19. MENTAL WORSHIP

D: Some people desire to perform pūjā but find no suitable opportunity. They are also unable to meditate properly. What can such aspirants do to have one-pointed concentration of the mind?

A: They can practise mānasika-pūjā.

D: What is mānasika-pūjā?

A: Mānasika-pūjā is mental worship of Īśvara. Flowers, incense, etc., are required for pūjā. Here, we imagine all the accessories, conceive that Īśvara has come and offer them to Him. That indeed is mānasika-pūjā.

D: How should mānasika-pūjā be practised?

A: “Īśvara has come. I should welcome Him. I should offer Him an āsana (seat)” – contemplating thus, we welcome Him and offer Him an āsana. After He adorns the āsana, we wash His feet and His hands. For His ācamana, we give Him pure water. He accepts that. Then we bathe Him. Proceeding thus, we complete the pūjā mentally. We do it with the feeling that He accepts all our offerings.

D: What is to be done if Īśvara’s form does not remain steady during mānasika-pūjā?

A: One can keep before oneself a picture of one’s iṣṭa-devatā (chosen Deity). The pūjā may be done while looking at the picture. In due course, the pūjā can be continued after closing the eyes and conceiving that Īśvara is present there. If the form becomes unsteady, the eyes can be opened for a while.

D: Is there any restriction in doing mānasika-pūjā?

A: There is no restriction. It can be done at any time and in any way. Charming effects are seen if Īśvara is worshipped mentally. The mind becomes purified and His grace is obtained. To get an idea about mānasika-pūjā, stotra-s like the Śiva-mānasapūjā-stotra and Mṛtyuñjaya-mānasa-pūjā-stotra may be studied.

D: Is everyone permitted to practise mānasika-pūjā?

A: Yes. There are no restrictions.

D: How long should mānasika-pūjā be done?

A: It can be done for any length of time. Initially, it may be difficult to practise it for a long time. But, with repeated practice, one will find increasing delight in it.

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❑ Incidents from Acharyal's Life

What follows is a first-hand account of Acharyal’s mānasika-pūjā during His initiation into Narasiṁha-mantra.

During My initiation, when Acharyal (Paramacharyal) was about to start voicing the dhyāna-śloka, I found Myself spontaneously visualising Narasiṁha in My heart. As I heard and repeated the dhyāna-śloka, I realised with surprise and happiness that the form of Narasiṁha described therein and the one I was seeing matched. The words relating to the pañcopacāra-pūjā (following the dhyāna-śloka) took only some seconds for Acharyal to utter and for Me to repeat. Yet, I experienced no shortage of time in elaborately worshipping the Lord mentally in My heart with offerings of sandal paste, flowers, incense, lamp, food and so on. I can attribute only to divine grace the irresistible urge that led Me to begin the worship. During naivedya, I served the Lord a variety of dishes in a jewel-studded golden plate, put a little food into His mouth, waited for Him to masticate and swallow and only thereafter offered another morsel. It was as if the several seconds miraculously became extended to over half an hour from My perspective. Even while performing the worship with concentration and dedication, I was able to see Acharyal and repeat His words without delay.

When Acharyal started to utter the Narasiṁha-mantra (after the pañcopacāra-pūjā), He placed His right palm on My head. He did not do this when He initiated Me into other mantra-s such as the Medhā-Dakṣiṇāmūrti and the Śrīvidyā.

The moment Acharyal chanted the mantra once and, following Him, I too did so, an amazing event occurred. Acharyal abruptly withdrew His hand from My head, joined His palms and gazed at Me silently with deep reverence. My breathing stopped. The form of Lakṣmī-Narasiṁha that I was seeing within Me vanished. However, I began to experience the Lord as My Antaryāmin (Inner Controller), refuge and intimate well-wisher as clearly as one can see a fruit in one’s open palm. I ceased to regard the body, prāṇa, organs, mind and intellect as Mine; everything was just His. I do not know how long I remained thus, motionless and immersed in bliss. All along, I did see Acharyal keeping His palms joined and looking in My direction.

