Nov 16
Adi Shankaracharya re initiated India around 400 BC (?) into the Vedic lore and way of life. He re instated the then lost art of doing Poojas and Yagyas. He expounded the Advaita philosophy.
Adi Shankaracharya
Though He was the one who gave much emphasis on Pooja, He also, in a series of brilliant verses totally rubbished Pooja too 
In Pooja, first you “invoke” the Divine. Isn’t that illogical He asks? To invoke the Divinity which is omnipresent, available everywhere?! Then you offer a “seat”… a seat? for God? You think there is a seat big enough to accommodate God?!
Pooja is usually done by offering flowers to the Divine. He said what are you offering? Flowers? Are they even yours to offer? They are made by God and you are “offering” them to God? How ridiculous! Similarly with the fruits… you are giving something that doesn’t belong to you at all to the Divinity to whom everything anyways belongs!
Then you do the aarati… You are showing a small fire of camphor to the one who is Self illumined, Effulgent, Radiant? Whose Light is the light of the millions of stars in the Galaxy… you show that little camphor aarati to this Divinity?! What purpose exactly will that serve?
Before anyone could take apart what He had so painstakingly put together, He Himself very logically and systematically destroyed the entire act of doing any Pooja. This is why we say Guru Brahma (Guru is Creator), Guru Vishnu (and Sustainer), Guru devo Maheshwaraha (AND Destroyer)… What He makes, He can easily finish off! By doing this, He saved Himself the trouble of facing countless debates about Pooja
He called it Para Pooja… Beyond Pooja.
Yet, when a Pooja is done properly, it has a glorious, benevolent effect… as anyone who has ever been to a Rudra Pooja on the Ashram can testify to. Or for that matter to the Navaratri Celebrations here
But to get to Para Pooja, you do need to go through Pooja… You cannot say anyways it’s all silly, Adi Shankara Himself says so… I will not do it. That would be like saying anyways i have to get off from this bus in a few hours, so why should i get into it at all?!
And so, do Pooja, but also go beyond Pooja… get into Para Pooja … That is called meditation.
H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, our beloved Guruji has managed to bring that perfect balance between the Karma Kanda (Doing the Poojas), Dhyana (Meditation) and Bhakti (Devotion). There is just enough of everything and so perfectly proportioned… I am supremely lucky to be part of The Art of Living!
And so are you…
Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa
(8 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
thank you bawa
and love the analogy of the bus !
amazing post
jaigurudev
love
tanu
Wow Bau…
amazing post…. am really lucky to have you and Dinesh bhaiya and super duper lucky to have Guruji…
Jai Gurudeva!
Thank you
ya….
im also very lucky to b part of divine family of my divine and feel its divinity .
lots of love…….
jai gurudev
Awesome post bawa……just toooooo good………
I always felt as if I belonged some ancient times… Now I know why :p
Great to know all this
Dear SIr,
What a beautiful way of explaining what meditation is !!!! I simply loved it
Luv u Bau
Sudha.P
Yes.. Since childhood i was made to sit for the Poojas on various occassion.. but i stopped when I grew up.. I thought it to be stupid serving no purpose.. One ppoja with guruji and everything was clear..
I love GuruPoojas… its beyond explaination…
greaaat post bau, u know imediately after doing i thought what was the point of going to temple and pujas when i can just do kriya.. it was not until i witnessed navarathri that this attitude changed.. man! i fell in love with every aspect of it.. am sooooo glad to be able to share my life with Guruji and all the rest of u
:D..
yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!
beautiful post!!!!! awesome…..
why in Art of Living we give importance to specific pujas like rudra puja, navratri puja, guru puja(my favorite). Do these pujas have some greater significance
No idea really … But, in Art of Living importance is given to many things, Seva, Sadhana, Satsang along with Pooja… also a healthier, greener, lifestyle
thanks bau,, I love your replies as well. you take time to reply to our silly questions.
Its a blessing for me to have you and entire art of living family with me. I hope I can do a little by doing seva. thank you so much. Love you all.
WOW !~
again….
Beyond words to write about the post! Great Bau..
Even though there are times when i feel great .. there are many a times when i jus DONT feel satisfied with even the biggest poojas at home .. now i know why …
Amazing post ..
And yes .. I remember the full verse ..
Guru bhrama .. Guru vishnu .. Guru devomaheshwaraha ..
Guru Sakshat .. Parabhrama .. Tasmai Shree Guruve namaha ..
They taught us in school ..
A whole host of them .. we used to recite them first thing in the morning before classes ..
Jai Gurudeva!
It so so amazing that striking that the fine balance between pooja , meditation and devotion has happened so effortlessly for us in guruji’s presence. Just can’t help but wonder.Bau your explaination of Para pooja … beyond pooja is so simple yet so beautiful :).
lots of love,
Jai Gurudev
Siddharth(goregaon mumbai)
BEAUTIFUL…….
love
jai guru dev
minnie
absolute!!
loving every moment that i spent in aol….and i am glad that im sticking on it ……feel extremely fantabulous to be a part of this HUUUUUUUUUGE family…
par pooja is important aspect which one should consider while doing pooja.
WELL said bau
puzzel solved:-)
thanks
Amazingly,U and Vikram have the same theme to ur respective posts.(
Check Vikram’s Blog http://www.vikramhazra.com/)
“He alone works thru different ways”
It happens many times when same type of thoughts are going in other AOL members minds even if they are oceans apart.
