Devi Pooja Song | ಸಂಪೂರ್ಣ ಗೌರಿ ಪೂಜೆ ಹಾಡು | Gowri Pooja Song| Sindhu Smitha

#GowriPooja #MangalaGowri #SwarnaGowri #DeviPooja #SindhuSmitha

Credits
Mridangam Vid BS Prashanth
Recorded at Ananya Studios Malleswaram
Special Thanks to
Smt Shylaja Krishnaswamy
Vid Suchethan Rangaswamy
Karthik Krishnaswamy

In Hindu practice, puja is considered to be a technique or discipline for fostering the spiritual growth of a devotee by facilitating action (karma), devotion (bhakti), knowledge (jnāna), and focus and introspection (rāja or dhyāna), all of which is offered with humble and loving surrender to the Divine.

Puja literally translates to adoration or worship. It is considered to be an especially powerful form of worshipping the Divine because it combines physical, verbal, mental, and vibrational aspects of worship.

In any puja, the devotee treats their Ishta Deva as a revered guest in their home and heart, welcoming them with hospitality, serving them with love, and finally sending them off courteously back to their abode, seeking their blessings throughout the process.

The traditional 16-step puja is called the Shodashopachara Puja in Sanskrit — shodasha meaning 16, and upachāra meaning offering given with devotion. It can be performed for an Ishta Deva in a fairly short time period on a daily basis as a spiritual practice (sādhana) fostering discipline and devotion. This allows the devotee to set aside a given amount of time each day to remember and cultivate a personal connection to their favorite form of the Divine. Objects and actions offered in puja to the Divine act as vessels of the devotee’s faith and spiritual energy, which allow direct communication and interaction with the Divine. Over a lifetime, setting aside this time for worship every day helps the devotee to work toward remembering the Divine at all times and eventually to see the Divine in all things and beings around them.

The 16 step puja can also be performed over a longer period, sometimes hours together, for special occasions, festivals, and major events in life, such as rites of passage. In this case, the same 16 steps are expanded or added to, and each step is more elaborately attended to by the devotee, often through the guidance of a priest. Each step is given more time so that more material offerings and forms of worship, like chanting of hymns or other acts of devotion, can be offered at the feet of the Divine.

Specific instructions for these pujas are given in the karmakānda of the Vedas, as well as in various Smrti texts. Each of the 18 Puranas, for example, detail the specific preferences of the deity which they praise, and how that deity should ideally be worshipped. The Devi Bhāgavatam lists the specific colors, flowers, and food which Devi or the Mother Goddess loves, and these can be offered to Her in Devi puja. And Shiva Manasa Pujā, a hymn composed by a 9th-century realized master, enumerates some favorite items of Lord Shiva, which are illustriously imagined and offered at his feet in devotion.

The 16 steps common to most puja, along with the preparatory steps are outlined below. There is, of course, diversity in practice and the way in which different steps might be sequenced or grouped depending on sampradaya and deity tradition, as well as regional, community, and family tradition. Devotees may also perform puja with far fewer than 16 steps, with a daily practice as as simple as lighting a lamp and offering quiet shloka and mantra (prayers), or chanting one of God’s names using a japa mala or prayer beads (usually made with 108 beads).

The Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9.26 offers a beautiful description of a simple puja in which Lord Krishna says that even a leaf, flower, fruit or water if offered with unconditional love and devotion is sufficient and pleasing to God.