Loving Ganesha: Chapter 12 (Section 3) - Ganesha Home Liturgy -- Ganapati Puja

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More on Ganesha puja from http://www.himalayanacademy.com/books/lg/lg_ch-12.html

 

Om Shanti,

 

Neil

 

The chants of the simple Ganesha puja given here are in Sanskrit, Hinduism's

ancient scriptural language. How well you pronounce Sanskrit depends entirely

on how well you learn the 48 basic sounds of the alphabet. No amount of

memorization or practice of the puja verses alone will take the place of

learning the alphabet, because without mastering the sounds, your chanting will

not be perfect. Time spent mastering the pronunciation is time well spent. You

will then be able to read and chant the verses properly. The best way to

approach the study is through learning to read the Devanagari, the Sanskrit

script, because it most perfectly conveys the nuances of the language. However,

many people find the chants more approachable in the transliterated English. A

key to Sanskrit pronunciation for the transliteration system used in this book

is given on page 436.

An additional word here about those refined souls who have guided the worshipful

ways of Hindus for so many centuries may be useful. Our priesthood in Hinduism

are trained from birth to be exceedingly loving, very generous and gently

humble. They live, as they are taught, an unworldly existence; and there are

some people, sad to say, who take advantage of their unassuming ways. Our

priests are raised as children in ancestral schools called pathashalas. All

temples throughout the world have priests who are well trained in performing

the arts of Parartha Puja (temple liturgy), consecration of temples, samskaras

(sacraments), home blessings, purification of new properties and more.

These priests, when approached in the proper attitude, will be happy to teach

you the Sanskrit alphabet and how to perform this Ganesha puja properly. Most

if not all will say their service is freely given and they expect nothing. But

by tradition it is the duty of the recipient to give a dakshina, gifts from you

periodically as your study progresses and a larger one at the end, which is

mandatory. However, the priest has been trained to say no three times and then

accept in great reluctance. Just because he says no once or twice does not mean

that you can keep your gift and go home with it.

This protocol must be gone through. A subtle way is to give a fruit offering

with a gift of money in an envelope tucked in among the fruits. He will readily

accept the tray and offer the fruits to the God and keep the envelope for

himself as his dakshina. Culturally, this refined mode of compensation is very

different from hiring and paying a salary to a person. The Indian spiritual

tradition avoids the sense of employer-employee relationship in an attempt to

keep the relationship highly spiritual, elevated beyond the business of the

day. Knowing this, it becomes the responsibility of the community to generously

compensate priests. The unfailing law of karma will eventually pay everyone back

double what they gave.

This dakshina is an important part of their livelihood. As a practical

guideline, the amount should be pro-rated according to how many hours they have

served or taught you. The per-hour rate must be comparable to the pay rate of

any other highly skilled person within your community. It is not, for instance,

equitable to pay a small pittance in U.K. pounds with the explanation that this

is more than the priest would make in Madras. Service in the U.K. is rightly

given in accordance with British wages, not wages in India.

It should be very clear that priests are not the servants of the devotees or of

temple managers. Their knowledge, their skills and their spirit of devotion are

what attract devotees to the temple. Imagine a temple with no priest in it. It

would be a silent museum or art gallery -- nothing more. As temple managers

never want to experience the wrath of angry priests, they treat God's servants

with reverance and respect. There is a white magic that happens during puja

that no one can really explain. It is a parapsychology that takes place beyond

the boundaries of the intellect. Priests brought up in loving and kindly ways,

who have never had to succumb to corporal punishment, perform the best. Those

who have been abused and are vunerable to angry moods are capable, when driven

to it by employers, of turning their talent toward the blacker arts and

invoking asuric forces when performing the exact same pujas while in an angry,

lower state of mind. Many newly founded temples in the West have painfully

experienced this phenomenon time and again.

VIBHUTI, HOLY ASHHoly ash, vibhuti, connotes purity and is a reminder to us of

life's precious transitoriness. It is prepared by burning cow dung into a

whitish ash. An essential sacrament at Saiva puja, men wear it as the

tripundra, a sectarian mark of three lines across the forehead, signifying the

burning away of pasha -- the bonds of anava (veil of duality), karma (effects

of past deeds) and maya (the world). Women often wear a light film of ash

across the forehead. Seen from devonic realms, holy ash has a bright

phosphorescent glow, and wearing it helps the devas and the Deities see

devotees more clearly.

