To do or not to...

 

Do the Puja anyway you can,
with devotion and love for Lord in your heart.

God out of His mercy will overlook all the shortcomings of men if they pursue the path of devotion with fervour. At the end of worship, daily or occasional, a prayer is offered to God not to mind the defects while chanting the mantras or adopting the procedures or for forgetting to do some duties out of ignorance. The Almighty is compassionate enough to ignore such errors. Thus, mercy being His chief trait, a devotee need not be concerned with minor defects if his endeavour is absolutely sincere but the enjoined duties should not be abandoned.

yasya smR^ityaa cha naamnoktyaa tapaH puujaa kriyaadishu |
nyuunaM sampuurNataaM yaati sadyo vandey tam.h achyutam.h ||

This shloka will take care of any shortcomings in the puja procedure.

All pujaas are like our birthday parties :-)

dhaayna: we first comtemplate whom to invite
aahvaahana: we telephone and invite
aasana:  when they arrive give them place to sit down
arghyaM:  offer water to wash hands
paadyam: offer water to wash feet
aachamanam: offer some water(or paanakam) to drink
gudopahaara: some thing to eat - light snacks
snaanam: take him to bath (you chant shlokas telling the mahimaa of the god/goddess - suuktaas
panchamrita: 5 nectars are selected to give bath; as well as waters of various tiirthas and fruit water (phalodaka), water of gold or jewels (hiraNyodaka, ratnodaka)
gandha: sandle paste for the body
vastrayugmam: two pieces of clothe to wear
yajnopaveeta: sacred thread
akshata: unbroken decorated rice offered.
parimala dravya: scents
aabharaNa: ornaments
pushpani: flowers
maala: garland
pratiShThaapana: make him/her sit on the aasana;

now attend to him further

anga puujaa: each organ is being thought of and flowers offered to them
pushpa puujaa: on each of his/her various names, a veriety of flowers are offered
patra puujaa: likewise with leaves of different plants.
aShTottara puujaa: 108 names which are very special to the deity are uttered
If possible, sahasranaama puuja: 1008 names of the deity

All these offer you the increased concentration and deeper going into the ONE deity you are worshipping NOW

dhuupa: agarbatti
diipa: light
naivedya: offer 5 to 21 variety of preparations
hastaprakshalana: wash hands
karodvarthana: apply water and gandha to hands
paniiya: drinking water
phalam or mahaaphalam: fruits (which symbolize all fruits of our actions
taambuula: paan for digestion
mangala aarati: wishing well and show aarati- asking for light of knowledge
pradakshiNaa: for removal of all sins of aeons
namaskaaram: total surrender
praarthana: prayers (here you say why you called and why you did the puuja)
kshamaapana: apoalogies for mistakes
braahmaNa suvaasini: represent living deities
visarjana puuja: leaving them
arghya pradaanam: offering arghya by those who fasted and those who came late or those like ladies of the house who could nto participate in the puujas because of other works, can now get full merit by offering arghya which is equivalent to whole puuja.
Krishnarpanam: Offer all the pujas and their fruits back to the Lord.

All shlokas basically say what the subtitle means and with lot of various stuti or praise.

The shlokas also treat the deity as all powerful, and often narrate some portion of his/or her story or describe physical or other attributes.

 

 

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Last Updated on: Monday, October 26, 1998 08:26 PM

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