​Is deity worship meant for the less intelligent?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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Is deity worship something which was later introduced for less intelligent people? See, the Bhagavatam, as far as I have seen the verses, it doesn’t say that deity worship is only for less intelligent people. What it says, it is for less intelligent, but it does not mean that it is not for more intelligent.
When something is accommodating, that does not, so for example, the way Krishna presents it in the Bhagavata, he says, मामेबार्थ व्यापार्शुत्ति एपिस्टु पाप्रुणा स्रियो वैशास्ता इप्रस्ते पि आन्ति पराम्माते That Bhakti is so inclusive that even those who are low-born can practice it. But then, what is the next verse? किम पुनर ब्राम्मणा पुन्या भक्ता जिश्यस्ता अनित्यमसु कुम लोगों प्राप्रुणा स्रियो वैशास्ता इपिस्टु पाप्रुणा Therefore, what to speak of the Brahmanas and the righteous Kshatriyas, they can definitely practice it and attain perfection. So, that means it is so accommodating that even people at this level can practice it.
And people who are already elevated, it will be much easier for them to practice it and to become elevated. So, deity worship accommodates those who have material consciousness. But that does not mean that deity worship is not for those who are in world consciousness.
So, there is no specific verse in the Bhagavatam which says that the advanced yogis may start meditating on the super-soul in the heart. But it does not necessarily mean that they reject deity worship. The same lord who manifests as the super-soul in the heart of the yogis, that lord manifests as the deity also.
So, even the advanced yogis keep worshipping the deity, but for them the manifestation of Krishna is not only as the deity. They can see him in the heart also. So, now for us to prematurely assume that I am more intelligent, I don’t need to see the lord as the deity, I can see him in the heart everywhere or everywhere, that is actually that may well be presumptuousness.
So, we have to look at the sadhana of a person, we have to look up the overall realization of a person and then we can actually infer whether that person is always seeing Krishna everywhere. So, just because one is seeing Krishna everywhere and one is seeing Krishna in the heart, that does not mean one stops seeing Krishna as the deity. It is that it’s like initially we can’t see Krishna anywhere so at least see Krishna as the deity.
And eventually when one starts seeing Krishna everywhere, that does not mean one stops seeing Krishna as the deity. So, it’s inclusive, the deity worship is meant for the less intelligent, but that does not mean that for the more intelligent, they have to give it up or they have to go beyond it. They don’t depend on it for their God Consciousness.
In the neophytes we depend on the deity worship for our God Consciousness. The advance devotees don’t depend on it, but that does not mean it is only meant for less intelligent. So, it’s not a specific in the sense of something which can be given up because the deities manifest the specific form that is there in the spiritual world.
So, this specific is not to be transcended. Then, if somebody thinks this is specific to be transcended, then that means that they have to be actually explained about how the impersonal and the personal both manifest in the spiritual world and the impersonal comes from the personal. So, once that understanding is given, then it can be broadly understood properly.