Having just concluded six-years of service as a head pujari in an ISKCON temple, there are amazing many experiences to look back on and be grateful for. Of course there is the wonderful opportunity to serve the deities so closely and intimately, being responsible for Their service, but even more important than this, was a profound deepening of my understanding of how dependent we are on the service and cooperation of others and the importance of developing good relationships to inspire devotees to continue serving.

Serving as a head pujari in ISKCON and as ISKCON’s Deity Worship Minister has given me the opportunity to deepen my realization of the importance of devotees and the importance of serving together. If devotees are able to serve as a cohesive team, we will be able to achieve so much more in the service of the Lord that we would as a number of individuals. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

In an average deity department, with all its different aspects that go into each day, what to speak of festivals, it is easy to see how essential it is to cultivate loving relationships with devotees to progress in devotional service. Through these relationships with devotees one becomes more inspired to continue in service. Therefore, it is important for us to appreciate the service of every devotee. It is a rare thing that one takes up the practice of Krishna Consciousness, and supporting them in their service is the bare minimum that we can do to encourage them on the path of bhakti yoga.

Welcometo the latest edition of Arcana News.

Special IssueTopic:Homage to Mother Kulangana D.D.

Content:SrilaPrabhupada on proper training and practice in Deity-worship page 2

Mother Kulangana and her dedication to Sri-Sri-Radha-Gokulananda page 3

News/Announcements/MA-updates page 6

Web-sites:Deity-Worship-Ministry: www.deityworship.com

Mayapur Academy: www.mayapuracademy.org

Blog:www.mayapuracademy.wordpress.com

Facebook:www.fb.com/MayapurAcademy

ISKCON DeITy WORSHIP MINISTRy

Issue 3 | 17

News

page 1International Society for Krishna Consciousness . Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Srila Prabhupada regularly emphasizes the importance of devotee association for spiritual development. “That is the version of sastra, that the most important thing of spiritual realization is the association of realized souls or pure devotees of the Lord.” Letter 1970

A well known entrepreneur was once asked how he looked after his customers. He said, “I don’t look after my customers. I look after my staff. They look after the customers.” Reflection on this pertinent advice helps me to appreciate more and more how we rely on devotees to succeed in our spiritual life. It also helps me to appreciate more and more the wonderful qualities of devotees. each and every devotee has many wonderful qualities, and as servants of the devotees it is important that we see at least one quality or one special way they serve Krsna which we can be glorified.

One brilliant example of this is Mother Kulangana, the legendary milk sweet cook from Bhaktivedanta Manor whose meditation was, “...to make my sweets so wonderful they will attract Krsna.”

This issue is dedicated to her and the many, many years of glorious service she rendered to Radha-Gokulananda and her beloved spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada. - Srila Prabhupada created a house in which the whole world can live. Within this home of ISKCON we have the great fortune to have many brothers and sisters to serve, be inspired by, and learn from. The incredible potency of devotees and their association is amazing.

Begging to remain your servant,

Nrsimha Kavaca dasa

page 2International Society for Krishna Consciousness . Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

“…I am very glad also to know that you are engaged as Pujari there. Try to learn this art of Arcana very nicely. you can consult

in this connection Himavati, yamuna and also Silavati. I wish that all our girl devotees be expert in the

matter of Arcana and cooking. The temple and altar should always be very

clean and decorated with flowers and incense. We shall touch the Deity altar and Deity in very clean condition, after taking bath and washing mouth nicely. Practice washing hands after eating and wash with soap and water after toilet. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, so this point should be very carefully observed, then you will advance very quickly to the perfectional stage of Krishna Consciousness…”, letter to Kancanbala, 70-04-20, Los Angeles

”… Regarding deity worship, the standard of deity worship

must be kept very high in all our ISKCON centers. There should be no question of decrease, only how to increase in the quality and opulence of our arcana offerings. To supervise this essential Krishna Conscious activity requires a very fastidious person, one who can remember everything and be very conscientious to prepare everything nicely, be timely, like that. If you are very much attracted to pujari work then you should be given opportunity in some one of our ISKCON Temples to practice it very nicely. For that you consult with the officers and GBC….”, letter to Badrinarayan das, 71-11-18, New Delhi

