Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Narada Bhakti Sutra 16

pujadisv anuraga iti parasaryah

SYNONYMS

puja-adisu -- for worship and so on; anuragah -- fondness; iti -- so thinks; parasaryah -- Vyasadeva, the son of Parasara.

TRANSLATION

Srila Vyasadeva, the son of Parasara Muni, says that bhakti is fond attachment for worshiping the Lord in various ways.

PURPORT

In the previous sutra, Narada Muni promised that he would tell us some of the symptoms of devotional service according to various authoritative opinions. The Srimad-Bhagavatam (6.3.20) mentions twelve maha-janas, or Krsna conscious authorities, and among them, one maha-jana may emphasize a different aspect of bhakti than another. The Supreme Lord possesses an unlimited variety of qualities and pastimes, and it is natural that devotees favor particular modes of service. All devotees, however, agree on the siddhanta, or accepted conclusion. Bhakti is not open to continual speculation, such as the kind Western philosophers indulge in.

The first opinion Narada offers is that of Srila Vyasadeva, one of Narada's many exalted disciples. Besides being a faithful disciple of Narada's, Vyasadeva is the compiler of the Vedas, and so his opinions are not contrary to Narada's.

The words Vyasa uses to describe bhakti are puja and anuraga. These refer to worship of the Lord performed with sincere love and great attachment. Nondevotees may perform puja, but they think of it as an external ritual. The Mayavadi, for example, has an offensive concept of worship. He sees it as "a great aid in fixing one's mind on the Supreme." But what the Mayavadi really has in mind is that his puja will lead him to see God and Brahman and the Atman, or self, as one. In other words, he thinks that by worshiping God he will become God. The Mayavadis plainly advocate that while a person worships the Deity his first and foremost meditation should be on his unity with Brahman. This is a faithless and duplicitous form of "worship." The Mayavadi may even offer a fruit or flower to the Deity, but his motivation is not to develop love for God but to attain absolute oneness with the Supreme, which he thinks he can do by imitating the activities of a devotee. Krsna declares in the Bhagavad-gita (4.11), ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham: "As they approach Me, I reward them." And so those who desire to merge into the effulgence of the Supreme Person are awarded that impersonal status.

Some say that mental worship of the Lord is superior to external worship. But Srila Prabhupada did not make such distinctions. In The Nectar of Devotion we read of a brahmana in South India who worshiped the Deity within his mind. The brahmana was poor and could not afford paraphernalia for puja, but in his mental worship he imagined that he was fetching golden and silver pots, filling them with water, and performing very opulent Deity worship. An intimate devotee of Lord Caitanya's, Nrsimhananda Brahmacari, also performed mental worship. Once he mentally decorated a road with flowers and gems in anticipation that Lord Caitanya would walk there. So mental worship of the Lord is certainly bona fide. But while devotees may perform mental worship according to time and circumstances, when the opportunity arises they do not avoid offering flaming lamps, incense, and

so on, as prescribed for temple worship. Moreover, whether mentally or externally, they always worship the spiritual for m of the Personality of Godhead.

A sincere devotee's puja is never merely mechanical but is offered with anuraga, strong feelings of attachment for the Lord. True worship is performed with the mind, the senses, and all the bodily limbs. Therefore the meaning of worship is not limited; it includes the engagement of all one's sensory and mental functions in service to the Supreme. As Lord Krsna says,

aham sarvasya prabhavo mattah sarvam pravartate

iti matva bhajante mam budha bhava-samanvitah

"I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts" (Bg. 10.8). Lord Krsna also describes the mahatmas as "great souls [who] perpetually worship Me with devotion" (Bg. 9.14).

Worship may include many activities, but the word puja particularly refers to the worship of the arca-vigraha, the form of the Deity in the temple. Although Lord Caitanya was Sri Krsna Himself, He worshiped Lord Jagannatha at the temple in Puri. Lord Caitanya went to see the Deity every day and experienced great transcendental bliss. When Lord Jagannatha was absent from the temple during His renovation before Ratha-yatra, Lord Caitanya acutely felt the pain of His absence and went into solitude at Alalanatha.

Thus Deity worship is not just for beginners, nor is it merely an aid to impersonal meditation. It is a necessary part of devotional service. Although in this age the chanting of the holy names is the foremost method of devotional service, the bhakta should also worship the arca-vigraha to counteract his tendencies for contamination, which are so strong in the Kali-yuga. This is the opinion of Srila Jiva Gosvami.

We know from reading Vyasadeva's Srimad-Bhagavatam that his understanding of what constitutes worship of the Lord is not confined to temple worship of the arca-vigraha. In the Seventh Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Prahlada Maharaja mentions nine processes of devotional service. Srila Vyasadeva -- and Srila Prabhupada -- often stressed the first two items, hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord, as the most important, especially in the present age. But by faithfully executing any of the nine processes of bhakti, one can achieve fond attachment to worshiping the Lord.

<<< >>>

Copyright (c) The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari