TEMPLE WORSHIP
Why go to the temple?
Saivites are generally encouraged to go to the temple everyday. Those who can’t manage daily temple worship are recommended to go to the temple at least on Tuesdays and Fridays. What agamic thought underpins this recommendation, especially in this fast-paced world? Many people believe that you don’t have to go anywhere because God resides in each one of us. This is completely true. As Manickavasagar’s Sivapuranam states, God is not absent from our consciousness even for the duration of the blink of an eye( imaipozhuthum en nenjil neengaathaan). What is equally true, however, is that the trivial facts of life change. We live in a very different world today than the world in which Manickavasagar or Appar lived. This is the nature of maya which is the name we Hindus give to all things which are subject to change. Trivial facts change but Truth or God or Brahman as the Upanishads refer to Him, remains eternally true. The circumstances of life have changed and will continue to change but the goal of life remains, and will remain, ever the same. The journey of the atma today, as in the days of Manickavasagar, is still to find God. Hindus believe the temple plays a very important role in achieving this goal.
One name for temple in Tamil is aalayam, the place where the atma (aa) becomes attuned (layam) to God
, becomes one with Him and therefore becomes liberated from the cycle of birth (achieves mukhti). The
discipline of going to the temple, the component parts of the temple and what they constantly remind us of, and the rituals and prayers we engage in while there, are all specifically designed by the ancient rishis who set up these rituals to scaffold our efforts to reach God. Contrary to current beliefs, these rituals, perhaps even more than in previous eras, are critically important today. Hindus believe that we are coming towards the end of a 5-thousand year cycle of human journeying. It is believed that the human spirit is now spiritually bankrupt and therefore is unable to focus. It is unable to achieve the concentration of effort or sustain the imaginative vision of a formless God. Temple worship, it is believed, is God’s grace providing the props – the images and rituals – that will serve as the crutches that this lame modern soul requires to totter towards its goal.
What must you take to the temple?
Bhava is an important concept in Bakhti. It relates to the attitude or “mood” or the spiritual climate prevailing in the mind of the devotee. It is a very important precondition for communicating with God. When you go to the temple, you must go carrying with you a number of thoughts. You are going to the house of the King of Kings (ko-vil = ko (King or emperor) + il (home or residence), the Lord of all universes. So you need to go there with the utmost humility, respect and awe. You are going to the home of your creator and provider of all you have. Therefore you need to go there in a spirit of thankfulness. Modern communication theory tells us the person communicating and the person he is communicating with must be on the same wavelength for communication to take place. You are going to the temple to meet God, to enable your soul to become attuned to Him. Therefore you need to take with you a soul with the qualities which are God’s. God is called nimalan ( without malas or impurities) You need to be pure. He is karunaakaran. You need to carry with you a soul filled with love and compassion for all.
All that you have and are belongs to God as your creator and the Lord of the universe. There is nothing that you can give Him except your love:
You can carry this love for Him in the form of the things used in Hindu worship :
(1) loose flowers for you or the priest to lay at His Feet;
(2) garlands that you bought or, better still, lovingly strung together yourself
(3) camphor or katpooram (that burns to give light by destroying itself and which leaves no trace of itself when it has burnt out) – to remind yourself to live in service to others and to remember that the purpose of life is to merge without a trace of self in the Self that is God.
(4) fruit that you can offer to God and then either take it home afterwards or share with others in the temple as prasada.
You can also carry your love of God in offering your physical services to the temple. You can help to clean the temple. You can help to carry the image of the deity to place Him in the ratham or chariot on days when He is taken out. These acts help you to put yourself in perspective. In comparison to God, you are nothing. Your titles and your money, what are they in comparison to the wealth of God?
If you have money or learning, you can offer these to God. The money you donate to the temple can be used to conduct services that benefit the devotees and what you do for the devotees, you do for God. Adiyaarkum adiyehn ( the slave of the slaves of God) is an attitude that many Hindu saints have held to be important and have demonstrated in their own lives. When people share their knowledge with others and help to bring them closer to God, this too is a form of service to God through service to His creation.
What do you do before you arrive at the temple?
Prepare a pure you to meet God who is pure: have a bath and wear clean clothes.
What do you do at the temple?
Love, respect, humility etc are common to all mankind but different cultural groups express them in different ways. Every religion is embedded within a culture or civilization and so the way love, respect etc are expressed within a religion are dictated by the way these feelings are expressed in the host culture. The host culture of Hinduism is Indian culture. The way love, respect, humility etc are expressed in Hindu temple worship therefore are the ways Indians express these feelings in their everyday life.
When you arrive at the temple
Remove your footwear and wash your feet. Sprinkle some water on your head. [We always remove our footwear when we visit people because we don’t want to bring in the dust of the street into their home and also because it traditional Indian society it was considered disrespectful to keep your shoes on in the presence of someone you respect].
Raise your hands above your head and worship the rajagopuram, which standing tall, constantly reminds the devotee that God is always there for him.
As you enter the temple, touch the entrance respectfully with both your hands and bring your hands to your eyes. In temple architecture, the rajagopuram at the entrance to the temple denotes God’s Feet. [It is the custom is Indian culture for lesser beings to fall at the feet of greater beings to show their humility and to receive blessings].
Once you are in the temple
Prostrate before the kodi maram or flag staff and it symbolizes God and His sovereignty. Near the kodi maram is the balipeedam ( the place of sacrifice) and the vahana ( God’s vehicle). While you prostrate, you need to (a) acknowledge God’s sovereignty over your life (b) pledge saranaagathi or total surrender to God and express your wish to place all your life, especially your distracting thoughts at the balipeedam; and (c) ask for His grace to increase your sense of His presence in you
(His real vahanam)
Go round the veethi or courtyard of the temple, holding yourself in a prayerful posture and constantly uttering His name or some mantra(s). Walk very slowly. The purpose of this circumambulation or going round the temple is to become more and more God-centred and less and less distracted by the world and what you see as its demands on you.
Don’t circumambulate when the communal prayers are going on. Keep your attention solely on the prayers. Constantly pray for His presence in your life and in your being. Many of us use this time to plead for help : “Lord help my husband to get his promotion”, “ Lord, make my children pass all their exams” etc. This is not wrong. It is just wasteful. If God who is Vigneswaran ( Lord of obstacles) is in your life, won’t all obstacles disappear like Kaasiba Munivar says in the “Kaariya Sithi Maalai”: idarhal muzhuvathum eri veezhum panchena maayum ( all obstacles will disappear, like the cotton touched by flame)? If Murugan, the Devasenapathi ( the leader of the troops) is in your camp, can you lose any battle in your life? If Parasakti ( the Highest Power) is the source of your strength, can you ever weaken or be destroyed however strong the evil that confronts you? If Krishna is the driver of the chariot of your life, can you lose in the Mahabaratha which is the struggle between good and evil in your life and within your soul? If Sivan who is Love (Anbe Sivam) is the guiding light of your life, won’t He know what you need? Do you have to remind Him who is all knowledge to remember what you need?
After the pooja
· The priest and his assistants will bring the prasadam and deepam ( flame). Light is a very important symbol of God in Hinduism. When the flame is brought to you, touch is reverently and bring it to your eyes, all the while thinking that it is God’s warmth and light that you are taking to bless your life;
· The priest will also bring to you the vibuthi. This again is God’s blessing to you. Receive it reverently, placing your right hand over your left. After receiving the vibhuti transfer it to your left palm. Then, without dropping any on the ground, use the middle three fingers of the right hand to spread the vibhuti in three lines over your forehead in a left to right direction. These three lines denote the three malas( anava or egotism, kanmam or the propensities you exhibit in your character and actions as a result of the imprints[1] on your soul left by the accumulated actions of all previous births and maya or the concentration on the changeable aspects of life instead of on the eternal ). The vibuthi which is ash denotes the destruction of these three malas by the grace of God;
· In another tray, Kumkumum, santhanam or sandalwood paste and flowers are brought to you. The kunkumum and sandalwood paste are meant to be placed as a dot in the center of the forehead where Hindu belief states the third eye of each person is to be found. Take the kumkumum and santhanam and place them with the ring finger of your right hand on the center of your forehead between your two eyebrows. Ask God to open your third eye which sees inner spiritual truths that no physical eye can see.
Before you leave the temple
Don’t leave the temple as soon as the pooja is over.:
· If you didn’t circumambulate the temple before the pooja, you can do so now. Going round the temple at least three times is recommended. You could dedicate your mantras or prayers for the removal of the three malas: for the removal of the anava mala the first time; the removal of kanmum next and for the removal of maya during the final round.
· When you have finished active participation in all the different rituals, sit down and savour the sacred vibrations that participation in the pooja would have set up in you. Soak in the divine presence of God.
· After the meditative sitting, prostrate before the kodi maram again. Thank God for His grace and blessings before you go home.
