Basic Puja Questions

[Guest guest]

Namaste Brian,

 

Clockwise ... I hope we can get an answer for this soon.

 

Re the soles of the feet not facing the Goddess, this is more of a

cultural thing. In India, it is deemed disrespectful to touch any

sacred object with your feet - for example - touch a book , or a

person ... we immediately bow to the object that we

accidentally "defiled" . It is almost like we "kicked" the book (a

form of Saraswati) or the person .

 

You might have seen pictures of the Divine Mother conquering the

Asuras - She puts one foot on the Asura as an indication that She has

conquered him and the Asura is like dust beneath Her feet. It is

symbolic - that whatever is under your feet is something that is

inferior or something that you have conquered.

 

So when we sit in a position with our legs stretched out towards the

Goddess or Guru, although we are not physically touching them, it is

almost like trying to put ourselves above the object of our

worship, ....which is ofcourse something we dont want to do.

 

Hope that answered your question.

 

Jai Maa

Latha

 

 

 

 

 

 

, "Brian McKee" <brian@s...> wrote:

> I've known about these things for years, but have never gotten a

concrete answer as to why we do this things this way, so why? 1. Why

do we always worship the goddess clock-wise? Why never counter clock-

wise?2. Why must we never face the bottom of our feet toward the

goddess (something nearly impossible at the temple in Napa because

the goddess is everywhere, hehe)?3. I had a third in mind this

morning but have forgotten it, I'll post this right away so I can

remember. (I'm invoking Murphy's Law) Brian"In the begining, the

universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and

been widely regarded as a bad move." -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch

Hikers Guide to the Galaxy Radio Program.

>

> _____________

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[Guest guest]

Dear Latha and List,

The concept of direction: counterclockwise and clockwise...as

well as the directions themselves could probably be studied for a

long time. Here is some information: Directions: as we are doing

puja: our front is our east and our back is our west. Right side is

south and left is north. The left side is magnetic and female; the

right side is electrical male and solar. Facing east, especially in

the morning aligns us with the planet Earth. Facing East means our

front faces East..etc. The earth is an electromagnetic body. The

energy comes from the magnetic North and flows Southward. Because

the EArth is a sphere, the currents flow in the form of a

sphere...North to East and then South and then returns via the

West...the movement is CLOCKWISE. (each direction is ruled by a

deity). So by moving clockwise, we align ourselves with the

magnetic currents of the Earth itself.Then in the Sciptural theory

of evolution/involution...the Creation expands out in a clockwise

spiral and the process of puja moves back towards the source

(involution) in a counterclockwise spiral. There is a really

wonderful book, "Yantra" by Madhu Kanna that goes into the Creation

theory very clearly with beautiful yantras and diagrams. The 3

stages of Creation: Strishti (Creation), Sthiti (maintanance) and

Samhara (Dissolution)are sometimes symbolized by a bindu becoming a

clockwise spiral, a square and a counterclockwise spiral. It's

interesting that the whole left-handed, right-handed thing is

present in so many cultures, including Indian...the "left handed

path" and "right handed path" etc. Puja is an AMAZING science. The

things that the Rishis knew are so beyond imagining! The science of

direction, when you think about it, is pretty incredible. Here were

these beings a thousand years ago, aligning the movement of their

worship with the electromagnetic currents of the Earth! Fantastic.

As I mentioned, you could study this stuff for years and years

and still only touch the surface! But knowing something of why we do

what we do is really helpful./

Sadhvi

PS> Thanks, Parvati Saraswati for the calendar information...I've

been struggling with it for a while now and you made it very clear.

[Guest guest]

I would just like to add on to your comment ;

1. Why do we always worship the goddess clock-wise? Why never counter clock-wise?

In southern India worship (Tamil Nadu and so forth) When somebody

passed away the aratrikam are done anti-clockwise this goes for

ancestrol worship as well.When newly married couple comes to their

living home for the first time the aratrikam is done clokwise . Long

time ago I was told since the beloved deity we worship is a living

goddess then the arathi is done clockwise but off course I would too

love to hear Swamiji's word on this as well...................

2. Why must we never face the bottom of our feet toward the goddess

(something nearly impossible at the temple in Napa because the

goddess is everywhere, hehe)?

Well I think (again I might be wrong) this is an age old indian

pratice never to point their leg towards anything reverential. It is

not because the leg is an unholy part of the body but because in old

days the indians use to have a choice to walk barefoot and wash their

leg hands ,behind their ears as well as gargling their mouth before

entering a kutir or temple .Even today some still do practice sitting

with folded leg in front of elders and sitting on the floor whilst

giving the upper seat to the honourbale guest.(I would feel awkward

sitting on chair parralel to Swamiji ,rather be sitting near his feet

as well).

A kundalini upasaka once told me the vibration from the deity is ever

prevading but the feet is where our vibration emanates outward.That

is why he recommends siting folded leg to receives vibration and he

even mentioned opening hands outwards to sky (Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

picture depicts this often )or folded hand to receive bleesings.When

we do pranam usually we touch Swamiji's leg as his grace also flows

for his feet unless he turns his hand mudra for blessing. In

Vaishnava temples a helmet shaped cover is usually placed on top of

the head after prayers as bleesings.If you have a peep on top of the

helmet you would see a pair of litle feets. He said this is to

signify the blessing from the Lord by placing our head below his

feet.

But off course for the realised that GOD is EVERYWHERE and that is

what Devi Mandir seems to reflect then where is a place to put your

leg ? . I say the question do not arise because all the limbs of your

body have been purified with HER through Devi Kavacha remember Verse

32 ;

gulphayor narasimhi ca padaprsthe tu taijasi

padangulisu sri rakset padadhastalavasini

In the ankles ,the Goddess of Courageous Fortitude;on top of the feet

,She who is Heat and Light;in toes ,may Properity protect;and in the

soles ,She who dwells in Support.

So ideally leg should not be placed towards the deity of worship but

if sitiuation does not allow purify all our limbs by applying Devi

Kavacham !!!!!!!!!

Jai Maa!!!!

Brian McKee <brian (AT) soulspark (DOT) org> wrote:

I've known about these things for years, but have never gotten a

concrete answer as to why we do this things this way, so why?1. Why

do we always worship the goddess clock-wise? Why never counter

clock-wise?2. Why must we never face the bottom of our feet toward

the goddess (something nearly impossible at the temple in Napa

because the goddess is everywhere, hehe)?3. I had a third in mind

this morning but have forgotten it, I'll post this right away so I

can remember. (I'm invoking Murphy's Law)Brian"In the begining, the

universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and

been widely regarded as a bad move." -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch

Hikers Guide to the Galaxy Radio Program.

No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding.Introducing My Way - http://www.myway.com

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