The Mystery of Deity Worship
Many people can not understand why devotees worship Krishna in the form of the Deity. The Deity worship process is very mysterious. It is Krishna’s mercy for His devotees. Krishna agrees to appear in a form the devotees can see and serve with their material senses. A very advanced devotee can see Krishna and Krishna’s energy working everywhere. He sees everything in relation to Krishna. But in the beginning this spiritual vision is not possible. We can not see Krishna’s spiritual form with our material eyes. But by Krishna’s mercy He agrees to take the form of what appears to us to be stone or metal, but as we serve this form of Krishna we realize it is not at all stone or metal but it is Krishna…
Anyone who visits a nicely maintained temple where the Deities of Radha and Krishna are being regularly served by sincere devotees will feel something very special. They will see Krishna and will appreciate that “Krishna is very beautiful.” And this is the beginning of their spiritual life. And this way, although they do not have the spiritual vision to see Krishna everywhere, they can see Krishna in the temple and that is Krishna’s mercy on them.
The only way to transfer our attention from the dazzeling and distracting allurements of maya in the material world like the cinemas and television and sex-songs broadcast everywhere is to engage very seriously in the process of Deity worship:
“Only attention engaged in the service of the Lord, especially in dressing and decorating the temple, accompanied by musical kirtana and spiritual instructions from scriptures, can save the common man from the hellish cinema attractions and rubbish sex-songs broadcast everywhere by radios. If one is unable to maintain a temple at home, he should go to another’s temple where all the above performances are regularly executed. Visiting the temple of a devotee and looking at the profusely decorated forms of the Lord well dressed in a well-decorated, sanctified temple naturally infuse the mundane mind with spiritual inspiration.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.22 Purport Pure Devotional Service: The Change in Heart)
The whole world has been poisoned with the impersonal concept of the Supreme. So these days even if someone believes in God it is very unlikely that he realizes that God is a person.
Krishna is the Supreme Person, so in every way He is unlimited, we are also persons, like Krishna, however we are limited in every respect. That is the difference between us, the tiny limited living entities, and Krishna, the unlimited Supreme Personality of Godhead. The example is sometimes given of the drop of ocean water and the entire ocean. Although clearly one can not say the drop of ocean water is equal to the ocean, the ocean is vast and the drop is tiny, still in quality the drop of ocean watera is the same as the entire ocean. If you analyze the drop of the ocean you will find it to be salty. So then it is correct for you to assume that the entire ocean is also salty. Because even though the drop is very small, it is made from the same substance as the entire ocean, so it shares the qualities of the ocean, but it is very limited whereas the ocean is practically unlimited.
Everything we have within ourselves is a limited representation of what Krishna has but it has been pervertedly reflected in this material world. So as we have individuality and a personality, Krishna also has individuality and a personality. As we have likes and dislikes, Krishna also has likes and dislikes. As we have feelings, Krishna also has feelings. However all these things are manifest in us in a perverted way because we are in the material world covered by these material bodies made of the three modes of material nature [goodness, passion and ignorance]. These three modes of material nature distort and pervert our original spiritual vision and feelings.
Here in the material world our original pure love for Krishna becomes perverted and instead becomes manifest as lust for sex life. So in the material world this perverted reflection of pure love for Krishna causes us so much suffering and distress, but its existence proves that there must be something original and pure in the spiritual world that this perverted sex desire is a reflection of. That original love is our eternal love for Krishna.
So the idea of installing the Deity of Krishna and worshiping Him is to gradually reawaken this dormant love for Krishna which is within our hearts and which is the thing we are all actually looking for and hankering after.
It is impossible to fall in love with someone if we do not know them first. First the boy has to meet the girl, then there is some chance that they can fall in love. Similarly with Krishna, if we are going to fall in love with Krishna we have to meet Him first. And it is only through Deity worship that we can meet Krishna.
Understanding we have become so conditioned by the material energy that we can not see the spiritual energy at all by His mercy Krishna has agreed to appear for us in a form that we can see and serve with our material eyes and material senses. Although Krishna is everywhere, He is even present within every atom, still, with our materially contaminated eyes, we can not see Krishna everywhere. So Krishna agrees to appear by the request of His pure devotee in a form that to us apparently appears to be made of stone or metal or wood.
By the mercy of Krishna and the grace of Krishna’s pure devotee, Krishna agrees to enter into the Deity or murti form and the Deity becomes Krishna. This is a little hard to understand intellectually. But it can be practically realized by devotees who engage in service to Krishna in His deity form.
As we serve Krishna more and more gradually we will see that the deity is not a marble statue at all. At some point we will have the practical realization that “Here is Krishna.” Krishna will reciprocate with us. Krishna will smile when He is happy, and He will frown when He is not happy with is. Krishna will talk to us. And we will be able to talk to Krishna.
So Krishna appears in the form of the Deity and is very happy to accept service from us and as we serve Him more and more gradually He reveals His true spiritual form and nature to us. And gradually our original eternal love for Krishna reawakens.
In this material world almost all of us are completely contaminated by the impersonal ideas or philosophy. We have no idea or conception of the “Personality of Godhead,” even though we may consider ourselves very saintly or religious persons, or even very advanced devotees. However if we seriously take up the process of deity worship under the direction of the bona fide authorities in the disciplic succession then we will begin to serve the deity as a person, and gradually we will realize the deity is Krishna, and Krishna is a person…
As part of the deity worship process we will wake the Lord early in the morning and bathe Him, dress Him, cook nice food and offer it to Him for His pleasure. As we serve the Lord in this way, as a person, and perform sankirtan [the congregational chanting of the holy names of the Lord] in front of the Deities, gradually we will come to realize practically that Krishna, God, is a person, and it is our business to spend our time and energy serving Him.
This practical realization that “Krishna is a person” is very difficult to realize by any process other than Deity worship. That is why Deity worship is so essential for every devotee.
“Especially for the householder devotees, the path of Deity worship is strongly recommended. As far as possible, every householder, by the direction of the spiritual master, must install the Deity of Visnu, forms like Radha-Krsna, Laksmi-Narayana or Sita-Rama especially, or any other form of the Lord, like Nrsimha, Varaha, Gaura-Nitai, Matsya, Kurma, salagrama-sila and many other forms of Visnu, like Trivikrama, Kesava, Acyuta, Vasudeva, Narayana and Damodara, as recommended in the Vaisnava-tantras or Puranas, and one’s family should worship strictly following the directions and regulations of arcana-vidhi.
“Any member of the family who is above twelve years of age should be initiated by a bona fide spiritual master, and all the members of the household should be engaged in the daily service of the Lord, beginning from morning (4 a.m.) till night (10 p.m.) by performing mangala-aratrika, niranjana, arcana, puja, kirtana, srngara, bhoga-vaikali, sandhya-aratrika, patha, bhoga (at night), sayana-aratrika, etc.
“Engagement in such worship of the Deity, under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master, will greatly help the householders to purify their very existence and make rapid progress in spiritual knowledge. Simple theoretical book knowledge is not sufficient for a neophyte devotee. Book knowledge is theoretical, whereas the arcana process is practical. Spiritual knowledge must be developed by a combination of theoretical and practical knowledge, and that is the guaranteed way for attainment of spiritual perfection.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.22 Purport Pure Devotional Service: The Change in Heart)
Sometimes devotees are afraid to woship the Deity, thinking that they have so many material desires and they are not qualified to worship the deity. This is a mistake. Having material desires does not at all disqualify one from worshipping the Deity.
“It is not a fact that those who have material desires are prohibited from worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the essential instruction from the life of Dhruva. He frankly admitted that his heart was full of material desires. He was very much affected by the cruel words of his stepmother, whereas those who are spiritually advanced do not care about anyone’s condemnation or adoration…
“The question raised here is whether or not a person afflicted by material desires is fit to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The answer is that everyone is fit to worship Him. Even if one has many material desires to fulfill, he should take to Krsna consciousness and worship the Supreme Lord Krsna, who is so merciful that He fulfills everyone’s desires. No one is barred from worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead, even if one has many material desires.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.8.35 Purport)
So I am encouraging everyone, particularly those who are living with their families, to install the deity of Krishna in the form of Radha-Krishna or Gaura Nitai [Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda who are Krishna and Balaram in a very merciful and easy to worship form] and with their family members worship Them and accept Them as the Lord and Master of the house.
Let one remain what he is; he need only install the Deity of the Supreme Lord in his house. The Deity may be Radha-Krsna or Laksmi-Narayana (there are many other forms of the Lord). In this way a brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya or sudra can worship the Deity with the results of his honest labor. Regardless of one’s occupational duty, one should adopt the devotional means of hearing, chanting, remembering, worshiping, offering everything to the Lord and engaging in His service. In this way one can very easily engage himself in the service of the Lord. When the Lord is pleased with one’s service, one’s mission in life is fulfilled. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.20.9 Purport)
“When the fruits of one’s activities are rendered to the service of the Lord, one is actually practicing karma-yoga. Anyone can practice karma-yoga, but it is especially easy for the householder, who can install the Deity of the Lord in the home and worship Him according to the methods of bhakti-yoga. This method includes nine items: hearing, chanting, remembering, serving, worshiping the Deity, praying, carrying out orders, serving Krsna as friend and sacrificing everything for Him.
“In one’s home or in a temple, the Deity is considered the proprietor of everything, and everyone is considered the Deity’s eternal servant. The Lord is transcendental, for He is not part of this material creation.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.22.51 Purport)
As you know I am running www.KrishnaStore.com and my mission there is to provide devotees with everything they need to practice Krishna consciousness in their homes. So seeing the importance of deity worship we now have a selection of Radha-Krishna, Gaura-Nitai and Jagannatha deities available at:
http://krishnastore.com/other-items-deities-om-21_39_45_22_69_71.html
Also we are getting a good collection of items that are necessary for use in deity worship at:
http://krishnastore.com/other-items-deity-worship-om-21_39_45_22_69_70.html
We can supply practically everything necessary for deity worship but not all items are listed on the website at the moment. So if you require something but do not see it listed on the website please write to me and I can arrange to get it for you.
About the Author
Madhudvisa dasa My first contact with a Hare Krishna was a most merciful Mataji in Oxford Street, London who sold me a "Higher Taste" cook book in 1984 while I was on holidays there. I started seriously reading Srila Prabhupada's books in Australia 1985 and by 1986 Srila Prabhupada had convinced me "Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead" and "we should surrender to Krishna." I joined the Hare Krishnas in Perth, Western Australia in 1986. Since then I have been chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, reading and distributing Srila Prabhupada's books and preaching as much as I can. That's my life and full-time occupation now really. I like it more than anything I've ever experienced before. Srila Prabhupada's books are so amazing... Even after reading them all many times they're still fresh and new. They are truly transcendental! That's it really. Now I'm just hankering to once again see the world chant Hare Krishna, dance and feast and float away in the ecstasy of Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana movement as it did in Srila Prabhupada's physical presence. Let the whole world drown in the ecstatic flood of love of Krishna!
I am hindu from india i dont know any rules can i take radha Krishna photo frame and worship at home
You need to read the books of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and learn how to worship Krishna. It is a science, you have to learn it if you want to do it properly.
Hare Krishna
I want to ask about gaura nitai deity worship. What is the standard daily worship for gaura nitai deities. Do they need to be bathed everyday? Also do they need to have a full meak everyday or can they be given fruits/nuts/water everyday?
Gaura Nitai need sankirtan every day. The constant chanting of:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Do you need food every day? Or can I just give you a few nuts???
If you have deities in your house then you have to feed them. Surely you are cooking in your house? So cook for Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda and feed them and take their remnants as Krishna Prasadam.
Thank you for your reply madhudvisa dasa prabhu. I asked a general question. But I will bear your advice if I do get gaura nitai deities in future. What you say is perfectly true. Thank you.
Hare Krishna prabhu ji
I want to install a Gaur Nitai deties.i live in hostel.i chanting 16 rounds,following principles and reading books.i can offer fruits,milk and sweets to them.can i worship Gaur Nitai?
Hare Krishna dandvat pranam
Yes you can, but in your situation it may be more practical to have pictures. Pictures of Panca-Tattva, Prabhupada, Lord Nrsimhadeva, etc. Although Lord Caitanya is very merciful and certainly if you want to worship there you can, but in the situation, and really only you know your situation, it might be more practical for you to have pictures than deity at this time.
Hare Krishna,
I have only Krishna’s deity and not radha hi. I want to keep radha jo also. Can I just get radha ji now and make a pair with my Krishna deity?
Yes. Of course, why not?
Hare Krishna Vrinda! Radharani is very merciful. So when you have her alongside Krishna, it will be very nice for you.
I have radha Krishna deties I worship them regularly but not on punctual time due to work as I am a student of class 10 and I have not bona fide so ,it is compulsory prabhu ji . I also have a prabhupad ji detie so can you gave instructions how to worship him .
Due to shortage of time I does not bath my radha Krishna on regular basis but on all ekadashi I perform abhisek and bath them but only on ekadashi not on daily . I bath regularly my prabhupad ji and my saligram and my laduu gopal on daily basis prabhu ji . Give me solution for this prabhu ji
Hare Krishna prabhu ji
Hare Krishna Akhil
Yes. Schedule is difficult. I can understand that. But you have taken the responsibility of the Deities and you have a regular program in the sense that you are worshiping regularly on ekadasi. So I can suggest that the most important thing above everything else is chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day and strictly following the four regulative principles: no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication. So please maintain the deity worship program you have and concentrate on chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day. If you can do this it will be very, very good. It may mean getting up a bit earlier in the morning. The other most important thing is reading from Srila Prabhupada’s books regularly. So you need to add this also to your schedule.
I know it is difficult. And you have to succeed in your studies also. But my point is as far as deity worship I think your current schedule is OK, as long as you maintain it and do not let your standards slip on it, so maintain that, and at the same time try for chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day and reading at least something from Srila Prabhupada’s books every day.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
ohk thank you prabhuji
veryuch.
I tried it but it is little difficult to me .
I pray to my Shri shri radha shyamsundar to have follow the rules and regulations and on 16 rounds.
Hare Krishna
Dandwat pranam.
Thank you
hare krsna,
i have a question that i am wanting to install gaura nittai idols in my pooja altair, i do not eat meat but my family members do so in a situation like this can i install the idols or not
How can you offer food to Krishna cooked in a meat eaters kitchen? So best you get your family to give up meat eating I suggest. At least in the house. Because if you install deities it will be Krishna’s house. So they will have to respect Krishna and Krishna’s kitchen.
hare krsna,
isn’t there any other alternative because my family members are not willing to give up meat and i really really want to worship the gaura nittai deities in my pooja altair. i will ensure that non of the touch the idols. please confirm.
Well Gaura-Nitai are very merciful, so you may be able to do it. So it is up to you to decide.
Hare krsna prabhu
Dp
Same situation is with me
I am doing my 16 rounds but during illness I become so weak to sit and chant
I am having ladoo gopal and worship him daily
Now I am having Gaura nitai deities with me ready to install
But my husband loves to eat non veg so I have to cook for him in the garden ,,not in my kitchen
Tell me prabhu
What should I do
I have not taken initiation
Hare krsna🙏
Hare Krishna Sangeeta
Yes. Material world is a difficult place. So Gaura-Nitai is very merciful. They will understand. So do your best. You don’t have to formally install the deities. But you can worship and cook for them and chant Hare Krishna in front of them and keep your husbands meat cooking outside.
So it is Kali-yuga, what to do? There are so many discrepancies. But keep on chanting Hare Krishna, reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and worshipping your deities anyhow. And you only accept Krishna prasadam, even if you have to cook non-veg for your husband.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Maximum of what size of gaura nitai can I keep at home ..
I already has sri radha Krishna at my hone … so can I keep another vigraha of gaura nitai…as I feel loved about them
Any size, as long as you can look after Them nicely, change Their clothes daily and offer some foodstuffs and most importantly have daily kirtan in front of Them.
Gaura-Nitai are very easy to please, so if you have Radha-Krishna already and are worshiping them nicely, then certainly you can get Gaura-Nitai deities also, as big as you can manage. Not too big that it becomes a burden to worship Them. So you have to consider like this.
Hare Krishna! All glories to srila Prabhupada!
Prabhu, I daily chant 16 rounds of hare Krishna. I am planning to have a simple pancha tattva alter. What are the necessary things to take in consideration before setting the alter?
For Panca-Tattva, they are very merciful. Most important thing is to get a picture of Panca-Tattva and Srila Prabhupada and have ecstatic kirtan in front of them every day with as many people as you can get. That is the real worship of Panca-Tattva, Sankirtan. The congregational chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra. And chant the Panca-Tattva maha mantra also [sri krishna caitanya prabhu nityananda sri advaita gadadhara srivasasi gaura bhakta vrinda]. No offenses are considered in chanting the Panca-Tattva mantra.
So do your best setting up the alter, make it as nice as you can, but a simple picture of Pancattva and Srila Prabhupada and an ecstatic kirtan will please both Prabhupada and the Panca-Tattva very much.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
I have small radha krsna deities but they are not installed yet . i was wondering if it is wrong that i worship them . im taking a deity arcana program to learn to worship them but many people over the years have told me that i should worship goura nitay and that i should not worship radha krsna. i live a regular life outside the temple i have to go to work from 8 to 5 PM. i really have a great desire to worship them.i love them so much i feel so much attraction to them i really want to serve them but im afraid that maybe im not qualified to worship them and do something wrong. what to do in this situation? what is the minimum standard to worship radha krsna deities ? can i worship them or is it wrong that i do it
You can certainly worship Radha-Krishna deities. Srila Prabhupada and his sister were given small Radha-Krishna deities as children and they worshiped Them as their childhood play. So Krishna understands and appreciates the intention. Yes it is good to also worship Gaura-Nitai, so you should have at least picture of Gaura-Nitai, actually we should not worship Radha-Krishna without worshiping Gaura-Nitai, so you must also have a picture of Gaura-Nitai and worship as well. But certainly go ahead and worship Radha-Krishna. Set up a regular worship program, does not have to be very extensive, not like you have to do everything they do in the temples, but you have to set up a regular program of offerings, aroti and kirtan and do it every day without fail at regular times. Can be simple but should be very regular and punctual.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
If we have Radha-Krishna and Pancha-Tattva both Deities then is it okay to perform arati to Radha-Krishna and sing bhajan to both and Prabhupada and read Sanskrit slokas from Srila Prabhupada’s books?
Yes. Why not?
There are certain Bhajans we sing during aroti in Songs of the Vaisnava Acaryas Songbook, so you should get this book also:
https://krishnastore.com/songs-of-the-vaisnava-acaryas-h-krishna-444.html
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Can we perform Mangala Arati at a different time than 4:30? I have Radha-Krishna, Pancha-Tattva and Srila Prabhupada Deities and at 4:30 Rama Katha is going on everyday in loudspeaker near my house in a temple and it is very disturbing and sometimes even offensive to Lord Krishna. So can we perform Mangala Arati at 6:30?
Better stick to 4:30 AM, have your Mangal Aroti and gradually the distractions will go away. Not that we change because of the distractions. There will always be distractions. So we should stick to our principles and go on in spite of all distractions. And if you persevere like this then gradually you will find the distractions will disappear.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Are there any videos of Pancha-Tattva or Radha-Krishna worship? I saw one video of Indradyumna Swami Prabhu doing Shalagrama Shila worship, I want to see how to set up alter, how to offer arati, bhoga etc because I’m not sure if I’m doing these things rightly.
