arcanaapril 2013

7/28/2019 ArcanaApril 2013

1/13

Arcana NewsISKCON Deity Worship Ministry

April 2013

n this issue

rla Prabhupda onDeity Worship

Mayapur Academy Acvies

Our Donors

Ministry News

An interview withJananivsa Prabhu

Pune Installaon

websites

Deity Worship Ministrywww.deityworship.com

Mayapur Academywww.mayapuracademy.org

Blogmayapuracademy.wordpress.

om

acebookwww.fb.com/MayapurAcademy

contact details

Mayapur Academy

nd oor Caitanya Bhavan

SKCON Mayapur

District Nadia

West Bengal 741313

ndia91 3472 245-480

SKCON Deity Worship

Ministry

[email protected]

Dear Friends

Welcome to the latest edion of the ISKCON DeityWorship Ministry / Mayapur Academy Newsleercoming to you from Pune, Maharastha whereGaura-Niti, Jaganntha, Baladeva, Subhadr andthe beauful r r Rdh-Vndvanacandra werejust installed.

Its been quite a busy three months since our last

newsleer. Weve just nished our 6th semesterat Mayapur Academy, deies were installed inPune, an amazing event, more about that later.There are also upcoming installaons in Bangalore,Dvaraka (New Delhi), and Dhaka and Taragonj inBangladesh, all needing input from ISKCON DeityWorship Ministry.

The GBC meengs this year went for a ring 14

days. ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry presented areport this year that was well received by the GBC.The highlights of the report will be included later.

This is your newsleer so please feel free to writeto with suggesons or comments on how toimprove our service to the Lord, rla Prabhupdaand ISKCON.

Thanks to everyone who gave feedback on the lastnewsleer. Your comments help shape the contentof future newsleers.

Hope you like the newsleer.

Look forward to hearing more from you all soon.

Your servant,Nsiha Kavaca Dsa

[email protected]


2/13

upcoming dates in Mayapur

Visnu Masa

April 14

Tulasi Jala Dan begins (til May 14)

April 15

Sri Ramanujacarya Appearance

April 20

Rama Navami. Fasting for

Appearance of Lord Sri

Ramacandra

April 22

Fasting for Kamada Ekadasi

April 23

Damanakaropana Dvadasi

April 25

Sri Balarama Rasayatra

Sri Krsna Vasanta Rasa

Sri Vamsivadana Thakura

Appearance

Sri Syamananda Prabhu

Appearance

Madhusudana Masa

May 2

Sri Abhirama ThakuraDisappearance

May 4

Srila Vrndavana Dasa Thakura

Disappearance

May 6

Paksa vardhini Mahadvadasi

Fasting for Varuthini Ekadasi

May 9

Sri Gadadhara Pandita

Appearance

May 13

Aksaya Trtiya. Candana Yatra

starts (for 21 days)

May 17

Jahnu Saptami

May 19

Srimati Sita Devi (consort of Lord

Sri Rama) Appearance

Sri Madhu Pandita Disappearance Srimati Jahnava Devi Appearance

May 21

Fasting for Mohini Ekadasi

rla Prabhupda on Deity Worship

One thing though, the deity worship must be completely pure in terms ofcleanliness and punctuality, otherwise there will be some oense.

Leer to: Sri Govinda -- Calcua 31 January, 1973

...Deity worship should be pracced by everyone. That cleanses thecontaminated body very nicely. It is really the custom that before enteringone must be cleansed and bathe himself regularly.

Leer to: Hamsaduta -- San Francisco 19 September, 1968

Deity worship means to be very, very clean. You should try to bathe twicedaily. The Deies should never be approached without having bathed rstand changed to clean cloths aer passing stool, etc. Keep teeth brushed

aer each meal, ngernails clean and trim. Be sure that your hands areclean before touching anything on the altar or the Deies. And cleansethe Deity room, altar and oor daily thoroughly. Shine the various Aratrikparaphernalia aer Aratrik. This is described in the booklet for pujariswrien by Silava Dasi. The idea is summit cleanliness -- that will sasfyKrsna.

