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Home Deity Worship- Made Easy

Sri Vanvihari in peacock blue peach and ginger flower lotus bud garland reflected in a silver ornate mirror

Spring has Sprung! Have some patience and I’m going to tell you how we can easily start worshipping a gorgeous Krishna deity at home… it’s a winding tale, with lots of beautiful Krishna photos, so read on!

With a bit of a stagger and a wobble, our Ozzie weather has swung into Spring!

I am thrilled with our warmer weather, as over the 40 final days of winter, my Lord Vanvihari has worn nearly all of His long sleeved outfits! 

Spring gives us exciting new chances for dressing – because Spring here in Australia really means summer type weather for the rest of the world!

Remixing dhoti’s with a variety of shawls, sashes, and turbans, is a beautiful opportunity to really play with color and texture, and show off My Lord’s broad chest decorated with Tilak and the mark of Srivatsa, of course! I just love to see his strong arms and belly button! 

Sri Vanvihari in peacock blue peach and lotus bud garland reflected in a silver ornate mirror
Sri Vanvihari Krishna wearing silk devore chiffon dhoti and lotus bud garland

On Janmastami this year I finally welcomed Him into regular worship on my home altar.

The Lords Gaura Nitai have been doing a slow dance around the altar as we work out the best arrangement for everyone’s comfort. Here’s some of our crazy configurations!

One of the things which has come as a slight surprise to me is raising up my Lord Vanvihari Krishna! I didn’t intend to, but as at 18inches tall, his flute is a little in the way of Lord Nityananda, unless I raise Sri Vanvihari up a few inches. Currently He has stood on a beautiful enamelled jewelery box, an inlaid wooden box and a wooden domed suitcase! The suitcase it’s funny, but it’s kind of hatbox shaped, with a flat back so it can butt against the backdrop of the altar, anyway it seems to be the best height and I am working on painting it. It’s had a navy base coat, and then I am going to paint on lotus flowers, to match the lotus flower bases I painted on Sri Gaura Nityananda.

Altar improvements have been going on for the past eternity, and it’s not likely to change! 

With the introduction of Sri Vanvihari to my worshipable Lords, the currency (and gorgeous) altar backdrop became too short, so I’m looking at making a new backdrop for them. In the event of not finding something I can buy that I just over the top love, I’m creating my own in photoshop and I will be printing it. (let me know if you love it and want one too, I guess I could work out how to print and ship). Far off plans aside (I hope that isn’t another 10 year project!) I have also got plans to install pillars (columns) and a faux arch.

Bet it’s not that exciting to just HEAR about my plans, you would rather SEE something tactile! 

Well, I wanted to talk to you about how incredibly life-enhancing it is to worship a deity of Sri Krishna, and then give you some compelling reasons to consider selecting one of the exquisite Krishna murti’s I have prepared for you! 

By seeing the sweetness of Lord Krishna’s Deity form, and by hearing the descriptions of Lord Krishna’s pastimes, one develops a desire to fall in love with Krishna.

I have been completely blissed out dressing Krishna. Daily darshans on my RememberKrishna instagram account (for now, no promises to keep doing this!). How fun it is to dress the one who looks completely exquisite in every outfit?!

Let me tell you about my good friend…

My good friend has had a deity of Krishna for the past 10 years. She’s been waiting for her sister to paint him, and to create a wardrobe for him. I sew, and paint, myself! Yet it’s taken me a full year just to prepare his wardrobe, and I’m sewing deity clothes professionally (Or semi-professionally if I’m humble) for the past 15 years now! It took 3 years of working with sculpting artists to have him perfectly carved with the sort of particular refinements that were important to me. 

You can avoid all the drama and serious stress by selecting from the beautiful Krishna murti which I have personally prepared for you. I’ve worked with sculptors and done my own carving to ensure each deity is as perfect a representation of Krishna as artistry can get. To suit each specific form of the Lord, I lovingly prepare a wardrobe of outfits – I call them krishna’s Glory Box, as they come with him to his new home with you! 

From deep meditation on Krishna’s transcendental form and names, pastimes, and qualities, with great reverence and love together with a meticulous eye for detail, these forms are carefully and lovingly prepared ready for you to install. 