I don’t know of any video but we have got the Krishna Balaram Temple Deity Handbook:
https://krishnastore.com/deity-worship-manual-from-sri-krishna-balarama-mandir-h-krishna-1783.html
So it contains full details of the deity worship program they do at Krishna Balaram Temple in Vrindavan, with all the mantras, etc. So it is not that you will be able to do the whole thing, but for your personal worship you can read it and make some simplified deity worship program from it.
So I think you should get this book and then make your own simplified deity worship program by taking things from it.
Hare Krishna everyone!
I have a few things to ask. Last year, one of my family members gifted me laddu Gopal Ji in Janmashtami. As I wasn’t aware of the rituals so I dint serve Gopal Ji actively but it’s been few weeks since I started doing Abhishek, serving bhog three times. I am so in love with my Gopal Ji that I treat him like my baby as one should be. However, I am going through some medical conditions where I have to be on the bed rest for at least a few weeks. After that, I might get to ask not to use the stairs as my temple is upstairs. Now in my scenario can I keep my Gopal Ji with me during those days I will make sure I am all clean and space is clean too for my Gopal Ji. Nobody in the house will take care of him but me. By keeping him with me I can offer him bhog, make him sleep and change his clothes.
Please help me with advice.
Hare Krishna !
Yes. You can keep on looking after Gopal Ji to the best of your ability. He will appreciate that very much.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
How to do mangala arati? Whose arati is done during mangala arati? Srila Prabhupada’s or Krishna’s or both? I do only Radha-Krishna arati and chant Prabhupada and Pancha Tattava mantras. Please tell how to do mangala arati Prabhu.
Hare Krishna Aman
We offer everything to Srila Prabhupada first, then to the disciplic succession, then to the deities. That is the way. So the understanding is we are offering to Srila Prabhupada and he is offering to Krishna through the disciplic succession. So, you know, they offer Mangal Aroti in all the ISKCON temples, in fact in all the temples in India, so you can just go to some ISKCON temple and see how they are doing Mangal Aroti. But these days they are not doing it correctly as they do not offer to Prabhupada first, they offer to the deities first, then offer ‘Krishna prasadam’ to Prabhupada, which shows a complete misunderstanding of the whole process.
So I think you know how to offer the articles? So you just do that, but first to Prabhupada, then to Krishna.
For all the details we have the Deity Worship book published by ISKCON’s Krishna Balarama Temple in Vrindavan:
http://krishnastore.com/deity-worship-manual-from-sri-krishna-balarama-mandir-h-krishna-1783.html
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Do we have to wash the arati tray and bhoga plates after arati? It takes me a lot of time when I try to do it and then sometimes there is difficulty in completing 16 rounds and reading books 1-2 hours a day. I have the Deity Worship manual of Krishna-Balarama Temple but since I’m worshipping the Deity alone I’m not able to follow much of the procedures given in it.
Hare Krishna Aman
Yes, by yourself it is not so easy to have a very elaborate deity worship program. So main thing is chanting Hare Krishna, reading Prabhupada’s books, distributing Prabhupada’s books, following the regulative principles and having Kirtan in front of the Panca-tattva. Yes. You have to wash the aroti tray after aroti but if you get organized it should only take a few minutes to wash the aroti tray. You can make it simple. Not that you have to have all the articles. You can simplify and make some deity worship program that you can easily and regularly do yourself. Not that you have to imitate everything they do in a big temple who have 10 or 20 brahmanas doing the deity worship.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Do we offer flowers to Srila Prabhupada first or flowers are offered directly to Krishna and other deities?
We offer everything to Srila Prabhupada first. The understanding is that we are offering to Prabhupada and Prabupada is offering to his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktsiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, and he is offering to his spiritual master, so in this way the offering goes to Krishna through the disciplic succession. Not that we are qualified to offer directly to Krishna, that is the understanding, we offer to Prabhupada and Prabhupada offers to Krishna through the disciplic succession. So to show this we always offer everything to Srila Prabhupada first.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Dandavat Pranam
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Should we wash flowers before offering them to Krishna?
Yes. Of course sprinkling water on them with the spoon out of the archaman cup, that is also purifying the flowers, you will see pujaris doing that also.
Hare Krishna
I am a Sikh but I respect all religions and have faith as well.my sister in law had a laddu Gopal and after looking at him my daughter insisted us to have a laddu Gopal at our home(she was considered Him as her younger brother n used to call Him Angad)fortunately we were gifted another laddu Gopal from one of our relative.me and my daughter used to take care of both of them .She used to put them for sleep and I used to do rest of work(in brief whatever we knew we used to do with love and devotion) with Kanha g Grace I had a little boy (Angad)
He is 10 months old and after his birth I am not regular to take care of my laddu Gopal. I offer them fruit ,water n veg food whatever we prepare on daily basis
But deep in my heart I feel like
I am not serving them properly n feel so guilty.
On the other hand whenever something bad happens in my family (like I failed my exams or few other things) I felt like I could not serve my laddu Gopal n hv committed a sin so all these negative things happen in my life.
Sometimes I think if I can’t serve them properly should I give them somewhere but fear of giving them make me so disappointed ( Initially many people remarked me when I got them being as a Sikh u have laddu Gopal at ur house,but I was so happy that time to have them.)
I am so confused please guide me.
Thanks
Just keep serving Laddhu Gopal and try and fix up a regular program of worship that you do every day. Does not have to be very elaborate or complicated. Krishna will appreciate regular simple worship.
Hare Krishna Prabhu,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
I have recently come accross a new thing in ISKCON. I know that ISKCON is a ocean of faults but this has particularly stuck my mind because even ISKCON Bangalore is doing it. PUSPA ABHISHEK- I have read that this is a complete concocted thing. Srila Prabhupada has never instructed us to do it.
I have also searched this term on prabhupadabooks.com but I never cane across such a term.
But I see everywhere it is done. This time during Janmasthami, I was watching the Live Abhisheka done at ISKCON Bangalore, Krishna and Radharani were drowned in flowers by Madhu Pandit Dasa Prabhu himself. I am wondering if such an organisationa as ISKCON Bangalore who is supposed to be completely following Srila Prabhupada allow such a deviation to to be carried out?
Please shed some light into this matter Prabhu.
And also regarding the Akshaya Patra programme. I am really confused if it really has to do something with Krishna Consciousness.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
ISKCON Bangalore is more a South Indian Sri Vaisnava thing in many ways. I guess maybe the Sri Viasnavas do something like this puspa ahhisek, it is certainly never instructed by Srila Prabhupada to do this. So they have got this idea from somewhere other than Srila Prabhupada and the Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition. I think they see it as adapting Krishna consciousness to suit the taste of the South Indians. But you would have to ask Madhu Pandit Prabhu directly for his reason for introducing these things. I think that is the answer he would give, as a preaching device to attract the South Indians. I think he would say before they adjusted things like this ISKCON was not very successful in preaching in South India, and now, after adjusting it, they have been fabulously successful.
But at what cost? Chanting and introducing so many things from outside the teachings of Srila Prabhuapda?
So ISKCON Bangalore is something of a mixture of Srila Prabhupada’s teachings and the South Indian traditions as far as I know, they do not strictly follow Srila Prabhupada.
As far as Akshaya Patra, it would be Krishna conscious if they were distributing Prasadam, but as far as I know the whole thing is a business, the cooking is done by non-devotees in the main. I think really it is a fund raising business, getting a huge amount of money in the form of government grants and also commercial and individual sponsorship from donors.
Something that really shocked me when I visited ISKCON Bangalore many years ago was the ‘Maha Prasadam Business’. They had a big room where they were selling ‘Maha Prasada’ to the public. But this was all cooked by non-devotees and they [the ISKCON Bangalore devotees] would never ever dare put it anywhere near the Deities…
So it is a big business and they are very successful at that business.
But personally I can’t sense much of the mood of Srila Prabhupada there. For me ISKCON is closer to Prabhupada than ISKCON Bangalore, and you know I am also not a great fan of ISKCON. But I would prefer to live with ISKCON than with ISKCON Bangalore, given the choice.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Thank you Prabhu for your reply.
Yes, you are right. I just recently visited ISKCON Bangalore this July. This was my first visit to any ISKCON Temple. I had very high hopes. But unfortunately ISKCON Bangalore has only left me with bad memories.Whenever I remember I only feel sad, I don’t know for sure but it felt more like visiting a commercial complex-with a temple besides it. But the temple was no doubt very nicely organised, but it was organised to the extent that it didnot feel good.
The devotees as you have pointed out once really didnot look like Prabhupada Disciples. And the shopping complex below, everything is run by non-devotees. Regarding the section of books, there was only one book I found to be the original= Bhagavad Gita As It Is. And all the other books either they were edited, or in Kannada or I saw for the first time in my life. They are definitely not Prabhupada Books. Krishna Book was looking completely different. I had no idea what was going on. Book Distribution is a far thing, they don’t have sufficient books even for people visiting the temple itself- let alone becoming the base for Book Distribution. There were only 2-3 Srila Prabhupada’s books and all others;I donot know what books they were or who wrote them.
It seems that the devotees in ISKCON Bangalore are very busy- they have no time for Book Distribution, nor Sankirtan, nor introducing people to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna Consciousness who come to visit the temple. I don’t know what is keeping them so engaged and busy and what has become more important than this.
They are going on constructing Temples and more temples, it has become more like a temple movement than a Sankirtan movement. The world needs Srila Prabhuada’s books not magnificient temples. I had some hope from ISKCON Bangalore but it only gave me disappointment. I have left all hopes from ISKCON, let it be ISKCON Bangalore or any other, they have indeed became a dead branch of the Chaitanya Tree.
I will try on my own to distribute as much books as possible in this lifetime.
Hare krsna Madhudvisa dasa,i need to clarify doubt regarding DEITY WORSHIP especially By modern “Hindu people”. they keep mostly framed photos of Demigods,lord BALAJI,LAKSHMI DEVI-photos which are drawn by nondevotees , persons who dont have brahmanical qualifications and persons who dont have parampara to pure brahmins and supreme lord.Can Unauthourised photos of Demigods or supreme lord Balaji accepts such a prayers or worship from Hindus ?
Hare Krishna
The worship of the ‘Hindu People’ has degraded very much and it is not at all very authorized. But the idea is there, as it is with the Christians and Muslims also, that there is some superior God in power who can give us benedictions if He is pleased. This is a business, they are thinking if I worship God, if I perform sacrifices and offer prayers, the Lord will be pleased with me, and He will give me some material benedictions. So they go to the churches, temples and mosques to petition the Lord for money, nice wife, good family, good job, etc. So this is materialistic. It is good in the sense that they accept the Lord and worship Him, but they are asking for material benefits, which is stupid.
All these ideas are explained elaborately and completely by Srila Prabhupada in his books. PLEASE READ PRABHUPADA’S BOOKS.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare krishna prji….
All glories to Srila prabhupad..
I worshiping a picture of sri sri Radha krishna…I have really desire to worship lord Laxmi Narayan ji in deity from. Can iskcon devotees worshiping Laxmi Narayan ji? Or worship only Radha krishna..
Because I really love Radha krishna in the from of Laxmi Narayan..so can I worship Laxmi narayan ji
Hare krishna..all glories to Srila prabhupad ji
We follow in the footsteps of Srila Prabhupada and the acaryas in the Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya. So we worship Lord Caitanya and Radha-Krishna. We also worship Lord Nrsimhadeva and Srila Prabhupada established one temple with Sita Rama Laksmana and Hanuman. So we do not worship Laksmi Narayana actually we worship Radha Krishna, but we worship Radha Krshna in the mood of Laksmi Narayana. In the mood of awe and reverence.
So if you feel a great attachment to worshiping Laksmi-Narayana you can worship Them. It is a personal thing. Lord Narayana is Visnu, Krishna is the origin of all the Visnu forms. So worshiping Laksmi-Narayana is worshiping Visnu-tattva, very good.
But you have to worship regularly every morning in the early hours without fail. There is no point getting Deities unless you can properly worship them. Unless you can have a proper deity worship program it may become offensive. So unless you are very sure that you can maintain a regular Deity worship program it is better to continue with the pictures.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare krishna prji…I have a deity of Lord Laxmi Narayan ji..I am totally guidance less because here not any devotees to help me..please tell me…what are the daily basis services for home deity worship? ..I am studying now .services means..weaking up to the Lord/offering/aarti/resting and dressing up to the deties..so I want this help from you …please guide me. Hare krishna..all glories to Srila prabhupad and guru Gauranga..hari hari
The thing about Deity worship is you need to set a standard and stick to it, do it every day at the same time. So waking, offering aroti, dressing, also feeding. You have to cook anyhow in the house so whatever you cook cook it for Krishna and offer to Krishna before you eat. Other most important thing is Kirtan. You have to have regular Krishna Kirtan in front of the deities every day with yourself and anyone else you can find, other members of the family, other people in the house, etc. So actually Hare Krishna kirtan is the most important point. So do what you are doing regularly every day, Waking up the Lord, dressing, offering aroti and putting to rest and also offer bhoga and kirtan. And do all these things on a regular daily basis at regular times.
Hare krishna prji…I have a deity of Lord Laxmi Narayan ji. I read iskcon deity worship mannual. But I found this whole process is very difficult for me because I live along with my parents..I am studying now. My father is non vegetarian..so they cook non veg home..but at same time I love my deties so much..I can’t live without them….I totally helpless..please prabhuji guide me for serving to Lord means
Weaking up /offering/aarti/resting/bathing etc seva please guide me Hare krishna hari hari
Yes. ISKCON deity worship manual is for the worship in a temple where there is a group of devotees who are doing the worship. You can not do this standard of worship at home when you are by yourself. So it has to be adjusted according to time and place. So as I wrote in the other message do what you are already doing at regular time every day plus have daily Krishna kirtan in front of the deities plus do regular offerings of bhoga, food to the Deities.
Increase as much as is practical but remember that you have to find the time to chant at least 16 rounds of Hare Krishna mantra on beads also. So in your situation you have to simplify the deity worship. But do it regularly at the same time every day without fail, even if it is a simple program.
I like how despite all the attempts and propaganda to stop Deity worship and ridiculing those who worship Krishna in Deity form devotees have continued to worship Krishna and His devotees in Deity form and finally it is spreading all over the world. It is just amazing! Our Godbrothers and Godsisters from all over the world are are worshipping Lord Krishna Deity and this will continue until the devotees are present. Hari bol!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Hare Krishna Prabhuji!
In India Lord Krishna pictures and murti are available everywhere but is Lord Krishna present in all of them or does He present Himself only when it is authorized like those which are at Krishnastore?
Hare Krishna Aman
Yes. Krishna is everywhere. But only the devotees can see Him. He only reciprocates with the devotees.
Krishna is not manifest to the non-devotees, He remains hidden to them. But He reveals Himself to the devotees in proportion to their surrender unto Him.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisances
If we have photo or deity of devotees then they are also present like Lord Krishna in them or they are present only when we serve them properly?
Hare Krishna Aman
There is a big difference between ‘devotee’ and pure devotee like Srila Prabhupada. So pure devotee of Krishna, Srila Prabhupada, is non-different from Krishna. So as Krishna is present in His picture so is Srila Prabhupada. But Krishna responds according to the surrender of His devotees. That means if a non-devotee who has no interest in Krishna goes to a temple he will see a marble statue, he will not see Krishna. But Krishna is there. But Krishna is hidden from the eyes of the non-devotees. Krishna says this in Bhagavad-gita, you can read Bhagavad-gita again and find this. So Krishna is present always in the deity but only the devotees see the deity as Krishna, non-devotees see the deity as a marble statue. But still if a non-devotee goes to a temple and rings the bell and bows down before the deity and makes some offering, then he is serving Krishna and that devotional service is his eternal asset.
So Krishna is always present. It is up to us to realize that. But non-devotees can not recognize Krishna even if He is personally present standing in front of them.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna!!
Prabhu i have a small laddu gopal ji in our home. I have been serving him for more than a year, But the size of Thakur ji is too small. it is really difficult to find clothes and sringar for him in the market. Is it okay to bring bigger gopal ji instead, is it possible to transfer diety chetna into new idol?
Hare Krishna Kettan
Yes. You can get a bigger Laddu Gopal to worship. Why not? But you have to do something with smaller one also. So maybe you have some friend who would like to serve Him, or perhaps you can keep both.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I have been trying to understand questions that come to mind. In the Bible it is stated that one must go through Jesus to have eternal life. Here’s what’s puzzling! Is it a fact that the soul is eternal. If it is eternal what is the resurrection via Jesus Christ for? What’s interesting is that Jesus himself said seek yeah the kingdom within you! The light within. If this is true why does Jesus state he is the only way to salvation. Now Sri Caitanya stated that the Maha Mantra is the way to salvation! Here is what got me. Jesus stated through him is the only true way to an eternal life and the end of death forever! And peace and love. No more sorrows. If that is true why is there military soldiers or armed troops in heaven. Could this mean peace in heaven is not what souls may think. Does it mean another cycle of change for future wars again at some point. Please elaborate on this subject matter. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Marvin
Hare Krishna Marvin
You are very thoughtful and are asking good questions. The thing is Lord Caitanya has stated that the scriptures of the meat-eaters are contradictory. So if you try to analyze like this the statements of the Bible or the Koran you will find so many inconsistencies and contradictions from one place to another. So there is not much point. You will only get confused and frustrated in the end. Better to read Srila Prabhupada’s books like Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. You will find they are very consistent and logical.
As far as the heaven that Jesus talks about in the Bible that is a heavenly planet within this material world. It is one of the planets we see when we look up in the sky at night. So that ‘heaven’ is not eternal. It is much more heavenly than this earth in the sense that it is more beautiful, the people there are more beautiful and they live for thousands or even millions of years, and they stay young until close to the end of their lives, so the standard of life is much greater there. But still it is material, still there is the need of soldiers and armies, and still there are enemies that attack from time-to-time. There is a constant war going on between the demons and the demigods. So there is no peace even in the Heaven Jesus talks about in the Bible.
However, totally beyond the material sky is the spiritual sky, the kingdom of God. That is where Krishna has His planet, Goloka Vrindavan, and there is no need for any army or fighting there. In the spiritual world everyone is a devotee, everyone is serving Krishna and everyone is fully enjoying there natural eternal constitutional position of sat-cit-ananda-vigraha, it means eternal life with full knowledge and ever-increasing transcendental bliss in an eternally youthful spiritual form. That is our real home, we should go there…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna prabhuji … I want to worship Gaur Nitai..I do 16 rounds regularly I follow 4 regulative principales from past 4 yrs …I want to install Gaur Nitai … But I live in hostel I can’t offer cooked food to them..Can I worship them with fruits flower and small aarti in morning and evening ..Prabhuji reply please
Jai Guru Gaurang
Jai prabhupad Hare Krishna
Yes. You can. Gaura Nitai are very merciful and They will accept your simple offerings of fruits and flowers and most importantly KIRTAN.