POTTU OR BINDU, THE FOREHEAD DOTThe bindu, "dot," worn between just below the

middle of the forehead, identifies one as a Hindu. It is made of red powder

(kunkuma), sandalpaste, clay, cosmetics or other substances. Mystically it

represents the "third eye," our inner, superconscious vision, which sees what

the physical eyes cannot see, reminding us to cultivate our higher spiritual

faculties and insight. The bindu (pottu in Tamil) is also a beauty mark for

Hindu women, the color red generally a sign of marriage. Unmarried women

usually wear a small black pottu with a short horizontal stroke of vibhuti just

above.

TEMPLE OFFERING TRAYWhen going to a temple to attend puja, devotees bring a

sacred offering tray or basket. The offerings can be prepared at home or

sometimes purchased in small stalls near the temple entrance. Traditionally,

the offerings include: 1) a fresh, husked coconut; 2)a garland of fresh

flowers; 3) a few sticks of incense; 4)fresh fruits, e.g., banana, lime, mango;

5) a package of vibhuti (holy ash); 6)Êkunkuma (red powder); 7)sandalwood

powder; 8) a packet of camphor; 9)a small bottle of rosewater; 10)a modaka or

other sweet (optional); 11)and a financial contribution for the temple or its

priests.

PRADAKSHINA, CIRCUMAMBULATIONBefore worship, and sometimes during the puja, we

walk three times around the Deity, the shrine or the temple. This is called

pradakshina, "right-facing," referring to keeping the Deity to our right by

walking clockwise, never counterclockwise. By this custom we deliberately

withdraw our awareness from worldly matters and direct it toward the Divine. As

we circle the God, subtle psychic worldly bonds that naturally accumulate during

the day in the human aura are broken. Thus, circumambulating the Lord three

times brings us into a pure, one-pointed, worshipful state of consciousness.

SHANKHAPRAHATI, KNOCKING THE TEMPLESWhen worshiping Lord Ganesha, standing

before His shrine, devotees may tap the temples gently three times with the

knuckles, fists closed and arms crossed in front of the face. Esoterically,

this action is said to stimulate certain nerves within the head to catalyze the

flow of amrita (nectar) from the sahasrara chakra at the crown of the head,

giving abhisheka (ritual bath) to Lord Ganesha, Who sits on the muladhara

chakra at the base of the spine. It is a gesture of submission, beseeching

forgiveness for errors, remembrance of Ganesha's presence and supplication of

the grace of this loving God.

PALIKARSHA, PULLING THE EARSAfter knocking the temples lightly, devotees will

often pull gently on the ear lobes with arms crossed, while bobbing up and down

by bending the knees and bowing forward slightly. This rather humorous gesture

is an expression of humility, a recognition that all souls are children in the

eyes of God. Pulling the ears is done to draw Lord Ganesha's loving attention

to His self-effacing, self-erasing servant and submission of transgressions at

His holy feet. Mystically, it stimulates important nadis, inner nerve currents

to help internalize awareness for ritual worship, puja, and meditation, dhyana.

 

GANAPATI KALAShA -- WATER POT AND COCONUTThe kalasha (or kumbha), a water pot

topped with mango leaves and a husked coconut, may represent the Deity on home

altars and at special temple pujas. Coconuts are especially sacred to Lord

Ganesha, and many are broken and offered at His temples and shrines. Breaking a

coconut during prayer symbolizes the shattering of the ego, which must be

surrendered lest it obstruct true worship through its desires and intrigues.

Breaking the coconut's rough, hard shell to reveal the ripe fruit within is

likened to shattering our brittle shell of ignorance to reveal the sweet

spiritual truths inside.

HUNDI, THE TEMPLE OFFERING BOXIn the Hindu temple there is always a small or

large strongbox into which devotees may offer a sacrifice to perpetuate the

temple and its charitable works. When our prayers are answered, when God has

shown us His grace and we seek to support His home on Earth, we place money or

other valuables, such as jewels, gold and silver, into the hundi. In many

temples, the donations are counted before the Deity each evening. To support

the priests and their families, we place a separate and usually smaller

contribution, called dakshina, on the offering tray, traditionally wrapped in

betel leaf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loving Ganesha by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

 

Web sites: http://www.hindu.org/ & http://www.himalayanacademy.com/

email: contact (AT) hindu (DOT) org

Himalayan Academy Kauai's Hindu Monastery107 Kaholalele RoadKapaa, HI 96746-9304

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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