येऽप्यन्यदेवता भक्ता यजन्ते श्रद्धयाऽन्विताः।
तेऽपि मामेव कौन्तेय यजन्त्यविधिपूर्वकम्।।9.23।।
।।9.23।। हे कौन्तेय श्रद्धा से युक्त जो भक्त अन्य देवताओं को पूजते हैं? वे भी मुझे ही अविधिपूर्वक पूजते हैं।।
Lord Krishna confirms that everyone who worships the demigods like Brahma or Shiva as prescribed in traividya or the karma kanda or fruitive reward sections of the Vedas; as well as worship of lesser divinities such as Indra and Surya and also worship of impersonal conceptions of god are all in reality propitiation to the Supreme Lord but offered in an unconscious, indirect way. For this reason as stated previously all the 330 million demigods comprise the body of the Supreme Lord Krishna and within the etheric heart of each He is residing as paramatma the Supreme Soul as also within all living entities. In every sense all the demigods find their highest good and noblest purpose by supplication to Him. The ignorant who worship the demigods and other lesser gods are totally oblivious to this eternal truth and are not performing worship of the demigods in the manner prescribed in the Vedic scriptures. The Taittiriya Upanisad III.II.II beginning chatur hotaro yatra sampadam gacchanti devaih states: By paramatma the four Vedic rituals known as hotri are fulfilled by the demigods. The Supreme Lord in His localised aspect is paramatma who makes the ritual successful. Thus it is clear that the benefits gained by ceremonial worship to any of the demigods is only by grace of the Supreme Lord. The four hotri rituals as prescribed in the karma kanda section of the Vedas such as Agnihotra or propitiation to the sacred fire by offering it oblations of ghee and grains everyday. Two of the other hotris given in the Taittriya Upanisad I.VI.VIII beginning ya evam vidvan are Purnamasa or penance for full moon and Darsa or penance for new moon. The followers of traividya cannot comprehend that all the rituals and worship that they offer to the demigods is in reality indirect worship to the Supreme Lord who has Brahma, Shiva, Indra, Surya and all the 330 million demigods as part of His transcendental body and that He is the actual object of their worship. Hence because they worshipped indirectly they are entitled to indirect recompense because it descends from the Supreme Lord back down through the demigods who taking their share bestow whatever mundane and transitory desire the ritual was performed for such as entry into the heavenly planets and because such a boon is not eternal when the allotted time fo enjoyment has expired they will be recycled back into samsara the perpetual cycle of birth and death again as mortals. It should be clearly understood that although the Vedic scriptures directly enjoin worship of the demigods they also explain that the demigods constitute the transcendental body of the Supreme Lord and that He is the spirit soul within each and every one of them as well and thus the spiritually intelligent mahatmanas or great souls easily understand that by worshipping the Supreme Lord all the demigods are automatically worshipped as well and thus with great love and devotion they exclusively worship the Supreme Lord Krishna or any of His authorised incarnations and expansions as revealed in Vedic scriptures.
