Pūjā

Pūjā, “honour offered to the deity”

Karavīra has other meanings too: see all meanings of Karavīra. Bali has other meanings too: see all meanings of Bali. Mudrā has other meanings too: see all meanings of Mudrā.

Grammar: feminine noun, from the root pūj (to honour, to revere): “honour, reverence”.

Meaning: the honouring of the deity with offerings such as gandha (sandal paste) and flowers, with mantra and japa; also the honour shown to a sacred book.

In the scriptures:

  • In the kośa (the lexicon) that Agnideva gives in the Brahma varga, the group of words for brāhmaṇas and the yajña, the words Pūjā, Namasyā, Apaciti, Saparyā, Arcā and Arhaṇā are given as words of one meaning (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 365).
  • In Pushkara‘s teaching on the secret prāyaścittas, in all the kṛcchras (the vratas of expiation) one shaves the head, bathes, performs homa and does the pūjā of Vishṇu (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 171).
  • The teaching on lapses in temple rites says that whoever makes a lapse in the arcana must perform prāyaścitta. For a lapse in pūjā, one does japa a hundred and eight times and the pūjā done twice over, homa with the pañcopanishad mantras (the five Upanishad mantras), and the feeding of brāhmaṇas. If one in the impurity of childbirth, an antyaja or a rajasvalā touches the mūrti of the deva, one does japa a hundred times, pūjā with the pañcopanishad mantras, and the abhisheka (the sacred bathing of the mūrti) done twice over. If the homa material is spoilt by mice or insects, that portion is given up, the rest is sprinkled with water, and the pūjā of the deva is performed. When there are obstacles from devas or men at the time of pūjā, or the mantra and the material are interchanged, one does japa of the mūla-mantra (the root mantra of the deity) (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 174).
  • The same chapter says that the havana, dhyāna, arcana, japa, stuti and namaskāra of Vishṇu, who is worshipped in the path of action and the path of withdrawal, remove all the pāpas in the body. Pūjā is named with the avatāras, pratishṭhā, the mūrtis, jyotisha, the Purāṇas, the smṛtis, tapas, vratas and all the other vidyās, and of all of them it is said: Hari alone, the one Vishṇu, is all these, in manifest and unmanifest forms (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 174).
  • At the close of the Purāṇa, Sūta names pūjā among the subjects the Agni Purāṇa holds, after the Vaishṇava āgama and before dīkshā (initiation), pratishṭhā, pavitrārohaṇa, the marks of mūrtis and temples, and the mantras that give bhukti and mukti (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 383).

The pūjā of the Purāṇa. Agnideva gives the phalaśruti (the fruit of hearing) of the Agni Purāṇa, and its pūjā is part of it. The fruit comes to the one who reads it, the one who hears it and the one who does pūjā to the book. One who hears it season by season, after doing pūjā to the book with gandha, flowers and the like, gains in Hemanta the fruit of the agni-homa, in Śiśira the fruit of the Puṇḍarīka yajña, in Vasanta the fruit of the Aśvamedha, in Varsha the fruit of the Rājasūya, and in Śarad the fruit of the gift of a thousand cows. One who with bhakti does pūjā to the Agni Purāṇa before Vishṇu has worshipped Keśava with the jñāna-yajña, the yajña of knowledge. In the house where a written book of the Agni Purāṇa receives pūjā, victory comes, and bhukti and mukti are in the hand. Vasishṭha tells Vyāsa that one who reads, hears, writes, has written, has read, does pūjā to or keeps this Purāṇa is freed from all pāpas, gains all desires and goes to svarga (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 383).

Related terms: Namasyā · Apaciti · Saparyā · Arcā · Arhaṇā · Arcana · Prāyaścitta · Abhisheka

Sources

  • Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 171, 174, 365, 383