Deity worship -

Here is a beautiful picture of Srimati Radharani in the dress of Subala from Radhapada's kunja!

user posted image

Jay Radhe !

Please Radhapada, would you be kind to tell us what are the names of these beautiful deities. We sent this picture to a vaishnava@Grupos in Brazil, everyone was happy and curious to know Their names ?
If is possible, tell something about the mood of deity worship in this line ?!

Ys
Revati
Jay Gour-Gadadhar !

PS/ your CD has been help us alot in our meditations

Their names are Sri Radha-Syamasundar. Tungavidya and I perform seva to Them as instructed by Baba Maharaja, that is according to vaidi principles favorable for the development of raga bhakti. As mentioned in the thread of Gopastami, Sri Radha is dressed as the cowherd boy Subal in commemoration of the lila of Radharani dressing as such. Once a year She is dressed like this. Otherwise on other days She is normally dressed as the Queen of Vrndavan. In some of the Vrndavan temples of the Goswamis the Murtis of Sri Radha-Krsna have special darshans like this.

In another festival, the Murti of Krsna is placed below a step as the Murti of Radha stays above. Krsna is dressed like a royal chokidhara (watchguard) with sword in hand and this commerates the lila of Krsna employed as a watchguard in Radharani's kingdom of Vrndavan. If we will do it this coming year we'll take pictures. :

:

Jay Gadai-Gouranga !

Dear Radhapada,

I'm curious to know if there is any more information on how to dress the deities according to a particular time of the year, month and one's mood ? And if a person does't have Siddha Pranali, could a manasa-seva perfomed in such circumstance, for one's deities, generate any substancial benefit ? For example: some time I'm serving my Sri Sri Radha-Ramana, but not all the ingredients for the seva is there, so i meditate on them as if they were there... can I consider that as an offering ?

Revati

Manasi seva refers to mental worship such as Yogapith seva or serving Sri Radha-Krsna according to the time of day in Their eternal unmanifest pastimes. This practice is done when one has received siddha pranali and is practicing smaranam under the direction of Guru and Guru manjari. One cannot seve Radha-Krsna mentally as so and so das, thinking oneself within the male or female sadhaka body. One has to perform bhuta sudhi (purifying ones consciousness from the material elements and conceptions of oneself as the body), and in Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition that means meditating on the siddha deha.

The Murti of Sri Radha and Krsna, the dual image of God is rendered seva according to external vaidhi regulations. In raganuga bhajan, They are served with vaidhi regulations favorable for the attainment of Vraja bhava. An example is not to use mudras and placing syllables of a sacred mantra on ones body. The Murtis can be dressed according to the colors of the day: yellow or orange (Sun) white (Mon) red (Tue) yellow or green (Wed) purple (Thurs) pink (Fri) blue (Sat). White (purnima) black (amavasya) red (Ekadashi). They can dressed according to certain festivals: candan yatra (if it is hot in your country) Jhulan yatra--They are placed on a swing, Subal vesh (Radha is dress as the cowherd boy Subal and reveals Her feet) etc. The gist is physical Murtis are served physically and mental Murtis are served mentally. To have phyiscal Murtis and bath and dress Them mentally but not physically is not proper. One should serve the Murti according to ones means. Sanatan was not offereing salt to his Thakur and his Thakur in love requested it. If you don't have it, you don't have it. Thakur understands. He may out of love one day demand it, and that will be your treasured moment! :love:

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The Murtis can be dressed according to the colors of the day: yellow or orange (Sun) white (Mon) red (Tue) yellow or green (Wed) purple (Thurs) pink (Fri) blue (Sat). White (purnima) black (amavasya) red (Ekadashi).

Do you know, Radhapada, what is the meaning of these different colors on different days?

Astrologically, everyday is ruled by a planet which is represented by a color. Mon - Moon, Tue - Mars, Wed - Mercury, Thur - Jupiter, Fri - Venus, Sat - Saturn, Sun - well, you know that one.

Speaking about colors: the color saffron is said to stimulate sexual energy in one who wears it!

