Help!

[mark]

Haribol.

 

A devotee friend of mine has asked me to look after his deities (Radha-Krishna and Lord Jaganatha, Subadra and Baladeva) while he is on a pilgrimage to Bharat for two months, rather than they be left alone.

 

While feeling very honoured by his trust in me, I am also a little nervous as I do not want to offend the deities, but do not really know how to look after them as well as they should be cared for.

 

My friend said the deities would be understanding and happy with being put to bed of a night time, and then awakened, dressed and offered a little water each day.

 

Could anyone make suggestions about what I could do to take care of them better?

 

I do not have the paraphernalia, time or knowledge for doing a proper arati ceremony each day though.

 

With my chanting, work and family duties I have not much spare time, particularly in the mornings.

 

I would be very grateful if someone could provide perhaps a list of some sort of ‘cut-down’ arati ceremony that I could do each day at some point when time allows to please the deities, as I lack this sort of knowledge. Would I be better off just making a simple little offering of a few flowers or a little water, with what little devotion I have? Should I ever bathe them ?

Please excuse my ignorance!

 

Over the last year or two since I have become interested in KC I have been offering a little water, fruit, a flower and tulsi leaf to a picture of Lord Krishna each day, but despite my friends reassurance I feel that I am not quite ready to look after deities just yet.

 

While not an initiated devotee, I have been trying to follow the 4 regs as best as I can, chant 17 rounds, and have been attending temple usually once a week over the last year, but still feel I am very impure at heart and do not deserve my friends confidence in me.

 

Any helpful suggestions would be most welcome!

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

Mark

[Guest guest]

hare krishna.

 

Just do what you can, that will be good enough.

[Pankaja_Dasa]

 

 

You need Guru to perform archana of Radha-Krishna.

 

 

I am not suggesting you take a Guru.! Anybody can chant, it is sufficient. But when you have Guru He guides you. It's a bona-fide process. If you get go ahead from some advanced Vaishnava then that is another thing. But you would be very rare indeed.

 

Maybe your friend is hinting at you to get Guru, [sorry I am speculating]. ANyway prabhupada didn't accept Guru until 11 Years after seeing Him. Lord Nityananda can help you in that department as He has helped me.

 

Ps. This is not advice, this is just general info which any devotees knows.

[mark]

Haribol,

 

I will do what I can and hope I do not cause offence to the deities staying wih me while my devotee friend is away in Bharat.

 

Hare Krishna

Mark

[Pankaja_Dasa]

 

 

Installed Radha-Krishna diety your going to look after?!

 

If they are you will be causing offence anyway, whatever you do.

 

NB: I would go to the most advanced devotee you know and ask them. Haribol Good luck. /images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

 

[mark]

Haribol Govindaram

 

I don't know if they were installed or not - they are his personal deities he offers service to at home.

 

If I mention to other devotees about this will I get my friend in trouble.. perhaps he should not have given me his personal little deities to look after, and found a real devotee instead. My friend is a full time devotee, very dedicated, and does full time service at the temple I go to, so I assume he knows what he is doing.

 

I guess he did not want them to be left on their own in his empty house with no service whatsoever, and had confidence in me for some reason to look after them with what little love and devotion I have, and thought it would help with my advancement. I would like to be initiated at some point but I am not ready yet.

 

I have been doing the purification bit for my hand with 3 drops of water and saying om kesavaya namah,om narayanaya and om madhavaya namah before waking them from their beds and dressing them, and have then offered flowers and water to each deity every day. In the evening I undress them and put them into their beds.

 

I have only been looking after them for the last 3 days but already I feel different - more love in my heart for Lord Krishna than before. I guess this why my friend asked me to look after them?

 

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Mark

[Pankaja_Dasa]

 

 

If I mention to other devotees about this will I get my friend in trouble..

--

 

No prabhu it is your friend who would be in trouble!

 

I feel inspired by your post. You have much dedication.

 

Maybe they are not installed. Sorry to say I am only going by what I've been told [i don't know any different]. Many devotees tell that Gaura-Nitai worship is okay whatever you do because they don't take any offences. But Radha-Krishna there is so many rules to adhere to. [64 Rules in all]. But I am not sure if everybody can do that anyway?

