Meditating on Deities

One should not try to look at the face of the Lord without being accustomed to seeing the lotus feet of the Lord. [SB 1.8.22 Purport]

The process of meditation should begin from the lotus feet of the Lord and progress to His smiling face. The meditation should be concentrated upon the lotus feet, then the calves, then the thighs, and in this way higher and higher. The more the mind becomes fixed upon the different parts of the limbs, one after another, the more the intelligence becomes purified. [SB 2.2.13 Purport]

Çréla Prabhupäda speaks in a lecture: As soon as you begin kértana, first of all concentrate your mind on the lotus feet, not all of a sudden jump over the face. Be practiced to think over the lotus feet, then still higher, the knees, then the thighs, then the belly, then the chest. In this way, at last go to the face. This is the process. [Lecture: SB 3.28.18, Nairobi, October 27, 1975]

Attending ärati

If someone sees the face of the Lord while ärati 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 brähmaëa or similar prohibited activities. [Skanda Puräëa]

Circumambulating the Deities

A person who is circumambulating the Deity of Viñëu can counteract the circumambulation of repeated birth and death in this material world. [Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya]

The conditioned soul is circumambulating through repeated births and deaths on account of his material existence, and this can be counteracted simply by circumambulating the Deity in the temple. [Nectar of Devotion]

It is respectful to circumambulate the temple, keeping your right side to the Deities if possible. You may dance around the temple in this way if you like. [Letter to: Karunamayi, LA, February 25, 1968]

Dancing in front of Deities

The following references are found in Dvärakä-mähätmya

A person who is in a jubilant spirit, who feels profound devotional ecstasy while dancing before Me, and who manifests different features of bodily expression can burn away all the accumulated sinful reactions he has stocked up for many, many thousands of years.” [Lord Kåñëa]

From the body of any person who claps and dances before the Deity of Kåñëa showing manifestations of ecstasy, all the birds of sinful activities fly away upward. [Narada]

Reciting Prayers before the Deities

Devotees whose tongues are decorated always with prayers to Lord Kåñëa are always given respect even by the great saintly persons and sages, and such devotees are actually worshipable by the demigods. [Skanda Puräëa]

Any person who comes before the Deity of Lord Kåñëa and begins to chant different prayers is immediately relieved from all the reactions of sinful activities and becomes eligible, without any doubt, to enter into the Vaikuëöhaloka. [Nåsiàha Puräëa]

Honoring Caraëämåta

Even a person who has never been able to give in charity, who has never been able to perform a great sacrifice, who has never been able to study the Vedas, who has never been able to worship the Lord – or, in other words, even one who has never done any pious activities – will become eligible to enter into the kingdom of God if he simply drinks the caraëämåta which is kept in the temple. [Padma Puräëa]

Smelling the Incense and Flowers Offered to the Deity

When the devotees smell the good flavor of the incense which is offered to the Deity, they thus become cured of the poisonous effects of material contamination, as much as one becomes cured of a snake-bite by smelling the prescribed medicinal herbs. [Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya]

It is stated in the Tantra-çästra, “If the smell of the garland which was offered to the Deity in the temple enters into a person's nostrils, immediately his bondage to sinful activities becomes cleared. And even if one has no sinful activities, still, by smelling such remnants of flowers, one can advance from Mäyävädé [impersonalist] to devotee.” There are several instances of this, a prime one being the advancement of the four Kumäras. They were impersonalist Mäyävädés, but after smelling the remnants of flowers and incense in the temple, they turned to become devotees. [NoD]

Just to purify the impurities of our nostrils, we should try to smell the remnants of flowers offered to Kåñëa in the temple. [Agastya-saàhitä]

Accepting Flower Garlands Offered to the Deity

In Skanda Puräëa, Lord Brahmä tells Närada: My dear Närada, anyone who puts on his neck the flower garland which was formerly used by Kåñëa becomes relieved from all disease and reactions to sinful activities, and gradually he is liberated from the contamination of matter.