in puja balarama wears peacock feather or crows feathers?

[Guest guest]

Since Madhava Maharaja originally added me as a reciever, I hope that no one

minds me jumping in and making a comment or two.

 

> As far as I can see it is all right to decorate anyone with a peacock

> feather. It does not make them Krsna.

 

It's true that sometimes even non-vishnu tattva devotees of the Lord

occasionally wear peacock feathers. I've not seen any sastric mention of

such a decoration for Krishna in Dwarka and what to speak of Lord

Ramachandra, Nrsimhadev or other vishnu-tattva deities. One may also

consider that there is a good reason why none of the paintings of

Mahaprabhu, done either by ISKCON artists under the guidance of Srila

Prabhupada or by "traditional" vaishnava artists outside of ISKCON, show him

with a peacock feather. Of course that is separate from when he manifests

one in pastimes such as revealing himself as Krishna before Adwaita Acarya

or his sad-bhuj and universal forms. There is also a good reason why Srila

Prabhupada instructed devotees not to offer Gaura Nitai grains on ekadasi,

even though they are vishnu-tattva.

 

> As far as Lord Caitanya wearing a peacock feather, Jananivasa prabhu asked

> Srila Prabhupada if Lord Caitanya could wear a peacock feather, he

> responded, "Of course. Why not? He is Krsna." According to Malati Srila

> Prabhupada told her that Lord Caitanya must always wear a peacock feather.

 

I've heard about these instructions that Srila Prabhupada gave to Jananivas

and Mother Malati. I've always wondered, did Srila Prabhupada ever express

them in writing, or in public, as a clear standard he wanted followed for

all time, for the whole society?

 

> > .. or by pramana, only Krsna gets peacock feather?

>

> There is no restriction on others wearing a peacock feather, just that

> Krsna must always wear a peacock feather.

>

> > I've never seen any iskcon wide standards for this, so in the absence

> > of

> > any standards, people just assume "all vishnu tattva like Peacock

> > feathers".

>

> Based on the instructions given by Srila Prabhupada in his books and

> personal instructions to devotees the above are the guidelines that ISKCON

> Deity Worship Ministry is giving for ISKCON.

 

I for one certainly respect the Deity Worship Ministry mood in this regard.

However, I hope that they don't insist that offering peacock feathers to

Mahaprabhu is an absolute requirement.

 

Without getting into it here, suffice to say there are strong philosophical

and historical reasons not to do so. Reasons, which have impelled most

groups outside of ISKCON (including the followers of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta)

to make "no peacock feather" rules for deities of Gaura Nitai in their

temples and institutions. As you may know, practically 90 to 99 percent of

the temples and pujaris of traditional and ancient deities of Mahaprabhu

follow the principle of not putting a peacock feather on Mahaprabhu.

 

Srila Gour Govinda Swami was very outspoken against putting a peackock

feather on Mahaprabhu. As we are engaged in making publications for him,

I've been asked many times about this point. When I answer, I try not to

disturb anyone. My suggestion is that if someone wants to put a peacock

feather on Mahaprabhu because Srila Prabhupada once gave verbal instructions

to Jananivas Prabhu and Mother Malati to do so, why not? That's certainly a

valid reason. On the other hand if a pujari doesn't want to put a peacock

feather because he doesn't want to disturb Mahaprabhu's mood of being a

devotee, that is also a valid reason. I always tell general devotees that

this is something they should discuss with their local authorities.

 

Again, my humble suggestion is that there should be no absolute mandate on

this issue. Whichever of these two options individual temples and head

pujaris decide on doing should be respected. However, for the sake of

avoiding controversy, I hope that they have a clear philosophical reasoning

that they can offer to the devotees in their temples why they accept one or

the other. Blind following is condemned, but worse than blind following is

blindly legislating others.

 

Vaishnava kripa prarthi,

Madhavananda Das