Last Updated on December 1, 2021 by astrologerbydefault
A short post.
Someone asked me what daily pujas should a follower of the Sanatan Dharma aka Hinduism perform. This can become a complex answer depending on individual inclinations and family traditions etc. Sanatan Dharma allows all sorts of variations, the only requirement being that your inner self, Conscience, Antaratma should be satisfied. But because there was a question, here is a simple routine which you can consider adopting/ adapting.
In the morning,
- First is to wake up before sunrise, freshen up, have a bath etc. Put a tilak (post here) on yourself.
- Exact sunrise is for the morning Agnihotra Homa, compulsory for householders. (This post)Ā You require desi cow’s cowdung cakes and ghee made from the desi cow milk, earlier these items were easily available but the so-called white revolution has made the desi-cow, ie cows with a prominent hump very rare. This is an irreparable loss (post here). If you do not have these items from a desi cow you cannot do the Agnihotra Homa.
- Next is to give Argya to the Sun. (This post)Ā
- Then do pujas of your household deities. The simplest procedure is something like this. Light a Deepak (post here) and incense. Wash the deities moorti-s with clean water, dry them, put kumkum, saffron, sandalwood, bhasma, flowers as per availability. Offer some naivedya/ food to the deities. Do an Arti with camphor (post here) etc. (There are specific arti/shlok/stotra etc to be recited while doing this but you can keep it simple and say a prayer in the language you are comfortable in.)
- Then recite the Gayatri mantra (post here), ideally 108 times. “Om, Bhuh Bhuvah Swah, Om Tat Savitur Varenyam, Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi, Dhiyo Yo nah Prachodayat, Om” ą„ ą¤ą„ą¤ ą¤ą„ą¤µą¤ ą¤øą„ą¤µą¤ ą„¤ ą„ ą¤¤ą¤¤ą„ą¤øą¤µą¤æą¤¤ą„ą¤°ą„ą¤µą¤°ą„ą¤£ą„ą¤Æą¤® ą„¤ ą¤ą¤°ą„ą¤ą„ ą¤¦ą„ą¤µą¤øą„ą¤Æ ą¤§ą„ą¤®ą¤¹ą¤æą„¤ ą¤§ą¤æą¤Æą„ ą¤Æą„ ą¤Øą¤ ą¤Ŗą„ą¤°ą¤ą„ą¤¦ą¤Æą¤¾ą¤¤ą„„ ą„ You can use a mala (post here) to count or use your fingers (post here). Reciting it mentally is ideal.
- After all this do your Dhyan with your Soham mantra. (post here).
Then comes midday.
- The Gayatri mantra is to be recited again, ideally 108 times and mentally. Most of us are in office at this time, so if you can take a 10 mins break, you can do this sitting at your office desk itself.
Then is the sun-set.
- Before the actual sun-set, light a Deepak/ incense before the household deities.
- In Hindu houses, there will be a Tulsi plant (post here) in the house, so keep a deepak in front of this plant.
- Again Arghya is to be offered to the setting Sun at the west horizon.
- The exact moment of sun-set is the evening Agnihotra Homa.
- Then 108 times Gayatri mantra jaap.
- Followed by your evening time Dhyan.
If you are in office at the sunset time then obviously you cannot do all this. But try to do the Gayatri mantra jaap at least. Take a 10mins break and do it sitting at your desk.
Night time, before going to bed. Listen to the Ratri sukta (post here) or, if you can, recite it. It will protect you as you sleep, reduce nightmares,Ā sleep paralysis, astral attacks etc so that you can actually rest.
For women specifically, they are exempted from all this for the 5 days of the monthly cycle. During this period, the chakras are moving anti-clockwise, the movement of the pran is affected, there is destruction going on in the body and you should rest it out.
For children below 6yrs there is no compulsion to do anything. Doing namaskar to the family deities and to the parents/grandparents should be taught and they can observe their parents do the daily routine. When the child becomes 6yrs old, he/she should be taught the Gayatri mantra. And now onwards he/she can also give Arghya to the Sun, do pujas etc. Gayatri mantra is most important. Initially the child can recite it 3/27/54 times as 108 times might be difficult to begin with. (In Hindu families who follow the Sanskar-s, boys will wear the Yadnopaveet sutra now onwards.)Ā For Dhyan, it can be started after 6yrs if the child can understand how to do it. Initially he/she can do it for 3/27/54 counts as 108 times may be too tedious to begin with. (I started with my Dhyan-mantra when I was 2yrs old.)
