Wednesday, Jun 18, 2025

The dieties are Krishna who has come down for us in our radha-vallabh temple. It is not just archa-vigraha, it is Krishna Himself.
Lord has the capability to turn matter into spirit or spirit into matter.
Lord is not formless, He has a form. He can choose to do anything with his form - His legs, eyes, hands, etc. can perform the functions of each other.
Lord is not bound by the material laws, He is beyond the material laws.
Lord is not a material person, He is a spiritual person.
Lord has given us the sruti-mantras, access to acaryas, and the scriptures to understand Him.
He is helping us understand the nature of the Supreme Lord and spiritual world to prepare us for the spiritual world.
Prabhupada: Krishna expands himself into various forms- baladeva, sankarshan, aniruddha, pradyumna, narasimha, varaha etc.
Prabhupada: Similarly the archa-vigraha is non-different from Krishna and is an expansion of Krishna. We should never see the archa-vigraha as material, it is spiritual and non-different from Krishna.
Ref: Brahma-samhita 5.1, 5.32 - Krishna has a spiritual form and senses.
Ref: Brahma-samhita - Ramanutista.
Lord is merciful and is keeping the diety worship very simple for us.
In BG 9.26: Patram pushpam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati, tad aham bhakty-upahritam asnami prayatatmanah. What we offer, it must be with loving devotional service (Bhakti). The Lord accepts the offering with love and devotion, not the material aspect of the offering.
Lord accepts the offering and gives us the remanants - prasadam.
Sitting in front of the archa-vigraha, we can offer our prayers by chanting the maha-mantra, and the Lord accepts our prayers. This is sufficient for us to connect with the Lord.
How do we get the archa-vigraha? Archa-vigraha decends at the request of our acharyas. The acharyas are the ones who have realized the Supreme Lord and they install the archa-vigraha in the temple. Deities decend at the request of the acharyas.
Archa-vigraha works the same way as the Supreme Lord, The supreme lord's representation is here.
We need to approach the diety form by the process of worship.
Our four defects - 1. We are prone to commit mistakes, 2. We are illusioned, 3. We have imperfect senses, 4. We have a tendency to cheat.
Just because the senses are imperfect, we cannot see the dieties beyond material.
We visit temple regularly - That make it a ritual. Prabhupada: Don't be ritualistic, be spiritual.
Sravanam + Contemplation - Hear and then if one forgets, it is sramāya (useless labor). Thefore we need contemplation and remembrance.
Process: Sravanam, Mananam (Contemplation - Dieties at the temple are powerful, i need to visit dieties, I need to talk to the dieties etc. ), Nididhyasanam (acceptance & realisation - when we realise that the melbourne mahaprabhu mandir is no different from any other dham).
The process is only through the mercy of the acharyas, and our sadhana, we can understand the archa-vigraha.
We have partial qualities of Krishna - the 50 out of 64 qualities of Krishna. If we do not realise and make use of the partial qualities, then we not realise the Supreme Lord. From isopanishad, we understand we are coming from that purna - the complete, and we are part and parcel of that complete. So our full realisation is to go back to the complete, and not to merge into the complete.

Friday, Jun 20, 2025

If one cannot do achamana in a place - what we offer is om apavitrah pavitro vā sarvāvasthāṅ gato 'pi vā, yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṃ sa bhāhyābhyantaraḥ śuciḥ.
This is to show that we take shelter of the Supreme Lord by his names, and He purifies us.
The lord's names are non-different from the Lord Himself and purifies us. The names carry the same potency as the Lord Himself.
When we go out to preach to someone, we have to understand that we have to give the name of the Lord- The nama is suddham, krishna is suddham.
The essence of vedic knowledge is to come to Krishna.
We understand the supreme lord here so clearly. Despite knowing all this, if one is not attracted to the Supreme Lord, then what is their position? We have to always understand the purposes of vedas and how fortunate we are that we have been given the holy name of the Lord in this kali-yuga.

My Summary - Śrī Īśopaniṣad – Mantra 8

Source: Vedabase.io

Translation

The Supreme Lord is:

Unembodied
Omniscient
Beyond reproach
Without veins
Pure and uncontaminated
A self-sufficient philosopher
The eternal fulfiller of desires for all beings

Key Concepts from the Purport

1. Transcendental Form of the Lord

The Lord possesses a spiritual, eternal form, not formlessness.
He is not composed of matter—His body, mind, and soul are one.
Unlike conditioned souls, He is not subjected to material laws.
Described as sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (eternity, knowledge, bliss).

2. Omnipotent and All-Functioning Form

Each part of His body can perform the functions of the others:
- He can see with His hands, walk with His eyes, etc.
Demonstrates the Lord’s inconceivable potencies.

3. Worship Through Arcā-Vigraha

The deity form in temples is non-different from the Supreme Lord.
Installed by realized ācāryas, it is fully spiritual.
The Lord accepts offerings and devotion through His deity form.
Foolish people mistake the deity as material due to lack of realization.

4. Fulfiller of All Desires

The Lord supplies desires according to one’s qualification and His mercy.
Even foolish desires are allowed, as per the individual’s free will.
Real spiritual intelligence means seeking devotional service, not material gain.
Divided material intelligence leads to repeated frustration.

5. Omnipresence and Supremacy

God is described as paribhūḥ – the greatest of all.
All living entities are dependent on Him.
True liberation means going back to Godhead, not merging into impersonal Brahman.

6. Supreme Purity

The Lord is śuddham (antiseptic) and apāpa-viddham (untouched by sin).
His association purifies even the impure.
Acts that appear sinful (e.g., dancing with the gopīs) are transcendentally pure.
Like the sun, which purifies everything it touches while remaining unaffected.

Scriptural References

Brahma-saṁhitā (5.1, 5.32): Spiritual form and senses of the Lord
Bhagavad-gītā (2.41, 9.11–12, 9.30–31): Devotional intelligence and Lord’s descent
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (7.5.30–31): Illusions caused by material energy

Essence

The Supreme Lord is not formless but has an eternal, transcendental form full of knowledge and bliss. He is omnipotent, self-sufficient, and beyond material contamination. Devotional service to His deity form connects one directly to Him. The Lord fulfills all desires, but the highest aspiration is pure love and return to His eternal abode.