ARCANA SEVA
DEITY WORSHIP AT HOME
‘A householder should lead such a life that he gets full opportunity to hear and chant. He should worship the Deity at home, observe festivals, invite friends in and give them prasadam. A householder should earn money for this purpose, not for sense gratification.’ (Srila Prabhupada’s purport to ‘Srimad-Bhagavatam’ 5.5.3)
Every devotee’s house usually has an altar with either the pictures or the Deities of Lord Krishna. It is the center of every home where we offer our worship to the Lord by offering aratis, singing devotional songs and offering bhoga (clean, sattvic food). Depending on your living arrangements and finances, it can be an elaborate set-up or just a simple little corner. The place should be kept clean and the cloth used for covering it or cleaning it should not be used for any other purpose. Also, it should be out of the reach of small children.
“Srila Prabhupada expressed his desire that his householder devotees seriously take up the process of Deity worship in their houses as a practical process of advancing in Krishna consciousness, while simultaneously performing one’s householder duties.” – Deity worship ministry
‘A householder should lead such a life that he gets full opportunity to hear and chant. He should worship the Deity at home, observe festivals, invite friends in and give them prasadam. A householder should earn money for this purpose, not for sense gratification.’ (Srila Prabhupada’s purport to ‘Srimad-Bhagavatam’ 5.5.3)
Every devotee’s house usually has an altar with either the pictures or the Deities of Lord Krishna. It is the center of every home where we offer our worship to the Lord by offering aratis, singing devotional songs and offering bhoga (clean, sattvic food). Depending on your living arrangements and finances, it can be an elaborate set-up or just a simple little corner. The place should be kept clean and the cloth used for covering it or cleaning it should not be used for any other purpose. Also, it should be out of reach of the small children.
“Srila Prabhupada expressed his desire that his householder devotees seriously take up the process of Deity worship in their houses as a practical process of advancing in Krishna consciousness, while simultaneously performing one’s householder duties.” – Deity worship ministry
IN THIS ARTICLE YOU WILL FIND THE FOLLOWING TOPICS DISCUSSED:
- HOW TO SET UP AN ALTAR?
- DEITY WORSHIP AT HOME (DWH)
- STARTING KIT FOR DWH (ARATIS, ETC.)
- OFFERING BHOGA
PICTURES, DEITIES, etc…
HOW TO SET UP AN ALTAR
First, we should choose the right place for the altar. It can be a separate room or a living hall, but abedroom should be avoided. Also, it should not be placed in front of a bathroom or a toilet.
Start with placing a picture of Srila Prabhupada on your altar. Srila Prabhupada can be in one set of pictures with the full acarya-sampradaya or near it (some devotees even have small murtis of Srila Prabhupada). If you have a Guru, then their picture has to be on the left side of Srila Prabhupada’s picture, and it has to be of the same size or smaller than Srila Prabhupada’s picture. Above our own Guru, Srila Prabhupada and the acarya-sampradaya has to be a picture of Sri Panca-tattva (or at least Gaura-Nitai) and Lord Nrsimhadev. Sri Panca-tattva will be always on your left, while Sri Nrsimhadev on your right, if you are facing the altar.
Then, behind Sri Panca-tattva and Sri Nrsimhadev are placed the Deities or Sri Krishna’s picture/or picture of the Deities.
If your altar is just a table of one level, then your own Guru, Srila Prabhupada and the acaryas have to be in the very front, the closest to you; then Sri Panca-tattva/Sri Gaura-Nitai and Sri Nrsimhadev and at the end, behind all pictures — the Deities/picture of Sri Krishna or the Deities.
On the right you can see the images of 2 types of altar for you reference.
PROGRESSING IN SPIRITUAL LIFE
DEITY WORSHIP AT HOME
it is possible to welcome the Deities to your home. It is best to take advice from your spiritual master or mentor in this regard.
DEITY WORSHIP AT HOME
There are two ways in which the Lord can come to you: by your own intention and getting a blessing for that from your Guru (then you can buy the Deities/receive Them_ etc.); or by His own will (when the Deities are gifted to you/any other situation that leads to that). In the case of the latter, it is better to not refuse the Lord and, if it is possible, to warmly welcome Him. But if you are really not able to take care of the Deities, then best is to try to give them to any other devotee. The Deities cannot be thrown away/broken _ etc.
