Lesson: 01 Ritual and Prayers for Home and Temples
Prayer services and "Poojas" at home and at the Temples follow the traditions and rules established in the Agamas and in Bhakthi form of the religion. The Temples are established as the palace of a manifestation of God in a form of the Incarnation that is represented at the Temple. Most Temples will have Sanctum for several forms of God, though it may have only one form as the Main Deity. The temple worship has evolved over the years as a service to God as the King or the Queen or the leader of the land. Here, an image of a likeness of a manifestation of God is consecrated after several days of Holy Rituals. Without these consecration rituals, the Image does not get the Divine powers or the respect more than a statue in a museum. Once so sanctified, all rituals are performed as done to a live King or Queen or a leader of the land. Often the services are individual and for the families rather than to a mass of congregation. The spirit of sacrifice and offering of ones belonging is stressed in these services.
In the Temple Services, the Deity in the Temple is woken up every morning with a morning service with ceremonial bath with water, milk and other perfumed substances, dressing up with cloths and Jewelry. The services are repeated four to six times or more every day, with offering of food as "prasadam" and singing prayers and songs in praise of the Deity and reading of the Scriptures. After this, "Aarthi" of lighted camphor is performed for every one to see the Deity in a "Dharshan." The service concludes with the offering of "prasadams" of fruits, flowers and food to the devotees attending the prayer services. The devotees take what is given back to them as "Prasadams", let it be holy water, ashes, kumkum, a flower, a fruit or a full meal. Here the prayer services are for the welfare of the community as a whole.
The prayer services at home are also very similar in practice. Often there is a prayer room. Sometimes, a special area is arranged to perform the home prayer services. Here, prayer services are offered to a picture, small icon [vigraha] or a lamp which is sanctified by rituals for the occasion. The Divine powers of the form of God offered prayer on that occasion is represented in this. The rituals are simple and they first invite God as a guest to the house. Then, they perform a ritualistic bathing and offering of cloths. Then, there will be prayers and singing of songs and offering of food which is then offered to members of the family and friends. Here the services are performed for the welfare of the individuals their family and friends.
Lesson : 02 Ishta Devatha and Adhikara for Pooja at Home
Major part of Hindu Religious practice among the common people consists of ritualistic form of worship for God in the various forms of Deities of Saguna Brahman, called Avathara. It follows prayers offered to God in the devotional path as a worship to a Pratika [picture], Prathima or Vigraha [statue], Yanthra [a geometric drawing] or a Linga, following the rules and traditions established in the Agamas and Sasthras. Sri Adhi Sankara, in addition to the Advaitha Philosophy explaining that the Self as part of the Divine Nirguna Brahman, established a school for prayers to the Saguna Brahman is His six Forms called the Shanmatha Sthapanam. He established the rules for the six types of prayers to God at home as 1. Ganesha, 2. Kumara [Karthikeya], 3. Surya [Sun], 4. Siva, 5. Vishnu, 6. Sakthi. The main tenets of the practice is by prayers to "Ishta Devatha." The methods of learning and doing the various types of prayers to the Ishta Devatha are governed by the rules of "Doctrine of Adhikara." By this doctrine, the religious teachings and methods of worship that is taught varies from person to person, according to the various schools they follow.
Special prayer rituals are usually taught and given specially to persons following certain tradition as a form of initiation to that form of worship practice. This is very much like specialty training and certification in modern day professions. One is not authorized to perform rituals of their choice unless trained and initiated in the same by a properly qualified teacher [Guru]. Accordingly, there are special rules and restrictions for pooja for Sri Siva, Sri Sakthi and Sri Vishnu in their various forms. Only a person who has received the religious teaching from a Sivacharya Guru shall perform pooja for Sivalinga. Similarly, only a guru who has understood the manthra of "Sri Viddhai" can teach the pooja methods of Sri Chakram to his Devotees. In the past, mostly men have been learning and performing these types of poojas. Very few women took these types of ritualistic worship. Most people performed prayers at home just by lighting a lamp for a collection of pictures and images of various Avatharas of God in their prayer room and recited some songs for prayer.
