Last year the bigger deities of Radha and Krishna arrived finally after a wait of about 2 years or so, this itself was abit of a roller coaster ride. A new chapter on its own I guess. Maybe I should narrate the story as it may inspire some.
At some point in 2015 around October or so I felt inspired to acquire a bigger set of Radha Krishna deities, I don't think i could pin point a reason, I was saving up some money and thought what better use for it also the reasoning that we generally have so many statues/ornaments of materialistic people things/objects so why shouldn't there be something spiritual that is actually of benefit to the surrounding. Another motivation, which most devotees who have deities would agree with is that with bigger deities one tends to be able to offer a better range of jewelry, clothing, garlands etc and one can see the form of the deity in better, more realistic proportions. Though any size of deity is adequate- its the love and devotion that one puts in to worship that really makes the difference. I think after having the bigger deities for almost a year- I would actually advise that above 24 inch/2 feet deity size the maintenance and requirements do increase alot and make sure you have the time, finances and necessary space before making the decision to acquire, have a plan of how to accommodate the deity, because there are unseen factors like the storage of clothing and jewelry etc that come into play as well.
So basically after ordering the deities not everything went according to plan and there was a long delay but something I learnt is that there is a time and place for everything and that perseverance and determination lead to success in achieving anything. There will always be obstacles in life but learning where to apply patience and maintain the strong firm desire to complete tasks is important. In the interim of waiting for the marble deities I did end up sculpting a 4 Feet (125cm) set of Radha Krishna deities, but at some point I realized that they belonged elsewhere and had the feeling that the deities that I initially ordered were meant to be home- the lesson here is stick to your dreams/goals no matter how high/far reached they seem, hard work,patience and the grace of God can help achieve anything.
So I contacted the murtiwala again around October 2017 to check if the deities were still available and they were and he was happy to repaint them etc according to what I desired. I still had difficulty arranging finance for the balance owing and the shipping costs as well, literally just went the faith that it would work itself out and it did- it definitely wasn't a smooth easy transition but it worked it out by the grace of God if anything. I guess at the end of it all one could say it is what it is- the end result is what matters most.
The deities were shipped at the end of January and arrived very quickly in just over a week which is way quicker than what I expected seeing that from experience shipments from India generally take a month at least to arrive. At the same time our local currency was improving its strength- probably the best its been after years- compared to where it is now. There are just so many positive things that worked out during that period as if it was a predestined divine plan. The deities arrived and the forwarding costs were high etc and finance was really an issue- I remember being in situations where I needed to pay charges the next day and had no idea as to how I would but at the 11th hour somehow things just worked out. Apart from the finance issues there were many unnecessary hindrances along the way particularly- money being swallowed at ATMs when I was paying the necessary Shipping agents and Customs Clearing agents, this added unnecessary delay but thankfully the necessary agents were understanding enough. I cant describe the amount of patience was required to get through the whole process.
The deities were stopped at the warehouse for a Customs inspection by SARS, I think the one most memorable thing for me was the morning of the inspection. Shortly after I arrived and sat waiting indefinitely for the SARS inspection officer to arrive for the inspection,these two huge crates were being moved and I instinctively knew that those were the boxes containing Radha and Krishna even though I couldnt read the markings etc on the crates. They were eventually moved again right past where I sat and it felt they deities were strolling by to say 'Hello, we awaited you too.'.
The deities were heavy and when we finally got to bringing them home it took 4 men to move the crates and 3 to actually move them. I ended up installing them on the 28th of April 2018 which also Nrsimha Chaturdasi. It was a long journey but there were a lot of lessons along the way and probably a lot more to go in a positive sense. Shortly after the deity installation I learned that the murtiwala had fallen ill and after a month passed on, everything really had happened by some divine arrangement. I will try to share some pictures soon and hopefully more posts as there are other significant things that have happened in my life, i know initially I had started this blog more as a means of sharing darshan of the deities but I feel the need to also leave back some history of the deities as well and also a bit of the surface of my spiritual journey.
I guess if theres anything you take back from this as reader I'd like it to be the importance and power of humility and sincerity in your efforts, the grace of God works in proportion with this.
Thank you for reading.
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| Krishna at the showroom - a picture sent by the murtiwala when i contacted him to check if the deities were still available. |
