Puja

Puja is the act of showing reverence to a god, a spirit, or another aspect of the divine through invocations, prayers, songs, and rituals. An essential part of puja for the Hindu devotee is making a spiritual connection with the divine. Most often that contact is facilitated through an object: an element of nature, a sculpture, a vessel, a painting, or a print.

During puja an image or other symbol of the god serves as a means of gaining access to the divine. This icon is not the deity itself; rather, it is believed to be filled with the deity's cosmic energy. It is a focal point for honoring and communicating with the god. For the devout Hindu, the icon's artistic merit is important, but is secondary to its spiritual content. The objects are created as receptacles for spiritual energy that allow the devotee to experience direct communication with his or her gods.

Most Hindus believe in an immense unifying force that governs all existence and cannot be completely known by humanity. Individual gods and goddesses are personifications of this cosmic force. In practice, each Hindu worships those few deities that he or she believes directly influence his or her life. By selecting one or more of these deities to worship, and by conducting the rituals designed to facilitate contact with them, a Hindu devotee is striving to experience his or her unity with that cosmic force.

While scholars, philosophers, and priests debate the finer points of Hindu theology, lay worshipers call upon familiar gods to help with their everyday hopes and problems.

Why Puja

The malefic planetary conjunctions are the phases in one's life when one's aura gets darkened. Such a person is like one groping in the darkness. His thoughts and activities are misguided. The vibrations radiating from him displease others.

It is possible to reduce the suffering due to the unfavorable position of planets through sincere reliance on God, the One who controls the planets. Puja is the act of showing reverence to a god or another aspect of the divine through invocations, prayers and rituals. An essential part of puja for the Hindu devotee is making a spiritual connection with the divine.

The Indwelling Lord cannot turn a deaf ear to a soulful prayer said with an open heart. There are several pujas which people can do for specific events, such as the starting of a business, or the beginning of a journey. The benefit of this type of puja is to remove obstacles. The pujas are performed on behalf of those who request them by us.

Some of the benefits for doing specific pujas include:

Obtaining peace and happiness by getting rid of malefic forces.

Removing troubles that prevent us from starting on a spiritual path or business

Gaining material abundance, and spiritual prosperity.

Creating positive vibrations in the house, when starting new ventures such as a new job.

Removing obstacles if suffering from losses, when starting a new business or investments, when getting married.

Improving the general health of body and mind, for a speedy recovery from illness.

Increasing leadership skills, for increased courage and vital energy or to excel in martial arts.

We can enhance the benefit of the puja by doing spiritual practices or by taking certain vows. Some of the commonly observed practices include meditation, fasting, silence, prayer, mantra japa or repeating God's name, charity.

These vows can be done for one day, one week or as long as you wish. The result of these actions is to help purify us and to enable us to imbibe more deeply the spiritual energy invoked by the puja.