This is the very basic minimum that a person following the Sanatan Dharma aka Hinduism should do daily. Obviously you must add other things as per your personal/ family traditions. And is also possible that you might not be able to do even this much… Follow your conscience always and in all ways.
Then is some confusion regarding which deity to worship.
Every family has its own family deity, so you should have his/ her moorti in your puja-ghar. This is necessary. Unfortunately some people do not know who their family deities are. So first try to find out, ask your paternal grandparents or anyone from your father’s family if they know. Or trace your ancestral village if someone there knows. Married women worship the family deities of the husband’s family.
If you cannot trace your family deity, then as a second option you can worship a deity you feel drawn to. Devi Sarasvati, Devi Laxmi, Devi Parvati, Bhagwan Shankar or Bhagwan Vishnu or their Saumya-roop/ gentle forms are better. Avoid their Ugra-roop/ terrible forms, unless you are sure that you can assimilate their fierce energies. Eg Saumya roop for Bhagwan Vishnu would be Shri Krishna, Shri Ram, and Ugra-roop would be Shri Narasimha, Shri Varaha etc. Get small silver moorti-s (post here) Ā of the deities you wish to worship, about 2 inches in size is best. (If you have any specific family tradition regarding moorti-s then follow that.)
In Sanatan Dharma, all married women worship Shri Ganapati, Devi Annapurna and Shri Baal-Krishna (Baal is his child form). This reduces hardships, ensures prosperity in the family and most importantly increases auspiciousness from the children.
There is some misunderstanding about the pujas of Brahmadev. Popularly people believe that Brahmadev was cursed! But the actual reason is that we humans are so degraded in this Kali-yug that we are incapable of performing his pujas. So generally Brahmadev is not worshipped in households. Brahmadev is the potential energy, the stability of Raja-gun. His wife, Devi Sarasvati is worshipped in the form of the Gayatri Mantra. Ā (However in special anushthans, eg Yadnopaveet sanskar, he is worshipped in a typical form created using Darbha grass. It looks like this.)
As the Kali-yug deepens, humans will become even more damaged and the simplest pujas will also stop being available. What we are seeing now is just a prelude. The genuine Tantra has already vanished. The yantra-s are on the verge of being forgotten. Most of the mantras are gone. The fundamental Pranav Mantra Om itself has been corrupted, people have converted it to meaningless sounds. When we stop our daily mantras, we actively destroy ourselves. Even the DNA gets damaged. Mantras in Sanskrit are the only way of protecting our DNA. It is essential for everyone above the age of 6yrs to recite the Gayatri mantra daily. It is especially imperative for the boys who have the more delicate Y-chromosome in them.
And if this was not enough, we have accelerated the damage to ourselves. Various pollutants in our food/ water/ air. The electro-magnetic pollution of radio-waves, discordant sound, negative thought patterns and the rest of it is creating a vicious cycle which will drag the human race even lower. Injecting unknown animal proteins/ DNA into our bodies. (If you are from an immunology background, am sure you can comprehend the dangers of contaminated cell-lines, latent retroviruses from the DNA of animals used in cell lines, the possible danger of the future m-RNA based vaccines.) DNA damage is irreversible, there is no solution for genetic damage in modern science.
The only way of protecting our DNA, body, mind and emotions and also repairing them is Mantra. So adopt a simple puja routine daily if you can. It will help you live a more healthier and happier life. (Despite writing all this, I am sure that only those who have a strong 9th house will actually be able to do any of this.)
21 responses to “Daily pujas”
Thank you Ma’am
Thank you for the heads up maam. Doing most of the things and few other rituals and practices. Even when outside environment is unsteady, I find if my inner environment is fine, am able to cope up just fine. So things don’t have to be perfect to feel alright.
Hello mam,
I have one query,
During periods, are we exempted to do any of these things as exemption from daily duties (just to give rest) OR we are not advised to do these as they will be harmful in some way to us?
I do understand doing angnikarya, touching dieties is something we are not allowed to do,
I mainly wish to know about mantra jaap, listening to chants, doing pranayams and dhyaan?
Thankyou
Hi there.
Chakra going anti clockwise means that the body is destroying itself frm the inside.
pujas/ mantra/ dhyan/ jaap/ going to temples etc create powerful clockwise energy flows.