Leer to: Rukmini -- Los Angeles 20 March, 1970

The temple and altar should always be very clean and decorated withowers and incense. We shall touch the Deity altar and Deity in very cleancondion, aer taking bath and washing mouth nicely. Pracce washinghands aer eang and wash with soap and water aer toilet. Cleanlinessis next to Godliness, so this point should be very carefully observed,then you will advance very quickly to the perfeconal stage of KrishnaConsciousness.

Leer to: Kancanbala -- Los Angeles 20 April, 1970


3/13

coming dates in Mayapur

ay 22

Rukmini Dvadasi

ay 23

Sri Jayananda Prabhu

Disappearance

ay 24

Nrsimha Caturdasi: Appearance of

Lord Nrsimhadeva (Fast today)

ay 25

Krsna Phula Dola, Salila Vihara

Sri Paramesvari Dasa Thakura

Disappearance

Sri Sri Radha-Ramana Devaji

Appearance

Sri Madhavendra Puri Appearance

Sri Srinivasa Acarya Appearance

ivikrama Masa

ay 29

Sri Ramananda Raya Disappearance

ne 4

Fasting for Apara Ekadasi

ne 5

Srila Vrndavana Dasa Thakura

Appearance

ne 19

Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana

Disappearance

Ganga Puja

Srimati Gangamata Gosvamini

Appearance

ne 20

Trisprsa Mahadvadasi

Fasting for Pandava Nirjala Ekadasi

ne 21Panihati Cida Dahi Utsava

ne 23

Snana Yatra

Sri Mukunda Datta Disappearance

Sri Sridhara Pandita Disappearance

ne 24

Sri Syamananda Prabhu

Disappearance

ne 27Sri Vakresvara Pandita Appearance

Mayapur Academy Activities

Since the last issue of Arcana News, much has been happening here atMayapur Academy. The rst ever English/Russian Diploma Course wasa great sucess, with 13 Russian devotees graduang with diplomas andcercates.

As a part of their Saskra Unit, students arranged a wonderful anna-prana ceremony on the roof of Caitanya Bhavan for the son of ourcooking teacher Prema Nitai Prabhu. The students demonstrated skills

they had learned over the 4 months of their training by cooking wonderfulsweets for the guests, decorang the pandal with beauful rangoli andower garlands, performing a yaja and channg auspicious mantras.

The semester concluded last month with a graduaon ceremony aendedby many senior devotees who were here in Mayapur for the annual GBCmeengs.

We are looking forward to the next semester of the Bengali Arcana Coursethis summer, and the Diploma Course in October.


4/13

like to help?

Mayapur Academyis a new

project and needs all kinds

of things to help us grow.

Vaisnava scriptures,

commentaries of our acaryas,

various spiritual books, Sanskrit

dictionaries, etc.

Art and craft books, jewellery

making, dress design and

making etc. etc.

We also need deity

paraphernalia for dressing and

worshiping our deities.

ISKCON Deity Worship

Ministrydepends upon your

support to continue in our

service to ISKCON.

If you would like to make a

donation, please visit ourwebsites:

www.deityworship.com

or

www.mayapuracademy.org

contributions

Keep this newsletter alive.

Send your contributions,

articles and photos to:

[email protected]

Donors

Where would we be without the support of our donors? We would like tothank the many devotees who have contributed to Mayapur Academy andthe Library over the past years. Your support is invaluable. Thank you.