Lesson : 03 Ishta Devatha and Adhikara for Pooja at Home
One of the important form of worship is prayer to a lamp, to the flame or Jyothi, instead of a Vigraha or a picture, worshipping it as a form of the Deity of their choice [Ishta Devatha]. As we believe, God as Nirguna Brahman, comes to take the forms of various Avatharas as Saguna Brahman and also manifests Himself in the phenomenal Universe as its five elements -"Pancha Bootham." Vedas say that God exists in the five elements. Aagama Sasthra and Bhootha Suddhi Manthra say that God manifests in Sky [Space] as Sound, in Air as Sound and Sense of Touch, in Fire as Sound, Sense and Shape of things, in Water as Sound, Sense, Shape and Taste of objects, in Earth as Sound, Sense, Shape, Taste and Smell. "Thvam, Bhoomi, Aapo, Anilo, Analo Napaha" a verse from Ganapathy Adharva Sheerisha Upanishad, which means that God is in Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Sky. Hence, people worship the Lord as the various elements and receive the Divine blessings. As light or fire, the Deepa Jyothi represent one of the five elements as a manifestation of God.
Many people perform prayer rituals to the lamp, "Deepa Jyothi" as an alternative to the traditional Vigraha worship of the devotional path. There is a practice of offering prayers to Sri Ganesha, Durga, Devi, Lakshmi, Saraswathi, Ayyappan and many other forms of Deities in the form of Jyothi in a Deepa pooja. Most often Deepa Pooja is performed by Devotees not initiated in proper Vigraha Pooja, either alone or in groups at home or in a temple. Traditionally, women do not take up or get initiated into the pooja for Siva Linga or Sakthi Yanthra and Deepa Pooja is the most important alternative for them. Most men also have not had proper training in prayer methods or received the proper initiation of offering the necessary prayers to their Ishta Devatha according to the rules of Agama. Many of them are very religious and want to get the benefits for prayers. It is widely believed that God accepts the prayers through this Deepa Pooja very easily and very soon. There are no major restrictions or rules of the doctrine of Adhikara for this deepa pooja. The Deepa Pooja can be performed every evening. Those women who are unable to perform pooja with lamps every evening, may try to do it once a week, preferably on Friday evenings.
Lesson : 04 Principles of Sri Ganesha Avathar
Sri Ganesha worship is one of the oldest form of practice in Hinduism, mentioned in the Vedas and Agamas. The Supreme Reality, manifests Himself ["Itself"] in the various forms of Avathara, without ceasing to be Himself. Ganesha is a manifestation of the Supreme Reality, for the protection of the pious and destruction of the evil in the forms of many "Asuras." He represents the Pranava Manthra "OM" and is called "Pranava Swaroopa." He is also called "Jyeshta Rajan" and Brahmanaspathi." He is said to have started the languages, the written scripts and has written the Mahabharatha for Sri Veda Vyasa with His tusk. According to the Upanishads and Puranas, He is said to have had several manifestations, some even before the Trinity of Gods, Siva, Vishnu and Brahma, at the early time of the creation of the Universe. Some of these manifestations are described as Ganesha, the Son of Sri Parvathi and Sri Siva. Some of them are depicted with two consorts, Siddhi and Bhuddhi. Here, as Sri Ganesha is said to represent the Jñana or wisdom, Siddhi is Kriya Sakthi or the actions or deeds and Bhuddhi is the Iccha Sakthi or knowledge.
Sri Ganesha is worshipped from the Vedic period. He is prayed specially before the beginning of all actions including any new rituals and prayer services according to Veda and Agama, to remove the obstacles and protect the devotees in the performance of all their activities. There are several days in the month according to the Phase of the moon or star position which are important for each of the Deity we worship. The Fourth day after New Moon every month [Sukla paksham] - Chathurthi is very important for Sri Ganesha. The Fourth day after the Full moon day [Krishna paksham] is called Sankatahara Chathurthi day and is auspicious for special pooja and Havan [Homam] for Sri Ganesha. The Sukla Chathurthi day of the month Bhadrapada [Aavani] is celebrated as Sri Ganesha Chathurthi day, an annual festival of one to ten days, to mark the day of one of the manifestation of Sri Ganesha. Sri Ganesha accepts prayers with offerings of all types of flowers, leaves, grass and all fruits and foods. However, He is not offered Thulasi for prayer at any time except on Ganesha Chathurthi day. Modhakam is a sweet of special importance for this Pooja.
