In the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is (BGAII) chapter 7, Sri Krishna states that those who worship the demigods are less intelligent.

 

Text 20: Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.

 

Text 23:

“Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet.”

In the purport:

“…..Here the point may be raised that if the demigods are different parts of the body of the Supreme Lord, then the same end should be achieved by worshiping them. However, worshipers of the demigods are less intelligent because they don’t know to what part of the body food must be supplied. Some of them are so foolish that they claim that there are many parts and many ways to supply food. This isn’t very sanguine. Can anyone supply food to the body through the ears or eyes? They do not know that these demigods are different parts of the universal body of the Supreme Lord, and in their ignorance they believe that each and every demigod is a separate God and a competitor of the Supreme Lord…..”

 

Without any separate endeavor, worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, includes worship of and respect for all living entities, including the demigods, just as by watering the root of the tree all different parts of the tree, such as leaves, twigs and branches will be nourished.

Bhagavad-Gita As It Is (BGAII) 12.13-14:”One who is not envious but is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor and is free from false ego, who is equal in both happiness and distress, who is tolerant, always satisfied, self-controlled, and engaged in devotional service with determination, his mind and intelligence fixed on Me—such a devotee of Mine is very dear to Me.”

All living entities are infinitesimal part and parcel of the Supreme Brahman as per BGAII 15 .7: ” The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts”.

Of course, due to the nature of the material world, it is sometimes observed that a devotee may respect a particular class separately, according to time, place and circumstances. A good example is the inauguration of the Krishna Balaram Mandir when Srila Prabhupada was “obliged to have Vedic ceremonies enacted by brähmanas because the inhabitants of Vrndävana, especially the smärta-brähmanas, would not accept Europeans and Americans as bona fide brähmanas. Thus we had to engage brähmanas to perform costly yajnas. In spite of these yajnas, the members of our Society performed sankirtana loudly with mrdangas, and I considered the sankirtana more important than the Vedic ritualistic ceremonies. Both the ceremonies and the sankirtana were going on simultaneously. The ceremonies were meant for persons interested in Vedic rituals for elevation to heavenly planets (jadi-krita-matir madhu-pushpitäyäm), whereas the sankirtana was meant for pure devotees interested in pleasing the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We would simply have performed sankirtana, but then the inhabitants of Vrindävana would not have taken the installation ceremony seriously. As explained here, the Vedic performances are meant for those whose intelligence has been dulled by the flowery language of the Vedas, which describe fruitive activities intended to elevate one to the higher planets.

Especially in this Age of Kali, sankirtana alone is sufficient. If the members of our temples in the different parts of the world simply continue sankirtana before the Deity, especially before Shri Caitanya Mahäprabhu, they will remain perfect. There is no need of any other performances.” just so that they might not feel offended by neglect, even though Hare Krishna ceremonies would have been sufficient, to make the inauguration perfect.

 

Srila Prabhupada DID give conditional license to worship Lord Ganesh, the remover of the obstacles, as follows:

”       Concerning Ganesha worship, it is not actually necessary for us. But, if someone has a sentiment for getting the blessings of Ganesha in order to get large amounts of money for Krishna’s service, then it is alright, but anyone who takes up this kind of worship must send me at least 100,000 dollars monthly—not less. If he cannot send this amount, then he cannot do Ganesha worship.

Please continue distributing by books as many as possible.” 750201let.BhaktaDas

 

In this regard, I would like to share my personal experience as follows:

Due to circumstances, I came across a murti of Sri Ganesh in Cairns, Far North Queensland, Australia. Considering it Lord Krishna’s kind mercy on me, I decided to adopt him. Back in Brisbane, I placed him on my personal altar.

When I took him to the local ISKCON temple for Janmastami’s mangal aratik, Lord Ganesh became the cause of a misunderstanding with another devotee. Again my humble apologies to that a particular devotee for that unfortunate misunderdanting. But more was to come.

On my personal altar, I keep a big framed picture of the Panca Tattva measuring 1.30m X 1.00 m. Please see picture above. The frame itself is quite heavy. One day, as I was re-organising and cleaning my altar, somehow or other the Panca Tattva picture detached itself and fell on top of Lord Ganesh. This is the Panca Tattva picture from the first volume of Caitanya Caritamrita, which is in fact extremely attractive. Previously I had a picture of the Panca Tattva from Mayapur, West Bengal, India, which I gave in charity. http://www.tovp.org.

 

Clearly signifying Their disapproval, Panca Tattva literally smashed Lord Ganesh to pieces.  The impact damage to the right hand bottom part of the frame can still be seen. There was no way to repair the murti. It was made of some sort of resin type material and it really was in pieces. As per the pujari’s advice, I disposed of the remnants of Lord Ganesh in a body of water.

 

Jai Sri Krishna Caitanya, !!!

 

namo mahä-vadänyäya

krishna-prema-pradäya te

krishnaya krishna-caitanya-

nämne gaura-tvise namah

 

SYNONYMS

 

namah—obeisances; mahä-vadänyäya—who is most munificent and charitably disposed; krishna-prema—love of Krishna; pradäya—who can give; te—unto You; krishnaya—the original Personality of Godhead; krishna-caitanya-nämne—under the name Krishna Caitanya; gaura-tvise—whose complexion is the golden complexion of Shrimati Rädhäräni; namah—obeisances.

 

TRANSLATION

 

”O most munificent incarnation! You are Krishna Himself appearing as Shri Krishna Caitanya Mahäprabhu. You have assumed the golden color of Shrimati Rädhäräni, and You are widely distributing pure love of Krishna. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You.