Tag Archives: demigod

Surrender unto Me

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Bhagavad-Gita 18.66 says that we should abandon all varieties of religion and surrender to the Lord. We find that in the case of demigod worshippers they are attached to meat eating and other vices, even when they start chanting a round a day, the level of surrender is not really very high. What should we do?

The particular verse you have quoted is one of the final instructions of Lord Krishna to Arjuna and requires a high level of faith and surrender. Krishna also says that one must not disturb the faith of other people as they may lose whatever little faith they have in Vedic knowledge. Rather than asking new devotees to give up demigod worship, meat eating it is more expedient to ask them to add Krishna to their lives and let the process of devotional service cleanse their material desires.

Goal of worshipping Krishna

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Is this true that to reach Krishna we should go through channel of demigods. Are Ganapati and mother Durga demigods? What is difference between worshipping demigods and worshipping Krishna?

To reach Krishna we have to worship Krishna. The Bhagavad Gita explains that if we worship the demigods we go to them and if we worship Krishna we go to Him.

Ganapati and Durga are demigods.

The demigods are normally worshipped for material benedictions which also ultimately come from Krishna. Krishna is however worshipped to attain pure devotional service unto Him.

Worship of Vishnu Incarnations

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The scriptures do not allow worship of demigods, but can I worship Lord Nrisimha who is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu for material desires. It is also said that by reading the Nrisimha Kavacha all the material desires are fulfilled. Is that true?

The scriptures explain that whether we have no material desires or are full of material desires one should worship Krishna only. By worshipping the demigods for satisfying material desires one gets more conditioned in this material world whereas by worshipping Krishna one gets freed.

By regularly chanting the Nrisimha Kavacha or any other prayer that glorifies Vishnu, one may be able to fulfill material desires, however the only result that we can expect in the long term is pure unalloyed devotional service (Bhakti).

Respect Demigods

Demigod Worship,

I am a bit confused as my family worships demigods and want me to do the same but I like to worship only Krishna. Am I disrespecting the demigods?

Certainly, you are not disrespecting demigods. However it is better to know how to properly worship demigods and Lord Krishna.

In the Bhagavad-Gita, worship of different demigods or rendering service to them is not approved. It is stated in the seventh chapter, twentieth verse: “Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.”

The Supreme Lord, who is known as the Yajna-purusha, or the personal beneficiary of all sacrifices, is the master of all the demigods, who serve Him as the different limbs of the body serve the whole. Demigods like Indra, Candra and Varuna are appointed officers who manage material affairs, and the Vedas direct sacrifices to satisfy these demigods so that they may be pleased to supply air, light and water sufficiently to produce food grains. When Lord Krishna is worshiped, the demigods, who are different limbs of the Lord, are also automatically worshiped; therefore there is no separate need to worship the demigods.

So yes, followers of the Krishna consciousness movement believe in the demigods and they offer their due respects to them. In fact, they offer respect to all living beings, seeing them all as servants of Lord Krishna. But they worship and love only the Supreme Person, following His instructions in the Bhagavad-Gita to give up all varieties of worship and just surrender to Him.

Eating and devotional service

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Krishna consciousness is such a transcendentally nice thing that automatically material enjoyment becomes distasteful. It is as if a hungry man had satisfied his hunger by a sufficient quantity of nutritious eatables

Persons who are engaged in the worship of demigods are not very intelligent, although such worship is offered to Me indirectly,” Krishna says. For example, when a man pours water on the leaves and branches of a tree without pouring water on the root, he does so without sufficient knowledge or without observing regulative principles. Similarly, the process of rendering service to different parts of the body is to supply food to the stomach. The demigods are, so to speak, different officers and directors in the government of the Supreme Lord. One has to follow the laws made by the government, not by the officers or directors. Similarly, everyone is to offer his worship to the Supreme Lord only. That will automatically satisfy the different officers and directors of the Lord. The officers and directors are engaged as representatives of the government, and to offer some bribe to the officers and directors is illegal. This is stated here as avidhi-purvakam. In other words, Krishna does not approve the unnecessary worship of the demigods

Demons and Doubts

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In Vedic literature the living entity is called jivatma and Brahman, but he is never called Parabrahman. The living entity (jivatma) takes different positions — sometimes he merges into the dark material nature and identifies himself with matter, and sometimes he identifies himself with the superior, spiritual nature. Therefore he is called the Supreme Lord’s marginal energy. According to his identification with material or spiritual nature, he receives a material or spiritual body. In material nature he may take a body from any of the 8,400,000 species of life, but in spiritual nature he has only one body. In material nature he is manifested sometimes as a man, demigod, animal, beast, bird, etc., according to his karma. To attain material heavenly planets and enjoy their facilities, he sometimes performs sacrifices (yajna), but when his merit is exhausted he returns to earth again in the form of a man. This process is called karma.

Cowherd boy and Krishna

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The Lord descends to this mortal world to show His pastimes in Vrindavana, which are full of happiness. When Lord Sri Krishna was in Vrindavana, His activities with His cowherd boyfriends, with His damsel friends, with the other inhabitants of Vrindavana and with the cows were all full of happiness. The total population of Vrindavana knew nothing but Krishna. But Lord Krishna even discouraged His father Nanda Maharaja from worshiping the demigod Indra, because He wanted to establish the fact that people need not worship any demigod. They need only worship the Supreme Lord, because their ultimate goal is to return to His abode

Bribing government officials & demigod worship

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Persons who are engaged in the worship of demigods are not very intelligent, although such worship is offered to Me indirectly,” Krishna says. For example, when a man pours water on the leaves and branches of a tree without pouring water on the root, he does so without sufficient knowledge or without observing regulative principles. Similarly, the process of rendering service to different parts of the body is to supply food to the stomach. The demigods are, so to speak, different officers and directors in the government of the Supreme Lord. One has to follow the laws made by the government, not by the officers or directors. Similarly, everyone is to offer his worship to the Supreme Lord only. That will automatically satisfy the different officers and directors of the Lord. The officers and directors are engaged as representatives of the government, and to offer some bribe to the officers and directors is illegal. This is stated here as avidhi-purvakam. In other words, Krishna does not approve the unnecessary worship of the demigods