Satyanarayan Puja
The Satyanarayan Puja is a religious worship of the Hindu god Vishnu. Satya means “truth” and narayana means, “The highest being” so Satyanarayan means “The highest being who is an embodiment of Truth”. Vrat or Puja means a religious vow, religious observance, or obligation. Hindus throughout perform Sri Satyanarayan Vrat for the divine blessings of health, wealth, prosperity, opulence, education; relief from troubles and sickness. It can also be performed because of success in business or career growth; during social functions like marriages, house-warming ceremonies, naming of the children and so on.
This puja is first mentioned in Skanda Purana, Reva Kanda by Suta Puranik to the rishis in Naimisharanya. The details are part of the Katha (Story) that is usually read during the ritual
A painting of Narayana (Viṣṇu) seated on lotus
Sri Satya Narayana puja is a very popular ritual in most parts of India including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Assam, Bengal, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,Telangana,Bihar, Odisha, Manipur.
The ritual is usually performed on the Full moon day of every month, Ekadashi (11th day after full moon or new moon), Kārtika Pūrṇimā, Vaiśākhā Pūrṇimā, solar eclipse day or on Saṅkrānti except during Āṣāḍha Chandra Masa. It is also performed on special occasions and during times of achievements, as an offering of gratitude to the Lord. These occasions could include marriage, graduation, start of a new job, purchase of a new home, to name a few. In addition, the performance of this most auspicious puja generally confers a child to couples trying to start a family.
The Satyanarayan puja can be performed on any day for any reason. It is not a puja confined to any festivities, but Purnima (full moon day) is considered specifically auspicious for this puja. Performing this puja in the evening is considered more appropriate. However, one can perform this puja in the morning as well.
This puja is very simple, can be performed by anyone,. The original concept was instructions given by rishi Narada Muni while on tour of earth he noticed tremendous amounts of sufferings all around due to malnutrition. He went to lord Vishnu and described the situation and was told with instructions to perform Pooja and the other stories to be narrated. One of the key instruction was to invite as many friends, relatives and neighbors to attend the ceremony and to feed them and to offer as many types of fruits as possible and the sufferings will be eliminated, and this was due to being well fed and consumption of fruits.
