Hindu Temple Puja Archagar: Nadai, Udai & Bhavanai

[vrajagopalan57]

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Sri Ramajayam
Visited numerous famous & less famous Hindu Vaishnava & Shiva, Kartikeya, Ganapathy Temples in different parts of India & few in foreign countries. As a Sri-Vaishnava Thengalai Thiru-Mananjeri Brahmin (thankful to my family deity Lord Oppiliappan, Thiru-Nageswaram, Kumbakonam and my forefathers for giving me this identity) believing totally our Vedic rituals but practicing some, I am not able to comprehend, even at this age of 62years being a professional R&D Scientist, the diversified “Nadai-Udai-Bhavanai including process of sankalpam, archanai nidhi and recitations being practiced in our South-India versus rest of India (excluding temples managed by Thirupathi Devasthanam, Sankara Madam, Ahobila Madam, etc), especially in North India, distinctively in “Dwarka - one of the four major vaishnava Dhamam” and in “Somnath-Sri Shiva Temple, one of the Jyothir Linga Shethram”. Why so? Every Hindu follow a Veda and Veda is crystal clear for all rituals to be followed by Archagars and Bhakthas. Why there is vast difference in rituals from South to North? If no one misinterpret than I have a query. Are we South Indians giving more importance to rules & regulation of rituals than their sanctity? In North, Any devotee can wear any dress and physically touch,apply Vibhuthi, Manjal, Santhanam, etc to god inside Karpahagraham (eg. Somanath Shiva-Jyothir Lingam). Though my family elders do not permit, as vaishnavan, I have visited on 2June2019 Gujarat Saurashtra famous Somanath-Shiva and did sankalpam and physically applied on Jyothir-Lingam Vibhuthi, Santhanam, etc and applied the same as Pattai on my forehead too. Many others, including Ladies were doing so. I felt real bliss and happiness in me, though I have disobeyed my family elders, Sri Acharyar who did Shanku-Chakhra mudhradhanam to me in 1982, and few Vaishnava Vedic teachers. Some corner of my heart I feel I have not done sin but not even punya, and again my little spiritual knowledge, practice and preaching consoles me saying “Hariyum Shivanum Ondrey” and “touching the divine symbol or murthy of god- as practiced in North India temples” do give more positivity & positive satisfaction energy than staying aloof with folded hands in south temples. Learned Pandits in the Group may critically review the issues cited above and suggest: How far I am wrong in my action and reaction, and how far we Hindus can depart from set Vedic Niyamams? Request is for the Vedic justification & acceptance. So, please try to avoid one of the known reply: “as rational thinker or democratic Indian anyone can do & practice whatever one feel the best so far it’s not harming others freedom”. Jai Sri Ram. V.Rajagopalan, Bangalore

 

[tbs]

