There is a popular puja called the Satya Narayana Katha that is performed regularly by many Hindu families. This puja in generally performed in the home, but may also be done in a temple. The Satya Narayan puja can be performed on any day. It is not a puja confined to any festivities, but (full moon days or sankranti are considered to be most auspicious day for this puja. Performing this puja in the evening is considered more appropriate, however, one can do it in the morning as well.

On the day of the puja, the devotees should fast and after bathing the puja can begin. This puja is conducted to ensure abundance in one’s life. Many people carry out this puja immediately after or along with an auspicious occasion like a marriage or moving into a new house or any other success in life. In most cases the host will invite many family members and friends. The puja has two parts, the puja proper and the reading of the story (katha) after the puja. The word Satya means truth and Narayana is a form of Vishnu and so the expression means “Narayana the Lord of Truth.” In other words, the puja is a Vishnu puja with a particular story attached. The story purports to be from the Skanda Purana.

Diksha is a ceremony of initiation and the entering of a religious order (sampradaya). How diksha is performed varies with the religious order, but in general it involves a initiating guru giving a mantra to a student and having the student agree to follow a certain religious practice and perhaps even accept a certain set of beliefs. In some religious orders diksha even involves the branding and the giving of a new name to the student. A religious order that focuses on Vishnu, for example, may brand a student with the symbols of Vishnu on the upper arms of the student. Hinduism does not have any formal ceremony of conversion, but if we wanted to find some ceremony that comes closest to a conversion ceremony, the diksha ceremony is the one. For a detailed example of how diksha is performed in a Vaishnava sampradaya, see the article Pancha Samskara, The Process of Initiation.

An abhisheka is a religious bathing ceremony. The word abhisheka means a sprinkling. It is derived from the root sic, to wet, and with the prefix abhi,“around,” abhisheka is literally, “wetting around.” An abhisheka is the bathing part of a puja that usually is done with sacred water. In puja, a Deity is called, seated, greeted, bathed, dressed, fed and praised. The bathing of the Deity is the abhisheka part of the puja. In some cases, the main focus of the puja is the bathing ceremony itself. This is especially the case with the worship of the Shiva Linga or the famous South Indian form of Vishnu known as Balaji. During an elaborate bathing ceremony a Deity is bathed not only in water, but also with milk, yogurt, butter milk, honey, clarified butter, sugar, and all kinds of fruit juices. After this bathing, the sacred image is dressed, ornamented, fed and praised with hymns accompanied with bells, drums and other instruments.

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.