Shloka 23
Vidura Leaves Hastināpura and Meets Uddhava
Vidura’s Tīrtha-yātrā Begins
अन्यानि चेह द्विजदेवदेवै: कृतानि नानायतनानि विष्णो: । प्रत्यङ्गमुख्याङ्कितमन्दिराणि यद्दर्शनात्कृष्णमनुस्मरन्ति ॥ २३ ॥
anyāni ceha dvija-deva-devaiḥ kṛtāni nānāyatanāni viṣṇoḥ pratyaṅga-mukhyāṅkita-mandirāṇi yad-darśanāt kṛṣṇam anusmaranti
There were also many other temples of Viṣṇu in diverse forms, established by great sages and the devas. Marked with the Lord’s chief emblems, their very sight made one ever remember the original Supreme Person, Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Human society is divided into four social orders of life and four spiritual divisions, applying to each and every individual person. This system is called varṇāśrama-dharma and has already been discussed in many places in this great literature. The sages, or persons who completely devoted themselves to the spiritual upliftment of the entire human society, were known as dvija-deva, the best amongst the twice-born. The denizens of superior planets, from the moon planet and upwards, were known as devas. Both the dvija-devas and the devas always establish temples of Lord Viṣṇu in His various forms, such as Govinda, Madhusūdana, Nṛsiṁha, Mādhava, Keśava, Nārāyaṇa, Padmanābha, Pārtha-sārathi and many others. The Lord expands Himself in innumerable forms, but all of them are nondifferent from one another. Lord Viṣṇu has four hands, and each hand holds a particular item — either a conchshell, wheel, club or lotus flower. Of these four emblems, the cakra, or wheel, is the chief. Lord Kṛṣṇa, being the original Viṣṇu form, has only one emblem, namely the wheel, and therefore He is sometimes called the Cakrī. The Lord’s cakra is the symbol of the power by which the Lord controls the whole manifestation. The tops of Viṣṇu temples are marked with the symbol of the wheel so that people may have the chance to see the symbol from a very long distance and at once remember Lord Kṛṣṇa. The purpose of building very high temples is to give people a chance to see them from a distant place. This system is carried on in India whenever a new temple is constructed, and it appears that it is coming down from a time before recorded history. The foolish propaganda by atheists that temples were constructed only in later days is refuted here because Vidura visited these temples at least five thousand years ago, and the temples of Viṣṇu were in existence long, long before Vidura visited them. The great sages and demigods never established statues of men or demigods, but they established temples of Viṣṇu for the benefit of common men, to raise them to the platform of God consciousness.
FAQs
This verse says that simply seeing Viṣṇu’s sanctuaries—temples marked with His divine features and symbols—awakens remembrance of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, showing darśana itself is spiritually transformative.
In the Vidura–Maitreya dialogue, Maitreya highlights how sacred places and Deity worship support bhakti by naturally turning the mind toward Kṛṣṇa through sight and association.
Regularly take darśana—at a temple or even a home altar—and use that moment of seeing to consciously remember Kṛṣṇa, making devotion practical through daily remembrance.