Pancha Tattva paper-mache Deities

Govinda Dasi: Upon returning to Hawaii, I went to the University of Hawaii Library and studied books on sculpture, materials, molds, etc. I had no idea how to make the Gour Nitai Deities. I checked out many books and tried to figure how and where to begin.

I recalled that within the first few weeks of meeting Srila Prabhupada, some years before, I had carved and painted a small Lord Chaitanya Deity for him as a gift. The little 5" Deity was made of balsa wood, and when I gave it to him, he had told me to make a lotus base for the little figure to stand on. But, I thought, to carve large wooden Deities would be a very difficult task, and one physically difficult to accomplish. So I really had no idea where to begin.

Since Kartamashayi, my Child Krishna Deity, from India, was made of paper-mache, I considered this may be the best idea. Paper-mache is a very durable, moldable, wood product, and is used in India for making even fine bowls and vases, as well as murtis. So I decided to explore that route.

However, the original form would have to be molded from clay. And first we had to make a strong armature to support the clay. So, as a plan developed, somehow, by Krishna's divine guidance, the work soon began. Goursundar constructed a metal armature secured to a wooden base, and I obtained a large amount of clay from a pottery-making supply store. Then I began to sculpt the Gour Nitai form according to Srila Prabhupada's descriptions.

I set up the construction studio in my own room upstairs at the McKinley Street Temple. Kusha soon joined me in the sculpting work. She was an expert artist and sculptor, and when she commented that "His Feet look like swim flippers!" I decided that she should also work with me side by side and fix Them! Her help was very valuable. I consider she was equally responsible for the finished work. Her enthusiasm and encouragement was very helpful, and she continues to be a strong support for many devotees even now.

Because we worked long hours, locked away in my room-cum-sculpture studio, we asked for some of the other devotees to come and read to us while we worked. Shakti Mati and Jayasri read Caitanya-caritamrita, or Teachings of Lord Chaitanya, to us while Kusha and I both worked on the 4-foot figure. Balabhadra often posed for us with his arms upheld for long periods of time. In this way, we worked for well over a month.

When the sculpted clay form of Lord Chaitanya was complete, we needed to make a mold. However, once again, I was unsure just how to do this. So I walked over to the nearby University of Hawaii sculpture department to try to find out the best way to do it. I asked several instructors, and was told that a young man named Louis Goldstein, a senior/grad student, was the best mold-maker at the University.

So I set out searching for him, and I soon found Louis. He was a very quiet, intelligent, but somewhat atheistic young man - a curly-haired Jewish boy who had plans of going to Israel very soon after graduation. He made it known that he did not at all approve of what I was doing - making icons of God! Yet somehow, he agreed to help me make the mold. I always brought him sumptuous plates of delicious prasadam, as well as our famous coconut laddus.

With the help of Balabhadra and others, we carefully transported the big clay sculpture of Lord Chaitanya over to the University sculpture building. There, Louis began the mold making work. He was quite expert and experienced, so he very quickly made a plaster of paris mold that consisted of several pieces. He cleverly arranged it so as to avoid undercuts, thus making it easy for us to pack each piece with paper mache.

Meanwhile, our devotees who did "door to door" preaching (another daily program) began to ask homeowners for donations of old newspapers. Sometimes homeowners would give us fruits, or vegetables, or occasionally even buy a book - but now they could also simply give us old newspapers. No doubt many Hawaii residents contributed to our Deity project! And received blessings even unknowingly.

Gradually, Louis became more and more curious. He was an extremely intelligent young man, and seeing our sincerity and enthusiasm, he started asking more and more questions. We invited him to our nearby Mckinley Street Temple, and he began to visit regularly. After some time, he began to relish our evening kirtans and read Srila Prabhupada's Bhagavad Gita As It Is. Time passed, Louis made our mold, and became a new devotee in the process. He was soon initiated and given the name "Vrishni Das." Now, Lord Chaitanya had His very own Deity sculptor and mold-maker. Another example of Srila Prabhupada's Magic!

Finally, after months of praying to Krishna for guidance - and many long hours of blending paper mache, pressing molds, drying them, and having Vrishni assemble and sand Them - then painting Them, and also having Kusha, Jayasri, and Shakti Mati design and create clothing and jewelry for Them - the Gour Nitai Deities were complete. It was a long process, and like all forms of devotional service, one that required many prayers for the Lord's mercy. And the constant remembrance that we are not the doers or the creators; we are merely instruments in the Lotus Hands of Lord Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada had originally told me that the Gour Nitai Deities must have crowns, so we ordered two crowns from India. They finally arrived, miraculously. And Shakti Mati, our expert jeweler, designed and created beautiful necklaces, bracelets, and anklets from jewelry pieces ordered from Los Angeles.