Sri Ramajayam
Visited numerous famous & less famous Hindu Vaishnava & Shiva, Kartikeya, Ganapathy Temples in different parts of India & few in foreign countries. As a Sri-Vaishnava Thengalai Thiru-Mananjeri Brahmin (thankful to my family deity Lord Oppiliappan, Thiru-Nageswaram, Kumbakonam and my forefathers for giving me this identity) believing totally our Vedic rituals but practicing some, I am not able to comprehend, even at this age of 62years being a professional R&D Scientist, the diversified “Nadai-Udai-Bhavanai including process of sankalpam, archanai nidhi and recitations being practiced in our South-India versus rest of India (excluding temples managed by Thirupathi Devasthanam, Sankara Madam, Ahobila Madam, etc), especially in North India, distinctively in “Dwarka - one of the four major vaishnava Dhamam” and in “Somnath-Sri Shiva Temple, one of the Jyothir Linga Shethram”. Why so? Every Hindu follow a Veda and Veda is cry? In North, Any devotee can wear any dress and physically touch,apply Vibhuthi, Manjal, Santhanam, etc to gostal clear for all rituals to be followed by Archagars and Bhakthas. Why there is vast difference in rituals from South to North? If no one misinterpret than I have a query. Are we South Indians giving more importance to rules & regulation of rituals than their sanctityd inside Karpahagraham (eg. Somanath Shiva-Jyothir Lingam). Though my family elders do not permit, as vaishnavan, I have visited on 2June2019 Gujarat Saurashtra famous Somanath-Shiva and did sankalpam and physically applied on Jyothir-Lingam Vibhuthi, Santhanam, etc and applied the same as Pattai on my forehead too. Many others, including Ladies were doing so. I felt real bliss and happiness in me, though I have disobeyed my family elders, Sri Acharyar who did Shanku-Chakhra mudhradhanam to me in 1982, and few Vaishnava Vedic teachers. Some corner of my heart I feel I have not done sin but not even punya, and again my little spiritual knowledge, practice and preaching consoles me saying “Hariyum Shivanum Ondrey” and “touching the divine symbol or murthy of god- as practiced in North India temples” do give more positivity & positive satisfaction energy than staying aloof with folded hands in south temples. Learned Pandits in the Group may critically review the issues cited above and suggest: How far I am wrong in my action and reaction, and how far we Hindus can depart from set Vedic Niyamams? Request is for the Vedic justification & acceptance. So, please try to avoid one of the known reply: “as rational thinker or democratic Indian anyone can do & practice whatever one feel the best so far it’s not harming others freedom”. Jai Sri Ram. V.Rajagopalan, Bangalore

hi

my experiences to your queries...i may be wrong....i visited SOMANATH AND DWARAKA recently...

as u mentioned in north and south.....historically north indian temples/brahmins suffered more than

5 centuries......even mahabharata/ramayana period....historically south indian temples/brahmins/

archagars are not much suffered as compared to north...entire north india BRAHMINS ARE

SUKLA YAJUR VEDINS and SOUTH INDIAN BRAHMINS DOMINATED BY KRISHNA YAJURVEDA...

so we can't compare the ORANGES AND APPLES IN SAME MANNER..

 

[Jaykay767]

First off, north india lost all its ancient Hindu traditions due to constant wars over the centuries. Hinduism was revived iback in north in the last 200 yrs, hence their traditions are different, locally evolved by non traditional priest families.

These priests families are Brahmin but they do not have the unbroken family tradition of over 1000s of yrs like we have in south. Many of them do not chant fully in Sanskrit, they say some slokams and then break into Hindi.

Hence some of the the traditions particularly touching the deity and performing Pujai is not correct. only a priest fully ordained in Vedas and performing all rituals every day can do it.

 

[prasad1]

None of us have seen God, we do not know what He wants.
It is our own way of connecting with the higher power.
So there may not be the right way or the wrong way. It is just in different ways.

The rituals conducted in North Indian temples are of simple that follows Bhakthi way of tradition. Sanskrit mantras are not well recited in these temples. Everyone is allowed to worship and perform puja on their own. There are no rules( like Agama Shastras) worshipping in these temples.

On the other hand South Indian temples follows Agama worship that is strict vedic rituals are still followed and Sanskrit mantras are chanted everyday. Kerala temples follows Tantric rituals(very old rituals) In South Indian temples, only preists are allowed inside the sanctom and they perform puja to God(agama shastras).There are certain rules,regulations and dress codes(traditional way) to be followed.

In Birla temples, they follow a hybrid method. only the priest is allowed to do pujas, but the Idols are of marble and no Agama Sastra.

In south Indian Temples, there are throngs of worshippers.
There is VIP queue, VVIP queue, normal queue, and you have entrance fees. These gods are not for a quick darshan. I mean these are temples for everyone, why so much distinction? And even if you take VIP pass you will get only a second to look at them and from far away.

There is also a large number of priests who try to lure you and get money from you. They make claims like this outfit is not allowed or this is not the correct way and extort money from you based on these claims.

I am not sure why this queue system and all is not present in North Indian temples but this is really weird and materialistic thing to abide with. I loved the way Vaishno Devi temple is managed in this regard even though there is a huge crowd. Maybe because it is army controlled, but I think all the temples in the south can learn from there.

