Griha Pravesh Puja Vidhi

Puja in a Hindu household is an elaborate process. It requires a person to prepare well in advance and there are many things required which are not easily available in the market. Keeping up with the age old proverb cleanliness is next to Godliness, the first requirement is to clean the house thoroughly, both inside as well as outside the building. The cleaning process should be done a day before the puja and nothing should be kept inside the house except for lights and fans.

On the actual day of the puja, the family members are required to wear traditional clothes. The male member of the family breaks a coconut on the doorway and lights a camphor lamp on the pumpkin, as the pandit recites the mantras from the Vedic scriptures.

After breaking the coconut the owner along with the procession of his family members carries an image of the deity and enters the kitchen, where another coconut is broken and the water is sprinkled in all room, excluding the bathrooms. Along with coconut water many people also use “Gau Mutra” or cow’s urine, which is also considered holy by Hindus.

Once the procession is over the north east corner of the house is chosen for the ceremony and the pundit prepares for the Ganesh Puja. While preparations are underway for the Vastu Puja and Ganesh Puja, the lady of the house should enter the kitchen and boil milk in a new vessel. Milk is regarded as a sign of purity and boiling over of milk signifies abundance.

Once the milk has spilled over rice is added to the milk and a sweet rice preparation is made, which is first offered in the Vastu Puja and then is distributed as prasad among attendees. During the puja a string made with mango leaves and lemons are hung on the door of the main entrance. Mango leaves are used since they are known to have an immense power of absorbing negative energy from the environment. Many people also perform a Ganapati Homan, and the smoke from the fire is believed to eradicate the house of all its Vastu doshas.