Though we often recognize Diwali as a festival of lights, crackers and sweets,
the most important part of the entire festival is the Diwali Poojan. As we
consider Diwali as an auspicious festival which is said to bring prosperity,
wealth and wisdom in home, we pray to the Goddess of wealth, Laxmi and the God
of Wisdom, Ganesha for showering their blessings upon us. It is believed that on
the eve of Diwali Goddess Laxmi visits everyone and brings peace and prosperity
to those homes where she feels happy and pleased. That is why a traditional
Diwali Pooja is performed after sunset in all the homes on the day of Diwali.
Traditional Deepavali Pooja
Diwali Pooja is performed in different families in a different way depending
upon their regional and cultural customs. In villages, even the cattle are
adorned and worshipped by farmers on this occasion as they regard them as their
main source of their income. In south India also, cows are offered special
veneration this day as they are supposed to be the incarnation of Goddess
Lakshmi. However, in most of the families the Pooja is done in a simple way by
installing the idols of Goddess Laxmi and Lord Ganesha on the eve of Diwali.
The Pooja begins by the gathering of the entire family in the Pooja room and
installation of the new idols of the deities in the small mandir at home. The
senior most member of the family along with the priest of the family performs
all the ritual. The ritual begins with the purification ceremony, each of the
deities is bathed first with water, then with panchamitra (a mixture of milk,
curd, ghee sugar & honey) and then with water again, this is actually a process
of the purification of the idols before deities are invoked into it. After this,
five pieces of ghee diyas are lit in front of the deities in order to drive away
the shadows of evil spirits. The pooja thali containing all kids of prasads are
then placed infront of the deities.
All the members of the family are then asked to close their eyes and chant the
mantras as recited by the priest. Even if they do not know the mantra they can
simply close their eyes and remember the deities with full devotion. It is said
that if you remember the God by true heart, they certainly come to your place to
bless you. Once the mantras are over, all the members of the family offer
auspicious items like abir (red colour), sindoor (vermillion) and haldi
(turmeric), flower and sweet dishes to the deities. They also light incense
sticks and diyas infront of the deities and seek their blessings. People also
offer silver or gold coins, nariyal and jewelries to the deities.
Once the offering and individual Pooja is over, people do arti and sing bhajans
for welcoming the god in to their home and thanking them for being kind to their
family till now. Ganesh Aarti is followed by Lakshmi Aarti. The aarti thali is
then taken in each room of the home to purify the entire home. After the aarti
is over, the priest of the family is presented with gifts and the process of
lighting diyas in the entire home begins. After the lighting is done, people
take the ‘prasad’ and burst crackers.
|
|