I feel that temples in North India and around the world do not make a distinction between rich and poor.
South India it is obvious.

In many of the North Indian temples, there is no role for an intermediary (called the priest), In south Indian temples (except the wayside ones) , one can not deal directly with God.

 

[tbs]

None of us have seen God, we do not know what He wants.
It is our own way of connecting with the higher power.
So there may not be the right way or the wrong way. It is just in different ways.

The rituals conducted in North Indian temples are of simple that follows Bhakthi way of tradition. Sanskrit mantras are not well recited in these temples. Everyone is allowed to worship and perform puja on their own. There are no rules( like Agama Shastras) worshipping in these temples.

On the other hand South Indian temples follows Agama worship that is strict vedic rituals are still followed and Sanskrit mantras are chanted everyday. Kerala temples follows Tantric rituals(very old rituals) In South Indian temples, only preists are allowed inside the sanctom and they perform puja to God(agama shastras).There are certain rules,regulations and dress codes(traditional way) to be followed.

In Birla temples, they follow a hybrid method. only the priest is allowed to do pujas, but the Idols are of marble and no Agama Sastra.

In south Indian Temples, there are throngs of worshippers.
There is VIP queue, VVIP queue, normal queue, and you have entrance fees. These gods are not for a quick darshan. I mean these are temples for everyone, why so much distinction? And even if you take VIP pass you will get only a second to look at them and from far away.

There is also a large number of priests who try to lure you and get money from you. They make claims like this outfit is not allowed or this is not the correct way and extort money from you based on these claims.

I am not sure why this queue system and all is not present in North Indian temples but this is really weird and materialistic thing to abide with. I loved the way Vaishno Devi temple is managed in this regard even though there is a huge crowd. Maybe because it is army controlled, but I think all the temples in the south can learn from there.

I feel that temples in North India and around the world do not make a distinction between rich and poor.
South India it is obvious.

In many of the North Indian temples, there is no role for an intermediary (called the priest), In south Indian temples (except the wayside ones) , one can not deal directly with God.

hi


even i visited sri vaishno devi more than 3 times...when i was posted in jammu in the army....we have

special service and controlled by army...its nice experience for a south indian brahmin..

 

[prasad1]

Puja vidhi is more cultural than religious.
Stone or metal Idol puja is not there during Vedic periods.
So it might have evolved differently in different geographic regions.

Generally, Vishnu Temples of the south are far richer, than their counterparts in the North. Shiva Temples, in general, are not that rich. The practice of separating Idols from worshippers might have been due to security concern.

But when you have to bring in a Middleman between God and humans, it adds another layer of bureaucracy.
Why do we need an introduction to God? Why do need to pay for this superfluous service?
In Birla Mandirs or other north Indian Temples, you buy your sweets outside from Vendors, take it inside, offer it to God and share with other devotees. There is no Temple Cuts, it is a simple transaction.

I am sorry this post is in the religion section, it should be in chit chat.

 

[prasad1]

Most Indians find it hard to believe that the building of temples is a rather recent phenomenon in India. Of course, in Indian terms ‘recent’ means we have been building temples for the past 1500 years, considering our religious history is, by the most conservative estimates, 4000 years old.

In the Vedic period, that thrived around 1500 BC, the cornerstone ritual practice was the yagna. This involved creating an altar using bricks, lighting a fire within it, chanting hymns and pouring offerings into the fire. The ritual did not demand a permanent structure. It was a ritual that allowed mobility; suggesting that the Aryans were indeed a nomadic people. Of course, whether they spread from India to the West or the came from the West, and whether the migration was peaceful or violent, an invasion or an immigration, remains a subject of academic debate with political undertones. What is clearly known from the Vedic chants is that the Aryans did not need temples to anchor their spirituality.

The Rise of the Temple - Devdutt

A short history of temple building in India reveals interesting little details

devdutt.com

 

[Jaykay767]

Our religion is founded on the primacy of the priest, teachers, Gurus, father and mother. And primary knowledge flows from them !!

Priests & Gurus have promulgated and enforced moral law right through the ages, and hence they deserve the highest respect !!