Text 29]
The Activities of the Pracetās
1523
many unalloyed servants. By nature, the Lord is very compassionate; therefore the service of neophyte devotees is accepted by the Lord. As confirmed in  Bhagavad-gītā :
patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ
“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.” (Bg. 9.26)
The devotee offers eatables in the form of vegetables, fruits, leaves and water to the  arcā-vigraha . The Lord, being  bhakta-vatsala , compassionate upon His devotees, accepts these offerings. Atheists may think that the devotees are engaged in idol worship, but the fact is different. Janārdana, the Supreme Lord, accepts  bhāva , the attitude of service. The neophyte devotee engaged in the worship of the Lord may not understand the value of such worship, but the Supreme Lord, being  bhakta-vatsala , accepts His devotee and in due course of time takes him home.
In this connection there is a story about a  brāhmaṇa  who was offering sweet rice to the Lord within his mind. The  brāhmaṇa  had no money nor any means of worshiping the Deity, but within his mind he arranged everything nicely. He had gold pots to bring water from the sacred rivers to wash the Deity, and he offered the Deity very sumptuous food, including sweet rice. Once, before he offered the sweet rice, he thought that it was too hot, and he thought, “Oh, let me test it. My, it is very hot.” When he put his finger in the sweet rice to test it, his finger was burned and his meditation broken. Although he was offering food to the Lord within his mind, the Lord accepted it nonetheless. Consequently the Lord in Vaikuṇṭha immediately sent a chariot to bring the  brāhmaṇa  back home, back to Godhead. Thus it is the duty of every sincere devotee to accept the  arcā-vigraha  at home or in the temple and worship the form of the Lord as advised in authorized scriptures and directed by the spiritual master.
TEXT 29
येनोपशान्तिर्भूतानां शुल्कानामपीहताम् । अन्तर्हितोऽन्तर्हृदये कस्मान्नो वेद नाशिषः ॥२९॥
yenopaśāntir bhūtānām kṣullakānām apīhatām