Firstly you may already have a preference, for metal, marble, wood or resin.
I would like to acknowledge first off that for the point of clarity I will be calling them metal/wood/etc deities but the material element never defines the Lord! Please in general practice do not refer to the deity as a “metal Krishna” etc, as this is both not respectful nor accurate. As soon as the Lord accepts your worship in the form then that form immediately becomes transcendental.
This article is to help you select the most practical form for worship in your particular household situation, and will draw on my experience in painting, caring for and worshiping a variety of deities.
- Who will be caring for the Lord?
- Will you be transporting the Lord frequently?
- Is size a consideration?
- Are you/your family members more drawn to certain materials?
Before you start, ask yourself this:
Do you have small children?
Are you planning to have small children assist with caring for the deity?
In our home, my daughter received Krishna & Balaram at age 4, and we chose metal Krishna and Balaram forms, two beautiful cowherd boys, with practical selection of metal so that they could withstand if they were accidentally knocked or tipped over, and able to be bathed and dressed as desired.
The practicalities of having deity worship with children should be considered – will your children jostle and fight over who gets to assist, and potentially knock the deity, or are they very well trained and respectful, or older?
In most instances I would suggest that families who want to involve children in deity worship should select forms of a mixed metal substance. Such forms are not easily damaged, moved, jostled etc, and while we train our kids to be respectful, unfortunately in enthusiasm or an excess of excitement little accidents can occur.
If you don’t want your heart to leap into your throat everytime your child or children approach the deity I heartily recommend you select a metal form.
With great joy we have the delight of serving Nitai Gaur deities whose forms are mixed metal, with lovely large solid bases, and a size of 21″ (4 inches of which is their large circular base). Our deities have been cared for lovingly by children since baby age, and have never once been knocked or fallen over or sustained any other sort of indignity which could potentially occur with smaller deities or less stable deities.
My dear mother has charmingly delicate and petite metal deities of Gaur Nitai, and while they are robustly metal in form, they are more precarious and difficult to take care of, because of their smaller size and less stability. Her deities are approx 7 inches tall and so adorable!
Growing up with her beautiful Lords – their small size and bases meant that she was quite protective, and until we were over 10, we were assistants at the dressing of the Lords only, allowed to put on a necklace here or there, or pour their bath water, but in dressing they are more vulnerable to tipping.
It worked in our family – instead of dressing the Lords, we all got the chance to offer arotik & be the pujari, or to read the story and sometimes lead some kirtan.
As a side note – it’s easier to make clothes for larger forms!
Is Size a consideration?
There are advantages and drawbacks to small and large forms, and you must weigh each one careful and consider what best works for your situation.
When you are weighing the advantages vs the disadvantages you may consider the following:
SMALL Forms
- more transportable, lightweight for the weak
- harder to see from a distance or close when your eyes get bad!
- less fabric to dress, but much more fiddly to sew for
- smaller deities = smaller altar
Large forms
- stable not easy to knock over
- heavier to transport, or lift
- easy to feast your old eyes on and see from distances
- costlier to dress in fabric and braid and trims
- easier to sew for
- larger deities = larger altar
You can find small and delicate metal moorti of both Nitai Gaur, Krishna, with varying degrees of refinement
Do you intend to travel with your deity or deities?
This is particularly important in the selection of your murti form.
Whether you have Nitai Gaura deities, Krishna deity, Radha Krishna deity or a deity of some other form of the lord, I encourage you to consider whether you will attempt to bring your deity with you if travelling.
There are many different sized forms available, and if you are travelling then I would encourage you still, that metal is very durable, although heavier. Wood could get caught up in customs! Plaster or resin is more fragile, and marble is the most fragile!
I currently have in my care a particularly fine pair of metal Radha and Krishna murtis (at approximately 6 inches tall) who would be extremely easy to carry travelling *side note!
Travel with Lords in hand luggage.
You would not want to lose them should any luggage go astray!
In preaching work, this beautiful dark Syamasundar Krishna is always travelling. He has a lovely travelling case! It is a converted make up box. It’s gold, which is fitting! We lined it beautifully with fabric and it contains some essential outfits and accessories, and He travels first class by air 🙂
Ashadhatu weight can be an advantage – making the statues very stable.
You have the option to select ashadhatu forms which are a mix of 7 or more metals, including lead and traditionally these deities are much heavier than the other forms of metal based statue available.
Do you need Ashadhatu deities? NO! Gosh no. While it is very nice to have them, as they are created carefully and lovingly – it is unnecessary. The Lord can accept whatever deity form He desires. I would liken it to offering Him ceramic or brass bowls to eat from… or ruby studded. There is no problem, but it is not a requirement. Offer with love and He will accept with great love and affection.
Some years ago, a sweet friend of mine allowed me to help her with selecting and ordering (Ashatdhatu) Gaura Nitai statues for her home worship. She also received Krishna/Balaram forms. Having two rambunctious young boys (toddlers at the time), she wisely chose to have metal forms of the Lord and is now comfortably able to allow her enthusiastic helpers to assist with caring for their Lordships.
Marble statues are fragile first
Conversely it has been to my dismay that friends with marble forms have had incidents where simply a table has been bumped, and the statue has fallen over and broken. Oh the heartache! With the best intentions in the world, this can happen.
My own sister had a first Marble form of Krishna ready to install and worship, and in the very first week of receiving the statue, prior to installation, the form was standing on a table which was bumped, and the form fell and broke!! Only imagine!
She persevered, and ordered another Krishna statue carved which is now sacrosanct and NO ONE but her is allowed to come near Him, touch Him or handle Him.
I have Him visiting our home right now! (ok she made an exception for me) but I cannot allow my daughter to assist even with placing His flute because my heart trembles everytime anyone else approaches. I nearly died of a heart attack last night when my daughter told me she was moving the altar and rearranging the living room (gasp!) That was promptly stopped!
If you are interested in seeing him, here’s a sneak peek at His charmingness as He graces our home…
For guidance on how to care for Krishna deities once you have invited Him to your home I would like to suggest you view this excellent series of videos from lovely qualified Vaishnava devotee of Krishna who has much more spiritual understanding and authority than myself.
If there are any mistakes or inconsistencies or incorrect conclusions in my blog post, I humbly request that you overlook them, and be assured that my intention in writing this article is only to offer helpful advice in the practicalities of selecting a form to worship in your home.
From my heart,
Sita dasi