A havan or homa is similar to a puja in the sense that both are common modes of Hindu worship and both are symbolic forms of communication. The words havan and homa each derive from the Sanskrit root hu, meaning to consume. Generally, the word havan is heard in North India and homa is used in South India, but in either case, the meanings are identical. I will use the word havan, but I could just as easily use the word homa.

A havan is a religious ceremony performed in temples and in homes that involves worship through the use of a sacred fire. The use of fire as a means of worship is the most ancient of all rites, going back to the earliest Vedic times. This fire ritual is described in elaborate detail in the Brahmanas. From the earliest of Vedic times and even to present day, fire (Agni) was viewed as the chief of the Gods. In fact, the first verse of the Rig Veda is addressed to Agni, the fire God. “I praise Agni, the chosen Priest, God, minister of sacrifice… .”

In ancient times the fire sacrifice was an elaborate ceremony that could involve the sacrifice of horses, cows and goats, as well as gold, gems and other precious items into the fire. Today, a havan is a simplified ritual that rarely involves animal sacrifice or the placing of precious items into the fire. Instead, rice or a kind of popery is commonly substituted for these items, but still the basic meaning of the ritual remains. This may sound odd or glib, but an easy way to think of the havanis as a symbolic “postal system.” The fire container is the postbox, fire is the postman, the items placed into the fire are the message and mantra is the means of address. Generally, wood and clarified butter (ghee) are used as the fuel. The fire container, which may be brick or metal, is called a kunda, and when made of brick it is built to specific dimensions and shapes according to the purposes of the ceremony. For home use, generally a small metal havan kunda is used instead of a brick one because of its ease of setup and portability. In a formal situation, a brick kunda will be used. Kundas have different shapes: square, rectangular, round and triangular, but in most cases the square kunda is used.

A havan ceremony involves a priest and a host(s) and guests sitting before the kunda while mantras are recited and various items such as ghee, rice, herbs, foodstuffs, and other items are placed into the fire. Through the mantras, fire, is asked to take the prayers and consumed offerings (hence the meaning of hu “to eat”) to the intended Divinity. For example, if one wanted to perform a havan for increased health, one could direct the offerings to the sun Deity, Surya. If one wanted rain, one might direct their prayers and offerings to the rain Deity, Indra. If one wanted to increase luck and general prosperity one could direct Agni to take the offerings to Ganesha and Lakshmi, two Divinities in charge of luck and fortune. In this way, during a havan many Deities may be propitiated with a specific focus on just one or two, depending on the purpose.

Puja and havan can also be combined. In fact, this is most common. For example, a ceremony could begin withpuja to a sacred image of Ganesha and then a puja using a copper pot, coconut and leaves to Varuna and then go on to include a havan directed towards Vishnu, Shiva and Durga Devi. In common speech the complete ceremony would be called a puja, but in fact there are many pujas and many havans all combined into one.

A puja is a religious ceremony performed in temples or in homes that involves worship through the use of a sacred image. At its most basic level of understanding, puja is a symbolic means of communication, a way to reach out to higher powers. There are many ways that we can reach out to divinity: through prayer, meditation, acts of charity, and so forth, but one of the most import and common means is through ritual. In fact, ritual is the foundation of worship and all religions employ rituals as a means to contact the Divine. The Christian Eucharist, the Jewish Seder (passover meal), the Islamic practice of bowing towards Mecca, the Buddhist use of the prayer-wheel and, of course, the Hindu puja are all important uses of ritual that allows a worshipper to communicate with higher powers. The word puja derives from the Sanskrit root puj, to honor or respect.A puja can be short or long, lasting minutes or days, simple or elaborate, involving just the worshipper or many priests and guests, but in every case puja involves the invocation of a Deity as “a guest” in the home, temple or heart of the worshiper. A puja usually employs some kind of sacred image or photo, which serves as a focal point wherein the “spirit” of the Deity is invited to reside for the duration of the ceremony. The sacred image or photo serves as a kind of “receptacle” to house the spirit of the Deity. The image is usually made of metal, wood or, now a days even plastic, but it could even be just a sketch of a Deity drawn on the ground in sand or earth. One can think of the sacred image as an icon that becomes “switch on” or “surcharged” with the spirit of the Deity during the time of puja. Sometimes, instead of using a specific sacred image or photo, just a coconut with leaves in a copper pot is used as a “generic” receptacle. Any God or Goddess can then be invited into this receptacle for the ritual. Puja can be viewed as either the Deity coming down to man and appearing in a form comprehensible to human beings, or man creating a symbolic form of the Deity that is then used to reach out towards the Deity. In other words, puja can be either a descending process or an ascending process. This is a matter of theology and faith.

Once a particular Deity was been evoked, puja is simply the receiving and adoration of that God or Goddess as a guest. The Deity is then worshiped in a logical and loving manner as one would treat a human guest. A formal puja usually involves 16 separate offerings made to the Deity, but could also involve as many as 27 items of worship or as few as just a couple of items. These items include welcoming and seating of the Deity; washing the feet, hands and mouth; bathing, dressing, ornamentation of the Deity; feeding and worship with incense, lamps and prayers and finally, sending back or releasing the Deity from the receptacle. In its more simple form, puja may only include incense and a lamp. The process is totally malleable and can easily be adjusted to suit the conditions of the worshipper.

