Namaskar all,
Happy Ganesha Chaturthy everyone! I hope all have been having a lovely Chaturthy. =)
I have run into a bit of a tangle in our own celebrations. Ganesha is staying in our home again this year, we are very happy and blessed. And this year we have had many visitors as well. One is a good friend and neighbor who is Marathi, she has been coming every night so far. It's been so great having her come by so often, it's nice to have more than just myself and my other half at evening puja.
But last night she asked me a question I can't answer, at least not with any great confidence. I'm hoping others here may have some guidance.
In the tradition I have been learning and practicing, which is Saiva Siddhanta as taught by Kauaii Adheenam and Gurudev Subraminiyaswami, puja ends with a leave-taking prayer, or ksama prarthana. I learned this to be a part of daily puja through Loving Ganesha, but have also seen other traditions at other temples I've gone to use a similar - if not the same - prayer. This is that prayer, my apologies for any errors in the devanagari, I was not able to copy from a correct source, so could only attempt to recreate to the best of my ability):
My friend and neighbor asked me last night why I do that every puja, she says that to her this is a visarjan chant and visarjan=immersion. So each time I do this, it's like immersing the murthi, and He's no longer there anymore, so it makes her feel bad (I'm not sure if she meant in general or just for me). She said she doesn't say such prayer even in her own puja room as it would be the same as immersing her deities and releasing them, and that would negate the point of having done pran-pratistha to seat them to begin with, one would have to do pran-pratistha every time one starts puja.ॐ आवहनम न जानामि न जानामि विसर्जनम ।Aum avahanam na janami na janami visarjanam
पूजाञछैव न जानामि क्ष्म्यतं परमेश्वर ॥
मन्त्रहिनम क्रियाहीनम भक्तिहीनम सुरेश्वर ।
यत पूजितं म्या देव परिपूर्णं तदस्तु ते ॥
आन्यत शरणम नास्ति त्वमेव ष्हरणम मम ।
तस्मत करुन्यभावेन रक्ष रक्ष गणेश्वर ॥
ॐ तत सत ॐ
pujanchaiva na janami kshamyatam parameshvara
mantrahinam kriyahinam bhaktihinam sureshvara
yat pujitam mayadeva paripurnam tadastute
anyatha sharanam nasti tvameva sharanam mama
tasmat karunyabhavena raksha raksha Ganeshvara
Aum tat sat Aum.
O beloved Lord Ganesha, we really do not know the proper means of invoking You or communicating with You as You are. A full knowledge of priestly rites has not been imparted, so You must overlook and forgive any mistakes or omissions. We know little of mantras or pious conduct, and we are strangers to true bhakti. Nonetheless, You must forgive us and, whatsoever worship we have been able to do, accept it as exact and complete -- because You are our only refuge, our loving Ganesha. With your blissful nature, Lord Ganesha, we beseech you, protect those who pray. Aum Tat Sat Aum.
I tried to explain that this was given to learn as the closing prayer for every puja by the tradition I study, but she has never heard of that. However, I know I have been to temples where the this or something very close to it is said at the end. Not all do it, for instance the Satsang center I go to regularly doesn't, but a Temple I go to when in Florida does. So I feel like it must be a practice specific to certain linneages, but I am not Indian and I haven't ever formally studied Sanskrit, and my neighbor is and has. so I have no idea how to answer her, and I don't want to say something wrong.
Meanwhile, while I know my neighbor meant only to be helpful and to ask out of curiosity, and perhaps to teach, this has created some tension in my home as well. There have been at least two conversations about it since then, one ending in bad feeling when my other half insulted the validity of the tradition I have been studying for the past 2 years - though I think and hope it was inadvertent.
So, I could really use some guidance in how to respond, and if I have perhaps somehow offended my neighbor? This is clearly something that is not a part of her tradition and I will not do it aloud when she comes, if it will help. But is she right, did I somehow misunderstand in my reading of the puja proceedure and this should only be said at the end of a major ferstival and not at the end of puja in general?
My sincere thanks for any and all thoughts.
~Pranamo
Edit to add: I think I put this in the wrong sub-forum, my apologies, thought I had put it in another one. Please feel free to move it if so.
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