Question: I believe Krishna never sleeps and I am not good at doing Deity worship. But I like to chant and sing all day and night. Can I sing to Krishna after 9 PM (bedtime for Deities)?
Answer by Romapada Swami :
Your desire to chant and sing for Krishna is nice. This is a proper devotional sentiment that must be carefully nurtured by following the directions of the scriptures and Krishna’s pure devotees.
Having said that, I would like to note that your belief that Krishna never sleeps is NOT supported by our scriptures and acharyas. For example, in Srimad Bhagavatam 3rd canto 9th chapter, you will find Lord Brahma’s (our original preceptor’s) glorifications of Vishnu or Krishna’s pastime of sleeping (!). The relevant verses and excerpts from Srila Prabhupada’s purports are provided below. In particular, I would like to draw your attention to Srila Prabhupada’s statements about arcana or Deity worship.
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My Lord, You accept the pleasure of sleeping in the water of devastation, where there are violent waves, and You enjoy pleasure on the bed of snakes, showing the happiness of Your sleep to intelligent persons. At that time, all the universal planets are stationed within Your abdomen.
PURPORT
Persons who cannot think of anything beyond the limit of their own power are like frogs in a well who cannot imagine the length and breadth of the great Pacific Ocean. Such people take it as legendary when they hear that the Supreme Lord is lying on His bed within the great ocean of the universe. They are surprised that one can lie down within water and sleep very happily. But a little intelligence can mitigate this foolish astonishment.
There are many living entities within the bed of the ocean who also enjoy the material bodily activities of eating, sleeping, defending and mating. If such insignificant living entities can enjoy life within the water, why can’t the Supreme Lord, who is all-powerful, sleep on the cool body of a serpent and enjoy in the turmoil of violent ocean waves? The distinction of the Lord is that His activities are all transcendental, and He is able to do anything and everything without being deterred by limitations of time and space. He can enjoy His transcendental happiness regardless of material considerations.
O object of my worship, I am born from the house of Your lotus navel for the purpose of creating the universe by Your mercy. All these planets of the universe were stationed within Your transcendental abdomen while You were enjoying sleep. Now, Your sleep having ended, Your eyes are open like blossoming lotuses in the morning.
PURPORT
Brahma is teaching us the beginning of arcana regulations from morning (four o’clock) to night (ten o’clock). Early in the morning, the devotee has to rise from his bed and pray to the Lord, and there are other regulative principles for offering mangala-arati early in the morning. Foolish nondevotees, not understanding the importance of arcana, criticize the regulative principles, but they have no eyes to see that the Lord also sleeps, by His own will. The impersonal conception of the Supreme is so detrimental to the path of devotional service that it is very difficult to associate with the stubborn nondevotees, who always think in terms of material conceptions.
Impersonalists always think backwards. They think that because there is form in matter, spirit should be formless; because in matter there is sleep, in spirit there cannot be sleep; and because the sleeping of the Deity is accepted in arcana worship, the arcana is maya. All these thoughts are basically material. To think either positively or negatively is still thinking materially. Knowledge accepted from the superior source of the Vedas is standard. Here in these verses of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, we find that arcana is recommended. Before Brahma took up the task of creation, he found the Lord sleeping on the serpent bed in the waves of the water of devastation. Therefore, sleeping exists in the internal potency of the Lord, and this is not denied by pure devotees of the Lord like Brahma and his disciplic succession.
It is clearly said here that the Lord slept very happily within the violent waves of the water, manifesting thereby that He is able to do anything and everything by His transcendental will and not be hampered by any circumstances. The Mayavadi cannot think beyond this material experience, and thus he denies the Lord’s ability to sleep within the water. His mistake is that he compares the Lord to himself — and that comparison is also a material thought. The whole philosophy of the Mayavada school, based on “not this, not that” (neti, neti), is basically material. Such thought cannot give one the chance to know the Supreme Personality of Godhead as He is.
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In the Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu (Nectar of Devotion), Srila Rupa Goswami lists 64 items of sadhana-bhakti (or regulative devotional service). Almost 30 of these items pertain to Deity worship. Certainly, he mentions singing and chanting among the items of Deity worship. But, he also notes, “one must worship the Deity in the temple according to the regulative principles.”
In Sri Harinama Cintamani, it is said that to worship at an inauspicious time is one of the seva-aparadhas (or offenses committed in service to Deity of Krishna).
Thus, singing for the Deity must be done at proper and regular times, taking into consideration the pleasure and convenience of the Deity. This is especially important for those of us in the practising (sadhana-bhakti) stage of Krishna consciousness.
When the Deity is not properly worshiped, He can withdraw His mercy, and become inaccessible, as much as when one chants the Holy Name inattentively, Nama Prabhu withholds His full mercy from the chanter.
You have honestly expressed that you are not good at Deity worship. Recognition of where we stand is the first step in the path of devotional service. It is possible that part of your difficulty is due to your inability to meet the high standards of Deity worship. Simplification of the procedures of Deity worship is certainly permissible. For starters you can choose just a minimum standard that you can maintain, become good at it, but as time passes you may increase your standards. If you sincerely follow the instructions of the scriptures and acharyas, Krishna will reciprocate by giving you the necessary spiritual strength to please Him.