For the past 3 months:

DonaonsCandramauli Swami INR 10,000Niranjana Swami USD 1,200Arjuna Hari Dasa INR 25,000Antony Brennan AUD 2,000Kesava Madhava Dasa INR 5,000Manoj Kumar INR 1,001Late Visnu Mur & Family INR 50,000

Monthly DonorsChetan Chheda AUD 25Krsna Chandra AUD 25Chandu Kaamudi AUD 100Nin Yadav AUD 50Mur Priya Devi Dasi AUD 50Srinivas Bhat USD 21

BooksDonated by the Author

Ajita Govinda Dasa Values of LifeSarvasakshi Dasa Vaishnava PandavaliRasamandala Dasa Islam and the VedasRiddha Dasa Mission in the Service of His Divine Grace

Donated by othersHanuman Dasa Spanish books Full set Caitanya-

caritamrta, Life Comes From Life, Light ofthe Bhagavata, Journey of Self-Discovery

Jayananda Dasa Bhak Tirtha Swamis new book Surrender

Jananivas Dasa Mandalibhadra Dasas Puja-Handbuch

Hand-paintedprasdam packages for distruboin to guests.


5/13

Ministry News

As menoned before it has been a busy three months. With the passing of the installaon law in March 2012the workload of ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry has signicant increased. Since that me we have been indiscussion with devotees from Queens USA, Zagreb - Croaa, Brighton and Crawley in the UK, Buerworthin Malaysia, Dhaka in Bangladesh, Nashik, Lucknow and Pune in India and Lisbon in Portugal. Deies havebeen installed in Lucknow and Pune in India, Dharan in Nepal, Gaborone in Botswana and Tallinn in Estonia.

ISKCON is certainly expanding and there is more to come. Since the GBC meengs this year we have haddiscussions with Bangalore, Rohini and Dvaraka in New Delhi and three upcoming installaons in Bangladesh.All these installaons required dialogue with and a visit from ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry.

Our report to the GBC covered our acvies for the past 12 months. The report highlighted our acvies inEducaon and Training, including Mayapur Academy, the ongoing development of our network of regionalrepresentaves and their dues and acvies, and the onsite training programs conducted by them as wellas upcoming publicaons.

We also outlined our three-pronged strategy for the Deity Worship Ministry. This included ongoing

development of Mayapur Academy, further development of our network of regional representaves, andlaunching an online training program.

We also circulated a quesonnaire to the GBC members requesng their input regarding their needs interestsand concerns in deity worship. This has provided us with a wealth of informaon about what the leaders ofISKCON feel is important in relaon to deity worship. This will help us to strategize future development ofthe Ministry.

Installaon of r r Rdh-Vndvanacandra in Pune


6/13

An interview with Jananivsa Prabhu . . . about Nsiha-caturda

Gaurga Siha: In Mayapur, how are we observing the fesval of LordNsihadevas appearance?

Jananivsa: In Mayapur, Lord Nsihadeva is covered in candana up unl theday before His appearance and then at 1 oclock the candana is taken o, this

will be the day before. The candana is taken o, then we give the oil bath. Thecandana is absorbing the oils and everything from His body so again we putplenty of oils, have a big bath, snna.

In the evening there will be adhivsa, early evening, the adhivsa for LordNsihadeva, which is preparing for the appearance of Lord Nsihadeva oncaturda. So the adhivsa is an acvity to prepare ourselves for the receivingand worshiping the Lord and understanding the signicance of the appearanceof Lord Nsihadeva.

And then on Nsiha-caturda there will be a homa for Lord Nsihadeva in the morning in the courtyardand that goes on for a couple of hours and the classes will be on Lord Nsihadeva. And then in the aernoonat about 4 or 4.30 will be the main abhieka of Lord Nsihadeva and here we are oering the mah-snnato Lord Nsihadeva. This abhieka goes on for about 2 hours. We used to haveparikram, I dont think wehave one anymore. Anyway, then everything is ready for the Lord, the Lord is dressed and a feast is oeredthen He is opened for the ra. He appears at the sandhy, then He is opened again for raand krtana,then devotees will takeprasdam and honor the breakfast, honor theprasdam.


7/13

Gaurga Siha: Is the Lord oered any new set of cloth every year?

Jananivsa: Yes. Usually He wears that in the morning. Then generally in the aernoon, aer the abhieka,

the kavaca, the silver kavaca. So generally he wears that.

Gaurga Siha: How was the fesval in the beginning as opposed to how it has developed now? Was italways similar?

