A standard home altar should have the following pictures:

You should not place the pictures of those who are superior in the spiritual hierarchy below those who worship them. For example, never place the picture of the guru above that of Krishna . The Pancatattva worship Radha-Krishna and are worshiped by the sampradaya acaryas. So the picture of the pancatattva should be placed below that of Radha Krishna and above that of the sampradaya acaryas.

In the pure Vaisnava sampradaya, Krishna , the original Personality of Godhead, is worshiped along with His expansions, internal energies, and pure devotee acaryas. Lesser forms of worship, such as that of demigods, Lesser forms of worship, such as that of demigods, are not encouraged. Therefore Vaisnavas are selective about witch pictures they place on their altar. Although such respectable personalities as demigods and one's parents are certainly to be honored, they are not to be worshiped in the same place as Krishna . As for pseudo-incarnations and bogus sadhus, they have no place at all.

In the pure Vaisnava sampradaya, Krishna , the original Personality of Godhead, is worshiped along with His Expansions, internal energies, and pure devotee acaryas. Lesser forms of worship, such as that of demigods, are not encouraged. Therefore Vaisnavas are selective about which pictures they place on their altar. Although such respectable personalioties as demigods and one's parents are certainly to be honored, they are not to be worshiped in the same place as Krishna . As for pseudo-incarnations and bogus sadhus, they have no place at all.

The Deity room can be decorated tastefully, with flowers and garlands offered daily. Worship should be conducted as opulently as possible. Even those with little means should try to worship as well as possible, little means should try to worship as well as possible, according to their capability. At least incense can be regularly burned and the temple room kept clean and tidy.

It is best to have an altar specially made from wood or other materials; it should be large enough so you can arrange all the pictures nicely on it. You can arrange all the pictures nicely on it. You should also keep a small table about three feet high, to hold the arati plate, in front and to the left of the altar (on the left side of some one facing the altar). Another small table, about one foot high, is required for offering food, and a mat is also necessary. This mat should preferably be made of kusa or other grass, while performing puja or offering food.

There are many rules and regulations to be observed in the temple room, and these are listed in The Nectar of Devotion. Householders usually find it impossible to observe all the rules and regulations, practical. The temple room is where we invite Krishna preside over our home; so we have to maintain a reverential attitude in the temple room.

Deity Worship, Puja, and Arati

Here we can only briefly discuss this elaborate part of devotional service. The outline we give here will serve mostly as a guide for devotees living at home who have an altar with pictures, not installed Deities.

It is not necessary or even desirable for everyone to try to adopt complicated methods of worship. It is better to keep one's puja simple and concentrate more on the yuga-dharma, chanting the holy names of the Lord. Although eagerness to worship the Lord is certainly laudable, we should remember that the prime means of God realization in this age is chanting the holy names. Therefore worship must be accompanied by kritana to be effective.

According to the Hari-bhakti-vilasa and other authorized scriptures, different standards of worship are acceptable in different circumstances. The proper standard for Deity worship in the temple is to have regularly installed Deities worshiped strictly according to scriptural directions. But you may not be ready or capable of such worship. Therefore you may adjust your worship at home according to your capacity. It need not be like that in an opulent, well-wetablished temple. It is for devotees worshiping at home that these directions are intended.

Another point is that there is no single, clearly-defined method of worship given in scripture. Therefore what we will give here are simple procedures that everyone can follow easily. For instance, at home it is quite acceptable and normal for women to perform puja and aratis, although it is unthinkable Nevertheless, the woman do not engage in worship directly during the time of the month they are considered unclean.

Everything in the Deity room and all paraphernalia for worship should be kept spotlessly clean. The Deities themselves, pictures, altar cloths, conches, cloths used in arati, the floor and walls of the Deity room all need regular cleaning. Deity dresses should be discarded and replaced at the first signs of becoming soiled and old. Brass and copper utensils should always be kept bright and shiny. Flowers used in worship are best removed from the altar at night .

Before offering arati or performing puja (and even before cooking if worshiping installed Deities), one should bathe and put on fresh cloth. Silk is best for Deity worship. Cotton is strict Dety worship. Polyester, terrycotton, and artificial cloth and cotton mixes are forbidden. Proper Vaisnava dress should be worn (see “Vaisnava Appearance”), not western style outfit.

