ACCEPTING FLOWER GARLANDS
The next instruction is that one should put on flower garlands that are offered to the Deity. In this connection, in the Eleventh Canto, sixth chapter, verse 46 of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Uddhava says to Kṛṣṇa,
“My dear Kṛṣṇa, I have taken things that You have used and enjoyed, such as garlands of flowers, scented oils, 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 the 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 made from gopī-candana or sandalwood pulp, and who puts on the garlands that were offered to Kṛṣṇa, there is no question of being conquered by the spell of the material energy. At the time of death, there is no question of such a person’s being called by the constables of Yamarāja. Even if one does not accept all the Vaiṣṇava principles but still takes the remnants of foodstuff offered to Kṛṣṇa, or kṛṣṇa-prasāda, 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 is liberated from the contamination of matter.”
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