Devatā Upāsanā

Upāsanā means drawing near to a devatā (a divine being) through pūjā, meditation and devotion. The second skandha (book) of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa gives an orderly teaching on devatā-upāsanā: which devatā a seeker should turn to for which wish. The idea behind it is that every desire has a devatā who presides over it. When a person worships that devatā, who acts through a portion of Bhagavān Śrī Hari’s power, the wished-for result is given.

Alongside this, the Bhāgavata teaches that all such forms of upāsanā are lower than bhakti (loving devotion) to Bhagavān Śrī Hari. Only bhakti leads to mokṣa (liberation from the cycle of birth and death).

Which Devatā for Which Desire (Chapter 3)

Śuka Maharṣi (Śukadeva) explains which devatā a seeker should approach, depending on what that seeker wants:

The teaching does not look down on anyone. Each desire is valid at its own level, and the upāsanā that goes with it is real. The universe is arranged so that every sincere act of pūjā reaches its goal.

Bhakti to Hari Stands Above All

Each form of upāsanā gives its own fruit, but the Bhāgavata does not treat them all as equal. Śuka draws a clear line. All the results above are sāṃsārika-phala, fruits that stay inside the cycle of saṃsāra (birth and death). Only a devotee who wants none of these things, whose one aim is Bhagavān Śrī Hari himself, reaches liberation. This is bhakti in its truest sense.

The teaching then gives a well-known warning about a life without bhakti:

• A body that does not tremble with feeling or shed tears on hearing Kṛṣṇa’s name is no better than a corpse.
• Eyes that do not weep at Bhagavān Śrī Hari’s stories are like the eye-shaped spots on a peacock’s feather: beautiful, but they cannot see.
• Ears that do not hear hari-kathā (the stories of Hari) are no better than a snake’s holes, which cannot truly hear.
• A tongue that has never tasted the names of Kṛṣṇa is a tongue wasted.

On the other hand, these are the signs that bhakti has woken up:

• Romāñca, the hair standing on end on hearing Kṛṣṇa’s name
• Tears flowing from the eyes
• A voice choked with feeling
• Complete forgetting of the outer world

When these signs appear, the heart has been made pure, and Kṛṣṇa himself enters through the doorway of the ears.

All Peoples Made Pure through Bhakta-Saṅga

In the same teaching, Śuka says that even peoples thought to be outside Vedic dharma are made pure through saṅga (company) with Bhagavān Śrī Hari’s bhaktas (devotees). He names the Kirātas, Hūṇas, Āndhras, Pulindas, Pulkasas, Ābhīras, Kaṅkas, Yavanas, Khasas and others. The pāpa (wrongdoing) they have gathered over many births is washed away. This does not happen through any special ritual. It happens simply by being near those who always remember Hari.

This raises bhakta-saṅga to the highest upāsanā of all, above any ritual for a particular devatā. It shows that mokṣa is open not only to those who carry out the set upāsanās correctly, but to everyone who comes under the shelter of Bhagavān Śrī Hari’s devotees.

How the Devatās Fit Together

The Bhāgavata’s teaching on devatā-upāsanā does not reject the Vedic devatās. It places them in a new light. Every devatā is a vibhūti (a special showing) of Bhagavān Śrī Hari’s śakti (power). When a seeker approaches Agni for tejas, that seeker is really approaching Bhagavān Śrī Hari in his form as fire. When someone approaches Varuṇa for riches, that person is reaching toward Bhagavān Śrī Hari’s rule over the waters. The fruit is real and the devatā is real. But the bhakta of Hari knows where it all comes from, and goes straight to that source, passing by all the stations in between.

The teaching of the Virāṭ Puruṣa (the universe as the cosmic body of Bhagavān Śrī Hari), given in Chapter 1 of the same skandha, gives the ground for this. Since the whole universe is Bhagavān Śrī Hari’s body, every devatā is a limb of that body. Upāsanā of any part reaches Bhagavān Śrī Hari to some degree. Bhakti to the whole reaches him completely.

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahāpurāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 3