Odia Puja Book Sarbadeba Pooja Paddhati (Part -1) By Pandit Shri Lingaraj

The basis of sagun (Materialised) upasana as per Hindu Dharma is the PujaVidhi (Ritualistic worship) of Deities. ‘Who has the time for puja in busy daily life?’ This is the type of negative outlook many people have. Today, what we see around is that in the name of puja, people just pour water quickly over an Idol, apply tilak of gandha (Sandalwood paste), offer some flowers and wave an incense stick. However, can this hurried act be ever called puja of God, the one who takes complete care of our sustenance? Why should God shower His grace upon us? If we honour God by performing His puja in an appropriate manner, just as the respectful way in which we treat a guest, then God will be pleased with us and shower His abundant grace upon us. Hence, the scriptures have taught us to abide by Dharma (Righteousness) in a ritualistic and bhāv (Spiritual emotion) enriched manner by teaching us to worship God in sixteen sequential steps, such as invoking God, offering Him a seat, offering Him water to wash His Holy feet etc. Performing puja in this manner is known as Shodashopachar puja, that is, puja performed using sixteen specific substances. Out of these sixteen upachars (Specific steps in ritual); the five upachars, namely, Applying gandha, Offering flowers, Waving dhoop (Frankincense), Arati and Offering Naivedya form the Panchopachar puja. If it is not possible to perform Shodashopachar puja, then one can perform Panchopachar puja.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog