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The shrine may be large and impressive, an entire room or a beautifully designed edifice, or it may be simply a tiny niche, or even just a row of religious prints pasted on a wall. Although children grow up following family beliefs, they are encouraged as young adults to make their own choices of which gods or goddesses they find personally inspiring. Consequently, household shrines contain images of deities that pertain to the belief systems of all a home's inhabitants, and it is not uncommon to find several small individual shrines in one household.
Puja is usually performed by at least one member of the household every day. Puja is a means of honoring the gods or goddesses, whose presence in the home is believed to protect the family and to engender good fortune.
The paraphernalia used include an incense burner and a tray with flowers, fruits, and food. When do Hindus worship? Hindu worship may take place whenever an individual wishes. Worship is usually performed daily at each household shrine by one or more family members on behalf of the whole household. Temple worship is often associated with a particular request being made of the deity, or it may follow the granting of that wish.
Festivals to each of the gods take place during the year, and a follower of a certain deity may choose to participate in the ceremonies associated with that deity either at home or in a temple. How is puja celebrated? Wherever puja is performed it includes three important components: the seeing of the deity; puja, or worship, which includes offering flowers, fruits, and foods; and retrieving the blessed food and consuming it. By performing these sacred acts the worshiper creates a relationship with the divine through his or her emotions and senses.
During a household puja, the head of the household chants prayers to the god or goddess. The worshipers offer the deity a seat, wash its feet, and give it water. An image may be symbolically bathed, clothed in new garments, and embellished with ornaments. Perfumes and ointments may be applied, and flowers and garlands may be placed before it. Incense is burned, and a lighted lamp is waved in front of the deity.
Foods such as cooked rice, fruit, butter, and sugar are offered. Family members bow before the image, sip the water they have given the god, and receive a portion of cooked food. The devotee lights the wick, places palms together at the heart center, and chants:. My respect to the light that brings auspiciousness, good health, prosperity and abundance that which destroys the darkness of ignorance with the light of knowledge.
I bow to you. Two such mantra are:. We meditate on the One in white attire, who is all pervading, bright as the moon, and four-armed Salutations Compassionate One with a kind face, we pray to the Lord Who Removes all Obstacles.
While closing the right nostril with the right thumb, inhale through the left nostril and the devotee mentally chants:. Invocations to the physical plane, the plane of life-breath, the plane of the Divine mind, the plane of all-pervading Consciousness, the plane of all-creating Consciousness, the plane of Divine light, the plane of Truth-Consciousness. Holding the breath inside by closing the right nostril with the right thumb and left nostril with right ring finger, the devotee mentally chants:.
Closing the left nostril with the right ring finger and exhale through the right nostril and the devotee chants mentally:. Salutations to the Divine Consciousness Who is all-pervading, ever bright, of divine essence, immortal, bliss-filled nectar, Truth-Consciousness-Bliss.
The specific blessings requested of the Divine are stated here. The devotee turns the left palm upward and places it on the right thigh. They then turn the right palm downward, and place it on top of the left palm and chant:. O Mother Earth, Upholder of the Worlds. Vishnu holds you May you hold me, O Mother Earth, and purify my seat. For the arrival of the good forces and departure of destructive forces I ring the bell, marking the invocation of auspiciousness that comes with the Divine manifestations.
The body is the temple. The jiva is the eternal deity of this temple. May I remove the wilted flowers that symbolize ignorance and Worship the Divine knowing the Divine is not separate from me.
They are referred to as the pancha upachara and correlate to the five senses: touch, hearing, smell, sight, and taste. The pancha upachara are gandham , pushpam , dhoopam , deepam , and naivedyam. Hymns bhajans or mantras are sung or said.
Then the worshipper marks their forehead with kum-kum powder, and also marks the murti as a blessing. How are the five senses used in Hindu worship in the home?
By hearing the bell and the chanting, touching the objects in the shrine, seeing the murtis and the arati lamps, tasting the food and smelling the incense. Worship in the home puja For daily devotion, many Hindu families have a home shrine , often in a corner of the best room in the house. For this a Hindu needs the following: Object Use in worship Sense Bell To awaken the god or goddess and symbolise the beginning of the worship.
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