CHAPTER V. Worship.
The performance of the five daily sacrifices by man as an inter-dependent part of a universe, does not, however, completely satisfy the longings of the truly religious man. He longs to come into conscious relations with the Lord of the Universe, with Ishvara, with the great Life of which his own is a part. This need of man finds its satisfaction in worship. When Vyasa, master of the final truth of Para-Brahma and ever working for the good of all beings, after he had written even the Mahabharatam and the Brahma-sutras for the instruction of men, still found not peace of mind, Narada counselled him to sing the praise of Ishvara; and this he did in the Vishnu-Bhdgavata, winning thereby the peace he did not gain before. Worship is the expression of love to the Supreme, of reverence towards Him, of aspiration to reach Him in conscious communion, of longing to be united with him, to feel the unity of the individual self with the supreme Self. It may take the form of praise of His Perfection, of prayer rooted in a sense of imperfection, of appeal to His Love, of recognition of His Power, of meditation on His Nature, of intense longing for His Unveiling -and many another, according to the temperament and the stage of evolution of the worshipper. But whether in the peasant or in the philosopher, it is the expression of the longing after Brahman ; the expression differs with the emotional and intellectual evolution, but the root-longing is the same.
The All, the Unconditioned, is never an Object of worship. Attributes are needed for worship, on which the mind can be fixed, by which the emotions can be stirred. The Saguna Brahman, Ishvara, is the Object of worship, whom all prayers and praises reach, to whom all contemplation is directed. He may be adored as Shiva or Vishnu, as Mabadeva or Narayana, as Durga or Lakshmi, as Ganesha, Indra, Agni, Sarasvatl, or as an Avatara— Rama, or Krishna, or Buddha ; but under whatever name and form, it is Ishvara who is worshipped. This explains a matter that often puzzles boys, why sometimes Shiva, sometimes Vishnu, is spoken of as the Supreme Being, why one Purana exalts One and another exalts Another. All these are forms ; and Ishvara is One. The worshipper is worshipping Ishvara, and is thinking of Ishvara, under the Form which he loves best. He is not worshipping the Form, but the Lord in the Form – as a wife loves her husband, not the clothes he wears, though even those may be dear for the sake of the wearer. The worshipper worships the Love, the Beauty, the Power of Ishvara, as revealed in some one of His Divine Forms. We can only grasp a little, being small, but we grasp in our worship parts of the one Lord. This is why the quarrels of different religions, and of different sects in the same religion, are so foolish and so ignorant. All are worshipping the same Ishvara, and the differences are only differences of names, due to differences in the worshippers, not in the Object of worship. Puja is the general simple form of worship. A picture or image is used, mantras are recited, flowers are offered, water is poured out, and in these outer forms the inner love finds expression, and then rises beyond the forms to the Object thus served. The Form selected as representing the Object is sometimes the family Deva or Devi, and sometimes is the lshtadeva, the Form chosen by the worshipper himself, or by his Guru for him.
Upasana is a term that includes many forms of worship, including meditation, and the daily Sandhya, which should be performed by all followers of the Sanatana Dharma. There are two forms of Sandhya, the Vaidika and the Tantrika, and a boy should perform the Sandhya, according to his caste and family customs. He learns it from ‘ a properly qualified instructor, and should then practise it daily. Meditation, in its definite stages, belongs to manhood rather than to boyhood.
“Even the highest and most stainless know[1]ledge, even perfect unselfishness in actions, shine not if uninspired by devotion to the Imperishable. How then shall acts (bring peace) which (aim at fruit and) are not pure, or even those that are per[1]formed without desire, if they are not offered up to Ishvara?”
“They who worship the Indestructible, the Indestructible, the Unmanifested……ever working for the welfare of all creatures, these all come to me.
“The difficulty of those whose minds are set on the Unmanifested is greater; for the path of the Unmanifested is hard for the embodied to reach.
“Those verily who, renouncing all actions in Me and intent on Me, worship, meditating on Me with whole-hearted Yoga.
“Those I speedily lift up from the ocean of death and existence, 0 Partka, their minds being fixed on me.”
“The Lord dwelleth in the hearts of all beings 0 Arjuna, causing all beings to revolve by His illusive power, as though mounted on a wheel. “Flee unto Him for shelter with all thy being, 0 Bharata; by His grace thou shalt obtain supreme peace and the everlasting dwelling place.
“However men approach Me, even so do I welcome them, for the path men take from every side is mine, 0 Partita
“Any devotee who seeketh to worship with faith a n y such aspect, I verily bestow the unswerving faith of that man.”