Types of worship

Worship is of three types (i) Daksinacara (ii) Vamacara and (iii) Misracara. These three types have been dealt with elaborately in the introduction. In this chapter, the worship process as such will be undertaken for study. The process of worship is twofold i) Meditative - where no accessories or external objects are required and ii) Actual -where different sorts of accessories and materials are required. i) The medetative process. This type of worship can be referred to as the nirguna or manasika upasana. In this method the worshipper contemplates on the goddesses and offers worship to her by simply referring to them verbally. The sadhaka at the end of the worship offers the five elements as offerings to the goddesses. These elements are represented by the fingers of the hands and the accompaniment of their corresponding Bija mantras. This is popularly known as the Pancopacarapaja. The following table will help in a quick check. Sno. Finger. Element. Bija Substitute mantra. Offering. 1. Thumb Earth Lam Gandham 2. Fore finger Sky Ham Flowers 3. Middle finger Wind Yam Incense 4. Ring finger Fire Ram Lights 5. Little finger Water Vam Nectar

In the meditative form of worship the goddess is perceived to be present and worship is offered to her. The goddess becomes real and manifests before the mental eyes of the sadhaka. This type of worship though is very easy to follow and practise needs a different state of mind. One of the greatest exponents of this method is Sri Sankaracarya. There are abundant compositions of the acarya which throw light on this point. The acarya has composed the following compositions on the goddesses³ which echo the meditative form of worship i) Tripurasundari-manasa-puja-stotram. ii) Devicatussasti-upacara-puja-stotram. iii) Mantra-matrka-puspa-stavah. In all these compositions, Sankaracarya has offered meditative worship to the goddess. The Devi-catussasti-upacara-stotram is a composition which is both wonderful and unique. In this the acarya has offered worship to the goddesses right from the morning wakeup till the goddess retires to sleep. All the sixtyfour services are merely contemplative and not actual. The acarya seems to be aware of the temple ritual services as per the Agama Sastra and it has echoed in this composition of his. ii) The actual process. This type of worship can be referred to as the saguna upasana. In this type of worship the sadhaka worships the goddess as present directly in the concrete form of an idol. She is a living entity, one who breathes, walks, talks and does every single act which any glorious living being would do in 3 Sri Sankaracarya Stotras, Devi stotras p. 186, 218, 246, 249 etc.. Samata Books Madras 1995

the case of the sadhaka. To this gross form which might be either a bronze cast statue or granite idol are offered various upacaras 4. These upacaras are offered either physically or by the way of display of mudras or by a combination of the two.