Is Gifting the worshiped deities & articles to someone wrong? Tips!
A girl devotee (Name hidden) asked like this:
“Hare Krishna prabhuji. I am going to get married soon. I have an altar of Krishna. I live alone so there is no one after me to carry on puja and other things. So someone told me that I should do visarjan of idols. My in-laws are also devotee of Krishna. They have exactly the same idol of Radha Krishna that I have right now & height is not more that 15 inch. Apart from idols I have their clothes, jewellery, utensils to serve food and other utensils for worshiping, pot for water. I have some clothes to cover wooden stools that i have placed in from of altar. Is it possible to give these things to someone to use for their altar? There are so many things, I dont know what to do with them. Please advice. Please hide my name.”
REPLY:
Actually, you have been emotionally attached with the deities for the past many years and you have treated them everyday with love.
Therefore, it will be very difficult to part them when you get married.
However, since you have asked, let me give the options available:
If you gift the deities that you were worshiping with the manthras for many years, the person to whom you gift the deities may continue to receive all the good spiritual benefits you were receiving thru those deities.
So, it is advisable to retain your deities of Krishna and other Puja Materials.
In case you feel that you can’t take the deities to your spouse’s house, you can still avoid gifting the deities. How?
Instead of gifting the deities to someone, consider these four options:
(1) BEST OPTION:
Why should you donate your deities of Krishna and other Puja Materials to others? Take that deity also and the utensils to your new home after marriage. Keep the deity near the existing deity there. Nothing wrong in keeping two deities in the puja room. Offer food in front of the both. Let both of them have your food and worship everyday.
Though the new house does not have a deity, let this new deity takes its place there.
If the husband’s family members do not have strong interest in devotion, you can take the deities there and beg to them to permit you to keep the deities there. Since husband will be closer to you immediately after marriage, you can use that closeness to get permission to keep the deity there. Mostly it will be possible. Try that first.
(Disposing used Puja materials, God Pictures, flowers, Incense sticks, etc! READ HERE!)
(2) The second best solution can be gifting to a temple (not the individual) who are following the pujas sincerely. Your deities will be worshiped by hundreds of devotees!
(3) The third option is: You may add the deity into the sea water or a river or a pond.
This should only be done if no other options were tried but could not be done.
(4) This must be your last option: If they are Pictures of gods, you can offer them to Agni as Agni swallows and purifies everything given to it.
This last option will best match for the damaged deities and pictures. If your deities and pictures are good try the first two options.
My suggestion too is to try the option-1 or 2.
Hope you are now clear about whether Gifting the worshiped deities & articles to someone wrong.
(HOW TO MANAGE DAILY RITUALS AND READING FOR KRISHNA? READ HERE!)
Let us take two more questions since the above reply happens to be brief one:
Is it true that all sins can be forgiven by the Lord? How?
A devotee (Name hidden) asked:
“Hare Krishna Prabhuji I read your counselling regularly and they really help thousands of devotees to make spirituality their priority. My question is I have read that there is no sin in this world that cant be forgiven by advancement in spirituality and a promise not to repeat it in future. Is it true? How to practice sincere devotional practice? I am sinner of sinnest. I know Krishna loves me alot therefore in the toughest yuga of Kaliyuga am one among those fortunate souls who remember Krishna.”
REPLY:
Except Vaishnava offense, all other sins and offenses can be rectified just by resumimng serious devotional practices.
Vaishnava offense should be cleared by begging for pardon from the affected person himself.
Click the links given below and Read the detailed replies given to the similar questions in the past:
(1) What is the repentment for our past illicit activities?
(3) Memories of my past sins disturb my present life. What to do?
You will get clear idea about getting relief from the reactions of our past sins.
For Vaishnava Offense, Read these Posts:
(1) How to get relief from Vaishnava Aparath (offense)? A Real incident!
(2) How to get pardon for Vaishnava Aparatha if he is not accessible?
Should we offer meat to the deceased person during the annual rituals if he was fond of meat while being alive?
A devotee (Name hidden) asked:
“Hare Krsna Prabhu, I am just a very new devotee and trying my best to follow the teachings of KC. I have something bothering me. Recently my grandmother , who I was very close to passed away. According to the “culture” I come from , my relative insisted that we serve (offer to the dead grandma) what my grandmother used to eat when she was alive. (my grandmother refrained from eating meat until the last 2 years when she fell sick and the doctor advised to feed her meat). As I studied a little scriptures, I know this is wrong and i fought with my family to not do it (offering meat 3 days after she passed away), but unfortunately my parents who were supportive of my decision, gave in due to my relative’s pressure and they wanted no fights. We were really upset to see the meat served and many people who found out later on came and told us this is not right. If this is to happen in the future, how do i stop it and what do I say to people who are insisting on serving the meat to the dead person?
REPLY:
This is superstitious. The rituals performed after death as per vedic advices are of conditioning nature. These rituals are done to make the passage of the soul of the deceased person to the yama’s world smooth and to give him a good status in heavenly planets after death, not to send the soul to spiritual palnets.
Therefore, these vedic rituals do not help us to get elevated to spiritual planets.
(HOW KRISHNA IS THE CAUSE FOR THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE INCIDENTS IN OUR LIFE? READ HERE!)
If this is the case even for the genuine vedic rituals, what to say about offering meat to the deceased person?
There is no such vedic system of rituals to offer meat to the deceased person if he had very much interest in eating meat when he was alive.
Offering meat will add further sins/ karma to the deceased person. It will not do any good to him. It is an unauthorized ritual. Someone would have thought that he should offer something that his deceased relative was fond of when he was alive. Hence he would have offered so and he would have propogated that.
No need to give any importance for this unauthorized ritual. It is sinful even for living persons to eat meat. What to say about deceased person?
Just simply reject this suggestion of offering meat to the deceased persons.
(WHY KRISHNA SUPPORTED ANIMAL SACRIFICE IN YAGAS AND YAJNAS? READ HERE!)