Did the worship of Krishna Deities exist before the appearance of Krishna in the world?
Thank you very much.
Question by Rajat Rahun. Was the worship of Krishna deities or Krishna temples in existence on the planet even before the appearance of Lord Krishna? The same question can also be extended to other incarnations. Answer.
Yes. We need to understand that deity worship is recommended in Pancharatra. And Pancharatra are a body of scriptures that are accepted as revelation by Shri Sampradaya as well as Avalon Sampradaya.
And it's clearly mentioned that Pancharatra, Pancharatric literature also come from the Lord. So when they are coming from the Lord, that indicates that they are not time bound or time specific. They are eternal scriptures.
Now, of course, every yuga has its yuga dharma. And when we say every yuga has its yuga dharma, that doesn't mean that all other dharmas are banned at that particular time. No.
That particular yuga's yuga dharma is recommended, highlighted, glorified. And maybe also facilitated in that particular age. But other dharmas might also be there.
So yes, So in Dwapara Yuga, the form of worship that was recommended was of deity worship. If we see, Lord Krishna came right at the end of the Dwapara Yuga. And the yuga dharma for Dwapara Yuga is deity worship.
That means deity worship has to be going on before Lord Krishna came also. So therefore, Lord Krishna is not the yuga avatar for Dwapara Yuga. Lord Krishna is the leela avatar who came.
He did speak a little bit about deity worship. We don't find explicit references to deity worship in the Bhagavad Gita. Certainly not extensive discourse.
And in the Uddhava Gita, which is another set of major instructions by Lord Krishna, we find one chapter about deity worship. But that chapter is also spoken in a way which presumes Uddhava already knows about deity worship. And Lord Krishna is just giving some general overview and some additional specifications.
So that chapter also indicates the prior existence of deity worship and the prior knowledge of deity worship in Uddhava. So therefore, the point here is that deity worship surely existed before particular incarnations appeared also. Now regarding the specific question, whether the deities of those particular incarnations were worshipped before they appeared? Yes.
We know that Valmiki actually foresaw the pastimes of Lord Ram even before those pastimes happened. So that was because these pastimes were happening in different universes at different times. And in one sense, Valmiki was given the divine vision to see those pastimes wherever they were happening in his own heart.
And to write them down. So, just as the Leela of Lord Ram can be known before Lord Ram appears in this world, same way the deity of the Lord can also be worshipped before the Lord appears because the scriptures are there. The scriptures recommending deity worship are there.
And the scriptures recommending deity worship also contain specifications of how the deity looks and how the deity needs to be worshipped. So in that sense, deity worship we can infer from the scriptures was there earlier also. Now, historically speaking, if we see, deity worship may not be so widespread because if we look at the Ramayana and the Mahabharata as we have them today, then there are references to temples and the deities in the temples and there is reference also to the worship of yajnas.
Yajnas occupy a central place in both epics in terms of religious performances. So therefore, deity worship may or may not be prominent or extensive depending on time, place, circumstance. But as a matter of principle, yes, deity worship is an eternal principle for spiritual realization and those forms were also known before those particular avatars appeared.
So then deity worship was also going on before. Thank you.