Part 1 Offering flowers to gods Here, the gods have their favourite days, colours and also flowers. Certain specific flowers are sacred to a particular Hindu god. The rituals followed while worshipping a particular god are not complete without offering the gods favourite flower. Here is a list of flowers sacred to the most important Hindu gods Lord Vishnu: Lord Vishnu, the preserver of the Universe has a colourful personality. He like wine, enjoys music and loves to becked up. He represents the cultural elements of our society. Lord Vishnu likes white and fragrant colours like mogra, jasmine etc. Apart from aromatic flowers, this Hindu god loves basil leaves. Lord Shiva: Lord Shiva, the Destroyer of the Universe, is the divine ascetic. He lives the life of hermit in the wilderness of Mount Kailash and is clad in animal skin. Shiva loves all wild things and thus, pretty flowers are never offered to Him. He loves wild flowers like Dhatura and the poisonous flower Akondo or Apple of Sodom. Akondo is a white flower with a bluish tinge that matched the bluish hue of Shivas throat. Kali: Adishakti or the essence of all female power in the Universe is known as Kali in her most destructive form. She is a blood thirsty goddess who represents wearing a garland of Asura heads and blood dripping from her mouth. To match the colour of blood, she worshipped with blood-red hibiscus flowers. Lakshmi: She is iconic for all that is auspicious and pure in your home. Goddess of wealth and prosperity accepts a wide range of flowers. Goddess Lakshmi is shown sitting on a lotus and thus that has to be her favouite flower. But in the absence of roses, any kind of red flowers, like red jasmine, please the goddess greatly. As she is a symbol of fertility and marital bliss, she must never be offered white flowers. White is the colour of widowhood in Hinduism and red is the colour of suhagan (married woman). Vermilion or sindoor that is applied by all married Hindu women is also red. Saraswati: The Goddess of Wisdom and Knowledge is always clad in white to symbolise purity of mind but her favourite colour is yellow. While offering prayers to this goddess you must be clad in yellow and also offer yellow coloured flowers like champa (Indian Magnolia) and yellow palash (Flame of the Forest). Ganapati: The lord of the world Ganesha like red colour flowers just like Lakshmi. Red Genda (Marigold) flowers please him greatly. The Genda is special because it is the only flower of the gods that can be divided into its petals. Scientifically too, each petal of the Marigold flower is a flower in itself. These are some of the favourite flowers of Hindu gods and must be offered to them during their pooja. Why is a specific flower offered to a deity? No puja ritual of a deity is complete without use of flowers. If we know such things as which flowers or leaves are to be offered to a particular deity, in what numbers and their spiritual benefits then we will get more benefit from puja ritual. So let us start with an important ingredient of puja articles namely flowers. 1. Importance of flowers in puja ritual There are subtle frequencies of deities active in the atmosphere. These frequencies are attracted towards certain flowers. These frequencies are then emitted back into atmosphere and are then known as ‘pavitrak’. Let us first see the difference between frequencies and pavitraks:- 1. The subtle principle of deities attracted to a flower from space is called frequencies while the same deity principle when gets emited into atmosphere is called as pavitrak. 2. The frequencies are subtle most and comparatively more unmanifest (nirgun) form of deity principle while a pavitrak is the subtle and manifest form of the same deity principle. Hibiscus flower 1. The Ganesh principle present in the universe gets attracted towards the central space of the red coloured Hibiscus flower and is emitted in the form of circles. 2. The Ganesh principle which is absorbed by the stem of the flower gets emitted through the petals in the atmosphere. 3. The stamen of the flower absorbs the Ganesh principle present in the atmosphere and emits the particles which donate vital energy or pranshakti. 4. The Hibiscus flower is of raja-sattva nature. As a result divine energy (shakti) and divine consciousness (chaitanya) are emitted from its petals. Thus this must have made it clear to you as to how the frequencies of deity principles are attracted towards flower and how through the medium of various parts of flower the same deity frequencies are emitted in the atmosphere in the form ofpavitraks. Thus it is quite clear that the emission or projection of deity principles and pavitraks is a process taking place at a spiritual level. The effect of this process is multifold. One of this is reduction in the strengh of raja-tama principle present in the atmosphere. The negative energies present in the atmosphere get distressed due to the deity principle pavitraks projected by the sattvik flowers. Their tamacomponent dominated energy or what we call as black energy is either reduce or gets destroyed. In short the sattvik flowers fight with the negative energies present in the atmosphere by emitting frequencies of deity principles. Such flowers when brought into contact with a person suffering from the distress of negative energy then the negative energy which has entered the person subsides. To understand this topic clearly we will have to first know the distinction between ‘Negative energy’ and ‘black energy’. There are some distressing energies in the atmosphere which trouble us. They are subtle in nature. They are called ‘negative energies’. The energy of deities is known by the terms such as chaitanya (divine consciousness), bliss(ananda) and shanti (peace) while the energy of negative energies is known as ‘black energy’. The deities are sattva predominant while the negative energies are tama predominant!. A deity looks after our welfare whereas negative energies tend to do us harm. When a person is severely affected by the negative energy distress, his control over his mind, body and intellect is reduced and that of negative energy is increased. This affects the thoughts, emotions etc of the person. Such an affected person when come in contact with an atmosphere predominant in sattva component then there is friction between the positive sattva atmosphere and negative energy. This can manifest in various forms. This may be in the form of a simple thought of leaving the place or a violent reaction. Sometimes these destructive thoughts can become manifest on a physical level. Under such circumstances the negative energy may manifest grossly in the form of sudden burst of anger, shouting, throwing of objects and not only this, it may take any form of destruction such as plundering and breaking of surrounding things. This must have definitely introduced you to the topic of distressing or negative energies. So let us move back to the original topic where we are going to see the effect of sattvik flowers on negative energies. Let us see the effect Shri Ganesh has on a devotee worshipping him by offering him a Hibiscus flower:- 1. Shri Ganesh principle frequencies present in the universe get attracted to the Hibiscus flower. 2. The attracted frequencies get converted intoshakti and chaitanya and are emitted in the atmosphere. 3. The emitted energy is of destroyer type that it reduces the covering of black energy generated by the negative energy around the devotee. 4. There is formation of chaitanya in the heart of the devotee as a result of emitted chaitanya. 5. The subtle particles of destroyer form of energy are projected in the atmosphere. This will help you to understand the importance of flowers. When we offer such sattvik flowers to a deity during puja then the deity frequencies are emitted from the flowers on a large scale. This not only benefits the worshipper but also makes the surrounding atmosphere . 2. Why is a specific flower offered to a deity? Normally we have a concept that a deity is to be offered only that flower which he/she likes. But is it really so? Let us see the actual reason according to science of spirituality. A flower has a particular colour and a special fragrance. On a subtle level the colour and fragrance particles present in the flower have a capacity to attract the principles of a specific deity which benefits the worshipper. That is the principle behind offering specific flowers to a deity and not because they like it. To cite some examples:- White flower like that of Dhatura is offered to Lord Shiva Red cloured flower like Hibiscus for Shri Ganesh and Red coloured flowers for Durga devi also If the worshipper has more spiritual emotion for these flowers then the frequencies of deities get more activated through the medium of these flowers and work for the worshipper directly.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 01:36:00 +0000
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