Hinduism For All

Worship:

The worship of the Lord on the part of the devotee is to be motivated by nothing else other than pure-devotion. That the Lord bestows, what is best for the devotee, without being asked for, is the unshakable faith. Motivated by pure love, the devotee can indulge in either external worship (bahir pooja) or internal worship (antar pooja).

Antar Pooja or internal worship is to contemple and offer all the honours to the Deity by mentally conceiving them. But to practice this, the devotee should belong to a higher order of Bhakti. To mentally visualise and worship uninterruptedly is a great task by itself, which is fit to be undertaken by people with higher order of concentration and practice of withdrawal of senses from external world.

Bahir – Pooja :

For the devotees who are yet to attain great spiritual heights, the scriptures (shaastras) prescribe an external mode of worship. A devotee would invokes the Supreme Self with appropriate procedures in external tangible objects such as idols, pictures, diagrams (yantras), pebbles or metallic forms etc. In doing so, the devotee has a firm belief that the Lord is present in all His glory, in the object

wherein He is invoked.

Upachaaraas

The devotee then offers certain honours, called upachaaraas, treating the Lord lovingly as an integral part of his life. These upachaaraas are :

1. Dhyaana : Contemplating the image of deity in one’s mind to invoke Him.

2. Aavaahana : Invoking the deity in the image.

3. Aasana : Offering a suitable seat to the Image.

4. Paadya : Offering water to cleanse the feet.

5. Arghya : Offering scented water, sandal and flowers.

6. Aachamana : Offering scented water for sipping.

7. Snaana : Ceremonial bath with milk, curd, clarified butter, scents, pure water etc.

8. Vastra : Decorating the deity with fresh clothes.

9. Yajnyopaveeta* : Offering the sacred thread to the deity.

10. Aabharana : Beautifying the deity with ornaments.

11. Chandana : Annointing the deity with sandal paste. (Gandha)

12. Akshata : Offering rice-grains as a mark of fertility.

13. Archana : Worshipping the Lord with flowers by addressing Him with His choicest epithets. The practice of uttering 108 or 1000 epithets is quite common, called

Ashtottarashatanaama or Sahasranaama Archana.

14. Dhoopa : Waving of incence before the Lord. (called as Sampraani (or) Lopaan)

15. Deepa : Waving of lamps to ward off evils.Hinduism For All

16. Naivedya 57 : Offering the food cooked to the Lord. The food thus offered, becomes Prasaada i.e. holy remenent, cleansed of all impure vibrations present in it.

17. Taamboola* : Offering betel leaf, acera nuts and camphor.

18. Pradakshina : Circumbilating the Deity and offering one’s body mind and soul to the services of Lord, indicated by the prostration made to the Lord called namaskaara.

This article is a snippet from the Book Hinduism For All, Authored by TS Srinivasan and Edited By Dr Ramchandrashekar. Hinduism for All is available online at www.giri.in & across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture & Tradition.

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