Puja

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

Thanks Srini and Ramya for the great discussion and inspirational class on puja.

 

I remember when I first met Shree Maa and Swamiji. One of the first impressions I had

of them was how they did puja every day. To this day, there has never been a day when

Shree Maa has not done Shiva puja( other worship is included as well) and she started

in her childhood. She always keeps an altar in her room and when she does travel this is

the first thing she sets up in any place she goes. As Henny said in her post, puja is

"completely part of her."

 

Naturally, I began to learn puja and started with beginner Shiva puja like many of

you have done. Little by little my asan expanded to include a more enhanced Shiva puja.

Once you know the basics to any puja, it is easy to do other pujas like Durga puja, Kali

puja, Ganesha puja, etc. Later on, Swamiji offered a class in the Cosmic Puja which is a

puja that includes the worship of all and takes 2 1/2-4 hours to complete.

 

Nowadays, I do Ganesha puja, Hanuman puja, and Kali puja on specific days based on the

lunar calendar. For me, puja has been very transformational in all areas of life. Doing puja

is like taking a bath in the Ganges. We spend so much time doing things for our physical

body, but what do we do for our subtle and causal body? Doing puja is like taking care of

the soul within. We are giving nourishment to our own inner being and light as well as

putting forth positive vibrations into the universe. We are giving back to the universe when we do puja, a reciprocal process, a loving and joyous interchange.

 

Doing puja gives me a sense of fullness because many different practices are included

into one asan and it is all performed as a guided meditation. For instance, within the puja we do, pranayama, japa, silent meditation, kriya yoga, chanting, singing, offerings, etc.For me all of these combined techniques help to make the mind sit still.

 

 

If I could add one more thing to my puja, then I would increase the meditation or japa part

of the Cosmic puja. Swamiji does 1000 Navarna japa and also 108 japa for each Deiti at

the end.

 

For anyone out there who is thinking to learn puja, I would highly recommend it as a

great foundational tool for building an everlasting relationship with the divinity within

and without and for realizing it as well. Please don't hesitate to ask questions.

 

With love,

Parvati

 

"Take all of the pleasures of heaven and even those of liberation and count them as one,

all of them together cannot be equal to the pleasure gained from satsanagha, from the

communion with beings of truth."

Sundar Kand (Verse 4 Swami Satyananda Saraswati)