Introduction:

The purpose of the Vedas is to understand the Lord, He has created this material world so entities
can perform yajña’s to please Lord Visnu. The Saṅkīrtana-yajña is the best and easiest yajña to
perform in the age of Kali-yuga because it is easy and blissful whereas other yajña’s are not so easy
to perform for the ordinary man in this age.

When the yajña-pati (Lord Visnu) is satisfied with the performance and sacrifices of the yajña, then
the demigods are automatically satisfied, because “Kṛṣṇa Himself is the beneficiary of all kinds of
yajñas: bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasām” (BG 3.11). So, everyone within the yajña is satisfied sufficiently.
Yajñas also need to be performed for land and life to thrive.

Demigods supply the essentials on behalf of The Lord. Only when the Yajña is performed to the
satisfaction of the demigods, then the necessities of life will be provided. If one however just takes
these various supplies from the Lord, does not offer them (apradāya) and uses them for their own
sense gratification then he is called a thief. These Yajñas are performed for self-realisation and not
for sense gratification. “When Lord Kṛṣṇa is worshiped, the demigods, who are different limbs of the
Lord, are also automatically worshiped; therefore, there is no separate need to worship the
demigods.” (3.14 BG Purport).

Santas are devotees who are always in a “compact of love” for the Lord and offer all foodstuffs made
first to the lord. These devotees perform various Yajñas thus, keeping them free from all sinful
reactions. People who do not offer any foodstuffs to the Lord are just merely eating sin.

The living entities who worship demigods’ worship for an alter motive, thinking that Kṛṣṇa cannot
supply what they desire, so then they turn to demigod worship because they do not know that any
yajñas or food offered in devotion to Kṛṣṇa makes Him satisfied and thus, meaning all demigods are
also.

So, one should take direction from the Vedas and avoid unauthorised or sinful work (Vikarma).
However, even those who have not followed the Vedic injunctions may assume Kṛṣṇa-Consciousness
which will replenish anything that was lost.

The reality and complications with demigod worship:

Kṛṣṇa calls people that worship the demigods “Less intelligent” alpa-medhasām because their
intelligence is lost. The less intelligent people do not know how to worship Kṛṣṇa, because
worshiping Kṛṣṇa directly is at the same time worshiping the demigods. “Less intelligent people who
have lost their spiritual sense take shelter of demigods for immediate fulfillment of material desires.”
(BG purport 7.20).

Nothing moves without the sanction of Kṛṣṇa. If the living entity so desires within his heart to
worship a demigod for material benefit, then Kṛṣṇa sanctions it by making his faith steady acalām.
Kṛṣṇa gives this because otherwise there would be no question of free will. Ultimately the demigods
are also dependent on Kṛṣṇa because they all come from the Lord as stated in:

(BG purport 7.23), “The demigods are actually different parts of the universal body of the Supreme
Lord; therefore, they have no independence.”

In fact, these desires from the living entity are fulfilled by Kṛṣṇa in the sense that he gives the power
to the demigods and steady faith to the living entity.
The issue with demigod worship is that everything is temporary including the fruits gained. People
become so deluded with demigod worship that they start to think that the demigod worship is on
the same level of worship of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa. This is due to mental speculation of Kṛṣṇa. The
reality is that people who worship demigods do not attain The Supreme. Instead, they go to the
heavenly planets where the demigods reside where everything is pious but also temporary.

What demigod worship attains:

Those who study the Vedas and desire heavenly planets worship Kṛṣṇa indirectly. However, the Jiva
is still purified sins because of their pious actions.

“When they have thus enjoyed vast heavenly sense pleasure and the results of their pious activities
are exhausted, they return to this mortal planet again. Thus, those who seek sense enjoyment by
adhering to the principles of the three Vedas achieve only repeated birth and death.” (BG 9.21).

This extract of the Bhagavad-Gita is commonly referred to the analogy of a “Ferris wheel”, which,
“sometimes comes up and sometimes comes down”, similarly, this is the process of worshiping
demigods, it is a constant cycle of Birth and Death no matter how long one may live on those
heavenly planets, eventually they must fall down back to the earthly planets. This is because they do
not recognise Kṛṣṇa’s true nature so eventually they fall down.

Even though they may worship demigods with great faith, Kṛṣṇa still states that they worship him in
the incorrect way and that it is not approved by Him because it is unnecessary when one can just
render service unto Kṛṣṇa directly and get all benefits through pure devotional service.

Conclusion:

The process of demigod worship is separate to Kṛṣṇa and is difficult to obtain and only done out of
desire for material sense gratification which is also temporary. However, people lack the knowledge
of The Absolute Truth and doubt Him. The easiest process is to worship Kṛṣṇa directly through
devotional service and saṅkīrtana-yajña. This process is recommended in Kali Yuga it is easy to
perform and pleases both Kṛṣṇa and all demigods simultaneously. When one renders unalloyed
devotional service to Kṛṣṇa he protects them from ever falling down and helps them achieve
complete perfection in devotional service.