Further Consideration of Devotional Principles
77
mother's womb during birth, but it is a very painful and terrible experience. In order to make an escape from this material condition, one is advised to visit a temple of Viṣṇu with devotional consciousness. Then one can very easily get out of the miserable condition of material birth.
Circumambulating the Temple of Viṣṇu
It is said in the  Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya : “A person who is circumambulating the Deity of Viṣṇu can counteract the circumambulation of repeated birth and death in this material world.” The conditioned soul is circumambulating through repeated births and deaths on account of his material existence, and this can be counteracted simply by circumambulating the Deity in the temple.
The  Cāturmāsya  ceremony is observed during the four months of the rainy season in India, beginning from  Śrāvaṇa  (approximately July, August, September and October). During these four months, saintly persons who are accustomed to travel from one place to another to propagate  Kṛṣṇa  consciousness remain at one place, usually a holy place of pilgrimage. During these times, there are certain special rules and regulations which are strictly followed. It is stated in the  Skanda Purāṇa  that during this period, if someone circumambulates the temple of Viṣṇu at least four times, it is understood that he has traveled all over the universe. By such circumambulation, one is understood to have seen all the holy places where the Ganges water is flowing, and by following the regulative principles of  Cāturmāsya  one can very quickly be raised to the platform of devotional service.
Arcanā
Arcanā  means to worship the Deity in the temple. By executing this process one confirms himself as not body but spirit soul. In the Tenth Canto, 81st Chapter, 16th verse, of the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam , it is told how Sudāmā, an intimate friend of  Kṛṣṇa , while going to the