Temple Worship - an essential subject

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Worship is how devotees from any faith express their gratitude and devotion to God. The rituals involved in worshiping in the temple are intricate parts of the bhakti-tradition to help a devotee establish their relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead through personal service.

Temple worship is especially beneficial for neophyte devotees who are just beginning on the path of devotion. By visiting the temples of the Lord, by bowing down to him and gazing upon His beautiful forms on the altar, our heart will gradually lose interest in glimmer of this material world where we encounter so much hankering and lamentation.

Temple worship may be very simple, one can offer some prayers or a flower, but it can be also very intricate and complex and even with opulence and luxury. But whatever way it is performed, the main idea is same - to please God and give Him our love and devotion by directing our attention and energy towards him. By using our possessions and money in temple worship, naturally our relationship with God is established and our whole life is purified.

Srila Prabhupada's books, lectures, conversations and letters offer a comprehensive presentation of this essential subject as seen in the Vaniquotes Temple Worship category. An introduction from his books is given below in the following 6 quotes.

Quotes from Srila Prabhupada's books


vanipedia.org 		The common man who is puffed up with his material position and does not bow down before the Deity of the Lord in the temple, or who defies temple worship without any knowledge of the science, must know that his so-called turban or crown will only succeed in further drowning him in the water of the ocean of material existence. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.3.21)



vanipedia.org 		In the material world, the Lord is always worshiped as the arcā-vigraha, or Deity in the temple. There is no difference between the arcā-vigraha and the original person, and therefore those who are engaged in worshiping the Deity in the temple in full opulence, even on this planet, should be understood to be directly in touch with the Supreme Personality of Godhead without a doubt. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.17.14)



vanipedia.org 		There are also many impersonalists who deride temple worship. They say that since God is everywhere, why should one restrict himself to temple worship? But if God is everywhere, is He not in the temple or in the Deity? (Bhagavad-gītā 9.11)



vanipedia.org 		Generally a devotee is addicted to many abominable material habits due to material contamination from his previous life. In order to get quick relief from all these contaminations, it is required that one engage in the worship of the Lord in the temple. The worship of the Deity in the temple is essential to reduce one's restlessness due to the contaminations of conditioned life. Thus Nārada, in his pāñcarātrikī-vidhi, and other great sages have sometimes stressed that since every conditioned soul has a bodily concept of life aimed at sense enjoyment, to restrict this sense enjoyment the rules and regulations for worshiping the Deity in the temple are essential. (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.76)



vanipedia.org 		Even the fallen devotee gets the opportunity to take his birth in the family of a well-situated brāhmaṇa or in a rich, well-to-do mercantile family. In both these families there is a good opportunity to revive one's sense of God consciousness automatically because particularly in these families the worship of Lord Kṛṣṇa is regularly performed and the child gets the opportunity to imitate the process of worship called arcanā. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.2.2)



vanipedia.org 		If one worships as prescribed in the temple (in the temples in India there is always some statue, usually of Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa), that is a chance to progress by offering worship and respect to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. For the beginners in devotional service to the Lord, temple worship is essential, and this is confirmed in the Vedic literature. (Bhagavad-gītā 11.54)


Temple Worship - explore more within this category.

Vanipedia has now over 903 introductory articles compiled from Srila Prabhupada's books under the series titled Essential Subjects. All these articles can be seen in the Table of Content on the right side of this article and also here in this Umbrella Category. Browse through them to relish the breadth and depth of Srila Prabhupada's teachings - There is a subject for everyone.


   
 

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