Religious Life of a Hindu

For a Hindu everything in life is religion: Family, work, play, walk...
you breed religion in India!

    Daily worship in Hinduism usually takes place in three different places: in the home, in a temple, and/or at a street-side or road-side shrine.

At home:

    Most religious life is at Home: There they have a room for "puja" (prayer), with an image or picture of the favorite god, and a "mandala", a symbolic representation of the Universe.

     They use the robe and the distinctive in the forehead of the caste, or the god they adore: Vishnu adorers use 3 perpendicular lines in the forehead, Shiva worshipers, use 3 parallel lines...

     They start the morning with the "mantra" "OM", pronounced "AUM", (That Who Art); then they invoke the favorite god, repeat a mantra from the Vedas... all of this sitting down, nude to the waist, with the face towards the sun. Then they drink a little water, touch 6 parts of their bodies, indicating the god is inside them; offer water to the images, repeat the mantra from the Vedas. At night is similar. And at noon may include a consultation with a teacher (guru).

    At dawn, the householder and his wife rise, purify themselves with a bath--usually in a temple pool or a river if one is available--and then make an offering to the fire-god Agni in their household fire. The man may then turn towards the rising sun and say a mantra to the sun-god Savatar, asking for blessing and understanding. A similar sequence of activities will take place in the evening.

    Second, most Hindu households have a small shrine to the gods important to that house. It may have a small statue of Krishna or a picture of Shiva or Durga. If the householder has a guru, a photo of the guru will appear, to remind the worshipper of the guru's teachings. This shrine will be the focus of household puja, i.e., worship. Offerings of food or drink may be laid before the statues, mantras and prayers may be said, and so on.

At the Temple:

    A nearby temple to a god or goddess is usually the focus of regular puja (i.e., worship). While a local temple may do for everyday worship, a grander cathedral-like, temple may be visited on special occasions.  Offerings of meals, money, flowers, etc. may be brought by the devotee. Once the god has taken his part of the sacrifice, the devotee may share in some of the now-blessed food (called prasad). The worshipper may also say mantras, or listen to the priests chant, sing, or read from the sacred texts.

    Small shrines to Hindu gods and goddesses, both major and minor, stand on road sides in the country and on the streets in cities. They may be permanently fixed and unattended, or on a cart and moved around by an attendant. During the day, as people pass by, they may stop, offer a short prayer or mantra, perhaps leave a small offering in gratitude for some blessing.

    The "priests" take care of temples and the rituals in the temple or at home, with very complicated and long beautiful rituals. The "Swamis", usually a learned celibate monk; the "Shadus", are less educated holy men who seek spiritual merit meandering restlessly across India, and often nude with dung of a cow in the head. The "guru" is a teacher who has mastered the path of yoga, and is like a god, expects honors and obedience as a god.

    And then, after the gods and the priestly system, come the adoration of sacred rats, cobras... and very specially the "sacred cows", all 159 million of them; they freely roam the urban centers, like Bombay and Calcutta, and they have "rest homes" for the old or sick cows.