The next instruction is that one should put on flower garlands which are offered to the Deity. In this connection, in the Eleventh Canto, 6th Chapter, 31st verse, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Uddhava says to Kṛṣṇa, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, I have taken things which You have used and enjoyed, such as garlands of flowers, saintly articles, garments and ornaments, and I eat only the remnants of Your foodstuff because I am Your menial servant. So, therefore, I am sure that I shall not be attacked by the spell of material energy." The purport of this verse is that for any person who simply follows these rules and regulations of decorating the body with the marks of tilaka of gopī-candana or sandalwood pulp, and who puts on the garlands which were offered to Kṛṣṇa, there is no question of being conquered by the spell of material energy. At the time of death, there is no question of such a person being called by the constables of Yamarāj. Even if one does not accept all the Vaiṣṇava principles, but still takes the remnants of foodstuff offered to Kṛṣṇa, or Kṛṣṇa-prasādam, he will gradually become qualified to rise to the platform of a Vaiṣṇava.
Similarly, in the Skanda Purāṇa Lord Brahmā tells Nārada: "My dear Nārada, anyone who puts on his neck the flower garland which was formerly used by Kṛṣṇa becomes relieved from all disease and reactions to sinful activities, and gradually he gets liberated from the contamination of matter."
Dancing before the Deity
In the Dvārakā-māhātmya the importance of dancing before the Deity is stated by Lord Kṛṣṇa as follows: "A person who is in a jubilant spirit, who feels profound devotional ecstasy while dancing before Me, and who manifests different features of bodily expression, can burn away all the accumulated sinful reactions he has stocked up for many, many thousands of years." In the same book there is a statement by Nārada wherein he asserts: "From the body of any person who claps and dances before the Deity, showing manifestations of ecstasy, all the birds of sinful activities fly away upwards." Just as by clapping the hands one can cause many birds to fly away, similarly the birds of all sinful activities which are sitting on the body can be made to fly away simply by dancing and clapping before the Deity of Kṛṣṇa.
Bowing Down and Standing Up in Honor of the Deity
In the Nāradīya Purāṇa there is a statement about bowing down and offering respect to the Deity. It is said there: "A person who has performed a great ritualistic sacrifice and a person who has simply offered his respectful obeisances by bowing down before the Lord cannot be held as equals." The person who has executed many great sacrifices will attain the result of his pious activities, but when such results are finished, he has to take birth again on the earthly planet; whereas the person who has once offered respects, bowing down before the Deity, will not again come back to this world, because he will go directly to the abode of Kṛṣṇa.