There are reasons behind any thing which is performed by Human. Same applies to Religion.
Hinduism is the religion based on Experience and Science. Its religion based on integration of Devotion and social code of conduct. Its based on unwritten and unauthorized rules followed by millions. Its the religion based on veneration and integrity for each and every part of human society. Its the religion which has rationale behind each and every rituals and practices. Let's take one by one.
1) Incense : -
We may think that why we use incense in our "PUJA". Why do we burn it prior we conduct Puja? Why incense to be burnt first?
Reason:- Incense consist of aromatic material. It spreads aroma in air and its smell makes you feel happy and beaming. It can change your mood from stress to freshness. So what ? but why its required in daily worship?
Its required because when we directly sit in front of God and start worshiping him then it may be possible that we not fully involved in worship or prayer. We directly come from stressful life or many thoughts are coming over in our mind while worshiping God. So we are not fully involved when we worship God. So what we must do to change our stressful and wary mood to joyful and devotional one prior to start worshiping. So one of the answers is Incense. It very small but can change your mood and make you feel positive. So it directly help you to feel integrated with God. So when you face God , your mood and mind is more likely to be concentrated on God.
All Hindu rituals are directly or indirectly developed to bring you more close to God. If any ritual is not doing the same , its not Hindu ritual.
2) Aarti :-
Aarti is one of the important rituals in Hinduism. Its totally developed to to pray God. Its totally developed to feel and express devotion towards God.
Why we do Aarti? We have been doing it since ages but still we dont know the reason. Have we even asked ant Hindu monk that why you do Aarti?
BackGround of Aarti:
The Aarti is a form of Archana Bhakti (one of the Navadhaa Bhakti). It is the waving of a flame to a deity or a respected person such as a Guru. It is one of the most prominent rituals in the Sanaatan Dharma.
The Aarti is performed with a candle which is ignited to produce a flame, a shankh (conch) for offering water and sound and a bell for ringing. At times flowers, drum beats, dhoop (incense) and kapoor (camphor) are also used.
The flame is held either in both hands or in the right hand and ceremoniously waved around the deity or the respected person together with the ringing of the bell and the beating of drums.
It is said that the lamp should first circulate the deity’s feet four times then the belly twice the mouth once and then seven times around the entire body. The lamp circulates in a clockwise direction. Once the Aarti is completed, the candle is circulated three times with water from the conch and then the flames are offered back to the deity and then to others.
The purpose of the Aarti is to perform a bhakti known as ‘archanam’. This offering is made as the panch bhut (five fundamental elements) i.e.
The candle, flowers and kapoor as pruthvi (earth-solid)
The offering of water towards the end as the jal (water-liquid)
The flame itself as the tej (fire-energy)
The sound of bells, drums and shankh as the vaayu (wind-moving space)
The clockwise circulation of the deity as the aakash (space-ether)
(This piece of article "BackGround of Aarti"is taken from this website : http://www.swaminarayan.gb.net/Home/?lPageID=1f0e3dad99908345f7439f8ffabdffc4)
Reason:-
When we move Aarti from top to bottom , it moves from each and every part of God. It moves from Head to legs and arms. It worships whole body of God. When we go into science of Idolatry , aarti is significant science in that. When we do aarti, our whole concentration is on God and his devotional body parts. When we do aarti, our whole attention is on God and his idol. Our full thinking power and emotions is attached to God when we pray hin through Aarti. We ideally forget ourselves and get totally integrated with God. When we do aarti, our self realization is temporarily forgotten and we enter into the state of devotional consciousness. We also sing devotional song which is totally devoted to God while doing Aarti. This song also perform one of the factor to integrate our self with God.
Aarti is the ritual for which we become pure prior to performing it. Pure doesnt only mean to bath or something else. It acutally mean to be pure from Heart. Man who perform treachery and cheat others cant gain feelings to do Aarti with full essence. You have to be pure from heart because you consider the idol infront of you as God. So ideally by this way we often get hesitated while doing some bad and prohibited things in our personal life.
Aarti is considered to be ritual which make you feel God while doing it if you perform it with pure heart and full of devotion. It brongs your self one more step closer to God.
