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Sri Guru Puja Sri Shiva Puja

Guidelines for Puja, the Sacred Worship Ritual

Important note and safety: Please ensure the puja is conducted in a fire safe environment. Your safety is your responsibility. Please ensure children are at a safe distance or under active supervision of elders. Do not use any inflammable materials during the puja other than those prescribed and in the way it has been prescribed.

Do follow these simple guidelines with integrity to experience your highest space and gain spiritual benefits of performing he Sri Guru Puja and Sri Shiva Puja.

Preparations

Even while preparing for the Puja, the sacred worship, you are actually doing the Puja itself. As you prepare, by collecting the sacred offerings of flowers, leaves, food-offerings, etc. and set your puja kit – you begin to soak yourself in the smarana, pure remembrance of the Divine, and are ready to offer your own self onto the Divine.

Before being seated for the puja, the devotee must do the following inner and outer preparations:

  • • Purity of body Ensure that you have completed all bodily nature calls before, and taken bath and cleansed the body, and worn fresh, clean clothes.
  • • Purity of mind Carry a pleasant and celebrative space, hold yourself in the highest space of completion, and invoke your sacred memories of your beloved Guru and Sadashiva-Adishakti.

Sri Guru Puja and Sri Shiva Puja

Clothing, Personal Attire, Divine Marks:

  • Male devotees should be in traditional Hindu wear dhoti, yogavastram worn around the waist covering the navel, without an upper cloth; female devotees should be in traditional Hindu wear, Sari.
  • Men and women with long hair should tie the hair, such that the ends are tucked in.
  • Apply the kumkum on the third eye, wearing the sacred rudraksha, etc, applying the tripundri or three-lined sacred ash on 5 places on the body - the forehead, right forearms, left forearm, heart, navel, or 8, 16, 32 places as prescribed on the Agamas.
  • Your Exclusive Time with the Divine Remember that this sacred Puja* ritual is your direct, exclusive, personal time with the Divine – Sri Guru, Sadashiva-Adishakti. Get ready to connect and receive their Prasada, loving grace flowing in you.
  • Naivedyam, the offered food and water become Prasada, when offered with love and devotion to the Lord, which should be blissfully partaken and shared. Please ensure consuming prasada from a separate vessel or in the kara-paatram (our hands as a bowl). All the puja vessels are for the deities only.

puja Seating and Setup

Be seated in ardha padmāsana, half lotus posture or sukhasana, relaxed posture on Asanam, the sacred seat made of dharba straw.

  • Keep all the puja offerings ready. Please remember to offer the best, pure offerings to the Divine.
  • 40 flowers, tulasi, 3 bilva leaves, 1 abharanam (jewelry), 1 vastram (clothing), akshata (turmeric mixed rice), kumkum, 2 tablets of karpura, chandana, naivedyam (offering of food), tambulam - betel leafs (2, 4 or above in even numbers) and betel nut, madhuparka (milk mixed with honey/jaggery and ghee), and pure drinking water.

Arghya, Traditional Bouquet Preparation

Please prepare the arghya for Sri Guru Puja as follows – keep a blade of druva grass (fresh grass blade) with a bilva leaf, a flower and a rice pellet – all kept on conch filled with pure water.

The following can be offered as Naivedyam:

  • Organic, freshly cooked, untasted rice
  • Uncut fresh juicy fruits or dry fruits or nuts or sugar-candy (Kalkandu)

The following should not be offered as Naivedyam:

  • Pre-cooked or packaged food
  • Non-vegetarian food, including mushrooms.
  • Non-sattvik food any food containing yeast, onion, garlic, green chillis
  • Any food with GMOs.
  • Please light the deepa (cotton wick in ghee or sesame oil) and dhupa, keep it ready.
  • Position the Guru Paduka and the Siva Linga facing the east direction. The devotee must sit facing the North.

Please ensure that all the puja utensils are clean and arrange them along with the offering as shown in pictures below.

Arghya

Adharashakti (Yoni Peetham)

Guru Paduka, Atma Murti

Two puja plates

Patrams (bowls) for Padya, Arghya, Achamana & Naivedhya

Conch Shell and stand for Sri Guru Puja Arghya

Kumkum and Chandanam Patrams

Pancha Patram and Uddarani (spoon)

Deepa Lamp

Vastram - Cloth

The Setup: Arrangement of the various vessels, Guru Paaduka, Atma Linga and the offerings should follow the illustrations shown.

West

One should sit in the south facing the north direction, keeping the Puja set in front of you like the picture above.

South - be seated here

East