18
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 3, Ch. 1]
fore He is able to accept our service by presentation of His  arcā  form. No one, therefore, should foolishly think the  arcā  in the temple to be an idol. Such an  arca-mūrti  is not an idol but the Lord Himself, and to the proportion to which one is free from sins, he is able to know the significance of the  arca-mūrti . The guidance of a pure devotee is therefore always required.
In the land of Bhāratavarṣa there are many hundreds and thousands of places of pilgrimage distributed all over the country, and by traditional practice the common man visits such holy places during all seasons of the year. Some of the  arcā  representations of the Lord situated in different places of pilgrimage are mentioned herewith. The Lord is present at Mathurā (the birthplace of Lord Kṛṣṇa) as Ādi-Keśava; the Lord is present at Purī (Orissa) as Lord Jagannātha (also known as Puruṣottama); He is present at Allahabad (Prayāg) as Bindu-Mādhava; at Mandara Hill he is present as Madhusūdana. In the Ānandāraṇya, He is known as Vāsudeva, Padmanābha and Janārdana; at Viṣṇukāñcī, He is known as Viṣṇu; and at Mayaura, He is known as Hari. There are millions and billions of such  arcā  forms of the Lord distributed all over the universe. All these  arca-mūrtis  are summarized in the  Caitanya-caritāmṛta  in the following words:
sarvatra prakāśa tāṅhāra bhakte sukhodite jagatera adharma nāśi dharma sthapite
“The Lord has so distributed Himself all over the universe just to give pleasure to the devotees, to give the common man facility to eradicate his sins, and to establish religious principles in the world.”
TEXT 18
पुरेषु पुष्योपवनाद्रिकुञ्जे- 
    अपङ्क्तायेषु सरित्सरःसु । 
    अनन्तलिङ्गैः समलङ्कृतेषु 
    चचार तीर्थायतनेष्वनन्यः ॥१८॥
pureṣu puṇyopavanādri-kuñjeṣv 
    apaṅka-toyeṣu sarit-saraḥsu 
    ananta-liṅgaiḥ samalaṅkṛteṣu 
    cacāra tīrthāyataneṣv ananyaḥ