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Deites worship in Korsnas Gard

Why perform Offerings
Flowers
Silas
Tulasi
Flutes
Prabhupada

All glories to Sri Sri Gandharvika-Giridhari!

All glories to Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai!
All glories to Giri-Govardhana!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

We would like to introduce you to the worship of the most merciful Deities Sri Sri Gandharvika-
Giridhari and Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai. Gandharvika is a name of Srimati Radharani and means "She who is
a singer." There is no one more expert in singing the glories of Krishna than Srimati Radharani.
Giridhari is a name of Krishna and means "He who lifted the Govardhana Hill." Lord Krishna has
unlimited pastimes, among which the lifting of Govardhana Hill is especially famous and astounding.
Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai are Deities of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, incarnations of Krishna and
Balarama (Krishna's brother), who have appeared 500 years ago to propagate the chanting of the holy
names and to spread love of Godhead.

Why Perform Deity Worship?

Soon after beginning the Krishna consciousness movement, Srila Prabhupada established the process
of Deity worship as an integral aspect of his fledgling society. Just as he delivered the message of Lord
Krishna intact, he also presented the process of Deity worship intact, seeing it as a practical means of
applying the basic principle of Krishna consciousness--offering everything to Krishna.

We are all eternal servants of the Lord, and when we forget this essential part of our nature we are put
into material conditions of life. Out of His causeless mercy, the Lord descends as different
incarnations, avataras, to remind us conditioned souls about our real identity. We may feel lack of
spiritual vision in directly perceiving the Lord, but the worship of the Deity is an easy way to approach
the Lord and serve Him. The Deity is also called arca-avatara or arca-vigraha. It is the Lord Himself
who appears before us so that we can serve and worship Him.

Srila Prabupada writes in his purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.11.24: "The transcendental form of the
Lord installed in a temple is not different from the Lord personally. Such a form of the Lord is called
arca- vigraha, or arca incarnation, and is expanded by the Lord by His internal potency just to facilitate
the devotional service of His innumerable devotees who are in the material world. The material senses
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cannot perceive the spiritual nature of the Lord, and therefore the Lord accepts the arca-vigraha, which
is apparently made of material elements like earth, wood and stone but actually there is no material
contamination. The Lord being kaivalya (one alone), there is no matter in Him. He is one without a
second, and therefore the Almighty Lord can appear in any form without being contaminated by the
material conception."

When Krishna appears in His avatara forms, He does not just appear; He enjoys most wonderful
pastimes. Similarly, the arca-avatara, the LordÌs Deity, has His pastimes. One may think, "Oh, He is
just standing there. This is an idol." The Deity may be an idol for those who lack spiritual vision and
devotion. The sincere worshipers, however, recognize: Yes, Krishna is here; Krishna is acting and we
can interact with Krishna. This is the mystery of bhakti-yoga. Deity worship includes a variety of
activities, some of which may appear rather "ritualistic." Yet each detail has its significance and the
genuine practice of Deity worship assures rapid advancement in devotional service, culminating in
pure love for Krishna. If one keeps this goal clearly in mind, then the different aspects of Deity
worship, with its various technical rules and regulations, will be found to serve their purpose, which is
to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
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Food Offerings to the Deities

Cooking and offering food is an essential part of the Deity worship. In fact, a devotee cannot imagine
Deity worship without cooking. Lord Krishna is vegetarian. In the Bhagavad-gita, He says that if one
offers Him with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water, He will accept. Srila Prabhupada
explains, ÏHe is not in need of anything from anyone, because He is self-sufficient, and yet He accepts
the offering of His devotee in an exchange of love and affection.Ó The devotees want to first offer
their food to Krishna, since He is the source of all eatables. The Lord reciprocates by accepting the
food and purifying it from all material contamination.

We offer palatable dishes to the Deities eight times a day. For each offering there are different standard
menus based on the Vedic tradition. The priest prepares separate silver plates for Lord Nityananda,
Lord Caitanya, Srimati Radharani, and Sri Krishna, and serves of each preparation. Except for Srimati
RadharaniÌs plate, on each preparation the priest places a tulasi leaf. It is said that Lord Krishna never
accepts a preparation without tulasi.

