The Significance of Performing Various Durga Puja Rituals

The human soul had got contaminated over the years with the hazardous blend of the impurities of the World. Performing various religious rituals on various festivals has been a part of our existence since ages. When it comes to Hinduism and their spirit of getting entrenched in the serenity, worshipping Gods & Goddesses is considered to be of the prime importance.

It is interesting to find out who the God is or weather it exists or not but exploring on how do the various rituals performed in the Hindu mythology on various occasions' impact our live is way more important. With the fact in mind that, the festival of Durga Puja is approaching fast and is one of the largest festivals of India, we will be discussing here about the various rituals performed in Durga Puja in detail.

The Durga Puja rituals in Hindu mythology have been classified into two the External and the Internal forms. Let us take a look into these forms of various rituals performed in the Hindu mythology. Performing Puja or worshipping the God is directly related to purifying the soul and making it free from various types of evils that keeps us surrounded with and thus making our minds contaminated.

DURGA PUJA RITUALS

As per the mention in the Bengali Calendar, during the month of Ashwin, Goddess Durga's Bodhan occurs. Bodhan refers to awakening and as per the Puranas, Ram had first performed this ritual to cause to defeat Ravana. This event is referred to as Akalbodhanand the Durga is referred to as Sharadiya. With our prayers and puja we are entitled to awaken the supder powers of the almighty Gods and Goddesses and thus to save to save the human masses from getting affected with thje existence of evil powers.

To get the most benefits, this ritual is considered to be very important! In this ritual, a copper or Brass vessel is made filled with water and is set in front of the idol of the Goddess Dura or an earthen base. Right over the vessel, 5, 7 or 9 leaves of mango tree along with a clean piece of cloth and a coconut is placed over the vessel. This is a way of purifying the ambience of the place where it is the vessel is put in.

Basically the idol that we worship and that is placed over various Pandals are made from either clay or wood or any other lifeless material and they do not have life in it in actual sense. So, in order that, we could be able to put in the soul of the divine Durga, various Mantras and Slokas are uttered. This fills in the idol with the life of the idol of the Goddess. It's only our belief that keeps us motivated towards the pure way of life and makes us strong like the sword of Maa Durga.

This one is a ritual that is observed on the morning of Saptami! From different trees, 9 lives are collected and are called as NavaPatrika and they all symbolise the 9 forms of Maa Durga and are worshipped from Saptami. In colloquial language the NavaPatrika is referred to as KalaBou. This one is mace of nine distinct saplings and is bind together with the creeper of Shet Aparajita, Alta (liquid of red colour used for the decoration of feet) and red string. Finally, a cover of white Sari with red border is placed over this and is made seated near the idol of Goddess Durga. Here also, each of the saplings is symbolic of the nine forms of Maa Durga.

Kalo Kochu - Devi Kalika
Haridra - Devi Durga
Ramva - Devi Bromhanee
Jayanti - Devi Kartikee
Billo - Devi Shiva
Dhanno - Devi Laxmi
Ashok - Devi Shokrohita
Darrim - Devi Raktodontika
Maan Kochu - Devi Chaamunda

Sandhi Puja is done during the last 24 minutes of Ashtami and first 24 minutes of Navami and in this time Maa Durga is worshipped in the form of Devi Chamunda. It has been observed by many learned people that this one is the highest form of the worship of Devi Durga. 108 lamps are lit during this ritual and 108 lotus are dedicated for the worshipping the Goddess.

During older times, it was a ritual to sacrifice animals in order to complete the Puja but these days it is considered unethical to take the life of living being for the making completion of any type of Puja.

This one is one an integral part of the Durga Puja! This is done top show the devotion and dedication of the worshipper towards Maa Durga. The process of performing the Yagna is a long process. Yagna is also called Hom in Bengali. In Puranas, fire is believed to be a form of God and mythology makes us to believe that hymms and Mantras are the major parts of the Puja ritual of Durga Puja. The Samrpan of fruits and other materials is the part of purifying the human soul. Mythalogies teaches us that it is Yagna that makes our souls pure enough to bring in that needed dedication for God.