So easy to choose a Krishna deity to worship!

How easy it is to carefully inspect a form of the lord who is already completely fresh and charmingly presented with jewels, hair, flute, accessories and garments?

As everyones support person for deity ordering, I have heard a lot of stories about the difficulties of working with Indian companies and ordering deities. Sometimes they arrive broken! Recently a friend on instagram ordered large marble deities who arrived with the hands and feet completely snapped off. OH MY GOSH the horrible heartache~ Worse! The seller is refusing to refund this friend.

Other people discuss how difficult it is to deal with the companies. Ordering a large 3ft statue the communications for one friend were almost incomprehensible, and the murti arrived only after much anxious nail-biting and stress. Happily, intact, but the painting requests had not exactly been followed!

Many people won’t have my exacting standards. I admit that I do seek perfection, and have a critical eye for detail that some don’t. But even for those people it is so much less baffling to be able to purchase a deity of Krishna who is ready with OUTFITS! HAIR! JEWELERY! A side benefit is being able to copy the patterns I have already worked out for your specific deity!

Easy to keep building His wardrobe!

When Krishna comes to you from my careful selection of lovingly prepared statues, you’ll be ready to easily order backup outfits in the future! Or reference my YouTube channel full of creative and inspiring outfits, as well as DIY tutorials on how to make your own deity clothes. 

Currently here ready to come to you is beautiful Murli Manohar – 18 inch tall gorgeous form of Krishna with dewy eyes. 

Explore and order here: 

18 inch tall krishna deity murli against a forest backdrop wearing gorgeous robes of burgandy red and zardozi embroidery

Do you have some experiences with ordering from India that have left you a little scarred? I would love to hear about it (and may even have some advice to offer).

My YouTube Channel has a variety of interesting videos to support you in choosing a Krishna deity to worship,

CLICK HERE

along with LOTS of previews of how beautiful this specific currently available Murli Manohar Krishna is!

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Who Is Radha?

Radha and Krishna on a swing

What a wonderful question “who is Radha” is! Giving us the opportunity to explore in depth who is Srimate Radhika!

When we think of Sri Krishna we think immediately of Sri Radha. I often am reminded by my Indian friends that to have Sri Krishna we must have Sri Radha!

You particularly love my Radha and Krishna doll sets. But for those who are unsure who Sri Radha Rani is – or for those who simply relish to hear more about the wonderous spiritual knowledge available to us – you will love this article on Radharani!

Please read this wonderful description of Srimate Radharani – Krishna’s perfect Beloved. Click through and explore the entire article which has been magnificently composed by the authoritative source on Spiritual Knowledge, my spiritual teacher, Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda!

Srimate Radharani Gallery

I have collected some wonderful detailed pictures of Radha and Krishna here in this gallery for you. When I am making clothes for Sri Radha and Krishna dolls, or Srimate Radharani and Sri Krishna deities – or even paintings, I always refer to my treasure trove of beautiful artwork depicting the divnine couple. They are endlessly inspiring for an artist – the delicate detail on Radhe’s dress, Krishna’s exquisite jewellery, the landscape with moons, peacocks and more… what a well of inspiration!

Enjoy and explore this wonderful description of Sri Radhika qualities below.

The Qualities of Srimate Radharani: CC Madya lila 23.87 – 91

  • Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī”s twenty-five chief transcendental qualities are:
  • (1) She is very sweet.
  • (2) She is always freshly youthful.
  • (3) Her eyes are restless.
  • (4) She smiles brightly.
  • (5) She has beautiful, auspicious lines.
  • (6) She makes Kṛṣṇa happy with Her bodily aroma.
  • (7) She is very expert in singing.
  • (8) Her speech is charming.
  • (9) She is very expert in joking and speaking pleasantly.
  • (10) She is very humble and meek.
  • (11) She is always full of mercy.
  • (12) She is cunning.
  • (13) She is expert in executing Her duties.
  • (14) She is shy.
  • (15) She is always respectful.
  • (16) She is always calm.
  • (17) She is always grave.
  • (18) She is expert in enjoying life.
  • (19) She is situated at the topmost level of ecstatic love.
  • (20) She is the reservoir of loving affairs in Gokula.
  • (21) She is the most famous of submissive devotees.
  • (22) She is very affectionate to elderly people.
  • (23) She is very submissive to the love of Her friends.
  • (24) She is the chief gopī.
  • (25) She always keeps Kṛṣṇa under Her control.

