Introduction
Deity worship is a central activity of sadhana practice. For devotees who can't visit a public temple on a daily basis, establishing a home Deity worship program is recommended. By and large, Deity worship outside of the temple is a personal matter. Our tradition sanctifies an array of different programs, reflecting increasingly elaborate levels of worshipping the various personalities. Whatever form your home Deity worship program takes, when it is conducted properly the Lord very kindly agrees to appear in the devotee's own home, and He accepts the family's worship, making the home into a temple.
Before beginning a program of daily worship in the home, one should carefully consider a number of factors. Here, we will attempt to describe the basics of starting and increasing your program of Deity worship at home. As each spirit soul is a unique individual, devotees have strong personal inclinations towards a certain type of devotional activity. Some may be more inclined towards chanting, writing, or street preaching, while others are inclined to Deity worship. Whatever your personal inclinations, it is important to keep in mind the basic principles of Deity worship.
Begin by introducing a daily program wherein the standards set down by the Acaryas can be properly kept within the scope of daily life. Aside from the fundamentals of cleanliness, regularity, and punctuality, the quality of worship being offered also has to do with the type and frequency of offerings that are made, bathing ceremonies, offering of flowers, etc. Whatever level of worship one introduces, that level of activities should be religiously maintained. It is symptomatic of the mode of passion for one to go forward under the guise of devotional service, introducing an elaborate or extensive program that later has to be abandoned or scaled down. By doing so, one suffers the reactions associated with decreasing the level of worship. It is better to start simply, and maintain what has been started, than to increase suddenly for only a short duration.
In all cases, one must resist the temptation to progress to worship of any Deity form just because it's more pleasing 'decoratively'. One should understand beforehand exactly what they're getting into in terms of commitment and responsibility, and should not be swayed by any aesthetic considerations.
"So far your deity-worship of Lord Jagannatha, don't bother with it for the time being, that is my opinion. Householders can have small altars, and Guru-Gauranga and Jagannatha may be worshipped, but you should not spend a lot of time in this way to try to make the worship "first-class" as you say. You cannot make it first-class. That requires much time and money and men, so better to leave the worshipping of deities very nicely to the temples, and you may go there and worship. A small Guru-Gauranga altar, offer incense and flowers in morning, offer all home-prepared foodstuffs there--that's enough for the time being. Better to spend time chanting and following the other regulative principles and preaching and selling books.
It is not necessary to be a Brahmin to have home altar, but better not to get too much involved in it for now, as one begun, there is no question of decrease, and for two persons to manage this is taking too much time from other important work.
Srila Prabhupada Letter, 02-20-72
Placement of an Altar in the Home
While it is ideal to have a separate temple room in the house, that is often not possible. If the altar is in a public space in the house, you can open the altar for your morning program, leaving it open throughout the morning or until leaving for work. If you're home during the noon meal, you can again open the altar for an offering. It is best to close the altar when you're not present, leaving it open only while devotional activities are going on. The altar shouldn't be left open if there are non-devotional practices taking place within the purview of the entities on the altar.
Setting the Foundation
Once you've chosen where to place the altar, there are endless ways to arrange the altar space. Any cabinet enclosure can be used, as can shelves, nooks, or other safe spaces. Be sure the space is thoroughly cleaned before setting up, and is designed so it can be kept clean on a regular basis. Keep a safe distance between the altar and small children and pets. Altars should be kept indoors, or well protected from the elements. Even indoors, bright sunshine can quickly dull pictures on the altar or wall, so placement is important.
While it is often tempting to use well-loved pieces of fabric or other paraphernalia on an altar, it is recommended that only new, unused items be placed on the altar. For example, fabrics should be clean; offering plates or cups should be new and unused; and items that have been used to worship in other traditions or practices are best avoided.
Begin with Srila Prabhupada
As with all things related to developing our Krsna Consciousness, we should begin with Srila Prabhupada. The most basic of altars may simply include a picture of Srila Prabhupada. Such a picture is considered as good as a murti form of the Spiritual Master. Once you have the Spiritual Master's picture on the altar, you may make all offerings to the picture form. Although one cannot physically bathe, dress or decorate the Spiritual Master's picture form, you can offer a garland or bhoga and perform arati and kirtana before Srila Prabhupada. Detailed instructions on how to offer arati are provided below.
As you increase this level of worship, keep in mind that your offerings should be regular, punctual, and done with a sense of duty and continuity. Once begun, there should be very few circumstances in life that would cause you to stop offering a particular level of worship. It is best to slowly improve or increase based on a genuine spiritual attachment for performing the activities, rather than over-endeavoring with too many activities, thinking you will progress, and then the attachment will come. Really, your attachment has to be there first, then you will want to improve your service. In other words, it's better to change your consciousness first, and let your program of worship increase accordingly.
The Sampradaya Acaryas
Once you have established worship of Srila Prabhupada, the most recent Sampradaya Acarya, you should include pictures of the other recent Sampradaya Acaryas, including Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, Gaura Kisora das Babaji, and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. As a general rule of thumb, the disciple is always situated at the right hand of the spiritual master (i.e., as you're facing the personalities, the guru is to your right, the disciple to your left).
The Pancha Tattva
Next in the progression of Deity worship is the Pancha Tattva, who may also be worshipped in their picture form. The Pancha Tattva should always be placed higher on the altar than the disciplic succession. As with the Spiritual Master's picture, you may make all offerings to the picture form of Pancha Tattva, offering garlands, bhoga, and performing arati and kirtana. Beyond that, you may mentally perform a more elaborate puja.
