Srila Prabhupada's emphasis on inviting the Deity to our homes – a closer look.
After more than 29 years of the disappearance of Srila Prabhupada, his International Society for Krishna Consciousness continues to expand and inspire devotes to lead lives centred around The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna. While some of the devotees that constitute the society serve in the renounced order, a majority are carrying on their duties in the grhastha asrama (household life centred around God). Throughout his teachings, Srila Prabhupada has explained and laid great emphasis upon the merits of the process of arcanam – Deity worship, and has especially recommended it for the grhasthas. Thus, going through his teachings to know benefits of this process will greatly benefit us.
DEITY WORSHIP – A NECESSITY
The primary and greatest cantribution of Srila Prabhupada was certainly his establishing the yugadharma of congregational chanting of God's holy names throughout the world. Nevertheless, the fact that he also opened grand temples in almost all the major cities of the world stands out and adds to his glories. He was always eager to provide facilities to the conditioned souls to practise devotional service in association of like-minded people. Otherwise, he knew, they wouldn't have strength to continue on a path, that is called the 'razor's edge' in Vedic literature.Out of his merciful intention to engage one and all, Srila Prabhupada gave us the two rails of paficaratriki-vidhi and bhagavat-vidhi. Srila Jiva Goswami too, says krtayam diksayam arcanam avasyarh kriyetaiva (Bhakti-sandarbha 284) and recommends that Deity worship in the temple be compulsory for the conditioned souls of kali-yuga. Our previous acaryas like Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Sanatana Goswami too, arranged for the construction of grand temples and installed deities of Radha Krsna when a suitable opportunity manifested. When Narada Muni instructed the young Dhruva Maharaja to perform mantra meditation in the jungle, he also advised that Dhruva make a simple deity form and perform arcti-seva.
TRADITION & CULTURE
Traditionally, brahmanas would always worship a deity in some capacity or the other. Most householders would at least have a salagrama-sila at home, to whom they would offer bhoga and worship. Often they would also perform services in one of the large public temples as part of their brahminical duties, which also included such activities as teaching and performing yajna. In the Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition, many householder associates of Lord Caitanya had Deities at home and worshipped Them regularly. Srila Prabhupada deshould understand that the personal Deity is an expansion of the temple Deity, who has kindly appeared out of His mercy.
WORSHIPPING IN OPULENCE
Srila Prabhupada mentions, "We must know that Krsna is present, and as such we must be careful in our dealings, talking and behaviour, as we are present before Krsna directly." [l etter from Srila Prabhupada, May 6, 1968] The Padma Purana, mentions, "arcye visnau sila-dhir … naraki sah" – If someone considers the Deity of the Supreme Lord to be dead matter made out of stone, wood or metal, he is considered to possess a hellish mentality. Thus, since the Deity is Lord Sri Krsna Himself, it is the duty of the devotee to worship the Deity to the best of his ability. An opulent householder can collect luxurious paraphernalia for Deity worship. A householder, if unable to perform worship himself is encouraged to, at least donate the materials to one who worships the Deity. This way he can accrue half of the benefits of worship of the Deity. If someone is unable even to do that then he is advised to at least take darsana of the Deity during His arati ceremony. This will also benefit him. Thus we see that somehow or the other one is encouraged to be connected to Deity worship.
AUSPICIOUSNESS
The sages consisting of Narada Muni and others instruct Vasudeva – "This is the most auspicious path for a religious householder of the twice-born orders – to selflessly worship the Personality of Godhead with wealth honestly obtained." (SrimadBhagavatam 10.84.37) Worshipping the all-pure Supreme Personality of Godhead certainly purifies all. A Bhagavatam purport says – "Engagement in such worship of the Deity, under the direction of the bonafide spiritual master, will greatly help the householders to purify their very existence and make rapid progress in spiritual knowledge." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.22, purport) If someone is fortunate enough to becomes attached to the Deity of Krsna by worship at home, he will develop a higher taste and will eventually fo rget his relationships of so-called friendship, love and society. These references should be treated as incentives by householders and they should install Deities of the Lord at home and begin the process of arcanam. One should also try to engage the family members in this auspicious activity. This will save everyone involved from falling prey to the social evils of modern society like clubs, cinemas etc. which only serve in encouraging the members/ viewers in destructive habits like smoking, drinking etc. All such proclivities detrimental to one's spiritual progress will be forgotten for good if one is engaged in worshipping Deities at home.