All religions teach that prayers rituals are very important to get devotion to God. The religions or lands may vary but this belief of importance of prayers is stressed in all faiths. Our ancestors have given us the gift of the rules of community worship in a Temple for the welfare of the people of the community as a whole and the prosperity of the world. They have given us the rules of prayers at home as essential for the welfare of the individuals and their family. The basic and essential principle behind the prayer is the total surrender to God who fills the universe by His glory and is present everywhere and that without His command even an atom will not move. The rules of prayer services in a Hindu Temple is given in the three Agamas and Upa-agamas. There are 28 Siva Agamas and several upa-agamas. Vaishnava Agamas are 5, including Pancharathram and Vaikanasam and have 108 Paththadhis. We do not need to study these Agamas to perform prayer [Pooja] at home. It is enough to accept the fact in a pure heart and mind, as given to us by our ancestors that God is present everywhere in every form and He will accept every kind of our prayers. Our Puranas explain in many stories that God accepts and blesses everyone who prays, not only humans but also animals and birds.
As an example, there is a story in Mahabharatha. Arjuna was performing regularly pooja for Athma lingam, but his brother were not doing the same. He felt very proud of his devotional worship to God. As Sri Krishna wanted to control his ego, took him to Mount Kailash, the abode of Shiva. The Arjuna saw large number of baskets of flowers being carried by the Boothaganas. When Arjuna asked Sri Krishna about it, He asked Arjuna to check himself with those carrying the flowers. He stopped one of them asked about it. He got the reply that one of the Pancha Pandavas named Bheema who has been offering these flowers in a pure heart to the lord which they are carrying. Arjuna asked Sri Krishna that if the pure heart flowers of Bheema who does not ever sit down to worship is this much, how much will it be for his own Athmalinga pooja which is performed every day. Sri Krishna asked the Bhoothagana to show Arjuna his portion of the flowers offered. They showed a small mound of flowers lying in one corner. Arjuna asked Sri Krishna to explain this disparity. Sri Krishna explained that, Bheema is thinking of God at all times and whenever he sees a flower garden, he mentally offers all the flowers to Siva as his offering and so it reaches Siva the very next moment. Thus, Sri Krishna explains the Inner self pooja called antharyagam.
It is not necessary to learn all the rules and sasthras of an eloborate pooja before performing one. As an example, an illiterate hunter, Sri Kannappa Nayanar saw the Divine after three days of prayer. A young boy Nambiyandar Nambi, while his priest father had gone out of town performed pooja in his place at the Temple and had the Darsan of God on the same day. By understanding these puranas, we should always allot few minutes of time to perform pooja without any fear that God may punish us if we do the pooja improperly. However, it is always good to learn proper methods to perform the pooja, even a simple and short one, just like any science or art. Puranas say that in Kali Yuga, Prabaththi path is the important way. In Samskrit, prabaththi is explained as Pooja. We have puranas which explain how an elephant prayer "Aathimoolam" -- with a flower was saved and the hunter who was saved from a tiger on Sivarathri day by reaching a Bilva tree. These tell us that pooja and prayer to God is essential.
Performing pooja everyday at least for a few minutes leads one to develop inner purity and peace. One can perform this pooja in a short way or in an elaborate way. This is called "Anmaartha Pooja" in the Vedas. One method is to get religious order [Samayadheeksha] from a learned Guru to perform pooja for Sivalinga or Salagrama elaborately according to Sasthras. Another simpler method is to perform pooja for a Moorthy as a picture or to a Deepa as lamp. Both the above method are of equal value.