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To have phyiscal Murtis and bath and dress Them mentally but not physically is not proper.

Thank you so much Radhapada, for your answers !
I do not have much time to be on the internet , that is why I'm later to say thanks !

But there is something I want to ask you :

Srila Narayna Maharaja, instructs his disciples to : "seat infront of the deity, early morning... and meditate on bathing, changing clothes, offering garlands, offer food, whatever one likes...while chanting Japa-mala, because the Maha-Mantra Hare Krishna is Their life and soul" !

My question is : the Idea of physically worship the physical Murti only, would that not limited the power of the mind to offer one's service ?

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Srila Narayna Maharaja, instructs his disciples to : "seat infront of the deity, early morning... and meditate on bathing, changing clothes, offering garlands, offer food, whatever one likes...while chanting Japa-mala, because the Maha-Mantra Hare Krishna is Their life and soul" !

I have heard of followers of Narayana Maharaja, both his disciples and ISKCON devotees who follow him do like this. There is power chanting the holy name of Radha-Krsna in front of Sri Murti, so is in offering prayers, singing and meditation.

uttama bhakti, supreme devotion, means to engage oneself in the favorable service of the Lord. This bhakti is completely free from all material desires and is without any touch of jnana and karma.(Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu)

Performance of bhakti requires an endeavour of activities favorable for the pleasure of Krsna. These activities are those of the body, words and mind. The seva of the Deity of Krsna requires predominantly activities of the body accompanied by activities of the mind and some words. The Deity (if properly installed) manifested in a form visible to our external senses requires to be daily bathed, dressed, decorated with ornaments, chandan, fed with food, offered arotik, Tulasi leaves, flowers, put to sleep, etc. He does not require these things, but for the development of love we do these things to please Him.

The spiritual master always engages in the worship of the Sri Vigraha. He also engages his disciples in such worship. He dresses the Deity in beautiful clothes and ornaments, clean Their temple and performs other similar worship of the Lord. I offer my respectful obeisance unto the lotus feet of my Guru.

Indeed, it is convenient if we perform these things in ours minds. But that is not the fuction of the item of arcana, Deity seva, within the nine processes of bhakti. It requires a some endeavour to daily provide for the Deity articles of worship for Their seva. Madhavendra Puri was requested by Sri Gopal in Govardhana to get chandan for His body for He was feeling very warm. Certainly Madhavendra Puri could have easily done manasi seva, make and rub chandan in his mind to Sri Gopal, but he prefered to embark on a long journey of many many days to a distant country in order to secure the item for his Thakur.

Manasi seva is for performing seva in the mind to Sri Radha-Krsna, in Vraja dhama, in a manjari svarupa (siddha deha) with articles of worship made of jewels, and so forth, created in the mind. This meditation is certainly very powerful and it bestows the transcendental body by the grace of Bhakti-devi as a result of this meditation. Manasi seva is not a replacement for doing external bhajan whose constitution is external. When Sanatan Goswami was too old to do Govardhana parikrama Krsna presented him a Govardhana Shila with His footprint and told Sanatan to continue with parikrama around this Govardhana Shila for he would get the same result. He didn't tell Sanatan, "Goswamiji, just do it in the mind". When we were living in Vrndavan and my wife was due to deliver our daughter she mentioned to a follower of Narayana Maharaja how she would manage to do the seva with a newly born baby. Her friend said, "No problem, just do manasi seva!" However, when I mentioned to Baba Maharaja how will we manage all the seva he never suggested to us to do a replacement of mental service. He first asked if their is anyone who would be willing to help for some time. Since there was no one, then he just advised to do the best I could. Some time ago a devotee who takes siksa from Narayana Maharaja implied to me that his advance devotees tend to have neglected looking Deities because they do a lot of manasi seva. Doesn't sound right to me, though I could be wrong.