Then, the form of Narasiṁha reappeared and My breathing resumed. My mental state reverted to what it had been during My chanting of the mantra but with the difference that I now felt extremely intimate with Narasiṁha. At the same time, Acharyal lowered His hands. He then recited the mantra two more times, giving Me time to repeat His words. After completing the initiation, He said, “After You had said the mantra once, I saw just Narasiṁha in Your place. That is why I jerked back My hand from Your head and offered My salutation to Him. When His form disappeared and You reappeared, I proceeded with the initiation. Dedicate everything to Him.”

Throughout that day, offering everything to Narasiṁha was extremely easy. For instance, when I had My afternoon bath, I automatically felt that I was performing abhiṣeka to Narasiṁha who abided within Me. During bhikṣā, I straightaway visualised Him as accepting from within and eating whatever I put into My mouth. When I read a book after bhikṣā, He appeared to be listening from inside My heart as if I were reading to Him. As I walked, it spontaneously seemed that I was taking Him, who was within Me, for a stroll.

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❑ Experiences of Devotees

The glory of mental worship is something that has to be personally experienced.

One day at Sringeri, at the end of my meditation, I turned towards Acharyal’s pādukā-s and mentally visualized His presence. Immediately, the flowers that were on the pādukā-s jumped up one foot into the air and dropped into my hands. On a subsequent date, the Administrator of the Sringeri Math, Sri Giridhara Sastry returned from camp and conveyed to me a news that gave me great joy. On the very day when this pādukā incident occurred, Acharyal had been at Tarakeshwar. The Mahanth had requested Acharyal to perform pūjā to the sacred Jyotir-liṅgam there and Acharyal, as also the Mahanth had sat down for worship. Instead of going through the usual pūjā procedure, Acharyal closed His eyes and remained thus till the completion of the pūjā. Later, on being asked, Acharyal said that He had been performing mānasika-pūjā. The portion of Giridhara Sastry’s narrative that is particularly relevant is as follows:

Acharyal had visualized a vessel with a thousand holes using which abhiṣeka was being performed by Him to the sacred liṅga. That time, according to Acharyal, He saw me, asking Him whether I could also be with Him during the pūjā. He acceded and said He had noticed my presence throughout the worship. How much should be His concern that even at that time He should have chosen to grace me. It was at that juncture, that at Sringeri flowers automatically jumped off the pādukā-s and came to my hands.

[A disciple]

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Once while I was in Sringeri, I was recollecting the story involving Bhīma engaged in mānasika-pūjā. That story sank the glory of mānasika-pūjā into my mind. I imagined that lotuses were blossoming and I offered them at the lotus feet of Acharyal. I did the mental arcana from the time Acharyal started from Narasimhavanam till He returned to it after visiting the various temples located on the other side of the river. Near Sacchidananda Vilas, His abode, His Holiness turned towards me, smiled and majestically entered inside. In the evening, when I had gone for Acharyal’s darśana, He sent for me. When I devoutly sat down, He held a silver coin of Śāradāmbā in His hands and closed His eyes for a few minutes in meditation. His normally bright face appeared all the more lustrous. Beholding the spiritual splendour gave a joy that has to be experienced to be understood. He gave me the coin and also mantrākṣatā. What a special blessing it was! Subsequently, I was fixing the coin on my sacred thread. Sri Krishnaswami Iyer who watched me doing this, asked, “Did you do any pāda-pūjā?” and continued, “This pendant is given only to those who perform it.” I was perplexed and confined myself to narrating the mental worship that I had done in the morning. “Yes” he replied, “It is the fruit of that worship which you have got now. Cannot our God-like Acharyal, who can fulfil what is in the minds of those who are thousands of miles away, bestow the result of the mānasika-pūja that you did to Him in His presence? This is what He has done.”

[Sri R.Muthusundaram]

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