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Puranas on Sri Balaji
BENEFITS OF SUPPORTING THE CONSTRUCTION OF A VISHNU / BALAJI TEMPLE.
FOR US ALL KRISHNA , BALAJI HARI ARE THE VARIOUS FORMS OF VISHNU.
The benefit to mankind for erecting a Vishnu temple:
The Varaha Purana says that in the entire universe there is no God equal to Lord Balaji.
A mere glance at the lord is enough to understand the fact that the Lord by directing His right hand towards His Lotus Feet and keeping His left hand indicates his compassionate blessings and protection to those who surrender totally to him.
1) He is One having total knowledge and One having unlimited power or Authority.
2) He is the sole Lord of Endless life or existence
3) He is the only guide to liberation from the human life.
4) He is the only goal to be kept.
5) He is the only source of help, relief, or comfort in times of trouble.
6) He is the only one worth to be known, for He is the only Lord of glorious power, of great qualities and the owner of the entire manifested and the un-manifested world.
A mere glance at the lord is enough to understand the fact that the Lord by directing His right hand towards His Lotus Feet in Kati Varada mudra and keeping His left hand in the Katya Valambita posture indicates the ready availability of His Divine protection to those who seek His refuge in abject surrender.
NA ME BHAKTAH PRANASYATI which means - My devotee never perishes. The same fact is reiterated and pledged
by lord Balaji through his communication with gestures with His two divinely beautiful hands.
ACCORDING TO AGNI PURANA.:
The Lord’s priest, and Deva (demigod) in charge of fire, Agni said (Agni-purana,' XXXVIII, 1-50): I will now describe the fruits of making temples for the residence of Vasudeva and other Deities. He who attempts to erect temples for the Lord is freed from the sins of a thousand births.
Those who think of building a temple in their minds are freed from the sins of a hundred births. Those who approve of a man's building a temple for Krishna go to the region of Achyuta [Vishnu] freed from sins.
Having desired to build a temple for Hari, a man immediately takes a million of his generations, past and future, to the region of Vishnu. The departed manes (for-fathers) of the person who builds a temple for Krishna live in the region of Vishnu, well adorned and freed from the sufferings of hell.
The construction of a temple for a Deity dissipates even the sin of Brahmanicide. By building a temple one reaps the fruit, which he does not even gain by celebrating an arduous sacrifice. By building a temple one acquires the fruits of bathing at all the sacred shrines or Tirthas. The construction of a temple, which brings forth all good results, by a religious or an irreligious man yields the fruit reaped by persons slain in a battle undertaken on behalf of the celestials.
By making one temple one goes to the heavenly planets and remains there a long time; by making three one goes to the region of Brahma; by making five one goes to the region of Shambhu (Siva); by making eight one goes to the region of Hari.
By making sixteen one attains all objects of enjoyment and emancipation. A poor man, by building the smallest temple, reaps the same benefit, which a rich man does by building the biggest temple for Vishnu. Having acquired wealth and built a temple with a small portion of it, a person acquires piety and gains favours from Hari.
He, who builds temples of Vishnu at sacred places, shrines, and hermitages, reaps three-fold fruits. Those who decorate the temple of Vishnu with scents, flowers, and sacred mud, go to the city of the Lord. Having erected a temple for Hari - Krishna, a man, either fallen, about to fall, or half-fallen, reaps twofold fruits. He who brings about the fall of a man is the protector of one fallen. By making a temple for Vishnu one attains to his region. As long as the collection of bricks of Hari's temple exists, the founder of his family lives gloriously in the region of Vishnu. He becomes pious and adorable both in this world and in the next.
He who builds a temple for Krishna, the son of Vasudeva, is born as a man of good deeds and his family is purified. He, who builds temples for Vishnu, Rudra, the sun-god, and other deities, acquires fame. What is the use to him of wealth, which is hoarded by ignorant men? Useless is the acquisition of riches to one who does not have a temple built with hard earned money for Krishna, or whose wealth is not enjoyed by the Pitris, Brahmanas, celestials, and friends.
Having entered the region of Hari, he acquires reverential faith in Narottama [Vishnu – the well wisher of all mankind]. He pervades all the three worlds containing the moveable and the immoveable, the past, future, and present, gross, subtle, and all inferior objects. From the secondary creator Brahma to a pillar everything has originated from Vishnu. Having obtained entrance into the region of the Great Soul, Vishnu, the omnipresent God of the godly, a man is not born again on earth.
In the sacrifice attendant upon the setting up of an Archa-vigraha (Deity) there is no end of fruits that naturally come. One made of wood gives greater merit than one made of clay; one made of bricks yields more than a wooden one. One made of stone yields more than one made of bricks. Deities made of gold and other metals yield the greatest religious merit. Sins accumulated in seven births are dissipated even at the very commencement.
Yamaraj to his Yamadutta assistants, 'Persons can never disregard your commands, except those who are under the protection of the endless father of the universe – Sri Vishnu. You should always pass over those persons who have their minds fixed on the Lord. They are not to live here in the Plutonic kingdom. You should avoid from a distance those who adore Vishnu. Those who sing the glories of Govinda and those who worship Janardana [Vishnu or Krishna] with daily and occasional rites should be avoided and left alone by you from a distance. Those who attain to that station should not even be looked at by you.
The persons who adore Him with flowers, incense, foodstuffs and wonderful ornaments should not be marked by you. They go to the region of Krishna. Those who smear the body [of Vishnu] with unguents, who sprinkle His body, or who bathe His body, should be left in the abode of Krishna. Even a son or any other member born in the family of one who has built a temple of Vishnu should not be touched by you. Hundreds of persons who have built temples of Vishnu with wood or stone should not be looked at by you with an evil mind as for others.'
He who has built a temple for Vishnu reaps the great fruit which one gains by celebrating sacrifices every day.
By building a temple for the Lord he takes his family, a hundred generations past and a hundred to come, to the divine region of Achyuta (the infallible one). Vishnu is identical with the seven worlds. He who builds a temple for Him saves the endless worlds and himself attains his rightful place in immortality. As long as the bricks will last, the maker [of the temple] will live for so many thousands of years in the heavenly planets if he so desires.
The maker of the Deity attains the region of Vishnu and he who consecrates the installation of the same is immersed in Hari. The person who builds a temple and an image, as well as he who consecrates them, come before him in due course of time as a lost son is welcomed back to the father’s abode.
Our sincere thanks to:
Manmatha Nath Dutt, A Prose English Translation of Agni Puranam, vol. I,(Calcutta, 1903), PP. 142-6; adapted by M. Eliade
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