Samoohik Satyanarain pooja at Grayslake temple

Samoohik Puja at Grayslake temple in progress
Samoohik Satya 1
Samoohik Puja at Grayslake temple in progress

CHICAGO: The Hindu Mandir of Lake County, Grayslake (a Chicago suburb) conducted its annual ‘Samoohika Shri Satya Narayana Vrath Katha Pooja’ on Sunday Dec 3 with over 150 devotees actively participating in it.

The “Samoohika” or community format of the Pooja involved multiple families with their relatives and friends praying collectively to Lord Vishnu for the spiritual wellbeing of the entire community.

The Temple provided all the Pooja samagris to the devotees. The Pooja started with the prayers to Lord Ganesha, the remover of obstacles and Nava Grahas. The main component of the Prayer service was dedicated to the worship of Lord Satya Narayana and the meaning behind the stories of the Pooja drawn from the Skanda Purana.

Shri Ramachari and Shri Yogesh Pandey archakas performed the Pooja of the Lord with all the devotees in a dedicated manner with chanting all the Vedic Mantras and Vishnu Sahasranamam which consists of the 1000 auspicious names of Lord Vishnu for the fulfilment of devotees’ personal and professional goals.

Pt. Anil Joshi narrated the importance of the name of this Pooja, “Samoohika Satya Narayana Vrath Katha” to all the devotees. He said that the purpose of Satya Narayan Puja is to bring friends and families together and offer prayers and rituals that encourage universal happiness, unity and harmony among people. He further narrated that Satya means Truth or Dharma, Narayan means the one that abides in everything and everybody. Such group prayers promote thepower of positivity

He told devotees that the stories in this Katha tell us about three important things: Vrath, Moha, and Prasad. Vrath means Vachana/commitment to perform prayers for earning blessings of God and free themselves from Moha that is attachment to Dhan (Money), Santana (offspring), and name and fame.

Prasad here means Bhakti. This means we pray for all to become happy, free from illness, see what is auspicious, no one suffers, and happiness prevails in the entire world. He also blessed all the devotees for happiness, prosperity, and success in life.

The prayer service was concluded with an Aarti and on the behalf of the Temple Committee. Vote of thanks was proposed by Shammi Dhall. He acknowledged the time and service provided by the dedicated volunteers to the development of the temple and success of its socio-religious events.

The devotional service was followed by sharing of temple Prasad, a community meal to strengthen social bonds among the devotees.

Geetha Patil