Project Description

  • DATES: 16/09/2022 – 24/09/2022

  • MODE OF DELIVERY: ONSITE

  • COURSE CATEGORY: ISKCON

  • PRICE: 250 EUR*

This training is an intensive version of the three-week program offered annually at Mayapur Academy. If we can learn the process of Deity worship as given by the authorities, then it will help us immensely to do it in a way that satisfies the Lord and helps us to develop our love for Him. That is the whole point of training in Deity worship!

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Course Summary

As part of the ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry’s expanding regional training strategy, a nine-day temple worship course is taught in conjunction with Bhaktivedanta College situated at ISKCON Radhadesh, Belgium. The training covers many philosophical and practical details, as well as written and practical assessments while utilising a range of teaching approaches including interactive and experiential learning.

Schedule & Topics

The exact daily schedule of the course will be given to students just before the start of the course.

Topics that will be covered during the course include:

The course begins with an introduction discussing the benefits of Deity worship and the reasons why we do it. It is also established that Deity worship is integral to devotional service and ISKCON’s mission.

Points covered within this topic are:
– The importance of cleanliness and purity in Krishna consciousness and Deity worship
– How to prepare for worship
– How to do the acamana and samanya arghya procedures
– What are the different materials that paraphernalia should be made from
– How to clean worship paraphernalia
– The significance of the maha-mantra and other mantras in Deity worship

Points covered within this topic are:
– What is a Deity
– Which Deities do we worship and why
– What is the mood of temple worship
– The role of a guru in Deity worship

Points covered within this topic are:
– How it is that Deity worship is an authorised process capable of giving us the highest spiritual success

Points covered within this topic are:
– Why and how to offer bhoga (food)
– How do we know if the Lord accepts our offerings

Points covered within this topic are:
– Our relationship with Krishna
– How we can cultivate our relationship with Krishna

Points covered within this topic are:
– What is an arati
– Why do we offer arati
– What do the items that are offered mean
– What skills do we need to perform and arati
– ‘Sodasopacara Puja’ – how to offer a puja to the Lord

Assessment

Components towards students’ final grade will include:

  • Homework assignments
  • Written exams
  • Acamana assessment
  • Bhoga offering assessment
  • Attendance
  • Classroom etiquette and participation
  • Practical assessment of performing sodasopacara puja (sixteen-item worship*) of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, with students working in teams and being both supported and peer-assessed by one another.

*The sixteen-item worship includes bathing and dressing the Deities, putting on ornaments and garlands, offering flowers to Their lotus feet, and offering Them bhoga.

Studying onsite

To come to study at Bhaktivedanta College in Radhadesh, Belgium, one needs to be minimum 18 years old. Please also have in mind the following practical considerations:

  • Staying in the College building – there is a limited number of rooms available that can be rented;
  • Staying in the temple asram – it is expected from all residents of the temple to participate in the full morning program starting with the mangala-arati with a minimum financial contribution of 10€ per night;
  • Prasadam – taken in the temple for a minimum fee of 90€; days besides the course are not included and should be organized/paid separately;
  • Money – it is important to have some money available as Radhadesh is in a remote location and any trip to nearby towns requires paying for the transport; also, in case there is a medical need, services need to be paid on the spot and refund is requested from your insurance company later on.

For more details, please contact us at studentcare@bhaktivedantacollege.com.

Registration

Deity Worship Course can be attended without any prerequisites.

The number of participants is limited, so register now!

  • Price: €250*

    *potential additional costs: accommodation, prasadam, travel, and visa costs

To register, please click the button below and fill out the registration form. After that, one of our team members will contact you to arrange all other details (please read the section ‘Studying onsite’). Your spot at the course is secured once you pay a non-refundable deposit of €50. In case you fill out the registration form and there are no more available spots, we will keep your registration on the waiting list.

REGISTRATION

TEACHERS

Nrsimha Kavaca das
Nrsimha Kavaca dasTeacher
Nrsimha Kavaca das is the ISKCON Deity Worship Minister, a service he has done since 2005. He began devotional service in 1980 and joined the temple in Melbourne, Australia in 1985. He has spent most of his devotional career travelling and preaching, including six years in Poland with H.H. Indradyumna Swami, on the Polish Tour. Since 1999 Nrsimha Kavaca has presented classes on Deity worship in Mayapur and around the world. He has established the Mayapur Academy to offer pujaris first-class training to take back to their home temples.
Murli Manohara das
Murli Manohara dasTeacher
Murli Manohara das joined the temple of Sri Sri Radha Londonisvara in 1990. For the first six years, he was on full-time book distribution. Then he became a pujari in 1996 and head pujari in 2001 serving in that position until 2022. Now he heads up a Pujari committee that oversees the worship of Sri Sri Radha Londonisvara. He studied at the Mayapur Pujari academy in 2010 and is now one of the teachers for the Temple Worship module. He is presently the representative for the ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry for the UK and is a regular teacher of Bhakti-sastri and other devotional books.
Vamsivat das
Vamsivat dasTeacher
Vamsivat das joined ISKCON at a very young age when still a child when his parents joined the movement. He is an artist/painter and has been using his skills in many ways in ISKCON over the years. Because of his artistic skills, he has been designing outfits for Deities for many years. Although a young devotee, he has recently been made the head pujari in ISKCON Soho temple. He will be assisting Nrsimha kavaca and Murli Manohara prabhus in teaching the course.

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