Arcana News

ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry

March 2009

In This Issue: Welcome to our March Newsletter

Srila Prabhupada on Deity Worship
Dear Friends,
Mayapur Academy News
Hare Krishna. Welcome to the March edtion of ISKCON
Highlights from the Ministry Report Deity Worship Ministry / Mayapur Academy newsletter.
Pancatattva Maha-abhiseka Wow! What a month! This month saw the conclusion of
Ministry News the second semester of the Mayapur Academy Diploma
course on the 21st and the graduation ceremony on the
26th. I also attended the GBC meetings from the 12th to
the 23rd, participated in the abhiseka for Lord Nityananda
and organized and participated in the maha-abhiseka
of the Pancatattva. Jayapataka Maharaja returned to
Upcoming Dates Mayapur for a week in February before leaving India to
continue his rehabilitation in the West. His recovery is
March 2009 nothing short of amazing.

09 - Boat festival (Mayapur) Thanks to everyone who gave feedback on our first
newsletter. Your comments help shape the content of
11 - Gaura Purnima
future newsletters.
12 - Jagannatha Misra Utsava
Look forward to hearing more from you all soon.
21 - Boat Festival (Vrndavana)
Your servant,
April 2009 Nrsimha Kavaca dasa
3 - Rama Navami nkd@pamho.net
9 - Vasanta Rasa
14 - Tulasi Jala Dan
27 - Aksaya Trtiya - Candana Srila Prabhupada Quote
yatra for 21 days
Srila Prabhupada stressed that the preliminary qualifica-
tion for performing deity worship was brahminical initia-
Advertise your temple’s tion, as highlighted in this quote from Srimad Bhagavatam
festivals here. Please send 4.31.10.
us the dates two months in
advance. “In our Krsna consciousness society, unless one is
twice initiated – first by chanting Hare Krsna and
second by the Gayatri mantra -- he is not allowed to
Links enter the kitchen or Deity room to execute duties.”

Websites
www.deityworship.com Mayapur Academy News
www.mayapuracademy.org Classes concluded on February 14th followed by 5 days
of practicum, where devotees were engaged in various
Mayapur Academy Blog services in the Mayapur deity department. Many students
have commented that having the opportunity to put into
http://mayapuracademy.wordpress. practice everything they learnt was the highlight of the
com course.
Contact Details The graduation ceremony was presided over by Jayapa-
taka Maharaja, Radhanatha Maharaja, Kavicandra Maha-
raja, Jananivasa prabhu and Pankajanghri prabhu. In all,
Mayapur Academy 29 devotees graduated from the Mayapur Academy this
year, with 19 devotees receiving diplomas and 10 receiv-
2nd flr. Caitanya Bhavan
ing certificates for individual units.
ISKCON Mayapur
Dist. Nadia I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Deva
Gaura Hari prabhu to the team. He will be taking care of
West Bengal
the website as well as teaching. Prabhu already has a
India new mantra course planned for next year.
+91 3472 245-480
Prabhu has already done a full redesign of the website,
www.mayapuracademy.org which you can see at www.mayapuracademy.org. We are
interested to hear your comments.
ISKCON Deity Worship
Ministry
www.deityworship.com
Highlights from the Ministry Report
nkd@pamho.net
The end of the year is a particularly intense time for me.
As well as getting ready for the Mayapur Academy there
are many reports to be made to the GBC. Each year
ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry is required to submit a
financial report and an activity report to the GBC.
Here are some highlights from ISKCON Deity Worship
Ministry’s activity report:

