Why do I do Puja?

I love to tie myself in discipline because unless I tie myself, I won’t oblige. For me going home, taking bath and then chanting Adya Stotra everyday is more a discipline than calling the gods mentioned in this stotra for some favour. By the way I took one full year to memorize this stotra.

I don’t believe that chanting a mantra is going to do any good in my life. I don’t believe that chanting Adya Stotra everyday is going to please the gods and get me blessings from them. I have seen people who keep claiming themselves to be great devoted and who chant mantras in loud voices while walking in the entire house to show-off their devotion to the gods....yes just to show-off. I really don’t know what these people achieve from this because the intention of chanting the mantra is totally flawed here. In this world of double standards, people don’t leave gods also to show-off and prove themselves to be better than others.

But for me following rituals brings a sense of discipline in me. So, be it my daily puja or Thursday morning and Saturday morning visit to the temples or reading Hanuman Chalisa every Saturday; it makes me feel good about my discipline. I follow the Hindu rituals for Puja without being maniacs. What I mean to say is that I don’t believe in making out the strictest rules for rituals and then following them to show others that how big devotee I am. No, I don’t do that and I don’t like that and I hate those people who do that. Because, here also the whole concept of worshiping the God is flawed. People are worshiping God by following these 100 rules just to prove themselves to be ‘great devotees’. Then where is God? That means they are not really worshiping the Gods, they are worshiping themselves, their own egos and their own image in front of others! How more disrespectful a person can be towards God? But you will hear these people talking always ‘we are great devotees’. What an irony.

Thanks to my mother and her undeterred belief in Thakur Ramakrishna, Sarada Devi and Vivekananda that she never pushed us towards this dark and nasty world of so-called-devotion.