Lord Satyanarayan is another incarnation of Lord Vishnu. According to the legend, Lord Vishnu incarnated into this to break the arrogance of Indra. He meditated in badrinath in the form of Narayana and adopted Satya – truth, hence was known as Satyanarayana. Devotees who worship Lord Satyanarayana offer banana leaves, panchamrit, betel leaves, moli, roli, kumkum, durva, sesame etc in front of the idol of the lord.
Devotees prepare panchamrit to worship the lord made with milk, honey, banana, gangajal, tulsi leaf, and mewa. It is believed that all these things are loved by the lord. For prasad other than fruits and sweets, churma is prepared with wheat flour and sugar.
Shri Satyanarayan Katha
There are various legends of Lord Satyanarayana out of which one was told by Sootji on request of Sankadi saints. Before him, Lord Narada told this tale to Lord Vishnu according to which a brahman used to wander around places and beg from people to fill his needs.
Lord Vishnu felt bad for that brahman and himself incarnated into a brahman and went on earth to ask the beggar brahman about his reason of living such a low life. He listens to the story of the brahman, and asks him to perform special puja of Lord Satyanarayan as per the rituals. The brahman did everything as per the instructions given by Lord Visnu with full faith and devotion. As a result, he became wealthy and started living a good life.
Shri Satyanarayana Puja Rituals
The devotee should take the pledge of worshipping Lord Satyanarayana with full devotion. The place where the lord idol’s will be placed should be purified with cow’s dung, followed by keeping a chakki. Then banana trees are placed on all the four corners of the chakki. Now, establish the picture or idol of Shri Satyanarayan on the chakki. The puja should be commenced only after worshipping Lord Ganesha first.
After that other gods are also worshipped in the following sequence: Paanch Lokpal, Ram Sita, Lakshman and Radha krishna, followed by worshipping Lord Satyanarayana. After this Lord Shiva, goddess Lakshmi and Lord Brahma are also worshipped in the end.
Significance of Shri Vishnu Puja
The devotee consider hindu lord Vishnu as the most powerful, all-pervading core of all creations, the present and future, the creator and destroyer of all existence, the supporter, the one who provide and preside in the whole universe and the one who made and develop all the creatures within. He was illustrated as having the divine color of water filled clouds, four armed, holding a lotus, mace, conch and chakra.