Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our most humble obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
On this most auspicious day of your Śrī Vyāsa-pūjā, we, your servants at the ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry (IDWM), joyfully place this offering at your feet in a mood of deep appreciation and greatest commitment to your mission.
The ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry is sincerely striving to please Your Divine Grace by faithfully maintaining the standards of Deity worship that you so compassionately bestowed upon us by your causeless mercy. These standards are the very foundation of our service. When we formulate position statements on Deity worship for ISKCON centers, or when we advise temples, devotees, and yātrās on the sacred processes of arcana, your instructions remain our North Star, the guiding light for every decision we make.
You clearly warned in your letter to Dhruvānanda Dāsa, written from Bombay on 4 January 1973: “The greatest danger to our movement will come when we manufacture and create our own process for worshiping the deities.”
Holding this instruction at the forefront of our minds, the IDWM is firmly committed to guiding and inspiring devotees to uphold the standards of worship you envisioned for all your ISKCON temples.
By your mercy, we have witnessed steady, global improvement in Deity worship practices over the years. We know that whatever progress has been made is solely due to your transcendental guidance, which we constantly draw upon and strive to present clearly, consistently, and encouragingly to your followers.
Over the past year, the IDWM team has continued to grow, as devotees from around the world step forward, eager to offer their talents and energy in your service through this ministry. We see this expansion as a clear sign of your ongoing kindness and care for your Deities and for the hearts of your devotees, who long to worship Them nicely.
One of our greatest endeavors has been our concerted effort to identify, train, and empower Deity Worship Ministry representatives in every country of the world. We are working diligently to ensure that in each region there are devotees who understand your standards, embody your mood, and can practically assist local temples and communities to implement your teachings on Deity worship.
By your mercy, the most significant achievement of this past year has been the appointment of Regional Ministers in each Regional Governing Body. This has substantially expanded our reach and effectiveness. Through these Regional Ministers, we are now able to connect more personally and more consistently with individual centers and with ISKCON devotees at large. This development has greatly increased our capacity to support, educate, and guide your temples in maintaining the standards of worship required for your beloved Deities.
At the same time, Śrīla Prabhupāda, we also find ourselves constantly dealing with deviations from your established standards. As the modern world rapidly changes, we see a growing tendency toward experimentation, excessive creativity, and the introduction of novel practices, especially linked to technological advancements and new forms of “Deity darshan” and presentation. While we appreciate the sincere desire of devotees to make Deity worship accessible and attractive, we are equally mindful of your grave warning about manufacturing new processes.
Therefore, with as much humility and patience as we can muster, we are actively trying to lovingly yet firmly educate devotees everywhere about what you have given us in Deity worship, and why it must not be altered or concocted. We strive to uphold your standards in all of your ISKCON temples, reminding ourselves and others that real beauty, power, and success in Deity worship lie not in novelty, but in faithfulness to your instructions.
Over the past year, ISKCON centers throughout the world have continued to install Deities and expand their worship, turning to the ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry for guidance, training, and consultation.
We see it as a great responsibility and a great honor to be allowed to assist your devotees in preparing proper facilities, systems, and consciousness to welcome the Lord into their communities according to the standards you envisioned.
All the activities undertaken by the ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry, our strategic planning, our training programs, our consultations, our written guidelines, our efforts to correct deviations, and our attempts to encourage and uplift pūjārīs and temple leaders are offered unto you, Śrīla Prabhupāda. You have made it possible for us to engage in the sublime process of Deity worship within your ISKCON, and we never wish to forget that we are only instruments, completely dependent on your mercy.
On this blessed day of your Vyāsa-pūjā, we humbly beg you:
- To kindly continue to bestow your mercy upon us so that we may carry out our services at IDWM with enthusiasm, clarity, courage, and unwavering dedication.
- Please empower our representatives, Regional Ministers, and Core Team members to be genuine servants of your standards, both knowledgeable and compassionate, so that they can inspire others by their example and instruction.
- Please give us the strength to firmly uphold what you have given, while remaining gentle and encouraging with those who are still learning.
We beg you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, to kindly forgive any shortcomings, mistakes, or offenses we may have committed in this service. If there is anything of value in our endeavors, it is entirely by your mercy; whatever is lacking or incorrect is our own fault and ignorance.
With grateful hearts, we offer this year’s service by the ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry at your lotus feet and pray that, year after year, our offerings may become more faithful to your will and more pleasing to you. All glories to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda!
Your servants at the ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry