The Heart of a Vaishnava

Exploring the Essence of Humility, Tolerance & Compassion in the Life of God's Servants

B. P. Puri

• Publisher: Mandala Publishing
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781683832164
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Hinduism

A book that glorifies sadhu sanga—the association of devotees—and carries aloft the banner of pure devotional service in the modern world. The Heart of a Vaishnava reminds us of Krishna's words, "The worship of My devotee is greater than even the worship of Me." To the uninitiated, this is a puzzle, for Krishna also says, "The devotee is My heart and I am His." But here Swami B. P. Puri shows that without the association of devotees there is no Krishna. The Lord is present in this world through his devotees. If we want to find Krishna, we must look for him in the midst of Vaishnava association. This book glorifies the Vaishnava: it tells us of the necessity of Vaishnava association, how to recognize the Vaishnava, and how to serve the Vaishnava.

CHAPTER 1

Anything Connected to the Lord is Holy

bhāgavata tulasī gaṅgāya bhakta-jane

caturdhā vigraha kṛṣṇa ei cāri sane

jīva-nyāsa karile śrī-mūrti pūjā haya

janma-mātra e cāri īśvara vede kaya

The Supreme Lord is always associated with the four following entities: the scripture known as the Srimad Bhagavatam, the sacred plant Tulasi Devi, the holy river Ganges, and His devotees. The deity form of the Lord becomes worshipable after it has been consecrated ritually and the Lord’s presence has been invoked. Scripture says that these four things, however, are innately divine.

Chaitanya Bhagavata 2.21.81-82

Because of their intimate connection with Him, these four entities have been identified as the Lord’s prakāśa-vigrahas, or manifestations of the Lord Himself. Although the deity form is generally not considered worshipable until the specific ritual known as prāṇa-pratiṣṭhā has been performed, these four prakāśa-vigrahas are naturally worshipable—no empowering ritual is needed in order to elevate them to this status. They are all spiritual due to their natural connection to the Lord. The scriptures tell us that though they seem to fall into the category of the “enjoyed,” they are in fact the same as the Lord, in the sense that they should be treated as predominators, or enjoyers of the services we render them. They are to always be considered distinct from the predominated material nature and should never be looked upon as potential sources of sense enjoyment.

Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati explains the above verse as follows:

Krishna manifests Himself in this world in four forms. On seeing them, one may not immediately recognize them as being the Lord, but one should still worship them, for due to their direct connection to the Lord they are considered to be His manifestations. The name given in Sanskrit to such manifestations is prakāśa-vigraha—“the forms by which the Lord appears in the world.”

Ordinarily, one has to perform a special ritual consecration known as prāṇapratiṣṭhā by which one “calls the life” into the Lord’s deity form or murti. Prior to such rituals, the Lord’s murti remains a mere statue and is not considered worshipable. In the case of the Bhagavatam, Tulasi, the Ganges and the Vaishnava, there is no need for such ritual consecration. Even though one may see them as objects of enjoyment like everything else in the world, they are, in fact, in the position of the enjoyer and so one should engage in their service.

Gauḍīya-bhāṣya

The Chaitanya Charitamrita uses the term tadīya to describe a similar group of four holy objects of worship with a close connection to Krishna—Tulasi Devi, the Vaishnavas, Mathura and the Srimad Bhagavatam.

tadīya tulasī vaiṣṇava

mathurā bhāgavata

ei cārira sevā haya

kṛṣṇera abhimata

The word tadīya refers to those things or persons that are connected to the Lord: Tulasi Devi, Krishna’s devotees, the land of Mathura, and the Srimad Bhagavatam. Krishna is pleased when one renders service to any of these four.

Chaitanya Charitamrita 2.22.121

This verse comes in the context of the enumeration of sixty-four devotional practices, of which five are considered to be the most important.

sādhu-saṅga nāma-kīrtana

bhāgavata-śravaṇa

mathurā-vāsa śrī-mūrtira

śraddhāya sevana

One should associate with devotees, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, hear Srimad Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura and worship the Deity with faith and reverence.

CC 2.22.214

Because even a slight performance of any one of these limbs of devotional service awakens love for Krishna, it does not matter whether a person engages in only one or many of them. Clearly, there is a close relationship between these five devotional activities and the concept of tadīya, or things related to the Lord.

This book will emphasize that service to the Vaishnavas is inherent in any aspect of devotional service. This is why Srila Narottam Das Thakur sings, chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava-sevā nistāra pāyeche kebā—“Who has ever attained the supreme beatitude without serving a Vaishnava?”

Prema-bhakti-candrikā

THE SPECIAL STATUS of the VAISHNAVAS

In two verses from the Uttara-khaṇḍa of the Padma Purana, Lord Shiva says to Parvati:

ārādhanānāṁ sarveṣāṁ

viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ param

tasmāt parataraṁ devi

tadīyānāṁ samarcanam

Of all the different types of worship, that of Lord Vishnu is best. Even better than the worship of Lord Vishnu is the worship of those things that are connected to Him (tadīya).

Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.214

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