Morning
Worship of the Deities: Bathing and Dressing
For
three-dimensional metal deities, bathe and dress Them daily if possible, while polishing
Them daily is optional. If it is not possible to polish Them daily, then once a
week or once every two weeks, perhaps on the weekends or on Ekadasi. At that
time, you would also offer your regular daily worship with dress, flowers, and
so on.
Checklist
1)
An acamana cup (containing water) and a
spoon
2)
A small bell
on plate
3)
Small water
pot with cover
4)
Bowl with tilaka powder mixed with lemon juice,
(if polishing metal deities)
5)
Scented oil
6)
Cotton wool
(good handful)
7)
Bathing
receptacle
8)
Three towels:
one for each deity, and one for your hands
9)
A mirror that
can stand on its own;
10)
Clothing &
underclothing for the deities
11)
Pins and Blu
Tack
12)
Jewelery
13)
Sandalwood
paste (on a small plate)
14)
Tulasi (on a
small plate)
15)
Picture of
your spiritual master
16)
Picture of Srila
Prabhupada
Optional:
17)
Flowers (on a
small plate)
18)
Incense and
ghee lamp
19)
Bhoga
offering (sweets and fruit, or just fruit)
20)
This procedure
(if it is needed)
·
Perform acamana and offer obeisances to your spiritual
master requesting his blessings to assist him in the worship.
·
Gather all the
required paraphernalia and arrange it neatly and conveniently for performing
the worship. By having everything all set up, you will not need to interrupt
the worship to find a needed item.
·
Sit on the mat
(asana), and then
lightly sprinkle yourself, the area around you and the paraphernalia with water
from the acamana cup, while chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra.
·
Offer worship
to your spiritual master and Srila Prabhupada as follows: Ringing a bell with
your left hand, offer flowers (if possible, dipped in sandalwood paste) at
their lotus feet. Beg for their blessings to perform the worship of the
deities.
Offer
worship to the deities as follows:
·
Invite Their
Lordships to the bathing receptacle with a gesture of the hands;
·
Remove Their
clothing;
·
To polish
metal deities, use the cotton wool to apply powdered tilaka mixed with a little lemon juice. Avoid Their eyes and
painted areas.
·
Clean off the
paste with
cotton wool.
·
Ringing the
bell with your left hand, pour water over Their Lordships from the conch held
in your right hand. Do this at least three times.
The
following two prayers are chanted each day in the temple when we greet the
deities. You may repeat these prayers while you are bathing Their Lordships;
I worship Govinda,
the primeval Lord, the first progenitor, who is tending cows yielding all
desires among abodes built with spiritual gems and surrounded by millions of
desire trees. He is always served with great reverence and affection by
hundreds of thousands of laksmis, or gopis.
I worship Govinda,
the primeval Lord, who is adept at playing on His flute, who has eyes like the
petals of a blooming lotus, whose head is bedecked with a peacock feather, who
has a figure of beauty tinged with the hue of blue clouds, and whose unique
loveliness is charming millions of Cupids.
·
Or, you may
chant govinda jaya jaya, gopala jaya jaya or
Hare Krsna maha-mantra.
·
Dry the
deities with soft towels.
·
Dress the
deities, and offer ornaments and garlands.
·
Sandalwood
paste to Their lotus feet;
·
Flowers and tulasi
leaves with sandalwood to Their Lordship's lotus feet;
·
Optionally you
may offer some or all of the following items:
i)
Incense, while
ringing the bell;
ii)
A ghee or
camphor lamp, while ringing the bell;
iii)
Offer some
fruit and/or sweets and drinking water while ringing the bell, and chanting the
offering prayers as shown above.
·
Offer obeisances
and beg forgiveness for any offenses you may have committed in the worship.
·
Clear away,
and wash and dry the paraphernalia used in the worship.