Srila Prabhupada on

proper training and practice in Deity-worship

called “Simply Wonderful,” a sweet Çréla Prabhupäda had taught his disciples in 1966 and 1967. (Incidentally, by 1975, with the exception of Simply Wonderfuls, most ISKCON cooks stopped making quick sweets, opting to make them the classical way). Other quick sweets were almost as good, one of them decorated with a film of edible silver foil. Curiously, it was that silver foil that first inspired me to learn more about making sweets—that and something I had read in Çrémad-Bhägavatam.

Yamuna Devi: Would you tell me a little bit about your background?

Kuläìganä Devé: By the grace of Lord Kåñëa I came to the Kåñëa consciousness movement in 1972. The first two years my main service was distributing books. But by chance, in 1974, I watched devotees at the Bury Place temple in London making sweets for offering at maìgala-ärati [the first Deity worship of the day]. They were making “quick” milk sweets by combining milk powder with boiled-down milk. The best was a melt-in-your-mouth confection

THANKS TO Çréla Prabhupäda, today we can sample sweets of the Vedic tradition mentioned in the Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Caitanya-caritämåta, and other scriptures. For over thirty years ISKCON devotees have played a big role in distributing classic Indian sweets to tens of thousands of people on every continent.

Besides mouth-watering sweets made from regionally grown Indian fruits, grains, and flours, an extensive array of sweets and confections are made from little more than milk and a sweetener. ...

In India an expert sweet-maker is called a halvai and may work in a temple, a bazaar, or at home. As an introduction to sweet-making, I present here a few words from one of ISKCON’s legendary halvais, Kuläìganä Devé, of Bhaktivedanta Manor, our temple outside London. Famous for her dedication as well as her superb sweets, this youthful sixty-four-year-old has inspired devotees worldwide. At our last meeting about two years ago, I asked her about her culinary journey.

Indian Sweets and Words From a Vaisnava HalvaiBy Yamuna Devi

page 3International Society for Krishna Consciousness . Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Pujari-Portrait – today:

Mother Kulangana D.D.

YD: How about a few tips from your years of experience?

KD: Use the freshest and purest ingredients. I use raw milk brought straight from the milking parlor to the kitchen, still warm. Some sweets are very rich and sweet, others are lighter. Kåñëa likes both—He’s not a health-food faddist. especially in temple kitchens, we’re cooking for Kåñëa's pleasure, so if a dish calls for cream and sugar, use it. If the prasädam is too rich for us, we can simply honor it by taking a little bite. If you scorch or burn milk over high heat, that’s lamentable, because you’ve wasted it, taken away its food value. If you reduce milk very slowly over low heat, its lactose sugars caramelize, and it will take on a pleasant toffee flavor.

YD: Thank you for the valuable advice.

KD: Hare Kåñëa.

In a curious twist, Kuläìganä Devé no longer uses the pure silver foils that first attracted her to sweet-making. According to her research, silver foil was not used in ancient Vaiñëava kitchens. The use of silver foil is new, imitating a practice in Jain temples. As a purist, she wishes to preserve the ancient tradition, and we thank her. (from BTG, 31-2-97)

YD: When did making sweets become your main occupation?

KD: It was in 1985, when I moved to New Vrindaban, West Virginia. I gravitated at once to the temple kitchen and the best halvai I could find—Dharmakälä Devé, with sixteen years’ experience. I made milk sweets for long hours each day. We cooked on wood stoves, using only farm-fresh milk and the purest ingredients. I became acutely aware of cookware, utensils, sweeteners, heat sources, and the butterfat content in the milk. It was a kind of concentrated apprentice program; I studied from whomever would teach me. I cooked through all the recipes in your Lord Krishna’s Cuisine.

YD: Did you become a full-time halvai when you returned to England?

