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By ISKCON Mayapur<\/strong><\/p>\n All of the devas, \u1e5b\u1e63is, and t\u012brthas congregate in \u015ar\u012bdh\u0101ma M\u0101y\u0101pur to worship the Supreme Lord, for in \u015ar\u012bdh\u0101ma M\u0101y\u0101pur \u2013 the center of the universe \u2013 R\u0101dh\u0101 and K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a eternally reside and bestow Their benediction and mercy to those who worship Them there.<\/p>\n Is it any wonder, then, that \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da stated that M\u0101y\u0101pur, the World Headquarters of his ISKCON movement, was his place of worship? It is described in \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da-l\u012bl\u0101m\u1e5bta that \u201c[h]e and his devotees would worship the Supreme Lord there in such a magnificent style that the whole world would be attracted to Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s place of worship, the Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir.\u201d And this is indeed the case, for the opulence and devotion of \u015ar\u012bdh\u0101ma M\u0101y\u0101pur\u2019s Deity worship attracts and inspires devotees worldwide.<\/p>\n In 1972, it was hard to imagine that the Deities of M\u0101y\u0101pur would be served in the grand style in which They are now worshipped. When the M\u0101y\u0101pur project was just beginning, the original R\u0101dh\u0101-M\u0101dhava Deities were housed in a simple thatched hut and worshipped by only one p\u016bj\u0101r\u012b. His Grace Jananiv\u0101sa Prabhu, the head p\u016bj\u0101r\u012b of ISKCON M\u0101y\u0101pur, recalls that in those early days the devotees could afford to offer only one piece of sande\u015ba per day, and this one piece had to be cut up to be used in each of the day\u2019s bhoga offerings. Yet, \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da spoke about housing R\u0101dh\u0101-M\u0101dhava in a marble palace and offering Them the most elaborate worship. \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da assured the devotees that since M\u0101dhava is the husband of the Goddess of fortune, all facility would be provided. They must simply continue to serve \u015ar\u012b \u015ar\u012b R\u0101dh\u0101-M\u0101dhava with love and devotion, and M\u0101dhava would take care of everything.<\/p>\n Today, \u015ar\u012b \u015ar\u012b R\u0101dh\u0101-M\u0101dhava and Their A\u1e63\u1e6da-sakh\u012bs, \u015ar\u012b \u015ar\u012b Pa\u00f1ca-tattva, and \u015ar\u012b \u015ar\u012b Prahl\u0101da N\u1e5bsi\u1e41hadeva are worshipped with the opulence of kings and queens, and the Deity Department is so large that it is split into seven subdivisions, each of which is responsible for a different aspect of Their worship. Overseeing all of these aspects are His Grace Jananiv\u0101sa Prabhu and His Grace Pa\u1e45kaj\u0101\u1e45ghri Prabhu, who have been the p\u016bj\u0101r\u012bs of M\u0101y\u0101pur since the beginning and are among the most senior p\u016bj\u0101r\u012bs in ISKCON. <\/p>\n The Deities of \u015ar\u012b M\u0101y\u0101pur Candrodaya Mandir are worshipped on the altar by approximately 60 p\u016bj\u0101r\u012bs, who wake Them, dress Them, perform seven \u0101ratis throughout the day, offer Them bhoga, dress Them again in the evening, and put Them to rest.<\/p>\n Assisting the p\u016bj\u0101r\u012bs to opulently dress the Lord are over 40 devotees who make garlands, bouquets, and flower arrangements for the Lord\u2019s worship. In \u015ar\u012bdh\u0101ma M\u0101y\u0101pur, most of the flowers that are offered on a daily basis are grown in two flower gardens that are maintained on the temple grounds. These gardens are cared for by 20 devotees. In addition to this, many devotees grow flowers in their own homes and pick flowers from the surrounding area to offer to the Deities. Every day, 100 garlands are made and offered. In the mornings and evenings, groups of local devotees gather to string the beautiful \u2013 and very large! \u2013 garlands that are offered to the Deities, to create bouquets to be held by the A\u1e63\u1e6da-sakh\u012bs and \u015ar\u012bmat\u012b R\u0101dh\u0101r\u0101\u1e47\u012b, and to fashion flower arrangements to beautify the altars.