So u will hurt your own body/mind if u do pujas during these 5 days.
The energy of everything you touch will b warped temporarily. If you put curds fr fermenting it will not set. If you touch a tulsi plant it will die.
So rest and let the body do its controlled destruction.
You can at max do mental soham with your breathing as you go about your work.
But do not sit on your asan! You cannot do dhyan.
I think i will write a detailed post on this next.
If possible, sometime in future articles, can you please give a brief overview over births in various tithis affecting characteristics/ personality.
I was born on a midnight krishna paksha chaturdashi( first part) and I was drawn to devi since young though my family deity was different. Years later when I started reading kilaka strotram, read about chaturdashi and ashtami tithi mentioned in it, and wondered if there was a special affinity to devi in people born on those days.
Hi there
Will write on the tithi karan yog vaar nakshatra births if i get time.
But births on chaturdashi/ ashtami births are not necessarily associated with Devi pujas.
In fact the biggest puja of Shri Vishnu is on Anant Chaturdashi ie Bhadrapad shukla chaturdashi.
Devi mahatmya is a very cryptic maha-mantra. I do not know its esoteric meanings in fully. So cannot comment on what tht particular shlok means.
But frm astrology a person is inclined to Devi pujas if the Venus or Moon is very powerful in the chart and connected to the 1,5,9 houses.
Thank you.
My first Lord venus conjunct 9 Lord saturn in 5 th house must be the reason then. Thank you
Generally breathing slows down while doing mantra jaap. But now a days there is sudden rise in heart beat in between of mantra jaap. It happens out of sudden nowhere and it slows down on its own too.
Am I doing something wrong?
Hi there
If you are purposely holding/ slowing your breath then the body can go in stress.
If you are focusing at the 3rd eye, sitting properly, breathing properly then it cant go wrong.
Thankyou so much for this post. I really didn’t know how to go about my daily puja. I am very much connected to a power which I know of as the Supreme power but from a long time I was not doing anything specific daily. I think reading your post has given me some clarity . And I feel that ,that is the reason for my reading it now. You have made so many concepts clear. Many thanks.
My first Lord venus conjunct ninth Lord in 5 th house explains my devi affinity then.. Thank you maam
Can a man do Gayatri Mantra jaap without initiation? I used to do Gayatri Mantra but stopped doing it because apparently you need to be initiated into it and need to do Shaap Vimochan
Hi there
Gayatri mantra is not a prayer though most people think it to be so
The yadnopaveet sanskar is the “initiation”, where the 6yr old boy is “initiated” he takes a sankalp taken to recite it 24lakh times. It is a major anushthan and all these mantra etc are performed on this day. After the 24lakh recitation is complete, the gayatri mantra gets siddh. If the boy follows its rules he will get this siddhi at the age of around 26-27yrs.
Now he can use the Gayatri mantra with its yantra as per the Gayatri tantra. He can actually do anything now onwards. This is the real use of the Gayatri.
But such dedicated families and such boys in the current kali-yug are very rare.
an average person is not going to get siddhi over it, nor the capacity to use its tantra. (no yadnopaveet sanskar done, no disciplined continous practice of 21yrs, etc) Its an entire lifestyle which has to be followed to gain its siddhi.
But simple recitation of the Gayatri mantra with full faith in the Devi Gayatri, will grant you high levels of intelligence, health etc and help you still your mind etc. It is the gentlest safest and easiest yet the most powerful mantra to do regularly.
you can take it up at any point of your life, it will always help.
As i have written in the post on the Gayatri mantra, you can choose any auspicious day, do a small puja of your family deities or the Sun, request blessings and start. Intention is all important.
If its a 6yr old child then at least do a small puja on his/her birthday and teach him/her how to recite it. Even 3-counts 3-times a day is a great start for the tiny child.
If you start something in this life, its energies will continue into your next lives too.
and as in everything, do it as per your conscience.
Hello mam, thank you for this blog and giving us the opportunity to improve ourselves. I have greatly benefitted from application of the knowledge presented here.
I have a question regarding astrology, Gemini lagna, sun and mars both positioned in Capricorn, within 8 degrees hence mars is combust. On observing in the chalit chart using equal houses, mars is seen placed in 9th house while sun in 8th house. As per the understanding of combustion I have gained from previous posts, am I right in thinking that the sun has taken on the mars energies for itself and hence it should be considered as mars energies operating in the 8th house instead of 9th? Additional information is that the mars is placed in a navamsha of the sun itself.
