How Hindus Worship
The home shrine room, “my friend
Lord Ganesha,” visiting a temple, and
an overview of Hindu festivals
We see a arati lamp held by a temple
priest, or pujari or mother at home when at the height of the puja, he will pass
it before the Deity image in adoration, then
present it to
gathered devotees so they may pass their
hands through
the flame and draw the God’s blessings to
their eyes.
The Home Shine
How and Why to Establish a Holy Room for
Worship and Meditation
What is the center of your home? the kitchen,
the workshop, the living room, the den? The
ancients
designated the crucial part of the home as a
sacred
sanctuary, a fortress of purity to which
dwellers could
retreat before dawn each day, to commune with
their higher nature
and with God and the Gods. This center of
spiritual force is called
devatarchanam, the “place for honoring Divinity.” Sacred
architecture
places it in the northeast corner, the realm
of Isana, where its
potency naturally flourishes. Scriptures
speak but little of this tradition,
perhaps because its necessity is taken for
granted. Nevertheless,
the custom has lived on, and every prominent
devout Hindu home
has a holy shrine room, often opulent,
sometimes austere, the domiciles’
most auspicious quadrant, reserved for
religious pursuits, and
like a miniature temple, radiating blessings
constantly through the
abode and out to the community.
Love and joy come to Hindu families who
worship God in their
home through the traditional ceremony
known as puja, meaning
adoration or worship. Through such rites and
the divine energies
invoked, each family makes the house a
sanctuary, a refuge from
the concerns and worries of the world. The
center of that sanctuary,
the site of puja, is the shrine, mystically tied to the temple to which
they pilgrimage weekly. Puja is performed
daily—usually in the early
morning, but also in the afternoon or
evening—generally by the
head of the house. All members of the family
attend. Rites can be
as simple as lighting a lamp and offering a
flower at the Lord’s holy
feet, or they can be most elaborate and
detailed, with myriad Sanskrit
chants and offerings. The essential and
indispensable part of
any puja is devotion. Without love and
reverence in the heart, outer
performance is of little value. But with true
devotion even simple
gestures become sacred ritual.
As in a temple, the images or icons of God
and Gods are the focus
of the shrine room. These are called murti in Sanskrit, worshiped
and cared for as the physical body of the the
Divine. Hindus do
not worship these “idols” per se. They
worship God and the Gods
who by their infinite powers spiritually
hover over and indwell the
image. Murtis of the Gods are sanctified forms through which their
love, power and blessings flood forth to
bless the family. The God’s
vibration and presence can be felt in the
image, and the Divinity
can use the images as a temporary
physical-plane body or channel.
Hindus believe and expect that the God is
actually present and conscious
in the murti during puja, aware of thoughts and feelings and
even sensing the worshiper’s gentle touch on
the metal or stone. The
great Adi Shankaracharya, while espousing a
strict monism, wrote,
“Although Parabrahman is all pervading, to
attain Him one should
accept that He is ‘more’ present in one
particular place, just as we
see Vishnu in the Shaligrama, a small round
stone.” The Vaishnava
saint Ramanuja similarly stated, “Although
the Lord is all pervading,
using His omnipotent powers He appears before
devotees to accept
their devotion through an image.”
The
Science of Ritual: Puja
is a ceremony in which the ringing
of bells, passing of flames, presenting of
offerings and chanting
of mantras invoke the devas and Gods, who
then come to bless
and help the devotees. Puja is holy
communion, full of wonder and
tender affections. Thus the home shrine is a
place of tremendous
of prayer. Daily puja is the axis of
religious life, and the puja room is
the heart of the home. Chanting the Vedas is
the magic enlivener. In
the words of Sri Chandrasekharendra
Saraswati, “The Veda
mantras
being the root cause of creation, the mere
chanting of Veda
mantras
would, by their vibrations, make the Devas
appear in person.”
The home shrine is also the locus for private
and group meditation,
prayer, mantra recitation and devotional
singing. Its sanctity is protected
by never using it for other purposes. This
space is meticulously
cared for, kept immaculate and elaborately
decorated to look like
a small temple. It should be well-lit and
free from drafts and household
disturbances. The altar is generally close to
the floor, since most
of the puja is performed while seated. But
when there are small children
in the home it is often higher, as to be out
of their reach. Pictured
in the large illustrations are “typical”
altars (slightly larger than
life) of the four major Hindu denominations:
Saivism, Vaishnavism,
Saktism and Smartism. In truth, Hinduism
consists of ten thousand
lineages and more, each with its unique
traditions, and as many
variations in home altars as well. Yet, there
are many similarities.