Here are the menus for food offerings to Sri Sri Gandharvika-Giridhari and Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai:

Offering at 3:50 a.m.:

1. Burfi
2. Two kinds of sandesh
3. Rasagulla
4. Sweet rice (shrikand in summertime)
5. Water
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Note: These are all milk sweets and are prepared one day in advance. Daily we offer 18 pieces of
sandesh, 8 rasagullas, 16 burfis. Write us if you want to know the recipes.

Offering during morning puja:

1. Fruit salad
2. Burfi
3. Sandesha
4. Water

Offering at 8 a.m.:

1. One subji (cooked vegetables)

2. Chickpeas
3. Salty chutney
4. Savory
5. Halava
6. Laddu
7. Cake (or some other sweet)
8. Puri
9. Water

Offering at 1 p.m.:
1. Two subjis
2. Pakora
3. Rice
4. Dal
5. Soup
6. Chapatis/ Papadams
7. Salad
8. Pickles
9. Sweet chutney
10. Sweet rice
11. Juice
12. Water

Note: On Sunday there is one or two more sweets to this list.

Offering at 3:45 p.m.:

1. Two kinds of fruit salad
2. Fruit juice
3. Lassi/ milkshake
4. Whipped cream (ice cream in summertime)
5. Sugar-coated nuts
6. Cookies
7. Honey
8. Water
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Offering at 6:30 p.m.:

1. Two kinds of subjis
2. Rice
3. Savory
4. Sweet
5. Puri
6. Water

Offering at 7:40 p.m.:

1. Hot milk
2. Sweet chutney
3. Puris
4. Water

Offering at 8:45 p.m.:

1. Cooked-down milk
2. Betel nuts
3. Water

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Flowers and Flower Garlands for Their Lordships

Krishna likes flowers and during the summer we maintain a big garden with all kinds of flowers to be
used in our daily service. From flowers we make garlands for all the Deities and vases for the altars;
we offer a lot of flowers during the aratis and the pujas. Unfortunately, the summer in Sweden lasts for
2-3 months only, therefore it is not possible to grow flowers in the Deities" garden all the time. For the
rest of the year, we buy flowers from the market and offer fresh garlands only to the "big" Sri Sri
Gandharvika- Giridhari. There was no day when Sri Sri Gandharvika-Giridhari did not wear fresh
flower garlands!

Something interesting to know about Skagmark, the person from whom we buy the flowers. We have
been his regular customers for the last seven years. Skagmark is very friendly with the devotees and
likes the Deities a lot. He keeps a few photos of Sri Sri Gandharvika-Giridhari in his shop, as a kind of
advertisement that his flowers are being used in worship of God. Aside from selling flowers at a good
for us price, Skagmark would donate flowers for special occasions. He has Bhagavad-gita at home and
stopped smoking, following the example of the devotees. Such a good-hearted fellow.
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Worship of Salagrama-and Govardhana-silas

When you look at the right side of the altar, you will notice a few "smiling stones" and you may
wonder what they are. These are our dear salagrama-silas and the one govardhana-sila. The Sanskrit
word sila means "stone." The salagrama-silas appear in the Kali-gandaki River, in the Himalayas of
present-day Nepal. They may be identified by markings (especially cakras) as a particular form of
Visnu. In the Skanda Purana it is stated, "The Lord resides in many worshipable forms, but of all forms
the salagrama-sila is the best."

Srila Prabhupada encouraged the worship of salagrama-sila by ISKCON devotees who can perform
service steadily and carefully. The govardhana-sila is a rock from the Govardhana Hill in Vrndavana,
India. The followers of the Gaudiya-Vaisnava tradition accept that the salagrama- and the govardhana-
silas are nondifferent from the body of Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. These are no
ordinary stones because the Lord is personally present in Them. Therefore the devotees worship the
salagrama- and the govardhana-silas exactly as they worship the Deity of Krishna in the temple.

