A murti is a statue of a deity, a god or goddess.
And Hindus like me use these to help us worship.
This is Ganesha, the elephant headed God of wisdom,
and he has his own vimana or shrine, which is a small space dedicated
to him containing all the things we use to worship him.
The Murti's are treated as honoured guests and they'll be washed,
decorated and given offerings of food every day
as signs of respect to the deities they symbolise.
Each one of the deities represents one aspect of the personality
of the one unseen spirit. Brahman.
Puja is the name we use for worship or prayer.
We often use a tray to hold all things we use in puja.
There might be fruit, rice, flowers.
Water, a lamp, ash.
Kumkum powder, incense, a bell,
all kinds of things to touch, taste, smell, hear and look at.
All five senses are involved as a symbol
that the whole person is devoted to the deity.
We ring a bell to wake up the murti and to bring people to join in the puja.
We have a lamp because light symbolises enlightenment or understanding.
We often use a lamp that burns ghee, which is clarified butter
and it smells great.
Incense smells great, too.
And we burn it in the mandir and in our homes to purify the air,
hiding any nasty smells.
It also creates the sort of atmosphere
that I've grown up associating with worship.
So it helps me get in the right frame of mind.
The flowers also smell nice and bring colour to the Vimana.
A water pot called a kamandalu
and the spoon are used to wash the murti.
And a red powder called kumkum and sandalwood paste
are used to anoint the murti and to make Tilaka marks on our foreheads
to show we have been blessed.
Prasad is food like fruit, nuts or sweets that are offered to the murtis
and then shared out to the worshippers after puja.
We believe that the deity blesses the food during the puja,
so when we eat the Prasad, we receive the blessing.