Hare bol Prabhu. Yes you should offer this service to Gaura Nitai steadily and your attraction to your deities will also inspire your chanting tremendously. There will be a time when you will develop some stronger attraction and attachment to your deity and there will come a time that they will reveal themselves to you in your heart and you will realize they are beyond being just stone or brass but actually manifestation of a Krishna by Radharanis mercy. Actually even seeing the deity before you is not material vision. When you perform puja what you is is spiritual. Krishna is so merciful he allows us to see what is spiritual even for the neophyte sadhaka. The deity after all is an incarnation of Krishna. Jaya Radhe
Hare Krishna Prabhu! Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to your service! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
I want to know about the dress code for devotees. Are there any specific standards set by Srila Prabhupada about dressing, for different types of devotees (householders, etc.)?
Are there specific times of day that you have to change to dhoti and other devotional clothes – like especially during Deity worship or during offering food to Krishna?
Or, can you do those activities also in otherwise clean clothes, but not necessarily dhoti, etc.
I am saying this because once I came into an argument with one ISKCON devotee, who insisted that I cannot offer food or do Deity worship to Krishna if I do not change to devotional clothing, but I was pointing to him quotes where Srila Prabhupada did not insist on changing clothes.
Thank you very much,
Aspiring to increase my service,
Hare Krishna!
Sarnaduti
Hare Krishna Sarnaduti
You are correct of course. Krishna consciousness, actually, does not have anything to do with the type of clothes we are wearing. Krishna consciousness is our state of mind, where our heart is. If we are always thinking of Krishna, always chanting Hare Krishna, always reading Srila Prabhupada’s books, following the regulative principles, and if we have a taste for chanting Hare Krishna, and if we are engaged in practical service for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada then we are Krishna conscious. It has nothing to do with the clothes we are wearing.
In Kali-yuga there are so many demons dressed in dhoti with tilak and kunti around their necks. But because they are motivated by some personal desire, they want something in return for their devotional service, they are demons, not devotees. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur called these people Kali-chala, disciples of Kali, not disciples of Krishna.
So devotional clothes are a convenience for preaching. It is very good also for us to dress as devotees because it reminds the people who see us about Krishna, it also reminds us when we look in the mirror and see ourselves dressed as devotees, that we are supposed to be devotees…
So devotional clothing is very good. But demons can wear devotional clothing, that does not make them devotees. And devotees can wear ordinary karmi clothing, but that does not make them karmis.
Srila Prabhupada stressed that his disciples should always have the tilak mark and the tulsi neck beads. So whatever clothing we wear we should have the tilak and tulsi neck beads.
But, particularly for the householders, they have to work in the material world, so they can wear the ordinary clothes.
When you are offering to Krishna He does not consider the clothes you are wearing but what is in your heart, and He accepts the love and devotion that went in to preparing the offering.
There is a technical rule that pujari should not wear sewn cloth. So that is why generally you will see pujaris have dhoti and chada, not dhoti and kurta. But this is not really so important for householders and preachers. We find ourselves in the service of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna in all sorts of circumstances and if we are truly engaged in devotional service and we make an offering to Srila Prabhupada, in any sort of clothing, he will accept it.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna, Madhudvisa dasa…! What is the meaning of the tilak on that runs down on the forehead?? I often wondered about that symbol.
It is the sign of a temple of Lord Krishna.
Hare Krishna, Madhuvisa…I am from a Christian background, and I am trying to reconcile something here…
Regarding Deity worship, how do I reconcile what the bible says about God forbidding worshipping of idols made of wood and stone???
I love the Hare Krishna movement and Praphupada’s teachings, chanting and my reading, etc…I would like to have this explained to me in an easy-to-understand way, if possible. I’m not all that technical.
Hare Krishna Damien.
The deities are Krishna, They are not wood or stone, as you worship Them and make some more advancement in Krishna consciousness you will be able to perceive this for yourself, that it is Krishna standing on the alter, not a stone or wooden statue.
So the thing is the Bible presents a summary of spiritual knowledge that was understandable to the people that Lord Jesus Christ was preaching to. They were fishermen living in the desert. And a fairly primitive civilization. And you know that Jesus only had 3 years to preach to them. After three years they had enough of the preaching of Jesus and nailed him on a cross and tried to kill him. So you can understand a little bit of the mentality of the people Jesus was trying to preach to from this. Not an easy job…
Jesus himself lamented “There are so many things I have not told you because you could not bear them…”
So you can not expect that everything in the Bible will exactly correspond to what is in the Vedic scriptures.
Another difficulty of the Bible is that at the time of Jesus there was nothing written down. So what is in the Bible is memories of his followers written thirty years or more after the fact. So people can not remember very clearly after thirty years. And even more the Bible was edited by the Romans to make it suitable for their state religion…
So the point is the original spiritual knowledge that Jesus preached is in the Vedas. It is fairly accurately established that during the missing years of Jesus’s life and probably also after his crucifiction, he went to India. Initially he went to India to study and prepare for his preaching mission and after his followers rejected him and tried to kill him he went back and retired in India. At that time Buddhism was very strong in India but also the Vedic teachings were going on. So we see Christianity is a bit of a combination of the Vedic teachings and the teachings of Lord Buddha. It is more Vedic but has some of the aspects of Buddhism like non-violence and turn the other cheek, etc…
You can clearly see the connection between the Bible and the Vedas but the Vedas is the original and the Bible is an incomplete attempt to explain the teachings of the Vedas. So better to go to the original source. As you study Srila Prabhupada’s books you will understand everything you have read in the Bible in greater detail. So it is very nice.
I also came from a Christian background and still accept the Bible and the teachings of Lord Jesus Christ and have found that Krishna consciousness has enabled me to become a much better ‘Christian’ than I could have ever become by following Christianity.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
You have truly encouraged me, brother Madhudvisa…given that you have a common Christian background like I have. It is now easier for me to really move forward and give of myself to Krishna.
Hare Krishna!
My laddu gopal only smiles in my mother’s house, he remains very quiet in my house. I bathe Him every ekadasi and serve Him milk tulsi daily. I don’t eat meat, or engage in anything materialistic, malls /movies. I love Him so much yet He doesn’t smile. It pains me. What could I be doing wrong?
Hare Krishna Ambalika
It is very nice you are feeling that you are not serving your Laddu Gopal very well. That is always a good attitude. We need to always improve our service to Krishna. I suggest you make a very serious study of the books of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and as you read Srila Prabhupada’s books you will discover so many new ways that you can serve and please your Laddu Gopal Ji.
Hare Krishna! My nanhe kanhaji smiles all the time these days. I’ve Him sit outside the temple room in the room where we all sit. He enjoys our company and smiles so much. I love Him.
I am very happy about the explaination of the Deity worship and want to say thank you for the knowledge that you have impacted in my life.
My Question
(1) does it mean without the deity worship you cannot be a krishna?
(2) how many Lords does Krishnas have and which lord is the most powerful?
You can be a devotee of Krishna only by surrendering to a bona fide spiritual master and serving him. That is the way to Krishna, not directly, but through His bona fide representative. And he will engage you in service according to your propensity. It may not be deity worship, there are many other services also like book distribution, cooking, cleaning the temple, etc, etc.
So the point is to be engaged in the service of Krishna under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master.
Krishna is one. He appears in different forms but He is the one Supreme Personality of Godhead.
I am very happy about the explaination of the Deity worship and want to say thank you for the knowledge that you have impacted in my life.
My Question
(1) does it mean without the deity worship you cannot be a krishna?
(2) how many Lords does Krishnas have and which lord is the most powerful?
The enlightenment given on Lord Krishna is wonderful.
Hare krishna!!!! In my home there is special room which we have made as a temple. I wanted to ask you that can i sleep in the night in that room?
Hare Krishna Jayesh
Yes. You can take rest in the temple room. But you have to make sure you get out of bed before 4:00 AM and clean the floor where you have been taking rest and get ready so you can have the Manal Aroti at 4:30 AM.
Please send me mails about harekrishna
I was very happy to read this literature and would like to subscribe..BTW I have been associated with ISKCON Bangalore since last 10 years
Thanks
Nishant
I have just read your email about deity worship & you mention that everyone over 12yrs of age should be initiated by a bona fide guru. I dont understand why you have said this as where can one find a bona fide guru? We know that ISKCON has failed in this so why mention being initiated at all when that is not possible. It is confusing for people. Why not tell parents who have children of over 12 to just try to keep regulative principles, read Prabhupadas books & worship & eat together. You must get it right Madhudvisa. Everything is being so ccorrupted even as I type this to you. You are doing a very important service & I pray for your protection. Hare Krsna.
Hare Krishna Linda
That is a quote from Srila Prabhupada and it is talking about the ideal situation. Of course as you point out the current situation is far from ideal and that is not very practical right now. But still it is the ideal principle.
Main thing is we have to become Krishna conscious ourselves and we have to do that by reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day and strictly following the four regulative principles: no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication. These things are the source of our spritual strength and if we can become spiritually strong then we will be able to understand what Srila Prabhupada is asking us to do in his books and we will be able to hear Krishna’s guidance from within our hearts. And everything will be OK…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna prubhu.Namaskar. This is wonderful article especially for the beginners. Prabhu is hearing Hare Krishna mahamantra with full devotion and also doing materialistic work side by side is equally good to doing mala jaap? Or is mala jaap the most essential. I am trying to do 16 mala everyday and try to utilize rest time doing house work and listening to hare naam Kirtan and maha mantra. There is a long way to go. Please guide for improvisation.
Hare Krishna
Sudakshna Sharma
Chanting at least 16 rounds Hare Krishna mantra every day is required. Other time hearing Hare Krishna mantra while doing other work is also very good. But does not replace chanting Hare Krishna. For devotees we have to make a vow to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily. This has to be done. So hearing recordings of chanting Hare Krishna, etc, it is all good, but the 16 rounds must be chanted every day. That is the main point. Devotees are always trying to find excuses to not chant 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra. It means we have no taste for chanting Hare Krishna. Otherwise we would be chanting Hare Krishna constantly. So we have to chant at least 16 rounds minimum. Rest of the time certainly doing housework and hearing the Hare Krishna mantra is wonderful.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna. Thank you .
Hare Krishna
A beautiful passage explaining the utility and sanctity of idol worship
With humble pranams
Hare Krishna Professor Balakrishnan
This is NOT idol worship. An ‘idol’ is a representation of something. Like you see in the park they put some statue of a famous man who is now dead. That is an idol. The Deity is not like that. The Deity is not a representation of Krishna. The Deity IS Krishna. To realize this we have to become actual devotees. But if we do become devotees we will be able to see Krishna on the alter, we will be able to talk with Him and He will answer us. So Deity worship is direct and personal worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is NOT idol worship.
The Deity IS Krishna. The deity is not an idol, not a representation of Krishna. It is Krishna worship. Not idol worship.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna. It is often said that it is not recommended to worship Radha Krishna deities at home as they take offense and one can get reactions. It is better to worship gauge nitai deities as they are more merciful. Your comments please. Thanks.
Yrs
Sridama das
Hare Krishna Sridama Prabhu
In Kali-yuga no one can worship Radha-Krishna deities properly. Yes. Lord Caitanya, Gauranga is the Yuga-Avatara, and it is not possible to worship Radha-Krishna without worshiping Gaura-Nitai. So Gaura-Nitai must be there even if one is worshiping Radha-Krishna.
The best thing really is to start with a nice picture of the Panca-Tattva and go to a nearby park like Srila Prabhupada did and have kirtan for 3 hours every day like Prabhupada did at Tompkins Square Park and make some devotees and train them up and when you have like 20 or 30 Brahmanas then you can install Deities.
But you know Prabhu it depends on the devotee. You can not say general things like this. There are householder devotees who are worshiping Radha-Krishna very gorgeously in their homes with very regular deity program going on every day. And this is what Srila Prabhupada wants actually. Not that the deity worship will only go on in the temples. No. The temples are supposed to provide the example and the householders are supposed to follow this example and establish a temple in their homes following all the same standards as Srila Prabhupada established for the temples.
Krishna consciousness is individual and personal. You can not dictate what other devotees can and can not do. Even Gaura Nitai will not be very happy with you if you install Gaura-Nitai deities and completely neglect Them.
Not that you can install Gaura-Nitai deities and neglect them. So one can not make broad statements like this. It has to be seen on an individual and personal basis.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu! Dandavats pranam.
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!
what if you have very small size deities say of 2.5 to 3 inches only, and not able to do proper deity worship throughout the day. Because hard pressed for time as I have to go to office and return only by 7 pm in the evening. Added to this no other family member interested in deity worship as much as I am. However they do attend temple events and festivals regularly and manage to chant on beads.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Yes. Home Deity worship can be adjusted according to the practical situation. You need to establish a regular Deity worship program that you will always follow but it can be simplified. You can get up in the morning and offer mangal aroti and you can offer bhoga aroti in the evening.
Some practical adjustments can be there. But whatever standards you set you need to maintain them and do it regularly and punctually every day.
Hare Krishna
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Thank you prabhuji for realizing me how can we feel and see krishnaji everywhere. I feel that Deity Worship is very important to everyone as i have practically feel that how can we get close to our lord. Once you realized who you are and what is your purpose in this material world you’ll surely get the blessing of Krishna and you will always attained this krishna consciousness life.
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna Padma Malini
We can not feel Krishna everywhere when we are not Krishna conscious. So the way to become Krishna conscious, Srila Prabhupada has written so many books explaining this science, so we need to read Srila Prabhupada’s books, learn the science and become Krishna conscious. Then we will automatically feel and see Krishna everywhere.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dandavat Pranam Prabhu, My father worships kula devta and Mahadev and is somewhat biased. I have installed Radha Krishna idol in temple of our house but he doesn’t want it to be there. Can i keep the idol near tulsi plant outside home? the plant is in the backyard and kindly guide me whether i need to make a shed for the idol or any other requirements. Regards! Hare Krishna
You can not keep Krishna outside!!!
You have to make a very first-class place for Krishna in the house. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is the Lord and Master. He is the owner of everything. He has to have the best place in the house and has to be worshiped as the chief man, the head of the house… You can not put Him in the garden…
You just have to educate your father a bit.
Hare Krishna
Can we keep radha krishna marble idols in home temple?
If yes, what is the appropriate size to keep at home?
Hare Krishna
I am Mohit from Delhi.
Please tell me whether we can keep Radha Krishna marble idols at home?
If yes, what is the appropriate size of the deities to keep at home?
I really wish to bring Radha Krishna Marble idols in my temple and worship them
Hare Krishna☺
Hare Krishna Mohit
Yes. You can keep Them but only if you are properly strictly following the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day and only if you can worship them properly. It means every morning offering Mangal-aroti and dressing, and kirtan, etc.
So if you are properly following the regulative principles and chanting and if you can establish a proper regular worship program that you will continue every day without fail you can establish Radha-Krishna deity worship in your home. Otherwise, if you are not strictly following and chanting or if you can not worship regularly every day, then do not establish.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna prabhuji!!
Accept my humble obeisances,
All glories to guru and gauranga!!!
Prabhuji Im Omkar and I regularly worship deity of laddu gopal and a photo frame of Gaur nitaai…ive been worshipping them nearly for a year…..but I dont know why im getting attracted 2wards gaur gadai and there is desire to worship gaur gadai in core of my heart…..so can I bring gaur gadai deities to my house its not that I hate gaur nitaai or anything but I just looovvvveeeee gaur gadai….so can I bring them 2 my house???
Why not worship Panca-Tattva Picture. Then you will have everyone there…
Hare krishna I’m always waiting for your letter..you explained the bagavadgeetha in a simpler way..you r in a great esteem in my eyes thank you guruji
Pujya Madhudvisadasa,
Hare Krishna,
Thank u so much for giving me so valuable spiritual guidance. I have bhagvad gita as it
is in my mother toung. some times I read.
Is it possible for person like me who is mayik jiva, full of ignorance & ego can go to bhagavad dham/golok?
Jay shri radhekrishna
Prashant
Hare Krishna Prashant
Yes Prabhu. Even us, the most fallen, have got the chance for becoming pure devotees of Krishna by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, Lord Caitanya and Krishna. Actually Lord Caitanya is called ‘patita pavana’. It means the deliverer of the most fallen. So being fallen is not a disqualification. It is a qualification to become the recipient of Lord Caitanya’s mercy…
But we have to follow the process. That is where most of us fail. We do not want to surrender, do not want to serve Krishna, no. We want to serve ourselves, our families, etc. So we have to surrender to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna, otherwise there is no chance of Krishna consciousness. And surrender starts with reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours per day, chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day and strictly following the four regulative principles (no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication)
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I need to ask one question. Almost 2 years ago i got laddu gopal at home. But i was not aware of the rituals we need to perform. So ive never bathed him or offer bhog. So what should i do noq
Now you know you should start doing it… Regularly, every day.
Thanks , I fully agree with you. We can not see even a senior most official at once , we have to go through process and make please few persons, wait long time, need to show decipline too. The other thing his family membre can see him directly at home.
I want to uncover those thing which are covering me ( minute god inside my body ). Think krishna, pray, read materials, sometimes offering, calling, listenig stories. Just clead dust of Mirror.because krishna knows our difficulties too. Our duties also designed by him. Purification is necessary. Even having sex for children also permittable. Thanks
looking for another article,
faithfully
krishna
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa Dasa,
I have been waiting for ur mail for a very long time and at last the mail containing “The Mystery of Deity Worship” was received by me. Thanks for the same. This mail has to a very great extent cleared my doubts as regards worship of Krishna in a Deity Form. It has instilled a great sense of confidence in the worship (pooja) procedure that we follow by worshipping the pictures of the Lord and chanting his stotras and mantras and remembering him in our daily activities. Thanks a lot
with heart felt regards
ramachandra
thanks i already have stone dtities in my home abot one and half feet
hare krishna
dear prabhuji, first of all very thanks a lot for sending me spiritual messages which i feel in my core of heart. i want to ask you few questions and i will be very greatful if you can answer them .
(a) how we got seperated from krishna , was it our will or his will?
(b) doing any kind of prayer is mode of goddness ,like doing krishna arti, reading bhagwad gita ,if it is so then how can we overcome it?
Regards.
Hare Krishna Vikas
We are not actually separated from Krishna. The idea that we are separated from Krishna is maya (illusion). If we can get rid of this illusion we will realize we are not separated from Krishna.
We get into this maya, illusion of being separated from Krishna, by misuse of our limited independence. So it is because of our will. Krishna does not want to see us separated from Him, but he gives us some independence. So it is by us misusing that independence that we appear to be separated from Krishna.
Krishna Arati and reading Bhagavad-gita is not in the mode of goodness. Serving Krishna is suddha-sattva, it means transcendental to or above the mode of goodness. The mode of goodness is material, it is good, but it still generates a material reaction. A devotee does not want to generate material reactions for any material reaction, even good, traps one in the material world. For example if you engage in some mundane welfare work [feeding the hungry, opening schools and hospitals, etc] then the people you feed, educate, etc become indebted to you. So you have to take birth in the material world again so these people who you have helped can get the chance to do something for you to return their debt.
But when you do Krishna Arati and read Bhagavad-gita, and any other service to Krishna, that is a completely spiritual activity, it is above the mode of goodness, it does not generate any material reaction.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu,
You might not remember it, but I’m the 16-year-old whom you gave advice to about a spritual master. I greatly thank you for that.
