teaching worship-puja

[Guest guest]

Today my 14 year old son and I, and our friend along with her 12

year old son, went to the home of one of Shree Maa's devotees. The

boys demonstrated puja to the Goddess Saraswati and then we talked

about the meaning and method of worship.

 

We are white and all the guests: children 7-15, and their parents,

are East Indian.

 

Everyone felt very fulfilled and happy with the experience.

 

We were glad we could share our love of God, and they were glad to

receive a deeper understanding of practices that they had witnessed

but not fully understood.

 

One 14 year old boy said he understood the method and meaning of

worship for the first time in his life, and he has been involved with

this worship since he was young.

 

The children related to Saraswati because she is the Goddess of

learning and the arts. They understood the value in connecting to

her when they are in need of help in their studies, and they also

learned that the mantras of the puja are powerful formulas to involk

the different aspects of the Goddess in their own lives.

 

The mantras are not just fanciful poems, but precise invocations of

the fundamental stuff of all Creation, the Shakti which comprises all

Creation, which were cognized and passed on for thousands of years by

pure souls devoted to God.

 

These powerful verses, molded into melodic passages, wake up the

Goddess and draw Her to the devotee as a Mother comes when her child

cries out in distress.

 

The Goddess cannot resist our entreeties. She must and will come.

She is our own nature. She is in us and all around us. She is

everything and we are Her own.

 

The lesson we learned today: do not wait until you can pronounce all

the mantras perfectly, or until you can sit straight and tall. Call

on Her from your heart right now, in English, and She will hear you

and come.

 

Devotion and longing is the real key. Start from where you are.

Don't delay. How can a Mother disregard her crying child?

 

She is our Mother and as you establish a relationship with Her, it

becomes easier and easier to learn the mantras, and to sit longer.

 

Make a promise to yourself. 10 minutes a day for 7 days. See what

happens. Share your results with us.

 

Thank you.

 

Love and Jai Maa

 

Shree Maa's child,

 

Vishweshwar