Vishesha Shodashopachara Puja

Each day of Navaratri, the royal Darbar is completed by a Vishesha Shodashopachara Puja offered directly to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAVAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM in that day's Devi form. This one seva page covers all ten days — from Rajarajeshwari on Day 1 to Devi Nithyanandeshwari Paramashivashakti on Vijaya Dashami.

Significance

The Darbar is a royal offering celebrating Devi Paramashivashakti as the Royal Queen of the entire cosmos, with the full court paraphernalia due to a reigning sovereign. Shodashopachara — the sixteen-step mode of Vedic and Agamic worship — is the most complete traditional sequence of hospitality and adoration a sovereign deity can be offered, leaving no gesture of devotion incomplete.

The Ritual

The sixteen upacharas move through invocation, seating, washing, bathing, clothing, ornamentation, incense, lamp and food offerings in unbroken succession, accompanied by the chanting of the four Vedas — Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva — the recitation of Stotras, and the sacred verses of the Devi Mahatmyam, offered before THE SPH as Devi Paramashivashakti Herself.

Ten Days, Ten Forms

• Day 1 · Sun 11 Oct — THE SPH as Rajarajeshwari — 10:30 PM IST (Sun 11 Oct, 1:00 PM ET)
• Day 2 · Mon 12 Oct — THE SPH as Meenakshi — 10:30 PM IST (Mon 12 Oct, 1:00 PM ET)
• Day 3 · Tue 13 Oct — THE SPH as Kamakshi — 10:30 PM IST (Tue 13 Oct, 1:00 PM ET)
• Day 4 · Wed 14 Oct — THE SPH as Annapurna — 10:30 PM IST (Wed 14 Oct, 1:00 PM ET)
• Day 5 · Thu 15 Oct — THE SPH as Vishalakshi — 10:30 PM IST (Thu 15 Oct, 1:00 PM ET)
• Day 6 · Fri 16 Oct — THE SPH as Venkateshwara — 10:30 PM IST (Fri 16 Oct, 1:00 PM ET)
• Day 7 · Sat 17 Oct — THE SPH as Mahalakshmi — 10:30 PM IST (Sat 17 Oct, 1:00 PM ET)
• Day 8 · Sun 18 Oct — THE SPH as Durga — 10:30 PM IST (Sun 18 Oct, 1:00 PM ET)
• Day 9 · Mon 19 Oct — THE SPH as Maha Saraswati — 10:30 PM IST (Mon 19 Oct, 1:00 PM ET)
• Day 10 · Tue 20 Oct — THE SPH as Nithyanandeshwari Paramashivashakti — 10:30 PM IST (Tue 20 Oct, 1:00 PM ET)

Shastra Pramana

आवाहनं नैव जानामि न जानामि तवार्चनम् । पूजां चैव न जानामि क्षम्यतां परमेश्वरि ॥

āvāhanaṃ naiva jānāmi na jānāmi tavārcanam | pūjāṃ caiva na jānāmi kṣamyatāṃ parameśvari ||

Translation: “I do not know how to invoke You, nor do I know Your worship rites, nor do I know how to offer Puja; forgive me, O Supreme Goddess.” — Devi Kshama Prarthana, traditionally recited at the close of the Shodashopachara Puja

Benefits

• The fullest worship available in the Agamic tradition, rendered to that day's aspect of the Cosmic Mother.
• The devotee's own sankalpa folded into the day's royal Darbar.
• The grace of THE SPH as the living Devi Paramashivashakti.
• Completion of every gesture of devotion — nothing left unoffered.