Satsang & Philosophy -> Pooja Vidhi

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All Swaminarayan followers have been instructed to perform daily pooja in the Shikshapatri by Bhagwan Swaminarayan.

Pooja form a fundamental part of the day which shows how the body that has been given to us by God is being used to serve Him first. God is the king of all kings, the master of all masters. Everyone and everything that exists are His servants. Therefore His servants must serve the almighty master as the first thing in the day.

(Shikshapatri Shlok 49) we must arise before sunrise because Bhagwan Swaminarayan liked to arise early in the morning. If we are to be in His service before He is to awake, we must awake before Him. A good time would before 6am. This is also a period of time which is known as ‘Bhram-Muhurata’ which is deemed as the ideal time for spiritual activities. It also a sign of respect to Lord SuryaNarayan when we awake before he appears. 

(Shlok 50) Whilst reciting the Swaminarayan Mahamantra and remembering the image of Swaminarayan Bhagwan we must then attend the calls of nature and then brush our teeth.
This is so that we can go near God. In order to serve God we must be clean. We cannot simply awake in the morning and start serving Him. We must first clean our body so that we can touch Him. After brushing the teeth and having a bath (still reciting Swaminarayan). 

One should bear in mind that we have been instructed to clean our body not decorate it. If we decorate the body first then it shows that we are serving the body before serving God.
Decorate would include using gels, creams, hairdryers etc. Before the pooja the only requirement is to be clean. 

Once clean, we must then wear two items of clothing- both without any stitches, which usually include a clean dhoti and a shawl which also covers the head.

Then in order to commence the service we must find a suitable spot to lay the pooja. The spot should be clean and free from any disturbance. Then we can be seated facing north or east. (see notes on Maala for explanation) (Shlok 51) 

The pooja then starts with ‘aachman’ which involves sipping a drop of water from the right hand. This is done three times, and before each time three different mantras are recited

“Aum Shree SwaminarayanAY Namaha” (sip) 
“Aum Shree Hari KrshnaAY Namaha” (sip) 
“Aum Shree SahajanandAY Namaha” (sip) 

The right hand is then washed twice.  (Shlok 52) After the aachman, we must then do Tilak Chandlo (refer to Tilak Chandlo).

It is then extremely important to do ‘bhramroop-ni-bhaavna’ i.e. believe yourself to be one with bhram (refer to sheet on bhramroop-ni-bhavna).

The day’s first maansi pooja can then be started. Maansi pooja is mental worship. It provides the opportunity for us to identify ourselves as the aatma (the soul) and serve the Parmaatma Bhagwan Swaminarayan. We can imagine we are already in Akshardham in the service of Parbhram Bhagwan Swaminarayan.

In the maansi pooja we serve God is if He is appearing as human and is behaving as human. Therefore we wake Him from His sleep, help Him to brush, bathe, eat etc. etc. The beauty of maansi pooja is that there are no restrictions on the imagination. We can serve Him with whatever we like. We can feed Him sumptuous foods and decorate Him with all kinds of jewellery of gold, silver, diamonds, rubies, pearls etc. The first maansi pooja is for awaking God in the morning right through to having Him seated on the mighty throne after eating, aarti, bhajan, katha etc.

Second maansi pooja (between 11am-12.30)- feed with light fruits and put Him to rest.

Third maansi pooja (between 3.30-4.30)- awaken, freshen and serve Him with light snacks.

Fourth maansi pooja (between 5.30-7.30) – serve with full meal and aarti with prarthna.

Fifth maansi pooja (before going to sleep) – prepare Him for sleep and use the occasion to talk to Him about your day on earth.

After the first maansi pooja, God is invited from our aatma into our pooja. We imagine a grand throne in our pooja that has been prepared for God. Whilst ringing the bell we recite the invitation mantra:

“ootishtho tishta hea naatha, Swaminarayana prabho dharma soono dayaa sindho, sveshaam shreyaha param kuroo. ootishtho tishta govinda, ootishtha garooda dhvaja ootishtha kamalaa kaanta, trai lokye mangalam kuroo. aagachch bhagvann deva, sva sthaanat parameshvara aham poojam karishyaami sadaa tvam sanmukho bhava”

After this we now firmly believe God is seated before us ready to accept our poojan.
Because He has just arrived in our pooja, we start by offering aarti to Him (refer to aarti). 
After aarti we feed Him with some food, imagining as if it is the same food we offered in our maansi pooja. We can then do pooja of Him with flowers, chandan, incense etc.

This is followed by the japa with Maala (refer to Maala). The first Maala is of the guru-mantra, and the remaining four of the ‘Swaminarayan’ maha-mantra.
One Maala is done whilst performing pradakshina (refer to pradakshina), and another one whilst standing on one leg with both arms raised (tup Maala). 
After japa. The Shikshapatri is read (we have been instructed to do so), and then we ask for a few things from God.

We ask for protection from our inner enemies

“Oh Bhagwan! Please protect me from inner enemies such as anger, desires, lust, passion, ego, jealousy etc etc. Oh Maharaj! Protect me from the company and influence of kusangis (evil people) and those who would divert me from my faith. Please keep me in the company of your satsangis.
Oh Purushottam! Please forgive me for any sins or mistakes I may have committed and give me the capacity to avoid committing those sins again. Oh Lord! Help me keep my mind constantly focussed on You and at the end of this body, please give me the pleasure of doing your service in Akshardham.” 

After this prarthna we recite the following mantra for forgiving:

“aparaadha sahasraani, kriyante harnisham mayaa, daso yamiti mam matvaa, kshamasva purushottama”

We then proceed to doing saashtang dandvat pranaam (refer to dandvat
pranaam) whilst reciting ‘Swaminarayan’. 
After the dandvat pranaam we request Bhagwan to return from our pooja with the
following mantra:

“sva sthaanaam gachcha devesha, pooja maadaay maamkim ishta kaam prasidhyartham, poonaraa gama naayacha”

The pooja can then be put away and the prasad can be eaten.