It is well known that amongst the Pandavas, Arjuna was the closest to Krishna and that is why Gitopadesa was given by Krishna to Arjuna only. But what is bewildering me is that why did Arjuna go alongwith the other Pandavas to Kailash(Himalayas) the abode of Lord Shiva in the final destination of his life. Should not have he gone to Mathura/Dwaraka to spend his final days. Also, Lord Krishna tells his Yadu clan to pray to the demi gods just before his demise from Dwaraka. When the Lord himself has endorsed Demi god worship then why does Srila Prabhupada condemn it? I am asking these questions not with the intention of hurting anybody but with a genuine urge to understand KCON.
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We worship Lord (Sada) Shiva in the form of Sri Advaita (acharya), who is one of Pancha tatva deities.
However we do not ask for any material boons from Lord Shiva.
We only ask for devotion for Krishna/Vishnu
Haribol
Many of our congragational members worship Lord Siva, thats quite OK.
Please don't think we don't respect your desire to do such puja but we encorage you to depend on Krsna,
Thats all.
Thats the philosophy of Bhagavad Gita not our personal opinion.
The examples you have mentioned are special cases were a devotee acts as a worshiper of a demigod under the direction of the spiritual master.
Just as Arjuna was directed to get the weapons from Lord Siva because those weapons happen to be with him.
Also Lord Siva is a great devotee of Krsna and Krsna wants to show respect to him as a god.
The Gopis were advisd to worship goddess Durga to get the husband they desired.
These Gopis are not even thinking Krsna is God they just love Him more than anything.
Whateber their superiors would advise them to do if they thought that would get them Krsna they would do it.
If you get Krsna you get everything.
More than you can ever imagine. Hare Krsna
Please accept my humble obeisances!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
We have free will. We can use it for anything we want. But! We have also pay the price. Because everything has its own price. Nothing is given without paying.
Krishna told Arjuna to please Shiva in order to get that astra, that is all. But in whole Bhagavad Gita He told Arjuna to worship Him only.
If You want something material You can worship to Demigods doing some puja, and they are bound to give You Your desired object, of course if You worship them properly as stated in Vedic scriptures.
But they do not care about Your wellbeing. If You want money, "take money" "car" take! but they do not bother if one days You may have accident and die, or by using Your easy got money Your children become drug users, Demigods do not care about these things.
But Krishna does. Krishna gives You whatever You lack and whatever is beneficial to You for coming back to Him.
To be Krishna's true Devotee at the same time to worship other Demigods???
For example, do You like Your wife to be devoted to You but at the same time to worship others? no!
Chestful wife serves to her husband only as a wife.
If we just please Krishna Shiva, Brahma and all other Demigods will be pleased. Even more pleased as His Grace Jagadatma Prabhu told.
Mostly people worship Demigods in order to get something material - toys, dolls...
But we worship Krishna for something meaningful.
Even thou if one has material desires one should worship Krishna. No time! Only Krishna is the fulfiller of all desires.
Even Demigods cannot give You something if there is no sanction of Krishna for that.
Your servant in serving to Srila Prabhupada,
Dear devotee Hare Krsna , thankyou for your nice questions which are in relation to Krsna and His devotees.
In the time of Mahabharat when there was such great kings and warriers as the Pandavas on earth they followed the traditions of the warrior class.
Many warriors who grew old and did not die on the battlefield would leave the palace dressed in old clothes unknown to any of the family and citizens.
They would enter the forest for tapasya or they would begin walking north to the Himalayas and further on to the the North Pole.
Fixing the mind on the Supreme Lord they would give up their life in the warriors path.
That is not possible for all of us in this kali yuga to perform such severe tapasya and just die alone in a solitary place.
They could do it and it was the custom of that time.
Lord Krsna acts in many ways to set an example for the common man.
As Lord Ramachandra He also did demigod worship Himself acting as a ordinary human being.
His instructions regarding exclusive worship of the 2 handed form of Krsna is the most confidential knowledge and is for His intimate devotees.
Krsna only reveals this for His pure devotees alone and others will not understand it.
