Topic: Deity worship
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Devotees chanting before Krishna's deity form
Krishna's Deity form is His physical likeness in the material world. Such forms are made of stone, metal, wood, paint, or other materials and are worshiped as Krishna Himself.
Krishna is the Absolute Truth, the source of all things, including personality and form. His personal form is superior to all other forms. It is completely spiritual—permanent...
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Devotees of Krishna worship Him in various Deity forms with the understanding that God is the source of all energies—the Absolute Truth—and can appear before us in any form He likes. Everything about the Supreme Person, including His form, is spiritual and worshipable.
Vedic scriptures first of all define who is Supreme and who isn't. They also describe the science of Deity worship in detail—...
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Few things seemed more expressive of heathen idolatry to British missionaries in India than the annual chariot festival at Jagannatha Puri in Orissa. When the three great forms of Jagannatha (Krishna, “Lord of the Universe”), Balarama (His first expansion), and Subhadra (His spiritual energy) were pulled on towering chariots mobbed by ecstatically chanting devotees, missionary outrage knew no...
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It’s natural for us to want to know what God looks like, just as it’s natural for a child who’s never seen his father to want to know what his father looks like. And just as such a child may imagine, “Maybe my father looks like this” or “Maybe he looks like that,” so we, too, speculate about what God must be like. The artist Michelangelo, for example, knowing God to be the original person,...
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In Jaipur, the capital of “the Land of Kings,” Lord Krishna is the center of devotion.
While visiting Jaipur, the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan (“the Land of Kings”), I have the good fortune to stay two houses away from the city’s most famous Krishna temple, the Govindaji Temple. I can easily walk to mangala-arati, the early-morning worship, without having to look for a ricksha. At 4:...
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What is Deity worship? What makes it different from "idol worship?" How can anyone claim to have direct experience of the Supreme Being, who is beyond all material conceptions, and beyond everything "material?"
Here is an excerpt from an article on the subject of Deity worship—in our opinion, one of the most comprehensive and well-written in existence—by Ravindra-svarupa dasa (William H....
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During Arati several articles are offered to the Deity while ringing a bell: incense, ghee lamp, water, cloth, flowers, yak-tail fan and peacock fan.
The articles used in Arati represent the material elements in their pure form and correspond to the sense objects. In other words, the Arati articles are satisfying to the senses and represent our offering all the elements in the Lord’s creation...
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Deity worship means caring for the Lord as a person. By serving the Deity we understand ourselves to be His servant, with practical service to offer. Krishna is a person, and when we care for Him He reciprocates with us by purifying our heart and bringing us closer in our relationship with Him.
Here’s what a typical day of service to the temple Deity might entail:
The Lord is awakened early in...
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The following conversation between His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and several of his disciples took place in June 1974 in Paris.
Devotees: A man came to the temple a couple of days ago and argued that we really can’t say for sure that there’s life after death, so why worry about it? Better to build a more prosperous society. At least this we can understand, and it would...