New Deities...

I recently found myself purchasing a new set of Radha Krishna deities, lol it seems to be my general trend at the begining of the year for the past few years. Well I hope I've matured enough and that these will be the last set of deities I own in this lifetime. Actually this urge to worship Radha Krishna deities again started around September last year where i had found myself sculpting and 8inch pair of Radha Krishna deities which I intended to have a mould taken off and have them cast in marble dust.

Krishna Deity I sculpted

Heres a shot of them when I had tried on clothes. Radharani is on a lotus base hence appears taller. I had mad one base to replicate for both deities.

The deities in a pink outfit

So I Found myself in great anticipation for the moulding and casting of these deities only to find out that the artist couldn't complete this task. This was much to my dissappointment at that stage because I had expected them ready in January 2013 and had prepared some outfits. But however Krishna had his own plan.

A few days before Diwali last year, after sme convincing, I attended the Durban Diwali Festival and was going through the stalls and what they had to offer. Amidst the various puja items and gemstones to my surprise i found a tiny deity of Srimati Radharani, this was probably the tiniest deity I'd encountered thus far. Out of curiousity I enquired if there was a matching Krishna for Her and the assistant found Him. I enquired the price and turns out the guy managing the stall was known to me and gave me a price that was below normal, I had no intention of purchasing more deities let alone such small deities seeing that I already have two sets of 4inch Radha Krishna deities lying unworshipped. Somehow i compulsively agreed to take them.

The deities as they were when I bought Them

I had painted them the following day, the day before Diwali. The day of Diwali was a bit busy for me seeing that i spent most of the preparing offerings and then doing puja. On the day of Govardhan Puja I bathed the deities for the first time and put on some clothes. My university exams were on so I barely had time to make any outfits or jewelry.

 

 

Over Time I grew attached to these deities despite their small size (Krishna is 3.5inches tall and Radharani is 3 inches tall), I was wary of having deities too small because of the difficulty sewing and finding outfits small enough and jewelry of good quality for small deities. Im not very fond of the stiff starched outfits one generally find. This was the reason I had not worshipped the 2 sets of 4inch deities I have. One of the sets a black Krishna and brass Radharani was the result of an order gone horribly wrong. At the begining of 2012 I had paid the Indian supplier with the intention of recieving 8inch Radha Krishna deities however to my surprise upon arrival they were 4.inches tall. After some heated email converstaions there were agreements to send a 6inch set which never materialised. However I somehow see how in the long run how these failled atempts have led to me acquiring these new deities. I previously had the good fortune of worshipping 24inch marble Radha Krishna deities and grew attached to Them knowing that sooner or later I would have to part from Their prescence, somehow I see these deities as being an expansion of them for me to worship on a permanent basis. I guess for every person inclined to deity worship having bigger deities are a dream come true. However I've realised over time its actually the attention that one gives the deity thats satisfying irrespective of the size. I found myself making crowns that fit my 3.5inch deities perfectly something i thought would've been difficult, I've even made custom sized outfit with bead work that fit them to size! So i guess it boils down to the amount of time one is willing to spend.

 

So I am expecting the deities soon. Lets hope all goes well..

Some Pics of Krishna Dressed up

Valentines Day..
Co-incidently i decide to upload some pics of the Krishna deity I had and He's wearing red in these pics!

Krishna Dressed up

Here's a shot of all the deities.

Im not really sure how to rotate these images :P

" The conception of servitude to Sri Krishna generates such an ocean of joy in the ... His smiling lotus face, looked directly like the charmer of the heart of Cupid"

2013....

So it's 2013, I've just realised that this blog is around 5 years old. Alot has happened in 5years however I dont think I've quiete captured all of it here. The UKZN Westville Hindu Center has certainly changed a bit in the past few years in terms of renovations and the quality of the outfits etc.  The hope is that this will be maintained over the years to come by willing students.

Seeing that this blog is about deities, lets glance at the deities I've had the chance of wroshipping in the past years.

Above are the deities I had worshipped around March of 2010.

