Meta Pradeep

In my last blog post (last year), I had shared how I prayed at home. I had shared then that I would share my weekly visit to the temple. We visit the Ayyappa Temple in Bhairav Nagar, Pune on every Saturday. The temple's main deity is Lord Ayyappa. It is nestled between residential buildings and a park where seniors walk and exercise and youngsters play. The temple is situated perpendicular to the entrance. So, after one enters, one goes around a bit before entering the temple complex.  The main complex houses Ayyappa, Ganapathy, Murugan and Durga are within the main temple complex. Outside the main complex there are two minor shrines to Shiva and Vishnu. On two sides of the shrine to Shiva are the snake grove and the place to worship the planets (as per Hindu mythology).  Besides visiting the temple every Saturday, we also visit the temple for festivals and special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries. 

I stood in front of the small prayer stand in my house and glanced at the Gods placed there. The stand is in the corner of our kitchen. They were placed there because that was the only suitable space we found for them. The stand is a piece of glass held up by two metallic brackets. Our prayer stand. Image courtesy: Dhanya Vallat Framed photographs of Goddess Laxmi, Lord Krishna, Lord Ganapathy, and Lord Ayyappa are placed on the stand. Every day, early in the morning, I pray to the Gods asking for their help and assistance to guide me through the day. This was my prayer routine before I got married. Since marriage, I have added a few steps to my morning prayer routine. I first fill water in a kindi and shankha . Then, I light the traditional lamp at home. I then burn a single incense stick. I move them in a clockwise motion around all the photo frames on the prayer stand thrice. I then place the incense stick on a stand. I then proceed to pray as I did above and then touch m...