Radha-Madhava's Birthday.

(photo courtesy of Yamuna dasi of Austria - click to enlarge)

I had planned to post about this on Tuesday the 10th April, which was the twenty-fourth anniversary of Sri Sri Radha-Madhava's installation. But Krishna had other plans! But as we are celebrating Their birthday on Sunday, there is still time.

A very nice devotee from Riga, Latvia wrote through the blog, asking if we could tell something of how Radha-Madhava come to be in Belfast, so we'll tell the story here and in the post below.

Sri Sri Radha-Madhava were installed in Dublin in 1983 in what then became the first Radha-Krishna temple in the whole of Ireland - ever! Radha-Madhava are brass deities, about thirty-six inches tall, wrought in Vrindavana - the original birth-place of Krishna. Deities are made according to special rituals and scriptural descriptions, by expert murti-makers. Often this is a family concern passed down through many generations and those who made Radha-Madhava are a renowned family in Vrindavana. They liked the design of these deities so much that they made themselves a pair from the same mould, for their own worship.

Establishing a temple with worshipable deities is not a light undertaking. There must be a responsible team of brahmana pujaris to perform the worship, which includes many services and several cooked offerings of dainty dishes for the Lord throughout the day. The Lord is bathed and dressed early every morning, and in the evening changes into night clothes and there are high standards of purity for the pujaris who perform these activities. There must also be dress-makers to make new outfits and a large congregation to come and see Him, and provide for His worship.

But when a community is fortunate enough to centre around Radha-Krishna deities, They provide a powerful focus for worship, service and meditation on God. Everyone can perform some service to please Them, by just bringing a flower, or singing for Their pleasure and in this way develop a strong relationship with Krishna through that particular form.