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Thread: How to address a priest, a pujari?

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    How to address a priest, a pujari?

    Do you address a priest as Pandit [name], or Pujari [name] or Sri [name], or some other way? And if you don't know his name, is he addressed just by a title or honorific?
    śivasya hridayam viṣṇur viṣṇoscha hridayam śivaḥ

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    Re: How to address a priest, a pujari?

    namaste.

    panDiTji, prohitji, pujAriji will be fine, IMO, if you don't include the name, which we normally don't, if the priest is elder to us. If the priest is younger and we want to include his name, just add ji to his name; you might also address him as title + name + ji. This is also the way we refer to him when speaking to a third person.
    रत्नाकरधौतपदां हिमालयकिरीटिनीम् ।
    ब्रह्मराजर्षिररत्नाढ्यां वन्दे भारतमातरम् ॥

    To her whose feet are washed by the ocean, who wears the Himalayas as her crown, and is adorned with the gems of rishis and kings, to Mother India, do I bow down in respect.

    --viShNu purANam

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    Re: How to address a priest, a pujari?

    Thank you. I was close.
    śivasya hridayam viṣṇur viṣṇoscha hridayam śivaḥ

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    Re: How to address a priest, a pujari?

    Vannakkam Minotaur: Depends on the temple, and variies from place to place. One way of finding that out is to watch others when they address him, and then just do that. In my temple, its either Kurrukul, or Iyer. Nothing extra is added.

    Aum Namasivaya

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    Re: How to address a priest, a pujari?

    hari o
    ~~~~~~

    namast

    If I do not know the local (specific) temple custom I address them as a
    paṇḍita . This word means learned , wise, scholar.


    I then address them verbally as pundit-ji - this sounds something like
    pun-da(t)-jee - the 't' is there but with a small sound with little emphysis.

    praṇām
    यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
    yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
    because you are identical with śiva

    _

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    Re: How to address a priest, a pujari?

    Namaste EM and yajvan, and thank you.

    Quote Originally Posted by Eastern Mind View Post
    Vannakkam Minotaur: Depends on the temple, and variies from place to place. One way of finding that out is to watch others when they address him, and then just do that.
    Well, there's nothing more sensible than that!

    Quote Originally Posted by yajvan View Post
    hari o
    ~~~~~~

    namast

    If I do not know the local (specific) temple custom I address them as a
    paṇḍita . This word means learned , wise, scholar.

    I then address them verbally as pundit-ji - this sounds something like
    pun-da(t)-jee - the 't' is there but with a small sound with little emphysis.

    praṇām
    Thanks. Yes, "pundit" has been adopted by the western media to refer to someone expert in an area, like "the financial pundits say... "

    Now, I know sitarist Ravi Shankar is called pandit; the late Ali Akbar Khan and his father Allaudin Khan, the sarodists were called ustad.

    So I guess it's "when in temple, do as the Hindus do".
    śivasya hridayam viṣṇur viṣṇoscha hridayam śivaḥ

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    Re: How to address a priest, a pujari?

    Vannakkam: At least in the South Indian style, priests are rarely addressed. Their job is to be a conduit for the deity, to coax the deity 'out'. This takes concentration and an almost trance like state. Not a good time to strike up a conversation. So you need to approach a priest in more of a down time for him, after the puja, maybe well before the pujas.

    The role is incredibly different from the western version of 'priest'.

    Dakshina, for example, is given silently.

    Aum Namasivaya

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    Re: How to address a priest, a pujari?

    Quote Originally Posted by Eastern Mind View Post
    So you need to approach a priest in more of a down time for him, after the puja, maybe well before the pujas.
    Yes, that's what I was asking about... speaking with them after or before puja. I would think that right before puja he is/they are preparing themselves spiritually.

    The role is incredibly different from the western version of 'priest'.
    Of that I am sure. Everything is different from the western version of priest.
    śivasya hridayam viṣṇur viṣṇoscha hridayam śivaḥ

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