Religion Paper: Hindu Puja's
Some time ago, I went to a Hindu church to study more about their doctrine of puja, or worshipping. The following are the many things that I've learned from this experience relating to this topic. I chose this topic because the Hindu religion seemed the most interesting to me. They worship many deities and have interesting pujas as well.
Logan Bangerter
World Religions
Religious Service Paper 1
Hinduism Worship
Some time ago, I attended a Sri
Ganesh Hindu Temple located here in South Jordan. I didn’t really know what kind of service
happened inside the building, I was interested in finding out. Having been Christian all my life, I’ve had
this interest in other religions and their form of worship. My goal is to try to help readers understand
the meaning behind certain rituals done by the Hindu people.
As for the service itself, I entered
the building to view what activities were going on. After passing the main hall, we were required
to take off our shoes so that we would please the deities inside. We were permitted in a big room full of the
different deities of Hinduism, and it struck me as peculiar that everything was
presented closely like a museum. I
suppose this was because of newcomers that didn’t know what they were doing if
they first came.
The first
thing I noticed about the room was the other side of the room where a priest
was performing a ritual for those that came to worship. The members were offering fruit to the statue
of Ganesh through the priest, and the priest uttered words in the Indian
language. He put the fruit in front of
Ganesh, and took a small lamp with a small fire, waved his hand closely against
the fire, and rubbed his hand on the member’s heads. The members then offered money to the priest
for gratitude.
I was
curious to know what kind of ritual they were doing, so I went up to the priest
directly afterwards and asked him. He
said that in days of worship, the members would come to the god Ganesh first so
that he would grant a special blessing on them.
With this blessing, they would then be able to worship the other deities
and perform other rituals knowing that Ganesh had provided them with a blessing
that all would go well in the temple. These
kinds of rituals are called “puja,” which means forms of worship and rituals
that are very personal to the worshippers.
The priest then gave me a fruit, which was friendly of him.
He invited
me to look around the temple more and study what the worshipers were
doing. All around the temple were other
deities of Hinduism, including Sri Nataraja, Sri Ram Parivar, and Sri
Saraswathi Mata. In fact, I observed one
of the couples in the temple going around one of the deities clockwise in a
reverent manner. This is called Pradakshina,
and it is one of the most customary rituals done in a temple [1]. Pradakshina literally means “the path
surround something.” The Hindus do this
because it would show the deity a token of their self-surrender and reverence.
I also
observed a couple more members doing simple meditation upon a nice carpet in a
certain section of the room. I asked the
same priest what form of meditation they were doing. He explained that meditation in the temple
helps the people be in a calm and pacified state so that they can collect their
thoughts and investigate their own mind and body to further know
themselves. But more importantly it is
also for those that are suffering in life.
They bring their bodies into a calm position and collect their thoughts
together so that they cannot be distracted from the world. Then they start to ponder about how to
overcome their obstacles in life, such as negative thinking, fears, and
anxiety.
From what I
was able to understand from the priest, the members of the religion do pujas of
their own choice considering their circumstances and needs. They would worship certain deities so that
they would receive certain blessings from that deity. After receiving the blessings from the
deities, they would meditate over their afflictions to be able to overcome
their obstacles. These are the most
basic forms of rituals in Hinduism.
Now to
explain in full details about these rituals starting with the puja. Truth be told, pujas could be done literally
anywhere by anyone. To restate, puja is
a ritual suggestive of symbolic offering of ourselves, or thoughts, desires,
and actions and things we own to God, as a mark of devotion and surrender,
enjoying whatever that comes to us as a gift from him. It is performed either by oneself or with a group
and either directly by the worshipper, or from a priest for the
worshipper. Although the members use
puja to express their love and devotion to Ganesh, there is a certain structure
built around the temple just for that, as I mentioned earlier.
However, in
the house of the Hindus, they can use pujas to guests that come into their
house. They say “Athidi devobhava” to
greet the guests, which means a guest is verily God himself [2]. The uses of pujas could range from very
complicated, or extremely simple, depending on the form of worship one chooses
to do. They could be performed on a
daily basis, or they could be during an important religious function or
ceremony. Either way, like I said
earlier, pujas are the most personal and most common ritual in Hinduism.
Next, I will
talk about meditation and many of its forms in Hinduism. The process, like I said before, is to
collect your thoughts and try to be in a calm state of thought. The goals of meditating could vary though,
from spiritual enlightenment to even changing someone’s attitude. The key word to meditating is focus, and
these can actually be classified. For
example, focusing on a type of experience and perception while meditating is
called mindfulness meditation, while others involve deliberation on a
pre-selected object called concentrative meditation [3].
These kinds
of meditating have been described as a journey to a deeper part of one’s
being. When someone does this, they
enter into a state of tranquil and contemplation. To do this, they tap into the strength within
their being, and then that same strength sustains their energy throughout the
day, which helps them from being troubled or disturbed from any life
problems. Their fears and doubts are
simply swept away when they’re in this rewarding state of mind.
Some of the
rituals in Hinduism can also be done at a certain point in someone’s life. This is called rite of passage. In Hinduism, there are four stage that they
must pass through. The first stage is
Brahmacharga, which takes place during the school years, and it is focused on
acquiring knowledge and developing character.
The second is Grastha, which happens in the middle years of someone’s
life. They focus on worldly pursuits
such as marriage, family, and their career.
The third
stage is Vanaprastha, which is when someone’s child reaches adulthood. It is a time of increased focus on spiritual
things, much like the first stage. And
finally, the final stage is Sanngasu, which takes place in the last years of
one’s life. The may abandon the world
completely for a life of contemplation.
All of these practices symbolize growth and care, which helps the
members improve and educate themselves in their daily lives [4].
Through all
of these rituals and ceremonies, the members can focus all their efforts in
devoting their life to their gods. This
is why they perform most of their rituals in front of their deities in the
temple, to show dedication. However,
there are some Hindus that actually ignore the gods and seek their own way of
enlightenment, which is actually in the form of meditating. The focus on fulfilling their social and
moral duties that is in line to their position in life. But the rituals and the manners in them are
the same.
They follow
their rituals the same, but the meaning could be different. Many of those rituals were once essential,
but they are discarded now for many reasons.
To name a few reasons, they cannot be performed today because most
people live in cities, and their conditions won’t allow them to stick with the
regulations written in the scriptures to perform them. Some people can’t do them because it requires
a lot of time, knowledge, and money, which many of these people may lack. Because of these inconveniences in our lives,
many of these rituals have been either discontinued or even replaced by short
and simple practices, which reflects the change of nature in the Hindu society.
These are
the most popular examples of rituals, as well as the origins and meaning behind
them. They are an important factor in
the lives of the Hindus, and are constantly practiced every day. They give them piece of mind, enlightenment,
and receive blessings from their deities based on these certain rituals. It has benefited their lives, and will
continue to do so for years to come.
References
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