Shloka 48
Arcana-vidhi: The Method of Deity Worship
Vedic, Tantric, and Mixed
अर्चादिषु यदा यत्र श्रद्धा मां तत्र चार्चयेत् । सर्वभूतेष्वात्मनि च सर्वात्माहमवस्थित: ॥ ४८ ॥
arcādiṣu yadā yatra śraddhā māṁ tatra cārcayet sarva-bhūteṣv ātmani ca sarvātmāham avasthitaḥ
မည်သည့်အချိန် မည်သည့်နေရာတွင်မဆို ငါ၏ အာချာ-မူရတီ သို့မဟုတ် မှန်ကန်သော အခြားပေါ်ထွန်းမှုများ၌ ငါ့အပေါ် ယုံကြည်မှု ပေါ်လာလျှင် ထိုရုပ်ပုံအတိုင်း ငါ့ကို ပူဇော်ရမည်။ ငါသည် သတ္တဝါအားလုံး၏ အာတ်မာအတွင်း၌လည်းကောင်း၊ ငါ၏ မူလသွင်ပြင်အဖြစ် သီးခြားလည်းကောင်း၊ စကြဝဠာ၏ ပရမာတ်မာအဖြစ် တည်ရှိသည်။
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is worshiped according to the faith of a particular worshiper. The Deity form, arcā, is specifically mentioned here because Deity worship is essential for spiritual progress. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura mentions that inexperienced persons may think that the Deity is meant for the sense gratification of the worshiper, since superficially the Deity is made of external substances such as marble or brass. But through the process of installing the Deity by chanting of authorized mantras, one invites the Supreme Personality of Godhead to enter the Deity form. By regulated, faithful worship one gradually understands that the Deity is completely nondifferent from the Supreme Lord Himself. At that stage, on the strength of Deity worship, one rises to the second-class platform of devotional service. At this more developed stage one desires to make friendship with other devotees of the Lord, and as one becomes solidly established in the community of Vaiṣṇavas, one completely gives up material life and gradually becomes perfect in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
FAQs
This verse teaches that wherever faith naturally arises, one should worship the Lord there—especially through arcā (Deity worship)—because the Lord is present both within oneself and within all beings.
In the Uddhava-gītā, Krishna instructs Uddhava on practical bhakti and proper worship; here He broadens worship beyond a single place or form by affirming His presence in the Deity, the self, and all living entities.
Keep steady Deity worship where possible, and extend the same reverence into daily life by honoring the Lord’s presence within your own heart and by treating all beings with compassion and respect.