Dear Reader!!
This blog is for all those who are interested to perform Pooja the traditional way, but do not know how to self-perform or do not have access to Priest because of various reasons. Even though there are many books available in Sanskrit or local languages, there are not many books available in English which we could use to do it ourselves. Blog's here are written in English and talk about how to do Pooja ourselves without depending on others in a simple manner.
Concept of Pooja is very simple. It typically involves following steps:
Depending on our time and interest, we could perform the above steps with as much details as possible. There could be many ways to perform Pooja in an elaborate manner, here is one way of doing it with minimal steps. Steps marked as optional could be performed depending on interest.
Primary source of this is from my personal experience of performing various Pooja's with my parents. Have tried to document the steps in the manner it is performed in my family. Have sourced the Ashtottara Namavali's from various internet websites.
This wouldn't have been possible without the help of my parents, specifically my Mother.
Venkat B Rao
This blog is for all those who are interested to perform Pooja the traditional way, but do not know how to self-perform or do not have access to Priest because of various reasons. Even though there are many books available in Sanskrit or local languages, there are not many books available in English which we could use to do it ourselves. Blog's here are written in English and talk about how to do Pooja ourselves without depending on others in a simple manner.
Concept of Pooja is very simple. It typically involves following steps:
| Dhyana (“Meditation”) | The deity is invoked in the heart of the devotee |
| Acamanıya | Water is offered for sipping |
| Avahana (“invocation”) | The deity is invited to the ceremony from the heart |
| Asana | The deity is offered a seat |
| Padya | The deity’s feet are symbolically washed |
| Arghya | Water is offered so the deity may wash its mouth |
| Abhisekha | Water is offered for symbolic bathing |
| Vastra (“clothing”) | Here a cloth may be wrapped around the image and ornaments affixed to it |
| Aabaran | The deity is decorated with ornaments |
| Upaveeda or Mangalsutra | Putting on the sacred thread |
| Gandha | Perfumes and ointments are applied to the image. Sandalwood paste or kumkum is applied |
| Pushpa | Flowers are offered before the image, or garlands draped around its neck |
| Dhupa | Incense is burned before the image |
| Dipa | A burning lamp is waved in front of the image |
| Aarti | Light from wicks soaked in ghee (purified butter) or camphor is offered |
| Naivedya | Foods such as cooked rice, fruit, clarified butter, sugar, and betel leaf are offered |
| Namaskara | The worshipper and family bow or prostrate themselves before the image to offer homage |
| Pradakshina | Circumambulation around the deity |
| Chamaram | Offering of fan or fly-whisk (Chamara) |
| Visarjana or Udvasana | The deity is moved from the place |
Depending on our time and interest, we could perform the above steps with as much details as possible. There could be many ways to perform Pooja in an elaborate manner, here is one way of doing it with minimal steps. Steps marked as optional could be performed depending on interest.
Primary source of this is from my personal experience of performing various Pooja's with my parents. Have tried to document the steps in the manner it is performed in my family. Have sourced the Ashtottara Namavali's from various internet websites.
This wouldn't have been possible without the help of my parents, specifically my Mother.
Venkat B Rao
No comments:
Post a Comment