Many people read the Gita but how many realy understand the Truth that Sri Krsna is the goal of all the vedas.
Because they are bewildered by so many material desires for heavenlty pleasures the common men are more attracted to the demigods worship and they think that is the ultimate goal.
Our Gurudev Srila Prabhupad is a pure devotee of th Lord and is guiding us to the Lotus feet of Sri Krsna.
He has therefore clearly shown us the path of pure love for Sri Krsna and what will obstruct us in this path of pure devoton.
Devotees of Krsna do not disrespect any of the demigods but we do not worship them because we know they are more pleased when they see you have got complete faith for Param Bhagavan Sri Krsna.
Har Krsna
Thanks to all the benevolent devotees who have so kindly replied to my query for which I am grateful. The point is Srila Prabhupada says that amongst Demi gods, Shiva is the foremost devotee of Lord Krishna and amongst humans, Arjuna was his most intimate. On this there can be no doubt. But the core problem(in my view) lies in the following: While Krishna himself tells his devotees to worship the demi gods during the final phase of their lives(like to his gopis befroe destruction of Dwaraka) and also by allowing Arjuna to worhip Shiva to get the Pasupatastra and alsoto go to the Himalayas (abode of Shiva) in his final sojourn, why does Srila Prabhupada claims that Krishna does not recommend Demi god worship. Because, as seen from the above, even Lord Krishna seems to acknowledge that a human being has to worship the demi god at one point of time or the other even if the objective is limited. My point is a person can still remain a true devotee of Lord Krishna even though he may worship the Demi God for some limited objective. Am I right or wrong?
Hare Krishna Aravind R. Prabhu,
Please accept my humble obeisances!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Arjuna is a pure Devotee of Krishna. Krishna always gives this knowledge to him and throe him to us millennium after millennium.
It says that there to types of going back to Goloka:
1. first seeing all other planetary systems and then reach Vaikuntha
or
2. Directly go to the Goloka Vrindavan or Vaikuntha.
if some Devotees have some little desire to see also other upper planetary systems on the way they can see then reach Home. They went to Kailas in leaving their Kingdom to king Parikshit and to make austerity. Those days Mathura and Dwaraka were not meant for performing austerity.
Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita those who worship Demigods will go to Their abode, those who worship Pitas will go to Pitrloka, who worship to ghosts, yakshasas will take birth among them, but who worship Me will come to Me.
Worship to Demigods have to be done in a very opulent, perfect way, if there will be some mistakes the yagya is considered wrong. These days so called Demigod worshipers so much degraded the standards of Demigod worship offering fish, meat to Them. And one day in a year have big festival or once a week come to the Temple pay obeisances, and all other days smoke, drink....do You mean this type of worship?
But Krishna says that in order to worship Him one can offer a leaf, flower, fruit and He will be satisfied.
Demigods are like parts of the whole body. And Krishna is the stomach. all body particles serve to the stomach. Or Krishna is like root of a tree. If we just water the root of a tree whole tree will be nourished.
Because Krishna is in the heart of in every living entity. And satisfaction, happiness comes only within from Krishna in our hearts.
As like when Durvasa Muni along with his 10 000 disciples came to the house of Pandavas while they almost finished all the food. and for them not to feed a guest is like the end of life.
When the guests went to get bath before eating, Pandavas prayed to Krishna to help them. Krishna asked Draupadi if there is one grain of rice in the pot. She found one and gave that to Krishna. Krishna ate and fully satisfied. That time Durvasa Muni along with his disciples felt also full.
Gopis also worshiped Lord Shiva, but Their desire was to get Krishna as Their Husband. That is all!
Why we worship some particular Demigod?
Because we want to get from them something material.
But Srila Prabhupada told us to serve to Krishna not waiting for anything in return. Selfish service. Pure Devotees ask Krishna not even go to the Goloka but to become a dog in the house of His Devotees and eat Their remnants, or as like Vasudev Datta who prayed Lord Gouranga to let him to suffer in the Hell for the sins of all living entities and requested Him to take them back to Godhead. THIS IS PURE BHAKTI!
Your servant,
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