Would you like to help? Publications

Mayapur Academy is a new • A draft of “The Method of Worship” (formerly known

project and needs all kinds as the Pancaratra Pradipa) was again used as the
of things to help us grow. handbook for the Mayapur Academy.
Vaisnava scriptures, com- • Four chapters of this work are now completed with
mentaries of our acaryas, two remaining chapters and appendixes to be com-
various spiritual books, San- pleted.
skrit dictionaries, etc.
• At the current rate of progress we will be ready to
Art and craft books, jewellery publish the “Method of Worship” by Gaura Purnima
making, dress design and 2010.
making etc. etc.
Websites
We also need deity para-
phernalia for dressing and • The new Mayapur Academy website is now online
worshiping our deities. and can be viewed at www.mayapuracademy.org
If you are unable to help with Mayapuracademy.org offers information about the training
any of these and would like available at the Mayapur Academy as well as facility for
to make a donation, please online enrolment. Currently we are developing a range of
visit our websites: online courses that will offer preparatory training for devo-
www.deityworship.com tees planning to attend the Mayapur Academy courses.
or Mayapur Academy
www.mayapuracademy.org • The response to the Mayapur Academy has been
encouraging. Since opening in December 2007,
we have trained more than 200 devotees in various
aspects of deity worship and Brahminical culture and
lifestyle.
• To date the Mayapur Academy has presented cours-
es on Temple Worship, Samskaras, Deity Cooking,
Our thanks to the follow- Deity Dressing, Deity Dress-making, Tulasi Care &
ing devotees for their as- Worship, Brahminical Culture & Ethics, and Festivals.
sistance and support:
• This year we added units on Vedic astrology and
Dulal Candra prabhu – flower arranging. We will introduce courses on Sala-
USA – four sets of Srila grama worship, advanced temple worship and other
Prabhupada’s books for the topics in the near future.
Mayapur Academy library.
• All the devotees attending the course said they
Arjuna Hari prabhu – India greatly benefited from the course, and we noticed a
Visnu Murti prabhu – India significant improvement in the attitude of the devo-
tees as they became more inspired to worship the
Rasanandini mataji – for Lord.
the drawings for the Pan-
caratra Pradipa revision • A former student is now head pujari in Butterworth,
Malaysia and another is head deity cook in London,
Haridasa prabhu – UK
Soho St Temple.
Gadagraja prabhu – USA
MVT – for their generous
donation to refit our kitchen Pancatattva Maha-abhiseka
classroom and purchase
The abhiseka for the Pancatattva was a massive en-
more deities.
deavor; a challenge to even the most experienced pujaris.
Doyal Govinda prabhu – Even the size of the Pancatattva presents a special chal-
Germany lenge: we had to build a special scaffold for the devotees
to stand on to pour the liquids.
Dhevsivanand Govender
– USA In a normal abhiseka the total quantity of ingredients
Narendra Krsna prabhu – might go as high as 200 litres, but the Pancatattva are no
Vrndavana ordinary deities! For the abhiseka of the Pancatattva in
Mayapur we used more than 4200 litres of liquids, plus
Mayapur International 4000 litres of water; a massive total of more than 8000
Boys School – Mayapur litres! It took 47 devotees two days to prepare for and
bathe the deities. A huge endeavor, but very blissful.
Monthly donors
Guru
Abhiseka Ministry News
Visvatma As I mentioned in the last newsletter, after leaving May-
Chetan apur my wife, Asesa Sadhini devi dasi, and I will go to
Vrndavana. We will also stay a few days in Calcutta
Devamrta dasa helping the devotees to improve the worship there. Over
Krsna Candra dasa the past few months I have visited several times and the
devotees have made many significant improvements.
Murlidhara dasa Inspired by Radhanatha Maharaja they are eager to im-
Brahma Kunda dasa prove their service to Radha Govinda.
From there to Delhi, a few days at the Punjabi Bagh
temple and a few days at the New Delhi temple.
Thank you all very much for
helping to make the Mayapur The revision of the Pancaratra Pradipa with Jananivasa
Academy a success. prabhu is coming along nicely. We just finished the chap-
ter on standard worship and tonight hope to start on the
Hare Krishna!
elaborate worship.
Praying for the mercy of Krsna that I can continue this of-
fering to Hari, guru and the Vaisnavas

Your servant
Nrsimha Kavaca dasa