Mansik Pooja
Every question on the site tagged Mansik Pooja, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
Purely mental worship, considered the highest form of worship and yielding profound spiritual merit — especially valuable when external ritual materials are absent, since the practitioner's internal mental state and devotion supersede physical offerings.
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Mansik puja as the highest worship
The speaker says Mansik Pooja has been called the best of all pujas: when no upachar is available, a person should do mental worship, and it gives the most fruit. Even otherwise the manas matters most — you may offer any amount of material, but if you offer a rose to Bhagavati while thinking how nice it would have been to give it to your girlfriend, your mind is elsewhere, the bhava has gone to someone else, and how would Bhagavati accept it?
What should be made of dreams after a day of intense worship?
When there is a one-day sadhana — japa and havan in the morning, deep daan, japa and temple darshan in the evening — a state of confusion often arises in people after so much seva puja, because those things are running in the mind. They think that after doing so much, at least some dream will come. Those things settle in the subconscious mind. There is no need to seize the first day's experience and make an uproar about it, saying Bhairav ji had come.
What are the nine angas of navdha bhakti?
Shravan — that is, listening — kirtan, smaran, sevan, dasya, archan, constant vandan of me, sakhya and atmasamarpan: these have been called the navdha bhakti. In simple words, nine angas have been accepted.
Can the whole of Shravan be observed through the Shiv Manas Puja?
If the situation is such that we cannot do the physical puja — suppose that for some reason one had to go somewhere in the middle of Savan, or there is some such matter — then you can absolutely do the manas puja, the speaker answers, and from that too you will obtain the fruit.
Can a Laghu Rudri of sixteen mantras be done daily instead of the full vidhi?
A listener says he has learnt the Rudri path by vidhi but doing it daily by the full vidhi takes a great deal of time, and asks whether he may do abhishek daily with the Laghu Rudri of sixteen mantras. Yes, absolutely you can, the speaker answers. And the Shiv Manas Puja may absolutely be used for pujan daily in Shravan.
What if there is no goshala or cow anywhere near me?
Then at home itself you will do this pujan mentally, in the name of Kamadhenu Mata, in the name of Nandini Mata, in the name of all gau vansh; kindle the lamps and arrange them at different places in the house. But do it — certainly do it.
What does the agni tattva do within a woman who becomes rajaswala?
Know what the cause is, the speaker says. When a woman becomes rajaswala, then Kamrup Kamakhya, who is the chief swaroop of Bhagavati, is the swaroop of the kamanas and the swaroop of agni. The quantity of agni tattva rises within a woman — he has said this before too — and the swaroop of the devas is itself connected with agni tattva. Now, a woman filled with agni tattva, who has herself become the very swaroop of shakti, and in an ordinary woman, on account of the predominance of agni tattva, becomes irritable — any woman will be very irritable at that time, anger will come, she will weep, she will be very emotional, that is, her ordinary level will be displaced. In such a condition, when she sits down to do pujan, maryadas will be violated.
How many lamps should be kept in the daily puja?
Asked how many lamps should be kept in the nitya puja, the speaker says: brother, keep at least two lamps.
Does puja without concentration incur a dosha?
Kiran ji says concentration does not come while doing puja-path but he does daily pujan-path anyway, and asks whether any dosha attaches to puja without concentration. No dosha is going to attach, the speaker answers; keep your practice going. There is much distraction, there is no concentration at all, the chitta is not steady — no difficulty. Just steady the body. On the day they wish it, the chitta too will become steady. You will hear some incident from the mouth of a saint or a divine person, on television, on YouTube, or read it in some scripture, and one day some such thing will certainly happen in your life by which your whole concentration will form at once.
What is the fruit of worshipping God mentally?
It is the finest fruit of all, the speaker answers. However physically clean we make ourselves, if our mind is not clean and our thoughts in it are foul, no fruit is properly obtained. If you do bhakti mentally, with God seated in your mind twenty-four hours, doing his shodashopachar pujan in the mind whenever you wish, singing his mantras, doing his abhishek within the mind — that is the very best.
What should be done when the required materials are not available?
Do it with whatever means are available, the speaker tells Vikas. Sadhana and anushthan should be performed according to the means available in the place where one lives. By the rule it goes so far, he says, that if there is a lack even of fruit and leaves in that region, then make the offering mentally and complete the pujan that way.
What should one do about guilt that surfaces during puja?
He says that when you sit in pujan and your eyes meet the eyes of the deity, the thought comes somewhere or other that you cheated so-and-so, did this wrong deed, hold this wrong thinking, looked at someone with a wrong gaze. Such thoughts keep coming and you cannot become one with the deity. At that time, learn to become free of thought. Accept what is.
What prayer does he suggest for a mind that will not settle?
The prayer he models is: let us do the puja well for half an hour now, Prabhu. After that you are going to give the punishment anyway — you will strike us with four blows of the stick, and there is no sound in your stick; we will bear it. But just now, for half an hour, accept me, make my mind and my chitta calm, and let yourself be absorbed within my heart. Making such a prayer, be surrendered to Bhagwan Shiva and do it.
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