Lord Nrsimhadeva Deity Installed in New Vrindaban – BTG – July 1986
Lord Nrsimhadeva Deity Installed in New Vrindaban – Back to Godhead Magazine – July 1986.
At a recent festival in New Vrindaban, devotees installed the Deity of Lord Nrsimhadeva and His eternal associate, Prahlada Maharaja. The seven-foot black Deity of Lord Krsna’s half-man, half-lion incarnation is the first full-size Deity of Nrsimhadeva installed in the U.S. At the Hare Krsna farm in the Bavarian Forest, West Germany, devotees worship the Society’s only other full-size Nrsimhadeva Deity.
The Srimad-Bhagavatam and other Vedic literatures elaborately describe the activities of Lord Nrsimhadeva. When the demoniac Hiranyakasipu continually harassed his five-year-old son, Prahlada, a pure devotee of the Lord, Nrsimhadeva burst from a stone pillar and effortlessly killed the powerful demon. Lord Nrsimhadeva represents death personified for the demons, but the devotees worship Him with love and devotion as their dear-most protector.
Soma dasa, whose many’ sculptures adorn the New Vrindaban community, carved the Nrsimha Deity. Soma dasa, consulting regularly with Sampat Kumar Bhattacarya, head of the famous Vyenkatesvara temple in Tirupati, India completed the Deity in only three months. The Deity is modeled according to descriptions of Nrsimhadeva given in the Vedic literature.
The installation ceremony lasted three days. with devotees from throughout the U.S. and Canada participating. Australian-born Gaura-kesava dasa, a brahmana priest fully trained in South India, performed the installation.