Since Srila Prabhupada said, "They should be dressed like "Bengali Gentlemen," with dhoti, kurta, and chadder (shawl)," we designed such outfits using very fancy cloth. We also designed one outfit of soft white Indian cotton, with our own hand embroidered trim, which was always my favorite. Kusha, Jayasri, and Shakti Mati were the best of seamstresses, since all of them were experienced even before joining our temple.

So now our McKinley Street Temple was a beehive of creative activity, with some devotees sewing Deity outfits, some devotees stringing pearls and setting rhinestones, some devotees blending paper-mache and pressing molds, and some devotees sanding and shaping the finished Deities. One of Balabhadra's friends even donated real fresh water pearls for Their jewelry! I did the painting since I was most experienced at that, using a watercolor sponge to create soft color in Their hands and cheeks.

Simultaneously, our daily Hare Nama Sankirtan parties continued to go out to Fort Street Mall and Waikiki, so many devotees were engaged in that way, and new people were coming all the time.

During a recent trip to Los Angeles, Srila Prabhupada had instructed me to paint a large picture of Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda, in "dancing mood," and place that painting on the main altar in our temple. 

Prior to that, we had Kartamashayi on our main altar, but Srila Prabhupada clearly wanted Sri Sri Gour Nitai to be worshipped as our main Deities. So my large painting of Gour Nitai was now being worshipped on our main altar, and Kartamashayi was now situated on a separate altar in the temple room. In anticipation of the new Gour Nitai Deities, devotees were already developing a loving reciprocation with Sri Sri Gour Nitai by daily arotiks and worship.

When the Sri Sri Gour Nitai Deities were finally complete, and Their jewelry was beautifully crafted, and They had seven sets of clothes, we took Lord Nityananda down to our tiny Temple garden. There, beneath Lord Chaitanya's Mango tree (the one that regularly offered incredibly delicious mangos to Srila Prabhupada), we did a photo shoot. Shakti Mati knelt down nearby, and I knelt down next to Lord Nityananda's Lotus Feet, just touching the lotus base. Then we sent the photos to Srila Prabhupada. We were eager to have him come to Hawaii to install our new Gour Nitai Deities!

Srila Prabhupada was very happy with the pictures. However, his response came as a great surprise!

He told us, "Oh, very nice. So now you have done Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda so nicely. So now you should also do Pancha Tattva!"

He then described how each of the Others should look. He said, "Sri Advaita should have white hair and a white beard, Sri Gadadhar should look very much like Lord Chaitanya but without a crown, and Srivas should have a shaven head and knotted sikha, since he was a brahmachary."

He told us that only Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda should wear crowns, not any of the Others. And, he said, "They should all be dressed like Bengali Gentlemen, wearing the sankirtan clothes as in the house of Srivas - dhoti, kurta, and chadder. They should look like sankirtan dancers, as Lord Chaitanya's main message was propagating this Hare Nama Sankirtan movement."

Srila Prabhupada also told us that the Lord's opulence is hidden in this incarnation, so They should appear just like Lord Chaitanya's Sankirtan Party - singing and dancing in the home of Srivas. He also said Lord Chaitanya should always be worshipped as a householder, never as a sannyasi. To see Lord Chaitanya as a sannyasi, Srila Prabhupada said, "It is very painful to the devotees. They cannot bear the thought of the Lord taking so much trouble. So he is worshipped always as a householder, with his Sankirtan Party and His Close Associates, the Pancha Tattva."

After recovering from the shock of the new instructions, we immediately began to try to figure out how to do as he asked. Our expert sculptor/moldmaker, Vrishni Das, who now lived at our temple as a full time devotee, had no difficulty modifying the mold. He figured out a way that we could make new forms of Sri Advaita and Srivas, with folded palms, as described by Srila Prabhupada. Our main problem now was finding matching cloth for the other sets of clothes, but somehow this also was done. And so we set about making the Forms of Sri Advaita, Sri Gadadhar, and Srivas.

More blending paper-mache, pressing molds, drying, sanding and painting soon followed. Such was the magic of our beloved Srila Prabhupada. He not only gave us instructions; he also sent others to help us fulfill his instructions. In this way, it was "good for us, and good for those who helped us."