Question asked by Simplycurious
Hi!
I have a question regarding iconography. Actually I have invited a few Vajrayogini statues for purely simple worship purposes (not any tantric practices) but I found out that the Bhairava figure has four arms instead of the two. In some videos His Eminence mentioned that statues with Bhairava having four arms is inauspicious so I'm not sure what to do.
The statues are blessed and consecrated already, so can you tell me if there is any major problem? I do not get any bad feeling as I believe Vajrayogini already resides there.
Dear Simplycurious,
It is definitely better to have statues that have the correct iconography. So when we are looking for statues for our altars, then we should try to find ones that are correct according to iconography.
However, since you already have the statue on your altar, and it has been blessed and consecrated, then Vajra Yogini is already there residing in it on your altar. There is no major problem.
You should keep your altar very well, clean it regularly and make abundant offerings to Vajra Yogini according to you means to generate merit and make a strong connection with her. Since her full practice requires initiation, you should strive to create the causes to receive her practice. Tsem Rinpoche wrote a very nice article detailing how to do this. You can read it here: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/inspiration-worthy-words/starting-on-vajra-yogini-now.html
Here are some other article that will be of interest to you:
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/vajrayogini-the-powerful-divine-red-lady.html
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/one-minute-story/practicing-tantric-buddhas-without-initiation-or-commitment
I hope this helps to answer your questions!