Bhakti Wisdom

When Srila Prabhupada would install deities in the temples he would instruct devotees to make sure Deities are worshiped nicely. 

Srila Prabhupada would often comment on deity worship standards after taking morning darshan. Simply by taking darshan he would know if Deities are worshiped nicely.

He would give many instructions to pujaris about Deity worship but the most important thing that he was repeating again and again was cleanliness and punctuality. 

He would also say that the cook at the temple is the most important person and is essential that he is a pukka devotee.

Srila Prabhupad wanted that all ISKCON centres have very high standards of deity worship.

Here at Bhaktivedanta Manor we are trying to follow Srila Prabhupada instructions.

All resident devotees are working very hard to make sure all aspects of deity worship are done nicely and with great care.

Team of ladies are every day making sure that fresh garlands are made whilst a team of devotees from men asram are in charge of daily bhoga offerings .

We have a team of pujaris who are dressing everyday morning and evening and making sure the altar is clean and tidy.

Group of devotees are in charge of keeping Krishna  jewellery clean and organised.

There are devotees who are making sure the temple room is cleaned every day and another group is in charge of cleaning pots in the deity kitchen.

Since nobody is allowed to come to the temple, resident devotees created rota for giving daily Srimad Bhagavatam classes.

Devotees experts in music are making sure aratis are accompanied with nice bhajans and kirtans

Team of devotees are making sure cows are looked after and they deliver fresh milk for our cooks so they can make nice offerings for RadhaGokulananda.

Staying at Bhaktivedanta Manor during this period is a very special experience .

From the temple room while taking darshan of the Deities you can hear cows mooing and birds chirping. Since spring started, all the beautiful flowers in our garden have started to bloom so Krishna gets homegrown fragrant flowers during the puja.

Morning morning at the temple is very intimate and sweet and darshans of the Deities are more attractive than ever before.

Deity department became the only department at Bhaktivedanta Manor and all resident devotees became pujaris for Sri Sri RadhaGokulananda.

S.B.4.7.46 PURPORT-Anyone who engages in the worship of the Deity, or the form of the Lord in the temple, is understood to be studying all the Vedas twenty-four hours a day. Simply by decorating the Deities of the Lord, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, in the temple, one very minutely studies the injunctions of the Vedas. Even a neophyte devotee who simply engages in the worship of the Deity is understood to be in direct touch with the purport of Vedic knowledge.