One person can have two belief-systems. The reason for this is that humans are both flesh and spirit. And we are so constituted that the body and spirit can be unified in worship or divided in worship. Humans enjoy both external worship and internal worship.
External worship includes going to temples, attending rituals, listening to mantras, putting money in the hound and Vishnu nama smaranam etc.
Internal worship depends on the inner quality of one’s heart and mind, and the evaluation we actually give to the Vishnu and his teachings.
External worship can be united with internal worship if we sincerely do God’s will, which is to love the neighbor as God has loved us. However, in spite of good outward actions and noble words coming from the lips, we can still harbor self-centeredness, envy, greed, and disdain toward others. Spiritual salvation takes aim at our inner, hidden world of the spirit – unify body, mind and soul. Salvation by faith alone does not work.
The Vedas state that you should perform sacrifices for gods, since they depend upon humans for their nourishment. However, your should also worship the God who resides in you as your very Self because liberation is your ultimate aim. Worshipping the gods externally or ritually is lower knowledge (avidya), while worshipping the Supreme Being internally is higher knowledge (vidya). For a householder both are important, but for a renunciant, the latter is the only support.
One should therefore cultivate detachment and withdraw into oneself to experience peace and happiness. In other words, you must withdraw from the external worship of God’s creation and worldly objects into yourself to practice the internal worship of God himself.
The Yoga Sutras also affirm the same. Indeed, it does not recognize any gods but only the eternal Self, (Vishnu), of the world within, suggesting that yogis should engage their minds in his contemplation to suppress their internal modifications (vrittis). Engaging the mind in the contemplation of the Self is the true worship, and devotional service to God (Vishnu paridhana) is the best means to experience self-absorption (Samadhi). Let your mind constantly revolve around (paridhana) Isvara until it is fully absorbed in him without any duality or modification.
Vishnu aradhana is the external, ritual worship of God, and Vishnu paridhana is his internal, meditative worship. Both are important, but the latter is superior. Any practice of yoga, without the Isvara paridhana, or without reverential focus upon the Self, is like an empty ritual. It is the same as visiting a temple to admire its beauty or architecture, without visiting the deity who resides in its sanctum and offering your worship. It is the same as worshipping gods and demigods, without worshipping the highest God. Worshipping them is good karma, but not good enough for your liberation or self-absorption.
To realize your divine nature beyond duality and doubt, you must purify your mind and body and overcome delusion and ignorance. When you are pure and stable, the divine qualities (daiva lakshanas) manifest in you, and your Self shines in you like a jewel in a transparent and clean vessel.
In the Bhagavadgita, you will find the integrated, holistic approach with God as the teacher and the goal. It teaches you that the world is a battlefield (Kurukshetra). So is your body. Your mind is the chariot. You are the individual soul. If you make God the controller of your life and worship him with devotion, he becomes the charioteer of your mind and helps you when you seek his guidance or help.’
As the Isa Upanishad declares, God’s devotees should lead a holistic life, worshipping both the gods and the highest God, performing their duties and sacrifices, so that with the help of both they will ascend to the highest heaven instead of falling down into the sunless worlds. It is stated in the following verse.
“Andham tamah pravisanti ye'vidyam upasate;
tato bhuya iva te tamo ya u vidyayam ratah.”
It means, those who worship the knowledge of sacrifices enter into blinding darkness, but into greater darkness enter those who worship the knowledge of the Self alone.
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