Arti The Highest Form of Devotion

Arti The Highest Form of Devotion, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

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With this I complete I lot of the Gauri Visrajan I shoot barefeet at Juhu Chowpatty as Juhu Beach is called on Immersion or Visarjan day.


I have another lot of Visarjan picture I shall keep on hold to post the Ganesha Pandal that I had kept in abeyance and my favorite house ganpati has already been immersed on the 5 th day .

It is Farzans Ganapati at Bandra Bazar Road , Farzan collects and saves his pocket money buys the Ganesha idol decorates it himself and he has been doing this for last 3 years,

Farzans mother is a Catholic his father is a Parsi.

His grandmother is yesteryear famous junior artiste Katy Irani.

Till the time Lord Ganesha comes to their house his father stops drinking his mother stops cooking non veg.


The Arti at his house is performed by the Hindu boys of the area..and next year if you go Pandal hopping do feel the humility of Farzans ganpati and I am crying as I write this because my grand daughter Marziya Shakir who is away in Lucknow with her maternal grand parents ,was introduced to Lord Ganesha at this house , and earlier pictures of Marziya as a toddler in this house are part of my Ganesha series at Flickr.

Farzans Ganpati is a small set at Flickr.


This year I missed shooting Farzan taking his Ganpati for immersion at Mahim causeway,

Farzan is a true Ganesha devotee and sometimes I wonder does one really need to be a Hindu to fall in love with the elephant God Lord Ganesha.

Karma Dharma Bhakti come from within and requires no tagging as a religiosity ..so I keep these Virsajan pictures on the side to take you to Farzans world and the Ganpati pandals I shot in and around Bandra last week.

Because of the injuries to my legs I shoot barefeet the ethos of Hope and Humanity.

Because of all this and my diabetic condition I was unable to visit the others Ganesha pandals in Mumbai and share the beauty of the Ganesha feat with all of you..

My business my personal life too is in the dumps but the blog gives me hope and helps me empty out my angst the poetry of my soul my passion my pathos through my camera lens as a street photographer.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aarti (Hindi आरती), also spelled arathi, aarthi (from the Sanskrit term Aradhana) is a Hindu ritual, in which light from wicks soaked in ghee (purified butter) or camphor is offered to one or more deities. Aartis also refer to the songs sung in praise of the deity, when offering of lamps is being offered.

Aarti is said to have descended from the Vedic concept of fire rituals, or homa. The word may also refer to the traditional Hindu devotional song that is sung during the ritual. Aarti is performed and sung to develop the highest love for God. "Aa" means "towards or to", and "rati" means "right or virtue" in Sanskrit. It is sometimes thought the word is from a type of cloth or as followers wore over the bodies during the ritual, or a "shiny cloth" means they wear it for a religious practice.[citation needed]

Aarti is generally performed one to five times daily, and usually at the end of a puja (in South India) or bhajan session (in North India). It is performed during almost all Hindu ceremonies and occasions. It involves the circulating of an 'Aarti plate' or 'Aarti lamp' around a person or deity and is generally accompanied by the singing of songs in praise of that deva or person (many versions exist). In doing so, the plate or lamp is supposed to acquire the power of the deity. The priest circulates the plate or lamp to all those present. They cup their down-turned hands over the flame and then raise their palms to their forehead - the purificatory blessing, passed from the deva's image to the flame, has now been passed to the devotee.

The aarti plate is generally made of metal, usually silver, bronze or copper. On it must repose a lamp made of kneaded flour, mud or metal, filled with oil or ghee. One or more cotton wicks (always an odd number) are put into the oil and then lighted, or camphor is burnt instead. The plate may also contain flowers, incense and akshata.[1] In some temples, a plate is not used and the priest holds the ghee lamp in his hand when offering it to the Deities.

The purpose of performing aarti is the waving of lighted wicks before the deities in a spirit of humility and gratitude, wherein faithful followers become immersed in God's divine form. It symbolises the five elements: 1) ether (akash), 2) wind (vayu), 3) fire (agni), 4) water (jal), and 5) earth (pruthvi). Communal Aarti is performed in the mandir; however, devotees also perform it in their homes.
[edit] Significance

When aarti is performed, the performer faces deity of God (or divine element, e.g. Ganges river) and concentrates on the form of God by looking into the eyes of the deity (it is said that eyes are the windows to the soul) to get immersed. Aarti is waved in circular fashion, in clockwise manner around the deity. After every circle (or second or third circle), when Aarti has reached the bottom (6-8 o' clock position), the performer waves it backwards while remaining in the bottom (4-6 o' clock position) and then continues waving it in clockwise fashion. The idea here is that aarti represents our daily activities, which revolves around God, a center of our life. Looking at the God while performing aarti reminds and reinforces the performer (and the attendes of the aarti) to keep God in the center of all our activities and understand that routine, worldly activities are peripheral and should not take priority over God. This understanding would give the believers strength to withstand the unexpected grief and keeps them humble and remindful of God during happy moments. Apart from worldly activities aarti also represents one's self - thus, aarti signifies that one is peripheral to Godhead or divinity. This would keep one's ego down and help one remain humble in spite of high social and economic rank. Performing aarti with such understanding keeps one in conscience.

Aarti is not only limited to God. Aarti can performed not only to all forms of life, but also inanimate objects which help in progress of the culture. This is exemplified by performer of the aarti waving aarti to all the devotees as the aarti comes to the end - signifying that everyone has a part of God within that the performer respects and bows down to. It is also a common practice to perform aarti to inanimate objects like vehicles, electronics etc. at least when a Hindu starts using it, just as a gesture of showing respect and praying that this object would help one excel in the work one would use it for. It is similar to the ritual of doing auspicious red mark(s) using kanku(kumkum) and rice.
[edit] Aarti songs

Hinduism has a long tradition of aarti songs, simply referred to as 'Aarti', sung as an accompaniment to the ritual of aarti. It primarily eulogizes to the deity the ritual is being offered to, and several sects have their own version of the common aarti songs that are often sung on chorus at various temples, during evening and morning aartis. Sometimes they also contain snippets of information on the life of the gods.

The most commonly sung aarti is that is dedicated to all deities is Om Jai Jagdish Hare, known as "The Universal Aarti" and is another common aarti song. Its variation are used for other deities as well such as Om jai Shiv omkara,Om jai Lakshmi mata,Om jai Ambe gauri,Om jai Adya Shakti.

In Swaminarayan Mandirs, Jay Sadguru Swami is the aarti that is sung. In most temples in India, aarti is performed at least twice a day, after the ceremonial puja, which is the time when the largest number of devotees congregates.

In Gaudiya Vaishnavism, aarti refers to the whole puja ritual, of which offering the lamp is only one part. A conch is blown to start the aarti, then an odd number of incense sticks are offered to the deity. The lamp is offered next, and then circulated among the devotees. A conch is then filled with water, and offered; the water is then poured into a sprinkler and sprinkled over the devotees. A cloth and flowers are then offered, and the flowers are circulated to the devotees, who sniff them. The deity is then fanned with a camara whisk, and a peacock fan in hot countries.
[edit] Aarti (Name)

Aarti (also spelt Arati, Arthi, Aarthi, Aarthy, Aarti or Arti) is also a name for Hindu women.