Recently my parents have renovated their bedroom, its been fun choosing new furniture, paint, carpets and the rest of the soft furnishings, definitely a big passion of mine! One of the central pieces in my parent’s bedroom is the mandir. Again even with the renovation it had the central place. Yesterday mum and I were putting back in its place and cleaning the mandir and murtis, its got me thinking, whilst gently placing the murtis, are there any rules where each one should be placed? I learnt about the following Pooja Room Vastu.
When placing an idol they should face forward and not face each other. The gods face should be towards the North East. This is also considered auspicious whilst praying.
Your puja room should be a calm tranquil and serene place, delicate soothing colours which calm your mind are recommended, soft shades or orange, blue, yellow or white.
If you have space set aside for a puja room or mandir in a room ideally it must be away from a staircase or bathroom. Sometimes this is not possible, so place your murtis on a raised platform above ground level.
It is recommended murtis are not placed directly against a wall, but a few inches away from the wall, and inch is recommended. This is also so the smoke of the incense can envelope the murti.
Lighting a diya has such a significance and symbolism in puja, and is an unquestioned tradition. We have previously written a blog on diyas. The diya should be placed in front the murti in a South-East direction.
According to Vastu rules offering prayers to broken, cracked murtis is considered inauspicious. It is recommended these murtis are immersed in a flowing river.
In many Indian homes, it is a common practice to keep garlanded pictures of deceased relatives in the puja room. However, did you know that this is against puja room vastu recommendations? I did not know this. While you can offer prayers to your ancestors in the puja room, avoid keeping pictures of them in this space. Experts recommend that such photographs be placed in the South or South-Western part of your home instead. The home mandir is a sanctified space, vastu directs us to keep only soothing pictures in this room to add to its sanctity.
A separate puja room should ideally have doors to ensure privacy for you when you are in prayer. The door should be against the North or East wall of your mandir.
Ref: LIVSPACE
