About Puja Services

Please read through the following information carefully before requesting puja services.  

Cost

The cost for puja is $350 which covers: 
- the items used in the ceremony: fruits, flowers, incense, sandalwood, oil for lamps, etc, 
- the cost for mailing prasad (blessed items) to you after the puja, 
- Swamiji's time analyzing your birth chart and meditating on your situation, 
- Time for setting up and cleaning up for puja, 
- and the two hour ceremony.  

The cost for yajnam is $500 which covers: 
- everything described to the left under the cost for puja
- the extra offerings of ghee, wood, and herbs 
- and the 4 hour ceremony. 

How to Request Puja Services
To request a puja or yajnam, please pay for the ceremony at the puja services page.  

Protocol for Puja Service
Once your payment has been received. 
1) Someone from the Soma Matha Center will respond to you to collect a little information about your reason for requesting puja services and your birth data. 
2) Swamiji will review your birth chart to determine what type of puja would be most useful for you. Swamiji spends time analyzing the birth chart and meditating on your situation before determining what type of puja is most suitable for you. It is not possible to rush this process.  This generally takes between two days and 1 week, but in some cases it may take longer.  Sometimes due to large demand for services, it may take even longer for Swamiji to get to your birth chart.  In this case, someone will give you some idea  how long it may take for Swamiji to get to your chart.  If it will take longer and you do not wish to wait that long you may request a refund. In rare cases Swamiji may determine that he is not able to help you, in which case your payment will be refunded.  Once Swamiji has reviewed your birth chart, 
3) someone will contact you in order to inform you of the type of puja Swamiji has recommended and to set an auspicious time for the puja. If people have questions about the type of puja Swamiji has recommended, they may ask him a few questions through email or via brief telephone conversation with Swamiji. Due to Swamiji's schedule email or phone correspondence must be limited to 2 emails or a 15 minute conversation on the phone. This opportunity to ask questions is optional and its purpose is to answer questions about the ceremony and not to discuss a person's birth cart. Questions may be directed to info@somamatha.org.  
4) Then Puja is conducted. People are encouraged to listen to the whole ceremony via skype or telephone. If this is not possible, the puja may be done without a person listening. We have seen that people tend to benefit more if they can actually listen in for the whole puja.  Puja takes about 2 hours to complete and Yajnam 4 hours. 
5) After the puja, you will be mailed a small amount of prasad (items blessed in the ceremony), along with instructions for what to do with them.  This will include a pack of holy ash, a bottle of holy water, flower petals, some nuts and dried fruits, and a red thread for tying on the wrist for blessings.  Occasionally other items may be included.  For people living outside the US, these items may be limited according to customs regulations of the country where you live. After the puja, generally a follow up is not necessary. However if people feel the need, they may contact us at info@somamatha.org with questions or concerns. In rare cases, Swamiji may determine that a brief follow-up consultation is useful.              

How Puja Works
Puja works on a person's karmas, helping to resolve inner attachments both conscious and unconscious. These inner attachments are the manifestation of past karma, which have a direct bearing on a person's experiences. These attachments tend to cause an openness to negative energies and situations.  Puja helps to cleanse the subconscious, purifying the aura. It releases negative energies from within and averts negative forces around a person.  The energy generated through sacred sound of the puja mantras leads a person's consciousness to a place of peace and happiness, which releases dark thoughts and feelings and helps to mitigate karma. The various puja offerings are used by the Devas (angels) from the inner realms to send blessings to the person for whom puja is conducted. 

What a Person Will Experience       
The experience will vary greatly from person to person, based upon their need, their situation, and their level of intuition. Many people report experiencing a deep sense of peace or bliss during the puja. In many cases, people feel that their burden has been lightened through the process. Some people experience flashes of insight which shed light upon their life and situation. Sometimes people experience visitation in the dreams or meditations from a deity, Swamiji, or Swamiji's teachers. Sometimes the energy of the puja will make a person feel very sleepy, in which case we recommend that they sleep. It is not uncommon for people to experience some negative thoughts, feelings, or bad dreams in the days before, during, or after a puja. This does not always happen, but if it does occur, people are encouraged to understand that this is a natural part of the process and to be open to the experience, taking time to simply watch the thoughts and feelings as they pass. If a person does experience this sort of purging effect from the puja, they should not be concerned, but understand that this is a temporary process which generally lasts only a few days and that after this they should feel much better. To pour pure water into a cup of dirt will cause the dirt to pour out from the glass. The healing energy from a puja sometimes causes a release of negative thoughts and feelings from the subconscious. For the same reason, people with health problems sometimes experience an increase of symptoms around the time of puja which is a part of a physical cleansing process.  People must remember that their outer situation will only change once they have shifted their inner attachments. Depending on the nature of these attachments a person's experience will be unique. What is needed most at the moment is always what a person receives.        

What you can do to Derive Greater Benefit from Your Puja 
- Before requesting a puja, get a clear sense of your goals and the problems you wish to address. Express these clearly and succinctly as you describe to us the reasons you want a puja. Your description of the problems you wish to address lets Swamiji know what you are comfortable to work on, and so your clear description of your situation is very useful. 
-Pray and meditate on your situation in the days before and after puja, taking time to process any thoughts and feelings that may arise and being open to whatever you are experiencing. Be open to any new insights that may arise for you through the process.
- When having puja done for a specific problem, try not to limit the potential benefit by praying for a specific outcome. If people knew how to solve their problems, they would not need help. We must always assume that the Universe knows best how to resolve our problems and leave the solution to the higher wisdom and power of the Divine. To open oneself to the highest potential for any situation, it is recommended that a person pray expressing their concerns and desires and then that they leave those desires at the feet of the Lord, having faith that the prayer has been heard and that the Lord is working toward a solution in the right time.     
- Though it is not necessary, it can be useful when possible to donate even more than our recommended fee.   
Paying for spiritual services opens a channel through which healing energy can be sent to the person who pays. A person's openness to the healing energies generated through puja will determine how much they benefit.  One way to make oneself more open is to donate more.  Though Swamiji prays for others, he has no direct connection to their karmas. He did not cause their suffering and he cannot release them from their suffering. For people to get free from their karmas, they must make themselves open to the process of the puja.   
-At the time of Puja, plan to listen by skype or phone being mindful of the healing energies at work. Pay attention to the thoughts and feelings you experience as you listen to the healing sound of the Vedic Mantras. Plan to schedule your puja when you are free to devote your full attention to the process and try not to focus on other tasks or distractions at this time.    
- At the time of puja, Light a candle or oil lamp, and incense, if possible. This offering allows the Devas (angels) to send blessings to the physical realm in your location. The pranas (subtle nutrients) of these offerings are used by the Devas to manifest healing energy in your space. If it is not possible to burn a candle or incense, at least try to offer some flowers.  
- Set aside time around the day of the puja to process things inwardly. In the days before and after the puja, take some time to contemplate your situation. Meditate on the healing energies which are working on you and take time to release negative thoughts and feelings by writing them down and burning them.   
- Be cautious to try not to start or stop any important tasks or relationships around the time of puja. Sometimes around the time of a puja, strong desires may come up for a person. This happens on account of the clearing process of the puja. Though people often feel inclined to act upon such impulses, it is usually not wise to do so. If people are able to sit with such strong feelings without acting on them, they tend to pass in time. We recommend that people strive to wait from the time they request a puja until a few weeks after the puja to make any big changes in their life, to help insure that they are not being impulsive and causing themselves greater difficulties.