If you had a magic wand and could conjure up one person who you most wanted to meet in your life – who would you want to meet?  Hepworth 2005

Now imagine this person is coming to visit your house …… How would you prepare for their visit? How would you prepare your house and also yourself???

Darshan – to “ be seen by God” L.O To enquire into the concept of Darshan (being seen by God) – the Hindu idea of worship

Hindu Gods We have already learned that Hindus worship many deities (gods) – who are all part of the ONE god – just different aspects. Hanuman

Some of the gods

1. Shiva & Parvati 2. Lakshmi 3. Durga

Temples – places of worship A Hindu temple is believed to be the earthly seat of a god and the place where the god waits for its worshippers. As such, temples are sacred spaces where people can be with the gods. Many temples look like palace architecture; this is not surprising, as deities are often considered kings.

Looking after the gods Hindus believe that if proper care is not taken of the temple's gods they will abandon the temple. Priests live at the temple and take care of the gods' needs. Each day the god is washed, their clothes changed and offerings are brought to them.

But Hindus don’t have to worship at a temple! The heart of every Hindu home is its shrine: the sacred space set apart for honouring and worshiping the gods. While a particularly devout Hindu may visit a temple every day, others go there only to request a favour from the god or on festival days. Temple worship needs a priest to speak to the god for you, so most Hindus prefer to worship at home.

Puja – worshipping God at home The pujas that take place in the household shrine are the foundation of all family actions and decisions. In the home the contact between devotee and deity is direct. The size and decoration of a household shrine do not matter. The shrine may be large and impressive, an entire room or a or it may be simply a tiny niche, or even just a row of religious prints pasted on a wall.

Praying every day Everyday, one or more people in the family will honour the family’s god or goddess at their home shrine. To worship the god properly at home you have to connect to god with all your senses – worship becomes a multi sensory experience. Prayers will be chanted to the god or goddess, people bow before the god.

The five senses

The five main things used in Puja Can you match the item to the sense it uses

Let’s check your answers

Why do you think it might be important to use all the senses when worshipping God

Here’s one Hindus description of Puja I perform Puja before I go to school. First I wash myself and then I wash the Murti. On my shrine the Murti is the Goddess Saraswati – the goddess of learning. I place a mark on the Murtis forehead with Tikka powder. The arti tray is placed in front of the Murti. I make offerings of flowers, fruit and holy water and burn incense sticks. I light the arti lamp and ring the bell to let saraswati know I am ready. We turn around three times to show God is all around us. Then we pray or meditae. Afterwards we share prashad ( holy food) Explain the similarities between this and how you prepared for your special visitor.

Evaluation If Hindus believe Brahman is everywhere and in everything – is there any point in performing Puja?

On the hand performing puja is important because……………… On the other hand performing puja is not important because………… Overall I think puja is/is not important because……………..