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EDITORIAL July 10, 1999 VNN4265 Comment on this story Diety Worship In The Home BY MAHANANDA DASA  EDITORIAL, Jul 10 (VNN) — Devotee reading:"Especially for the householder- devotees, the path of Deity worship is strongly recommended. As far as possible every householder must install the Deity of Visnu,by the direction of the spiritual master, especially like Radha-Krsna, Laksmi-Narayana, or Sita-Rama (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, Damodara, etc., as they are recommended in the Vaisnava Tantras or Puranas). One's family should worship strictly, following the directions and regulation of arcana-viddhi."Prabhupada: Hm. Now, this is the important point. I understand that some of our householder devotees are ordering Deities in India. But here is the point. The point is that they "worship strictly, following the direction and regulation of arcana-viddhi." Don't make a play. If you follow strictly the Deity worship method, then you can establish; otherwise, don't establish the diety worship. It will be an offense. One who is able to manage ... Just like we are showing the example of how to worship the Deity in the temple.. The idea is, as here in temple , our devotees are engaged in the worship of the Deity, similarly, a householder, when all the family members are trained up how to worship the Deity, then they can establish. Not that they make a farce. Cleanliness, and the rules and regulation, that must be there. That is the duty of every ... Actually, the higher castes in India still, everyone--brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya--they must have Deity worship at home. Therefore, in the Bhagavad-gita it is said, sucinam srimatam gehe yoga-bhrasto 'bhijayate. Anyone who is rich in India still, they have got Deity worship at home. Very nicely. A separate house, a small house attached to their big buildings, and there is Deity worship, and the all the members should go there, offer prayers. Just like we are doing, similarly the same thing there. In Kanpur there is one temple, Dvarakadhisa. The temple belongs to a very rich man, Singhania. It is order of the lady, the mother of Mr. Singhania, that "You, all of you, must visit the Deity ." Very rich men, always busy in business. But still, they have to come to the temple and offer respect, take caranamrta and prasadam. Then go to office. If one misses one day, then he will be fined. The head man will be fined ten dollars, and the next man five dollars, like that, according to position. So if one day somebody misses, immediately the priest will go with the bill of fine: "Sir, you have to pay this fine." "Yes. You take immediately." Still there are such rules and regulations. So Deity worship... it is the duty of all householders, this Deity worship. That means automatically all the members become devotees. But it must be done accordingly... there are sixty-four kinds of offenses you'll find for Deity worship in The Nectar of Devotion . For chanting Hare Krsna mantra, there are ten kinds of offenses. But Deity worship, there are so many offenses. These are described. "You cannot sit down before the Deity like this, you cannot yawn before the Deity, you cannot talk nonsense before the Deity." So many things are there. So therefore it is said that "strictly following the direction and regulation of arcana viddhi." So you are being trained up. In India they are trained up since centuries. Their culture is different. They automatically can adopt, immediately. They're being trained up. You are not trained up as yet. You are being trained. So unless you are fully trained, don't establish Deity to make a farce. Devotee reading:...."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. ..." Prabhupada:That is required........ 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. ..." This is Deity worship. Not sleeping up to 9:00 and Deity worship. This is a farce. That is not allowed. That will be an offense. All the menbers must rise early in the morning, just like we are doing in the temple. At 4 a.m. take bath, cleanse, and offer aratrika. That is the beginning of Deity worship. And all the members should be so trained up ... Suppose one is absent for some business, the other members should take it. There will be so many assistants, but the Deity worship must go on very nicely. Then? devotee reading:...'' by performing mangala aratrika, niranjana, arcana, puja, kirtana, srngara, bhoga vaikali, sandhya aratrika, patha, bhoga, sayana aratrika, etc. , engaging 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. The training of devotional service by a neophyte devotee completely depends on the expert spiritual master, who knows how to lead his disciples to make gradual progress towards the path back home, back to Godhead.'' ''One should not become a pseudo spiritual master as a matter of business to meet one's family expenditure, but one must be an expert spiritual master to deliver the disciple from the clutches of impending death. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has defined the bona fide qualities of a spiritual master, and one of the verses in that description reads": sri-vigraharadhana-nitya-nana srngara-tan-mandira-marjanadau yuktasya bhaktams ca niyunjato 'pi vande guroh sri-caranaravindam "Sri-vigraha is the arca, or suitable worshipable form of the Lord, and the disciple should be engaged in worshiping the Deity. The spiritual master is always engaged in the temple worship of Sri Sri Radha and Krsna. He also engages his disciples in such worship. They dress the Deities in beautiful clothes and ornaments, clean their temple, and perform other similair worship of the Lord. I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master." (End) (c) 1991 by Bhaktivedanta Book Trust About the Author  Other Stories by this AuthorComment on this story Contact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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