As part of the ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry’s expanding regional training
strategy, a nine-day temple worship course will be taught in conjunction with
Radhadesh College at ISKCON Radhadesh in Belgium Europe.
Between twenty and thirty devotees are expected to take the course, which
will run from 16th to 24th September this year.
The training is an intensive version of the three-week Temple Worship 1 unit
offered annually at Mayapur Academy as part of its 16-week international
diploma course. This training will include written and practical assessments.
Facilitating the course will be Global ISKCON Deity Worship Minister Nrsimha
Kavacha Das; Murli Manohara Das, Ministry Representative for UK, and
Vamsivat Das head pujari for Sri Sri Radha Londonisvara. Other
representatives from the Deity Worship Ministry may also attend.
The course will begin with an introduction discussing the benefits of deity
worship and the reasons why we do it; and establishing that deity worship is
integral to devotional service and ISKCON’s mission.
During the program, students will learn the importance of cleanliness and
purity in Krishna consciousness and deity worship; how to prepare for
worship; how to do the acamana and samanya arghya procedures; what the
different materials that paraphernalia should be made from and how to clean
worship paraphernalia; and the significance of the maha-mantra and other
mantras in deity worship.
In ‘The Form of the Lord’ students will learn what is a deity, which deities we
worship and why, what is the mood of temple worship, and the role of guru in
deity worship.
In ‘Authenticity’ students will learn how it is that deity worship is an authorised
process capable of giving us the highest spiritual success.
In ‘Bhoga offering’ students will study why and how to offer bhoga (food), and
how we know if the Lord accepts our offerings.
Meanwhile ‘Sambandha’ will look at our relationship with Krishna and how we
can cultivate it; “Arati and Skills” will teach what arati is, why we offer it, what
the items mean and what skills we need to perform it; and ‘Sodasopacara
Puja’ will delve into how to offer puja to the Lord.
The course will utilise a range of teaching approaches including interactive
and experiential learning.
“We find that if the students actually get to do the various worship procedures
themselves, rather than learning from demonstrations, the educational
outcome is much greater,” says Nrsimha Kavacha Das.
Components towards students’ final grade will include homework
assignments, written exams, acamana assessment, bhoga offering
assessment, attendance, and classroom etiquette and participation.
Finally there will be a practical assessment of performing sodasopacara puja
(sixteen-item worship) of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, with students working in teams
and being both supported and peer-assessed by one another.
This sixteen-item worship and includes bathing and dressing the deities,
putting on ornaments and garlands, offering flowers to their lotus feet, and
offering them bhoga.
“After doing the training for twelve years in Mayapur, I’ve seen the effects it
has had,” Nrsimha Kavacha says. “One of our regional representatives was
telling us how he has seen substantial improvements in the worship in
Lithuania, just due to the fact that people are coming for training in Mayapur.
So if devotees can help us offer that training everywhere, it’s going to
naturally improve the standards of worship in ISKCON temples around the
world.”
“The whole point of training in deity worship is to learn how to please
Krishna,” Nrsimha Kavacha says. “Because the prime purpose of deity
worship is to cultivate a loving relationship with Krishna. So if we can learn
the process of deity worship as given by the authorities, then it’ll help us
immensely to worship the deity in a way that satisfies the Lord, and helps to
develop our love for Him.”
For any further information regards the above please contact Murli Manohara
das via e-mail
manoharadasmurli@gmail.com