Radha Vrajasundar

Around June of 2010, I had recieved these deities pictured above. I named them Radh Vrajasundara. Didn't really get to worship them much though due to circumstances. Eventually I let go off them to a prabhu who was eager to have Radha Krishna deities with intention of getting a marble set of deities.

Krishna deity at New |Jaganath Puri Temple, Phoenix, shortly after he was purchased.

In December of 2012, one of my friends had gifted me this 24inch deity of Krishna. I had him for a while and have seen many trying times with this deity. I could never find a matching Radharani for this Krishna however. I somehow have affinity for Radha and Krishna together when worshipping as opposed to Krishna alone.

This a glimpse of the deities I've had thus far. More posts to follow..

Radha Krishna Darshan 2011

Jay Sri Sri Radha Krishna! Westville Hindu Center ki Jay!




Its been a long while since I posted darshan pics of the deities...
Thanks to Lerisha Maharaj for the pics.

Nistha

So recently I realize that the sum of it all is to just surrender submissively and sincerely.

Je anilo prema dhana

(1)
je ānilo prema-dhana koruṇā pracur
heno prabhu kothā gelā ācārya-ṭhākur

(2)
kāhā mora swarūp rūpa kāhā sanātan
kāhā dāsa raghunātha patita-pāvan

(3)
kāhā mora bhaṭṭa-juga kāhā kavirāj
eka-kāle kothā gelā gorā naṭa-rāj

(4)
pāṣāṇe kuṭibo māthā anale paśibo
gaurāńga guṇera nidhi kothā gele pābo

(5)
se-saba sańgīra sańge je koilo bilās
se-sańga nā pāiyā kānde narottama dās

TRANSLATION

1) He who brought the treasure of divine love and who was filled with compassion and mercy--where has such a personality as Advaita Acarya gone?

2) Where are my Svardpa Damodara and Rupa Gosvami? Where is Sanatana? Where is Raghunatha Dasa, the savior of the fallen?

3) Where are my Raghunatha Bhatta and Gopala Bhatta, and where is Krsnadasa Kaviraja? Where did Lord Gauranga, the great dancer, suddenly go?

4) I will smash my head against the rock and enter into the fire. Where will I find Lord Gauranga, the reservoir of all wonderful qualities?

5) Being unable to obtain the association of Lord Gauranga accompanied by all of these devotees in whose association He performed His pastimes, Narottama Dasa simply weeps.

I pray that one day I can feel such attachment for guru and Gauranga and stop weeping over material attachments. I pray that I can be sincere enough to cherish the holy name of Krishna and that I may follow the regulative principles and chant my minimum rounds through eternity till Goloka come.

Attachments in this material world

Walking past a tree of white flowers that resemble jasmine on campus, I am filled with nostalgia, the rain the cold weather, all remind me of a time gone by, people gone by.

Its feelings that make us human yet those very feelings and discrimination cause hurdles in both material and spiritual life. The effect of the material life has ripple effects on the spiritual life by virtue of the mind. All of these experiences leave impressions on the mind which don't go away. They come up so subtly affecting us more than we think they can, depending on how conscious a person is off course.

Another thing I've noticed recently is the wide array of personalities there are around us especially being here as a student in university. Each personality comes with different levels of conscience, propensity to enjoy the body, propensity to succeed. These coverings overlap the soul and and when we do attempt to attain some spiritual progress! BHAM!!!

So this Bhakti Yoga is meant to control emotions, chanting to control the mind- the mind is very very difficult to control. Especially when within it lie all of these good and bad impression that we carry from the time we are born.

I just pray that I'm sincere enough to overcome these obstacles and control the mind focusing it on the greater cause, and most of all I pray that everyone from the past present and future of my life are helped by God to the right paths and peaceful states of being.

This is somewhat totally of what my blog was intended to be but often due to pride issues of the mind and emotions are overlooked

One good piece of advice I've received recently was that to know God one needs to know oneself.
Know your strengths, know that you're good, not to the stage of false ego and pride, but know yourself enough to the extent you know that you do need anyone else to complete you in a material sense. Do not become dependent on others to validate your existence if you are truelly aware that you are a spirit soul. It can be very difficult but nothing is impossible.

Know yourself enough to know those around you. Trust but do not over step the limits of trust.