Although for householders some standards in Deity worship may be relaxed, devotees should not be miserly in their home worship. Unless completely poverty-stricken, one should at least use good-quality incense and flowers.

Krishna belongs to the village atmosphere of Vrndavana and is thus greatly fond of flowers. He is more pleased with an offering of good flowers than with gold and jewels. Note that hibiscus (known as jaba-phul in Hindi), a red flower especially used in the worship of Lord Siva and Durga, is not preferred in the worship of Lord Visnu and Vaisnavas.

Offering arati

Place the sfollowing items on a plate specifically kept for this purpose (the “arati plate”)

Before offering arati, pay obeisances outside the Deity room. Next, perform acamana as follows. Take the soon from the acamana cup in your left hand, place water from the acamana cup in your right hand, and then sip it. Then say om kesavaya namah and put another drop of water in your right hand. Repeat this procedure two times; the second time, after sipping water say om narayanaya namah, and the third time say om madhavaya namah. You'll use the acamana cup throughout the arati to purify your hands and all objects offered. To purify an object, simply put three drops of water on it. Between offering items, purify your hand each time with three drops of water.

After performing acamana, first purify the blowing conch (which is kept just outside the Deity room); take it in your right hand and blow three times. Purify it again, purify the right hand again, and enter the Deity room. From inside the Deity room open the curtains (which had hitherto been closed) while ringing the bell. (upon seeing the Deities, all the devotees present in the temple room should bow the devotees present in the temple room should bow down and offer obeisances; then they should up and begin kirtana.)

Place the arati plate on a small table, which is kept in the Deity room for the purpose. Now purify the incense (with three drops of water at the base) and light it. It's best to have an open oil lamp; next best is a candle. You should light either one with matches immediately upon entering the Deity room. Or you can keep an oil lamp permanectly burning. In the rare case that neither a lamp nor candle is available, use matches to directly light the incense,

Purify both hands and the bell. Pick up the incense in the right hand and the bell in the left and start offering arati, ringing the bell above the waist all the time while offering each item.

Pancaratra-pradipa, the ISKCON Deity worship book, recommends worshiping in the following manner. Firdt, briefly show each item, beginning with the incense, to your guru, then to his guru, then to his guru, and so on, in this way showing each item to all the parampara gurus whose pictures are on the alter, the idea is that you cannot offer anything directly to Krishna, so first bring it to your guru, who brings it to his guru, who brings it to his guru, and so on. After thus taking permission from all your gurus, bring the item to Krishna and worship Him by moving the item in clockwise circles, first offering to the feet, gradu ally rising up to the head, and then moving the item all around the body. Then worship Radha, then Lord Caitanya, then Lord Nityananda, and finally the parampara gurus, starting from the most senior and finishing with your own guru. The idea is that we worship Radha with that which has been offered to Krishna , we worship Lord Caitanya with that which has been offered to Radha, and so on, some systems of worship enjoin offering each item with a fixed number of circles. That is also good. But dedicating one's service to the Lord is more important than cunting circles.

Offer arati paraphernalia in the follwing order:

When offering water in the conch, after offering water to each worshipable personality pour out three drops into a container kept for this pur out three drops into a container kept for this purpose. After offering water to all the worshipable personalities, pour the balance left in the conch into the container. After offering the flowers, place one or more at the lotus feet of all the personalities you worshiped.

For offering the camara fan, simply wave them a few times in the direction of each worshipable personality. In winter, when a cooling effect is undesirable, do not offer the fan. Remember to purify each item before offering it and to purity your hand after offering each item.

You should complete the arati in about twenty minutes, signaling its end by again blowing the conch three times. After purifying the conch with three drops of water, take the container with the water that was offered during arati and from the front of the Deity room sprinkle that water (from your right hand) over the heads of the assembled devotees. Next take some of the just offered flowers from the altar and distribute them to the assembled devotees. Then remove the arati paraphernalia for cleaning. (The devotees in the temple room should end the kirtana and recite the jaya-dhvani see “ song”.

While performing arati, concentrate on what you're doing worshiping the supreme Lord. Your attitude should be one of great awe and reverence.

Arati is sometings offered with only incense, flowers, and camara. This is called a hupa-arati. But all the items mentioned above should be offered at mangala arati and sandhya arati.