Significance of arati

[Guest guest]

Q: What is the significance of arati - waving lights, flowers, cloth

etc, to the image?

 

A: When we perform worship to any deity, especially in the evening,

we do Aratrikam, i.e. vesper service. At this Centre we wave lights

every day and on five special days during the year - namely the

celebrations of the birthdays of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, Swami

Vivekananda, Sri Krishna, and Durga - we do special Aratrikam. What

is its significance?

 

According to Hindu cosmology, the entire universe is created out of

five elements: akasha (space), vayu (air), agni (fire), apah (water),

and prithvi (earth). All the things in the universe are the

permutations and combinations of these five elements. When we are

worshipping any particular deity, that deity is considered the

Supreme. Hindus worship millions of deities, but they are not

worshipping millions of different deities. The same One God is

manifesting through different names and in different forms.

 

So, how do we worship Him? We have a beautiful saying in

Bengali, " Ganga jele Ganga puja " i.e., worship of Ganga with Ganga.

The waters of the Ganges are considered to be very sacred. That is

why, when we worship any god, we use that water to purify items to be

offered to Him. When we want to worship the Ganges river itself, then

what do we do? We take the water from Her and give it to Her.

Similarly what can you give to the Lord? He only has become this

whole universe. Now, if you want to worship Him you want to offer

something to Him. What are you going to do? You take some mud from

Him and you give it to Him. You take a flower from Him, His own

creation, and give it to Him.

 

These are the five items offered during vespers: lights, water in a

conch, a cloth and a flower and lastly, there is a kind of fan made

out of the tail of a special cow found in the Himalayas. It is called

chamari.

 

These five items signify the five elements out of which this whole

universe is made. That means you are offering the whole universe

including yourself to Him mentally. So these are the five things that

are symbolic and that is the significance of Arati.

 

- Swami Dayatmananda