Worship of one god and worship of Shri Ram

Question

In Bhagvad Gita , Lord Vishnu says, Worship me alone :-

http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/Gita/verse-09-23.html

Even those who, being devoted to other gods and endowed with faith, worship (them), they also, O son of Kunti, worship Me alone (though) following the wrong method.

Here Bhagvan clearly says worshipping other gods is wrong or is a unauthorised manner.

So is worship of Prabhu Shriram is wrong or Unauthorised?

Is chanting name of Lord Shriram is unauthorised worship of almighty god although he was one of the avataras of Lord Vishnu?

Is chanting name of krishna is the only authorised namajapa or worship in our hinduism???

If one worships Bhagavan Shriramkrishna then will it be unauthorised?

Please clarify.

Answer 1

Worship others is not unauthorize. It is a big system and other gods are also part of the system.

There is a word "Ramsification" means subdivisions of a big system.

Lord Vishnu holds Rajas nature and he knows how to tackle Arjuna in Mahabharata so he told him that only worship me.

Lord Vishnu also knew other people's karma and also the fate of the war also the end of the war. But to execute it through the soul of Arjuna he guided him to give his chariot in the hands of Lord Krishna.

Any Hindu chant or invocation starts with

Aum which means I bow to all Gods and I salute them.

Then the name of the lord is chanted like Om namah shivay, Om Ramay namah or Om namo bhagawate Vasudevay or Om Krishnay namah.

Other than this Shree is the starting point.

Shree Krushna Sharanam mama Shree Shivay Namah Shree Ramay Namah

Shree means Auspicious. Means do auspicious to me. "Shubham kuru".

Answer 2

It is difficult to understand the meaning of this verse when you pull it out of context. When reading this verse one needs to read the other verses starting with verse 15 and ending with verse 28.

More specifically, verses 24 and 25 answer verse 23. verse 24 reads (Swami Gambhirananda translator):

I indeed am the enjoyer as also the Lord of all sacrifices; but they do not know Me in reality. Therefore they fall.

Krishna is saying (and whether you think of Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead or as Brahman is not important, but you are thinking of Him as the Supreme) is that He is the ultimate enjoyer of all sacrifices, even those offered to other gods. What is important, however, is the intent of the worshiper. If you look on the god that you are worshiping as Krishna (the Supreme Personality of Godhead or Brahman) than it is ok. If you are worshiping the god as the god and NOT as Krishna (the Supreme Personality of Godhead or Brahman) than Krishna says at the end of the verse "they fall".

What does He mean by 'fall'? At the end of his commentary on verse 24, Sankara says:

The result of sacrifice is inevitable even for those who worship ignorantly out of their devotion to other deities. How?

And Krishna says in verse 25:

Votaries of the gods reach the gods; votaries of the manes go to the manes; the worshipers of the Beings reach the Beings; and those who worship Me reach Me.

And at the end of his commentary on this verse, Sankara says:

Although the effort (involved) is the same, still owing to ignorance they do not worship Me exclusively. Therefore they attain lesser results, this is the meaning.

And in verse 27:

O son of Kunti, whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer as sacrifice, whatever you give and whatever austerities you undertake, (all) that offer to Me.

Worship Rama. Worship Krishna. Worship Shiva. Worship Durga. Worship Ramakrishna. Worship Christ. Worship Agni. BUT do not worship them as different deities. worship them as representations of the One Godhead that pervades and stands behind them all.

Answer 3

"Here Bhagvan clearly says worshiping other gods is wrong or is an unauthorized manner."

Krishna doesn't say that. He just says that the method is not proper, but the worship does pay its due by reaching to him indirectly. Here is the correct translation:

_{BG 9.23 — The devotees of other DevatAs worshiping (them) full of faith, they also worship "Me" only with non-methodical way.}

Understadning "Me"

This "Me" creates a great confusion and also gives a chance for bad criticism.
Krishna's "Me" doesn't refer to his personal form of "VAsudeva" alone. During discourse of Gita, Krisha is believed to be in the highest spiritual level of everything, which we call as BrahM (or Brahman). This is the 4th state in every aspect. Different names, but same meaning. i.e.

• Among modes, it's Atma/ShunyatA (beyond, Sattva, Rajas, Tamas)
• Among awareness, it's Turiya (beyond, JAgrut, Swapna, NidrA)
• Among enjoyers/Purusha, it's Moksha (beyond Dharma, Artha, KAma)
• Among visuals, it's Divya Drushti (beyond height, width, depth)
• Among acts, it's Leela (beyond Dharma, Adaharma, Vidharma)
• Among Karma, it's Akarma (beyond Satkarma, Dushkarma, Vikarma)
• ...

The "VAsudeva" (Krishna as person) is also "worshipable" (BG 10.37), but so is "Arjuna", "PrahalAda", "VyAsa", "RAma" and many more described in Gita chapter 10.

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"So is worship of Prabhu Shriram is wrong or Unauthorised?"

No.
A devotee gets compelled by own self, for whom to worship. In Gita, RAma is anyway included:

_{BG 10.31 — Among purifiers, I am wind; Among carriers of weapons, I am RAma; Among aquatics, I am the crocodile; Among water streams, I am JAhnavi (Ganga).}

RAma can be Raghupati RAma, Parashu RAma, Valadev Bala RAma. Similarly, "Wind" can be Pavana-putra HanumAna, VAyu-putra Bhima. In spirituality, take everything as perceptions or choices. Being judgmental, may create conflicts.

