The Happy Dolls Project

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In the above video, His Grace Dhananjaya Prabhu of the Bhaktivedanta Manor, ISKCON London, recollects clearly Srila Prabhupada's specific instructions on this amazing project to benedict the world with the mercy of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai through an unprecedented mass distribution of deities of Their Lordships Sri Sri Gaura Nitai.  In the above remembrance, Srila Prabhupada called them 'Hare Krishna Dolls'  but in later letters on the same topic, he coined the name 'Happy Dolls' for Them.   For those who know about the rigours and rules of Deity Worship, it seems impossible to elevate ordinary persons of this age to engage in this devotional art/lifestyle... but just see the greatness of Srila Prabhupada's mercy and vision..... What follows is a transcription of the above recording....

Transcript of the above video

(from Srila Prabhupada Lila Siddhanta 09)

Extract from 1:24:20  to 1:27:50 = 5059s to 5272s

‘We are distributing the Book Bhagavat and we can also distribute the Person Bhagavata..’

...so this is another big vision of Srila Prabhupada

- HG Dhananjaya Das remembering Srila Prabhupada’s instructions to him on Hare Krishna Dolls (Happy Dolls)

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 Dhananjaya Prabhu speaks:

He (Srila Prabhupada) said, "I never intended the temples to be for householders".  He said that temples.. temples are meant for brahmacaris and sannyasis.  Householders are meant to live outside.  He says, ‘So I’m giving you a house to live in, he said, and while you are over there you should also work.  He said, ‘Householders should live outside and they should work outside also.’  So this is how the Mukut (deity crowns) business started off, under Prabhupada’s personal care and attention.  

He even took me to Aligarh because there is so much brass-making goes on, especially the un-finished, un-refined casting of the deities.  And Prabhupada wanted me to set up a business... um... manufacturing not only crowns and dresses for the deities, as a means of livelihood for maintaining myself, over in the house.  He gave me a house to myself!   That [unclear word] house, which of course is now the Goshala.  I developed that whole thing through the income from the business over the years. 

And he also wanted me to distribute Gaura Nitai Deities on a massive scale.  He said, ‘This is the way we can actually spread the cultural aspect of Krishna Consciousness.’   It’s through the worship of Gaura-Nitai.  He said that these Gaura-Nitai deities should be sold along with the books, as sankirtan paraphernalia.  And be sold as ‘Hare Krishna Dolls’.  He said, ‘In the world, people are keeping so many kinds of dolls.  They are keeping Russian dolls, they are keeping Spanish dolls, Mexican dolls, French dolls, Dutch dolls..’  He said, ‘They can also keep Hare Krishna dolls.’  And he said, ‘Gaura-Nitai are so merciful, They can enter into the home of a meat-eater and not take offence.’  So he said, ‘We are distributing [the] Book Bhagavata, and we can also distribute [the] Person Bhagavata.’  He said, ‘If every temple takes (a) minimum of) ten pairs of these Hare Krishna dolls a month, we have 120 temples, he said, that’s twelve hundred pairs of Gaura-Nitai every month.’  He said,  ‘That is a good business.’  ‘You should learn how to do this.  You should push it like anything!’  (burst of laughter..) Which I tried to do but no one is interested (ha ha ha ..laughing).  And he said, ‘When They are sold on the street – this is directly from Srila Prabhupada – he said that when the devotee sells the book and then he says, ‘By they way we’ve got these Hare Krishna Dolls – why don’t you take Them home as well.’  And so the person on the street will say, ‘What are these?’  ‘Well, these are special dolls – if you look after Them nicely, They will fulfill all of your desires.  So the person will take Them, you know, whatever the price is, go back, put Them in his display cabinet or his shelf or whatever, and he himself may not be particularly interested to know how to fulfill his desires.  But he’ll be questioned by his family members... ‘Well, we recognize these dolls, but what are these little brass guys here? Who are They?’  ‘Oh, these are Hare Krishna Dolls.  I was told, ‘If you look after Them nicely, They will fulfill all my desires.’  And Prabhupada said, ‘So then at least one member of the family eventually will want to know... how can I fulfill all my desires? How do I do this?  What do I do? And the only place he can go is back to the devotees!  And the devotees will then teach them how to offer with love and devotion a little fruit, flower, some water.. and later on, as they get more devotional, they can also be introduced to aratik praphernalia, and then changing the dresses, and so on.  (Ha ha ha ha  - laughing) So this is another big vision of Srila Prabhupada’s!

- HG Dhananjaya Prabhu