What is a Traditional Puja?

Puja is a Sanskrit word meaning to honor or celebrate. In the Hindu tradition, of which Tantra is a part, a Puja is often used to worship and adore a deity or to spiritually celebrate an event. In the west the most common style of Tantra practiced is Neo-Tantra and in these circles we invite you to celebrate the Divine in us all. We honor the whole body as the temple and use pleasure as the tool to awaken to more of our naturally Divine selves. How beautiful to celebrate all our humanness, to fall more deeply in love with ourselves and those around us!

Every aspect of a puja, from the actual physical offerings (like food), to the ‘services’ (like praise and song), to the ritualized activity of the person performing the puja, are all offered to the focus of the ceremony (usually a deity). In very esoteric Tantric rituals, the practitioner offers up their own pleasure to the deity. This subtle offering of a sensory experience is considered more powerful than a physical object. So offering a strawberry by putting it on an altar is good, but offering up your sensual experience of the taste of a strawberry is better! This is because of a basic premise: the more subtle something is, the more powerful it is. This is because subtle experiences are “closer” to the subtle and expansive non-physical state of the deity itself. So in this type of puja, the strawberry is offered first, then enjoyed as if the deity were borrowing your mouth and tasting through you. There is no ‘grasping’ or ‘claiming’ of the pleasure, it is all directed toward the deity. It is a technique for moving consciousness to a more subtle state, and thus closer to the Divine. But if the experience is only for your own gratification, if your pleasure isn’t offered up to a divine being, if that being isn’t alive in your own heart, if the ritual isn’t being used as a way to shift your awareness from gross to subtle, then it isn’t a traditional “puja”.

Many NeoTantric Rituals are called “puja”, but if the traditional puja format is not followed, this use is cultural appropriation, so please model using the term NeoTantric ritual and explain why if necessary.  NeoTantric rituals are a series of  guided exercises allowing you to experience various practices such as eye gazing, touch, sound, energy play and breath.  These techniques help people explore intimacy and connection, invites them to open up, and activate and awaken their hearts, minds, bodies and spirits. Rituals are a fun, playful way to meet new people and share connection and touch in a safe and often juicy ritual. In NeoTantra circles, we invite you to celebrate the Divine in us all.  We honor the whole body as the temple, and use pleasure as the tool to awaken to more of our naturally Divine selves.  How beautiful to celebrate all our humanness - to fall more deeply in love with ourselves and those around us.  

I love the meaning of Puja as explored in Lorin Roche's poetic translation into English of the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra in his book The Radiance Sutra 147:

WHAT IS A TRADITIONAL PUJA?

• Tantric in Origin

• Utilizes a physical icon as the focal point

• Designed to focus, hold, and direct attention

• Veneration is usually directed toward a deity, spirit, ancestors, or guru

• Deity acts as guide, protector, benefactor, and exemplar of enlightenment

• Most rituals are transactional: offerings exchanged for desirable outcomes

• Offerings are given to attract beneficial beings

• Subtle offerings are superior to physical substances

• Love, devotion, and time are supreme offerings

• Puja helps to move awareness from gross to subtle to sublime

Definition: “worship; adoration.” Puja is a rite of invocation that uses a consecrated physical object as the focal point for holding and directing the power or energy invoked. That physical object could be a statue, a symbolic object, a vessel, a geometric pattern, or even a ritually purified living human being. The word “puja” can be used to denote both the ritual itself and the altar upon which the ritual is held.

Purpose: the purpose of puja is often different from the stated goal. Culturally speaking, it is polite to claim that the purpose of puja is religious in nature: to venerate a deity or an enlightened being based on pure love and devotion. It is said that any offering made with no expectation of personal gain is accepted by an enlightened deity. Of course, there are implied benefits of improved luck, spiritual protection, and clearing of negative karma, but these are never expected. It is understood that the deity hears all prayers, decides what to give, how much, and when. Subtle spiritual benefits include expanded perception, increased awareness of inner realms, energetic purification, aligning with the virtues exemplified with the deity, and even full spiritual union with the divine being.

Goals of Puja: In practice, most pujas are transactional in nature. The practitioner makes offerings with an expectation of receiving a specific boon from the deity. Transactional rituals, especially if they invoke lesser unenlightened beings, require greater skill because the ritual and the beings invoked are generally less forgiving. On a subtle level, the nature of such rituals is to commit physical acts for energetic outcomes. So the energy you put into the ritual in the form of your actions, services, offerings, and skills directly correlate to the precision and potency of the outcome. 

Traditional goals are usually classified as: “peaceful” tasks. These tasks include: protection, healing, veneration, and knowledge. Because the Tantric tradition embraces all aspects of reality, other tasks are mentioned in some esoteric Tantras. Wrathful tasks include: attracting, increasing, enslaving, paralyzing, disturbing, distracting, killing, and generating opposition between individuals. It is important to understand that the openness of the ancient Tantric tradition includes some ‘unsavory’ practices. This is why some people in India still view Tantra with suspicion to this day. Because of the incredible power unlocked with sexual practices, they are also traditionally considered unorthodox and reserved for advanced practitioners.

Premise of Puja: The format of a typical puja is that of welcoming an honored and powerful guest. The formal offerings are intended to persuade the divine being to linger, as it is assumed that their presence is both a blessing and protection. It is generally acknowledged that such veneration attracts and holds the presence of the divine being, which confers certain beneficial and enjoyable side-effects. Much like having a powerful government official in your home, you are protected from hostile forces who are afraid of your new friend’s power. Such beings are understood to be generous in nature and will surely confer blessings and boons. Because the very nature of divine beings is blissful, it is natural to feel delight when they are present. In short, puja is meant to attract beneficial beings and repel harmful spirits and forces.