At a Ganesha shrine, for example, an icon, or
murti, of the elephant-
headed God is placed at the center of the
altar. A metal or
stone image is considered best, but if not
available there are two traditional
alternatives: 1) a framed picture, preferably with a sheet of
copper on the back, or 2) A kumbha,
which is a symbol of Ganesha
made by placing a coconut on a brass pot of
water with five mango
leaves inserted between the coconut and the
pot. The coconut is
husked but the tuft of fibers at the top is
not removed. Most shrines
also honor a picture of the guru of the
family lineage, either on the
altar or adorning the walls.
Bathing the God’s image is often a central
part of puja. For this,
special arrangements are established at the
altar to catch the sacred
water or milk as it pours off the icon. Most
simply, the murti
may be
placed in a deep tray to catch the water.
After the bath, the tray is
removed and the murti dried off, then dressed and decorated. More
elaborately, a drain is set up so the water
flows into a pot at the side
of the altar. If devotees are in attendance,
this blessed water is later
served by the pujari (the person performing
the ritual) who places
a small spoonful in each devotee’s right
palm.
Holy
Accoutrements: Puja
implements
for the shrine are kept on
large metal trays. On these are arranged ghee lamps, bells, cups, spoons
and pots to hold the various sacraments.
Available from Indian shops,
these are dedicated articles, never used for
purposes other than
puja. Their care, cleaning and polishing is considered a sacred duty.
Usual items include: 1) water cups and a small spoon for offering
water; 2) a
brass vessel of unbroken, uncooked rice (usually mixed
with turmeric powder), also for offering; 3) tray or basket of freshly
oil lamp, dipastambha, that remains lit throughout the puja; ideally
kept lit all day; 5) a dipa (or
lamp with cotton string wick) for
waving light before the Deity; 6) a small metal bell, ghanta; 7)
an
incense burner and a few sticks of incense, agarbhatti; 8) sacraments
of one’s tradition, such as holy ash, vibhuti; sandalwood paste,
chandana; and red powder, kumkuma (these are kept in polished
brass or silver containers); 9) naivedya, an
offering for the Deity of
fresh fruit and-or a covered dish of freshly
cooked food, such as rice
(never tasted during preparation); 10) a camphor (karpura) burner
for passing flame before the God at the
height of puja; 11) brass or
silver pots for bathing the murti; 12) colorful clothing for dressing
the murti; 13)
flower garlands; 14) additional oil lamps to illumine
and decorate the room; 15) a CD or tape player.
Purity:
Before entering the
shrine room, all attending the ceremony
bathe and dress in fresh, clean clothes. It
is a common practice
to not partake of food at least an hour or
more before puja. The
best time for puja is before dawn. Each
worshiper brings an offering
of flowers or fruit (prepared before the
bath). Traditionally, women
during their monthly period refrain from
attending puja, entering
the home shrine or temple or approaching
swamis or other holy men.
Also during this time women do not help in
puja preparation, such
as picking flowers or making prasada for the Deity.
Use of the home shrine is also restricted
during
periods of retreat that follow the birth or
death of
a family member.
Worshipful
Icons: As seen in the main
illustrations,
the images enshrined on home altars vary
according to lineage and denomination. All
icons,
however, are either anthropomorphic, meaning
human
in appearance; theriomorphic, having animal
characteristics (for example, Lord Hanuman,
the
monkey God); or aniconic, meaning without representational
likeness, such as the element fire, or the
smooth Shaligrama stone, worshiped as Lord
Vishnu.
Other objects of enshrinement include divine
emblems or artifacts, including weapons, such
as
Durga’s sword; animal mounts, like Siva’s
bull; a full
pot of water, indicating the presence of the
Devi;
the sun disk, representing Surya; the holy
footprints
or sandals of a God or saint; the standing
oil lamp;
the fire pit, mystic diagrams called yantra; water
from holy rivers; and sacred plants, such as
the tulsi
tree. All these are honored as embodiments of
the
God or Goddess. The Vedas enjoin: “The Gods, led
by the spirit, honor faith in their worship.
Faith
is composed of the heart’s intention. Light
comes
through faith. Through faith men come to prayer,
faith in the morning, faith at noon and at
the setting
of the sun. O Faith, give us faith!
Do Hindus Worship Idols?
From the moment the vedic
rites are completed and a statue or
painting of the image manifests all
His glory and grace, He accepts various
devotions. He listens to prayers and woes.
He is at once a confidante and giver of
blessings. Thus, an image cannot be said to
be merely a beautiful statue or doll, nor an
excellent painting. The image is God.
