Transcript hinduworshipandrituals

Hindu Worship and Rituals
Worship can take place either in the home
or the temple
The mandir
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Hindu worship
• Hindu children learn their faith at home, or with a
guru or swami at a temple.
• The home is where daily worship and prayer takes
place.
• A common daily ritual is puja.
• Puja is an offering to the gods, and may be offered
for special occasions in a temple (e.g. Durga Puja).
• Temple puja is far more elaborate than home puja,
and is performed by priests.
• At the temple, puja is offered at sunrise, noon,
sunset and midnight
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How to perform puja
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Puja consists of many steps, performed at a home altar:
Welcoming the deity
Washing the deity statue (murti)
Putting on sacred thread
Ringing a bell
Applying sacred pastes or oils to murti
Offering flowers, incense and garlands
Lighting a lamp and waving it around image (aarti)
Offering food (e.g. ghee, fruit, sugar, rice) – later the food can be
offered to followers as prasad
• Bowing and circumambulation (walking around the image)
• The prayers, mantras and songs are typically led by the head of
the household
• Applying sacred pastes to the forehead (tilak)
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How to perform puja
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Globalization in Hindu worship
• How to perform a Ganesh Chaturthi Pooja at home
(according to internet kit)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRxUDL5QXPo
• http://www.pureprayer.in/default.aspx
• Online e-pooja, order rituals, online darshan
• http://www.shrikashivishwanath.org/en/online/epooja.aspx
• Order puja, homa online
• http://www.saranam.com/
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Homa
• Homa is a ritual of making offerings to a sacred fire
• The fire is first built and consecrated (made holy)
• The fire may be built in a pit for the occasion or in a special
vessel made of brick, clay or copper
• Homa is generally used for more special occasions (e.g. taking
renunciation vows, naming of a child)
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Murti
• A murti is the embodiment of the deity
• The murti itself is not a god, but contains
its spirit once the name of the deity is
invoked
• Bhakti practitioners treat their murti with
reverence – washing, dressing and
offering garlands to it
• This is not seen as idol worship by
mainstream Hinduism
• Some teachers have compared murtis to
talking on the telephone; we do not talk
to the telephone, we talk to the person on
the other end. Without the phone or the
murti, communication would not be
possible.
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Prasad
• Literally, a “gracious gift”, sanctified food – offered to a
deity and then shared
• prasad is considered to have the deity’s blessing
• The 2 main reasons Hindus take pilgrimage or visit
temples is to receive prasad and to have darshan (see the
deities)
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Arati/Aarti
• Arati is the offering of songs and
light are offered to the deities
• The lamp or arati plate is lit with
wicks soaked in ghee or camphor
• This tradition is related to homa
and is usually part of puja
• When the lamp is waved before
the image of a deity, it is believed
to get the power of the deity
• Followers warm their hands with
the lamp and place the heat over
the eyes or forehead
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Connect stages of life rituals –
renunciation and marriage
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Columbia University (NYC)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qym9jn6LU8w
Hindu wedding montage - Hindu Wedding Toronto.mp4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKcPGR24524
Varanasi (Asian Art Museum) – death and cremation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoC_x3Hzkkc&list=PL8A01
EF6231F95FA3
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Samskaras
• Samskaras are rites of passage
• Important for twice-born Hindus
• Seen as purifying, able to remove
sin and give virtue
• Read pages 136-140 in
Exploring World Religions and
“Religious Life and Practices”
(UWO) and summarize. Be
sure to include at least the
following terms/concepts:
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Naming
First outing
First haircut
First solid food
Upanayana
Marriage
• Forehead marks for different
sects
• What happens to a corpse after
death (mention widows as well
as others)
• Shraddha
• Places other than
temples/shrines that Hindus
worship at
• Pilgrimage (name a few places)
• Be sure you fill in terms in your
6-trait model for Hinduism –
particularly festivals – you will
need more details in your notes
than will fit in the chart.
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Tilak
• Forehead marks are worn in Hinduism
to signify the mind’s eye (3rd eye) – a
centre point of human energy
• In the past, marks were worn only by
priests and other holy people – today
they are commonly worn
• Traditionally, marks denoted caste.
Today, it more often denotes sect
• Vaishnavites often wear a U shaped
tilak
• Shaivites wear horizontal lines of ash
• Shaktas wear a red line or red dot
• Bindhis are worn by women to denote
marital status or for decoration
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• How to put on Tilak (vaishnava)
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