Here in Korsnas Gard, for more than 15 years, we worship eight salagrama-silas, one dvaraka-sila, and
one govardhana-sila. Their names are as follows:

1. Matsya
2. Sesayi (Maha Visnu)
3. Vanamali
4. Govardhana
5. Sudarsana-cakra
6. Ananta Dvaraka
7. Surya Narayana
8. Kurma
9. Ananta Sudarsana
10. Laksmi-Nrsimha (main sila!)

How Sudarsana-cakra came to Korsnas Gard

Except for Sudarsana-cakra, all these silas have been brought from India. The story of our Sudarsana-
cakra- sila is note worthy: About a couple of years ago, Ambhoda phoned up her brother, who lives
somewhere in Sweden. As they were having a chat, Ambhoda mentioned how her husband worships
Nrsimha-sila, a holy stone from the Himalayas. "Oh, I also have such a stone!" the brother exclaimed
and brought back to memory his travel around India. He had obtained the holy stone on some market
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place, in exchange for small goods. AmbhodaÌs brother was told that the stone is special, but
unfortunately he did not know what to do with it, so for 10 years he kept it in a box in his garage.
However, Ambhoda knew what to do with the sila, so she suggested that she take care of it; her brother
agreed to send the "holy stone" by post. Upon receiving the sila, Ambhoda showed it to few
experienced devotees, who immediately recognized it as a salagrama-sila. Since then, we worship
Sudarsana-cakra, who kindly bestows blessings and protection upon the all devotees. Sudarsana-cakra
ki jaya!
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Care of Tulasi-devi

Krishna's favorite plant is tulasi. Tulasi plants and their leaves are very important in devotional service.
Devotees are recommended to water the tulasi tree every day and collect the leaves to worship the
Lord. We offer tulasi leaves with each and every food preparation, we make tulasi garlands for Krishna
and decorate His feet with tulasi leaves and manjaris, we wear tulasi neck-beads and chant Hare
Krishna mantra on tulasi beads.

The tulasi plant (Ocimum Sanctum) grows naturally in sub-tropical climate, but by arranging proper
conditions, one can take care of the holy tulasi plant at his home, no matter where one lives. Nowadays
tulasi plants are growing in almost every center of our movement.

Here in Korsnas Gard, we have about 50-60 tulasis. To take care of them is simple: watering, fresh air,
adding natural fertilizer, picking leaves and flowers (manjaris), showering water for refreshment, etc.
To provide sufficient light and moisture, we have to use daylights and a machine for moistening the air
up to 50-60%. The most significant requirement, however, is love and devotion. If this is missing,
Tulasi-devi might not be inclined to live in oneÌs home.

Srila Prabhupada often gave worship of Srimati Tulasi-devi as an example of simple devotional
service: One can sow tulasi and pour water on the plant. Thus, even the poorest man can engage in the
service of Krishna.Tulasi Maharani easily grants devotion to the Lord therefore we worship her and
pray for her mercy:

namo namah tulasi krsna-preyasi namo namah

radha-krsna seva pabo ei abhilasi

"O Tulasi, beloved of Krishna, I bow before you again and again. My desire is to obtain the service of
Sri Sri Radha-Krishna."
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Krishna's Flutes
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One of the main characteristics of Krishna is that He always plays a flute. Krishna's flute produces
waves of most intense sweetness. The flute-song of Krishna is so enchanting that the nonmoving living
beings start moving, and the moving living beings stand stunned in ecstasy. Throughout the scriptures,
Krishna is often glorified as the one who is most expert in playing a flute.

Our Giridhari has the following flutes: four silver, five golden, one copper, and one white marble.
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Srila Prabhupada's Deity

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada--founder-acarya of the International Society
for Krishna Consciousness.

For more information about Srila Prabhupada visit the ISKCON.org site
www.iskcon.org/main/twohk/prabhu.htm