sir i want to know about panchayadhana pooja.
What are the moorthams to b placed on that.
please clear my query
Manikandan, Chennai
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Panchayatana puja is the
system of worship which was most common in every Brahmin house till few decades ago.
The Panchayatana is a system which consists of
the worship of five deities:
"Adityam Ambikaam Vishnum Gananaatam Maheswaram"
Aditya is Surya; Ambika is Devi; Vishnu is
Narayana; Gananaatham is Ganesha, Mahesvara is shiva.
These five are the great divine force whom every householder worships as pancha devata puja.
Based on the tradition
followed by the family, one of these deities is kept in the center and the other four surround it and worship is offered to all the deities.
Adhi Shankara systemetised the Sanatana Dharma(Hinduism) and classified it into broad Six categories.
Shaiva - with Shiva as the Presiding deity
Vaishnava - with Vishnu as the Presiding deity
Shaktha - with Devi as the Presiding deity
Ganapatya - with Ganesha as the Presiding deity
Kaumara - with Subramanya as the Presiding deity
SoWra - with Surya (planets) as the Presiding deity
People mistake that Shri Shankara actually started this Panchayatana puja system - which is wrong. Deva Puja and Archana is one of the most important duties imposed by the Shastras. The Shastras are filled with details of the Panchayatana puja details and Shankra only prescribed us to follow it without fail..
The panchayatana scheme represent the five elements:
AkAshasyAdhipo viShNuH agneshchaiva maheshvarI |
vAyoH sUryaH kShiterIshaH jIvanasya gaNAdhipaH ||
Akasha : Space : Vishnu
Vahni : Fire : AmbikA
Vayu : Air : Aditya
kShiti : Earth : Shiva
Jala : Water : Ganapati
All the five deities are not Panchaloka or any other metal idols; But these five are represented by small natural stones found in various parts of Bharatha Desham.
Deity Stone River Place
Ganesha Red Sonabhadra Sone Bihar
Surya Crystal Vallam Tamil Nadu (Tanjavur)
Vishnu Saligrama Gandaki Nepal
Shiva Bana Linga Narmada Madhya Pradesh
Ambika Swarna Mukhi Swarnamukhi Andra Pradesh
The image of that particular devata is kept in the centre, surrounded by the other gods.
If he is a devotee of Vishnu, he places the idol of Vishnu in the centre with the other idols surrounding it. If he is a devotee of Lord shiva, a lingam is placed in the middle with the other images around it. If he is a devotee of Suryanarayana, he has a sphatika as the central object of worship.
The positioning in the panchayatana poojas are as follows:
Shiva Panchayatana Puja
- Shiva at the center
- Aditya at Southeast
- Gananatha at Southwest
- Ambika at Northwest and
- Vishnu at the Northeast.
Ganapathy Panchayatana Puja
- Ganapathy at the center
- Vishnu at Northeast
- shiva at Southeast
- Adithya Southwest and
- Ambal at Northwest
Vishnu Panchayatana Puja
- Vishnu at center
- shiva at Northeast
- Ganapathy at Southeast
- Adithya at Southwest and
- Ambal at Northwest
Ambal Panchayatana Puja
- Ambal at center,
- Vishnu at Northeast,
- shiva at Southeast,
- Ganapathy at Southwest and
- Adithya at Northwest
Adithya Panchayatana Puja
- Adithya at center,
- shiva at Northeast,
- Ganapathy at Southeast,
- Vishnu at Southwest,
- Ambal at Northwest
Along with this people worshipping Subramanya will include Him in the form of a (silver) Snake or Vel (spear)
shaiva ca vaiShNavam shaaktam sauram vainaayakam tathaa .
skaandam ca bhaktimaargasya darshanaani Shadeva hi ..
I can surely say - till panchayatana puja was strictly followed in our country we were really flourishing. Though the technical advancements were not present people were peaceful, satisfied and happy.
Only when this Panchayatana stopped during english invasion- we began to loose our glory- happiness, mental peace and everything.
Panchayatana Puja is a systematic procedure which involves physical and mental discipline, requires inner and outer cleanliness. This - when done systematically will surely bring the progress in the material world and the final truth - awareness of the true Self. By following it, one obtains the Lord’s Anugraha, without
which liberation is not possible.
Is it really possible to get the natural stones at the rivers mentioned in the article to represnt the five dieties ?
ReplyDeleteramamohan Rao
yes... It is still available from the natural sources....
ReplyDeleteYou can also find them in many orthodox families still preserving it as a treasure.
Sir,
ReplyDeleteThis was a nice article. I was searching for more information on Shanmatha puja as opposed to Panchayatana puja. Here you have given very nicely the positions of each of the five dieties with respect to each other. However when we integrate Skanda into this worship - where do we position the moorthy.
Also can you provide more details of the complete manner (vidhana) of the panchayatana puja (and if possible the shanmatha puja itself).
Also in the article you have mentioned about inner purification. Can you please write an article on Nyasa and how can we use Nyasa as a seperate Sadhana in its own right. I would be very very greatful for this information on the various Nyasa's of Karanyasa, Hridayanyasa, Anganyasa and Laghu Nyasa. I just could not find the vidhana (manner) in a proper step by step of Nyasa anywhere - neither of Shanmatha puja.
Dear Sir,
ReplyDeleteThanks for clearly mentioning the panchayatana puja paddhati. But Could you please provide the puja vidhana also. Also please let us know where to procure the above mentioned articles(Sonabhadra, Swarnamukhi and sphatika)
This is really nice, thanks alot. But how to find stones do we need to travel allover india to find it or any single location where we can find? can we use idols or pictures to worship or we should have stones only? if yes is there any mesurements for idols?
ReplyDeletecouldyou please reply to my questions. i have been searching for this kind of info from months.
Thanks for mentioning pooja vidhi.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to add a comment to mention thanks for your post. This post is really interesting and quite helpful for us. Keep sharing.
ReplyDeleteShiva e-puja booking