Worshiping Shiva: Flowers, days for puja etc.

[Guest guest]

Namaste all: I too used to be concerned about what I was able to offer

Lord Shiva. If I do not have the correct flowers, or beautiful ripe

fruit, or a candle or incense, will He be mad? Will the worship

" work " ? Will I receive the fruits of the worship?

Then I found enlightenment in Swami's words in His book: BEFORE

BECOMING THIS.

He is describing the reasons we worship Shiva, and the fruits of

worship. Please let His words into your hearts:

" Shiva takes away all fear. The transitory nature of existence makes

us feel insecure. We want things to stay the way they are. Until we

accept the will of Shiva, there will be fear. As long as we identify

with the changes that are occurring, we create our own pain by our

attachment to the way we think things should be.

Through Shiva we cultivate the attitude of perceiving intrinsic

reality, not extrinsic reality. We identify with that which does not

change. We become the witnesses to the changes of nature.

Remembering the eternal reality, we free ourselves from pain and fear.

We see them as passing states of mind and accept the will of God. "

After reading this, and meditating upon it, I realized that Shiva will

accept whatever I have to offer in the spirit of surrender, devotion,

and love. Now, I am free to perform His puja, His worship, while on a

plane, in a car, or wherever I find myself when it is time for

worship. Since I have memorized the Beginner's Shiva Puja, I can sit

with eyes closed, and worship anywhere, for He is Everywhere,

Everything, He is Me, I am Him.

I agree it is so sweet to decorate Him with fresh flowers, and burn

sweet incense, and have candles burning-these all enhance my

connection to HIm. But, sitting with eyes closed, reciting His

mantras of worship, by His Grace, I can have the same beautiful

experiences.

Ultimately, it is all about getting into the sacred space. The puja

is a guided meditation into that space.

Thanks to Maa and Swami for teaching us this beautiful process for

knowing God.

 

Jai Ma Jai Swami

 

vishweshwar

 

 

 

 

, Alex janna Brandauer

<alexjanna23 wrote:

>

> thanks for the answer to this question in gemany its winter and i

mean winter -10c grades

>  

> there are now floweres any more and none to buy this time of year.

>  

> therefore i use artifical petals i know that god shivia is not mad i

planted over a 100 flowers in my garten for him so he knows in febuary

he will get the fruits from my garden i think if i understood swamiji

correctly its your love to god thats important and not what we offer

>  

> of course i feel also sad that god cant smell the beautiful flowers

this time of year.

> but in febuary till october he has all my flowers that i have.

>  

> i hope this helps.

>  

> i think 3 real flowers the ones you put in the holey water,are

enough in summer when you dont have a garden your love and devotion is

more important.

>  

> lots of love leelee

>  

>

> --- On Tue, 12/2/08, mjfisher2005 <mjfisher2005 wrote:

>

> mjfisher2005 <mjfisher2005

> Re: [www.ShreeMaa.org] Flowers, days for puja etc. (questions)

>

> Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 8:31 AM

Thank you for asking a very good question, Sergio. I was very

> confused about the issue of offerings, but since I have read some of

> Swamiji's words it is more clarified in my mind. When I read that

> when he had nothing else to offer when he was living in India, he

> plucked the leaves from the trees to offer, I thought to myself " Yes,

> of course! How else would a wandering Sadhu perhaps far away from

> any village or not knowing anyone in the area do his daily worship

> and offerings? It is so simple! " I am not a sadhu, but there are

> limitations on my time, expenses and ability, so he is giving me the

> freedom to make these choices as to how far I want to go in literally

> offering material objects to Deity. Sometimes it is very satisfying

> to do so, but it is not necessary. There is so much clarification in

> what Swamiji and Shree Maa say. They set us free to love and worship

> to the best of our ability. That is why I am here and why I hang on.

>

> Om Jai Kali Ma! Om Namah Shivaya!

>

> , " Sergio Knipe " <sergio.knipe@

....>

> wrote:

> >

> > Namaste.

> >

> > Just a few more questions for the list & #8211; hope you don & #8217;t

> mind!

> >

> > 1) I was looking at the Durga puja for beginners, and it seems

> like there

> > is a lot of flower offering involved. The Sanskrit term used is

> > & #8216;gandhapushpa & #8217;, which means & #8216;fragrant

> flower & #8217; .

> > Now, I was wondering whether real flowers are always offered, or

> whether

> > these may be substituted with other things, such as flower petals.

> I am

> > asking this because in the course of the puja around 30 flowers are

> > offered, and these are a lot & #8211; particularly if one wishes to

> perform

> > the puja every day. This leads me to my second question:

> >

> > 2) At the moment, it seems like performing the whole puja would

> take me

> > well over 20 minutes (I would probably guess around 1 hour). So I

> was

> > wondering what days might be most auspicious to perform the rite,

> if I

> > cannot perform it all mornings. I believe Fridays are good, or is

> this

> > only for the recitation of the Sahasranama? This leads to my third

> and

> > final question:

> >

> > 3) I have heard Swamiji say that the recitation of the 300 names

> of Lalita

> > is more effective than the recitation of the 1,000. So clearly

> then, for a

> > beginner like myself, the recitation of the former would be better

> (not to

> > mention easier!). I was wondering whether it is fine only to recite

> the

> > actual names, or whether one should recite them in the context of

> the

> > Lalita Trishati. I was also wondering about metric: my recitation

> is more

> > of a reading, as I was never taught any of the musical modulations

> used in

> > reciting the shlokas. Is this ok? The same, of course, also applies

> to my

> > recitation of the Devi Kavacham and Chandi in general...

> >

> > Any answers, as always, will be much appreciated.

> >

> > Jai Maa!

> >

> > Sergio

> >

>