The doubt I have here isn’t directly related to deity worship, but to SLEEP. You mentioned that the deity must be worshipped 4 a.m. to 10 p.m., which would mean getting 6 hours of sleep, as the Gita says is adequate. But I find 6 hours of sleep isn’t sufficient for me, but 7.5 hours is needed [I want to point out that modern-day science says 9 hours is needed for adolescents]. Nevertheless, I feel worried now. Is this needing 7.5 hours of sleep the bad effect of maya, or is this amount of sleep adequate for my age ? Please respond. Thank you.
You can worship the deity from 4:30 am to 9 pm and take rest from 9pm till 4 am. That is 7 hours. Plenty of sleep for anyone. We have to reduce sleep. Certainly you do not need to sleep 9 hours. It is practice. If you just sleep 7 hours then you will sleep more deeply and feel totally refreshed. Do not worry 7 hours sleep is plenty. Forget about modern science. They have no idea about anything.
If you really need it you can take a rest after lunch for an hour or so. Then you will have 8 hours of sleep. But actually we should not sleep more than 6 hours out of 24. So we have to aim for this. Sleep is maya. For the body we need to sleep a certain amount. In Bhagavad-gita Krishna says we should not sleep too much and also we should not sleep too little. Sleep is necessary for the intelligence to function properly. So not that we can give up sleeping completely. But the great devotees like the Gosvamis in Vrindavan become so busy in serving Krishna they do not have much time for sleep. So they were sleeping not more than 2 hours a day and sometimes even forgetting to sleep 2 hours. But that is not something we can imitate.
6 hours sleep is enough and if you need to then you can sleep 7 hours.
But the most important thing is that you are chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, strictly following the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. Unless you do these things you will not be able to make any progress, and if you surrender to these things your spiritual life will automatically advance and you will automatically sleep less.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu,
I’m sorry for sending the message twice & replying so late. It was because I had been facing some technical difficulties.
I would like to thank you for your response to it. Indeed I will just sleep 7 hours per 24 and try to reduce it gradually. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna Kaustubh
Yes. The main thing is chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day and strictly following the four regulative principles and reading Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day and being completely engaged in devotional service 24 hours a day. We want to become so busy in Krishna consciousness so there is no time for sleeping. That is the way to reduce sleeping. To be extremely busy in Krishna consciousness, no time for sleeping. You know that is what happened to Maharaja Pariksit and all the sages who assembled to hear the Srimad-Bhagavatam. It took seven days to recite and that went on 24 hours a day for seven days and no one felt sleepy at all because it was such interesting information.
So the more we become absorbed in Krishna consciousness the less we will feel like sleeping.
Actually a devotee hates sleeping. He considers it such a waste of time. But still obviously we have to sleep a certain amount to maintain the body. But as our Krishna consciousness increases our need for sleep reduces.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu,
You might not remember it, but I’m the 16 year old you gave advice about a spiritual master. I greatly thank you for that.
The doubt I have now isn’t directly related to deity worship, but to SLEEP. You mentioned that the deity must be worshipped from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m., which would mean getting 6 hours of sleep. Now I know, even the purports of the Gita say 6 hours of sleep is enough, but it didn’t seem enough for me when I tried it quite a few times, as l felt sleepy throughout the next day. I find that 7.5 hours of sleep is adequate for me, even though modern day science says 9 hours is needed for adolescents. Should I be worried that I need more than 6 hours of sleep, which is due to the bad effect of maya, or is the 6 hour regimen for adults only, & 7.5 hours for a 16 year old like me is alright ? Thank you.
7 hours is OK if you make sure that you are chanting at least 16 rounds and reading Prabhupada’s books 1-2 hours a day. But over time you will find that six hours will be enough. It is a matter of habit.
Thanks for the sensible critique. Me & my neighbor were just preparing to do a little research about this. We got a grab a book from our area library but I think I learned more clear from this post. I am very glad to see such wonderful info being shared freely out there. dbkedbeddccd
harey krishna
thank you very much for giving us knowledge regarding this subject ……many of my non-hindu friends used to object our faith regarding deity -worship and finally today i hv got a valid reason to give them.
thank you
harey krishna
Sometimes devotees are afraid to woship the Deity, thinking that they have so many material desires and they are not qualified to worship the deity. This is a mistake. Having material desires does not at all disqualify one from worshipping the Deity.
Hare Krishna.
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Guru Maharaja.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
As I have learnt by attending bhaktivriksh that Deity worshipping is done after Brahman Diksha & if we do Deity worship before that & we do not do any worshiping proper it create dosha that is mistake is not good & our senior do not want us to put us in those dosha & above statement I have taken from your news letter (The Mystery of Deity Worship) sent on 15th / 7 / 2014. which is quite inspiring. So, can you bit elaborate that even before taking brahaman diksha can we do Deity worshipping? and if yes than what is the procedure & rules we need to follow.
Danadvat pranam from das..
Hare Krishna Nailesh
You have to remember that Deity worship is not the yuga-dharma for Kali-yuga. The yuga-dharma is sankirtan. The congregational chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra. We are the sankirtan movement, not the Deity worshiping movement. Of course worshiping the Deity is also important. But it is not the most important thing and actually in this age of Kali no one can worship the Deity completely offenslessly. That is why the Deity worship has to be always accompanied by the constant chanting of Hare Krishna.
It is true of course that having material desires does not disqualify one from worshiping the Deity. But one does have to have the Brahminical qualities to worship the Deity. So one does have to be brahminical to worship the deity. Of course Lord Caitanya and Lord Jagannatha are very merciful. But Radha-Krishna Deity worship is much more serious. With Radha-Krishna the offenses in Deity worship are taken much more seriously.
So being trained up as a brahmana is necessary for Deity worship. That is Srila Prabhupada’s standard. Only those who have been trained up and are qualified as brahmanas can worship the Deity.
But one who is a qualified brahmana may still have many material desires. It does not mean that one is a qualified brahmana and he is free from all material desires. So to worship the Deity we have to become qualified brahmanas. And by worshiping the deity we will realize that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that He is a person, that we can serve Him, that we can have a loving relationship with Him based on our service rendered to Him.
So it is a process and becoming brahminically qualified is part of the process and being brahminically qualified is necessary to worship the Deity…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
hare krishna madhudvisa dasa ji you are rendering a good service indeed pls keep it up question what are the process of installing the diety of krishna in a house and what qualifies a devotee to touch holy things or mysterious things. Yours devotee bakosi
Hare Krishna
The devotees qualification is surrender to the bonafide spiritual master and following his orders. That is all. We have to hear from Srila Prabhupada, surrender to him and serve him. Not that we do what we want to, we have to do what Prabhupada wants us to do. That is the qualification. Surrender.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
jai shree chaitanya mahaprabhu ki.jai shree prabhupada ji ki..
hare krishna prabhu
i want to ask that i use to change the clothes of krishna daily and use to bathe him daily..i chant vishnus thousand names in the morning,then pranam mantras of vaisnavas gurus then 1 mala of hare krishna mantra then in the evening i use to do 4 malas of hare krishna mantras and i have full faith on lord….what i do for lord i thought im doing very less….and i m nt capable of doing it… why that if i will do even 16 malas of hare krishna mantra then also ill think im doing very less for lord… im not satisfied with my bhakti… what to do prabhu
It is good to feel not satisfied with our bhakti. We should always increase it. Read Srila Prabhupada’s books and try to surrender completely. That is the goal. Full surrender and utilizing all our time and energy in serving Krishna under the direction of a pure devotee of Krishna. So feeling our service is very poor is a good way to fell. As soon as we start to feel that we are great devotees then we know we are completely in maya.
Thanking you for providing me the knowledge of deity worship . Now i’m not in dilemma any more
pranam guruji ALL GLORIES TO UR GURUDEV HIS DIVINE GRACE A.C BHKTIVEDANTA SRILA PRABHUPADA
hope you are proggresing fast ,may your mind always render service to srila prabhupada
PLEASE TELL ME is workshipping or offering obsciences to an iMAGE OF SRI KRISHNA DIFERENT FROM THE DEITIES??
your servnt
ananya
Hare Krishna Ananya
Image of Krishna and deity of Krishna are the same. Exactly the same. Both are Krishna.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa-Dasa,
I have a question to ask.
If there are still alot of material desires that are being fulfilled inside the very home that the deity of Krishna in the form of Radha-Krishna or Gaura Nitai [Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda would be placed, will it still be ok to acquire one and put it into my home?
I am asking because it would seem an even bigger sin to have Krishna Deity in the same house that has alcohol or even meat stuff in the house.
Love
Yoshan Nico Oree
Hare Krishna Yoshan
Yes. You are correct. You can not worship the Krishna Deity in a place where meat eating and alcohol is going on. Radha-Krishna Deity worship is not recommended in the beginning.
The best thing is to have an alter with a picture of the Panca-Tattva [Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityananda, Srila Advaita Acharya, Gadadhara Prabhu, and Srivas.] and of Srila Prabhupada, Srila Bhaktsiddhanta, etc, the guru param-para.
Deity worship has to be done daily at regular times. You can not get deities and then not worship them regularly. That is offensive.
This is particularly a big offense for Radha Krishna Deities. Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda are very merciful and do not consider any offense.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu ji
very nice article and very nice job of providing the website of Krishnastore.com.
Very nicely written.
all glories to Shri Krishna ji
all glories to srila prabhupad.
Hare Krishna Prabhu ji
I am an adult and I try ro practise the same as you sais: pujas, mantras, to offer food to the Gods,,etc etc.
With my little kids, I speak about Krishna, Vishnú I chant mantras to them but, is another possibility for apporaching then to the Deity? Does it exist some thing as the baptism in the Christina Religion that give to them some more about I do?
Thanks for sending your e mails! You send me such a nice moments when I read what you sernd me that I live in some special world for a moment!
Hare Krishna!
Nora
Hare Krishna Nora
The process is to chant the Hare Krishna mantra at least 16 rounds a day, strictly follow the four regulative principles (no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication) and to read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. If you and your children can do these things regularly every day then gradually your original Krishna consciousness will awaken and you and your children will understand everything…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Madhudvisa dasa,
Hare Krishna, nice article, I have a small temple at my house and I am doing puja regularly , bathing the deity offering new clothes ornament doing article and offering food whatever food I m preparing for my family ofcourse vagan food to the deity. I have ladoo gopal which is given to me by my mother. I have often felt that bal gopal is smiling at me when I worship him. Yes when we think that god is not a statue but krishna himself than we experience his presence.
Hari Bol, jai shri krishna.
how to manage deity worship, especially if one is a office goer who has to leave home at 7.30 in the morning and returns home at 8.00 pm in the evening
Hare Krishna Vrindatulasi dd.
Yes. The demands of today’s work are rather excessive and heavy. It is not very good, but what can we do? That is the way of the world unfortunately.
In any case we have to get out of bed before 4:00 AM. That is not actually difficult, it just requires a little practice and taking rest in the evening a little earlier. So if you get practiced in rising before 4:00 AM then you can be engaged in Deity worship and chanting japa and reading from Prabhupada’s books from 4:30 until 7:00 AM. So instantly you have an extra two and a half hours in your day and this time covers the Brahma-muhurta which is the most auspicious time of the day for spiritual life. So in 2.5 hours you can nicely worship the Deities: bathe, dress, and offer aroti. Of course you need to do everything very quickly and efficiently. But that is not bad. It is very good to work efficiently in Krishna consciousness. So I think you can do all that in an hour. Bathe, dress, and offer aroti. Then that still leaves you 1.5 hours to chant japa and read something from Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Then if you are traveling to work on a bus or train you can chant japa as you are going to work and coming home. And maybe you can find some time also during the day when you can read Prabhupada’s books and chant more japa.
It is a bit late really, arriving home at 8:00 PM. Because really you do not want to be eating too late in the evenings because you can not digest it really after the sun has set. And it will make it difficult to get out of bed early in the morning. So I do not know. I do not know your situation. If there are others living there with you and if they are devotees also, etc…
If it was me alone I would probably cook kitery in the mornings and offer that to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and put it in a tiffin and take it to work and have that at lunch time and then I would not have to eat in the evening. And in the evening I could offer some fruit and hot milk to the Deities. Like that.
But I do not know your situation. However getting out of bed before 4:00 AM and using the early hours of the morning for spiritual activities is essential. And that is a way of easily getting extra hours for Krishna consciousness in your day.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
One more thing….
I called someone at the Seattle ISKCON yesterday to find out how to install Deities at home and they told me to call back later so I wondered if you might tell me how to install Deities properly.
Thank you
Haribol
Hare Krishna Matthew
Krishna responds to your surrender and service. So ‘installing Deities’ is not a ritual that one can perform and just because you performed that ritual Krishna is obliged to be there in the Deity. Krishna is of course everywhere but He will manifest Himself to you only as a result of your surrender and service. And of course it is not that we can serve Krishna directly. We can get the mercy of Krishna only by the mercy of the pure devotee of Krishna. So to please Krishna you have to please Srila Prabhupada. So you have to be following Srila Prabhupada’s instructions obviously. You have to be chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, you have to be following the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and you need to be reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours per day because it is by reading Prabhupada’s books that we associate with him and hear from him and it is through this reading that Prabhupada will answer our questions and guide us so we can properly advance in Krishna consciousness.
Generally for home Deities it is not necessary to instal Them. You can just worship Them. But the worship has to be very regular. You need to offer them Mangal-Aroti every morning at a regular time and have kirtan in front of Them and offer them very nice foodstuffs at regular times. It is a serious thing, and you have to maintain the worship of the Deities. You can’t stop.
So the main thing is you have to become very fixed in Krishna consciousness yourself and the Deity worship will help you with this because that will force you to get out of bed every morning before 4:00 am and take a bath and put on clean clothes so you will be clean to worship the Deities and it will force you to be regulated because you have to prepare the offerings for the Deities in a very clean place and offer them at regular times. Cleanliness and punctuality are very important in Deity worship.
Of course it is a big subject and I am not a very big expert on Deity worship but you will learn more and more about it as you read Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Krishna will also help you from within your heart. If you sincerely want to serve Him then He will give you the intelligence to do it nicely.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu
I just ordered the Laddhu Gopal Deity. The post office accidently sent HIM to a desert place where there was only one post office and a lot of cattle ranches, no stores or anything. We got HIM back safely and I really love having HIM on my altar, but I haven’t found any prayers or instructions on worship. Someone gave me at the same time a smaller Laddu Gopal with a lot of outfits and fans and such but I don’t know how to dress HIM properly or what HE should wear on different days or such. I did find out which colors to use, but I would like further instructions. I have not been able to find out anything on the internet either. Thank you in advance.
Haribol
Hare Krishna Matthew
As I said in the other message Krishna will give you intelligence how to do everything nicely. The main thing is you have to be very careful that you are actually chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and strictly following the four regulative principles and that you keep yourself very clear and also everything in the alter, kitchen, etc, very clean and that you do the Deity worship in a very punctual and regular way.
As far as dressing the Deities in particular colors on particular days, that differs from temple to temple and is not so important, but if you want to make some standard for your Deities that you will dress them in particular colors on particular days that is good and you can do that for sure.
You should get the Deity Worship Manual:
http://krishnastore.com/deity-worship-manual-from-sri-krishna-balarama-mandir-h-krishna-1783.html
That outlines the standards of Diety Worship as they are performed in the ISKCON Krishna Balarama Temple in Vrindavan. It has one big error in it in regard to offering things to the Deity. We have to offer everything first to Srila Prabhupada and then to the Deities. They say to do it the other way around, but apart from this it is nice and provides all the deity worship mantras and a complete description of the process of Deity Worship.
Of course that is the standard for a big temple and for home worship you may not be able to do everything in that book. But using this book you can set up some practical Deity worship program that you can actually do and maintain in your home.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa dasa ji,
Thankyou for enlightening us and telling the importance of deity worship.
Sonika
Good Luck!!!God to be feeeling fear of offences like in any activity in order to act best properly.Still we therefore worship RadhaMadhava thrue PancaTattva who is in Ocean of causeless merci .Without them our offences would be dissastrous
Hare Krsna Prabhuji,
Dandavat Pranam. Thank you for your inspiring message for deity worship. By the kind mercy of Guru & Gouranga, I have taken to the worship of RadhaMadhav in the form of photo. There’s always an element of fear as regards the apradha. But inspite of being thoroughly placed in material activities, I am trying to stay connected to the Supreme Lord through such measures viz. photo worship, chanting, hearing, getting such inspirational mails from powerful devotees, H G Madhudvisa dasa……..
Thanking You.
most fallen person,
Pallavi
Bhaktivedanta gave us Deity worship so we can associate with godhead he likes our true feeling in the heart our sincerity our service,the lord of the hearts knows us we must attract him with all our love,let us pray srimati Radharani for she is expert in loving him,so we can become experts in this eternal mellow,if we ask for help he listen to us,let us remember always his pastimes and preach always read always to one day really get the transcendental mellow. like always Madhudvisa keep the good bhakti to all dear Vaishnava.
Hare Krishna Prabhuji,
Please accept our dandavat pranaams, Jai Srila Prabhupada!
We are very thankful to you for sending us inspiring posts regularly. we greatly appreciate your kindness.
Hare Krishna!
your servants,
Veeresh & Manisha
Hare Krishna Prabhuji,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Thank you for sending us all the inspiring posts regularly. greatly appreciate your kindness.
Hare Krishna!
your servants,
Veeresh & Manisha
Very nice article, Madhuvisa Dasa. I really like reading your articles and following Srila Prabhupada in being a Krishna Devotee. My family isn’t Krishna Conscious and so, I am practically alone in this, but they are very accepting for the most part and I feel happy to be able to follow Lord Krishna freely without any hardships. My wife recommended I adopt a vegetarian diet and I think vegetarianism is a natural way of eating and drinking. I really like the Krishna Conscious vegetarianism. Try to keep what I can of the vegetarian lifestyle and I will try to offer my vegetarian foodstuffs to Lord Sri Krishna as much as I am able to. Chanting Hare Krishna Mahamantra daily for 20-50 times a day is all I can do, since I have no use for japa-beads. Lord Krishna only gives one what they are ready to take on for devotional service and activities related to such. I read Bhagavad-gita As It Is and keep it simple for now. It would be nice to study the Science of Self-Realization text online in e-book format and read what Srila Prabhupada said in the Interviews, Letters, Additional Texts, and Written Articles by His Divine Grace. Well, I look forward to sharing more as time goes on. Jaya Srila Prabhupada! Jaya Sri Krishna! Hare Krishna!
Hare Krishna Roger
It is very nice to hear about your attachment to Krishna consciousness.
You may find PrabhupadaBooks.com a useful resource for reading and studying Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Thanks for sending me the nice article. I am grateful to you for reminding me about Lord Krishna almost everyday.
Lord Sri Krishna Sankirtana Yanja Kijay!
This problems to explain about Dieties becomes very prominent when one wants to explain it for a soul who claims they are muslims i faith.
M=Muslim
Let me give you some argument I use to ” force” their intelligence to listen!!
Okey Sir!
First of all;For Allah is nothing impossibel isnt it? M;Yes
If one say that something is impossibel for Allah one is a greatest offender
ISnt it? M;Yes
So if You claim God Cannot appear in a a seemingly material form You are an offender ,because You claim to say something is Impossibel for Allah is the greatest offence!!! SO THEN yOU ARE UN OFFENDER!
