natural constitutional position of the living entity is to serve. Because the conditioned soul forgets their relationship with the Supreme Lord, they end up worshiping various mundane objects, politicians, or demigods. However, the Vedic literatures declare that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa, is the only ultimate, worshipable object for all living beings throughout the entire cosmic manifestation.
The Supreme Object of Devotion
The Absolute Truth is realized in three phases: the impersonal Brahman, the localized Paramātmā, and the Supreme Person, Bhagavān. Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that while all three are the same truth, the personal feature of Bhagavān is the ultimate worshipable Deity for the devotees.
- Brahman, the impersonal Absolute Truth, is all-pervading, and Paramatma is locally situated in everyone's heart, but Bhagavan, who is worshipable by the devotees, is the original cause of all causes.
- When the mother Vedas (sruti) is questioned as to whom to worship, she says that You are the only Lord and worshipable object. Similarly, the corollaries of the sruti-sastras, the smrti-sastras, give the same instructions, just like sisters.
- God is attractive even to the topmost liberated soul, and thus He is worshipable even by Brahma and Siva, the greatest of all demigods.
- The word sarva-loka-namaskrtam means that He is worshipable by everyone on every planet.
The Arca-vigraha: The Mercy of the Lord
Because conditioned souls cannot perceive the spiritual form of the Lord with their material eyes, the Lord mercifully appears in a form made of material elements like stone, wood, or metal. Śrīla Prabhupāda warns that it is a grievous offense to consider this worshipable Deity to be ordinary matter.
- The form of the Lord as worshiped in the temples is called arca-vigraha or arcavatara, the worshipable form, the Deity incarnation. This facility is offered to neophyte devotees so that they can see the real form of the Lord face to face.
- The Lord's worshipable form (arca-vigraha), which is installed in temples by authorized acaryas who have realized the Lord in terms of Mantra Seven, is nondifferent from the original form of the Lord.
- The Lord in the temple in the worshipable form is never to be considered to be made of stone or wood, for the Lord in His arca incarnation as the Deity in the temple shows immense favor to the fallen souls by His auspicious presence.
- The sastra warns, arcye visnau sila-dhir gurusu nara-matih. One who thinks that the worshipable Deity in the temple is made of wood or stone, one who sees a Vaisnava guru as an ordinary human being is naraki, a resident of hell.
The Worshiper and the Worshiped
A common philosophical error is assuming that the living entity and God are exactly the same in all respects. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains the qualitative oneness and quantitative difference, establishing the eternal relationship between the worshiper and the worshipable Lord.
- It is mistaken idea that the Paramatma and the atma, jivatma, is the same. They are same in quality, but Paramatma is worshipable and jivatma is the worshiper.
- The Supersoul within the body of a particular living entity, being a plenary portion of the Lord, is worshipable by the individual living entity.
- Guru will never say: "Now I have become God." No. God does not become. God is always God. So God is God and guru is guru. But, as a matter of etiquette, God is the sevya God, worshipable God, and guru is the worshiper God.
- The spiritual master is the worshiper God, whereas the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, is the worshipable God. This is the difference between the spiritual master and the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Worshiping the Paraphernalia and Devotees
When one loves God, one naturally loves everything connected to Him. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the Lord's abode, His paraphernalia, and especially His pure devotees are considered nondifferent from Him and are equally, if not more, worshipable.
- As Lord Visnu is worshipable, so also are His associates, His paraphernalia, His airplane and His abode, for everything of Visnu's is as good as Lord Visnu.
- Everything connected to the Lord is worshipable.
- To live in the temple means to live in Vaikunthaloka. Everything in the temple is as worshipable as Lord Visnu, or Krsna.
- Pure devotees of the Lord are as glorious as the Lord; they are, in fact, recommended by the Lord as more worshipable than He Himself. Worship of the devotee is more potent than worship of the Lord.
Conclusion
A human being will inevitably worship something, whether it be a political leader, a demigod, or even their own senses. Śrīla Prabhupāda repeatedly emphasizes that the only legitimate and supreme object of worship is the Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa. While impersonalists may respect the Brahman effulgence, and yogīs may meditate on the localized Paramātmā, the pure devotee understands that the original personal form of the Lord is the ultimate worshipable reality. To accept the service of the conditioned souls, the Lord mercifully appears in the temple as the arcā-vigraha. By treating this Deity with the utmost reverence, recognizing the qualitative difference between the worshiper (the jīva) and the worshiped (the Supreme Lord), and properly honoring the spiritual master and the pure devotees, a sincere soul perfectly executes bhāgavata-dharma. Ultimately, those who dedicate their lives exclusively to the worship of the Supreme Lord become free from all other mundane obligations and attain the perfection of returning back to Godhead.
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Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category God Is Worshipable. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.