ISKCON Bans AI Animation of Deity Images

The ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry (IDWM) has issued a letter, dated September 9, 2026, setting out its position on the use of artificial intelligence and other digital tools to alter or animate images and videos of the deities. The letter was shared in the ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry Facebook group by Saci Priya Devi Dasi under the caption “IDWM AI Policy – Guiding Technology with Devotion & Integrity”. The full text follows.

Date: September 9, 2026

To: All temple presidents, head pujaris, devotees engaged in deity worship, and devotees engaged in media services

Subject: Guidance on the Digital Alteration and AI Animation of Deity Images

This letter sets out the ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry’s position on the use of artificial intelligence and other digital tools to alter images or videos of the deities. It explains the theological basis for treating such images as a form of the Lord’s arca-vigraha, addresses the specific practice of AI-generated animation, and offers guidance intended for temple presidents, pujaris, and devotees involved in deity worship and media services.

The Sanctity of the Deity’s Form, Including Its Painted and Photographic Representation

Srila Prabhupada has explained that the Supreme Lord kindly agrees to appear for the benefit of the conditioned souls in various forms manifested through material agency, and that a painting or picture of the deity is included among these forms. He wrote:

“Krsna is equally there in both these forms. Krsna is so kind that He agrees to appear, for the benefit of the conditioned souls, in eight different kinds of forms. Such a form is called arca or the form of the Lord manifested through material agency as metal, earth, wood, painting, stone, jewel, drawing and mind. The arca is accepted as the incarnation of God and is worshiped by regulations.”

Letter to Linda, 19 February 1970

From this instruction it is clear that a picture or photograph of the deity is not a mere likeness or a piece of media to be handled as one pleases. It is a form of the Lord’s own arca, meant to be treated with the same care, seriousness, and regulation as any other manifestation of the deity.

Ruling

The use of artificial intelligence, photo editing or morphing software, or any other means, to alter, animate, or manufacture movement, expression, or action in an image or video of the deities that did not actually take place is not acceptable. Such alteration is disrespectful to the deities and constitutes an offense at Their lotus feet. Just as it is not appropriate to modify a three-dimensional form of the Lord, it is also not appropriate to modify a picture, or any other form of the Lord.

This is so for the following reasons:

• The deity’s form, whether in the temple room or in a photograph, is not an ordinary object to be manipulated for effect; it is the Lord Himself, present in that manifestation, and is to be received with the same seriousness as the deity on the altar.
• Fabricating movement or expression misrepresents what has actually taken place— an artificial and false imposition upon a form that is meant to be approached with awe and reverence.
• Such treatment reduces the deity’s sacred form to an object of novelty or entertainment, which the Ministry cannot sanction under any circumstance.

Direction to Devotees and Temples

Devotees, temple media teams, and congregational members are requested not to create, commission, or circulate altered images or videos of the deities of the kind described above, whether for social media, temple publicity, or personal use. If such content is encountered online, devotees should refrain from sharing or forwarding it further, and temple authorities should bring the matter to the attention of those responsible so that it may be discontinued.

This does not restrict the ordinary photographing or filming of the deities as they are actually dressed and presented, nor the sharing of such authentic images and videos for the pleasure of the devotees and the glorification of the Lord. The concern here is solely with the artificial fabrication of movement or expression that did not occur.

Entering the Age of Artificial Intelligence

As tools for generating and altering images become more accessible, the Ministry considers it necessary to establish this boundary clearly and in advance, so that reverence for the deities’ form is preserved as new technologies emerge. The standard of worship the devotees offer to the deity must be extended, without compromise, to every representation of the deity that devotees create and share.

Your servants,
ISKCON Deity Worship Ministry