Pada Puja : Its Significance-Part II

Tuesday, June 29, 2010, 11:27

Continued From Part I
Friends, don't think you are worshiping my feet during this Padapuja. I am lending them to you for the time being! My personal experience may be unpleasant because my feet tickle when a devotee washes them but I am not supposed to say anything. One may sometimes pour very hot water and at other times cold water. There can still be no reaction from me. Why? Temporarily they are not my feet, they have been lent! During that time, both you and I are in adoration of some-thing else. What we are invoking is as much my substratum as yours. This teacher holds on to his teacher's feet and thus, the teacher and disciple lineage (guru sisya parampara) is formed. You are not worshiping me. Don't misunderstand the fact that you are invoking Him through the feet of this teacher.

That is also why teachers always keep the feet clean. They don't wear shoes since the feet may not be ventilated properly. When the disciple prostrates he must have clean feet in front of him. Still the disciple may have his own doubts! So, he first washes them, and then the rest of the worship follows. All through the Pada puja, understand the significance that the feet are borrowed from Swami Chinmayananda.

You are not worshiping the Swami. If you say or feel so, it is a disaster to me because my vanity will increase. All of us are worshiping Him. I will be turning my mind to my teacher and you are turning your mind to your teacher and the Lord.

Hence, this ritual is one of the most significant of rituals. It is not akin to the act of shaking hands, a common ritual that happens during a meeting. Do you know the significance of shaking hands? In the Anglo - Saxon times, there was so much infighting that nobody believed that another person could come to you in love. So, for example, in want to show you that I have not come to harm, kill or fight with you, but I have come in love, then I come with both hands open! My open hands let you see that there are no weapons. You may greet me but still have your own doubts. I have also got a trace of doubt about you. So both of us search the hands of each other while shaking hands!

In Arabia, this handshake alone is not sufficient. Two people who meet might have a fear that the other fellow has got a dagger behind him. So they embrace and look behind to complete the search.

To be continued