Subtle Function of Puja: the formalized ritual is designed to attract, hold, and direct your attention. Energy follows attention. The elevation of a deity upon an altar relative to the chakras of the body is designed to help elevate consciousness of the practitioner. Altar = altitude = elevation. Because the deity is attractive, both attention and the subtle power of Kundalini will move towards the divine form. This is why the divine image should not be put directly on the ground and beginners should avoid pointing their feet, genitals or anus at the icon unless this is called for in the ritual itself (there are always exceptions in the Tantric tradition). Moving the “base” of one’s habitual energetic focus upward helps move consciousness from gross personal obsessions (survival, reproduction, sustenance) and vices (anger, jealousy, lust, avarice), up toward divine states (equanimity, wonder, non-attachment) and virtues (compassion, generosity, honesty).

The Nature of Ritual: all communication is ritualistic. What you say may be original, but the language you say it in must be familiar to everyone you wish to speak to. Rituals are stereotypical and traditional in nature because repetition and continuity are both subtle aspects of the earth element. Even regular practice is “earthy.” The earth element is what ‘contains’ the power invoked during the ritual to ensure a predictable, stable, and enduring outcome. Earth is the densest element and acts both as a foundation and launching pad for the spiritual journey. 

The invocation of the powerful deity and use of delightful sensory-stimulating substances is designed to increase the energetic power and intensity of the ritual. When ritualized worship is utilized for enlightenment, liberation, and/or self-realization, the deity acts as a guide to help the practitioner to expand and subtilize awareness while diminishing reactivity, attachment, and limiting/binding karmas. But deities and their rituals are very powerful and can ‘fry’ a human energy body in the process, causing disease and erratic or unnatural behavior. So the predictable, patterned, familiar earthiness of ancient rituals serve as a kind of insurance policy to protect the practitioner from the cosmic powers invoked.

Puja Offerings: The most precious offerings we can give are our love, our attention, and our time. This is because our life-span is limited and such offerings cannot be replaced. So before we discuss the offering of material objects, let us remember first to make a heart-felt internal connection. Physical offerings are meant to attract and delight the deity. Even a leaf offered with devotion can be enough, but some elaborate rituals can last days and include hundreds of specific offerings. After being ritually invoked, the deity is said to inhabit the icon and ‘taste’ or ‘consume’ physical offerings by the power of sight; they need be only placed within sight. Different lineages tend to recommend different types of offerings depending on the proficiency of the student, the disposition of the deity, and the desired outcome. A physical offering or substance is never offered twice or put back on the altar if it falls off.

Elements and Offerings: Because deities are subtle beings, they enjoy subtle offerings more than gross. Fresh, unblemished and skillfully made offerings are superior to crude or corrupt offerings. Unless, of course, a crude object was made with love, in which case love is the true offering and not the object. Visualized offerings are superior to physical substances. Mantras, praise, and ‘service’ (like cleaning the statue) are superior to objects. The sensory experiences of substances are superior to the substances. Your experiences of substances can be offered as if they deity is enjoying those offerings through your eyes, your nose, your tongue, your skin, your ears. So offerings are often grouped according to the gross element, objects representing that element, the sense which perceives that element, and objects or substances which stimulate those senses. They are offered from gross (dense) to subtle (expansive) to help direct the senses (and thus awareness) from the earthly to the sublime.

Element        Object              Sense             Stimulant                    Organ

Earth              Solid (like fruit)          Smell         Incense or perfume Nose

Water             Fluid (like water)          Taste            Delicious substances Tongue

Fire                Light (like candle)         Sight            Beauty, color, sparkle Eyes

Wind              Movement (smoke, dance) Touch           Soft fabric, massage Skin

Space            Graceful Shape (Flower) Hearing        Music, mantra Ear

TRADITIONAL SEQUENCE OF CLASSICAL PUJA

Purification & Sanctification: Everything is physically cleaned. Purification is usually done with sanctified holy water to clean the location, the seat, the tools, the offerings, and the icon. Breathing practices and visualizations may be used to purify the subtle body.

Removal of Obstacles and dispelling of incompatible spirits: typical ritual acts include: ringing of a bell, sprinkling holy water, burning of fragrant herbs or wood (incense), and formally invoking a protector spirit or guardian deity (usually Ganesha).

Statement of Intent:  establishing location in space and time for the ritual to occur as well as setting limits of the effects of the ritual activity. This is accompanied by announcements of type, purpose, and expected results of the ritual. 

Empowerment: placing mantras upon the body.  A form of divinization.

Visualization of the Deity: this establishes not only an internal connection and confirms the clarity of focus, it also is an act of creating a mental “object” and thus a conscious invocation of divine power and will-to-be. If visualization is successful, it is understood to be the deity choosing to reveal itself.

Formal invocation: Requesting the deity to be present.

Internal Rite: offering of mental worship with imagined objects.

Offering of services:  that which is touched (such as clothes or jewels), that which is seen (such as a candle flame), that which is heard (such as music or a bell), that which is edible (such as sweets or the deity’s favorite foods).

Recitation: of the particular mantra of the deity. This is the point in the ritual where the power of the deity is invoked (with the mantra) and the “work” of the deity to fulfill the request is accomplished.

Praise: chanting hymns in praise of the deity; it is assumed that the deity has ‘heard’ and fulfilled the request, even if the effects are too subtle to perceive immediately. 

Armor: the deity’s retinue are placed on various parts of the body (using mantras) to provide protection. This helps to seal and contain the beneficial qualities of the ritual.

Valediction: the formal requesting of the deity to forgive any imperfections of the worship or lapses in attention and bidding the Deity to depart from the icon/object of veneration/focus of ritual.