Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c8.s2.6.3

c8.s2.6.3

125) distinguishes five, namely, the society of saintly persons (sādhu-saṅga), the chanting of Kṛṣṇa's name (nāma-kīrtana), listening to the reading of the Bhāgavata (bhāgavata-śravaṇa), dwelling at Mathurā (mathurā-vāsa), reverential service of his image (śrīmūrtir śraddhāye sevana), that is, fellowship, song, scripture, pilgrimage and image worship.¹ Any one of these modes, even a little of the five, can create Bhakti. The Vaidhī Sādhana-bhakti, which consists of these positive acts and practices of piety and which is described as "worship by the body, the senses and the mind" (kāya-hṛṣīkāntaḥkaraṇānām upāsanā), also involves, negatively, the avoidance of the so-called Sevāparādhas (offences relating to worship) and Nāmā-parādhas (offences relating to the name of the Lord). The commentary gives (p. 89) a list of thirty-two Sevāparādhas, to which is added twenty-three more from the Varāha-purāṇa and ten again from some other source. These consist of offences like entering the temple in a conveyance, or with one's shoes on, or without washing one's feet; not observing the festivals of the Lord; not doing obeisance; eating what is not offered to the deity; not observing silence during worship, etc. The Nāmāparādhas are the logical result of the theory of the efficacy of the blessed name (Nāma-mahātmya). They are given as ten in number by the commentary (p. 93-94) and include such offences as unwillingness to listen to the Māhātmya of the name;