यदनुस्मर्यते काले स्वबुद्ध्याभद्ररन्धन ॥२८॥
etÄvat tvaá¹ hi vibhubhir
bhÄvyaá¹ dÄ«neá¹£u vatsalaiḥ
yad anusmaryate kÄle
sva-buddhyÄbhadra-randhana
etÄvat - thus; tvam - Your Lordship; hi - certainly; vibhubhiḥ - by expansions; bhÄvyam - to be conceived; dÄ«neá¹£u - unto the humble devotees; vatsalaiḥ - compassionate; yat - which; anusmaryate - is always remembered; kÄle - in due course of time; sva-buddhyÄ - by one's devotional service; abhadra-randhana - O killer of all inauspiciousness.
Dear Lord, You are the killer of all inauspicious things. You are compassionate upon Your poor devotees through the expansion of Your arcÄ-vigraha. You should certainly think of us as Your eternal servants.
The form of the Lord known as arcÄ-vigraha is an expansion of His unlimited potencies. When the Lord is gradually satisfied with the service of a devotee, in due course of time He accepts the devotee as one of His many unalloyed servants. By nature, the Lord is very compassionate; therefore the service of neophyte devotees is accepted by the Lord. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (9.26):
patraá¹ puá¹£paá¹ phalaá¹ toyaá¹
yo me bhaktyÄ prayacchati
tad ahaá¹ bhakty-upahá¹›tam
aÅ›nÄmi prayatÄtmanaḥ
“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.†The devotee offers eatables in the form of vegetables, fruits, leaves and water to the arcÄ-vigraha. The Lord, being bhakta-vatsala, compassionate upon His devotees, accepts these offerings. Atheists may think that the devotees are engaged in idol worship, but the fact is different. JanÄrdana, the Supreme Lord, accepts bhÄva, the attitude of service. The neophyte devotee engaged in the worship of the Lord may not understand the value of such worship, but the Supreme Lord, being bhakta-vatsala, accepts His devotee and in due course of time takes him home.
In this connection there is a story about a brÄhmaṇa who was offering sweet rice to the Lord within his mind. The brÄhmaṇa had no money nor any means of worshiping the Deity, but within his mind he arranged everything nicely. He had gold pots to bring water from the sacred rivers to wash the Deity, and he offered the Deity very sumptuous food, including sweet rice. Once, before he offered the sweet rice, he thought that it was too hot, and he thought, “Oh, let me test it. My, it is very hot.†When he put his finger in the sweet rice to test it, his finger was burned and his meditation broken. Although he was offering food to the Lord within his mind, the Lord accepted it nonetheless. Consequently, the Lord in Vaikuṇá¹ha immediately sent a chariot to bring the brÄhmaṇa back home, back to Godhead. Thus it is the duty of every sincere devotee to accept the arcÄ-vigraha at home or in the temple and worship the form of the Lord as advised in authorized scriptures and directed by the spiritual master.
