Äá¹…ghri-mastakam ÄpÅ«rṇÄs
tulasÄ«-nava-dÄmabhiḥ
komalaiḥ sarva-gÄtreá¹£u
bhūri-puṇyavad-arpitaiḥ

 Ä-aá¹…ghri-mastakam - from the feet up to the top of the head; ÄpÅ«rṇÄḥ - fully decorated; tulasÄ«-nava-dÄmabhiḥ - with garlands of fresh tulasÄ« leaves; komalaiḥ - tender, soft; sarva-gÄtreá¹£u - on all the limbs of the body; bhÅ«ri-puṇyavat-arpitaiḥ - which were offered by devotees engaged in the greatest pious activity, worshiping the Supreme Lord by hearing, chanting and so on.


Text

Every part of Their bodies, from Their feet to the top of Their heads, was fully decorated with fresh, tender garlands of tulasī leaves offered by devotees engaged in worshiping the Lord by the greatest pious activities, namely hearing and chanting.

Purport

The word bhÅ«ri-puṇyavad-arpitaiḥ is significant in this verse. These forms of Viṣṇu were worshiped by those who had performed pious activities (suká¹›tibhiḥ) for many births and who were constantly engaged in devotional service (Å›ravaṇaá¹ kÄ«rtanaá¹ viṣṇoḥ). Bhakti, devotional service, is the engagement of those who have performed highly developed pious activities. The accumulation of pious activities has already been mentioned elsewhere in the ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (10.12.11), where Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« says:

itthaá¹ satÄá¹ brahma-sukhÄnubhÅ«tyÄ
 dÄsyaá¹ gatÄnÄá¹ para-daivatena
mÄyÄÅ›ritÄnÄá¹ nara-dÄrakeṇa
 sÄkaá¹ vijahruḥ ká¹›ta-puṇya-puñjÄḥ

“Those who are engaged in self-realization, appreciating the Brahman effulgence of the Lord, and those engaged in devotional service, accepting the Supreme Personality of Godhead as master, as well as those who are under the clutches of mÄyÄ, thinking the Lord an ordinary person, cannot understand that certain exalted personalities — after accumulating volumes of pious activities — are now playing with the Lord in friendship as cowherd boys.â€

In our Kṛṣṇa-BalarÄma Temple in Vá¹›ndÄvana, there is a tamÄla tree that covers an entire corner of the courtyard. Before there was a temple the tree was lying neglected, but now it has developed very luxuriantly, covering the whole corner of the courtyard. This is a sign of bhÅ«ri-puṇya.