76 The Nectar of Devotion
Bowing Down and Standing Up in Honor of the Deity

In the Naradiya Purana there is a statement about bowing down
and offering respect to the Deity. It is said there: “‘A person who has
performed a great ritualistic sacrifice and a person who has simply
offered his respectful obeisances by bowing down before the Lord
cannot be held as equals.” The person who has executed many great
sacrifices will attain the result of his pious activities, but when such
results are finished, he has to take birth again on the earthly planet;
whereas the person who has once offered respects, bowing down be-
fore the Deity, will not again come back to this world, because he
will go directly to the abode of Krsna.

In the Brahmanda Purana it is said: “A person who sees the Lord’s
Ratha-yatra car festival and then stands up to receive the Lord can
purge all kinds of sinful results from his body.” A similar statement
is there in the Bhavisya Purana, in which it is said: ““A person who
follows the Ratha-yatra car when the Rathas [Deities] pass in front
or from behind, even if born of a lowly family, will surely be elevated
to the position of achieving equal opulence with Visnu.”

Going to the Temple of Visnu or to Places of Pilgrimage

It is stated in the Puranas: “Persons who attempt to visit the
holy places of pilgrimage, like Vrndavana, Mathura or Dvaraka, are
actually glorified. By such traveling activities, they can pass over the
desert of material existence.”

In the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya, there is a statement about the bene-
fit of visiting the temples of Lord Krsna. As we have explained pre-
viously, in Vrndavana, Mathura and Dvaraka the system is that all the
devotees take advantage of visiting various temples situated in those
holy places. It is stated in the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya: “Persons who
are impelled by pure devotional service in Krsna consciousness and
who therefore go to see the Deities of Visnu in the temple will surely
get relief from entering again into the prison house of a mother’s
womb.” The conditioned soul forgets the trouble of living within the