 

I feel those dieties are maybe not installed. In the diety standard way. Just like Prabhupada Picture is same as Prabhupada [eternally so]. So Radha-Krishna diety is same, but there's some kind of process which invokes them. Then the worship is proper [like it's done in temples].

 

 

[Guest guest]

haribol!

radhe! do the picture form of radha krsna accept offences? i no their worship is not as high standard as deity worship, but i do not have to be strict do i? i actually have paper deities, cut out picture of radha krsna and treat them as deities, but not in the bet way as i do not adhere to all the rules. i am not causing offence am i? i do think it is proper to worship gaura nitai who accept everything, but i cannot just put away mysri radha krsna picture which i treat as deities.

/images/graemlins/frown.gifi am confused

[Pankaja_Dasa]

 

 

In Rupa Gosvami's Lalita-madhava, it is said, “One day Krsna happened to see the shadow of His beautiful form reflected on the jeweled foreground. Upon seeing this bodily reflection, He expressed His feelings: ‘How wonderful it is that I have never seen such a beautiful form! Although it is My own form, still, like Radharani, I am trying to embrace this form and enjoy celestial bliss.’" This statement shows how Krsna and His shadow reflection are one and the same. There is no difference between Krsna and His shadow reflection, nor between Krsna and His picture. That is the transcendental position of Krsna.

64. Krsna's Exquisite Beauty

Nectar of devotion

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami.

__

 

Now, Krsna is there. We have got Krsna's picture, Krsna's photo, Krsna's temple, so many Krsna's. They are not fictitious.

Bhagavad-gita 7.1

San Francisco, March 17, 1968

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami.

++

 

 

Diety worship has so many rules and regulations. That is so I heard one example. That say somebody tells you to do something in your conditioned state you will say no way, why should I do? Just like Krishna says Surrender. So diety worship has rules and regulations so people adhere to them then later, it is much easy for them to do as Krishna is saying.

 

Please research more, on it from advanced devotees. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna.

 

Don't worry, just do what you can.

 

Krishna is a person with common sense. He knows we are not all perfect.

 

It's the thaught that counts and not the actions.

 

So just serve them to the best of your ability and knowledge and don't worry about what others say.

 

Do your duty and leave the result to Krishna, that is the message of the Bhagavad-Gita.

[Guest guest]

i am 16yrs old and also perform deity worship, to the pics of sri radha krsna (sri sri radha gokulananda). i perform simple worship with one main arti followed by darsana arti. in the morning i will clean the whole temple room thoroughly before i go to school. whilst cleaning i will play guruvashtakam on cd. then after school i will offer prasadam of fruit water flowers and tulasi. at 7.00 i start the main arti, first by playing tulasi kirtan, and then performing gaura arti with oil lamp, incense, water. i then play brahma samhita prayers whilst fanning their lordships with peacock feathers.

i then play narasimha pranama and then guru pooja. after this i play prema dhvani and siksastakam.

at 10.00 i put their lorships to sleep with personal prayers and offer them hot milk.

then in the morning i clean away the flowers and tulasi leaves and clean the altar.

every saturday i clean the whole room totally, change the necklaces of sri sri radha gokulanada and clean the deity pics totally. i then apply gopi dots and tilaks with chandan on sri sri radha gokulanada and sri radhe syam. sometimes i bring up one tulasi devi out of the three and offer her arti also, (only when it is warm).

everyday i will chant when i put their lordships are put to sleep as i have a lot of work. /images/graemlins/frown.gif but then read either bhagavad gita, or the travlleing preacher diaries which i have almost finished. i also then listen to kirtans off various sites when i read and chant. i also listen to the daily lectures from sri radhagopinath.com whilst i work.

i perfom all this worship in my room and also offer arti to sri radha gokulananda, sri radhe shyam, sri ladoo gopal(murti form - polyresin) sri sita ram laxman hanuman, sri makhan cora, sri nrsingha, sri panca tattva, and hdg ac bhaktivedanta swami prabhupada. (pic forms)

so all this worship goes on due to me not being able to go to the temple. because i missed temple life so much i brought it to me.

i find that when i perform all this worship i feel espcially devotional. otherwise if i dont, i will not feel 'connected' with krsna, and unengaged with devotional life. therefore it has become an essential part of my life, and without it i feel diconnected.