Jananivsa: We just had the lagrma-abhieka at the me of His appearance, at the sandhy, then akrtana and a feast. We had a deity once; we made a clay deity of Lord Nsihadeva and Hirayakaipu acrosshis lap. Lord Nsihadeva was tearing him up. Anyway we did lagrma-pj, oered 16 items of worshipto the lagrma in front of the models we had made.

Gaurga Siha: Since Lord Nsihadeva has been installed, is the fesval similar?

Jananivsa: Well its just on a grand scale. The abhieka is the main funcon, and there is possibly thousandsof liters of dierent substances and gaga-jl. You will see the huge drums.

Gaurga Siha: It seems like the fesval gets bigger every year in terms of numbers of devotees coming tosee the Lord. And it becomes bigger and bigger.

Jananivsa: Yes, it gets bigger and bigger. A lot of people from South India come because Lord Nsihadevais also very popular in South India. And also Jayapatka Mahrja likes to be here for that fesval. Many ofhis disciples are also from South India. The deity was made in Chennai, was manifested in Chennai. So they

come for that period. Jayapatka Mahrja is there, and the mah-abhieka is there.

Gaurga Siha: How can the devotees observe the fesval in their homes, if they are not in Mayapur, andthere is no deity of Lord Nsihadeva?


8/13

Jananivsa: They can have classes on Lord Nsihadeva, and they probably have a picture of LordNsihadeva, so they could give an abhieka in front of the picture, so the picture doesnt get wet. They canhave an abhieka like that so they have some caramta to distribute to everyone. And have krtanas andbreakfast aer the sun sets. They can havepupjaliat His appearance me. We dont havepupjaliinMayapur, it would be too big. But devotees in their house they could have pupjaliand raand krtana.Nsiha-caturda is also called vrata-rja; people like to observe dierent vratas, so it is a good day for it.King ofvratas. So it is a good day for observing special vratas; we will be fasng anyway, most of the day. You

can do more; you can read the story of Lord Nsihadeva in Bhgavatam, chant more rounds, visit the holyplaces, worship nsihadeva-lagrma or some pictures.

Gaurga Siha: Any other thoughts or observaons?

Jananivsa: Two main things that could be observed if you want. There is oering ofprasdam -prasdamdistribuon, and harinma sakrtana. These make any fesval successful. Without these two the fesval isnot complete. So there should beprasdam for distribuon aerwards, and there should be a lot ofharinma.

Gaurga Siha: Do we take ekdaprasdam on Lord Nsihadevas appearance? Is it recommended?

Jananivsa: It is recommended for viu-tavato honor anukalpa ekda prasdam, but we dont do for everyviu-tava deity. According to our cryas rla Bhaksiddhnta Sarasva hkura and rla Prabhupda -we fast for Janmam and Gaura-prim, and we do anukalpa prasdam for those because these are ourmain deies of worship. So they indicated that those two days we can have anukalpa prasdam. But becauseLord Nsihadeva is kind of special, there are two forms Lord Ka likes very much: Lord Rmacandra andLord Nsihadeva, they are very special to Him. So devotees like to do fasng on that day. It is like anunwrien law in Mayapur, and now they make anukalpa prasdam for the devotees. Years ago they didntbut now they do. More and more they observe this oering ofekda prasdam on that day and then thefeasng will be on the next day.


9/13

Lord Nsihadeva in Mayapur he likesmangos. The Gauya Math devoteesthey think that sweet rice is His specialty,so they always make sweet rice. They goto Nsiha-pall, and they have krtanaand they cook up a lot of sweet rice andeat sweet rice and distribute sweet rice.So there are two things we know the Lordlikes; sweet rice and mangos. In India Helikespanakam, which is gur water mixedwith some ginger, lemon juice. It is verypopular in South India. They oer it toLord Nsihadeva also.

Gaurga Siha: Its very wonderfultaste, I had the remnants. RsevarMtj gave one me.

Jananivsa: So Lord Nsihadeva istaking it now. Maybe Rsevar Mtjis making now also. So this month isthe lagrma tulas jala dan, drippingwater, so He is cool. Then someone isbringing ice-cream, and Rsevar Mtjis bringingpanakam.

Another special feature of LordNsihadeva is that He is our protecve

deity. He is our deity for protecon. He isthe ia-deva of protecon but he is notthe ia-deva of most devotees trying tounderstand our eternal relaonship, butHe is our ia-deva, our worshipable Lordfor protecon to remove the obstacles

on the path ofbhak. This is why He is so special. That is why rla Prabhupda introduced worship of LordNsihadeva in ISKCON. Bhaksiddhnta also had the deity of Lakm-Nsihadeva installed at the Yoga-pha. And Nanda Bb also worships a form of Lord Nsihadeva in Goloka, so it is likeparampar. It goes onin Goloka and the reason Nanda Bb worships Lord Nsihadeva is to protect Ka. He is a protecve deity.And Bhaksiddhnta also, they were having problems there at the Yoga-pha, so they installed the deity andaerwards He kept most of the problems away. So we worship Him as our protecve deity, to remove theobstacles on the path of devoonal to Rdh and Ka.

The same idea is expressed in the Navadvpa-dhma-mhtmya, or the Navadvpa-bhava-taranga,Bhakvinoda hkura goes to Nsiha-pall in Navadvpa and Lord Nsihadeva appears before him andblesses him with fearlessness abhaya and he says you should stay in the dhma and worship Rdh andKa, chant the holy names of Ka and very soon by the mercy of the devotees you will aain perfecon.So this was Lord Nsihadevas desire: worship Rdh and Ka and chant the holy names. He gave Hisblessing there fearlessness, abhaya.

So Lord Nsihadeva has this special funcon in Mayapur: protecng the devotees devoon to Rdh andKa, whereas in South India they will all worship him and go back to Nsiha-loka, Vaikuha-loka. InNavadvpa it is dierent we worship Him but to remove the obstacles. He helps us to go back to Goloka inNavadvpa.


10/13


11/13

Deity Installaon at ISKCONs New Vedic Cultural Centre, Pune

Five days before the deies were due to be installed on Nitynanda Trayoda the temple was sll a hugeconstrucons site. Concrete was sll being poured, there were large holes and ditches, the outside of thebuildings sll looked unnished and there were hundreds of devotees and workers with huge machinesswarming like bees all over the site. Inside was more nished but sll it was a hive of acvity with last minuteelectrical work, joinery etc. It was dicult to see how the temple would be ready for the installaon. Yet

ready it was, and in grand style.


12/13

The large temple with beauful wide verandas, high domed ceiling adorned with cupolas, chandeliers andbeauful artwork is the crowning glory of many years of hard work by the devotees of ISKCON Pune.

The gorgeous, 3-day installaon ceremony and its many funcons was expertly conducted by the devoteesfrom the Mayapur boys gurukula, headed by HH Bhak Vidy Pra Mahrja, was aended by thousandsof devotees and guests. Many ISKCON dignitaries were in including Lokantha Mahrja, Gopla KaMahrja, Rdhnatha Mahrja, Bhnu Mahrja, Bhak Virambha Mdhava Mahrja, Ramai Mahrja,


13/13

Bhak Vidy Pra Mahrja and many other leaders of ISKCON and senior devotees from India and abroad.

There were two installaons: In the main temple, Gaura-Niti, Rdh-Vndvanacandra and Jaganntha,Baladeva, Subhadr were installed and in the smaller temple Blaj was installed.

One of the highlights of the occasion for some was the inauguraon of the Cultural Hall by the President ofIndia, Pranab Mukherjee. I say for some, because the security was so ght that most of us could not aend.

In all a wonder event. Many thanks to the devotees of ISKCON Pune, headed by Rdhe-Shyam Prabhu fortheir kind hospitality.

Your servant,Nsiha Kavaca Dsa

arcanaapril 2013

Documents