Lord Nrsimhadev
Following the Pancha Tattva on the altar, you should also include an image of Lord Nrsimhadev. Worship of Lord Nrsimha is prevalent in our Sampradaya. Within the Srimad-Bhagavatam there is an emphasis on Lord Nrsimhadev and the stories of Prahlada Maharaja, who is the personification of the ideal devotee. This was also presented in the teachings of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, reinforced by the fact that while Lord Caitanya was residing in Jagannath Puri for the last 12 years of his life, he regularly went into the Jagannath Temple and made a special point of worshipping Lord Nrsimhadev, who is situated there in a little temple just inside the entrance to the main temple. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu would sing the same mantras we're singing today about Lord Nrsimhadev. Therefore, Srila Prabhupada introduced worship of Lord Nrsimhadev as part of our daily sadhana program, explaining that we should worship Lord Nrsimhadev because when one is a preacher, one is subjected to all sorts of dangers within this material world. Lord Nrsimhadev is the incarnation who protects the preachers in Krsna Consciousness from being harassed by demoniac forces.
For your altar, you may choose an image of the peaceful version of Lord Nrsimhadev, after his anger was subdued by the pleasing words of Prahlada Maharaja, or one of the more fierce images depicting Lord Nrsimha tearing Hiranyakasipu apart. It depends on which form you most identify with, and one is as bonafide as the other. As you advance from a picture to a Deity form of Lord Nrsimhadev, you likewise increase the level of worship that is expected. Like other Deities, Lord Nrsimha Deities should be bathed, dressed and decorated with jewels, etc., whereas a picture of Lord Nrsimha is worshiped just as a picture of Pancha Tattva.
Tulasi devi
The presence of Tulasi devi in the home is most auspicious, and devotees are encouraged to keep and worship tulasi plants at home. Tulasi-seva, or Tulasi worship, may be done as part of morning or evening arati (or both), by offering her incense, a lamp, a flower, and Tulasi-puja-kirtana. Srimati Tulasi devi may be place on the altar or elsewhere in the room where she will thrive. If not on the altar, however, she should be placed up off the floor, on a special table or pedestal.
The Six Goswamis
While not required as part of a Deity worship program in the home, it is also enlivening to have a picture of the Six Goswamis of Vrindaban on the altar. This picture may be located somewhere off to the side of the predominating personalities, or hung on a wall beside the altar if space is limited.
Replies
This topic will come up, so let us address it directly now; Srila Prabhupada may not be worshipped directly by uninitiated devotees. Rather, they can imitate, and in due course take proper initiation into the appropriate mantras. Without the correct mantras, the process is imaginary.
A properly initiated devotee only should make offerings, and one should avoid taking prasadam from a non-initiated devotee, or better, take prasadam from a qualified brahmana's cooking only. An initiated devotee and thus qualifed disciple may worship Srila Prabhupada directly. Before this, one can offer, and this is imitating the devotees.
After second initiation only can one worship the various Forms of the Lord. Srila Prabhupada regularly installed Nitai Gauranga, Lord Jagannatha, and Radha Krsna. Only temples with adequate brahamanas should consider installing any Deities. Once installed, Deities should not be moved to other locations unnecessarily, and Their worship should never be allowed to degrade or deteriorate. So such affairs are very serious matters and should not be entered into too lightly. Srila Prabhupada allowed us to place Gour Nitai on buses etc as a concession to enhance the sankirtana moverment, otherwise Radha Krsna etc should not be placed on travelling parties as a rule, except under special dispensation.
Deity worship is not so high on the priorities list, but is nonethless a standard sadhana practice and is very very helpful in spreading the chanting of the Maha mantra, to increase purity and cleanliness, and to enforce self control and discilpine. Deity worship is also ppreciated by visitors to the Temples, and so should be done nicely and very clean, even if one has not much laxmi, cleanliness is necessary. Any service, what to speak of Detiy worship, which is not accompanied by chanting Hare Krishna maha mantra, is not acceptable in Kali Yuga, as the yuga dharma , or the "way" for the age, is chanting maha mantra, not other processes. Without Deities of some kind, prasadam is not available. One may also offer to Srila Prabhupada in one's mind and by mantra when that there is no form of the Deity otherwise present.
Offer Krsna bhoga in quantities like you would to a young man. Clean is most important, followed by serving hot or cold as appropriate, not luke-warm and sitting for an hour before being offered, and making sure all is done as required for His pleasure. One must offer water with all offerings. Salt is also nice, and with Radha Krsna, generally flowers are placed on the plate also.
As the level of Deity worship goes up, so to speak, the requirements and reactions also increase. Keep it simple for ease and purity and to minimize possible offenses. For example, Srila Prabhupada is not offered Tulsi leaves, as he is not Vishnu-tattva. However, Radha Krsna will not accept offerings without Tulsi leaves normally. The same is true of garlands; for Radha Krsna, there should ba a Tulsi leaf in it.
Shri Nrsngha Prabhu has left us a video of a devotee saying SP approved use of Nitai Gaura Deities as being very merciful , suitable for distribution like books, with a hope the purchasers will in due course wonder why they have such Deities and inquire from the devotees how to worship them properly! So this is very good news for the karmis who are blessed to purchase.