Chaitanya Movement | IX - 3

Ākhrā Worship

Besides the daily worship in the temple in which all may join, whether lay or priest, there is the individual worship enjoined upon those who have turned from worldly pursuits and have devoted themselves to religion.

It is hardly accurate to call it Ākhrā worship, for there may be devout householders who give themselves to it with as much devotion as does the vairāgī.

I use the term roughly to designate the ritual followed by all those whose main interest is the life of devotion. There are elaborate directions given for the worship of all such.

One wonders how many attempt to follow them in full.

The morning worship is divided into 3 parts: the worship of the guru, the worship of Chaitanya and his companions, and the worship of Krishna, with whom is usually associated Rādhā.

It takes place after the morning bath, every act from rising up to that point having been accompanied by appropriate mantras.

Indispensable preliminaries are the putting on of the tilak, the sect-mark, on the forehead, and the 12 marks on the various parts of the body, as detailed in describing the initiation of a vairāgī.

These marks are usually made with a creamy paste, called gopīchandana, a particular kind of clay obtained from a tank near Māthura associated with the Krishna stories.

Often in addition, footprints of Krishna or the name Hari Krishna, may be stamped all over the body. Special metal stamps are used for this purpose.

To complete the preliminaries, garlands of 5 sorts - the tulsi mātā always an essential - are put on. Without the Tilakas and garlands the puja is fruitless.

The worshipper now meditates according to directions, upon his guru in all his glory as “ the very heart of Gaur" (Chaitanya), and conceives of himself as a slave paying devout homage to him.

Into a receptacle representing the guru the following are offered:

Pādya - Water for washing the feet.
Argha - A bit of rice and Durba grass.
Gandha - Scents.
Puṣpa - Flowers.
Dhūpa - Burning incense.
Naivedya - Rice, fruits, sweets.
Pānīyajalam - Drinking water.
Āchamanīyam - Water for rinsing the mouth.
Tambūlam - Betel.
Gandhamālyam - Scented garland.
Pūṣpāñjali - Handful of flowers.

Holy water only may be used in place of these things.

(It is the custom, It seems, to make the offerings to the Guru after the conclusion of the whole pūjā. This is more convenient, since Krishna's prasāda can be offered to the guru, but not vice versa.)

Prayer is made to the guru, invoking his aid, and a Vaishnava imitation of the Gāyatrī is repeated. Then with complete dedication of self the worshipper adores three generations of gurus - his guru's guru, his guru's guru's guru and that guru's guru !

The same process is then repeated with Chaitanya as the object of worship. The offerings above, with three additional, are made, and the Gāyatrī,

I know Chaitanya; I meditate on Viśvambhara; may the knowledge of Gaur be revealed unto me," is repeated several times.

Then follows a prayer, "I have fallen into an ocean of misery in this world and have been caught in the clutches of passion. I have been made a prisoner of bad desires. I am shelterless. Grant me the shelter of Thy feet, O Chaitanya Chandra."

A hymn and praṇāma (obeisance) closes this part of the pūjā.

Nityānanda and Advaita, the two Prabhus (masters) then receive worship in exactly the same manner, except that no prayer is offered to them.

Gadādhar and Śrīvāsa (close companions of Chaitanya) follow suit, and then the āratī (waving of lights) and praṇāma are vouchsafed to all.

Now begins the Krishna worship, preceded by meditation upon the beauties of Vrindāvan.

Krishna is meditated upon as surrounded by the gopīs, then Rādhā is meditated upon. They are both worshipped together, in the order detailed above for Chaitanya, except the prayer.

The water in which the feet of the image has been washed is drunk with a mantra, and also poured on the head, as a great charm against disease and untimely death. This is the brief form of Krishna puja.

The longer form, which is enjoined as more efficacious, calls for more elaborate preparation:

In addition to the offerings mentioned there must be a special mixture, called Madhuparka made of honey, curds, ghee, sugar and water;

a conch for pouring water over the body must be in proper position and saluted with praṇāma. A fresh cloth and sacred thread are also offered.

Following the offerings, the Āratī and circumambulation are performed with prayer and praṇāma.

The images are then put to bed with a mantra.

There seems to be no official or authorized Chaitanya mantra used in his worship:

Doubtless there is a Gaurāṅga mantra used by vairāgīs; for they have always desired such. But most Gosvāmīs of authority have opposed a separate mantra, and in the authoritative literature of the sect there is no such mantra given.

The Rādhā-Krishna mantra is used for Gaurāṅga worship; on the theory that all worship of Gaurāṅga is really worship of Rādhā-Krishna, whose incarnation he is.

With variations in detail, according to the manuals or traditions followed, the above may be taken as the ritual which is supposed to be followed in the daily morning worship of the vairāgī.