M;Yes But;;
Okey please kindly wait little: If Allah can do anything He kan Make matter spirituel and at the same time appear in a seemingly material form Because nothing is impossibel!!
By your own statement that Allah can do anything You cannot deny HE CAN DO IT IF HE LIKES!!
M; Yes you are right!! But let say You claim You seen God according to the our scriptures Nobodie live after that They die!!
Ok I agree, but let us examen what die actually means.
After all We cannnot Die because there is a possibility to Go to the eternal paradise and since Nobodie becomes eternal but rather one is eternal erternally what actually only can die is our temporary identity and that is our matereial badily conciusness.
So Yes when one actually seen God Face to Face Your matereial identity is dead because you have developed pure love of The Allmighty Lord Whom is naturally Most attractive wich is in Sanskrit Langued is spelled KRISHNA.
SO IN THIS WAY ONE CAN EASELY PENETRATE ON HONEST SEAKERS INTELLIGENS.
Ihave succeded a few times even with thoose who called them selves muslims.
After thoose above statements are accepted all other argument and knoledge or wellcommed with fully open “doors” to their hearts full eagerness to hear the Nectar of Krishna Katha
Yours eternally aspiring dasa anu dasa Subala.d HkSv
I’ve read some books of Srila Prabhupada, but receiving your letters is very easy to undestand the interesting and esential subjets.
Thak you very much!!
Nora
I have been looking on how to worship Lord Jagannath deities as well as Prabhupada murti (the murti already has clothes painted on). I have looked all over and its all iskcon manual stuff written in the 1990s and on and the few things I do find from prabhupada letters he states the deities should be bathed in mantras (which I do not understand) and etc. Please can someone help me with: How do I bathe the deities and murti? If I even do bathe them? 2: How do I put them to rest and wake them? 3:How to do achaman and what do I chant while installing them? I am getting my deities and murti in a few days. I am scared to commit an a offense and want to do the best I can in worshiping. please someone help me.
Hare Krishna Lex
Please get the Deity Worship Manual from:
http://krishnastore.com.au/deity-worship-manual-from-sri-krishna-balarama-mandir-h-krishna-1783.html
Everything you need to know is there. That is the complete information of the deity worship system at the Krishna Balaram Temple in Vrindavan. So everything is there. For your home worship you may not do everything but you can see what the complete system is and simplify for what is practical in your situation.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
well I got my murti and jagannath deities but been dealing with depression so I put them aside. I havent install them but I was wondering. Do I have to install them so the presence of Jagannath and prabhupada be there? thing is I feel they arent there and as if they are just statues. I want to feel the presence of them there but I am not ready to worship them like a temple. I can only do the morning things but my thing is that I want to know do have to install them. is it better for my spiritual progression rather than not seeing them there in the murti?
Hare Krishna Alex
Krishna responds in proportion to the surrender of the devotee. So if Krishna is not responding to you and you do not feel Krishna’s presence in the murti that is because you have not yet surrendered to Krishna. But you can not surrender to Krishna directly. That is not possible. You have to surrender to Krishna’s pure devotee and by His mercy you can get the mercy of Krishna. You have to follow the process. Chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and strictly follow the four regulative principles: No illicit sex life, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication. And you need to read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours daily, and rise early in the morning before 4:00 am and offer mangal aroti, etc. This the process how to become Krishna conscious and if you are not prepared to accept the process then you will not be able to become Krishna conscious. You have to surrender to this… Otherwise trying to worship deities is not a very good idea. Just get a picture of the Panca-Tattva and Srila Prabhupada and serve them nicely to your best ability and then when you are actually fixed up in Krishna consciousness you can consider getting deities…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I understand what you have written except the last part. I already have my deities (Jagannath and Srila Prabhupada Murti from your store.) If I am not ready for them what do I with them? I havent installed them and I am getting a tulsi plant from a pandit this week. I have not been reading nor have chanted 16 rounds in how long and I have been having doubt in Srila Prabhupada and life. So with that being said I would worship the Pancha Tattva and Prabhupada but what do I do with the deities I have got? they are in my altar but I havent fully worshipped them yet.
Hare Krishna Lex
If Lord Jagannatha has come to me then you have to worship Him. So you have to start chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and start reading Prabhupada’s books again and all your doubts will go away.
Lord Jagannatha is very merciful and He will accept whatever little worship and service you can offer Him. So worship HIm to your best ability and Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva and Lady Subudra and Srimati Tulsi Devi will bless you and give you the strength you need to make further advancement in Krishna consciousness.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
So do I install them or do I just leave them how they are? because I can do the arati ceremony in the morning but at night I am still doubting if I can because of either of work or going out with friends. I was reading somewhere that home installation is not required and only the ringing of the bell and conch blowing calls Krsna in the deities when the ceremony is being held while installing deities you have to do a full temple program
Hare Krishna Alexis
So many people will tell you so much nonsense but the truth is once you call Krishna you can not tell Him to go away. You are His servant and you have to arrange your life accordingly so you can serve Him. It is OK if you can just have a regular aroti in the morning and in the evenings have it only when it is possible according to your schedule. But you have to maintain the regular morning program at least every day. There is no actual formal installation ceremony required for home Deities but that does not mean that Krishna is not there and you can neglect the Deity worship. Krishna is there and you have to worship Him regularly. Of course Krishna is God, He is in your heart and He understands your mind and your situation. So if sometimes there is some imperfection as long as you are constantly chanting the Hare Krishna mantra then everything will be rectified.
Actually in Kali-yuga we can not follow all the very strict rules and regulations required for Deity worship so it is essential that the Deity worship always be accompanied by the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha mantra. But that does not mean that we can be neglectful. We have to worship Krishna to the best of our ability and always try to improve our service.
So it is perfectly OK if you just firmly commit yourself to the morning worship at least for the beginning. But do not believe this nonsense that Krishna will come when you blow the conch and go away when you don’t want to worship Him. If Krishna comes into your house that is your great fortune and you have to worship Him, otherwise that will be an offense. But that worship can be simple and if you just dedicate yourself to doing the morning worship every day and chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and following the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] then Krishna will be very pleased with you and things will advance from this point…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I always love your letters that are sending to me.They are simply wonderful and v.v.enlightening.I wanted to say a BIG thank you to you from the deepest core of my heart.JAI!!
Hare Krishna,
Thanks a lot for this article. It cleared many doubts that I had in mind.
Please accapt my humble obeisances, all glories to Srila Prabhupada
What all do we need to have to do deity worship at home? I would like to know since the closest temple to me is 160 miles from here over a mountain pass.
Matthew
Hare Krishna Matthew
First you start by having a regular morning program every morning in your home where you get out of bed before 4:00 AM and offer mangal aroti to a picture of Srila Prabhupada and the Panca-Tattva and have kirtan and chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and read Prabhupada’s books and first become very fixed up in this program. Then when you are fixed up in Krishna consciousness you can think about Deity worship. Not before.
Srila Prabhupada waited until temples were quite big before installing Deities. He opened temples with a painting of the Panca-Tattva and did not install Deities until the devotees in the temple were very fixed-up in Krishna consciousness and ready for the responsibility of Deity worship.
Everything you need you can get from http://www.KrishnaStore.com
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna,
If persons have material desires, that are not fullfilled then some of them blame Krishna,that He has not fulfilled their desires.In this case How I can give assurance that Krishna will help them?
I am reading Shrimad Bhagavatam but I didnt get 2nd and 4th canto in marathi.So I started reading 3rd canto,I have seen there are lot many changes in my life.The way towards life has changed.I am very thankfull for that.I have also seen The animated series of Little Krishna,It has really captivated me.I will request you,please produce the animated series on Shrimad Bhagavatam.
Thank you very much………….
hi,
i want to insatll a radha krishna deity as i love to spend my time decorating them, talking with, singing songs to them, making food for them whenever i get my spare time…………i have two very small deities but i cannot decorate them accordingly and if if i do they fell down…………what do i do ?????????????
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Radha-Krishna Deity Worship has to be done regularly. You have to offer Them regular offerings at regular times and regular aratis and dress Them regularly.
Generally devotees get up early in the morning and offer Mangal-Arati to the Deities and chant prayers and bathe and dress the Deities and make an offering. It becomes part of your regular daily saddhana and along with chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and following the regulative principles (no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication) you also add your puja to the Deities to your regular daily schedule. Deity worship is not something you do in your spare time. If you want to worship Radha-Krishna you have to make time in your day every day to worship Them.
If you can not do this I do not recommend you get Radha-Krishna deities. You can worship Jagannatha or Gaura Nitai Deities with a more relaxed program. But Radha-Krishna deitiy worship is more strict.
If you feel confident that you can worship them every day in a regular way you can get the deities from http://www.KrishnaStore.com and if you do not feel so confident you can get Gaura-Nitai or Jagannatha deities who will tolerate a more irregular worship program. But still you can not get any Deities and just neglect Them. You have to make them regular offerings, offer them regular aratis and most importantly regularly have kirtan in front of Them.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhuji!
PAMHO
I wanted to ask that how can a sadhak who is not initiated into Harinaam and also Gayatri mantras can worship Deities? what is archan and what is bhajan?
You have to do things gradually Prabhu. If you don’t know what is archan and what is bhajan there is no question of worshiping deities. That comes later. Initiation into Harinam you can easily get from Srila Prabhupada and you have to actually follow his instructions. It is a process, a scientific process, and it takes time and you have to follow it otherwise it will not work for you.
So you have to actually surrender to and follow the basic things like chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and strictly following the four regulative principles and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books very seriously. If you do these things sincerely automatically Srila Prabhupada will give you HariNama diksa. It is not very hard to get if you want it. But you have to follow the process, you have to chant at least 16 rounds daily, you have to read Prabhupada’s books daily at least 1-2 hours, preferably more, and you have to strictly follow the four regulative principles. And you have to follow the instructions that you get from Srila Prabhupada while reading his books. Because Krishna consciousness means devotional service, it means doing some practical work for Krishna. It is not just going to the temple and bowing down and offering some incense. No. Krishna wants us to do practical work for Him and exactly what you can understand as you follow the process more and more.
So Deity worship will come later…
First chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I have a home shrine to Krishna.
I have an Image of Him of which I offer Incense and candles to the Lord.
How else can I serve my Lord?
Thank you.
Alan Nicholoplus
Read Prabhupada’s books Prabhu, they are full of practical instructions how to serve Krishna.
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa dasa,
I pray Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna to help me to more articles in future.
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna
Krishna Hare Hare.
Regards
Hare Krishna Rangaswamy
hare krishna,
iam really sorry whether i can ask such question in this blog,but after reading this article of deity worship,what came in to my mind is about the sex sculptures outside and in top of the temples constructed in india.Dear madam why and for what purpose those sculptures where made in temples because we ourselves go for temple for spiritual purposes only…
People make temples for anything. So the materialists will make temples for worshiping sex. But that is not spiritual, that is material. So we have to find the temples where God is worshiped and go there…
hare krishna,
thanks for such article, I want to read more articles on the various topics of Krishna and enjoy. Please be sending articles frequently and keep me happy.
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa dasa,
Thank you very much for restoring my subscription. I want to read more articles on the various topics of Krishna and enjoy. Please be sending articles frequently and keep me happy.
Regards,
Hare Krishna K.V.Rangaswamy.
OK Prabhu, I will try… Please pray to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna so I can say something worthwhile….
Truly said, Without Sri Guru Prabhupada knowledge getting Krishna would not have been possible. Seeing such great people you also get courage. Jai Jai Prabhupada.
Krishna is our hearts and every where. I would like to spread the word that if people start worshipping krishna they will get rid of the miseries they have in this materialistic world.
Dandvats Pravuji
by seeing such writings i feel like a wave of fresh breeze full of happiness coming for a person rotting for a long time in prison
my life is more detoriated than the worst animal
though my hellish environment will never allow me to engage in serving the Supreme Lord and His shuddha Bhakta
but still reading these newsletters dreams sometimes comes into my eyes….
of once serving Bhagvan and His shuddha bhakta…if not in this birth…maybe in some other birth
Haribol
hare krishna!
First of all i would like to thank u for sending me such important mails,which with time is forming basefor the spiritual life. I carefully read all your mails and try to put it into practice…..but at times i fail. I find myself bound by material world.Today’s mail about ideol worshiip is the best solution in my case…..but i have two small kids to look after… And in this case i ‘m failing to practice krishna concious at times. I deeply feel to practice krishna concious but something is withdrawing me.please guide me
Hare Krishna Poornima
Very good to hear from you. I understand you are busy with your family. To do Deity Worship properly you need time so if you don’t have the time it is better not to try for it, but you can have an alter with a photo of Srila Prabhupada and a picture of the Panca-Tattva and of Radha Krishna and you can worship the photos on your alter just like Deities. Actually the paintings of Krishna are Krishna. So when you make an offering to the painting of Krishna you are offering to Krishna personally. He is there.
So if your life is very busy like this you can set up a simple alter with the pictures of Prabhupada, Panca-Tattva and Radha-Krisna and you can have some daily program of Kirtan before your alter and you can offer all the food you cook in the house on the alter, like this. It takes no extra time and you do not need to find the extra time for bathing and dressing the Deities, etc.
So Krishna is very merciful and understands our position. Raising your children is serving Krishna also. You can raise them as nice devotees of Krishna and that your greatest service.
So do not be disappointed if you thing that sometimes you fail. It is natural. Sometimes we fail. It does not matter. Just so long as we realize we have failed and pray to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna for forgiveness and have a real determination that we are not going to fail again.
No matter how many times we fail we just have to do this. Ask Krishna for forgiveness and the strength to go forward and not fail again. There is an English saying “Failure is the pillar of success.” So we should become stronger through our failures.
Dear Madhudivasa
Hare Krishna Pranams
Diety worship is very well known those days at Srirangam Ranganatha temple where the Archaka used to speak to Lor Ranganatha after the temple hours are closed.
For getting benefits for anytghing first of all belief is very important when performing a job.If one always thinking of Lord Krishna he will speak to the devotee and help him to do good to the society.
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare.
Regards Yours aincerely,
Hare Krishna K.V.Rangaswamy.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
We can not expect to directly approach Krishna and speak to Him. He does not work like that. We have to approach Krishna through his bona fide pure devotees. And if we can get the mercy and blessings of the pure devotees of Krishna by hearing from them submissively and surrendering to them and serving them then if they are pleased with us Krishna will be pleased with us and then we can directly talk with Krishna also.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa dasa,
The article is very clear why Diety worship is recommended at the initial stages to think of Krishna always. If one goes on thinking Krishna he will be fixed in our minds and help us always.
Hare Krishna K.V.Rangaswamy.
hare krsna…..I believe in idol worship but dont feel the need to bathe the Lord nor clean him everyday for i myself am busy with my daily activities…
I find one day the weekend to clean him or her up and also pray with great devotion…I m not a blind idol worshipper. I believe in his divine and spiritual presence everywhere…I feel him in me …I feel he is in my thought and every single breath…His face reflects back in my mind with a radiant smile that evokes a sensational feeling in his devotion. I am Him sometimes for i can see myself. Sometimes i can see him in my kids too…and in my friends…and in my relations….But bad people cannot be Him…They are either demons or creatures….i believe..Lord doesnt mind me not cleaning him up or shutting him inside my cupboard with my daily wear…this is because i am hiding Him from my mother in law…who hates me setting The lord or any other idol in her Holy altar for worship. Lord knows…i ve deliberately shut Him up in my locker….a safe place…I open the doors of my cupboard sometimes for Him to breathe…but he smiles…Never mind…dont worry…You shall have me safe here…i bet…
hare krsna devotee…nalini_muralidharan.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Yes. Sometimes we find ourselves in strange positions.
Krishna knows your heart and He accepts the service you can render to Him.
It is better of course if you can worship Him daily. At least if not physically changing His clothes you can chant some mantras every morning and meditate on bathing Him and changing His clothes. Saddhana means you have to do it daily. You can not just do it on the weekend. At least every day we need to find the time to chant 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
PAMHO
Hare Krishna prabhu ji
Really thanks for this very newsletter i have been discussing on the same topic last month i got many replies but this was simply awesome as it cleared many of my doubts. Again thanks and please do keep up the great work.
haribol
Iam very glad the way you are guiding me spiritually
I really feel when lord krishna himself comes and reside in deity to fulfil his bhaktas wishes and takes and accepts everything offered to him .That is his greatness.All is possible only if he makes possible.
Madhudvisa-dasa Prabhu,
HARE KRISHNA!!!
Please except my humble obeisances.
Thank you very much for sending such enlightening emails. You mentioned that you can arrange everything necessary for Deity worship. Do you also deliver in other Countries except USA ?
Hari Bol.
Gaurav
Yes Prabhu. We can deliver anywhere from http://www.KrishnaStore.com
Hare Krishna Prabhu
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada
Thx for the write up on deity worship. I just need this one doubt clarified. When I am off the altar the deity worship almost stops. I dont chant I dont give personal service and then after 5 to 6 days chanting becomes slow it drops from 16 to 5 thn gradually increases. Even the bhog is stopped. I know I am wrong somewhere here. How to adopt a practice so that service is uninteruptted or even if interupted it restarts almost instantly
Mrs Sudha Mehta
Hare Krishna Mataji
The answer is to not stop chanting Hare Krishna when you are off the alter. It may be a little more difficult to chant at this time. The modes of nature may be affecting you differently but we have to become determined to keep chanting Hare Krishna in any situation. Even if it is difficult. So if you can just force yourself to keep chanting the 16 rounds then everything else will come right automatically.
Krishna consciousness does restart as soon as you start chanting again seriously but the solution to make it uninterrupted is to not stop the chanting of Hare Krishna under any conditions.
Sometimes it becomes difficult to chant Hare Krishna, but we have to become determined to chant Hare Krishna, even if it is difficult.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
HARE KRISHNA,
PRANAM DEAR MADHUDVISA DASA PRABHU JI
Iam very glad the way you are guiding me spiritually
I really feel when lord krishna himself comes and reside in deity to fulfil his bhaktas wishes and takes and accepts everything offered to him .That is his greatness.All is possible only if he makes possible.
THANX
HARIBOL
Ultimatly.Why do we care to much about what other souls path isLike som many people dong so many other things we dont have any interest in.Still we keep performing what we like to do until we are convinced something is better etc.
SO FIRST SAVE OUR SELF. After that we can OUT OF NATURALLY COMPASSION SPNTANYOUSLYU CARE ABOUT OTHERS
Ofcourse we know that attemting to please Prabhupada by trying to inject Bhakti by Vedic knoledge ,in the best form His Books ,is the way and the means to ones own spirituel Purification and development of Love.Because thoose Who give the best Get the best.
My point is Dont be so concerne why others dont take it up so YOU LOOSE your of onepointed focus (ekeha….) to strive for devotional service.
Loook at all the so called sport stars,They are focused by onepointed determination and thats why they can achive amimum within theri area of endevour.This is even mentioned in Nitie sastras ;THAT NO SUCCES CAN COME OUT OF not having WHOLE HEARTEDLY focus.
Harinama eva kevalam…..
