Thus Spake the Divine - Five Sense Organs; Five Courteous Ways of Offerings (Upacharam)

Thus Spake the Divine

Five Sense Organs; Five Courteous Ways of
Offerings (Upacharam)

God has provided man with five sense organs viz. eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin to experience and enjoy all substances that exist in this Universe.

As a token of gratitude, Poojyasri Maha Periyava says we should offer Pancha Upacharam (five courteous offerings) to God as part of our daily Pooja.

Eyes can see images, ears can hear the sound, nose can smell the fragrance, tongue can absorb the taste and the skin can feel the touch. All these five organs have not created anything new. They just absorb the sound, touch, image, taste and smell created outside the body.

Like how electric waves are captured by radio, these sense organs detect and send their information to brain. Hence, these are also known as “Organs of knowledge” (Jnyanendhriyam). Our hands and legs are engaged in some action and thus they are called “Organs of action” (Karmendhriyam). The tongue is both an organ of knowledge and action as it absorbs taste, does the action of speaking words and creates sounds including music.

The source (Ashraya) for all these sense organs are the five elements of nature (Pancha Bhutas) viz. Earth (Prithvi), Water (Jal), Fire (Agni), Air (Vayu) and Atmosphere (Akasha). These five elements are the basis for all cosmic creations. The sound of Pranavam pervading in the atmosphere is Omkar (the sacred sound of Om, the divine sound). It always sounds “O” wherever there are crowds of people making different noises. The waves in oceans vibrate with the sound of “O”. When a conch (shankhu) is blown, the sound emanated by it is “O”.

When air blows over us, we can feel the air on our body. We can touch fire. We can also see the fire and it has a form of its own. We use all products produced by the earth. This way, we experience all substances of this Universe by seeing, touching, hearing, smelling and tasting.

All these five organs bring happiness to us. Good food, melodious music, fragrance, gentle breeze and the sight of the full moon – all these come to our experience only with the help of our sensory organs. God has provided us the five organs along with the five elements of nature, which these organs can sense. It is only with His benevolence that we can we experience all these elements. Therefore it is our duty as also Dharma to experience these elements along with the divine thought of God.

We should dedicate all these aspects to God as prasadam before partaking in them. If we continue to follow this practice, then, we will keep these sense organs away from substances that are not worth offering to God.

The concept of Panchopacharam (five courtesies) to God has emerged to signify our gratitude to God for providing us the five sense organs and the five elements of nature viz. the Pancha Bhutas. When we do Pooja both in the temple and at home, we have to make a minimum of five kinds of offerings (Upacharam) to God. They are: Applying sandalwood paste on the forehead of God, offering flowers, giving dhoopam (fragrance of sambirani powder), providing deeparadhanai (camphor light) and extending naivedhyam. Applying sandalwood paste represents the Earth (Prithvi), flower signifies the space, dhoopam represents air, deepam represents fire (agni) and naivedhyam represents water. It is only from Pancha Bhutas that all five sensory substances emerge. Therefore, in Panchopacharam, God, the Universe and the Jeevan (human beings) unify into one.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.