It has been taken from a cheap and popular manual in Sanskrit, called Bhogmālāvivaraṇa, which is largely used throughout Bengal.

The rather elaborate ceremonial set forth above is not necessarily to be followed literally:

It is to be observed mentally at least, whether the worshipper has all the required offerings by him or not. He is to use what he has and imagine the rest.

The Haribhaktivilāsa enjoins that full ritual be observed in the temple worship, but in private devotions considerable leeway is allowed.

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa lays down the principle that the chief end of worship is not the outward act, but the emotion of the heart.

However, for the full bliss of communion it is maintained that the full order of worship as outlined is essential in Vaidhī bhakti or active devotion. The simple worship of Krishna or Chaitanya alone is not sufficient.

The above order is the chief formal act of worship of the day, but it by no means exhausts the day's requirements.

Four times a day, according to the Haribhaktivilāsa, there must be a worship of song: morning, noon, evening and midnight. Selections of hymns from the great mass of Vaishnava songs are arranged for this purpose.

Then there are the various operations for the care of the image, which are to be observed in an Ākhrā just as in the temple, and the sāyana, or retiring āratī, to conclude the day.

In many small ākhrās where the inmates are few, and probably in most of them, the full worship indicated above is hardly observed in detail:

It is more likely reserved for special days. The ordinary routine of one simple Ākhrā has been described to me as follows:

The details of the early morning routine, after rising from bed, are all accompanied by appropriate mantras, including the bath and the marking of the body as given above.

Without a clean cloth the vairāgī may not enter the ṭhākurghar, the room where the images are kept.

Failing this, he must enter wearing the wet cloth in which he has bathed. (If by reason of sickness, etc., he is unable to take a bath, he may bathe by mantra!)

The god is awakened from sleep by sounding the conch and the gong while a mantra is repeated. The vairāgī then goes out to gather flowers and tulsi leaves for the day's worship.

On certain days this is forbidden, on Sunday, Āmāvasyā (new moon day), Pūrṇimā (full moon), and Ekādaśī (eleventh day of the lunar month). On these days the supply gathered on the previous day must suffice.

The plucking of the tulsi leaves is accompanied by a mantra and three hand-claps.

Certain flowers are avoided as poison, such as the javā and bel leaves, which are used generally in the worship of the Śakta sect.

Only indigenous flowers are used in worship. No blossom, however charming, from a foreign plant in milady's garden could find a place in the service of the God.

The first food offering (bālyabhog) is then presented to the image.

Later it is bathed and marked with gopīchandana and earth, and decorated with flowers.

From the bath water a preparation is made by adding camphor, white sandalwood, tulsi-leaves and flowers. This is called Charaṇāmrita (nectar of the feet) and is prized by visitors, who put it on their heads and drink of it.

After the dhūpāratī, the waving with one hand of a pot of burning incense before the God, while ringing a small bell with the other hand, the mid-day meal is offered, and following upon this the Image is put to rest for his siesta.

At this time the rosary of tulsi beads, which is used for the repetition of the sacred names, is bathed in tulsi water, with a mantra, and reverenced with flower offerings.

In the evening another meal is offered, and then water for washing the feet is brought and that action gone through in pantomime.

Āratī follows, both the incense burning described above, now done for the third time during the day, and the pañchbāti, which is the waving of a little figure of Yaśodā, the mother of Krishna, holding five wicks or candles before the image to the accompaniment of a bell.

Considerable time is given in the evening to the telling of the tulsi beads, a form of Harināma, the repetition of Hari's name.

Later in the evening another food offering is made, and then the god is put to sleep for the night. A pillow is provided for this, with a mosquito net for the hot season and a quilt for the cold months.

But even this is too elaborate a programme to ascribe to many a present-day vairāgī, living in an Ākhrā composed of himself and a female companion only and unconnected with a shrine.

The ritual of their worship is reduced to a minimum:

Repetition of their own secret mantra on first arising, elaborate care with the Tilakas, brief worship of whatever images they possess, and the japa-mālā, the use of the beads - these make up the main features of their day's worship.

Very few, I fancy, observe the full order of worship of the morning, as outlined above. A repetition of the Guru, Gaurānga and Krishna mantras, with flower offerings, takes its place.

As most of the vairāgīs can neither read nor write, they are innocent of manuals of ritual.

Their begging rounds are made early in the day, and are completed before the bath and the succeeding acts of worship are undertaken.

As for the vairāgi, her secret mantra, repeated over and over, and the telling of the beads, seem to be her principal forms of worship.

From the aspect of many of these mendicants, one could hardly believe them to be eaten up with zeal for the house of the Lord.

Too much worship, doubtless, seems to them as injudicious as too much work.