As Krishna is His form including sound form since the spirituel world i s absolut we have to expect to be in the situation of Mother Yasoda trying to bind Krishna with her rope of Love.We will ultimate succed but Only after chanting sincerly enough according to Krishna desire to his experiences of pleasure.
It might most possibel be, to chant so much ,that we are exhusted as Mother Yasoda ,and feeeling thus hopeless in the task of trying to be abel to get the taste by our attemt of sincerly trying to chant the Name of the Lord.
BUT;Thou Krishna will never make us dissappointed of rewarding us our desire His personal association with His name ,if if we are also even prepared to struggel ,if nessiary, as much as Mother Yasoda did/do.(since its an eternal pastime thats eternal going on somewhere in some Universe).
b t r y e s s.Subala Hks
Regarding the mysteria of Deitie!!!
Krishna is all Spirituell thus everything that emanated from Him is spirituel.
Since in the Spirituel world we ARE OUR FORMS , so the WHEN ´KRISHNAS FORM APPAERS ITS KRISHNA!!! ;+).THATS ALL.!!!
The reason we see duality its due to Krishnas mystical covering of ahankara..
Krishna can do anything including makes us confused.
Mbwww Subala Hks
Regarding Visnu Worship!!!
Visnu worship is okey and wonderfull BUT it is not based on pure unmotivated UNINTERUPTED DEVOTIONAL service but rather of worship in awe and reverence.
Krishna explains to Arjuna that He as Krishna best friend should worship him as he is standing before him in His Syama coulered twohand form of tribanga playing upon His flutwe.
It is not that the amount of arms makes visnu more important worship its about EEING THE MOST ATTRACTIV FORM AND THUS IN THE MOST ATTRACTIVE WORSHIP =PREMA,SUDDHA BAKTI,PUREST LOVE OF THE PUREST HEART.
So Vrindavens wealth IS THE NECTAR AMRTA OF PURE LOVE THAT THE INHABITANS OF VRINDAVEN EXPERIENCE.Not the external ccircumstances.Still All houses in VRINDAVEN IS BUILT OF Cintamani stones and thus what over they tuch with it willk become what they desire.Some trees even are having diaments as fruits etc.So there is no lack of opulences but the focus is laying of the highest pleasurabel experiences of the puire soul=the pures relation of MUDHURYA PREMA BHAKTI=HIGHEST LOVING EMOTION OF DEVOTION=SUDDHA BAHAKTI.
hi
I found when we are placed in a state that harekrishna mantra comes in to us
when we find tricks of games of the world ,when we become free of attachments to the games that other people have made us confused for years
hi
I see how bhakti or service get result,for years I chanted Krishna mantra without enough interested but now I see all of that has been counted by God because now anytime he wants this mantra comes and we dance with each other
I can get result any work we do for god he counts and consider all.
hi
this hare Krishna mantra seems in one special waves of mind, in one special attitude of heart arise from heart or mind ,seems so many secrets are in this mantra
I know except srila prabhupad other spiritual masters also spoke about this mantra of Jaytania M.
when this mantra comes I feel one deep sense that I like it but it is mixed with one feeling of separation that is kind of special pain.
hare bole
Hare Krishna
why lord krishna chose only India to take birth ?
Why & how this division is created in religion like HINDU , MUSLIM, CHRISTIANITY.
why lord krishna taught only to indians about liberation via bhagvat Gita.
Krishna’s incarnations and empowered representatives have appeared all over the world, actually all over the universe.
Krishna appears or sends His representative whenever there is an increase of the demoniac population and when the religious principles become lost.
He appears and teaches religious principles suitable for the culture of the people in that society.
But Krishna personally appears in Vrindavan, India. Actually the spiritual world descends with Krishna. On this planet India is specially meant for spiritual life and Krishna appeared there. But there are also incarnations of Krishna in other places.
Guruvarya,
I understand that heaven is a bondage with golden chains. Hell is a bondage with iron chains. (Annamacharya). As a Hindu I must strive for the Vishnudham which is over and above the swarg/narak and to where every morning (if at all there is a morning!) the Deities of Swarg and narak go to worship Lord Vishnu. Able to reach the Vishnu dham must be my ideal goal. Why don’t you arouse this consciousness in the minds of enlightened souls?
kumara
hare krishna MataJi,
Please sent me more Krishna NewsLetters. I would love to know more about Krishna.
It’s been a few days that I haven’t recieved any newsletters.
Swamiji,
I simply wish to know why the Land of Krishna is deteriorating fast in faith, action and behavior,despite so much of preaching by end no of spiritual institutions and organisations; even by using forceful web media.
With my humble regards,
drvaishya
Dear Dr. Chandra Sekhar
You question is very important. Why the “Land of Krishna” [India] is deteriorating so fast in faith, action and behaviour despite so much preaching even on the television and on the internet.
It is true. On one hand the morals and standards of the Indian people have never been so low. It is shocking, Indians are taking to illicit sex, meat eating and all other sinful activities so fast and in every way the moral standing of India is now so low and fast getting lower. But at the same time there is a huge increase in the so-called “preaching” by many organisations, even by ISKCON. There has never been so much preaching of spiritual subject matter in India and India has never been so degraded and it is getting more and more degraded day by day.
I can understand your confusion on this point. Why is the preaching not working in India? With so much preaching you would think that Indians would be becoming more saintly, not more sinful.
Prabhu it is because the preachers are not qualified. Unless one is himself free from the sinful activities, unless he is himself free from attachments to the material world, even if he speaks nicely and talks about wonderful spiritual topics what will be transferred to the audience is what is in his heart. Not what he speaks. Almost all of these preachers are preaching for some material benefit. They have material desires to fulfil. They want to exploit the people they are speaking to for some personal benefit. Srila Bhaktsiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur very nicely described this as the society of the cheaters and the cheated.
The preachers are cheaters. They are really not preaching for the purpose of glorifying the Supreme Personality of Godhead and for delivering the pure knowledge of Krishna consciousness to the audience. They want something from the audience to fulfil their own personal selfish desires. So they may speak wonderful philosophy but because they are doing it with an some hidden motive for personal gain their hearts will not be purified nor will the hearts of the people who hear them be purified. Rather everyone’s material desires will simply increase and everyone will become more and more sinful.
This is what is happening in India at the moment. The preachers are sinful and they and the result of sinful people speaking about God is the people who hear them become more sinful. No one can get any benefit at all by hearing from a sinful man.
To find a pure devotee of Krishna is a very, very, very rare thing. We have found Srila Prabhupada, so we must take full advantage of his association. It is insanity to go looking elsewhere for gold when gold is so rare and you already have a mine where there is unlimited gold that you can take as much gold as you want without any effort at all. So get the gold from Prabhuapda. It is so easily available. Don’t bother looking for it elsewhere. Because it is very unlikely that you will find it…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
picture of Krishna is always in my purse and it has made miracles ,no thief close to me even when my purse is open and anytime I am in deep frustration this mahamantra comes to my mind so nicely makes me deeply calm.
gauranga
haribole
so nice is this mahamantra
I love God and i am gratefull for my lessons.
HARE KRISHNA MADHUDVISA DASA.Krishna Name is not different from Krishna himself
.Therefore if someone worship the Name of Krishna is it necessary to worship the Deity?
To worship the name of Krishna means to chant the name of Krishna.
Please chant the Hare Krishna Mantra:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
At least 16 rounds a day.
Then you will naturally want to worship Lord Krishna in the Deity form.
They way you say it, “Does one have to worship the Deity?” Sounds like you feel you are being forced to worship the Deity. And in the beginning it may be like that. But as time goes on and we become more and more purified we will realize that it is Krishna’s great mercy that He has appeared before us in the form of the Deity and has given us the wonderful opportunity of rendering Him personal service.
Please accept my humble obeisances, glories to Prubhupada.
A God unlimited enough to have sung into existence a universe containing an unlimited number of worlds, and an unlimited number of such universes, is unlimited enough to pervade everything and unlimited enough to advent himself into this world as many times as he likes. In Bhagavad-gita He says, “Fools deride me when I descend in human form.” The reconciliation of the world’s mono-theistic religions is therefore a healthy exercise. The mono-theistic religions must agreee in their core terms. The One in Greece must but the same as the One in India, or else we are talking not about one but two. This being said, I don’t know what to do with the Biblical commandment not to make or worship any graven image. Any help for me here?
I want to Know why tilak should be applied on forehead.Can non-vegeterian become a krishna conciouss.I will have to be total veg. Pls advise.
My wife is not interested in satsang.
Hare Krishna Sanjay
Tilak should be applied because the authorities say it should be applied. That is the main reason. Prabhupada says we should apply tilak so we should do it. We need to find the proper authority and accept his instructions. We may not be able to understand all the details of exactly why everything should be done but we need to have faith in the correct authority. If Prabhupada says we should do it then we should do it. That should be enough. Of course Tilak is the symbol of a Vaisnava and when people see someone with tilak on their forehead they remember Krishna. Even if we look in the mirror and see tilak on our own forehead then we remember Krishna and we remember we are supposed to be a devotee of Krishna. Gopi-chandan is also a very auspicious holy substance. The Vaisnava should dress as a Vaisnava, at least with tilak on the forehead and kunti beads [tulsi beads] around his neck.
Devotees are not actually vegetarians. Devotees only eat the foodstuffs that have been cooked by devotees with love and offered to Krishna. So they will not even eat vegetarian food if it is not prepared by a devotee and offered to Krishna. There is an English saying, “You are what you eat.” And that is very true. So a devotee is very careful to only eat Krishna prasadam.
And Krishna only accepts foods made from grains, milk products, vegetables and fruits. So we can only offer foods to Krishna that are prepared from these four groups. So naturally, because a devotee will not eat anything that is not first offered to Krishna, and Krishna will not accept anything that is outside these four food groups a devotee can only eat foods prepared from grains, milk products, vegetables and fruits…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Why a mystery???Krishna is after all every where present so WHY NOT IN THE DIETIE????Everything is Brahmna so when Brahman has the personal form ITS PARABRAHMAN
hi
I am wondering about kind of relation between us and god, Parental, congenital ,friendship, sister and brother and the rest I don’t remember ,but which one is better and how one can find ,the color of her relation with God?I don’t remember in which book of Prabhupad I red about it.?could you tell me.
thanks.
Thanks! Srila Prabhupada had/ have an in my eyes simpel and perfect explination How Krishna appear and enter the Deity. He said. : everything is Brahman and Brahman takes the form of Krishnas feature It is Krishna . My comment: After all In the spirituel world we are our bodie and our bodie is just made of Brahman but in a certain eternal unic way for all of us. Further more Krishna is present every where so why not in the Deity? After all Krishna is all Spirituel so anything that emminates from Him must be spirituel. Its just so when we å covered by ahankara we think this world is just matter. But since anything engaged in Krishnas service regains its spirituel nature . The exampel Prabhupada gave was also how iron kept in fire becomes exactly like fire.
Dear Madhudvisa das
Your very right in what Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami teached us is eternal, it will never fade out for what he teached us is for the soul, the body gets old the earth changes the climate changes but the knowledge that keeps us young is there is his instructions.
Lord Buda Lord jesus All avatars teaching teachings are eternal,no one said stay here and be happy… like a butterfly before being one was a worm, and then cristalized and then this beautiful flying being,that is what Prabhupada gave us spiritual understanding knowledge that will surpass space and time,the problem is really understanding all this knowledge the guide he gave will last for generations and generations and will not fade out.
Love of Krishna is the last goal,till now no one can fit his shoes even if they try them on,but seriuos pure devotees who follow his steps to show us the real bhakti the real love to Krishna we need to grow to mature to spiritual life will be the one s to follow, you are absolutly right in what you are saying.
jay madhudvisa prabhu pamho agtsp is amazing just nowadays i was thinking exactly as you say in your parampara letter everything is perfect this is philosophy as use to say acbsp in his classes i just keep going with my sadhana bhakti never know can become a krpa siddhi by guru sadhu and sastra mercy all glories to your parampara preaching i’m agreed with you nothing change spiritually i try to get there one day agtys dandavats your servant seva das
hi
srila Prabhupad is one of the great teacher of me and he is always in my heart but his teachings is suitable for 10 years ago not for now.If he was alive now he didn’t do what he had told that time, who is recent Prabhupad?
Hare Krishna Asfaneh
You are mistaken. Prabhupada’s teachings are timeless. Krishna consciousness does not go “out of date” like material knowledge. The Bhagavad-gita was spoken by Krishna 5000 years ago on a battlefield in a culture very, very different from ours. Still we can read the Bhagavad-gita today and it is completely relevant to today’s issues and problems.
So if Prabhupada was still physically present today he would still be preaching the same things. “You are not the body, you are the Spirit Soul.” “Krishna is the Supreme Personaly of Godhead. Surrender to Krishna. Chant Hare Krishna.” What else is he going to preach? Prabhupada is simply repeating what Krishna said. And Krishna said it 5000 years ago. And it still has not changed. So it will never change.
That is the difference between spiritual and material. The spiritual knowledge is eternal and permanent. It never changes. However, material knowledge is always changing, changing, changing. That is one way you can tell the difference between material and spiritual. Spiritual does not change. Material is always changing.
Of course Prabhupada would be using the modern technology to spread Krishna consciousness as we are trying to do on http://www.Krishna.org, if Prabhupada was physically present he would also be preaching on the internet for sure. But he would be preaching the “same old message.” Krishna consciousness does not change. The technology we use to present the message may change. But the message must remain the same. Otherwise we have broken the disciplic succession. We have broken the param-para.
Our responsibility is simply to hear what Krishna has said through the transparent via medium of the pure devotee of Krishna, Srila Prabhupada, and repeat the same message to everyone we meet. As soon as we change the message the message is lost, the disciplic succession is broken and we loose all potency to preach and can no longer actually distribute Krishna consciousness.
So the message can never change…
Even the problems in the material world never change. Everyone is still getting old, getting sick and dying, just like they were in the 70’s. There are still three types of miseries: adyadmitic, adhibhutic and adhidevic: misseries coming from the mind, miseries coming from other living entities, and miseries coming from nature or the demigods. These three miseries were there in the 70’s and they are still with us now. Nothing has changed. The problems have not changed and the solutions have not changed. So we should not change the message…
hare krishna
the messages you are speaking about are messages of Mohammad p. too.these miseries are mentioned in Koran and Islamic scripture with details.and different type of chanting is recommended .even the spiritual stories are similar and also we have disciplic succession from Ebrahim P. ,Moses P.,crist P.and Mohhamad P.
but the question is which disciplic succession is related to me .
I feel relation and love to both disciplic succession.
hi
when I praying in Islamic way deeply after that I see harekrishna mahamantra comes to me so deeply,for lord Jaitania it’s not important that I do the fenatic regulations prabhupad has made he is so greater he looks just degree of devotion in any name
Hare Krishna! PAMHO! All glories to my spiritual HH Satsvarupa dasa Goswami. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I am very glad you wrote this article, because this subject has been on my mind for a while.
My (small?) problem is that I have a cat to take care of. My mother brought this cat into the apartment we were living in; at that time she was older and her body was becoming sicker and she really could not take care of him, so I took over. My questions regard having a Deity in the house (we have moved into a house since that time)and how to care for the Deity while having a cat around. [The NY temple devotees – actually the president’s wife – has kindly given me small murti’s in the past to thank me for the donations I send to the temple, but I have kept them in their boxes because I have yet to clean up rooms that my mother used (she left her body last year) to transform into a small temple room].
I am especially concerned about cooking because I handle cat food – the canned or “wet” kind and the dry food (which both consist of meat products). My mother used and brother still uses the stove to cook things and she was not nor is he vegetarian. So I guess that means either I have to clean the entire stove after my brother uses it, which is not really practical and would make me nervous, anyway, to know that I am using an instrument used to cook unmentionables OR I would have to buy a new stove (maybe a convection oven) to use separately to cook any kind of foodstuffs for the Deity.
There is also the matter of where to store bhoga, as I use one of the refrigerators to store large, open cans of cat food. (My brother use the other refrigerator, so that one is ‘off limits’).
And reiterating what I stated earlier, there is still the problem of SHOULD I use my mother’s old bedroom for a temple room or not. The sickness that pervaded her body left her very weak and it was very hard for her to walk. In addition, she stayed in there a lot making a huge mess of food, bodily excrements, etc., so I am not sure the room can ever really be clean enough to use as a temple room. (Do you know of any prayers or mantras to say to help with this?). Anyway, those are my questions.
Again, thank you for writing this article and giving this information. I am not a householder as my brother also lives in the house, but I would like to see if I can make my little corner of the house as Krishna conscious as possible. And thank you for any information and help you can give me with any answers to my questions.
Hari Bola to all the devotees there and around the world!
A most fallen and struggling devotee,
Aditi dd (Teri from NYC)
Hare Krishna Mataji
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
You have to do the best you can in the situation you find yourself in. The most important thing is to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha mantra daily and strictly follow the four regulative principles. Things will change as a result of the power of your chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra, but in the meantime you just try to make your part of the house as Krishna conscious as possible and as clean and tidy as possible.
As far as the Deities if they are Gaura-Nitai you can take them out of the box and worship Them by chanting the Hare Krishna mantra in front of them and offering Them the food that you cook. For Gaura-Nitai as long as you are daily perform Kirtan in front of Them They will not consider any offenses. But if the Deities are Radha Krishna you should not worship them in that situation. For Radha-Krishna it would be difficult. They do consider offenses. It is not so easy to worship Krishna as it is to worship Gaura Nitai. Even though Krishna and Gouranga are the same person, in the form of Lord Caitanya Krishna is much more merciful and does not consider any offese.
As far as the cat, cats don’t live so long, it will die eventually, but you can also try and find some other nice home for the cat. Maybe you can put an advertisment in the paper and say you have a friendly cat that needs a good home, and maybe someone will adopt the cat from you. It is really not very nice to have to be handling the meat-based cat food and keeping it in your refrigerator. It is implicating you in the sinful activites involved in killing the animals, including cows, that are going into the mix that makes up the cat food. So simply for keeping a cat happy you should not do this. Let the cat find another home…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krshna,
Enlighten one thank you very much, my small understanding is growing reading these keshna filled e-mails.HARE KRSHNA,HARE KRSHNA,KRSHNA,KRSHNA,HARE,HARE,HARE RAMA,HARE RAMA,RAMA,RAMA,HARE,HARE
Thank you,Blessed Be. Carmen.
Hello AMIGO Madhudvisa,,das,..hello everyone….
I would like to coment that it would be well come for ALL the devotees around the world to hear all theses 500 hundred recordings iN what ever quality they may be they must be digitalize preserved and benefit the many people that may do…Such as the known videos benefited many people like me to understand in a direct way the knowlegde he left us…..
Srila Prabhupada complet works must be expposed for he is one of Greatest Writers of all times it is previlige to know his translations of the old texts of the krishna understanding…. is not easy…..for many may try but many may get it wrong not only a traslation is needed… but to extract of the scriptures in its the reel meaning hold in Sastras…
only he had the pureness to explain it….in a simple way.
………ALL THIS KNOWLEDGE IS FOR THE REAL EVOLUTION OF THE HUMAN RACE….
………….My humble eternal respects to this Humbe Holy Man…………..
Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada left an important legacy
for all future and present generations….for the human race its so important…
its not just any information…it is really finding out finally the puzzule…of the world the understanding of hiding things…and where you belong…and all things you ignored
………..really finding a beatiful sunrise.
