I read this verse stated by Lord Shiva to Devi Parvati -
ārādhanaṃ sarveṣāṃ viṣṇor ārādhanaṃ paraṃ
of all kinds of worship, worship of Lord Vishnu is the best.
Further -
tasmāt parataraṁ devi tadīyānāṁ samarcanam:
and better than the worship of Lord Viṣṇu is the worship of His devotee, the Vaiṣṇava.."
Srila Prabhupada in his lectures has attributed this very verse to three different puranas - Devi (2), Shiva (3) and Padma (4).
I feel that it is highly unlikely that the same verse exists in all three puranas. So I searched online but couldn't find the source. While searching I found that most of the times in his commentaries to Bhagavatam and the Gita and also in the above link, Prabhupada attributes this to padma purana.
Questions:
1.Can somebody please point to the actual source of the verse (preferably purana and verse number with the [authentic] link) and clarify whether this is repeated in the aforementioned puranas?
2. Also can someone comment on the translation of the next part of the verse -
tasmāt parataraṁ devi tadīyānāṁ samarcanam