In the Padma Puräëa there is a statement describing how a Vaiñëava should decorate his body with tilaka and beads: “Persons who put tulasé beads on the neck, who mark twelve places of their body as Viñëu temples with Viñëu’s symbolic representations [the four items held in the four hands of Lord Viñëu-conch, mace, disc and lotus], and who have Viñëu tilaka on their forehead, are to be understood as the devotees of Lord Viñëu in this world. Their presence makes the world purified, and anywhere they remain they make that place as good as Vaikuëöha.”
A similar statement is in the Skanda Puräëa, which says: “Persons who are decorated with tilaka or gopé-candana [a kind of clay resembling fuller’s earth which is produced in certain quarters of Våndävana], and who mark their bodies all over with the holy names of the Lord, and on whose neck and breast there are tulasé beads, are never approached by the Yama-dütas.” The Yama-dütas are the constables of King Yama (the Lord of death), who punishes all sinful men. Vaiñëavas are never called for by such constables of Yamaräj. In the Çrémad-Bhägavatam, in the narration of Ajämila’s deliverance, it is said that Yamaräj gave clear instructions to his assistants not to approach the Vaiñëavas. Vaiñëavas are beyond the jurisdiction of Yamaräj’s activities.
In the Padma Puräëa it is also mentioned: “A person whose body is decorated with the pulp of sandalwood, with paintings of the holy name of the Lord, is delivered from all sinful reactions, and after his death he goes directly to Kåñëa-loka to live in association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

NOD