Fwd: Ishvarapujana: Worship

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Hare Krsna Ishvarapujana: WorshipWorship, Ishvarapujana, is the fifth niyama. Let us declare, in the lastanalysis, that human life is either worship or warship, higher nature orlower nature. We need say no more. But we will. The brief explanationfor Ishvarapujana is to cultivate devotion through daily worship andmeditation. The soul's evolution from its conception is based solelyon Ishvarapujana, the return to the source. In the irul pada, the stageof darkness, its return to the source is more imminent than actual. Theburning desire is there, driven by the instinctive feelings and emotionsof living within the seven chakras below the muladhara. There is anatural seeking on the way up. People here will worship almost anythingto get out of this predicament. Bound in blind faith, with the absenceof a coherent intellect guided by reason, and the absence of a

maturedintellect developed by superconscious experience, they struggle out oftheir shell of ignorance, through worship, to a better life. The smallthread of intuition keeps assuring them it is there, within their reachif they but strive. They call God, they fear God, seek to be close toHim and see Him as oh-so-far away.When they are matured and stepping into adolescence in the marul pada,where confusion prevails, worship and the trappings and traditionsthat go with it seem to be primitive, unreasonable and can all wellbe dispensed with. It is here that a young lady looks into the mirrorand says, "What a fine person! I am more beautiful than all the othergirls I know." A young man may likewise be conceited about his looks orphysique. Worship still exists, but is tied closely to narcissism. Itis only in the stage of grace, arul, and on its doorstep that trueworship arises, which is invoking and opening up to the

great beings,God, Gods and devas, in order to commune with them.Faith, astikya, creates the attitudes for the action of worship. We cansee that from the soul's conception to its fullness of maturity into thefinal merger with God Siva Himself, worship, communication, looking up,blending with, is truly monistic Saiva Siddhanta, the final conclusionsfor all mankind. We can conclude that in Sanatana Dharma faith is inWhat Is, and in the Abrahamic religions faith is in What Is Yet to Be.Worship could be defined as communication on a very high level: atruly sophisticated form of "channeling," as New-Age people might say;clairvoyant or clairaudient experience, as mystics would describe it; orheart-felt love interchanged between Deity and devotee, as the ordinaryperson would describe it. Worship for the Hindu is on many levels andof many kinds. In the home, children worship their father and mother asGod and Goddess

because they love them. The husband worships his wifeas a Goddess. The wife worships her husband as a God. In the shrineroom, the entire family together worships images of Gods, Goddesses andsaints, beseeching them as their dear friends. The family goes to thetemple daily, or at least once a week, attends seasonal festivals andtakes a far-off pilgrimage once a year. Worship is the binding forcethat keeps the Hindu family together. On a deeper level, externalworship is internalized, worshiping God within through meditationand contemplation. This form of worship leads into yoga and profoundmystical experiences.

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