How can we remember while serving the Deities that they are persons?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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How can we develop the consciousness that these are persons, especially when we address them and when we are interacting with them, we don’t often treat them as persons. There is there is realization and there is cultivation. And the two are different.
Cultivation involves a conscious effort and realization involves inner awakening and inner acceptance, we could say. So, cultivation means that we are putting in a conscious effort to try to do something in a particular way or try to gain some understanding or try to develop a habit. Whereas, realization is more of not just internalization, rather it’s something that comes from within and just goes deep within us.
So, Rupa Goswami says that the process of Sadhana Bhakti is Anushilanam. Anushilanam means cultivation. So, of course, he says that even at the pure stage, uttama stage, bhakti involves cultivation.
But there it becomes much more easy to cultivate. At our stage, cultivation requires much more conscious effort. So, essentially, for reciprocating with any manifestation of Krishna, at our stage, we need cultivation.
So, for example, when we, say, chant the holy names or study Bhagavad Gita, in all these manifestations, actually, Krishna is manifesting. Krishna is accessible to us just as He is through the deities. But just as over a period of time, by interacting with them repeatedly, sometimes, mundane consciousness may develop.
The same can happen with the deities also. Now, in the case of the deities, often we are more aware of our lack of awareness. That means we are more, we often become conscious, oh, I am not treating Krishna as a person.
Rather than, you know, Krishna’s manifestations of the holy name or Krishna’s manifestations as the scripture, at one level, they are also non-different from Him. But because they don’t look like persons to us, it’s a book or it’s beads or it’s food, it’s prasad, so we often treat them that way. Now, the deities look like persons.
And that’s why in their presence, at least because of the appearance, we are periodically or intermittently reminded that, okay, I am not having a personal attitude towards them. I am having more of a depersonalized conception approaching or dealing with them. But whichever manifestation it is, the cultivation is always required.
And that’s why when we interact regularly with a particular manifestation of Krishna or when we serve Krishna in a particular way regularly, it is good to take some time out to read something about that particular service or about that particular manifestation so that by that reading, at least we will get some intellectual impetus for cultivating a spiritual vision. In general, whichever service we do, if we are parenting and taking care of children, then if we read something spiritual about parenting, then that reminds us of we are going to go through the responsibilities and whatever we are going to do for our children, we will do that. But to do it in a spiritual consciousness, if we read something about that service, it helps us to have that spiritual consciousness.
Same way with preaching. At one level, preaching, you know, we study scripture for speaking about Krishna. But then if we read something more about the importance of preaching, something about the mood of preaching, then that can also help us not just present Krishna in an attractive way but also remember Krishna better while we are trying to present Him.
So in that sense, because Krishna has many manifestations and the Deity is one manifestation, important, no doubt, but still it’s one among many manifestations. So, in general, the personal vision, the vision of the Deity as persons will come the more we get the realization of spiritual reality. And that will take time.
Until that happens, there has to be cultivation. That’s why at one level, when we worship the Deity, we often chant some mantras before approaching the Deities, before worshiping the Deities, while offering to them. Actually, all these mantras, each mantra can have some specific purpose in playing a particular role in a specific practice.
But along with that, the purpose of all those mantras is to spiritualize our consciousness, to remind us of whom we are interacting with. But over a period of time, even those mantra chanting can also become something like a ritual. That’s why it’s good to read something regularly.
In, I think, 28th chapter of the 11th Canto, in the Uddhava Gita, Krishna describes Deity worship in some detail. Or we may have some seminars on Deity worship by some devotees. Or we may have some Deity worship manual, or some books on Deity worship.
So like that, reading that and especially extracting from them some sections, some verses, some passages that we find especially persuasive, that we find especially helpful in elevating our consciousness. So we can take them out, keep them separately for ourselves. And also, if we have had some experiences of how Deity is not just a statue.
It is actually Krishna. Realization does not necessarily mean that Krishna talks with us or Krishna steals food for us. But it can also mean that just in the course of our life, we may have had some examples of Krishna’s extraordinary mercy.
Or especially if you have seen some devotees who are very devoted to Deity worship and we see how absorbed they are, how sensitive they are, then those also experiences we can try to note them down and keep them accessible to us. So one is scriptural instructions, which we read in general. But second is that those things which have been inspiring for us in giving us a more spiritual vision of the Deities, then if we keep them also available for us and whenever we start feeling that our consciousness is becoming more material, then we revisit these.
And that way, we will be able to re-spiritualize our consciousness. And over a period of time, by such cultivation, eventually realization will come. And when the realization comes, then we will actually see Krishna, see the Deity as manifestation of Krishna.
And then there won’t be so much cultivation required. There will be a natural reciprocation with the Lord and His manifestation as the Deity. Does that answer your question? Thank you.