KD: yes. At Bhaktivedanta Manor I began by improving cleanliness standards and reorganizing the layout of the kitchen. We bought thick-bottomed stainless-steel pots to use only for sweets. We kept all utensils for sweet-making separate from other cookware. And because studies show that bacteria multiplies on plastic cutting boards, we used only wooden cutting boards.

YD: What was that?

KD: In the purport to Çrémad-Bhägavatam 4.21.1, Çréla Prabhupäda writes, “Real opulence is supplied by natural gifts such as gold, silver, pearls, valuable stones, fresh flowers, trees, and silk cloth. Thus Vedic civilization recommends opulence and decoration with these natural gifts of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such opulence immediately changes the condition of the mind, and the entire atmosphere becomes spiritualized.”I knew that the Lord’s form is ornamented with silver and gold jewelry, but the Bury Place kitchen was the first place I’d seen sweets decorated or garnished with gossamer-thin sheets of pure gold and silver. From reading Çréla Prabhupäda's words, I became determined to learn about sweet-making.

YD: How did you get started?

KD: At first I assisted others, gradually learning to work on my own.

page 4International Society for Krishna Consciousness . Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Laksman Hanuman, and Sri Sri Gaura Nitai. Mother Kulangana inspired a new generation of sweet makers, passing on her techniques and recipes so that young devotees could continue her legacy of milk-sweet making. Beautifully painted sweets have become the very symbol of the Manor, and a sought after spiritual delicacy...

Mother Kulangana’s life will remain an inspiration for generations to come. Her dedication to Srila Prabhupada set the highest example. Day and night she read Srila Prabhupada’s books and listened to his lectures. In her departure she only wanted to listen to his chanting. She taught us how to overcome adversity, how to become absorbed in devotional service, how to maintain complete chastity and enthusiasm in our spirituality, and most of all, how to dedicate one’s mind, body and words in the service of the Lord...”, (by H.G. Kripamoya Prabhu)

“...Mother Kulangana had a special affinity for milk products from childhood as a result of keeping cows on her family farm. Thus, she was naturally attracted to cooking the milk sweets the devotees offered to Krishna every day. She quickly became an expert cook, mastering the various recipes, skills and techniques required for milk sweet making. Another gift which gave Mother Kulangana no end of pleasure, was painting the sweets with food colouring. Her artistic depictions of Krishna’s pastimes and the various scenes of Vrindavan, indicated the spiritual vision that Mother Kulangana was imbued with. Her creative portrayals never failed to please and inspire anyone who saw them.

She resided at Bhaktivedanta Manor for twenty-seven years, during which time she prepared thousands of

sweets for her beloved Lordships Sri Sri Radha Gokulananda, Sri Sri Sita Rama

page 5International Society for Krishna Consciousness . Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Mother Kulangana and her dedication to serve and please

Sri SriRadha Gokulananda

ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry is dedi-cated to guiding and inspiring devotees in the worship of the Lord. By identifying and propagating the mood and methods of worship promoted by our spiritual preceptors,and through our various initia-tives, ISKCON temples and devotees en-gaged in deity worship around the world benefit significantly from the initiatives of ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry. The Ministry needs additional funds to con-tinue to provide and expand these much needed services to the ISKCON commu-nity, such as maintaining and developing the Mayapur Academy, ISKCON´s first Deity-worship-school. Please help us to continue serving and expand Srila Prabhupada's mission of es-tablishing gorgeous deity worship in every corner of the world.

Without your generous support ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry will be unable to continue to grow and offer services to the ISKCON community. you can donate over the below mentioned link:www.gofundme.com/deityworship

Ministry and Mayapur Academy Updates:

Any center wishing to commence worship of new deities must get approval for this worship. you will find relevant information for applying for a “Certificate of Readiness” on our website: www.deityworship.com

The following information is under the Resources tab “Installing deities in ISKCON centers:”

• TherelevantGBCResolution

• Adocumentoutliningexpectedworshipstandardsandadditionalpoints to consider prior to applying

• Applicationrequestformhttp://deityworship.com/deity-worship-ministry- resources/deity-installations

Installation / Commencement of Worship Procedure:

page 6International Society for Krishna Consciousness . Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada