Category:Worshiping Durga
Theme Analysis
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains the position of Goddess Durgā as the external energy (māyā-śakti) of the Supreme Lord, and analyzes the motives of those who worship her. Generally, materialists, asuras, and people bewildered by the modes of passion and ignorance worship Durgā for temporary boons such as wealth, fame, or a beautiful spouse. Impersonalists also worship her as part of the speculative pañcopāsanā system, mistakenly equating her with the Supreme Lord. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies the proper Vaiṣṇava understanding: pure devotees respect and honor Goddess Durgā as the dedicated maidservant of Kṛṣṇa. Guided by the bona fide spiritual master, they never equalize her with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, nor do they worship her for material gain. An exception is the transcendental worship by the gopīs of Vṛndāvana, who approached her solely to obtain Lord Kṛṣṇa as their husband.
- The Illusion of Material Boons: Conditioned souls who are blinded by material lust approach Goddess Durgā begging for temporary and flickering benefits like immense wealth, fame, and a beautiful wife.
- The Demoniac and Ignorant Worshipers: People deeply entrenched in the modes of ignorance, such as meat-eaters, drunkards, and tantrics, worship Goddess Durgā or Kālī through abominable practices, falsely seeking material supremacy.
- The Impersonalist Misconception: Māyāvādī philosophers mistakenly claim that worshiping demigods like Durgā is the same as worshiping Lord Viṣṇu, incorporating her into their pañcopāsanā system to ultimately reach an impersonal void.
- The Transcendental Worship by the Gopīs: Although the young girls of Vṛndāvana worshiped Goddess Durgā with various offerings, their inner, pure desire was completely free from material lust, as they only wanted Lord Kṛṣṇa as their husband.
- The Proper Vaiṣṇava Perspective: Following the principles of the Brahma-saṁhitā, Vaiṣṇavas offer respect to Goddess Durgā as the superintendent of the material world and the faithful servant of Govinda, never confusing her with the Supreme Lord.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: The Material Motives for Worshiping Durgā.
Pages in category "Worshiping Durga"
The following 59 pages are in this category, out of 59 total.
A
- A class of common men claim that one can accept many different paths & still reach the same place, & they maintain that the Supreme Absolute Truth may be worshiped either as the Goddess Kali, or Goddess Durga, or Lord Siva, Ganesa, Rama, Hari, or Brahma
- A devotee also respects the demigods because he knows their position in relation to Krsna. In Brahma-samhita (5.44), the Goddess Durga is worshiped as the external energy, or potency, of Krsna
- A diseased person is recommended to worship the sun-god; a person wanting education may worship the goddess of learning, Sarasvati; and a person wanting a beautiful wife may worship the goddess Uma, the wife of Lord Siva. BG 1972 purports
- According to Vedic civilization, unmarried girls from ten to fourteen years of age are supposed to worship either Lord Siva or Goddess Durga in order to get a nice husband
- As there are many holy places for the worship of Krsna, there are also many holy places in India for the worship of Durgadevi, or Mayadevi, who took birth as the daughter of Yasoda
- Asuras do not know the secret of the energy of Lord Siva, and they prefer to worship goddess Kali or Durga or Lord Siva for material benefit. Due to their demoniac character, they are reluctant to surrender to Lord Krsna, as indicated by Bhagavad-gita
- Asuras try to pacify the goddess Kali, or Durga, by worshiping her in material opulence, but when the asuras become too intolerable, goddess Kali does not discriminate in killing them wholesale
G
- Generally Bengalis, especially those who are meat-eaters and drunkards, are very much attached to worshiping the goddesses Durga, Kali, Sitala and Candi
- Govinda Kaviraja was the brother of Ramacandra Kaviraja and youngest son of Ciranjiva of Srikhanda. Although at first a sakta, or worshiper of goddess Durga, he was later initiated by Srinivasa Acarya Prabhu
I
- If one desires a good marital relation he should worship the chaste goddess Uma, the wife of Lord siva
- If one wants a beautiful wife, he is advised to worship Uma, or goddess Durga. If one wants to be cured of a disease, he is advised to worship the sun-god. All requests for benedictions from the demigods, however, are due to material lust
- In the first part of the Gopala-campu the following subject matters are discussed: (21) the performance of the rituals in Katyayani-vrata and the worship of the goddess Durga; (22) the begging of food from the wives of the brahmanas performing sacrifices
- In the Markandeya Purana there is mention of Devi worship, or worship of the goddess Durga or Kali, but in this same candika it is also stated that all the demigods - even in the shape of Durga or Kali - are but different energies of the Supreme Visnu
- It is stated in the Sapta-sati scripture that a ksatriya king named Suratha and a rich vaisya named Samadhi worshiped material nature in the form of goddess Durga to attain material perfection
L
- Lord Siva and Goddess Durga were worshiped even by the royal families; other, minor demigods were worshiped by silly, lower-class people
- Love for Krsna cannot be compared to material love for different demigods. Because Mayavadis are on the material platform, they recommend the worship of Siva or Durga and say that worship of Kali and Krsna are the same
M
- Materialistic persons who are very fond of money and great families worship different demigods to attain their desires, especially goddess Durga, Lord Siva and Lord Brahma. Such materialistic persons are called sriyaisvarya-prajepsavah
- Mayavadi sannyasis do not worship the Deity, or if they do so they generally worship the deity of Lord Siva or the pancopasana - Lord Visnu, Lord Siva, Durga-devi, Ganesa and Surya
O
- One can discover how a person worshiping the goddess Durga begs her for different varieties of material profit. Such activities are very popular among people in general, but they are the attempts of foolish, blind people
- One night while kirtana was going on inside Srivasa's house, a brahmana named Gopala Capala, the chief of the nonbelievers, who was talkative and very rough in his speech, placed all the paraphernalia for worshiping the goddess Durga outside his door
- One who desires good fortune should worship Durgadevi, the superintendent of the material world
- One who has forgotten the real aim of life may worship goddess Durga, maya-sakti, under various names, for different purposes, and in different places
- Only those whose knowledge has been bewildered suggest that one may worship either Lord Visnu, the goddess Kali (Durga) or whomever one likes and achieve the same result
P
- People are embarrassed by many material desires, they worship Siva, Brahma, the Kali, Durga, Ganesa and Surya to achieve different results. However, one can achieve all these results simultaneously just by worshiping Lord Visnu
- People do not know what they are doing when they worship the material energy in the form of goddess Kali or Durga for material boons. They ask, "Mother, give me great riches, give me a good wife, give me fame, give me victory
S
- Since goddess Durga is always worshiped with her famous children (Laksmi, Sarasvati, Ganesa, Karttikeya), Rukmini specifically offered her respectful obeisances to the deity in that way; however, her prayers were special
- Such abominable tantric activities (like eating meat and drinking wine, practicing the black art of worshiping the goddess Bhavani in a crematorium) performed by so-called svamis and yogis are herein (CC Adi 17.52) condemned by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu
- Such materialistic persons get immense opportunity for economic development by worshiping Lord Siva, for Lord Siva is the husband of the goddess Durga, the proprietor of this universe
- Such people (who are interested in material promotion engage in ritualistic religious ceremonies) generally become impersonalists. They are interested in worshiping Lord Siva or goddess Durga, but their return is one hundred percent materialistic
T
- The external potency, maya, who is of the nature of the shadow of the cit (spiritual) potency, is worshiped by all people as Durga, the creating, preserving and destroying agency of this mundane world
- The external potency, maya, who is of the nature of the shadow of the cit (spiritual) potency, is worshiped by all people as Durga, the creating, preserving and destroying agency of this mundane world - BS 5.44
- The first month of Hemanta is Agrahayana (October-November), and at that time all the unmarried gopis of Vrndavana began to worship goddess Durga with a vow
- The gopis worshiped goddess Durga, or Katyayani, but their inner desire was to get Lord Krsna as their husband. Krsna, as Paramatma, could realize the ardent desire of the gopis, and therefore He enjoyed the pastime of vastra-harana
- The ksatriya kings were mostly staunch Vaisnavas, worshiping Lord Visnu in either the Radha-Krsna or Laksmi-Narayana form; still, for their material welfare they used to worship goddess Durga
- The system of demigod worship was directed mainly to Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, Lord Ganesa, the sun-god and goddess Durga
- The unmarried girls of Vrndavana were already attracted by the beauty of Krsna. They were, however, engaged in the worship of goddess Durga in the beginning of the Hemanta season (just prior to the winter season)
- The unmarried gopis used to prepare the deity of goddess Durga and worship it with candana pulp, garlands, incense, lamps and all kinds of presentations - fruits, grain and twigs of plants
- There are many tantric followers who, wishing to eat meat and drink wine, practice the black art of worshiping the goddess Bhavani in a crematorium. Such fools also consider this bhavani-puja to be as good as worship of Lord Krsna in devotional service
- They (those who are attached to material enjoyment) are especially attached to worship of the goddess Durga and Lord Siva because this transcendental couple can offer their devotees all material opulence
- This system of worshiping many gods, such as Durga, Siva, Ganesa, Surya and the impersonal Visnu form, is accepted by persons who have been blinded by an intense desire for sense gratification
- Those who desire material wealth worship Durgadevi with the following mantra: dhanam dehi rupam dehi rupavati bharyam dehi. "O worshipable mother Durgadevi, please give me wealth, strength, fame, a good wife and so on"
- Thousands of wives of respectable brahmanas were present, all dressed very nicely with suitable ornaments. They presented Rukmini with flower garlands, sandalwood pulp & a variety of colorful garments to assist her in worshiping Siva & goddess Durga
- Together, Lord Siva's genitals and the vagina of goddess Durga are worshiped as the siva-linga. This is the origin of the material creation. Thus Lord Siva's position is between that of the living entity and that of the Supreme Lord
- Tvam adyah purusah. Purusa means enjoyer. God is not female. Sometimes they worship a female as God, like Durga, Kali, and so many others. But God is purusa. Everyone is prakrti. Prakrti means female. Everyone knows it
V
- Vaisnavas can also worship all these demigods (Lord Siva, the sun-god, goddess Durga and Lord Brahma), but only on the principles of the Brahma-samhita, which is recommended by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
- Very sorry, these (respectable) gentlemen (who came to see the paraphernalia for worshiping Bhavani in front of the door of Srivasa Thakura) called for a sweeper to cleanse the place and purify it by sprinkling water and cow dung there
W
- We do not say that we do not believe in the demigods. No, we believe in. But they are servants. We cannot make the servant & master on the equal footing. We worship Durga. Now, what is the function? She is acting by the desire of the Supreme Lord, Govinda
- We may note the mantras for worshiping Lord Siva, Lord Brahma, goddess Durga, the sun-god and Ganesa, as described in the Brahma-samhita
- We may try to satisfy Mother Durga by worshiping her or by giving her some bribe, but Durga is not so easily bribed
- Well-to-do Hindu gentlemen constructed their houses with a place called the Durga-mandapa for the worship of the goddess Durga. There they generally held worship of the goddess every year in the month of Asvina - September-October
- When the mode of passion is mixed with the mode of ignorance, one worships Durga, or Kali, the external potency