88 The Nectar of Devotion

gods.”” This means that even an ordinary person who goes to
Vrndavana out of inquisitiveness and by chance sees the temple,
especially that of Govindadeva, even if he is not elevated to the
spiritual kingdom, is still assured promotion to the higher plane-
tary systems. This means that simply by visiting the Deity of Govinda
in Vrndavana one becomes highly elevated in pious life.

Observing Aratrika and Celebrations of the Lord

In the Skanda Purana there is the following description of the re-
sult of seeing aratrika (worship) of the Deity: “If someone sees the
face of the Lord while aratrika is going on, he can be relieved of all
sinful reactions coming from many, many thousands and millions of
years past. He is even excused from the killing of a brahmana or simi-
lar prohibited activities.”

As we have already explained, there are different ceremonies to be
observed, such as the birthday of Krsna, the birthday of Lord Rama-
candra, the birthday of some prominent Vaisnavas, the ceremony of
Jhulan-yatra with the Lord sitting on a swing, Dola-yatra (the Lord’s
activities in the month of March), and so on. In all festivals the Lord
is seated on the car, and the car moves through different streets of
the city so that people may take advantage of visiting the Lord. In the
Bhavisya Purana it is said: “In such a ceremony, if even a candala
[dog-eater], simply out of curiosity, sees the Lord on the cart, he
becomes counted as one of the associates of Visnu.”

In the Garuda Purana it is stated: “Any person who in gladness
sees the worship of the Deity in the temple will obtain the results of
kriya-yoga which are described in the Pajicaratra scripture.” Kriya-
yoga is a system of practice much like practical devotional service,
but it is especially meant for the mystic yogis. In other words, by
this gradual process, the mystic yogis are eventually elevated to the
devotional service of the Lord.
