Countdown to Enhancing the Beginner Puja classes - Lets set up our altars

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

OK- We have only four days to go before we start the Enhancing the

Beginner Puja classes, and I thought it would be nice if we can get

our altars set up by then ... This will also help people that missed

out the first round of classes to get familiar with setting up an

altar and beginning a puja practice ....

Now remember all y’all , ALL THE ITEMS MENTIONED ARE OPTIONAL EXCEPT FOR YER DEVOTION.

But if you can, it would be nice to get these items for your puja.

a) A picture of your favorite deity. An idol would be even

better. In the case of Shiva Puja, a picture or lingam with yoni

would be ideal.

b) An asan – this means seat. So you don’t sit on the bare floor

or wood or even carpet. It would be great if you could get sheep’s

wool or lambs wool ( I got mine from IKEA ). Of course the real deal

is a mat made of Kusa Grass (Parvati, where did you get yours?) .And

has a cloth over this mat. If all these are too difficult to obtain, a

cotton blanket that is used exclusively for puja will serve nicely.

c) A lamp – could be a ghee/oil lamp with a wick or if this is

cumbersome, a tea-light that will last for atleast 1 hour is good. A

lamp holder is to hold the tea light is also needed – your

imagination is the limit. At the mandir, we have a lantern to hold

the tea light to avoid any fire accidents.

d) Incense and holder

e) Camphor and holder

f) Match box

g) One water pot to hold water

h) One water pot with spoon to hold purified water.

i) Sandalwood, Sindoor (red powder), a few grains of uncooked

rice (a cup is plenty), turmeric powder. Shree Maa has a masala box

(available in Indian Stores) or a pillbox to hold these various

powders and rice.

j) A piece of cloth to offer the deity

k) A rudraksh to offer the deity

l) A rudraksh mala or any mala with 108 beads for counting.

m) A bell (looks like a Christmas ornament) for ringing during the puja.

n) A conch for blowing at the end of the puja. (Which means you

have to learn to blow the conch which aint easy I tell ya)

o) A set of bowls to hold the offering 1) Milk 2) Yoghurt 3) Ghee

4) Honey 5) Sugar 6) A

normal">sixth bowl to hold the first five offerings 7) A bowl

containing a sample of the food that you have prepared for that day ,

or if you don’t have cooked food – some fruit is good.

p) A plate containing flowers or petals (if you don’t want to

invest in too many flowers)

q) A flower garland

r) If your altar is such that you cannot draw a yantra during

puja and clean it up when done – like I have cloth on mine for

example – a plate on which you can draw the yantra is needed.

s) A book holder to hold your Beginner Shiva Book. Maa does not

like for us to keep books on the floor. Also that means no stepping on

this book or letting your feet touch the book - for the book

represents the Goddess Saraswati.

t) A cup of drinking water for the deity

u) And last but not the least – your altar. You need to have a

raised platform – made of wood or cement or a cardboard box of your

choice. Making this altar is really upto your imagination, but here

are a few guidelines for setting up your altar

Suggested Guidelines for the altar

It should be in a room that is reserved especially for puja. If this

is not possible due to lack of space, set aside a corner of a room

especially for puja. Try to make this corner in the North East of

your house.

The deity should face south or west, which means we will face the deity ie face north or south.

A corner is preferred so that you are not in the way of your family

and therefore do not disturb or be disturbed by them.

Here is a way that you could set up your altar. Remember this is only

a suggestion based on my experience and you may very well have a

better way of setting it up. I look forward to hearing from others

how they have setup their altar.

Also the picture below will be stored in the Files Section for those

unable to view it at

Beginner%20Shiva%20Puja/

The name of the file is puja.jpg

JAI SHIVA

Nanda

Tired

of spam? Mail has the best spam protection around

Attachment: (image/pjpeg) altar_setup.JPG [not stored]