If I am correct in my thought, a simple yes from you will suffice, if I am wrong I request you to please set me on the right thought process. Many thanks for taking out the time to answer and best wishes on the navratri š
Hi there
the Sun takes on the energies of the planet, the closer the planet the more is this transfer
eg if they are on the same degree, then i would simply think that the Sun is Sun+Mars and this composite Sun rules over the Leo, Aries, Scorpio signs.
ie the qualities/attributes/aspects of life represented by the planet are now colored with the typical nature of the Sun
it is one of the simplest ways of understanding combustion
Thank you very much Tejaswini for a long awaited post. I have 2 quick questions if you wouldnāt mind indulging in me please. Argya practice is fairly recent for me (a few months) as compared to main deity worship (years). I feel conflicted that my first pranam is towards the Sun as opposed to Ganesha. I canāt tell whether it is a question of habit but there is always a sense of almost guilt as I am bypassing the first born. I wonder what your thoughts would be on this? Apologies if you have covered this already and overlooked by me.
My second question is to follow-up on your comment to a fellow commentator with regards to menstruation and pause on spiritual practice. If the commitment is for example x number of recitation for (e.g) 9 days, so whilst one would pause spiritual practice for 5 days + 2 days rest which would exceed the 9 days, does one then need to āgive backā the days of recitations that were missed to make up for the total number of overall targeted recitations?
(Previous comment edited because of typos)
Kind Regards
Himalayas
Hi there
do what your Antaratma tells you to.. If you are not convinced about what you are doing it will be of no help
What i have outlined in this post is the simplest regular practice that anyone can do. Especially people starting with this are confused as Sanatan dharma allows such wide choice in everything.
for average householders, technically before the sun-rise, only Dhyan is possible at the Brahma-muhurt, but for doing this you will have to wake up 2hrs before sun-rise.. which is rather difficult for average people.
If you feel that you have to do mantras of Shri Ganapti before giving Surya-argya, you can always recite the Ganapati gayatri first and then give argyha.
Or you can recite Ganapati gayatri as you give arghya.
several people give arghya using the mahamyrtyunjai mantra.
In fact ‘Om’ is also a name of Ganapati, all mantras begin with OM, no mantra can be sucessful without the Om, ie Ganapti’s blessings are essential.
i would suggest that you read/understand his Atharvasheersha to get a deeper insight into his real nature.
and the ‘Sun’ that you give arghya to is not just the outer Sun but also the inner Sun, the inner consciousness.
All deities in Sanatan dharma are the same OM and the indescribable energy within the OM.
All the deities are different rays of the same essential intelligence.
in case of the 5 day cycle, you do not have to do anything extra to ‘make up’ for the gap. the 5 days cycle’s energies are to be used in a different way but average women cannot do it so its best tht they rest and let their bodies recover.
these are blank days so do not count them in your schedule,
eg if you want to do a puja for 9 days. do for 2 days, then you get your cycle so you stop, then again start and go on for the remaining 7 days.
Generally the chakras remain anti-clockwise for 5 days or sometimes 6. so if you can check them then start doing your sadhna again when they turn clockwise again.
or on the safe side, you can keep a 5, 6 or 7 days break.
Thank you for these invaluable pearls of wisdom !
Namaste Mam,
thanks for sharing valuable guidance for us. I started doing so-ham 3-4 months back per your guidance. The initial few weeks were bliss as mind allowed me to be thoughtless/was adapting to So-ham and kama desires went down significantly but since few weeks mind has started throwing regular thoughts even with So-ham (though peace is there despite thoughts).
Is it normal? Also, I feel like shifting to OM as it allows the belly to take in more air with every breath due to the pronunciation of OM.
Seek your guidance,
Deepak
Hi there
you have had so many lives earlier. . So many karma/sanskars which bind you. do you think that a practice of 3-4months is enough? the past negative sanskars/karmas always attack and try to dislodge you from your practice.
keep up your practice as you feel about it.
the only things necessary are,
breathing in a smooth flow, no jerks, do not force your breath, dont pull in too much air or too little air, let the breath go normally.
keep the mind steady at the third eye and
the continious focus on the mantra you have chosen for yourself.