By Sanjib Mukherjee,
Most households in India start the day with a morning ritual called a “puja” where an individual will close their eyes and offer a prayer of hope to the divine, so all their desires may be taken care of. Though people may pray in differing ways (depending on the gods they worship and the rituals they observe), every thought is ultimately directed to the same consciousness (or omnipresent soul called the “Atman”).
Puja is actually a sanskrit word meaning “to be born out of fullness”. When the soul feels a complete connection with the divine, it becomes unshakable in its nature and blossoms with uncontrollable bliss. The act of puja (or worship) though undertaken by an individual, is actually performed by the divine himself, as through intense devotion, there becomes no difference between the object of worship and the devotee. In reality though we offer blessings to a higher god, the blessings become directed back to our very self.
Taking the above concept a little further, during any puja the mind is supposed to be very quiet and only contemplating god. Most people speak too much in asking for a higher power to fulfill their dreams, but this becomes an immature form of worship. Whatever we ask for, is the result of whatever our individual mind has experienced during the working day, but if our desires are limited to our own experiences, surely we are limiting the blessings we actually ask for during any prayer.
Thus, a more cultured approach to any prayer should be to actually ask for nothing, but rather go deep within and simply listen to what the divine has to say. All the answers to any given situation in life are already residing within us all. A fundamental belief of yoga is that no problem will ever be given to you, that you do not already have the internal resources to cope with. By silencing the mind and listening to our inner voice, we allow the answers to unravel themselves and guide us through our daily lives.
A highly symbolic act during any puja is the “arti”, where a circle is usually made by moving a candle flame around in a big circle. The fire in a circle represents the light of consciousness which surrounds our entire being…where there is light, there can be no darkness, and thus only bliss can prevail. The fire moving in a circle also symbolises nature working tirelessly around us, to give us everything we need. The sun, moon and skies all circle our being, the earth supports us from the ground, the water refreshes our body, the air and ether sustain our existence.
Mother natures is continuously blessings us from every direction with complete sincerity and devotion, the same way in a puja we move a lighted candle around in a complete circle. If a lighted candle is turned upside down the flame will still continue to rise upwards. The flame can never move down and thus signifies a blessing, so that our consciousness may always be raised during the day and always move towards our innate higher bliss.
Every puja is an intimate act of worship and a beautiful reminder for us all, about our latent powers hidden deep within. There are numerous rituals which may be observed during any given worship, but the most important aspect to realise is your own connection with the divine (whether it be Jesus, Krishna, Allah etc) and also to remember never ask God for anything, but to merely listen with full faith and conviction.
However you perform your own conversation (or puja) with the divine, may the infinite blessings always be bestowed upon you.
wow……totally impressed with your depth of knowledge and simplicity in explaining things..
Wow Sanjib – this is great – always wondered what the rituals symbolised – like the arti etc
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* This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness. ~ Dalai Lama
“LOVE is seeing God in the person next to us, and meditation is seeing God within us”,,,
“Love is like playing the piano. First you must learn to play by the rules, then you must forget the rules and play from your heart.”
“The most beautiful prayers are those who ask for nothing but give everything in return”…
“Life is like a mirror, we get the best results when we smile at it.”
~ Swami anupanand…
Radhe Radhe…nice write ups..pls continue…its very beneficial for those interested in these kind of stuffs..pls continue..many congratulations…
I wud like u 2 write up on ..EXPECTATIONS…as we all human beings live with full of expectations and if these expectations are not fulfilled we get demoralised, unhappy, dejected, judgemental and start …blame game. We are in a habit of not only expecting from the near and dear one’s we know and are in regular contact, but also from the person’s we don’t know..I feel in present scenario..this subject should beaddressed..Radhe Radhe..
what a wonderful way to explain to us who dont know/understand. I shall think of it all day and reflect. Thankyou
Thus nature fills us with all the wonders of existence… flora, fauna, sound and music, senses and emotions…. and in gratefulness we offer and hold in the presence of the almighty all that is beautiful… with emotions and with all that we are endowed with…. flowers, milk and honey, sweets and other goodies, perfume and incence…. Puja therefore is symbollically an acknowledgement.
No ritual… if in conformation with the scriptures… therefore is without meaning.
Sanjibji,
Beautiful articles. Could you please post on Japa Yoga and it’s effect?
Thanks much,
~Rama
The power of prayer is not the result of the person praying.Rather, the power resides in the God who is being prayed to.When we pray passionately and purposefully, according to God’s will,
God responds powerfully
Beautiful and enlightening, knowledge circulating illuminates our lives, thank you for sharing it!!
very well said…
Prayers should not b only for fulfilling desires…. in fact we should thank divine in d form of prayer for giving us everything we need..
An attitude of gratitude!!!!
I never seen power of prayer, infact I do not want to see it because its my religion and i never test that. I pray every day because I love it witout knowing whether it is powerful or is there any desire behind it. please don’t mind guys
Hey Anurag…thanks for sharing your views….yah you are absolutely right, prayer shouldn;t have any desires attached to it…praying for the love of praying is perhaps the highest form of worship..
Thanks guys for all yoru comments so far and Rama, for sure I will write a post on your question….keep a lookout over the coming days:)
Thanks Sanjib,
Now we can perform our daily prayer more with involvement and gratitude….
Aarthi is removing the darkness or ignorance within us and raise up like the light..ever glowing and shining.
Gratitude and offering for whatever God has given you in nature in the form of flowers/fruits/water etc.
To add on Sanjibs view..
after you wake up,first see your palms,start from tips of the fingers then middle of the hand and rings on the wrist..
Shloka is:
Karagrahe vasate Lakshmi,
Karmadhye tu Sarawati,
Karamule tu Govinda,
Prabhate kar darshanam…
As I have not been brought up with the tradition of Puja, I have always marvelled at it as being something mysterious and yet sacred. You have explained it beautifully with sincerity and simplicity
Puja or a ritual being performed everyday just for the sake of happiness in the house & the people and thereby the self. But actually we every time while doing puja open our desires list; may be for us or for our close ones. Truly speaking puja as said in shastras is performing a self benign respect towards the supreme. When we fold our hands & bow to the supreme, we pass on all our energy to Him & than in return we get it back unfathomed times. But its only possible with just one thought & that of getting CONTENTED. When this thought in particular occupies our heart, than the congregation is apps subtle and God greets us with all the required. This is where in ancient times people use to perform puja & get the man-bhaavan fal.
excellent……
way of expressing is marvellous .
its basically, talking to God Almighty. thanking Him for another beautiful day He showed us.
Great article, Sanjeeb.
Puja- born out of fullness. Beautiful. Could also be expanded to
‘PUra hoJA’. Become whole.
The Lord is whole.We are part and parcels of the Lord. We are also potentially whole. But in this state of illusion we are veiled from the truth. Puja then would be a request/prayer to God to shower His grace on us and make us whole again.
Thank you for a wonderfully described expression of deep faith. This gave me so much more than the answer to the question I was seeking!!!