I have read sometime ago in the biography of Vamsi Das Baba that he would spend a part of his day securing items for his Deities of Gauranga and Nityananda, cooking, making garlands, etc. He would eat late in the day after he finished feeding his Thakur. Sometimes his Thakur would not eat what he would cook and he would get angry at Them.

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I have heard of followers of Narayana Maharaja, both his disciples and ISKCON devotees who follow him do like this. There is power chanting the holy name of Radha-Krsna in front of Sri Murti, so is in offering prayers, singing and meditation.

This is actually a standard practice in ISKCON, outlined in their Pancaratra-Pradipa, to first perform sodasopacara-puja (including bathing) in mind, and then perform the same physically. PP 2.2: "After meditating on the form of the Lord, you should engage your mind in worshiping that form. Dhyana is the preparation for manasa-puja; whereas dhyana is passive, manasa-puja is active. Whatever items you offer externally you should first offer internally with full devotion and attention. Also, whereas the items offered in external worship may be simple due to modest means, in the course of manasa-puja one may perform very opulent worship of the Lord."

Moreover, this section states: "The sastra points out that for one performing sadhana-bhakti, the puja with paraphernalia is ineffective without manasa-puja. Puja performed with paraphernalia but without manasa-puja may be the cause of offense for the neophyte, for he will tend to see the Deity as a material object. Thus manasa-puja, or antar-yoga, is essential in all types of Deity worship.
...
Both dhyana and manasa-puja are performed not only for the main Deity, but also for the spiritual master and Lord Caitanya in preliminary worship."

I would be interested to know which shastra, though. Bhaktivedanta attributes the idea of manasa-puja of the vigraha to Narada Pancaratra in his commentary on SB 7.5.23-24. A GBC committee compiled the Pancaratra Pradipa as the outcome of their research into various arcana-paddhatis, Hari Bhakti Vilasa and other relevant granthas. Much of it is based on B.P. Kesava Maharaja's (Narayan Maharaja's guru) Arcana-dipika.

In this context, a verse from the Lord's instructions to Uddhava (SB 11.27.15) is quoted:

dravyaiH prasiddhair mad-yAgaH
pratimAdiSv amAyinaH
bhaktasya ca yathA-labdhair
hRdi bhAvena caiva hi
“One should worship Me in My Deity forms by offering the most excellent paraphernalia. But a devotee completely freed from material desire may worship Me with whatever he is able to obtain, and may even worship Me within his heart with mental paraphernalia.”

Of course the import of "hRdi bhAvena" is debatable. What do the tikakaras say? The verse is also quoted in Hari Bhakti Vilasa 11.147.

According to the arcana-paddhati of B.P. Kesava, in guru-puja first the guru is meditated upon at Mayapura-yogapitha along with the Panca-tattva, and sixteen articles are mentally offered to him. Thereafter they are again offered in a physical puja. In their Gauranga-puja, Navadvipa-dhyana and Gauranga-dhyana are taken from Dhyanacandra's paddhati. Again, after the mental puja, the same articles are physically offered. In the phase of preliminary inner service, no dhyana on one's own siddha-deha is given, so it appears to be the worshiper's choice how he envisions himself at Mayapura-yogapitha or in the Nikunja-mandira of Vrindavana. The paddhatis do not speak of a corresponding Vraja-yogapitha. I know that in ISKCON, it is common to first perform the exact same physical worship in the mind prior to doing it with concrete items, though dhyana for Navadvipa and Vrindavana are given prior to starting such worship.

QUOTE

In this context, a verse from the Lord's instructions to Uddhava (SB 11.27.15) is quoted:

dravyaiH prasiddhair mad-yAgaH
pratimAdiSv amAyinaH
bhaktasya ca yathA-labdhair
hRdi bhAvena caiva hi

“One should worship Me in My Deity forms by offering the most excellent paraphernalia. But a devotee completely freed from material desire may worship Me with whatever he is able to obtain, and may even worship Me within his heart with mental paraphernalia

There is a reference in the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu of a poor brahmana who heard from the wise that one can worship the Lord in the mind if one does not have the means to worship to Lord. This passage demonstrates the authenticity of meditation, or dhyana.

