Why do we have a Puja Room ?

Dear Chitvish,

Really good & knowledgeable article. Keep it up & Thanx for posting.

Thankyou very much for the feedback.
Love & regards,
Chithra.

The Prayer-room should be made in the North-East, the Eashanya zone for worship and meditation. Lord Shiva is the deity representing North-East. Special pujas, pujas for festivals, Katha and havan etc. can be performed in the central portion or the courtyard of the house, which is the brahmasthan .

For big plots, commercial establishments or group housing societies, the temple can be in the central portion or the Brahmasthan of the area. However, for everyday prayers in residences, North-East is the preferred location for having a prayer room.

Planning of Prayer Room
The statues or picture of the deities should be placed in the North or East on a raised platform.
One should face North or East while praying.
Never make the puja-room in the South or in the bedroom.
Do not construct your prayer room either exactly above or below or close to a toilet.
The temple should not be under the stairs.

The Havan
The Havan-should be in the South-East direction of the worship room.
Cupboards or Almirahs should be in the South or West of the room.
Floors for the pooja -room can be in the auspicious areas or even in the central portion of the wall.
The doors should be of good quality wood and should have two shutters.
A threshold for the worship room is a must.
White or off white marble is auspicious for the floor of the puja- room.
Walls should be white or soft shades of blue.
The doors and windows should be in the North and East.

The Roof Of The Pooja-room
Pyramid shaped roofs are good for the prayer room and they enhance the power of meditation.
All the family members can enjoy the benefits of physical and spiritual well being by spending half an hour daily in the prayer room having pyramid shaped roots.
It is important to keep the puja -room absolutely clean and free of clutter.
Avoid having pictures of dead departed ancestors in the puja -room along with the pictures of deities.
The statues should not be Khandit or broken/chipped in any part.
The idols should not be placed in an alcove in a wall.
Idols should not be kept facing each other in the upper hall of the worship room.
There should be ventilators or a skylight can be provided.
In case a separate worship room cannot be made, and perforce, the prayer room is in the kitchen, care should be taken to place the deity in the North-East of the kitchen.
The small temple should be above the level of the stove.
In case of a big plot, make a temple either in the North-East or in the Brahmasthan.
Face East or North while praying.
The same concept can be extended for factories, industries and group housing societies.

Vanakam to all the readers,
First of all i thank to all the forum member to share such a good information about aur religion.I do get benefits readings all the tread,althoug i do chants some mantras during fridays prayers but definately i'm gonna chant more mantra's soon.
I'm a guy aged 25,just moved in to my own house and i haven't yet set up the prayers room,just worshipped the god in the hall itself althoug i construct the prayer room in pyramid manner but i haven't finish yet coz i was a bit confuse about the direction .I accidently found a kubera chakra in my house after i moved in and there is alot of pigeons living in my house siling.I like my prayer rooms to be big as it is situated in one of the rooms.My questions is do we need to do the poojas everyday both in the morning and evening or once in a day or on alternate basics?Can we put a small pic of deities on the car porch facing the road for some of the god they prefer to faceoutside the house(i.e Lord Muniswarar etc).Plzz correct me if i were wrong as i am a L|ttl3^K|d who just crawling to get up on my own feets!Nandri n vanakam

regards
amar_av

Dear Chitra Mami

Hello I am writing after along time to you . I went through the above article and nice to get more information I basically dont know how to thank you for all the guidances given either directly to me or indireclty thought the IL sites .I fell happy and also sorrow in one sense for not having a verbal coversation with you .

This Navarathri i recited slokas posted for Navarathri and also seen the information on how to do Deppavali puja and i will try to do the puja if I am in my residence (as I have plans to go to BIL for Divali ) One thing I am very much confused for which i need some clarification and guidance . I have kept allthe deities in one of the cupborads and I fell lot of negative enegy is there because I do recite slokams but not able to form a routine due to sometimes because of late rising up in the morning or lack of time, or some distrubances at home and sometimes due to small illnes like headaches . What can I do to form a daily routine to worship.

Secondly the folowing point is haunting me for a long time :

Several people says if you worship Lord Shiva , it will be good for you , some says you shoud recite Vishnu sahasranama daily , some says you should recite Lalitha sahasranamam daily, some says you should recite shlokas on Mahalakshmi ,Lord Dakshinamoorthy etc etc . Some says it is good if you do fasting on Monday for SHiva so that your Marital life will be very peaceful (As lot of difference of opinions are there between me and my husband and have one daughter around11 years )and some says you should do fasting on Thursdays for Guru . So i am really confused as what to recite on what days and as to whether we should recite slokas for only one God or all of them . And I do recite with the help ofthe book both Vishnu Sasrananama and Lalitha Sashrananm whenver time permits . But I feel practicaly not feasible to do daily.

And recently in one of the magazines it was stated that you should recite shloka on Ganesha, then Kula Deivam and Ishta Deviam . Actually I am not able to decide about the Ista Deviam and specailly there are lot of f orms of Devis of which form can be called as Ista Deivam.

I am sorry to ask a unsignificant question like above but you treat as me a small child and help me.I am very very very ignorant .

Waiting eagerly for a reply as child wants reply from their Mother Immediately. And furhter one more query (whether can I have a personal access to you)

Thanks and bye
Shanthi

Dear Shanthi,
Nice hearing from you.
You have raised a lot of doubts. My advice is simple. Do not bother too much about, which deity, when to fast, what shloka to recite etc.
What I write here is purely my personal opinion, with offence to none.
Light the lamp & stand in front of altar for a minute atleast & just think of God, thank him for your very existence.Pray to him to lead you right and that your love & devotion should only increase inspite of all problems you face in life.
Besides this, do whatver you feel like, time allowing.
There is no hard & fast rule at all. God is Grace personified. Period.
Love,
Chithra.

Thanks mami for replying so quickly. I will follow your advise and try to make it as a daily routine.

Bye and Once again thanks
Shanthi

hai Chitra ma'am
a very nice topic. except those days in a month i spend some time daily in the puja room. my puja , apart from the routine slokas, ashtotras, dhoopa,deepa ,naivedyam;is mostly a time to meditate and have a chit chat with god.(i do the chatting, he listens.... ,atleast i believe so!)

Chitra mami,
I spend some time daily in the puja room for both time. my puja room is combined with kitchen. .I recite routine slokas, ashtotras, offer neivedhyam & do aarthi for God.

Dear Chitra mam,
It was nice reading about the Puja room. So true we feel positive energy and vibrations just entering or sitting in the Puja room.
So nice to get such wonderful information from you.

Vaidehi