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Posted on August 22, 2022August 22, 2022 by remember krishna — Leave a comment

Altar Backgrounds for Festivals Janmastami

janmashtami altar decoration peacock theme for shri radharaman temple deity with three peacocks stylized don the backdrop

Exploring different artistic inspiration for a special Krishna festival backdrop on the altar with a Krishna deity in front. Who better to look to than Shri Radharaman?

Shri Radharaman with his three peacock backdrop on a dark cloudy sky

After years hopping around in different hired halls to celebrate festivals and do elaborate set ups, this year I’ve been so happy to have a known venue but wouldn’t you know – I’ve been sick for the 2021 and 2022 Janmastami festivals?! Of all the luck!

Happily, I have been still contributing remotely, and this year my Janmashtami decoration plan for our big party of friends is to have a projection onto the wall behind Krishna deity.

By happy arrangement, I have been saving perfect examples of Krishna deity backdrops for years!! Both on Pinterest and Instagram and of course google images search, our BFF when it comes to inspirational research, am I right?!

What a fabulous opportunity to dig through past favorites, and guess who comes up as the instagram starrr? Shri Radharaman of course! Closely followed by Shri Rai HrdaiCharanBachan.

You just know that all this delicious decorations of the Lords temple room is too good to hoarde! Behold! And I’m sharing it with the world!

Shri Radharamanji’s altar ornamented by an exquisite peacock backdrop and magnificent cut palm decorations on the base.

shri radharaman deity altar with peacock theme and red drapes and specially cut palm decorations

Shri Radharaman is of course the Prince of Braja! His servants so nicely maintain a high standard of worship and invest so much loving energy into nicely preparing different decorations. This exquisite peacock style ornamented backdrop was to my knowledge, prepared by volunteer devotees on a painted panel. The exquisite mesh phula style (netted panel) decorations from fresh jasmine buds are finely done and a great artistic panel of palm cutwork. I became interested in this style of ornamentation and asked friends in India about it and they imparted that it is made from a special type of palm which is harvested and cut locally. It looks like mother of pearl!

I think that this was inspired by the peacock gates of Jaipur…

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce5U6aJskAx/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link image attribution to instagram account for Jaipur peacock gates

Ornate cooling backdrop in blue for Shri Radharaman altar festival

blue mughal style altar background for krishna diety festival shri radhraman murti on blue backdrop

Shri Radharaman was offered this ornate backdrop and the entire design of three arches executed in blue and white is completely stunning. I would love to recreate this bold and striking look in a hot summer for my home altar. I can see, with a little mathematical precicison you could paint it up just same.

overview of shri radhraman temple with indigo blue altar backdrop and temple arches

The overall stylistic choices for this are exquisite! The yellow and white and green compliment the mediterranean blue very nicely for this altar backdrop at shri Radharamanji’s temple.

Glorious Mango Tree in gold stylistic look on a greyish green backdrop with the jasmine hut frame

a silkey grey and green backdrop with a mango tree and phula of jasmine skirt frame at shri radharaman temple altar backdrop

Another artistically excellent altar backdrop prepared by Rajatdraws for Shri Radharaman’s temple. The stencil style gold outline of the backdrop is exquisitely offset with the inky grey green (is that a eucalypt green?) backdrop, and Shri Radharamanlals garlands are in regal red. For this occassion they have dispensed with his silver throne!

Glorious thunder of cows on dusty Vrindavan backdrop

red cows passing through illustratied backdrop on shri radharaman temple altar

Extraordinary Vrindavan scene – the clouds above echo the cows like clouds and all the suggested dust of Brindavan and blue hues of the Jamuna river indicated in this stylistic masterpiece installed at Shri Radharaman’s temple in Vrindavan.

The artistic brilliance of this altar decoration is unparalled. It is daring, inspired, and masterfully executed. The turmeric color of the cows is echoed in the bottom panel ornamentation.

Cows Shrinathji style backdrop in red

red backdrop with stencilled gold cows shri radharaman temple

Carefully appreciate the genius of this decoration set up for Shri Radharaman, the cowherd boy prince of Braj!

The gold stencilled cows echo a traditional Pichawai style or Nathji style backdrop for Shri Radharaman, while his simple shrouded gold half circle backdrop, golden umbrella and gold linen dhoti allow our radiant dark Lord to be the undoubted jewel in this golden red setting.

DIY at home throne in lotus look to get STAR effect backdrop

This pink backdrop in a real lotus pink with the white cut palm hearts and jasmine strands is perfection. Look closely at Shri Radharaman’s traditional indian print fabric shorts. So charming! Even his silver throne has been replaced with a created lotus cutwork one.

This is great inspiration to DIY at home, if you have been looking desparingly at Shri Radharaman’s opulent silver throne as long as I have! DIY it with a lotus theme!

LOTUS THEME glorious backdrop in pink for Shri Radharaman altar

lotus work radiant effulgence backdrop for shri radharaman altar

I regret not having a better still for this amazing altar capture. I will try and go back through his account and find a better photo to share. This still is taken from a video on instagram.

The actual work is stupendous. The photo is not!

Appreciate the Luxury of this charming arch on altar

peach and green backdrop for shri radharaman

all peaches and white/greens, this altar is sublime and offests Shri Radharaman so beautifully. much of the work is freshly done.

