Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c10.s2.11

c10.s2.11

By quoting the Bṛhad-viṣṇu-purāṇa, Śruti, Devī-purāṇa, Rudra-yāmala and other texts, the author shows that the Karmins, who lay special stress on ritualistic acts, are required, for the perfection of their rites, to worship individually on all occasions all the innumerable gods and ancestors and to honour separately one's own friends and relatives. This is a task which is practically impossible; and if any one of these gods, ancestors or relatives is left out or is not duly worshipped, the whole function becomes defective and fruitless. Hence, every one, whether an exclusive devotee of Kṛṣṇa or not, must worship only Hari (i.e. Kṛṣṇa), who is lord of all and who can liberate his devotees from rebirths and thus fulfil their desires. This supreme deity alone deserves absolute devotion, which requires that one must not worship, praise or censure any other god, even mentally, through ignorance or mistake, nor partake of the food offered to such gods or seek the company of their worshippers. Not to speak of the initiated Vaiṣṇavas, even those who are outside the pale of Vaiṣṇavism are said to be guilty of great offence (Mahāparādha) by worshipping gods other than Viṣṇu! The author further shows by a series of quotations that the worship of Nārāyaṇa (i.e. Kṛṣṇa) is equivalent to, and even greater than, the worship of all other gods in the universe and to the performance of all the acts prescribed by the Śāstras. By giving up all other activity prescribed by his caste, station or stage of life, a whole-hearted worshipper of Kṛṣṇa, therefore, does not incur sin thereby but attains liberation.