It is the ticket out of the material world….it is the main knowlege human being needs to really be happy and be wise…..all the holy scritures of the world show us the word of god in all his names…not one say stay here be happy
we must prepare We must tracend spiritualy.
Were ever there is a temple in the world it is really also a piece of my spiritual master for when ever he bath the Deity s with yogurth with all the festivity of the moment.
Oferings…incence …Sacret fire …Water…Prasadam …Chants …Cartals….Mercy…. Compassion…. Sacrifice ….kirtans… Joy…..Happiness… knowlegde….YOU made every place a place of joy for the lord for he had arrived to the temple
……… What he give to us pure love of Krishna……..
…..IMAGINE…IF WITH ALL THE KNOW VIDEOS LETTERS AUDIO RECORDINGS TV PROGRAMS ETC had such an influence on young and mature people… in all this information in films audios.. anything thats important to show the world
the complete view of his work here on earth …
….its so important to complete all he s work… so every one knows…what he did …what he said….how he said it …how he felt it ..how he may seem in extasis in Sannasi Spirit all that and recieveing also all his books…He s many master piece s in the world of liturature…. Bhagavad gita…Sridmad Bhagavatam…..Chaitanya Caritmmrita….AND MANY MORE….
i hope the wise men in ISKON …will give a positive a answer…..it may give an impulse to the movent…devotees would be anxios …to recieve extra spiritual information
………like lighting a candale………
..and maybe many more days may devotees join more and work together for the sake of Krishna for the human race for the sake of the Spiritual Master. ……
…….Finally i pray lord Krishna to give us service at his lotus feet…..su amigo….
Dear Madhudvisa Ji,
Please sent me more Krishna News-letters. I would love to know more about Krishna.
It’s been amore than weak that I haven’t received any newsletters.
Thank You hare krishna
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa Dasa ji,
this is my first mail to you,sir thank you for this wonderful mail to me.this is very new for me before reading Srila Prabhupada’s article i know very little about lord Krishna and His worship.I don’t even know Mangla Aarti of Lord Krishna,not even understand the Sanskrit.i read Bhagvat Gita every day in my regional language that is Marathi.sir my question is Can i will be real devotee of LORD Krishna even i don’t know Sanskrit and Aarti?i try to remember aarti, i worship Krishna by chanting His holy name every time as possible.Please sent me more Krishna News Letters. I would love to know more about Krishna.
hi
I still ofer my food to gournitai although you may be don’t verify ofering while I am worshiping mohamad P. too but I wonder how one can find god is satisfy of him ?
I don’t mean krishna because god is the suprim and created krishna and so many ways to him.
thanks
Please say me if there is a temple in France to w<orship Krishna
Thanks a lot!
Madhudvisa-dasa Prabhu,
Please except my humble obeisences.
All glories to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who is very dear to Lord Krsna, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.
Thank you very much for another great e-Mail.
To the doubters – Having a home altar is essential in Krsna Consciousness!
Due to my living arrangements I do not have deities installed. Instead I ordered some very nice pictures, an aroti set, fan, etc. from KrishnaStore.Com and have a very nice altar for worship. If you are fearful of “offenses” this is a very nice alternative. I am not qualified to explain possible offenses, but have been told that I was better off with pictures in my situation. I hope this helps.
Hare Krsna!
Radhe Giridhari dasa (ACBSP)
hi
I remember many years ago I visited a devotee who said we are in foot of god and she has foot pictures of krishna and radha ,and told me we shouldn’t think to other part of krishna,if in this life we can be good in satisfying krishna in his foot it will be great,
do you know about this subject?why we shouldn’t think to hand or heart of krishna?
thanks
hi
as I install gaurnitai I took a bath once a week and put water for them but I saw they are not satisfy then I put my veg. food ,I mean offer the food to them then I see they are satisfy.
lets see it will satisfy real god or not.
hi
Prabhu Ji
Faces of Gour Nitai seems are satisfy,for years I put them a side ignoring them but some of your words in this newsletter caused to pay attention to install them and now they look better,
I just bathed them and dressed them and put some water every day.
that’s not bad.
thank you so much
There is something within the soul so bright, it cancels out all else as all knowledge flows to you by the power and authority of divine love, the heart flame of all creation. Happiness and joy unbridled flow unceasingly into the essence of all things, and all is revealed by the power of the essence of the miraculous power of the “I AM”! Presence forevermore!
Fear as the soul transcends all illusion the mind a blazing firer of infinite happiness. Fear not as you become the GODSELF capable of all things. Fear not!
I say, fear not, for there is nothing to fear, Amen
There is something within the soul so bright, it cancels out all else as all knowledge flows to you by the power and authority of divine love, the heart flame of all creation. Happiness and joy unbridled flow unceasingly into the essence of all things, and all is revealed by the power of the essence of the miraculous power of the “I AM”! Presence forevermore!
hi
In Islam Mohammad says anyone who pray namaz and believe Mohamad as a prophet means she is a moslem and conect to Mohamad Parampara ,now I have question considering I had been for 10 years devotee of prabhupad then I stoped
but
now I am with chanting Hare krishna at night{without it I won’t sleep}and also again I put dieties of Gour Nitai and dressed them and put water for them
is it enough to be conected to lord jaytania?considering I have problem with this way and also considering I have no conection with devotees ,
Actualy I like to be in Mohammad Parampara and Lord Jaytania Parampara both, could I?
Dear ASfaneh!!!
GOD is complete so if you surrender to Lord Caitanya you automaticly please Muhammed the most since Muhammeds goals is to help souls to love The Ultimate only All mighty Lord Whole HEARTEDLY.
Mohammeds goal is not the system or tradition per se but That you actualy develop Pure love for THE ONE AND ONLY LORD.
Your attachments for worship of the saint Mohammed seems to me be a natural inclination to follow the tradition one is used to due to taking your last rebirth into such religous enviroment.
So there IS NO LOSS to focus whole heardedly upon Lord Caitanyas Yuga Dharma sankirtana culture.
We are here to change our attachments to the purest not to keep tight to or tradition JUST BECAUSE THEY are something one is used to without acceptions by pure intelligens.
Still in undevelopment position its also very common that its a gradual development to loose attachments to ones previus lifestyles habits.
Myself I practicly dropped them the day I entered the Tempel(Maybe the power of memory of my previous lifes engements?).And lived so within tempel inviroments for 19 years.Now when Im a little more out of touch some old memory habits pops out but due to my long trainingI can easely recognice their nature and if I so choose deal with properly according to Vaisnava tradition.
So Creation it self STARTED BY SOUND so OUR LIVES CREATION IS ALSO BUILT ON SOUNDS SO IF WE CHOICE THE BEST SOUND OUR LIVES BECOME THE BEST??
DO I NEED TO TELL WHAT THE BEST SOUND IS?
YES:THE LORDS NAME.The Lords name are based upon some of His qualities or due to the totaly of HIS QUALITIES.
IF A PERSON HAVE ALL PERSONAL QUALITIES TO THE TOP MOST DEGREE HE MUST BE ALL ATTRACTIVE.
KRISHNA IS A NAME OF GOD IN SANSKRIT LANGUAGE WICH MEANS ALL ATRACTIV.
Thats why the Greates saints have Choosen that Name as the Ultimate Name of God.
Still sometimes a devotee likes to remeber and associate with the Lord thrue a certain name that express a particular qualitie of the Lord that tha souls at that point of time like to meditate upon as Govinda.Wich kind of is a Favorit names of Gopas and Gopis sometimes due to its memory of seeing Krishna as a “simpel” Gopa.
Sometimes devotees in economical stress call upon the Lord in qualitie of OWNING ALL RICHES AND THUS CALL OUT BHAGAVAN lease help me. etc So since the Lord has unlimited attractiv activ qualities there exist unlimted names of the Lord for all thoose diffrent personal qualities they like to specificly remember THE LORD IN THEIR MEDITATION.
ALL THOOSE QUALITIES ARE THUS REFFERED TO IN THE ULTIMATE NAME KRISHNA.
SO TO CHANT THE MAHAMANTRA IS THE BEST WAY TO PLEASE MUHAMMED AS WELL.
Hope this was to some help.
Yead.S,d
Dear Prabhuji
please accept my humble obeisence, thank u very much for your newsletter about deity worship. got so many new points from your newsletter, it will help me to increase knowledge about krishna and can share the knowledge with my cell members on every wednesday. guru & gaurangas blessings are always with you so that u can continue to send the mails and thru.preaching u r fullfilling one of the main service to Krishna.
kindly continue to send the mail to me. kindly give me details about the orign of shiva & where it is mentioned etc.
your servent
Maha Mantra Krishna das,
Madhura Desh
Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
Hare Krishna
AGTSP, PAMHO…
this article is beautiful, great information… just would like to comment a bit…
It is important that the devotee understand that chanting the holy name of Sri Krishna is the predominant duty of all and the spreading the Harinam is the greatest gift that everyone can give to the world. Ones HDG Srila Prabhupada said “if you are given the chance to choose either the chanting of the holy name of Krishna or The Deity worship, then choose the chanting”. Here it self it is to be understand that the chanting is the most important. Your tongue transform into Mother Yasoda, and the vibration of harinama is Hari or Krishna it self, your body becomes the temple and your heart becomes the asana, your action becomes the arti and upacaras… that what will happen to you when you chant… so chant and be happy…
But as you say deity worship, will creates attachment to Sri Krishna, that attachment is Pure Love…
Haribol!
Your Ever Well Wisher
Dear Madhudvisa Ji,
Thank you so much for sending me Krishna NewLetters.
Hare Krishna
JAYA SRILA PRABHUPAD…MY HUMBLE RESPECTS…IN THE INFORMATION YOU SEND ME OF THE CHANGING OF THE EXACT WORDS OUR SPIRITUAL MASTER SAID IN HIS BOOKS I THINK WE SHOULD ALWAYS RESPECT THE DISIRES OF OUR GURU AND NOT PUT OUR IDEAS.OR TRY TO PUT SOFISTICATED WORDS…OR ENGLISH CORRECTIONS…IF HE SAID LET THE ORIGINAL TEXTS…THATS THE WAY IT SHOULD BE…WE MUST FOLLOW HIS DISIRE FOR ITS KRISHNA S DISIRE…IN A FEW YEARS IT WILL BE BE ANOTHER GITA OR BHAGAVATAM…I ONLY WISH LORD BHAGAVAN KRISHNA PUTS THINGS IN PLACE…AND DEVOTEES WILL FULLFILL SRILA PRABHUPAD S INSTRUTIONS.
HOW CAN YOU SEND A US A GOVARDAN ROCK AS YOU DID IN YOUR FIRST VIDEO….
HOW MUCH WILL IT COST…SENDING IT TO MEXICO….HOPE YOU COULD SEND US INFORMATION SO WE CAN FULLFILL OUR DISIRE….THANK YOU FOR YOUR KINDNESS…FRANCO…….JAYA PANCA TATTVA …JAYA RADHA KRISHNA…JAYA BHATIVEDANYA SWAMI PRADHUPAD.
Dear Madhudvisa Ji,
Please sent me more Krishna NewsLetters. I would love to know more about Krishna.
It’s been a few days that I haven’t recieved any newsletters.
Thank You,
Mahesh.
Hello,
Thank you so much for explaining how to worship.
The text you wrote was very detailed and I think I understood your message.
Development of spiritual senses is a learning process. Each of us will progress according to our owns personal developments.
I likeed very much how you explained the different levels of Krishna Conciousness.
All the Names you put them in order, which makes my investagation of them easy to learn. Thank you, for expressing there arrangement in orders.
The Mystery of Deity Worship, you explain we have to over come our material
senses in order to attain a clear spiritural vision of, The Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Once we have our own Temple we can begin worshiping God, and find forfillment in our life’s perpose. Hence, this peace bring happiness and love to our hearts.
Thank you for taking the time to explain the Mystery Of Deity Worship!
Haribol Madhudvisa prahbu and thanks for the email.
It is very important here to note that maintaining Radhra/Krsna deities is a full time job, has many rules and regulations and that taking shortcuts and missing a few aratrika’s here and there is not only unacceptable but also an offense. So, for those who want to offer their love and devotion to the form in their home but don’t fully know the process or have limited knowledge or time should chose to do so with Caitanya-Nityananda deities as all that is asked for is some water and flowers. In this age of Kali-yuga and here in the western world, very few are qualified to properly worship and maintain Radha/Krishna deities. Buying and displaying of deities for the sake of self satisfaction and fulfillment is Maya. It would be prudent to have a “disclaimer” of sorts on the deity website stating such and/or offer literature on the responsible way to worship and accommodate deities in the home and the rules, regulations and obligations that go along with them.
God bless and keep on chanting,
Bhakta Mike
Hare Krishna Bhakta Mike
Krishna consciousness is a full-time job.
Radha-Krishna Deity worship can be done in the home by a serious devotee. Krishna knows the heart of the devotee. He will not reject the worship of a householder who has the need to go to work daily to earn money to support his family. There are so many instructions by Srila Prabhuapda to the householders how their Deity worship program shoud be established. And this entails all members of the family rising before 4:00 am in the morning, bathing, waking the deities, offering the Mangal Aroti, dressing them, offering them bhoga, chanting japa, reading from the Bhagavatam and taking prasadam. Then everyone can go about their daily duties, the father can go to work, the children can go to school, and in the evening the Deity worship program starts again. The Raja-Bhoga is offered to the Deities in the evening along with kirtan and some reading from Bhagavad-gita. Everyone can take prasadam, later some Krsna Book reading and hot milk, the Deities can be put to rest and everyone can take rest and rise early the next morning.
So if one wants to worship any Deities he needs to be prepared to actually worship Them. It means, as I have written in the article, understanding that Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead has come into his house. Even Gaura-Nitai, actually, They will not be very happy if you just offer them some water and flowers Prabhu. You have not very seriously read Prabhuapda’s books. What makes Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityandanda happy is not flowers and water. It is SANKIRTAN. The congregational chanting of the Hare Krishna maha mantra. You can give as many flowers and as much water as you like but Gaura-Nitai will not be happy with that. They want Sankirtan. So if you get all the family members together daily and perform Sankirtan in front of Gaura Nitai They will be happy.
Also with Radha-Krishna worship, we do not do actually Radha-Krishna worship. We worship Radha-Krishna Deities in the mood of Lakshmi-Narayana, in the mood of awe and reverence. As one would worship a king.
You are right, the standards for worshiping Radha Krishna are higher than the standards for worshipping Gaura-Nitai. But the standards are very high and there will always be some discrepancy. That is the nature of the Kali-yuga. So for Radha Krishna deity worship also it must be accompanied by Sankirtan, the congregational chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra by all the family members morning and evening. Then that Sankirtan will counteract any offenses in the Deity worship.
We have to understand that if we are installing the Deity in our home we are accepting the Deity as the master of the house. So from that point on everything in the house is done for the pleasure of the Deities. So there is no question at all of simply offering water and flowers, even to Gaura-Nitai. If that is all you can offer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead then don’t bother installing any Deities at all.
There has to be daily worship accompanied by Sankirtan and reading from Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita morning and evening by all the members of the household. That is the main element of the Deity worship for either Radha Krishna or Gaura Nitai.
So the summary is that if you are not prepared to actually worship and serve the Deities as the Supreme Personality of Godhead very mercifully appearing in your house [which is now Their house] at least with Sankirtan by all the family members morning and evening then don’t bother getting any Deities at all. Sankirtan is the main thing, not flowers and water.
How can you only offer flowers and water. As devotees we can only eat prasadam. Food that has been offered to Krishna. So you are living in your house. You have to cook anyhow. Why not cook for Krishna and offer to Krishna and then accept the prasadam. How can a householder only offer the Deities flowers and water. The house is Krishna’s. The kitchen is Krishna’s. Everything in the house including the kitchen should only be used for Krishna. So everything that is cooked in the kitched should be offered to Krishna and the Krishna prasadam should then distributed to the members of the household.
And this cooking for Krishna should be done on a regular basis at regular times. At least a householder who has to work can offer something to the Deities in the morning and in the evening and he can take some breakfast prasadam before leaving for work and accept the evening prasadam when he comes home from work.
So Deity worship is for only for those who are serious about serving Krishna in His deity form and who are prepared to organize the family members to perform Sankirtan morning and evening. Even if the family members won’t do this he can worship the Deities and perform Sankirtan morning and evening himself.
So for such a serious devotee he can install Radha-Krishna deities. Krishna knows everything. He will accept the sincere service of His devotee, even if his devotee has to go to work every day to support his family.
Thank you for the nice questions.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
All glories to His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada.
God bless you Madhudvisa dasa
In the Bhagavad-gītā (9.26), Lord Kṛṣṇa states, “If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water, I will accept it.”
In the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa (11.127-140) there is a vivid description of what is required in Deity worship. (Google it!)
There is also a list 32 offenses to be avoided listed in chapter 8 of “The Nectar of Devotion.” The Hare Krsna Songbook for performing aratrika’s and Sankirtana would be helpful
After having lived in for seven years and then “blooped” from a temple I am acutely aware of the “criteria” and standards one must observe if installing deities in the home. (I have a full set of deities but I will be the first to admit that I am not regulated enough to have them installed.) To those who are not prepared or cognizant of the obligations involved, great care and research should be taken on the decision to do so.
Make no mistake though, it is WONDERFUL that you can and do offer deities along with the accecories needed so that those who choose to install them at home have an avenue to do so. But, like many other things, there are pre-requisites. You would not run out and purchase an automobile without first considering such things as gas & oil, parts & repairs, licence, registration, insurance, etc. I sincerly hope that all those who DO want deities in their home will take advantage of your website store and have an eternity of blissful worship.
Hari Bol,
Bhakta Mike
The only thing somebody needs is an photo from his guru! When your are following GaurangaNitai or Their real names Sri Krishna Caitanya Maha prabhu and Sri Nityananda and still with matarial needs the custom is only an photo of the guru, no Sri Murti. And the most of the well known devoty’s dont have money for it, the instructions for this Kali yuga is not deiti worship the people cant not afford it. Also an instruction from Mahaprabhu but who is lisning to his words Murti worship is Vedic sacrify’s Vedic rituals are to expensive, not possible says the real Parampara acarya, and that is Sri Krishna Caitanya Maha prabhu but who follows the Parampara acarya in this ? Who! They wanted to make murti seva (aparadha). The parampara acarya gives his murti personal, read the books but only on a devoty… full of love He spoke likes this the devoty Oh Lord dont go away from me, Sri Caytanya no I cant. Devoty No Lord stay! Tears filling his eyes without you there is nothing left for me. Sri Krishna Caitanya and Nityanande, Yes we stay for a while longer. But later, we go Prabhu Oh no Lord, holding their feets you dont can do that, stay, tears crying, full of dukha dont leave me please! And they stay for a while longer. Again Realy we must go, please! Mercy Lord, stay Lord Nityananda please dont leave my houseç I shall take good care for you, on his knees, tears , What happening from Sri Krisna Caitanya’s his arms comes two murti’s from Sri Krishna Caitanya himself and lord Nityananda, look on this way we are always with you.This is also a instruction his Sri Murti.