Radhasthami – the appearance day of Srimate Radharani – occurs after the Appearance of Sri Krishna (Janmashtami).

If you enjoyed this exploration of Sweet Radha – please leave me a comment and let me know!

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My WOW! DIY Altar Decor – Lighting

diy altar decor lighting using silver morroccan lamps for a krishna altar lights with power plug cords and switches

Our Aussie climate is so very hot, that it was super important to me to choose a light and breezy altar that let in lots of light and air circulation too. 

My altar has slats all around – they DO get dusty at the bases where the slats join the frame, but are so airy. I line them with a lightweight Chinese paper or lightweight cotton.

I have my altar set up with internal lights- I turn them on early if I’m going out for the evening, and they are great to help me remember to put my Lords to sleep. I know it’s stupid that I should need to a reminder, but as I don’t put them to rest until just before bed myself I would hate to forget them!  (the reason I do that is so that they are not disturbed by the household sounds while resting)


I used these lightbulbs with plugin cords and hung them inside silver morroccan style lanterns (after detaching the handles). You can buy similar bulbs with plugin cords online, on ebay like I did. 

You can find these gorgeous lights online or locally.

If you are interersted, I have a whole Pinterest board with incredible lighting – check it out here

You can buy a bulb/socket/cord that plugs into the wall, & it was important to me to get one with a switch.

Make sure it’s got the correct plug for your country!

Reject harsh lighting, and illuminate your altar with a soft glow. Ensure Krishna’s comfort by making sure that your lighting choices aren’t glaring and bright, angled in Krishna’s and your deities faces like a spotlight.

I have a large picture of Krishna and Balaram running at the back of my altar, I love this inspiring cowherd boy playing picture! Although I’ve been planning for years to add the Krishna and cowherd boys playing on the swing picture in the background. I’m still working on getting that printed to the appropriate size for my altar. 

I also want to create some pillars, one for either side of the altar backdrop. Because I don’t want to loose any of the space, I was thinking of making these out of foamcore board, painted, and fixing on to the backdrop in a temporary way. 

So my goals for the altar I think are to create a bit more pretty and soft vibe than I have currently, including possibly freshening the curtains I have on the side of the altar, and I’m toying with some ideas for the ceiling.

I really like the idea of having it painted in traditional Indian palace style with scenes from Krsna’s pastimes, or an abstract pretty colored decoration. 

For you I have created some DIY Altar inspiration, browse through these completely charming photos & be inspired afresh!

If you have not set up an altar yet and are wondering where and how to start, then view my post which goes into a fair bit of detail on the various types of altars you might want to consider, and some ideas about how to make your altar work for your specific space!

Thanks so much for reading, I would LOVE to hear from you, whether you had a different lighting approach!

Coming up next I’m putting together lighting round up for you – as I know that electric bulbs are definately NOT the only options!

Until then,

Always Remember Krishna & Never Forget Him,

Love

Sita

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Home Altar Round up – 10 Inspirational Home Altars!

diy inspirational altars for home deity work vaishnava devotees of lord sri krishna

Appropriate use of the desire to beautify your home is fully realised in setting up Krishna’s altar.

I’ve created a round of inspirational home altars that you will love to look at!

This is more like candy for your eyes than an instructional post – for HOW TO then you can refer to my post covering some of the fundamentals.

In no particular order:

Oh Krishna! Calling the gopis by the moonlight!

Dreamy moonlight and glorious Krishna! Worshipped with sweet Gaura Hari on this most lovely of home altars!

Keeping Syamasundar company

the Gopis of Vrindavan keep Krishna company here, what a riot of beauty!

Srimate Radha & Sri Krishna

Radha and Krishna most beautifully worshipped in this home altar with a custom painted backdrop of Vrindavan. This pujari regularly changes the backdrops, to match outfits, and seasonally, with festivals. I was fortunate enough to make their wigs and paint them!

