Text 14] The Descent of the River Ganges 139
TEXT 14
ATA TY ATATANIAM ARGV FEN aeawVaraary

SSAA ATMA Ul 22 A

navasv api varsesu bhagavan narayano maha-purusah purusdnam
tad-anugrahdayatma-tattva-vyihenatmanddyapi sannidhiyate.

navasu—in the nine; api—certainly: varsesu—tracts of land known
as varsas; bhagavan—the Supreme Personality of Godhead;
nadradyanah—Lord Visnu; mahd-purusah—the Supreme Person;
purusanam—unto His various devotees; tat-anugrahdya—to show His
mercy; Gtma-tattva-vyithena—by expansions of Himself in the quadru-
ple forms Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha: atmana—
personally; adya api—until now; sannidhiyate —is near the devotees for
accepting their services.

TRANSLATION

To show mercy to His devotees in each of these nine tracts of
land, the Supreme Personality of Godhead known as Narayana ex-
pands Himself in His quadruple principles of Vasudeva, Sankar-
sana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. In this way He remains near His
devotees to accept their service.

PURPORT

In this connection, Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura informs us that the
demigods worship the Supreme Lord in His various Deity forms (arcd-
vigraha) because except in the spiritual world, the Supreme Personality
of Godhead cannot be directly worshiped in person. In the material
world, the Lord is always worshiped as the arcd-vigraha, or Deity in the
temple. There is no difference between the arcd-vigraha and the original
person, and therefore those who are engaged in worshiping the Deity in
the temple in full opulence, even on this planet, should be understood to
be directly in touch with the Supreme Personality of Godhead without a
doubt. As enjoined in the Sdstras, arcye visnau Sila-dhir gurusu nara-
matih: “No one should treat the Deity in the temple as stone or metal.
