Category: Puja & Rituals

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Lakshmi Puja Step by Step: A Guide for First Timers

Lakshmi Puja Step by Step: A Guide for First Timers

Maybe this is your first Diwali in a new flat in another city. Maybe the person who always led the puja, a grandmother or a father, is not there this year. Either way, if you are the one sitting in front of the altar for the first time, this guide is for you. It walks through the household Lakshmi-Ganesh puja in the order most north Indian families follow, explains what each step is for, and tells you what to do when you do not know the Sanskrit.

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Lakshmi Puja Preparation Checklist: Everything You Need Before the Evening

Lakshmi Puja Preparation Checklist: Everything You Need Before the Evening

Lakshmi puja comes once a year, on one evening, inside a window of an hour or two. That is exactly the sort of occasion where something is always missing, and you only notice at 6.45 pm, when the kirana store has pulled its shutter down and the flower seller has gone home.

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Setting Up a Diwali Puja Thali: Every Item and What It Is For

Setting Up a Diwali Puja Thali: Every Item and What It Is For

The thali is the whole puja in miniature. Every offering passes across it, and the aarti at the end is done with it. Laying it out is a small ritual of its own, and once you know what each item is for, the puja stops feeling like a list someone’s mother dictated over the phone and starts feeling like what it is.

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