Krishna & His Animal Friends

Look! A peacock fan, artificial grass, lots of animal friends, and sweet Krishna in this home altar !

Looking for a guide on how to set up an altar for home deity worship? View this post!

Festival season decorations

A glorious fresh leaf backdrop with diy peacock feather fans … so sweet! Home altar worship so fun when involving the family to decorate. You can see all the little carved cows and inhabitants of Vrajabhumi.

Sidelong Glances & their parrot friends

I love how sweet this little Radha and Krishna set is. The way Radha is delicately smaller than Krsna and most especially the parrots on the little swing! Their delicate elaborate altar temple is most charmingly carved and painted. I would lOVE to apply some of this to my altar!

Sri Sri Radha Krishna most lovingly worshipped

Everything of perfection! Little decorative lighting, Krishna’s surabhi cows, a charming cloth on the home altar platform, and oh so many more beautiful considerate finishing touches, how marvellous to see all the care gone into worshipping their wonderful Lordships.

Jesus Appearance Day altar!

candlelight, palm leaves, garlands, and flowers galore – what more do you need!

Showing that an altar can be incredibly simple and yet, so nice!

Finally, not specifically on the home temple topic, but sweet little Krishna deity resting in a charming canopied bed!

I love how much thought has gone into creating this special resting place for Krishna, the little curtains with decorative beading, the pretty and silky bedding, and all that ornamental silverwork which is simply astonishing! You might take off his crown before sleep tho, for ultimate rest 🙂

Setting the mood

with beautiful backdrops! View my post all about backdrops here;

Develop your personal relationship with the Lord!

If you want to know how you can nicely care for Krishna on your home altar, I’m delighted to recommend this series of videos put together by a very nice Vaishnava devotee of the Lord.

Thanks so much for reading, if you have a special altar you would like to see featured in another round up (because who can ever get enough?!) please get in touch with me! You can contact via the contact form or reach out on instagram!

Love, Sita

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Livestream Kirtans & wisdom talks you can join in from home

congregational kirtan at home livestream

Most livestreams are using either YouTube or Facebook.

I’m going to share the YOUTUBE livestream channels that are consistently putting up regular livestreams of both live kirtan, as well as meditation and yoga. 

 

The Australian School of Meditation and Yoga have been livestreaming their weekly kirtans to facebook for a few years now, and yesterday announced that they will continue to livestream kirtan on a regular basis. Around the world others have joined this online kirtan party, making sure that we can continue to associate even if trapped at home by Coronavirus self isolation proceedures. 

I encourage you to follow them on Facebook and Youtube! 

Wisdom talks you can tune into from home.

I expect a lot of livestreams here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1Qk-RUCSN0bTvVgtto02pQ

If you prefer to watch your livestreams of Facebook find The Mantra Room Facebook by clicking this link

my Friends at Kirtan Experience are doing magical kirtan by the beach, while we are still allowed out of doors…

https://www.facebook.com/253631894813893/videos/751990215208418/

They have even set up an audio download you can grab to listen on Soundcloud.

I am also enjoying associating by watching the videos of the very humble servant of Sri Krishna on this channel here:

There are multiple playlists with different themes, but I am loving listening to this yoga wisdom talks while I am sewing for Krsna.

There are multiple locations for The Mantra Room around Australia, and I love the strong kirtan vibe in Brisbane. Follow them on YouTube

All of these channels are so PROLIFIC and generous with their distribution of KIRTAN and Yoga Wisdom that I have just had to pick one or two to represent.

You’ll love it if you enrich your life with these wonderful opportunities to hear and chant from your couch!

Especially in these stressful times with the world pandemic creating mass confusion and anxiety, benefit from the calming wisdom of the ages:

The title says it all. We can buckle down, and stay indoors, and create an internal sanctuary

Have you got some channel you would suggest? Leave a comment and let me know! Maybe I’ll update this list to share it!

This is NOT an exhaustive list! I’m sure my friends around the world would have so much more to add!

I hope it helps you in your daily remembrance of Sri Krishna in these times when we are encouraged to self isolate and may mean separation from other devotees and inability to have congregational kirtan together.