<\/p>\n The opulent outfits offered to the Deities are all designed, stitched, and embroidered by a team of 28 local devotees who work year-round to create the Lord\u2019s beautiful clothing. Resident devotees also hand make most of the jewelry worn by the M\u0101y\u0101pur Deities.<\/p>\n Approximately 35 devotees are engaged in caring for the Deities\u2019 paraphernalia rooms and paraphernalia. These devotees clean, polish, organize, and in other ways ensure that the Lord\u2019s belongings are maintained nicely.<\/p>\n Deity worship could not be complete without opulent bhoga offerings, and \u015ar\u012bdh\u0101ma M\u0101y\u0101pur is renowned for the delicious preparations offered to the Deities. The Deities receive eight bhoga offerings a day, which are cooked by at least 10 devotees and on festivals days by 40 devotees or more. In the early days in \u015ar\u012bdh\u0101ma M\u0101y\u0101pur devotees could only afford to offer the Lord one piece of sande\u015ba a day, but now the Deities are daily offered an abundance of the most delicious sweets: milk sweets like sande\u015ba, barf\u012b, and rasamalai, and cakes, cookies, and other varieties of sweet preparations. There is even a separate kitchen used as a confectionery for the preparation of some of these items. And of course, the sweets are only one aspect of the opulent meals. The Lord\u2019s r\u0101ja-bhoga offering alone consists of 25 different preparations, each expertly prepared for the Lord\u2019s pleasure.<\/p>\n It is said that in the spiritual world, every day is a festival, and in \u015ar\u012bdh\u0101ma M\u0101y\u0101pur, it truly seems as if a festival is always being celebrated. More than 150 days per year are celebrated as festivals for the pleasure of the Lord and His devotees! These festivals are performed in a grand and opulent manner to please and glorify the Lord and to submerge the Vai\u1e63\u1e47avas in an ocean of bliss. The M\u0101y\u0101pur Festival Committee\u2019s sole purpose is to plan and execute festivals for the pleasure of the Lord and the Lord\u2019s devotees, and working under their direction are many other devotees who assist in the hours, weeks, and sometimes months of planning and preparation that are required for M\u0101y\u0101pur\u2019s elaborate festivals. The number of devotees who assist with the festivals is difficult to calculate, for the entire ISKCON M\u0101y\u0101pur community comes together to help, along with devotees from around the world and local residents from the surrounding areas.<\/p>\n \u015ar\u012b \u015ar\u012b R\u0101dh\u0101-M\u0101dhava and Their A\u1e63\u1e6da-sakh\u012bs, \u015ar\u012b \u015ar\u012b Pa\u00f1ca-tattva, and \u015ar\u012b \u015ar\u012b Prahl\u0101da N\u1e5bsi\u1e41hadeva are the proprietors of ISKCON M\u0101y\u0101pur, and all who reside there are Their servants. They are the center of the M\u0101y\u0101pur community, and all residents of ISKCON M\u0101y\u0101pur engage in Their service in one way or another \u2013 and as \u015ar\u012bdh\u0101ma M\u0101y\u0101pur is the World Headquarters of ISKCON, the Lords of \u015ar\u012b M\u0101y\u0101pur Candrodaya Mandir have a special relationship with ISKCON devotees from all over the world. Many thousands of devotees take dar\u015bana of the Deities in M\u0101y\u0101pur every year, and many more take dar\u015bana regularly through M\u0101y\u0101pur TV. It is said that Deity worship is at the heart of any Vai\u1e63\u1e47ava community, and this is certainly true of ISKCON M\u0101y\u0101pur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The opulent outfits offered to the Deities are all designed, stitched, and embroidered by a team of 28 local devotees who work year-round to create the Lord\u2019s beautiful clothing. Resident devotees also hand make most of the jewelry worn by the Mayapur Deities. Approximately 35 devotees are engaged in caring for the Deities\u2019 paraphernalia rooms and paraphernalia. These devotees clean, polish, organize, and in other ways ensure that the Lord\u2019s belongings are maintained nicely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60117,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60115\/revisions\/60117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Hare](\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-_ftBKOKnbfI\/Wqz5Ut5k4kI\/AAAAAAAAi3k\/a4czlR2rHL4royAncHL-Q-OPvNak42jsACHMYCw\/s0\/2018-03-17_12-25-51.jpg\")
By ISKCON Mayapur<\/strong><\/p>\n