Text 27]
Divinity and Divine Service
121
The separated parts and parcels have different positions in the estimation of material powers, and some of them are like Kālabhairava, Śmaśāhabhairava, Śani, Mahākālī, Caṇḍikā. These demigods are worshiped mostly by those who are in the lowest categories of the mode of darkness or ignorance, and there are others who are in the mode of passion and worship demigods like Brahmā, Śiva, Sūrya, Gaṇeśa and many similar deities, urged by the desire for material enjoyment. But those who are actually situated in the mode of goodness ( sattva-guṇa ) of material nature worship only  Viṣṇu-tattvas .  Viṣṇu-tattvas  are represented by various names and forms such as Nārāyaṇa, Dāmodara, Vāmana, Govinda, Adhokṣaja, etc. The qualified  brāhmaṇas  worship the  Viṣṇu-tattvas  represented by the  śālagrīma-śūlā , and so also some of the higher castes like the  kṣatriyas  and  vaiśyas  worship the  Viṣṇu-tattvas  generally.
Highly qualified  brāhmaṇas  situated in the mode of goodness have no grudges against the mode of worship of others. They have all respect for other demigods, even though they are ghastly looking, like the Kālabhairava or Mahākālī, etc. They know very well that these horrible features of the Supreme Lord are all different servitors of the Lord under different conditions, yet they reject the worship of both horrible and attractive features of the demigods, and they concentrate only on the forms of  Viṣṇu  because they are serious about liberation from the material conditions. The demigods, even to the stage of Brahmā, the supreme of all the demigods, cannot offer liberation to anyone. Hiraṇyakaśipu underwent a severe type of penance to become eternal in life, but his worshipful deity, Brahmā, could not satisfy him with such blessings. Therefore  Viṣṇu  is called  mukti-pāda , or the Personality of Godhead who can bestow upon us  mukti , liberation, and none else. The demigods, being like other living entities in the material world, are all liquidated at the time of the annihilation of the material structure. They are themselves unable to get liberation, and what to speak of giving liberation to their devotees. The demigods can award the worshipers some temporary benefit only and not the ultimate one.
It is for this reason only that candidates for liberation deliberately reject the worship of the demigods, although they have no disrespect for any one of them.
TEXT 27
रजस्तमःप्रकृतयः समशीला भजन्ति वै ।
पितृभूतप्रजेशादीन् श्रियैश्वर्यप्रजेस्वरः ॥२७॥