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Puja procedure

Worship by Mantra-mudra
There's been a request that I explain the mantra-mudra puja that I do for my salagrama silas.
This constitutes the usual form of my daily worship. I offer upacaras like snana (bathing) and
dhupa-dipa-puspa (incense, lamp and flower) in the form of mantra and mudra. ut on days
when I resume worship after an interruption (for example, after a long !ourney), and on special
holy days like "kadasi and #anmastami, I offer dravya (physical items). That takes more time to
prepare and execute. $rila %rabhupada said that daily cooking and &eity worship should be
completed within an hour's time. $o generally I try to keep to that instruction by offering
mantra-mudra puja.
The mantras
There are '( upacaras (items of offering), thus there are '( offering mantras. elow is a list of
)* mantras. This list contains more than '( only because there are some repetitions. +hat this
list shows is the order in which the upacaras are offered during the puja, accordingly, acamana
(purification of the mouth) is offered at - different times (after the first time the acamana mantra
changes to idam punaracamaniyam, .I again offer acamana..) /lso, at the end an offering of
sarvam (all upacaras) is made to conclude the puja to each worshipable personality. In this way,
though there are only '( upacaras, in the course of my puja I am chanting )* offering mantras.
'. idam asanam00offering a seat (all these upacara mantras are to be spoken together with the
mantra that addresses the &eity, such as klim gopijanaballabhaya namah).
). etat padyam00offering water to the lotus feet
-. idam arghyam00offering water to the hands for washing
1. idam acamaniyam00offering acamana
2. esa madhuparka00offering a sweet drink
(. idam punaracamaniyam00offering acamana a second time
3. idam snaniyam00bathing
4. idam sottariya vastram00offering cloth
5. imani abharanani00offering ornaments
'*. esa gandhah00offering sandalwood and scented oils and purfume
''. esa dhupa00offering incense
'). esa dipa00offering a lamp
'-. etani sacandana puspani00offering flowers
'1. etani sacandana tulasi00offering tulsi lea6es
'2. idam naivedyah00offering foodstuffs
'(. idam paniyajalam00offering water to drink
'3. idam punaracamaniyam00offering acamana a third time
'4. etat tambulam00offering mouth freshener
'5. idam malyam00offering garlands
)*. idam sarvam00offering e6erything
Outline of the steps of worship
/t the start, I do a preliminary acamana, chanting the om apavitra 6erse and doing pranayama
mudra
I offer obeisances and wake Their 7ordships
8ffering prayers to the spiritual master (Sri Guruvastakam etc.) and %anca0tatt6a and 9are :rsna
mahamantras I clean the altar, change the &eities' water, set up the puja items
;ull acamana (om kesavaya manah etc.), visnu smaranam, mangala santi, bhuta-suddhi,
obeisances, om apavitra acamana with pranayama mudra.
+ith mantras and sprinkling of water I draw a protecti6e circle around the place of puja, show
khadga-mudra for dig-bandha (closing the directions), and purify e6erything within the circle
with <rsimha0mantra.
+orship of /nanta0<rsimha &eity and <rsimha0sila (bathing, cloth, ornaments, gandha, throne,
offering e6erything, chant <rsimha0gayatri, arati of dhupa-dipa-puspa while chanting <rsimha
prayers. This is done with mantra-mudra.
+orship of $rila %rabhupada with all upacaras except tulasi and mala which will be presented
later to 9&= as prasadam. The whole worship is done with mantra-mudra.
+orship of =auranga, '( upacaras with mantra-mudra.
+orship of $ri0$ri #agannatha0$udarsana silas. This is the main worship. '( upacaras are
offered. >ost are mantra-mudra offerings except for naivedya. Tulsi and puspa offered to feet of
$$#$ silas during the offering of these upacaras, more tulsis and flowers are offered to all silas
at the conclusion of the worship.
The mudras, as they are offered to Sri-Sri Jagannatha-Sudarsana
when the upacara mantras are chanted
/6ahana or asana mudra, for offering
a seat to the 7ord.
%adya mudra.

/rghya mudra. /camaniya mudra.

>adhuparka mudra. %unaracamaniya mudra.

I prepare the snana06edi with a tulasi leaf and flower petals and then show cakra and dhenu
mudras. 86er the 6edi I chant klim gopi!anaballabhaya namah eight time, counting the mantra
on my fingers. Then I show matsya mudra.

+ith a6ahana mudra I in6ite the silas to sit on the snana06edi. I do not physically place Them on
the 6edi, I meditate on Their going there.

$howing snana mudras. The $$#$ silas are bathed eight times by mudra0mantra. I chant a 6erse
from the $ri #agannatha0astakam for each bath.

I prepare the throne of $$#$ for Their return
after bathing as I prepared the snana06edi.
9a6ing returned to Their throne, Their are
dressed. ?astra mudra is shown.

/bharana mudra. =andha mudra.

&hupa mudra. &ipa mudra.

%uspa mudra. Tulasi patra mudra (identical to puspa mudra).

<ai6edya mudra. /fter setting the offering plate (of banana,
yoghurt and gur) before the silas, I place -
drops of water into my right palm...

...show @am0bi!a mudra and chant
.@aam0@aam0@aam....
...and then show Tham0bi!a mudra and chant
.Tham0Tham0Tham.. This procedure burns
off impurities and nectariAes the offering.

Bakra and dhenu mudras, 4 times chanting
&eity's mula0mantra, then matsya0mudra. Then I
ring the bell, chant the offering prayers, first line
of gayatri, and chant %urusa0sukta.
This is a general mudra. 8ne could use it for
any item. I show it when it is time to offer
water after nai6edya.

%unaracamaniya mudra. The general mudra again, now shown for
tambula.

>alya mudra. $howing the sar6a mudra, which is a gesture
made with the right hand on both sides of the
&eity, starting on the left.


=ayatri (mula0mantra for &eity).

Summary of the rest of the worship
I worship the lotus feet of $rimati @adharani, which stand next to $$#$, with mantra-mudra of
dhupa, dipa, puspa and mala. Then I chant 9er gayatri and offer prayers to $$#$ and $rimati
@adharana together.
I worship $ri0$ri 7aksmi0$esasayi by offering the same mantra0mudras as to $$#$. 9owe6er I
do not offer physical naivedya. $ince $$#$ are the main &eities, all other silas share the physical
naivedya that They recei6e.
I worship $ri =irira!a by offering mantra0mudras for bathing, dressing, ornaments, gandha,
garlands, flute and e6erything.

These pictures show the offering of tulasi that is made at the end, to all silas. I chant Tulasi
prayers at this time. 9er lea6es are applied to each of the silas.

9ere, prasadam from the snana06edi and the tulasi offering is placed in a brass pot that is then
offered to $rila %rabhupada and $ri =uruparampara. =arlands are offered by mantra0mudra to all
acaryas.

/fter the pu!a I offer a fire ya!na. ut this, too, on most days I do by mantra0mudra. Instead of
physically offering ghee into a fire, I offer the @am0bi!a mudra and the dipa mudra to the ya!na0
6edi. The Ca!na0purusa silas preside o6er the fire sacrifice. /ctually, this ya!na constitutes the
specific worship for these two silas.

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