Temple of Lord Narayana

Expressions researched:
"temple of Lord Narayana" |"temple of Narayana"

SB Canto 4

To say that everyone is a temple of Nārāyaṇa is correct, but to accept another human being as Nārāyaṇa is a great offense.

SB 4.30.36, Purport: The Māyāvādī sannyāsīs are missing the real presence of Nārāyaṇa. This is because they falsely claim to be Nārāyaṇa Himself. According to the customary etiquette of Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, they address one another as Nārāyaṇa. To say that everyone is a temple of Nārāyaṇa is correct, but to accept another human being as Nārāyaṇa is a great offense. The conception of daridra-nārāyaṇa (poor Nārāyaṇa), an attempt to identify the poor with Nārāyaṇa, is also a great offense. Even to identify Nārāyaṇa with demigods like Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva is an offense.

CC Madhya-lila

When the Lord arrived at Ṛṣabha Hill, He saw the temple of Lord Nārāyaṇa and offered obeisances and various prayers.

CC Madhya 9.166, Translation and Purport: When the Lord arrived at Ṛṣabha Hill, He saw the temple of Lord Nārāyaṇa and offered obeisances and various prayers. Ṛṣabha Hill (Ānāgaḍa-malaya-parvata) lies twelve miles north of Madurai City, in the district of Madurai, in southern Tamil Nadu. It is one of the mountains known as the Kuṭakācalas. Nearby Ṛṣabha Hill is the forest where Lord Ṛṣabhadeva burned Himself to ashes.

When the Māyāvādīs accept sannyāsa and consider themselves Nārāyaṇa, they become so puffed up that they do not even enter the temple of Nārāyaṇa to offer respects, for they falsely think themselves Nārāyaṇa Himself.

CC Madhya 18.113, Purport: Māyāvādī sannyāsīs consider themselves Brahman, and they superficially speak of themselves as Nārāyaṇa. The monistic disciples of the Māyāvāda school (known as smārta-brāhmaṇas) are generally householder brāhmaṇas who accept the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs as Nārāyaṇa incarnate; therefore they offer their obeisances to them. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately protested this unauthorized system, specifically mentioning that a sannyāsī is nothing but a fragmental portion of the Supreme (cit-kaṇa jīva). In other words, he is nothing more than an ordinary living being. He is never Nārāyaṇa, just as a molecular portion of sunshine is never the sun itself. The living entity is nothing but a fragmental part of the Absolute Truth; therefore at no stage of perfection can a living entity become the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This Māyāvāda viewpoint is always condemned by the Vaiṣṇava school. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself protested this philosophy. When the Māyāvādīs accept sannyāsa and consider themselves Nārāyaṇa, they become so puffed up that they do not even enter the temple of Nārāyaṇa to offer respects, for they falsely think themselves Nārāyaṇa Himself. Although Māyāvādī sannyāsīs may offer respects to other sannyāsīs and address them as Nārāyaṇa, they do not go to a Nārāyaṇa temple and offer respects. These Māyāvādī sannyāsīs are always condemned and are described as demons. The Vedas clearly state that living entities are subordinate parts and parcels of the supreme. Eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān: the Supreme Being, Kṛṣṇa, maintains all living entities.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

On the forehead is the temple of Lord Keśava, on the belly is the temple of Lord Nārāyaṇa, on the chest is the temple of Lord Mādhava, and on the throat, between the two collarbones, is the temple of Lord Govinda.

Krsna Book 87: Kṛṣṇa is actually present everywhere. The Vaiṣṇava, therefore, marks his body with temples of Viṣṇu: he first marks a tilaka temple on the abdomen, then on the chest, then between the collarbones, then on the forehead, and gradually he marks the top of the head, the brahma-randhra. The thirteen temples of tilaka marked on the body of a Vaiṣṇava are known as follows: On the forehead is the temple of Lord Keśava, on the belly is the temple of Lord Nārāyaṇa, on the chest is the temple of Lord Mādhava, and on the throat, between the two collarbones, is the temple of Lord Govinda. On the right side of the waist is the temple of Lord Viṣṇu, on the right arm the temple of Lord Madhusūdana, and on the right side of the collarbone the temple of Lord Trivikrama. Similarly, on the left side of the waist is the temple of Lord Vāmanadeva, on the left arm the temple of Śrīdhara, on the left side of the collarbone the temple of Hṛṣīkeśa, on the upper back the temple called Padmanābha, and on the lower back the temple called Dāmodara. On the top of the head is the temple called Vāsudeva. This is the process of meditation on the Lord’s situation in the different parts of the body, but for those who are not Vaiṣṇavas, great sages recommend meditation on the bodily concept of life—meditation on the intestines, on the heart, on the throat, on the eyebrows, on the forehead and then on the top of the head.