Said Swami Vivekananda, “It has become
a trite saying that idolatry is bad,
and everyone swallows it at the present
time without questioning. I once thought
so, and to pay the penalty of that, I had
to learn my lessons sitting at the feet of a
man who realized everything from idols.
I allude to Ramakrishna Paramahansa.
Yet, idolatry is condemned. Why? Some
hundreds of years ago, some man of Jewish
blood happened to condemn it. He
happened to condemn everybody else’s
idols except his own. If God is represented
in any beautiful form
or any symbolic form,
said the Jew, it is awfully
bad; it is sin. But
if He is represented
in the form of a chest
with two angels sitting
on either side, it is the
holiest of holies. If God
comes in the form of
a dove, it is holy. But if He comes in the
form of a cow, it is heathen superstition,
condemn it…”
Over the centuries, in their condescending
haste and missionary fervor to
convert the rest of the world to the “One
and only correct faith, and to commit the
souls of the otherwise damned to God,”
various religions have condemned image
worship with fanatic zeal. This has led to
a shallow refutal of image worship and
a misinterpretation of the Hindu image
worshiped. To complicate the issue,
image worship is also frowned on by
some professing Hindus.
The question of image worship
will be debated for years to come.
Here it suffices to say that with the
ancient Hindus image worship was
not left to be treated as an ignorant
and useless practice fit only for the
ignorant and spiritually immature;
even the greatest visited mandirs
and worshiped images, and these
thinkers did not do so blindly or
unconsciously. A human necessity was
recognized,
the nature of the necessity was
understood, its psychology systematically
analyzed, the various phases of image
worship,
mental and material, were defined.
The modern Hindu follows in footsteps of
his forebearers. Through the image, the
eye is taught to see God, and not to seek
God. The first lesson received at the sanctum
is to be applied everywhere: see God
in everything!
Harmonious Home Design According to Vastu
I n indian
architecture, the dwelling
is itself a shrine. A home is called manushyalaya,
literally, “human temple.” It is not
merely a shelter for human
beings in which to rest and
eat. The concept behind house
design is the same as for temple
design, so sacred and spiritual
are the two spaces. The “open
courtyard” system of house
design was the national pattern
in India before Western models
were introduced. The order
introduced into the “built space”
accounts for the creation of
spiritual ambience required for
the indweller to enjoy spiritual
well-being and material welfare
and prosperity.
At right is a typical layout of a square
building,
with a grid of 9x9=81 squares,
meant for
family persons (for yogis, scientists and
artists,
a grid of 8x8=64
is prescribed). The
space occupied
by the central 3x3=9 squares
is called
Brahmasthanam, meaning the “nuclear energy
field.” It should be kept unbuilt and open to
the
sky so as to have contact with
the outer space (akasha). This
central courtyard is likened to
the lungs of the human body. It
is not for living purposes. Religious
and cultural events can be
held here—such as yajna (fire
ritual), music and dance performances
and marriage.
The row of squares surrounding
the Brahmasthanam is the
walkway. The corner spaces,
occupying 2x2=4
squares, are
rooms with specific purposes.
The northeast quarter is called
Isana, the southeast Agni, the
southwest Niruthi and northwest Vayu. These
are said to possess the qualities of four
respective
devatas or Gods—Isa, Agni, Niruthi and
Vayu. Accordingly—with due respect to
the subtle forces of the
spirit—those spaces (quarters)
are assigned as follows:
northeast for the home
shrine, southeast for the
kitchen, southwest for master
bedroom and northwest for
the storage of grains. The
spaces lying between the corner zones,
measuring
2x5=10 squares,
are those of the north, east, south and
west. They are meant for multi purposes.
For home worship, griha puja, the Deity icon should
be smaller in size than in a temple. The
agreeable and
generally recommended height of the standing
image
without pedestal is one’s own fist (mushti) size, measured
with the thumb raised.
By V. Ganapati Sthapati, Master Architect, Chennai
N
E
S
W
House
grid: With sloping
roof and open courtyard
Isa na
nir
uti
va yu
agni
shrine
south
Passage (walkway)
Corridor
Master
Bedroom
Bedroom/
Storage
Living
Space
Living
Space
Living
Space
Open
Courtyard
brahmastanam
open to sky
entr y
North
west
Passage Puja
The
“built space:” The ideal position of each aspect of
the
home is enhanced by that place’s inherent nature.
This
knowledge is given in the Vastu Shastras, a
study
of
the dynamics of time and space, by Mayan, the architect
and
town planner of ancient India.
About 60%
of
Indian homes still follow this paradisiacal design.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(My
humble salutations to Sadguru Sri Sivaya
Subramuniyaswami
ji, Hinduism Today dot com for the collection)
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