Question: In addressing persons who are worshipers of Lord Siva, we find them sometimes quoting Ramayana as one proof that Siva is supreme. They refer to the lila of Ram’s worshiping Siva before going to Lanka. How to best respond to this line of reasoning?
Answer by Romapada Swami:
There are many cogent responses to the question arising from the Ramayana lila of Lord Rama’s worshiping Lord Siva before proceeding to Lanka. Here is one presented by our
great acarya, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada.
In the siddhanta-ratnam, third pada, text 22, 23, 26, and 27, it is stated: “By displaying the pastime of worshipping his own form as Rudra, Lord Vishnu taught the worship of Rudra not to His own sincere devotees but to the insincere living entities who desire religiosity, economic development, sense gratification, and liberation.” The Lord Himself has confirmed this fact when He spoke in the Narayaniya to Arjuna as follows: ‘O Arjuna, I am the soul of the universe. My worship of Rudra is worship of My own self. Whatever I do, common people follow. Examples set by Me should be followed. That is why I worship Rudra. Vishnu does not does not offer obeisances to any demigod. I worship Rudra, considering him to be My own self. I am the indwelling supersoul of the entire universe. Rudra is my own part, just as a hot iron rod is non-different from fire. I have set the standard that the demigods headed by Rudra should be worshipped. If I did not set the example of worshipping Rudra then people would not follow that standard. Therefore I teach the worship of My servants through My personal behavior. There is no
one greater than or equal to Me. Therefore, since I am the greatest, I do not worship anyone. But since Rudra is My part I display the example of worshipping Rudra and other demigods to teach the ordinary people.’
In this connection, Brahma told Rudra that Vishnu alone is the supersoul of everyone including Brahma and Rudra. He said, “Lord Vishnu is the supersoul of me as well as of you and all other embodied living entities. No one can restrict Him within the confines of their mundane knowledge. If simply because Sri Ramachandra displayed the pastime of worshipping Lord Shiva to teach the worship of that great vaisnava, Shiva should be considered the Supreme Lord and Ramachandra his subordinate, then since Sri Ramachandra worshipped the ocean, the ocean should also be considered the Supreme Lord. It should be understood that whenever the associates of the Supreme Lord have enacted the pastime of worshipping the demigods, their purpose was to teach the worship of demigods, who are subordinate to Vishnu. It is the pastime of the Lord’s associates to teach, “All demigods are subordinate to Vishnu.” Their worship of the demigods should never be accepted as the ultimate conclusion. Lord Vishnu is certainly the controller of everyone. His activity of maintaining the universe, like Brahma’s activity of creation and Rudra’s activity of annihilation, and His interactions with the demigods is just like a king’s interaction with thieves. Actually Brahma and Rudra create and annihilate only after being empowered by Vishnu. Therefore Lord Vishnu is certainly eternally worshipable by all the demigods headed by Brahma and Rudra.”
This can be found in Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada’s purport to Sri Caitany-bhagavata, antya 2.399.
