Prana Prathishta

The process of worship in Hinduism invariably involves the use of 3 basic techniques, namely the mantra, the tantra and the yantra. Symbolically, they represent the 3 basic spiritual paths of Hinduism, made hugely popular by the teachings of Sri Vasudeva Krishna in the famous Bhagavad Gita. The mantra symbolically represents the use of Jnanamarg, the path of knowledge, the tantra of Bhaktimarg, the path of devotion, and the yantra of Karmasanyasmarg or the path of detached action. Unless these three are present in some form or combination, the worship is incomplete.

Images of a deity are just a symbolic representation of an aspect of eternal Truth which must be energized by Prana Pratishta. The Prana Pratishta at The Parashakthi Temple is guided by Divine mother Herself .The Divine Mother guides the deity to be installed and the proper auspicious day to install so that the energy can fully manifest and devotees can benefit from the alive deity. The Divine mother also then gives mantra to be chanted for the particular deity at The Parashakthi Temple. The deities are consecrated at the temple in India. Dr Krishna Kumar has done a special paryogam-special pooja for each deity for 48 days, and then brought the deity to the Temple.

This is accomplished by the power of the mantras that are given to Dr Krishna Kumar during deep kundalini meditation and recited by the priest and when appropriate by devotees. The yantra, which is a geometric representation of the power of the deity, is installed in the place where the deity is installed subsequently. Along with the yantra, precious metals, precious stones, etc. are also placed.This is followed by elaborate abhishekams with the sanctified waters from the kalasas, along with the recitation of appropriate mantras. After the installation ceremony thus performed, the regular rituals such as homam, abhishekam, alankaram, archana, etc. are performed routinely.

We are very fortunate and blessed to be given a very powerful place of Worship by Divine Mother that is a high vortex of energy as confirmed by many mystics with so many active vibrations. Divine Mother has given us the opportunity to explore and experience "Her" which is something even the greatest of Gurus like Vashista (Guru of Lord Rama) tried to achieve after severe penance and She has given this Privilege to us at our Temple which is "Her" place of Worship.

Several rites are performed at The Parashakthi Temple as prescribed in the agamas, and the deity is installed. Since mantras and yantras are so important for Divine Mother Parashakthi's earthly manifestation, "SHE" summoned Guruji Swarna Venkateswara Deekshitar who is a "Master" yantra maker to our Temple to do the installation properly with mantra, tantra and yantra rituals.

These rites start with Maha Ganapati or Vishwaksena puja and include several preparatory rituals such as punyahavachanam (purificatory rite); Acharya ritvik varanam (assignment of duties to the priests performing the ritual and offering of special garments to them); Kalasa sthapana (where the power of the divinities are invoked in the waters kept in several kalasas (pots); Agni pratishta (establishing the fire for performing the fire oblations - (homams); Vastu puja and homam to worship the Vastu Purusha; ankuraarpanam (seeding of the soil; the growth of plants from these seeds symbolizes the prosperity of the temple); The purificatory rites of the images through various adhivasams where the images are kept in dhaanyam (grains of paddy)- dannyathivasam, jalam (water) Jaladhivasam, offering flowers-Pushpadhivasam,offering of ksheeram (milk), and hanam (gold, silver, etc); and the final adhivasam, called sayanathivasam, which is the resting of the images in new clothes on beds under blankets. The moola mantra homams (oblations done while reciting the moola mantra for each divinity) are performed on several days to invoke the power of the deities in the images. Netronmeelanam is another ritual in which the sthapathi/priests open the eyes of the murtis.

A mantra is an invocation, containing a sacred syllable or set of syllables. when a mantra is uttered with specific rhythm, with sincerity of devotion and purity of thought and action, and with phonetic and grammatical accuracy, in a manner prescribed by the scriptural injunctions of the vedas or some authoritative scripture, it is to invoke a particular deity and compel the deity and enabled to assist the invoker to achieve a desired end. when a complicated ritual such as a soma sacrifice or some other yajna is performed, not one but many deities are invoked simultaneously by groups of priests chanting various mantras. their chanting creates the necessary vibrations in the atmosphere to awaken the deities and facilitates their descent to the place of worship. the sound that is generated by the chanting of the mantras is very important, but is not the only requirement for the yajna to be successful. the remaining requirements are the appropriate use of tantra and yantra, which will be explained later. it is believed that hidden in each mantra is the energy of a particular deity which remains normally latent, but becomes active the moment the mantra is pronounced accurately in the manner prescribed by the shastras. the divinity awakens only if the vibrations generated by the chanting matches with its basic frequency. besides this, the appropriate use of tantra and yantra must fit in the overall purpose of the worship and remain in harmony with the expectations of the divinity to whom they are directed.

tantra is the systematic use of the body and the mind as the physical instruments of divine realization. the body and the mind constitute the lower self and together they aim to indulge in the desire oriented actions of the lower self to perpetuate the interplay of the triple gunas, namely, sattva, rajas and tamas. primarily, they are the chief instruments of the divine prakriti, otherwise called maya, and they play their dutiful roles quite efficiently and effectively and succeed mostly in keeping the soul chained to the earth and go through the ordeal of births and deaths by the inexorable law of karma. tantra aims to liberate and transform these two so as to make them the true instruments of the hidden self. hindu scriptures declare unequivocally that transformation of the body and the mind is the most difficult part of one's spiritual journey and that most of our difficulties on the path come because of our inability to deal with this problem successfully. tantra is therefore a very important and integral part of hindu spiritualism and equally maintains its place in the ritual part of the religion.

A Yantra is the use of certain external objects, symbols or some mechanical means to worship the divine. The act of folding of hands in front of the deity is but a kind of yantra only. The manner in which a fireplace is built for the performance of some vedic sacrifice, the method in which the place is prepared and the materials (sambhra) are assembled, the manner in which the oblations are poured into the fire, the way the priests sit around the altar, and in fact the very act of chanting of the mantras with mechanical precision form part of yantric worship. The very design of the temple as an outer symbol of the existence of the Divine on the material plane, the act of visiting the temple, circling around the temple, entering the temple, the lighting of the lamps in front of the divine, the decorations and the ornamentation so characteristic of hindu temples and places of worship, the manner in which the images are built and installed, the lighting of the lamps, the offerings, the method of worship, the partaking of prasad, and in short any practice that is mechanical, symbolic and ritualistic to a degree, form part of this approach.