CHILDREN GROW UP AS DEVOTEES
The Bhagavatam (5.5.18) declares pita na sa syaj janani na sa syat – "One who cannot deliver his dependents from the path of repeated birth and death should never become a father, a mother . .. " Amongst the many advantages of leading a family life centred around the Deity is one of having a great opportunity to raise one's children in an atmosphere of practical devotional service to the Lord. Children get a chance to take shelter of the Deities by bowing down, chanting, dancing etc from their very early childhood. The Deities become a part of their lives. Children can also be encouraged to help in performing menial services. One can also encourage them to offer the Lord whatever they receive, such as new clothes etc. If a child draws a picture or does something on his own, the parent may have him show it to the Deities. In this way, a child can develop a natural attraction and attachment to the Lord in His Deity form. If a child receives such a pious upbringing, his spiritual credits start from quite early in life. Srila Prabhupada mentions the example of Pariksit Mah araja, who used to worship Lord Krsna's murti right from his childhood. This not only helped him to remain detached in his householder life, but this also helped him to give up all connection with household life when he received death's notice and he immediately left to hear Srimad- Bhagavatam from S rlla Sukadeva Goswami.
FROM PRABHUPADA'S LIFE
Srila Prabhupada himself asked his father for a Deity of his own to worship, at the tender age of six. He had always been enchanted by the thought of wor· shipping Deities of his own, since he had always seen his father doing puja at home. On his request, his father did present him with a pair of little Rad ha·Krsna Deities and from then on , he would first offer to Radha and Krsna whatever he would eat. He would even put them to rest at night. In his childhood days, Srila Prabhupada would even sometimes look at the railway timetable or ask about the fare to Vrndavana and Puri, thinking about how he would collect the money and go there. He also used to celebrate the Ratha-yatra festival in his childhood days. He had his father purchase a used cart and they both restored it, making sure that it looked just like the original carts at Puri When finally, he did celebrate the Ratha-yatra, all the ladies in the n eighbourhood even agreed to provide special preparations so that prasadam could be distributed during his celebration. The Lilamrta mentions – "Although everything Abhay (Srila Prabhupada's childhood name) did was imitation , his inspiration and steady drive for holding the festival were genuine. His spontaneous spirit sustained the eight-day children's festival, and each successi ve year brought a new festival, which Abhay would observe in the same way." (Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta Vol I – A lifetime in Preparation: Childhood) These early samskaras on Srila Prabhupada during his childhood were certainly conducive to his latter role as a powerful , empowered representative of God.
In a letter to Tamal Krsna Goswami in 1970, Srila Prabhupad wrote about his family Deities, "The Radha-Krsna Deity in this family called me to meet Him, and therefore, last time when I was in Calcutta, I stayed in that temple along with my American disciples. Although I had immense opportunities to indulge in the four principles of sinful life because I was connected with a very aristoc ratic family, Krsna always saved me, and throughout my whole life I do not know what is illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating or gambling. So far my present life is concerned, I do not remember any part of my life when I was fo rgetful of Krsna."
Of course, Deity worship should be continued along wit h hearing and chanting. Srila Prabhupada said that the train of bhakti running on the two tr acks of bhagavat-vidhi and pancaratrika-vidhi cannot proceed properly for the neophyte if one of the tracks is missing.
Thus, we see that throughout his teachings, Srila Prabhupada has always given the process of arcanam – Deity worship – a very high priority. In addition to prescribing the chanting of the Hare Krsna mahamantra, He has specially emphasized it for the devotees of ISKCON in the grhastha order. By making his instructions the basis of our Ii ves, we, his followers can give him tremendous joy and satisfaction. It is in this way only that our devotional service will bear it's fruit to us.
Nanda Dulala Dasa, B. Tech(Mech), is part of the BTG India team and serve full time at ISKCON, Mumbai. he also assists in teaching Krsna Consciousness to the youth.