Worship is for human & huminity welfare.There id no mystery to investigate.You just remember by heart,the result will be amazing .During 2004 I, my wife and uncle was coming from Mumbai to Amritsar,the train was late by 18 hours,all our food stocks was finished,at 9pm we reached Mathura, there was no food at railway station.I just remember KRISHNA if we were to go hungury at your birth place in this rainy night.After 15 minutes a lady passenger annouced if there is a hungary person he can take food packet from her.i was very thankful for my lord Krishna who believe in simplecity.Please send short & simple message of my BAL GOPAL. Radhe Radhe Radhe SHAM Mila de.
Hare krishna,
Please accept my sincere thanks for all the efforts you take to write about Lord krishna.I have no queries as such,and even if I have one I feel that I may not be able to understand.Therefore the best is to sent a message of chanting mantra HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE.I believe that each individual will realize the difference and change that takes place that cannot be measured.It will be an individuals experience that one cannot explain in words.Many times we encounter such question that what will happen if I do this? Than I would say first you do it and gradually without fail all your queries will be replied on its own accord.
Please forgive me for writing this mail.
Thank you
Yours servant
Gautam buddha,en enlightened soul never beleived in God,is it true?
if yes then why?
How can an enlightened soul remain unaware of God’s existence?
please clear my doubt
this is the quetion which is not allowing to beleive in krishna,i want to beleive him
help me
thanx
Hare Krishna Chetna Prabu,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.I daily get newsletters from Ultimate Self Realization.One of the devotee asked this question and It was answered by Sankarshan Das Adhikari.
The world is divided into 3 parts.Devi Dhama,Mahesh Dhama, Hari Dhama
The present world which is material is Devi Dhama.Our aim is to reach the Spiritual world which is Hari Dhama and between these two there is another world called Mahesh Dhama.People who attain Nirvana which is Bhuddist philosophy reside in Mahesh Dhama.There souls are liberated but no spiritual development.
Hope this helps.
Hemanth
Buddha Himself definitly believed in GOD since Buddha was and IS God Himself who just out socialogical communication reason appaered with the filosofi och Buddha to give shelter to materially suffering people whom yet thou coulndt accept Gods Personal feature.
We or thoose who carefully read about Buddhas talk can forinstance realice that Buddhas speech didnt revealed all that is to be known thrue statesments like this on questions; DID YOU GIVE ALL KNOLEDGE?
Buddhas replay was; by taking some leafs from the ground:is this all leafes?
God or KRISHNA more corectly appaer in all species of life in all diffrent social circumstances to try to inspire the jivatma to try to surrender to Him again.
There is diffrent apparences lika Rama, Narasimha,Lord Sri Krishna Caitantya,Kurma,Matsya, etc
Its staded in Vedas that The Lord appaers as many forms there is vaves in the ocean.
All this appaerences generaslly has a partical purpoose for their appaerance besides their appaeranceas Beeing “just” GOD him self The Allmighty.
Forinstance the particulary reason Buddha appaer was to stop missusing Vedas Animal sacrifices that from the beginning was donne by perfect Brhmanas to proove their actual capacity.They where abel to immidietly traansfere the Old animal Bodie to a Young one. So thus the souls within the bodie was benifitted.
LATER ON AS kALIYUGA PROGRESSED unscrupulous person pretend to be Brahmans and thus conciusly failed for the reason to have the right to kill the animal and eat their meat on the pretence” sorry we failed” so now we better eat hoim up etc
So Gods duty,Krishnas duty is to keep Vedas and Brahmanas grace spotless pure so here therefore decided to appaer to preach Ahimsa=DONT EAT MEAT.
SO A TRUE BUDDHIST SHOULD AT FIRST PROVE HE TAKING BUDDHA SERIUOS BY NOT ATLEAST EAT MEAT AND THUS NOT SPONSORING OR HELPING TO KILL ANIMAL.
Especially notto kill MOTHER COW AND FATHER OXE.
By just tasting a peace of meat of Cow or OXE ONE HAS TO SUFFER AS MANY LIFES AS THE COM HAS HAIR ON HER BODIE.
SO ,SOO SINFULL IS IT IN BUDDHAS EYES=KRISHNAS EYES!!!
THE ONLY WAY TO PURIFY FROM THOOSE SINS IS TO SING THE GLORIES OF THE LORDS NAME ,SPECIFICLY LORS SRI KRISHNA AND EXTRA SPECIAL LORS SRI KRISHNAcAITANYA MAHAPRABHUS NAME AND HIS ASSOCIATES + NEVER MORE EAT MEAT AGAIN.
WE are Going in the school of life and when we actually learned the lesson ACCORDING TO GODS DEMANDS WE ARE FORGIVEN EVERYTHING.
THE LOGIK IS; AS THERE IS NO REASON TO BEAT A DEAD HORSE
THERE IS NOTHING ACCOMPLISHED TO PUNISHED A TRULY REPENTED SOUL.
GODS PUNSHMENT is there to rectify our selfes and when God actuall se in Our heart its so for eternity HE WILL free us from all Bad Karmic reaction
espeically if we taking skelter of a pure servant of the Lord.
Hari Krishna!!
Thank you Prabhu for the wonderful advise.
Prabhu as this is an auspicious month we all vaishnavas are supposed to worship Lord Krishna.
Some of my friends dont accept but when I informed them about the reason behind it they accepted it. But few of my friends who were there at that time were Christian by religion so I asked them to read bible and chant, which they misunderstood and then started the arguments and many thing.
Prabhu I felt really bad. The word “Chant” created havoc for me. They argued saying “Bible says there is no such auspicious month to pray U can pray anytime”
Well thats fine but they also said “Simply chanting or taking God’s name doesn’t make any sense & moreover God himself will shower mercy on the person he wants to. By chanting or praying he will not do anything”
Anyways since I didnt take anything seriously as this is Kaliyuga
I was just observing what His Holy Srila Prabhupada said “That we are here to make a Christian a true Christian, a Muslim a true Muslim”
If I had used “Pray” in the place of chant I think I would not have faced that….
Prabhu I wanted to know how can we make such people understand. I mean
people like those who say “God exists but Our god is d best God because he sacrificed himself and many others………..”
Prabhu please also let me know was I wrong to ask them to worship or pray god or should I ask only a Vaishnava to only pray because he will understand it more easily and probably may accept it too.
Please reply.
Hare krishna!!
hare krishna
as i know that eating nonveg food in not good for human being. i myself noticed that eating nonveg food though tasty at beginning but not pleasurable like vegfood, though we aware of that we are still fond of taking it .
is it necessary to worship god or to go temple when you are in fasting or when you are not taking nonveg food .
what is the meaning of true guru why we need that.
thanking you
with regards
harekrishna
REGARDING WORSHIP OF THE LORD:
Yes its necessairy the Worship the Lord all the time if we want MAXIMUM of self realisation= spirituel awarness=Krishna conciusness wich can also be donne as prayers in the mind etc sravanam,krtanam,Visnu smaranam etc 9 diffrent processes of worshiping the Lord is described within the sastras-Vedic scriptures such as Bhagavad Gita,Srimad Bhagawatam when properly PURELY translated(without even the slightest impersonal contamination) as HIS DIVINE GRACE A.C BHAKTIVEDANTA SRILA PRABHUPADAS BOOKS INDEED ARE.
If we are not offering our Vegetarian preparation we are also eating sin allthou, althou not at all as much as eating somebodies muscels, wich indeed meat eating means.Especially sinfull is to it the meat of the Cow Because the Cow is acting everyday ,i principel all year around, as the extra mum by donating milk to the humans.
Here in Sweden forinstance are cows giving around 50 liters aday ,sometimes, wich means they everyday atleast giving around 50 humanbeeings her own brest milk THUS INDEED ACTING AS A TRUE MOTHER.
Everytime we are eating cheese on pizza,taking ice cream,or butter cakes or butter in subji or butter on chapaties or bread etc or milk or youhurt to our breakfast for cereal etc we are indeed sucking the nippel of the cow like the “babies” of the cows do.
Finally we can also present the fact That the Cow is Krishnas favorit animal so he indeed doesen like the cows to be ill treated(LIKE ANY PERSON DOESNT LIKE HIS FAVORIT PET BE HURTED) at all and if humans still do they are forced to experiences war and other painfull dissasters or cathastrophs as well as horribel deseases.
Today sk humans “worship” the oppisite of GOD wich means DOG.They offer in west manytimes whole hartedly their loving carae for “their” dog and as a reward they take rebirth within such a bodie thems self next life time.Where our hearts love Go we Go .So if we could learn to be inspired to offer ourLove to The Lord we will Go back to Him again or stay here as a preaching saint =Parivrajacarya.
Further more we now that the cows manuer is the best fertiliser for the eart and practicly speaking the best substance(when dryed in the sun) for making fire for cooking upon.
Even Her urin is very healthy to drink for healing certain organic defects( i guess the liver).But even now,the materialistic people have now found its very good for mixing in somekind of green fuel(kind of petrol) for the cars.;O)
So as ong we attacking animals,espeially the COWS A WITH HOORIBEL CRUELTY AND WEAPONS THERE MSUT BE THE KARMIC REACTIONS OF WOR IN HUMNA SOCIETY regardliess how many papers they write on and how many promising the give. THE KARMIC REACTION CANNOT BE STOPPED BY HUMANS WITHOUT STOPPING THEIR BAD KARMIC REACTIONS CREATINED BY THEIR NASTY HARDHEARTED BEHAIVIOR=KILLING SOMEBODIE TO EAT THEIR MUSCELS OR TAKE THEIR FURY ETC.
ITS VERY VERY VERY PRIMITIV AND is totally rejected by the Lord.
OUR FREE WILL , will the Lord never take away from us Because Love cannot exist without Free will and A LOVING REALTIONSHIP WITH THE LORD IS THE ULTIMATE GOAL.
So without the possibility of a Loving relationship with the Lord our existence wouldnt have any purpoose for the Lord.
Thus feree will must be their and thus the karmci reactions must be their so everybodie gradually learns:AS YOU BEHAVE TO OTHER SOULS You will sooner or later be treated under the controll and arrangement of thoose who controlling the distribution of the karmic reactions in the material world such as Durgha etc are doing.
Kartham ……..Vimudha.In BhagvadGita krishna explains;That anybodie who thinks he/she is the doer i the material world is a big big fool=mudha=ass,when in turht our bodies ar forced to act under the three modes of nature according to our karmic burden in “cooperation” with our own desire to try to injy wiothin this material world.
Okey.So to for more information try to read Vedic scriptures by praying to a pure Devotee SRILA PRABHUPADA and you will everyday get more and more wisdom.obtryadas
Regarding the need of a Guru.
According to the scriptures can one not make any advancement without the blessing of a Great Soul.
I think the Story where Durvasamuni offended AmbarishMaharaja when he was fasting is very very instructiv.
Durvasa mini becóme chased by the sudarsana cakra.He tryedto take shelter all overthe Universe from SriBrahma,to Siva and even Visnu BUT VISNU THEN INFORMED HIM:IM NOT FREE TO ACT AS I LIKE IM CONTROLLED TO MY PURE DEVOTEES LOVING DESIRES.
SO if you go and ask Ambarishmaharaja of forgivness I will be (forced) by my pure devotees love to forgive you.
So it is therefor UNDERSTOOD:since Krishna is only controlled by pure devotion and we are not pure devotees, if we can get a Pure devotee to pray for us our spirituel path becomes wide open since a pure devotee is Maha Patita Pavana and Krishna is controlled by their eternal bhakti sakti.
The article is really very inspiring and an eye-opener telling the importance of deity worship in the Hindu culture.
However I could not understand the following mentioned point in the above article very well.
“However all these things are manifest in us in a perverted way because we are in the material world covered by these material bodies made of the three modes of material nature [goodness, passion and ignorance]. These three modes of material nature distort and pervert our original spiritual vision and feelings”
Why is passion being mentioned in a negative way here? Isn’t it that we are to perform our duties sincerely and so perform it with a passion?
In case I have mentioned anything wrong I apologize, it would be out of my ignorance.
hare krishna,
This article is the result of your excellent thinking.
I want more articles from you
Hare Krishna.
I have been reading your article regularly and it is very nice of you to awaken us by this Krishna Consciousness process.I have a doubt and a personal question.I have been chanting,reading,and involved at times in devotional work yet is it is difficult to control senses like example sex and though married you get attracted at sex outside and ut has become difficult to control and occasionally i get slipped.I want to know how to control as my job i am working is not so busy and i am tend to get attracted to Internet,TV and all kinds of rubbish.I want to know I have commited offense and fallen down,how do I stop this as I am not busy and also i realise what i am doing is not right and for some months I am serious and I follow and suddenly my mind goes haywire and i just fall down.Please advise how too control my senses specially my mind.I am not attracted to other thinhs like drinking,smoking or gambling but sex is very difficult to control and how do i atone for my sins.
Thanks.
Regards.
harish
Thankyou Madhudvisa dasa for your input into this realm.
It is much needed to overcome the massive yada yada this Yuga is inadvertantly bestowing upon itself and the Krishna community. I have enjoyed the potency of your writings.Please know you are appreciated and keep writing.
Nadia Das a Disciple of Sri Turiya Das Mahashai in the Lineage of Sri Prabupada
jay madhudvisa prabhu pamho agtsp i’m agreed with you i want buy that including all the dvd of srila prabhupada please tell me how i can pay i don’t have bank account but i have not problem for the laksmi i can buy gaura nitai and jaganath and all the dvd tomorrow i got a temporary altar for the moment where i offer food and prayer thank you for helping me in my devotional service to guru sadhu and sastra please let me know dandavats daso smi bhakta sebastiano
You can also pay by checks and money orders (in $US) at http://www.KrishnaStore.com Just click on the Check/Money Order payment method when you are checking out.
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa Dasa,
I have been waiting for ur mail for a very long time and at last the mail containing “The Mystery of Deity Worship” was received by me. Thanks for the same. This mail has to a very great extent cleared my doubts as regards worship of Krishna in a Deity Form. It has instilled a great sense of confidence in the worship (pooja) procedure that we follow by worshipping the pictures of the Lord and chanting his stotras and mantras and remembering him in our daily activities. Thanks a lot
with heart felt regards
sriram
We don’t FALL in Love, we RISE in LOVE with Krishna 🙂
Good intelligent vision! English is not My native language. I just learn whatever I learned by living with devotees . Sorry!
Sir,
Your Article is very Good.
But the question is how many people are really falling in love for krishna and worshipping him?
99.99% of people are not having love but just doing it as a tool to satisfy their material desires.
Because if we fall in love with krishna, we will no more remember our desires since in pure love we always want to be with our beloved. We just want to be with him.
Even if people pray for their entire life time for the idol of krishna and they are always busy in fulfilling their desires they will never fall into pure love.
If a person’s attitude by his nature is to be in pure love, then he will surely be in it.
If this(People worshipping the idol of krishna) would have been true, then why the number of people who are spiritual(beyond all suffering) are very less in the path of Bhakthi?
I feel personally that for a common man instead of Bhakthi yoga, Kundalini Yoga(Kriya Yoga) will be best fit.
For An intelligent persion Jnana Yoga is better.
For a person who esatblished pure love, then Bhakthi(Idol worship is better).
What is your Opinion?
Krishna guiding all souls according to their attqachment thrue their own choice of experiences to finally realice(AFTER MAYBE BILLIONS OF REBIRTHS) that the highest happines is eternal pure bhakti.
So Krishna doesnt force anybodie but try to show and inspire the individuel soul to finally make the absolut highest and thus most eternal injoyabel Personal relationship with the Lord wich ultimatly means the eternal relationship with Tribanga Krishna in His Vrndaven Pastimes.
But the souls will is free and Krishna eternally respect the free will of the soul.Because TRUE LOVE CAN ONLY BE BASED UPON A FREE WILL ,OUT OF PERSONAL ATTRACTION DONNE, CHOICE.
After all ONE SUN IS ENOUGH to enlightened this World;
similary One Lord Caitanya or/and One Servant like Srila Prabhupada Is Enough to drown this World in the ocean of nectar of Pure Prema Bhakti
Iam not this body, stay attached to god ,do not lie , stay detached from materialistic things ……..
All these things are not easy to follow.If I am staying in this world then how is it possible.If personally I am trying , then this world does not allow’s me to live the way I want to.It is not always that easy to say Oh! God did this,it’s because of my own Karma.
I always get dragged into things that I don’t like.I don’t want to live like this but still I am living without enjoying.
Dear Sir. Thoose who speak about karma did not create the law of karma. They just try to give you a most correct logical explination ,That nothing happends without a cause and its reactions. Thus we Can logicly think: the reason for my suffering is my own made karma. A prisoner with a life sentence most probobly Dont like to suffer the situation they are forced to experiences. He surely also like to injoy life. Similary are we within an kind of jail punishment wich we call the material world . In the Vedic faith the material Creation is Called Durgha wich Can be correct translated : a jail. So our suffering Must have a karmic source wich we our self have created in previus reincarnation by causing others pain and problems. So beeing in jail one should expect tuff times are possibel to appaear
By Gurus merci anyuthiong is Possibel Even o Dog can swim over the ocean then.
So in order to achive this merci one has to develop att desire and motivation to want to serve Guru and Krishna.The most powerfull service is called sankirtana and all thoose service in its connection.
Mayas duty is to , by her powers, force the souls who are rebellius to service to act under her energies such as moode of ignorance pasion and mode of Godness accordance to evry singel jivas Karma account i certain arrange harmoni to our desires to try to injoy this matereial world.
Thus the secret to come out of her controll is to some how or anther develop desire to serve Guru and Krishnas desires.So Thus real devotional service is the tool you need and thus now asking for and thus searching for in order to stop this matereial lifes pussings that actuall just forcebly pushing you around.Otherwice Maya is alloud to push you,me etc, around like a puppets master with the strings connected to some puppets are we alsocontrolled by “Mayas strings” to our material bodies and its all diffrens sences and as well organs activities.
Please accept my humble obeisances, all glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Prabhuji, i dont consider any of us should write or present anything without first offering our respectful obeisances to our saviour His divine grace A C Bhaktivedanta svami Prabhupada. No matter how small or large the presentation may be.
It as become common practice amongst some devotees to leave out obeisances to our Guru maharaja before writing. Were does the empowerment come from without first invoking his mercy and pleasure?
Ys; Kamsahanta dasa
Its just obvius to all of us that we are all merci cases of Srila Prabhupada and thoose rare souls who act as His transparent via media etc.
How can we otherwice at all speak about something else than Krishna!
Prabhupada is the Acarya. I think, nobodie here think they are here out of own endeours.Do you think so? Do you doubt that??
I dont doubt that.I guess thats why Im abel to still remain a attemting devotee.If any of us would dissconnect how could we be at all on this website?
Whom who is controlled by the three modes of nature care about something else than material sense injoyments?.
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.
All Glories to Guru and Gauranga
All Glories to Guru Parampara.
PS.ANOTHER REASON MIGHT BE that we are acting from another position and might just have 5 minutes over to write something ( due to material duties=Varnasramadharma you know???)and thus focus and the writing of glorification one might not have time or loose track to concentrate upon thoos thougts that one carry with him/ her to fast and clearly epress in a text in internet.
So I THINK the MOODE of the heart should be judge not just the formula.
Formulas can even sombies act after AFTER ALL or ? D.S