WHICH IS YOUR LEVEL?
THREE OPTIONS FOR DEITI WORSHIP AT HOME
Learn to worship your Deities according to your ability – from the simplest to the elaborate standard.
THREE OPTIONS FOR DEITI WORSHIP AT HOME
Regardless of the level of worship, we should always try to be clean when performing worship of the Lord. That means that we should take a shower, wear clean clothes, apply tilaka, do acamana and offer obeisances to the Guru. Apart from cleanliness, we should also try to increase our devotional mood. Rules and regulations are incomplete without the cultivation of love and devotion towards the Lord.
HOW TO DO IT
ARATI AT HOME
In this VIDEO you will learn how to do arati at home
TURN BHOGA INTO PRASADAM
OFFERING FOOD
Krishna accepts only vegetarian food cooked by devotees and we should always strive to eat only that which has been offered to Krishna and has become prasadam (tmercy of the Lord). In this way we slowly develop our relationship with the Lord as well as purify our bodies and cleanse ourselves of the sinful reactions accumulated over many births.
Bhoga means enjoyment and Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita 3.13.: “The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.”
Food should always be cooked in clean pots that have not been used for cooking non-veg items. We cook this food with love, meditating on pleasing the Lord with our offering and while cooking we do not taste it. Once it is cooked, a portion of it is transferred to clean bowls and offered to Krishna. These bowls and plates should be kept only for Krishna, shouldn’t be used for any other purpose and nobody should eat out of them.
OPPORTUNITY FOR SERVICE!
MANTRAS FOR OFFERING
In the video, you will find the special mantras we chant for offering food to the Lord.
By chanting the Guru´s mantra first, we are humbly requesting the Guru to offer this food to the Lord. We cannot approach the Lord directly, but through the via medium of our spiritual masters.
If you have an initiating Guru, first you chant his pranama mantra and only then the following.
MANTRAS FOR OFFERING
Each mantra is chanted 3 times except for ‘sri-krsna-caitanya-prabhu-nityananda’ (only once)
(1)
First chant 3 times the mantra of your initiating guru.
nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesha-sunyavadi-paschatya-desa-tarine
‘I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who is very dear to Lord Krishna, having taken shelter at His lotus feet. Our respectful obeisances are unto you, O spiritual master, servant of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami. You are kindly preaching the message of Lord Chaitanyadeva and delivering the Western countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism.’
BECOMING PURE
BATHING
As Srila Prabhupada always said: cleanliness is next to godliness.
If you want to start performing Deity worship at home, it is very important to keep your body clean. First goes bathing, then tilak and acaman. All three help us to become completely clean.
BATHING
It is recommended to bathe twice a day: after waking up and at night, before going to sleep. The morning bath, after sleeping, is mandatory.
First you should brush your teeth and comb your hair. After that you can use the toilet and then take a bath. The option of first bathing and then going to the toilet, is compared by Srila Prabhupada to the behaviour of an elephant, which first cleans itself in a lake and then puts dirt on its body. A shower is more preferable than a bath.
During the shower use soap and water. Before you start you can also chant three time… ‘Gange!’ to request Srimati Ganga Devi to be present in the running water.
TO MARK THE TEMPLE OF GOD, YOUR BODY, WITH HIS NAMES
TILAKA
After bathing we apply tilaka on the body.
With the right hand apply tilaka in the following prescribed order while chanting each mantra as soon as the finger touches the skin. It is recommended to apply tilaka with the right finger of your right hand and never use the index finger or your nails to adjust tilaka.
If you cannot wear tilaka in public, (for example at school or a work place or for safety reasons) then you can apply tilaka with water (or the one on the forehead with water, and the remaining ones with chandan paste). Remember, you are not putting on tilaka for others to see (even though it is a very good form of preaching to non-devotees), but for your own good.
A SPECIAL WAY OF PURIFYING ONESELF
ACAMAN
Acaman, or sipping water, is a means of purification. As immersing the body in water brings about physical and subtle cleansing, so sipping water infused with mantras performs a similar function.
You can read more about acaman here
You can watch a video with all the instructions and more inspiring information! (Kindly note that even though the brahmin thread is mentioned there, if you do not have second initiation, you do not need it for acaman).
At 4:09 in the video you will see how to invite Srimati Ganga and all saintly rivers to the water of your acaman water.