Pujas are performed both in temples (mandirs) and in private homes. In temples, they are usually associated with the daily worship of the temple’s sacred images and are performed only by priests. They are also performed on special festival days or upon request of individuals by temple priests. In homes, pujas are performed for special occasions such as anniversaries, graduations, the birth of children, memorial days, or simply for general prosperity and peace within the family. In this case, the family members themselves perform the puja under the guidance of a priest. Commonly performed pujas include Ganesha, Satya Narayana, Durga, and Lakshmi pujas. In fact, a puja can be performed for any God or Goddess or even a combination of Deities. Perhaps the most important part of a puja is the final blessing by the priest and the distribution of prasada at the end. The purpose of a puja is to evoke the presence of a Deity and then to receive the blessing of that Deity. One of the jobs of the priest is to give these blessings. Prasada is the blessed food that has been offered to the Deity during the puja. This food is then offered to all those who have attended the puja. Prasada is the blessing of the Deity.

Hinduism is full of many sacred rituals and colorful ceremonies. These include weddings, the naming of children, hair cutting ceremonies and funerals. Collectively, these ceremonies are called samskaras, rites of passage. Pujas always form the basis of Hindu samskaras and during the course of a marriage, for example, many small pujas will be performed. There may be a dozen pujas contained within the one large marriage ceremony and these pujas involve the invocation of various Gods and Goddess to bless the couple and even the worship of ancestors, pitri-puja, to give blessings to the couple.

Archana

Apart from being a common girl’s name, archana is akin to puja. Technically, archana and puja are the same thing and the words could be interchanged, however, in practice puja generally refers to a more formal “sit down” ceremony, while archana is a ceremony performed by a temple priest on a “walk-in basis.” Typically, a devotee will come to a temple with a basket of fruits and flowers and perhaps a coconut and the priest will offer these items to the Deity on the altar along with a lamp and prayers. The devotee will then receive the food offerings back as a prasada or blessings from the Deity. This is archana.

Within Hinduism there are special ceremonies where sacred images are formally installed in temples. These installation ceremonies are generally given two names: Murti Sthapana and Prana Pratishta. The word murti means sacred image and “sthapana” means “placing,” and so the murti sthapana ceremony is the “placing of the sacred image.” The other term, Prana Pratishta is a little less common, but is still prevalent. “Prana” means “breath” and “pratishta” means “establishing,” and so the Prana Pratishta ceremony is literally “establishing the breath” within the sacred image. In other words, it is bringing the sacred image to life. Instead of repeating both terms, I will just use the term Murti Sthapana to mean both. The Murti Sthapana ceremony is fairly common in the West at the present time because there is a renaissance of Hinduism taking place as many new temples are being established. In another generation or so such ceremonies will likely become less common. In temples the ceremonies are generally elaborate and may last for many days and include many priests. Such ceremonies include immersing the sacred image in water, rice, and flowers; bathing the sacred image in milk, yogurt, clarified butter (ghee) and other sacred substances, and performing many havans/homas and pujas. Generally, a Murti Sthapana ceremony is not performed in private homes, or if it is, the ceremony is much simpler.

There are two ways to understand the Murti Sthapana ceremony. The first is as a contract. An agreement is established between the Deity and a temple congregation: the Deity agrees to “descend” into the sacred image, and the congregation agrees to care for the Deity in the form of service, seva. The ceremony is literally the bringing and awakening of the Deity within the stone or metal image. The other view is more theological. By definition God is all-pervading and omni-present and so the idea of establishing the breath of the Deity within an image is impossible, God is already there! The purpose of the ceremony is not to establish the Deity within the image, but to awaken the mind of the participates, through the power of ritual, to the presence of divinity within the sacred image. At the beginning of the ceremony people see only stone or metal, but at the end they see God! The real installation takes place not in the stone or metal image, but in the minds and hearts of the participants. This is the power of ritual. The culmination of such a ceremony is when the “eyes” of the image are actually opened. In some instances, a sculptor will chip away at the eyes of the image and “open” them up. More commonly, a chief guest will be invited to remove a covering from the eyes of the image with a golden coin or similar object. The first thing the newly infused Deity will see is an image of Him or Herself as a mirror is held before the newly “awakened” image.

Karwa Chauth is a “ladies” festival that is especially popular within many of the communities from north India, particularly the Punjabi community. It is a vow to fast undertaken by married ladies, who offer prayers to the Goddess Gauri seeking the welfare, prosperity, and longevity of their husbands and families. The word, “karwa” refers to an earthen pot with a spout, which is seen as a domestic symbol for peace and prosperity. The word “chauth,” means 4th and it refers to the fourth lunar day after the new moon in the month of Karttika (October-November) when the vow is followed.
On the day of the vow, married ladies will rise early, before the sun, bathe, perform some puja and recite a sankalpa (a special prayer that describes the vow they are about to follow) and then take a simple “pre-fasting” meal. For the rest of the day they will abstain from food including even water. In the later afternoon, a few hours before moonrise, they will dress in their best outfits and jewelry, which may include their wedding outfits, and then get together at a temple or someone’s home for a collective puja. Typically the ladies will sit in a circle and perform a Gauri puja accompanied by a traditional story that describes the origins and benefits of following this fast. During the puja each lady holds a tray that is passed around the circle at different times making a total of seven rounds. These seven rounds match the seven circles that a bride and groom take around the sacred fire during their wedding ceremony. Once the puja is completed the ladies will go outside and wait for the moon to rise. They do not break their fast until they have seen the moon. Interestingly, they never look directly at the moon, but only through a screen like a sieve or at a reflection of the moon in water. After seeing the moon each lady will return home, bow to her husband for a blessing and then eat a simple vegetarian meal. That at least is the tradition.