We live as a nuclear family in a city — how do we keep the family deity and customs alive?

keep the kula-devatā in your home shrine, note down the family’s customs from elders, and visit the family temple when you can.

In a joint family, customs passed on naturally because grandparents led every festival. In a nuclear family they must be passed on deliberately. Start by asking elders now: who is our kula-devatā or kula-devī, where is the family temple, what do we offer on which day, which foods and rituals are special to us, and what is our gotra.

Write it all down or record it on video. Keep a picture of the kula-devatā in your home shrine and remember them in your daily prayer. Many families visit the family temple once a year, or after a wedding or a child’s birth, and do the mundan there.

You do not have to copy everything exactly; simplify where needed. What matters is that the thread of remembrance continues, so your children know where they come from.

Source: common family practice of kula-devatā worship

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