18 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 3, Ch. 1

fore He is able to accept our service by presentation of His arca form. No
one, therefore, should foolishly think the arca in the temple to be an idol.
Such an arca-murti is not an idol but the Lord Himself, and to the propor-
tion to which one is free from sins, he is able to know the significance of
the arca-murti. The guidance of a pure devotee is therefore always
required.

In the land of Bharatavarga 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 arca representations of the Lord situated in different
places of pilgrimage are mentioned herewith. The Lord is present at
Mathura (the birthplace of Lord Krsna) as Adi-Keéava; the Lord is present
at Puri (Orissa) as Lord Jagannatha (also known as Purugottama); He is
present at Allahabad (Prayag) as Bindu-Madhava; at Mandara Hill he is
present as Madhusidana. In the Anandaranya, He is known as
Vasudeva, Padmanabha and Janardana; at Visnukanci, He is known as
Visnu; and at Mayaura, He is known as Hari. There are millions and bil-
lions of such arca forms of the Lord distributed all over the universe. All
these arca-murtis are summarized in the Caitanya-caritamrta in the follow-
ing words:

sarvatra prakasa tanhara bhakte sukhodite
Jagatera adharma nasi 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
AS 5
GE -gaeraixga-
TET «=| AAATT |
wa Ay aaaa: Ici
puresu puny opavanadri-kuiijesv
apanka-toyesu sarit-sarahsu

ananta-lingath samalankrtesu
cacara tirthayatanesv ananyah
