It is stated in the Visnu-rahasya: "Any person who can arrange for service to the Lord in the same way that a king is given service by his attendants is surely elevated to the abode of Krsna after death." Actually, in India, the temples are just like royal palaces. They are not ordinary buildings because the worship of Krsna should be performed in just the way that a king is worshiped in his palace. So in Vrndavana there are many hundreds of temples wherein the Deity is worshiped exactly like a king. In the Naradiya Purana it is stated: "If person stays in the Lord's temple even for a few moments, he can surely achieve the transcendental kingdom of God."

The conclusion is that those who are rich men in society should construct beautiful temples and arrange for the worship of Visnu, so that people may be attracted to visit such temples and thereby be offered the opportunity of dancing before the Lord or chanting the holy name of the Lord, or else of hearing the holy name of the Lord. In this way, everyone will be given the chance to elevate himself to the kingdom of God. In other words, even a common man, simply by visiting such a temple, will be able to attain the highest benedictions, not to mention the devotees who are constantly engaged in the service of the Lord in full Krsna consciousness.

In this connection, there is a statement in the Fourth Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, wherein King Prthu says to his subjects: "My dear citizens, please note that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, is actually the deliverer of all fallen conditioned souls. No demigod can perform this act of delivering the conditioned souls, because the demigods themselves are conditioned. A conditioned soul cannot deliver another conditioned soul. Only Krsna or His bona fide representative can deliver him. The Ganges water which is flowing down from the toe of Lord Visnu falls upon the earthly planet and other planets and thereby delivers all the conditioned sinful living entities. So what need is there to speak of the deliverance of persons who are always engaged in the service of the Lord? There is no doubt about their liberation, even if they have stocks of sinful activities from many, many births." In other words, a person who is engaged in the worship of the Deities can minimize his stock of sinful reactions coming from many, many previous births. This process of worshiping the Deity has already been described, and one should try to follow these rules and regulations seriously.

In the Linga Purana there is a statement about glorifying and singing about the Lord. It is said there: "A brahmana who is constantly engaged in singing the glories of the Lord is surely elevated to the same planet as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Krsna appreciates this singing even more than the prayers offered by Lord Siva."

When a person loudly chants the glories of the Lord's activities, qualities, form, etc., his chanting is called sankirtana. Sankirtana also refers to the congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord.

In the Visnu-dharma there is a statement glorifying this process of congregational chanting: "My dear King, this word 'Krsna' is so auspicious that anyone who chants this holy name immediately gets rid of the resultant actions of sinful activities from many, many births." That is a fact. There is the following statement in Caitanya-caritamrta: "A person who chants the holy name of Krsna once can counteract the resultant actions of more sinful activities than he is able to perform." A sinful man can perform many, many sinful activities, but he is unable to perform so many that they cannot be wiped out by one single uttering of "Krsna."

In the Seventh Canto, 9th Chapter, 17th verse, of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Maharaj Prahlada offers the following prayers to the Lord: "My dear Lord Nrsimha, if I can be elevated to the position of Your servant, then it will be possible for me to hear about Your activities. You are the supreme friend, the supreme worshipable Deity. Your pastimes are transcendental, and simply by hearing of them one can counteract all his sinful activities. Therefore, I shall not care for all those sinful activities because simply by hearing about Your pastimes I shall get out of all the contamination of material attachment."

There are many songs about the Lord's activities. For example, there is the Brahma-samhita, sung by Lord Brahma, Narada-pancaratra, sung by Narada Muni, and Srimad-Bhagavatam, sung by Sukadeva Gosvami. If these songs are heard by any person, he can easily get out of the clutches of material contamination. There should be no difficulty in hearing these songs of God. They are coming down from many, many millions of years ago, and people are still taking advantage of them. So why, at this time, should one not take full advantage and thus become liberated?

In the First Canto, 5th Chapter, 22nd verse, of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Narada Muni tells his disciple Vyasadeva, "My dear Vyasa, you should know that persons who are engaged in executing austerities and penances, studying the Vedas, performing big sacrifices, chanting the hymns of the Vedas, speculating on transcendental knowledge and performing charitable functions have for all their auspicious activities simply to gain a place in the association of devotees and to chant the glories of the Lord." It is indicated here that chanting and glorifying the Lord is the ultimate activity of the living entity.