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According to the arcana-paddhati of B.P. Kesava, in guru-puja first the guru is meditated upon at Mayapura-yogapitha along with the Panca-tattva, and sixteen articles are mentally offered to him. Thereafter they are again offered in a physical puja. In their Gauranga-puja, Navadvipa-dhyana and Gauranga-dhyana are taken from Dhyanacandra's paddhati. Again, after the mental puja, the same articles are physically offered. In the phase of preliminary inner service, no dhyana on one's own siddha-deha is given, so it appears to be the worshiper's choice how he envisions himself at Mayapura-yogapitha or in the Nikunja-mandira of Vrindavana.

It may be interesting to note that the first arcana paddhati book of ISKCON which came out around 1979, put together by Jayatirtha and Jaya Sacinandana, contained a dhyana for meditating oneself as an eternal associate of Sri Gaura in Navadwipa. The text was obviously taken from the Gaura Govinda Smaranam Paddhati. In the next arcana paddhati book the text was omitted. And of course, there is no dhyana for manjari svarupa.

There is truth in worshiping the Lord in the mind, but I don't think as a repacement for things which can obtained physically. In raganuga bhakti, the bhaktas are already doing lots of mental worship in Yogapith and swaraski smaranam, far beyond what is mentioned in the vaidhi bhakti puja arcana books, so there is no need to repeat mentally a vaidhi bhakti puja worship within the mind.

In raganuga bhakti the external worship purifies the senses so that mental worship can be vivid and relishable, and the mental worship makes the outer worship more tasteful and relishable as well. Both are complentary to one another.

advaitadas 6 december 2002-
“In this context, a verse from the Lord's instructions to Uddhava (SB
11.27.15) is quoted:

dravyaiH prasiddhair mad-yAgaH
pratimAdiSv amAyinaH
bhaktasya ca yathA-labdhair
hRdi bhAvena caiva hi

“One should worship Me in My Deity forms by offering the most excellent
paraphernalia. But a devotee completely freed from material desire may
worship Me with whatever he is able to obtain, and may even worship Me within his heart with mental paraphernalia.”
Of course the import of "hRdi bhAvena" is debatable. What do the tikakaras
say?
Visvanatha Cakravartipada: prasiddhaih prakarsena dhanadi siddhaih khanda ghrta candana kunkumadibhih. Amayino nisprhasya bhaktasya tu yatha labdhair yadrcchaya praptair dravyair hrdi bhavena bhavanaya ca manasaivopasthapitair durlabhair api surabhi payah paramannadibhir apityarthah “Prasiddhaih means with expensive, excellent items like sugar candy, clarified butter, sandalwood paste, vermilion and so on. Amayino, however, means the desireless [renounced] devotee, who will worship with whatever he can somehow attain, or whatever may be provided by Providence. He can also just worship hrdi bhavena, or through meditation. Items that are mentally upasthapita (Monier Williams:)
Ë n. the act of placing near , having ready for , see an-upaÇ
Ë (‚) , f. the act of ordaining (a monk) Jain.
Ë the causing to remember , calling to mind T.
even if they are rarely attained, like milk from Surabhi cows or excellent sweet-rice, he can still offer mentally.”

QUOTE(Advaitadas @ Dec. 06 2002,01:50)

QUOTE

advaitadas 6 december 2002-
He can also just worship hrdi bhavena, or through meditation. Items that are mentally upasthapita (Monier Williams:)
Ë n. the act of placing near , having ready for , see an-upaÇ
Ë (‚) , f. the act of ordaining (a monk) Jain.
Ë the causing to remember , calling to mind T.
even if they are rarely attained, like milk from Surabhi cows or excellent sweet-rice, he can still offer mentally.”

Looks like, if one does't have all the ingredientes for the Puja, he can offer them mentally.But if one has the ingredientes available, he should try the best of his ability to do a physical offering. The mental worshiping can't be an excuse for laziness; but in both cases, the mental preparation of one's inner self comes first.