CAR POOJA

This evening I went to the Hindu temple in Sitiawan. My intent of going there was to get a priest to carry out a car pooja ceremony for my car. Somehow, I feel that I needed to do so after I got my luck cycle analysed by a sifu yesterday and the analysis was not too auspicious. Furthermore, I have been having very close shaves on the road these past few weeks and I don't want to meet with any accident.

I actually had my car blessed by a Buddhist monk when I first bought it two months ago but when I asked the priest at the Hindu temple if I could have a pooja ceremony performed, he said it was okay.

For your information, a car pooja is a Hindu ceremony blessing an automobile to keep it from bad influences and to bless it in God's name. Hindus often perform pujas for items used in daily life for example, houses and motor vehicles.

The ceremony was carried out at around 7.45 p.m. At around 7.00 p.m., I noticed that the two priests had begun the pooja ceremony for the Hindu deities. After they had finished the ceremony, one of the priests carried a tray containing flowers, lime and other stuff needed for the ceremony (see above picture) to my car. I saw him drawing a religious symbol on the windscreen facing the driver's seat with the yellow paste. Then he went on to dot the other windows. I also noticed that he placed a lime in front of each of the four car tyres. After that I was told to open all the doors. I also saw him sprinkling water and then throwing chrysanthemums on my car. After that I saw him carry a coconut and then going to a sand pit and smashing it there. After that I saw him holding a lit flame and using it to bless the interior of my car. Then he asked me for my car keys and also to follow him to the outer sanctum of the temple where there was another idol of Ganesha. I saw him dotting the key chain with the yellow paste and saying some prayers. At the same time, there was another devotee who was praying there. She also received blessings from the priest. The priest asked me for my name and then he said some prayers and gave me some powder to put on my forehead and whatever was leftover I rubbed on both my palms. Finally, I was told to drive my car forward to roll over the four limes. That marked the end of the ceremony. I reversed my car and went home. One of the devotees there told me not to wash off the symbols made by the priest immediately but leave them there for a day. I was also given half of a coconut which contained some flowers and leaves to take home to be placed on my altar.