Amrit Vani
Pragy³yog-S³dhan³ - Invocation of Divine Light - II (Translation of a discourse by Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya on “Pragy³yog Kº S³dhan³ - continued from the previous issue)
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activities). Lighting of lamp implies illumination of your life and also of your surroundings. Burning of incense-sticks generates soothing fragrance that spreads in all directions; it teaches that your deeds and conduct should also spread soothing (good) effects in the ambience of all fronts of your life. Naivaidya consists of some sweet eatables; no salt or spice is used in it. Similar should be your voice and overall behavior; it should be decent, polite, and sweet — devoid of bitterness, rudeness, anger/irritation and negativity. Fresh flower represents beauty of Nature; offering it to the deity symbolizes that your life should be beautiful (full of good qualities and noble deeds) and should be dedicated to divine aims.
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Recall that it’s the feeling and teaching behind a sacrament that is important not the action or procedure of its rituals. Your worship without grasping and adopting these teachings would be nothing more than ostentation and wastage of time.
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Water flows naturally and embraces everything on its way; so should be your heart (emotional core) — compassionate, and free of the bonds of ego and prejudice. Offering of rice grains symbolizes that some part of your possession, your worldly resources must be donated for the welfare of His creation (i.e. for altruistic
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Devap¿jana : You worship the idol or picture of the Goddess using water, rice grain, flowers, dºpaka [1], and incense-sticks; and also offer some sweet or sugar as naivaidya. The Goddess is formless, omnipresent. Obviously, your offerings are of no use to Her. The idol or picture that you worship is only a symbol and so are the rituals and offerings of worship. These symbols indicate and remind the qualities that you should cultivate to become the true worshiper of divinity.
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Friends, Up³san³ is like first experiment towards spiritual development. Most of you may need a ‘form’ of deity, a focus of your faith, for this experiment. In Gayatri Up³san³ , as part of Pragy³yoga -S³dhan³ , an idol or picture of Goddess Gayatri is used for this purpose.
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Japa and Dhy³na : After the rituals of purification and worship as part of Gayatri Up³san³, you are supposed
“God is Truth. There is no incompatibility between science and religion. Both are seeking the same truth. Science shows that God exists.” - Sir Derek Barton, Winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Akhand Jyoti November - December 2014
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