What is the significance of abhisheka and aarti?
From: Manoj
why do we do abhishekam and why do we offer articles like fire, incense, kerchief, flower, water in conch shell during an artik?
Transcript
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Question from Manoj Prabhu Why do we do abhishek and why do we offer articles like fire, incense, kerchief, flower, water and conch shell during an aarti? Abhishek basically means a ceremonial bath that is the way we serve the lord. So there is a small sort of abhishek that is performed every day for the deities when they are dressed before shringar darshan and on special occasions that ceremonial bath is performed using special items and it is done in public so that everybody can see the bathing of the lord and that is considered to be extremely purifying because the form of the lord itself is attractive and when the form of the lord is served by those who are trying to devote their lives to him then that reciprocation of love that is happening is something that edifies and enriches our heart and traditionally in the pancharatras which are the bodies of literature that talk extensively about riti worship abhishek is an act which is considered to be vital and among the most important of riti worship and that act is performed so that we can recognize the lord has given us an opportunity to serve him and Krishna is omnipotent, he can do everything himself but when he comes as the deity he allows us the opportunity to render intimate services to him so bathing a person is almost like a mother bathing a child so it is a very intimate service and not only does the lord allow us to do this intimate service but he accepts the performance of this intimate service in public and this way it is considered a great mercy of the lord and a great favor if we can either participate or witness in abhishek answer regarding why certain articles are offered during aarti actually aarti is a ceremony in which we offer the creation to the creator by offering the central elements of the creation so when the aarti begins with and ends with conch shells through which certain auspicious sounds are made through the blowing of the conch shell then by that the sound element is offered by the conch to which water is offered, water element is offered through the cloth the earth element is offered through the flower, through the incense the fragrance is offered, through the chamar and yaktel the air element is offered through the prayers the mind is offered through contemplation and the prayers the intelligence is offered and by offering obeisances before and at the end of the aarti the false ego is offered and the person who is doing the aarti he represents all the people who are witnessing the aarti and he offers his own atman he offers himself his soul to the lord so in this way the aarti is a ceremony by which we offer the creation to the creator and in this way we express our devotion to him