You start talking to someone and they say “I was also having the same thoughts for last few days.” . And then a week later you go for the Long Kriya and there the teacher reads the same (themed) knowledge sheet.
Makes me realize “Guru ji at work”.
This reminds me of a shlok from the Guru Granth Sahib ji written by Guru Ravidass ji which has the exact same meaning regarding aartis. It goes like
“Naam tero aarti majan muraare, Har ke naam bin jhoothe sagal pasaare.
Naam tera deeva naam tero baati, Naam tero tel le mahen pasaare…
Tero keeya tujheh kya arpou naam tera tuhi chawar dholarey….”
It’s longer but I’ve grown up listening to this a lot at the gurdwaras and when I read your post today, I realized that this aarti had the exact same meaning that you wrote about today. I guess it all comes from the same source
But today you answered a lot more for me though. I always used to wonder that if God exists everywhere then what’s the need to go to mandirs/gurdwaras/masjids etc. You answered it today. Thanks man, you da best
Awesome post as always bau…Loved the bus analogy…and also how smart Adi Shankaracharya actually was…hehe…
Oh and yes….I am too lucky to be in Art Of Living…
Bawa, Thanks for Adi Shankaracharya articles. I hear that there is a book that has all of these Shankaracharya biographies all the way down including that of Bramhananda Saraswati . do you know that book name and where to get it?
JaiGuruDev
i don’t and if u find out please let me know
I think you may be referring to: “Our Spiritual Heritage: An Informal History of the Masters of the Sankaracharya Tradition”. This is written by a TM teacher and was recommended to us by Mikey during our TTC. It’s really a fascinating read…
Not very easy to get hold of, though, in fact the only site I’ve found that carries it is:
http://www.21stbooks.com/page/21stbooks/prod/my0024
Bau you can have my copy when you come to Hyderabad next week
thank you bau!for sharing this beautiful knowledge on pooja!
love!
That room behind, in the photo resembles shakti kutir
Gr8 post .
jai gurudeva.
excellent post(s) Bau…..
Hello Dear Bau,
I have a question. I did the guru pooja1 course recently. I feel confused while doing pooja. While saying the guru pooja; especially the offerings who are we making them to? Is it all the guru’s or guruji?
Also while doing the daily pooja.. is it good to have many deities on the alter. I feel a conflict as I feel most close to guruji. Can you please tell me what to do?
Does guruji have a special alter for himself?
Jai gurudev,
Love,
Prajkta.
please re read the para pooja post
and other questions, you should ask your Guru Pooja course teacher
True, nothing is silly, not even doing pooja to a stone. Every aspect is but a stage (step) in the evolution of state of consciousness, so we can not say its useless to do idol worship. It does appeal to many people. As Guruji once told, some need a concrete, physical aspects to relate or develop faith in the abstract, and few may not.
On the other hand Sage Astavakra condemns meditation itself; does’nt he say meditation itself is a bondage (bcos we meditate with a presumption that we are bounded and need to liberate, become hollow & empty)…and says if you think you are free then verily you are free. Its true for an evolved being, but maybe a little beyond for many of us to realize this.
So if any aspect of spirituality is not appealing to one, need not mean useless to all. I believe great Rishi’s recognized that one thing does’nt fit all, and devised so many paths..karma, bhakti, jnana, yoga (many different ways within these also). As Guruji is showing we can grow in all dimensions, we need to preserve and have reverence for all paths, even if not appealing to us. Just by knowing somebody else is benefitting
I suppose the most important point is, no matter where(path) we start (that appeals & makes us peaceful) not to be stuck to anything but be open to the evolving consciousness. Stuck neither to pooja, nor seva, nor meditation, nor knowledge, but to honor each of these and practice with total reverence at stages we need it, and then move on. As one philosopher said: Anything that is stagnant has death, but that which is moving/evolving has no death.
Bau This was ONE of the Most amazing post of yours. Guru Puja will never be the same. The beauty of Pooja is explained so intricately. Loved the way you ended this post.. Looking forward for more Drenching with Knowledge..
And you know.. But still will remind you.. That I love you Bau…
Jai guru dev
Vini
hope this is not the end to 3 wonderdful posts!
JGD
one more on the way on thursday
Ya very true .We all have gone deeper into pujas after being a part of art of living.Jai Guru Dev
its all cool na..listen to what ravi says –Pooja - its a play with the divine ..lets play with him
If we take a bath everyday, we can play a brilliant Jalapooja
lov arya
really gr8!! i am lucky to be the part if art of living & to have you in life. not possible to be with u actually all the time but we can get a gr8 knowledge thro’ this web so regulary..thanks a lot bau!
jai gurudev!
Jai Gurudev!!
Awesome write up….reading it took me back to the experineces of Rudra Pooja @ Ashram n Navratri Poojas……Thanks for explaining everything in such simple words….
Jgd Bau!
Feeling blessed!!
My aim in life is to do pooja like how guruji does and I will consider myself enlightened
Consider yourself enlightened and you will do pooja like Guruji does.
Wow! this was so nicely put by you. I loved it and now this can’t escape from the memory.
Jai Guru Dev,
Sunil
Thank you soooooooo much for all the beautiful knowledge you are giving us …Im really grateful to you and dinesh bhaiya and GURUJI for all blessing my life with so much knowledge and love !!!
love you all
jai gurudev !!
Absolutely true!!
Can’t get luckier than this!!
Jai Gurudev
happy to be one of the lucky souls….thank you….
)
(i am also happy because I’m truly understanding the meaning of my name now