Puja Procedure

8/10/2019 Puja Procedure

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Puja procedure

Worship byMantra-mudra

There's been a request that I explain the mantra-mudra pujathat I do for mysalagrama silas.This constitutes the usual form of my daily worship. I offer upacaraslikesnana(bathing) and

dhupa-dipa-puspa(incense, lamp and flower) in the form of mantraand mudra. ut on days

when I resume worship after an interruption (for example, after a long !ourney), and on special

holy days like "kadasi and #anmastami, I offer dravya(physical items). That takes more time toprepare and execute. $rila %rabhupada said that daily cooking and &eity worship should be

completed within an hour's time. $o generally I try to keep to that instruction by offering

mantra-mudra puja.

The mantras

There are upacaras(items of offering), thus there are offering mantras.elow is a list of

* mantras.This list contains more than only because there are some repetitions. +hat this

list shows is the order in which the upacarasare offered during thepuja accordingly, acamana(purification of the mouth) is offered at - different times (after the first time the acamana mantrachanges to idam punaracamaniyam, I again offer acamana.) /lso, at the end an offering of

sarvam(all upacaras) is made to conclude thepujato each worshipable personality. In this way,

though there are only upacaras, in the course of mypujaI am chanting * offering mantras.

. idam asanam00offering a seat (all these upacara mantrasare to be spoken together with the

mantrathat addresses the &eity, such as klim gopijanaballabhaya namah).

. etat padyam00offering water to the lotus feet-. idam arghyam00offering water to the hands for washing1. idam acamaniyam00offering acamana

2. esa madhuparka00offering a sweet drink

. idam punaracamaniyam00offering acamanaa second time3. idam snaniyam00bathing

4. idam sottariya vastram00offering cloth

5. imani abharanani00offering ornaments*. esa gandhah00offering sandalwood and scented oils and purfume

. esa dhupa00offering incense

. esa dipa00offering a lamp

-. etani sacandana puspani00offering flowers1. etani sacandana tulasi00offering tulsi lea6es

2. idam naivedyah00offering foodstuffs

. idam paniyajalam00offering water to drink3. idam punaracamaniyam00offering acamanaa third time

4. etat tambulam00offering mouth freshener

5. idam malyam00offering garlands*. idam sarvam00offering e6erything


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Outline of the steps of worship

/t the start, I do a preliminary acamana, chanting the om apavitra6erse and doingpranayama

mudra

I offer obeisances and wake Their 7ordships

8ffering prayers to the spiritual master (Sri Guruvastakametc.) and %anca0tatt6a and 9are :rsna

mahamantrasI clean the altar, change the &eities' water, set up thepuja items

;ull acamana(om kesavaya manahetc.), visnu smaranam, mangala santi, bhuta-suddhi,

obeisances, om apavitra acamanawithpranayama mudra.

+ith mantrasand sprinkling of water I draw a protecti6e circle around the place ofpuja, showkhadga-mudrafor dig-bandha(closing the directions), and purify e6erything within the circle

with


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/rghya mudra. /camaniya mudra.

>adhuparka mudra. %unaracamaniya mudra.

I prepare the snana06edi with a tulasi leaf and flower petals and then show cakra and dhenu

mudras. 86er the 6edi I chant klim gopi!anaballabhaya namah eight time, counting the mantra

on my fingers. Then I show matsya mudra.


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+ith a6ahana mudra I in6ite the silas to sit on the snana06edi. I do not physically place Them on

the 6edi I meditate on Their going there.

$howing snana mudras. The $$#$ silas are bathed eight times by mudra0mantra. I chant a 6erse

from the $ri #agannatha0astakam for each bath.

I prepare the throne of $$#$ for Their return

after bathing as I prepared the snana06edi.

9a6ing returned to Their throne, Their are

dressed. ?astra mudra is shown.


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/bharana mudra. =andha mudra.

&hupa mudra. &ipa mudra.

%uspa mudra. Tulasi patra mudra (identical to puspa mudra).


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%unaracamaniya mudra. The general mudra again, now shown for

tambula.

>alya mudra. $howing the sar6a mudra, which is a gesture

made with the right hand on both sides of the&eity, starting on the left.

=ayatri (mula0mantra for &eity).

Summary of the rest of the worship

I worship the lotus feet of $rimati @adharani, which stand next to $$#$, with mantra-mudraof

dhupa, dipa, puspaand mala. Then I chant 9ergayatriand offer prayers to $$#$ and $rimati


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@adharana together.

I worship $ri0$ri 7aksmi0$esasayi by offering the same mantra0mudras as to $$#$. 9owe6er I

do not offer physical naivedya. $ince $$#$ are the main &eities, all othersilasshare the physical

naivedyathat They recei6e.

I worship $ri =irira!a by offering mantra0mudras for bathing, dressing, ornaments,gandha,

garlands, flute and e6erything.

These pictures show the offering of tulasi that is made at the end, to all silas. I chant Tulasiprayers at this time. 9er lea6es are applied to each of the silas.

9ere, prasadam from the snana06edi and the tulasi offering is placed in a brass pot that is then

offered to $rila %rabhupada and $ri =uruparampara. =arlands are offered by mantra0mudra to all

acaryas.


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/fter the pu!a I offer a fire ya!na. ut this, too, on most days I do by mantra0mudra. Instead of

physically offering ghee into a fire, I offer the @am0bi!a mudra and the dipa mudra to the ya!na06edi. The Ca!na0purusa silas preside o6er the fire sacrifice. /ctually, this ya!na constitutes the

specific worship for these two silas.

Documents

Puja Procedure