Puja or worship is one among the hundreds of other Hindu traditions that has continued unbroken for thousands of years. Puja takes different forms, and is practised differently by different castes. There no one “right” way to offer it although tradition offers a broad set of guidelines to perform it. Together, this constitutes the Shodashopacaara puja or the puja comprising Sixteen Honours.
A puja is a highly private act that mostly involves worshipping an idol of an ishta devata (personal diety), kula devata (family/ancestral diety) or a set of different Gods; there’s absolutely no restriction on which God you should choose. The Sixteen Honours are typically done in the following sequence:
Dhyana (meditation), Avahana (inviting), Asana (offering the seat), Paadya & Arghya (offering water to clean the feet and hands), Achamanam (offering water to sip/drink), Snana/Abhisheka (bathing), Vastra (offering garments), Upavita (offering the sacred thread), Pushpa/Patra (offering flowers & leaves), Gandha (sandalwood paste), Abharana (jewellry), Naivedya, Tambula & Dakshina (offering fruits, coconuts, and gifts), Arati (waving lighted lamps), prarthana/mantra pushpa (praying/vedic chanting), Pradakshina (salutation) and Udvasana (bidding farewell).
This reasoning behind this concept can best be explained with a real-life analogy of treating/honouring a guest. When guests visit your house, you greet them with a smile and welcome them with courtesy (avahana.) You then offer them a seat (asana), and after some time, offer water to wash their hands and legs (arghya and paadya)–today’s equivalent of showing them the bathroom/wash basin/sink. You then offer them water to quench their thirst (achamanam) and then enquire if they’d like to bathe (snanam). You provide them with fresh clothes to wear after the bath (vastra), and then offer sandalwood paste (gandha), jewellery and flowers. Post-lunch you offer them paan (tambula) and when they are about to depart, you give them some gift as a token of your affection. If they’re elder to you, you touch their feet, in other cases, you simply fold your hands (namaskaram) and bid them farewell (udvasana). This practice, and its several variations (of treating guests) is still followed by a large number of people across the country. Some components have simply been given up because of changing social, cultural, and physical mores.
There’s another perspective from which one can understand puja and its aim. It is the worship of the one Self that resides inside us. Puja is the process of taking a step closer to discovering that Self till such time that Puja is no longer required: in other words, the ultimate goal of Puja is to transcend it.
This concept is beautifully explained in a stotra that’s close to my heart: the Paraapuja, which I’ll explore in the next part.
Sandeep,
I have been reading your blog for a while now. I really appreciate your posts and find them thought provoking. Even this post made me aware of the various elements involved in a puja.
On a different note, although you use many English words that represent concepts from Christian theology as equivalent to concepts from Indian traditions, I hope your are only using them from the perspective of a short hand. I am sure conceptually you are aware that puja is not equivalent to worship, God is not equivalent to isvara, caste certainly is not equivalent to jaati, varna or gotra, and since you describe a puja so well, idol is not equivalent to murti.
I would recommend a book by S.N. Balagangadhar called “The Heathen in His Blindness”. Also, there exists a yahoo group by this name, which you may want to join.
In any event, keep writing but when in comes to Indian traditions, I hope, of all people, you would not simplify concepts in such a manner.
Sanatan,
Thanks for the kind words.
>>On a different note, although you use many English words that represent concepts from Christian theology as equivalent to concepts from Indian traditions, I hope your are only using them from the perspective of a short hand.
My intent is to use these terms so a wider audience can understand my posts else I should be writing in Sanskrit or any Indian language.
Indeed, yes
>>I would recommend a book by S.N. Balagangadhar called “The Heathen in His Blindness”. Also, there exists a yahoo group by this name, which you may want to join.
I own a copy of the book and am a member of the yahoogroup.
>>In any event, keep writing but when in comes to Indian traditions, I hope, of all people, you would not simplify concepts in such a manner.
Perhaps you would like to elaborate on what you mean by “simplifying concepts in such a manner.”
he, keep up the heat, from all of us in USA
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