Oranges and strings of marigolds

Shri Radharaman is inimitable here in chandan yatra all hues of saffron and chandan.

Special backdrop for Shri Rai Hridiharan Chandrabhaan

special altar backdrop — the only place I have seen photos of this exquisite deity is here; https://www.instagram.com/samrat108/

Exquisite backdrop for the Lord Shri Rai Hridiharan Chandrabhaan – so interesting to see in progress this artist at work!

backdrop being painted — backdrop in construction https://www.instagram.com/p/CEObhSkF2M4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Clusters of lotus decorate this 3 step backdrop for Radha Krishna – perfect for summer heatwave

lotus backdrop and lotus step for radharani and krishna deities altar

Simple altar backdrops of lotus flowers for Radha Krishna traditional altar

Very nicely presented this simple pretty painted lotus backdrop is too sweet not to share.

New artistic heights acheived by design company Decor by Krishna – Banana palms and lotus!

I really appreciate the simple and eco-friendly aesthetic of this company. They started small but now have branches accross the world. This is from their mission statement:

How are we achieving this? Its simple, we go with traditional and evergreen designs with fresh fragrant local flowers, coconut leaves, banana leaves. These designs are timetested and give a huge positive response from clients.
https://decorbykrishna.com/

You can’t look past the strong ZING of fresh greens! Would make a charming altar backdrop or background to do at home for nearly nothing. Fresh is fun!

tilak backdrop design by decor by krishna company

While this is a large event set up I could totally see it being reflected in a festival altar.

One more stunning design from Shri Radharamanaltar backdrop inspo files:

A pair of gopis flank Shri Radharaman in his little jasmine strung tent.

Posted on July 4, 2022July 4, 2022 by remember krishna — Leave a comment

Krishna’s cow friends join Him on the Altar

Krishna deity with large surabhi cow behind him and twin deer at his lotus feet. deity of krishna on altar with blue background and teal carpet

Have you started collecting cows for Krishna?

It seems like all the Vaishnava devotees soon enough start finding that cows remind them of Krishna, and so a little hunt begins. My sister has collection of what I would call mexican painted cows that have marched along her mantle for many years. I wish I had a photo to show you!

Gopala – Gopala means “cowherd”—go means “cow,” and pala means “protector.”

Shri Vanvihari Krishna deity dressed in red with Gaura Nitai deities and behind Krishna a large surabhi cow with full milk bags. Altar decorated witha mirror and vases and silver lanterns above — Here’s my altar when I had Surabhi cow visiting and also two sweet deer nestled up to Krishna’s lotus feet.

Have you seen my altar? I have been looking for cows for my sweet Krishna deity, Sri Sri Vanvihari Krishna – and of course I have been infused with the Surabhi Cow enthusiasm of all of Krishna’s devotees!!

Gopala, our lover of the cows and the cowherd maidens of Braj, is beloved by everyone, and what sweeter way to worship our deer lord than to offer Krishna’s cows to accompany Him on the altar?! I am still working on the perfect Surabhi to offer, but in the meantime my collection has grown quite vast!

Recently a friend reached out wanting to order some of the cows they have seen in my collection online, and I took some photos to give them a size reference, and thought I would share the photos with you! Why not, when it’s such a thing to set up the photos already, right?

Krishna’s cows come in all shapes and sizes!

Just a few from my collection – the Syamasundar Krishna deity is 13′ for those of you who will ask

You can definately order these deer – while I have a second pair. One set live with Krishna on my altar!

Collectable cows are fun too!

Another friend has little milk jugs in the shape of a cow, and offers them to Krishna with milk!

Vintage delft wear porcelain jug in shape of cow to store and pour milk from etsy collectable cows — https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/967648877/delft-blue-creamer-in-the-shape-of-a-cow?gpla=1&gao=1&

I found this one on Etsy – super cute with little painted blue flowers – I love love vintage ceramics and I also love flowers! So this little cow is the cutest and now I’ve found, I would LOVE to buy Him. Except my house is kind of exploding at the edges under my collections of CUTE so maybe not. Maybe one of you will take him/her home. Follow the link to find where to buy (etsy).

That time I made Krishna’s cows as little necklaces….

These little cow pendants were inspired by a friend whose daughter, the same age as mine, is named Surabhi. It made me very happy to see Surabhi wearing a Surabhi Cow necklace! I still have a few left and I would LOVE to see you or your loved one wearing a Krishna’s cow pendant too! Order here: Surabhi cow necklace pendant V2

I would LOVE to see what cows you have found for you Surabhi Cow Collection, email me a photo and I can put together a little blog post to inspire us all!

LOVE,

your friend, Sita

Posted on October 4, 2021October 4, 2021 by remember krishna — Leave a comment

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!

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!

Lord Chaitanya Lord Nityananda deities with Sri Krishna deity on home altar

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!

Posted on September 3, 2021December 13, 2021 by remember krishna — Leave a comment

Who Is Radha?

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!

Srimati Radharani ~ Krishna’s Perfect Beloved

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!

Posted on October 10, 2020October 10, 2020 by remember krishna — Leave a comment

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.

altar lighting DIY silver moroccan pendant hanging lights in silver softly illuminate krishna altar

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