Guide to an Environment Friendly Kiriyai (Rituals)

Performing thirumanjanam (ahbishegam) and alangkaram for Shivaperuman is indeed a great blessing in our birth. As Manikkavaasagar emphasized in Sivapuranam, Avan arul'le avan thal vannagi", One could dive into immense divine bliss as  He bestowed grace upon them to worship Him. The joy of performing shiva aaradhanai is truly beyond expression and to certain extent it's personalised. Scriptures asserts while performing the Kiriyai's (rituals), The Almighty  resides  as a King  while the Poojari impersonates a humble servant. Nevertheless, we have learnt that we could look up to Him as our father, mother, guru, friend, lover, child and so forth. Empiran would manifest to us, the way we adore Him.

Empiran Arul, I'm attempting to elaborate ways to make our rituals and  worship environment friendly. Mind  you, our tradition and scriptures  taught us NOT TO  HARM but exist in harmony with the nature. We are ain't any better than an atheist if we create so much of thrash through our rituals and prayers. I do hope this will be a useful read especially for those who have  deities/ shrine at home. 

Starting with thirumanjanam... 

• Water alone is sufficient.(Recall Appar Thevaram - Salam poovodu thubam maranthariyen).
• Water is a precious resource, use it wisely. Avoid  'splashing' water  unnecessarily.
• Need not emulate temples that conduct lavish thirumanjanam and drain everything out.  
• Milk, Honey, Fruit juices and other items may be used.Limit them accordingly. 
• Be sure to recapture the thiraviyam  used and offer it as thirumanjanam theertham. 
• Minimize wastage. Be creative to make something edible and share with family and friends.  Eg; Milk can be boiled and used for coffee/tea making, honey for pasty toppings and fruit juice to make fruit punch!  

Next, alangkaram and poosanai...

• If feasible,pluck flowers, betel/bilva/basil leaves yourself rather than purchasing it.Start planning for your own garden for Empiran now. :) 
• The amount of camphor/insence stick used doesn't indicate our level of devotion, use them reasonably. Excessive use is a waste of money ( shall I say it's a disregard to Laksmi Devi :P ) and worse it pollutes the air since most commercial camphors/insence are full of hazardous chemicals. - resulting in negative health effects! 
• You may resort to ghee lamp, charcoals, and paal sambrani as an alternative. 
• If you have no plans on what to do with the items after the poosanai,  just avoid/reduce  using them. Eg: Betel nuts and betel leaves. 
• Coconut flash can be eaten , chewing it will strengthen your teeth and gums, the raw coconut milk is good to heal internal wounds. Or else simply make use of it for coconut chutney!
• Dried coconut shell could also be used in place of charcoal for thubam, it gives out natural aroma and sambrani powder may be sprinkled on it too! ***

Aftermath of poosanai... 

• If you are serving prasadham, use banana leaves/biodegradable materials. NEVER Polystyrene!
• Dumping the garlands, flowers etc  in the rivers/sea seem to be convenient, yet it's the WORSE you could do. Waters resources are deemed to be sacred in our culture and we are in due  responsibility to take protect it.  
• If you don't do composting at home, start now... give it a try. A simply composting method is to leave the flowers, garlands around grown plants/tree to degrade itself. Simple enough for a 5 year old kid. 
• If not feasible, past it over to someone who does it, many NGOs are doing it. Make use of your internet! Take responsibility to the waste you created, there is no such thing as throwing away, since there is no 'away' unless you bring them to some other planet. 
• More waste you create, tougher it is to manage. Hence, the trick is to keep things simple. Remember spirituality is about "simple living, higher thinking." 

Final words , devotion is not always about how much money/material you use for you prayers  but thoughts. Yes, you have the money and you are entitled to spend. But remember, you are also entitled to the karma of harming mother nature. Hence, plan and manage you kiriyai's well just like how a multinational  company would carry out their projects. 

This article may not be solid enough for you to take a paradigm shift, perhaps it  requires more substantial research to be more convincing. Especially on how we, carry the responsibility to protect the environment.  Nevertheless, I believe it's sufficient for a baby step. 

Change should begin from within, it may be small but soon it will be become inevitable. Similarly, let's make our house prayers sustainable and environment friendly... and soon most Temple Committee's will adopt such mandatory practices. Lets pave the way... for a brighter future.

All picture used above belongs to kumerain.blogspot and all poosanai were environment friendly! 

_/\_

ஓம் நாம சிவாய 

Aum Nama Sivaya