But what if someone 'worshipable' hasn't "made" into the list of chapter-10? :-) Luckily, Krishna was aware of this. There can be many entities pre & post Gita, which were quite worshipable by various beings. Hence Krishna ends the list with following:

_{BG 10.41 — Whichever influential excellence(Sattva) [entity] certainly has prosperity(Shrimad) or energy(Urjita); those you know to be possible as part of My aura only.}

We can even worship our own self (BG 10.20) as well; because "Self"(Atma) is actually Krishna's "Me" only. Similar to Advaita or Buddhism's ShunyatA.

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"Is chanting name of Lord Shriram is unauthorised worship of almighty god although he was one of the avataras of Lord Vishnu?"

"Chanting(Japa)" anything with devotion is fine. Be it, "RAma, RAma, RAma" or "Krishna, Krishna, Krishna" or "Hare RAma ..." or "ShivAy ..." or "Aum ..." or GAyatri or even "Money, Money, Money" (Kuber BG 10.23).

_{BG 10.25 — Among great Rishis, I am Bhrugu; Among voices, I am the indestructible (Aum); Among perseverance(Yagna), I am continuation of "Chanting(Japa)"; Among stationary-s, I am the snowy place(HimAlaya).}

Importance of Chanting

Chanting is one methodical way to fix one's consciousness to the 'entity' being chanted.
Throughout the life [un]knowingly, we are simply preparing our "state of consciousness" for death. During the final moments, whatever our consciousness remembers or bewilders or explores, that is achieved by it. If the part of it is fixed on supreme and part of it is in worldly matters, then the former part disappears in supreme and the latter part returns back to the worldly matters.

_{[BG 8.6] — Also [when] the body is left remembering this or that "Nature" at the end, O son of Kunti, [it] always approaches towards establishing those nature(s) only.}

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"If one worships Bhagavan Shriramkrishna then will it be unauthorised?"

No. It's quite fine. He was after all a BrahmachAri. Discard the notion of BrahamachAri as "person not having sex". Rather it means, the person who "acts as per god's will" (Brham + AchAra). Whatever they do, is one or the other form of leela. During death, if a person's mind is fixed upon Shri RAmaKrishna Paramahamsa, then his/her consciousness will get whatever state of him only.

In fact, I would go on to say that, if our heart suggests us to worship something so called "sinful" or "unauthorized", then we should do that. Act of "Worship" fixes our consciousness towards one-ness. Ultimately that one-ness will merge with other one-ness and finally the supreme one.

In Jainism, RAvana (& Karna) are eligible to be Tirthankara along with Sri Krishna, BalarAma, VyAsa. Because, whoever has fixed their mind unto supreme (with any kind of emotion), tends to become the same.

_{BG 9.30 — Even if an evil doer worships me with no other devotion, is considered saint(SAdhu) only, for being situated rightly.}

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_{^{Already seeing good answers & comments. Since you asked to answer, I am giving another point of view, to support that worshiping other forms is correct.}}

Answer 4

Based on different interpretation, it can be understood differently. As per hindu tradition, we can say that there are so many gods and damons. Even though people worship lots of gods and damons, ultimately these gods get energy/resource from ultimate Brahman. Hence even though they worship any form/god, it goes to same ultimate Brahman. This is gist of it. You may find details about this here http://journeygita.blogspot.in/2012/08/bhagavad-gita-verse-23-chapter-9.html

Read through the different commentaries especially by Adi Shankara to know more

Answer 5

If we literally take gita 9.23 as it is, then we feel that worship of other gods like shri ram is wrong. But in padma puran patal khand it's said

कृष्णो नारायण प्रभुः। Shri Krishna is narayan himself

And in bhagwat maha Puran It's said एषः वै साक्षात् आद्यो नारायण पुमान्। Shri Krishna is himself adipurush narayan

If we go by this logic Then we can say worshipping narayan is same as worshipping other gods

सर्वदेव नमस्कार केशवं प्रतिगच्छति।

Or तस्मात् समस्त देवार्च विष्णु एकम् प्रपद्यते।।

Worship to all gods goes to narayan alone. Padmapuran 7.15.3

But here is the twist

नारायणोऽपि रामांश शंखचक्रगदाधारः। Adi ramayan paschim khand

Even shriman Narayan is first manifestation of shri Ram

So worshipping shri ram is the best. Even the shastras like:-

सर्वदेवतनुर्भुत्वा सर्वात्मा सर्व संस्तुतः।। Adbhut Ramayan 13.8

Whenever we are worshipping other gods, it is only shri Ram is worshipped who is soul of even gods.

सर्वदेवमयो रामः स्मृतश्चार्त्तिप्रणाशनः। Skandpuran

All the devas reside in shri ram.

Also in anand Ramayan Manohar khand 16.183 रामो गेयश्चिन्तनीयोऽत्र रामः स्तव्यो रामः सेवानीयोऽत्र रामः। ध्ययो रामो वंदनीयोऽत्र रामो दर्श्यो रामः सर्वभुतान्तरेषु।।

It is recommended for people to meditatate, remember, serve,sing the glories of shri Ram only who is loves among all living beings, gods, all 5 elements.

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