Thus Spake the Divine - Temple Worship

Thus Spake the Divine

Temple Worship

In this and next three chapters, Poojyasri Maha Periyava highlights the need for worshipping in temples. He underlines that their sanctity must be maintained in terms of cleanliness, and procedures of praying must be followed in line with the Agama Vidhi.

When someone helps us, we must express our gratitude. Likewise, it is the paramount duty of an individual, who is incapable of creating even a grass, to demonstrate his gratitude to God, who has provided him all necessities of life viz. food, clothing and other accessories. As a mark of such gratitude, we should first offer food in front of God (Naivedhyam) before eating it. We must offer clothing and ornaments to Him, as he has bestowed us with clothing and jewellery. But, there are people who are not in a position to dedicate even clothing to God when performing Pooja at home. That is why there are temples as common places of worship, where the entire society can jointly dedicate offerings to God.

In ancient times, Rishis, with their mystic power, instilled special sanctity within the idols. Temples were then constructed around such idols. For this reason, even those, who are regularly doing Pooja at home, should inculcate the habit of visiting temples along with family members, so that they can witness Poojas happening in their entirety.

When I go to a temple, at least, for my sake, temples are kept clean with lights on, naivedhyam is offered and the idol is dressed in clean clothing. But, there have been instances when some have ignored to ensure that God, who provides us with food clothing, gets in return good naivedhyam and clean clothing. If you check out who is wearing the dirtiest clothing, it is the God in our temples. If we focus on clean clothing to God, the impurities in our minds will vanish. There is an old adage in Tamil that says, “Temple worship is the best virtue”, “Never forget Lord Shiva” “Be enslaved to Lord Vishnu” and so on. Therefore, our prime duty must be to maintain temples of Lord Shiva and Vishnu in a good and clean state, and ensure effective functioning of these temples. We must not even for a moment forget our delicate Dharmas towards God. Presently, there is a perception among people that any sequence in the process of worship in a temple can be modified. Like a Power House permeates electricity, there are standard processes for worship that must be followed to respect the all-pervasive, supreme God in the respective temples. If we erratically handle electricity, it will harm us. Similarly, if we deviate from processes of worship in temples, as ordained by the Shastras, it will hamper the growth of our souls or may even cause damage.

People are of the view that they can do anything as they wish as the purohith (priest) himself is erratic in his practices. Temples may tolerate indiscipline to a certain extent. However, if we decide to completely ignore discipline, devotees will end up facing the consequences. There will be no loss at all for the Swami. Hence, we should make it a point to fulfil any gaps in maintaining discipline within the practices followed at temples. We should not try to bring in new processes, which have no approval in scriptures (Aagama Vidhi). If we ourselves follow all disciplinary processes when going to temples and worshipping God, the priest will automatically follow suit.

Religious practices should not undergo any changes for political reasons. Such new processes cannot last long. People might agitate and not accept the new practices not prescribed in traditional scriptures. It is our duty to protect the rules and practices being carried out from the time the temples were built by various kings. We should realise that it is we who are responsible for the current state of our temples. And, it is we who should come forward to refine our own selves!

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.