Hare Krishna Mata ji's and Prabhu ji's
PAMHO!!!
I am looking for a Lord Krishna's Statue for my home. We are renovation our house and I will replace our old temple with that of Lord krishna's statue. Kindly advise what shoud I do with the idols I am haveing of lord shiva, ganesh ji and mata ji... I want only Lord krishna's idol in my temple....I respect all gods and demigods.. no hard feelings.. but plz try to understand what i mean...if m wrong kindly advise.
Secondly I have heard that lords statue should be made of speaking stones only... what is speaking stone..??? and from where i can get it..??? I want atleat 2 or 3 feet tall marble statue...Kindly adivse
And what are the precautions i need to take wile placing lord in my home. Kindly adivse.
Thanking you in anticipation.
Hari Bol!!!
Your humble servant.
Amit Mehra
Replies
radhey radhey prabhuji... as per your question about other demi gods statues so , you either donate them to any temple or any devotee who want them or you can just do visharjen of the deities (not throwing them in any water bodies rather leaving them in any peple tree.
now about the statue , do not bring krishna alone (as krishna alone is brought in form of ladu gopal) moreover keep the size of deity small as they are not for displaying they are for serving and if deities will be small it will be easy for you to carry and serve them in very elaborated form.
now about the pranpartishtha , this depends on you that in what mood are you serving lord if it is as god then do all the rituals done at temples to pran paristh them but if u serve them as your friend , child or any other madhuraye sambandh than their is no need of pran prashitha rather their should be prem prathistha(means lord should always be treated with love) as it is done in vrindavan . (none of the deity is pran prathisthe they all are prem prathisthe bcoz of which they can enjoy various swings and various singhasans for different seasons). in prem pratishtha lord is given the official abhishek (with sodhupchar vidhi) , followed by sankirtan and bhog(including makhan mishri) .
now about the stone , please bring deity of metal as in home doing prem seva or daily seva the metal is very easy to maintain rather than a marble as when chandan applied on marble , it leaves yellow marks on the marble .
i hope you will find my answers as per your requirements . and don't in starting it will take some time but later on seva will become handy and please keep on increasing seva activties time to time as to please the lord atmost.
radhey radhey prabhuji
Dear prabhuji Radhe Radhe
Pranpratistha is mandatory irrespective of our mood and the process one follows (Raganuga , Vidhi)
Pran Pratishtha means infusing life into an idol. Without breath (pran) a human body is nothing. Similarly, an idol is a piece of metal, wood or stone until life is infused into it. This is done through a detailed ceremony by chanting mantras requesting God to reside in the idol. Once this is done the idol becomes deity. Thereafter, it must be bathed, clothed, given ornaments, food, incense sticks and articles of prayer, followed by arti in the morning and evening.
Examples of deities appearing on its own (like Radharaman Jiu , Bankebihari jiu etc to name a few) as found in vrindavan had life already infused in it . But we have to follow their footsteps not copy them.
radhey rdhey prabhuji
i completely agree with you but when lord arrives in thelife of a devotee it is due to his love and devotion lords the lord , aren't it is only required condition for starting the seva . in india (or vrindavan) almost all the houses have lord's seva , in them how many are pran prathisth , may be few only . moreover he is only concerned about our love not the vidhis .
secondly mood is o nly thing which matters as in lack of mood , seva of lord transforms into duty .(and we all know that their is a big difference between dutgy and service)
Hare Krsna to both of you prabhujis,
PAMHO.
I have been reading your posts and I can say that both of you are right. Deity worship has some vidhi attached to it in scriptures. Ideally a deity should be installed with proper vidhi and pran pratihishta, but if for some reason, that is not done, then also there is a way. If one prays to the deity with full vidhi for 12 years, then it is as good as a pran prathishta deity. This was told to me by a priest in ISKCON temple.
Now why vidhi is important. When we pray to a deity - do arati, abhishek, etc. How to do that, is mentioned in details in scriptures. Srimad Bhagawatam has a separate chapter on this where everything is explained in details. In Kaliyuga, following everything may not be possible. Still we try to follow our acharyas and deity worship ministry within ISKCON to serve the deities in what is achievable.
While vidhi is important, it is always secondary to mood/ bhava. At the same time, vidhi is important to develop the bhava.
I hope I have been able to explain.
Haribol,
Your servant,
Radha Rasamayi DD
Hari Bol Amit ji,
It is very nice you want to worship Krishna only. You had idols of Ganesha and Shiva and you wish not to worship them further . Please ensure if they had proper pranpratistha done then they are left for seva from others. Unless you can arrange for their seva in other temple or other devotee you should keep them and serve them. There is no harm in serving them if you seek only Radha Krishna Bhakti from them.
I don't mean to discourage you but It is recommended to have deity made of metal not stone at home.Stone deity is seen mostly in temples. Size upto 3 feet is not recommended if you can't ensure regular timely worship and bhoga at regular intervals on daily basis as you will not be able to take the deities with you if you travel and there is no one to take care of your deity at home . Additionally one should install deity after proper pranpratistha and daily care should be taken three times minimum(though in some places minimim is set to one but it should not be done if you really love them) . If you are leaving to some place and there is no one to take care of your deity(even for one day),then that is seva aparadh. Having a deity at home is like having a baby which needs proper care.
I am aware many devotees out of enthusiasm take deities but after a certain period of time unable to ensure proper care and worship . They go here and there leaving the deity at home unattended. This should not be the case. if one is travelling and there is no one to care for deities then one must carry the deities with them.
Else it is better to worship framed pictures of deity of Radha krishna from any temple or any good painting will also do. It will not incur seva aparadh to that extent. But having deity is a different matter. I do not mean to discourage you. Please keep these things in mind before you take any step.
Note: Shaligrama and govardhan needs no pranpratistha but other deities needs them.
Hare Krsna Krishna Das prabhuji,
PAMHO.
YOu are replying very nicely to queries. Haribol to you.
Haribol,
YOur servant,
Radha Rasamayi DD