My thoughts are inspired from "Param pujya Pandurang Shashtri Athvale"
Hinduism is the religion based on Experience and Science. Its religion based on integration of Devotion and social code of conduct. Its based on unwritten and unauthorized rules followed by millions. Its the religion based on veneration and integrity for each and every part of human society. Its the religion which has rationale behind each and every rituals and practices. Let's take one by one.
1) Incense : -
We may think that why we use incense in our "PUJA". Why do we burn it prior we conduct Puja? Why incense to be burnt first?
Reason:- Incense consist of aromatic material. It spreads aroma in air and its smell makes you feel happy and beaming. It can change your mood from stress to freshness. So what ? but why its required in daily worship?
Its required because when we directly sit in front of God and start worshiping him then it may be possible that we not fully involved in worship or prayer. We directly come from stressful life or many thoughts are coming over in our mind while worshiping God. So we are not fully involved when we worship God. So what we must do to change our stressful and wary mood to joyful and devotional one prior to start worshiping. So one of the answers is Incense. It very small but can change your mood and make you feel positive. So it directly help you to feel integrated with God. So when you face God , your mood and mind is more likely to be concentrated on God.
All Hindu rituals are directly or indirectly developed to bring you more close to God. If any ritual is not doing the same , its not Hindu ritual.
2) Aarti :-
Aarti is one of the important rituals in Hinduism. Its totally developed to to pray God. Its totally developed to feel and express devotion towards God.
Why we do Aarti? We have been doing it since ages but still we dont know the reason. Have we even asked ant Hindu monk that why you do Aarti?
BackGround of Aarti:
The Aarti is a form of Archana Bhakti (one of the Navadhaa Bhakti). It is the waving of a flame to a deity or a respected person such as a Guru. It is one of the most prominent rituals in the Sanaatan Dharma.
The Aarti is performed with a candle which is ignited to produce a flame, a shankh (conch) for offering water and sound and a bell for ringing. At times flowers, drum beats, dhoop (incense) and kapoor (camphor) are also used.
The flame is held either in both hands or in the right hand and ceremoniously waved around the deity or the respected person together with the ringing of the bell and the beating of drums.
It is said that the lamp should first circulate the deity’s feet four times then the belly twice the mouth once and then seven times around the entire body. The lamp circulates in a clockwise direction. Once the Aarti is completed, the candle is circulated three times with water from the conch and then the flames are offered back to the deity and then to others.
The purpose of the Aarti is to perform a bhakti known as ‘archanam’. This offering is made as the panch bhut (five fundamental elements) i.e.
The candle, flowers and kapoor as pruthvi (earth-solid)
The offering of water towards the end as the jal (water-liquid)
The flame itself as the tej (fire-energy)
The sound of bells, drums and shankh as the vaayu (wind-moving space)
The clockwise circulation of the deity as the aakash (space-ether)
(This piece of article "BackGround of Aarti"is taken from this website : http://www.swaminarayan.gb.net/Home/?lPageID=1f0e3dad99908345f7439f8ffabdffc4)
Reason:-
When we move Aarti from top to bottom , it moves from each and every part of God. It moves from Head to legs and arms. It worships whole body of God. When we go into science of Idolatry , aarti is significant science in that. When we do aarti, our whole concentration is on God and his devotional body parts. When we do aarti, our whole attention is on God and his idol. Our full thinking power and emotions is attached to God when we pray hin through Aarti. We ideally forget ourselves and get totally integrated with God. When we do aarti, our self realization is temporarily forgotten and we enter into the state of devotional consciousness. We also sing devotional song which is totally devoted to God while doing Aarti. This song also perform one of the factor to integrate our self with God.
Aarti is the ritual for which we become pure prior to performing it. Pure doesnt only mean to bath or something else. It acutally mean to be pure from Heart. Man who perform treachery and cheat others cant gain feelings to do Aarti with full essence. You have to be pure from heart because you consider the idol infront of you as God. So ideally by this way we often get hesitated while doing some bad and prohibited things in our personal life.
Aarti is considered to be ritual which make you feel God while doing it if you perform it with pure heart and full of devotion. It brongs your self one more step closer to God.
My thoughts are inspired from "Param pujya Pandurang Shashtri Athvale"
No comments:
Post a Comment