Prana Pratishtha Rites (Image consecration)
Pran Pratishtha is the sacred ritual of invoking the Deity in an image by performing rites and chanting mantras.
The Shastras say that one who has God within him fully can perform pran pratishtha because it is only he who can invoke the Paramatma within his heart into the murti.” Today in the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, Pramukh Swami Maharaj is such a Mahapurush (Satpurush).
Nyasvidhi. Nyas means ‘touching’. Nyasvidhi invokes various deities such as Brahma, Indra, Surya and others, in to the murti. The rite starts from the head and down to the feet. It is done using a bog golden needle.
The Satpurush places his hands a few inches from the murti, while pundits chant mantras that bring God into the murti. The divine power of Paramatma emanates from the Satpurush and enters the murti.
In the BAPS tradition, the Satpurush performs the netra-anavaran rite – ‘opening’ the murti’s eyes, by removing the coating of ghee and honey with the golden shalaka.
This completes the prana pratishtha. The murti is now not termed murti, but ‘Bhagwan Swaminarayan’, rather than ‘murti of Bhagwan Swaminarayan.
In the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, a Mahapuja is performed in the mandir’s mandap or hall, while abhishek is performed of the murti in garbha gruh. Pramukh Swami Maharaj then performs the prana pratishtha. Annakut is then placed in front of Bhagwan. Swamiji then performs the first arti.
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