Volunteer
Purpose of installing deities

In New Zealand, as in Australia, Srila Prabhupada had again installed Radha and Krsna. In Sydney, one year before, he had asked Krsna to please take care of Himself if the mlecchas-turned-devotees committed offences. Upon returning, he saw that the worship was going on nicely. Radha and Krsna had then come to Melbourne. Now, Prabhupada had again asked the Lord to come. On his invitation, along with the sound of kirtana, Krsna had been received in yet another simple setting -- a converted room of a rented house in a small suburb of Auckland.

It was Prabhupada's desire that Radha and Krsna be served nicely. Here, as in the other temples in which he had installed Deities, the devotees should be meticulous in following the rules and regulations; they should be clean, and punctual, regularly offering the Deity nice clothing and foodstuffs; and they should never change things whimsically. To this end, Prabhupada was setting the example by worshipping dozens of Radha and Krsna Deities. On every continent, again and again, Prabhupada had called the Lord to come, performed the installation ceremony, and chanted, bathed and dressed Them in blissful devotional love.

As Srila Prabhupada had once explained at a similar installation ceremony in London, Deity worship in the temple meant directly worshipping Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He had now kindly accepted to assume a form which His devotees could handle. "Do not think," Prabhupada had warned, "that we have installed a marble statue. No, we are worshipping Krsna personally."

Ultimately, he had explained, the purpose of installing the Deity was a simple one. "To remain twenty-four hours a day engaged in Krsna's service."


- From "The Great Transcendental Adventure" by HG Kurma Prabhu
E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of ISKCON Desire Tree | IDT to add comments!

Join ISKCON Desire Tree | IDT