Should I? Shouldn't I? Hmmmm (On deities and what to do)
Devotees, I am seeking advice!
I’ve been mulling over in my head what to do about deities. My beautiful Jagannatha deities sat in a box for years because I didn’t think I could worship them enough. I have also been very very all or nothing. That’s not a good quality to have, I don’t believe.
When it would come to deity worship, it was either full arti everyday or nothing at all. That’s just silly. I’m not running a temple. I’m a wee little bhakta living in a crap town in the middle of nowhere. My standards would not be temple standards. I’m still coming to terms with this.
However, I really would like to have a nice altar. My altar now is this:
It’s nice and quaint. But it’s too high for actually sitting and chanting in front of it.
What I’d like to do is get a table like this (from Ikea):
That would make it lower. And would fit nicely where the altar is now. The bookshelf upon which the current altar fits would be moved across the room and would fit there as well. There’s room. Not much though. 200 sq ft, remember?
With this new altar (if it happens), I’d like to get Gaura-Nitai deities. Now herein lies the problem.
I very much like the romantic notion of deities just appearing before you. You know, someone gives Them to you. It’s nice. It beats answering “Well, I just bought them at Krishna dot com.” I want it to *mean* something. This is probably a hang up. Actually, it definitely is. Krishna is in His deity form no matter if bought Them from a website or traveled to India to get Them. But still…
I was thinking, if I am going to purchase Them, to get Them from Krishna dot com. In particular, these Gentlemen:
They come with two sets of clothes and are really quite beautiful.
I would also get a little temple for Them. Something like this:
or this: 
I believe it should accommodate (if not, there’s a bigger size). This little temple isn’t, of course, necessary and may just be my “all or nothing” tendencies coming to the surface.
There would be a nice wall hanging behind it and hopefully some sort of curtain or shade, etc for at night. It’s what I’d like. This altar, though bulky, would be fairly portable for when I move.
So… the advice I’m asking is mostly about the deities. What should I do? Buy or wait for Them to appear? Help help!
