Deities are the core part of any temple whether Hindu, Buddhist, Jain or others. Without deities, temples remain as merely structures. At the temples of the Hare Krishna Movement, the situation remains the same.
Deities engage devotees in various services or sevas like regular Aratis, Bhoga/Naivedya offerings, Abhishekams, conducting festivals and much more. Infact, most of the temple activities are centered around the deities.
At Hare Krishna Prasthanam, deity worship is no less important. At our center, you will be mesmerized by the huge deities of Lord Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra Devi. They are the main deities of HKP, Thrissur.
A unique fact about these deities is that they were carved in the sacred town of Jagannath Puri in Odisha, India in 2016, the year when the Naba Kalebara ceremony was conducted in the Jagannath Puri temple. The Naba Kalebara ceremony is conducted in Puri every few years to change the deities. New deities are carved from a special wood found only there.
Another unique fact is that the main deities of Hare Krishna Prasthanam exactly resemble the deities in Jagannath Puri Mandir. Carved by traditional deity artisans in Jagannath Puri under the supervision of our devotees, they were transported carefully, all the way to Thrissur and consecrated.
The oldest member of the deity family at HKP, Thrissur is our cute and beloved Laddoo Gopal. He arrived in Thrissur from the holy dham of Vrindavan in the year 2002 along with the small deities of Sri Sri Gaur Nitai. For those not familiar with ‘Gaur Nitai’, they are Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (the combination of Radha-Krishna) and Sri Nityananda Prabhu (Lord Balarama) respectively.
The next deities to arrive were Sri Sri Radha Madan-Mohan from Mayapur dham in 2012. The bigger 1-foot deities of Sri Sri Gaur Nitai arrived in 2016 along with Sri Jagannath, Baldev and Subhadra Devi. The latest entrant to the deity family was Sri Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy from Kumbakonam in 2018.
In short, the deity family of HKP, Thrissur comprises:
- Sri Jagannath, Sri Baladev & Subhadra Devi
- Sri Sri Lakshmi Narasimha
- Sri Sri Radha Madan-Mohan
- Sri Sri Gaura Nitai &
- Sri Laddoo Gopal
They have kept the devotees engaged in devotional service for years and continue to inspire new avenues of service/sevas.
Sri Jagannath & His Siblings enjoy a Ratha Yatra ride in Thrissur every year on the occasion of the Jagannath Puri Ratha Yatra. Lord Jagannath has been enjoying this transcendental ride annually since 2016.
We invite you heartfully to come, relish the transcendental darshan of their Lordships and receive Their blessings.