Hare krishna
what is the difference between worshiping of the photos in home and worshiping of idol in the temple.
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Hare krishna
what is the difference between worshiping of the photos in home and worshiping of idol in the temple.
You need to be a member of ISKCON Desire Tree | IDT to add comments!
Replies
Hare Krsna Prabhuji,
PAMHO.
I have heard HG Jananivas Prabhuji speaking about worshipping at home and in the temple. He says that at home, the lord is our guest and adjusts to our timings of puja and standard of worship. In the temple, it is His home, therefore everything revolves around Him in the temple. Therefore, there has to be a set standard of worship and that has to be necessarily followed in the temple, whereas in the house, it can be relaxed to a certain extent. Especially for followers of pancha ratrika method of worship, temple worship is the standard, whereas households can rarely maintain that standard of cleanliness or level of worship.
The lord has Himself clarified in the Srimad Bhagawatam that He can be prayed as a photo form or a deity made of wood, metal or stone form. Therefore, there is not much difference in either of the forms. In deity form, it is possible to do shringar and engage in more loving exhanges with the lord, therefore, temples have deity form. Generally, the standard of deity worship is higher than that of photo worship, therefore it is advised that deities are worshipped in the house only if a minimum standard of worship can be maintained.
When we are doing worship in our house, it is upto the house members to do the service, whereas when we do the service in the temple, the number of hands to serve are more, therefore it is possible to have more opulent way of worshipping in the temple.
Haribol,
Your servant,
Rashmi
It differs in standards of worship.
Deity form of the Lord we can touch, we can offer different clothes; wash Him with milk, curd etc;
Put Him to bed to sleep; wake Him up from sleep; ...
But with photo we cannot do those things physically however if one had desire then one can do all those things using his or her mind; Mental worship which will be equally accepted by God;
But mentally is little bit difficult and not possible for many of us.
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So difference is in standards of worship; And Krishna reciprocates with us as much as much we inclined to serve and please Him;
Worship with higher standards may give better results, better relationships with Deity or Krishna;
Your servant,
the lord has a spiritual body sat cit ananda vigraha which cannot be perceived by our imperfect senses .we cannot serve that form through our material body .so the lord appears in a way that is perceivable by us .
so one must take extreme care of the deities as one's own loved one .the deities must be bathed ,offered bhoga ,entertained by kirtans ,dressed elegantly ,must be put to rest & so on .so although the lord is independent he in the form of deities becomes dependent on the care of the devotees .this is his mercy in allowing us to serve him .
in this age ,chanting is recommended .but one cannot engage in chanting 24 hours a day .we have to develop taste & attachment for the holy name .
deity worship enhances one's love & attachment for the lord & his name . service increases the loving feelings & reciprocation between the deity & the devotee .
--it is advisable to worship gaura nittai deities at home .because they are more merciful & easily pleased .and they also don't consider the offenses of the worshiper .
hare krsna !
Hare Krishna! An Idol in which prana-pratishtha has been performed by a bonafide Acharya has more divinity of God than the idol or photo in which no pran-pratishtha has been performed. Further, to preserve the divinity of Lord, priests perform pure devotional service of Archa-vigraha day and night. Such a murti has high potential to fulfill the pure desires of worshippers.
When a Kirlian photo is taken of such a murti, we can clearly see the spreading divine aura of Lord.
The divinty of an image or idol kept at our house temple depends on the level of devotional service that we perform. It is better to get the idol of Lord at home consecrated by a bonafide Acharya so that it reciprocates the pure desires of a devotee.
actually there is no big difference between both if the worship is done according to the methods prescribed by guru & sastra .
temple worship is in congregation .home worship is private .home worship is advised for those living far from temple .
But worship needs to be done with guidance of sastra because many people today follow the religious practises blindly .I have a nice story to explain this .
---------------Once a brahmana was making grand preparation for worshiping his deity .when he sat down to offer puja ,his pet cat was causing mischief. Being irritated ,the brahmana tied the cat to a pillar & continued his worship . seeing this the other people of the village thought that 'one must tie a cat to the pillar before worshiping god '.Then every one started searching for cats for worship .thus they were following the brahmana without properly enquiring him about how to worship -------------.
But however Lord Chaitanya has given a very easy process of worship which is also advised in the sastra . simply chant the maha mantra " hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare .hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare ."
thankyou
hare krsna !