Talk:Archanāṃ or Pūjā

By Vishal Agarwal

This means performing a ceremony to worship Bhagavān using simple articles like a lamp, bell, flowers, fruit, water, coconut etc. while chanting prayers. As against the expensive ingredients required for the Vedic Yajna, the Archanā is a very simple and inexpensive affair and therefore, it is a simple means of worship that everyone can practice. One of the ways of worshipping Bhagavān is doing Ārati by waving before the Mūrti a whisk, flowers, light, cloth and water. These represent offering the five gross elements – air, earth (because the flowers are one of the most beautiful products of the earth), fire, space (because the cloth weaving has numerous holes or gaps) and water. The purpose of waving them before a Mūrti symbolizes the fact that He alone is the Lord of this entire Universe, and all that we have is at His service. Puja is done to invoke the devatas to protect us and fulfill worldly needs. Some salient features of this practice of Bhakti are:

1. Puja makes us sensitive and aware that not everything is in our hands
2. Puja can also be in the form of focusing the mind on the ishta-devata
3. Typically done in front of an image or a Mūrti of the Devata.
4. Correct way involves 5 or 16 or 64 steps, but can be done in a simple way with simple offerings per one’s ability.
5. Puja can be done at home or in a Mandir or even anywhere if needed. Performance of daily Pūjā transforms a home into a Mandir.
6. Can be done individually or in a group.
7. Try to do at least one Pūjā every day, alone or in a group.
8. The physical nature of the ceremony that involves a lot of verbal, mental and physical action is very beneficial to people who need external aids to be able to focus mentally on the Lord.