गृह प्रवेश पूजा विधि

The tradition counts three kinds of griha pravesh. The names are much the same everywhere, but their definitions differ a little.

Apurva griha pravesh: 'apurva' means what has not happened before. This is the first entry into a new home, built or bought, where the family has never lived. The full vidhi is done for this kind, and the muhurat is looked at most carefully for it too.

Sapurva griha pravesh: 'sapurva' means what has happened before. This is entry again into a home where the family has already lived, after it stood empty during long travel or a stay abroad. A simpler puja is usually held to be enough.

Dvandva griha pravesh: this is entry into a home repaired after damage from a disaster such as fire, flood or earthquake. Some lists count a major repair or a rebuilt home here and some as sapurva, and they differ too on a home bought after someone else has lived in it. In such a case ask your priest how much of the vidhi to keep.

The griha pravesh muhurat is taken from the panchang. Almanacs usually look at the Moon's nakshatra (the fixed and gentle nakshatras are held good), the tithi, the weekday, the lunar month, and that Venus and Jupiter are not combust. Many astrologers also look at the lagna of the moment and how it sits with the kundli of the head of the household.

Among the months, Vaishakha, Jyeshtha, Magha and Phalguna are usually counted good, and Kartika and Margashirsha middling. Amavasya, the Rikta tithis, Tuesday and Sunday are usually left out. These rules are held strictest for an apurva entry, and almanacs differ somewhat on them.

On this site the page /muhurat/griha-pravesh lists the year's griha pravesh dates with time, nakshatra and tithi. They are worked out for New Delhi from the panchang alone, without the lagna or a kundli match; in other cities the times can shift somewhat, the dates rarely. To see the choghadiya, Abhijit, Rahu Kaal and lagna of a chosen day for your own city, pick your city or any place in the world at /muhurat; on the page that opens, set the date and use the tabs at the top.

Before the work on the home is finished and a date is fixed, it is good to ask a knowledgeable priest or astrologer once, above all for an apurva entry. If a job, a transfer or some other compulsion rules out the best day, many people simply enter with faith on the day they can. Ask the priest and choose the best of the days open to you.

For the puja and the kalash: an image or picture of Ganesh, a low stool with a red or yellow cloth, a copper, brass or clay kalash, water and Ganga water, mango leaves, a coconut with its fibres, a betel nut, a coin, mauli, roli, turmeric, sandal paste, unbroken rice (akshat), flowers and a garland, durva grass, betel leaves, cloves and cardamom, incense, camphor, ghee and a lamp, a bell, fruit, sweets or laddoos, and a lota of water.

For the door and the kitchen: a toran of mango or ashoka leaves, roli or turmeric to draw a swastika at the door, rangoli colours or rice flour, and for those whose custom it is, another coconut to break. For the kitchen, a new or clean vessel, milk, and for kheer, rice, sugar or jaggery, and dry fruit.

For Vastu shanti and Navagraha shanti: a havan kund, samidha (sacred wood), havan samagri, ghee, nine grains for the nine grahas, and whatever else the priest names. Every priest has a list of their own, so have them write it out some days before. If you cannot gather everything, do not worry: a lamp, a kalash, a few flowers and some akshat, and milk are enough to complete the entry.

The order changes with the region and the priest. In many homes Vastu shanti is done the day before or that same morning and the family enters at the muhurat; in some the family enters first and the puja is done sitting inside. A common order follows; whichever order your priest gives, follow that.

1. The day before: clean the house, check the water and electricity, tie the toran at the door and draw the rangoli. The entry goes more easily when the doors and windows are in place. Many families prefer to bring in heavy furniture and start living there only after the puja.

2. The day of the muhurat: bathe and put on clean or new clothes. Keep the samagri in one place and arrive before the muhurat, so that nothing is hurried. Let the elders and the children be there.

3. The sankalpa (priest): the head of the household, and the husband and wife together if there is a couple, sit facing east or north. With water, akshat and a flower in hand, at the priest's prompting, they state their names, gotra, place and the purpose of the puja. It is a vow made for the welfare of the home and the family.

4. Ganesh puja: as with every auspicious beginning, the first worship is Ganesh's. The priest leads it with mantras; the family offers water, roli, akshat, durva, flowers, a lamp and a laddoo, and chants 'Om Gam Ganapataye Namah'.

5. Vastu shanti (priest): the tradition holds Vastu Purusha to be the deity of the ground and the building. The priest usually draws a Vastu mandala in rice or flour, sets up a kalash there, worships Vastu Purusha and the deities of the mandala, and leads a havan. The feeling is to ask forgiveness for the hurt done to the ground in building, and to pray for peace in the home.

6. Navagraha shanti (priest): the priest invokes the nine grahas, sets out nine grains in their names and leads the offerings in the havan. It closes with the purnahuti, the final offering. This part is done on its own or along with Vastu shanti, and families who want to keep things simple also leave it out. Keep the windows open during the havan, since smoke in a closed room troubles children, the elderly and anyone with asthma.

7. Door puja and the right foot: draw a swastika in roli or turmeric at the door and offer akshat and flowers to the threshold. Some families break a coconut here. Then at the muhurat the husband and wife, or the head of the household, come in with the right foot first across the threshold. The threshold is stepped over, not stepped on. In many homes, especially in south India, there is also the custom of leading a cow and calf in ahead of the family.

8. The kalash: in many homes the woman of the house enters carrying the water-filled kalash, topped with mango leaves and a coconut; in some the couple hold it together, and in some a picture of Ganesh is carried in with it. Place the kalash at the place of worship, usually in the north-east (ishan) corner. With mango leaves sprinkle a little of its water through the whole house.

9. Boiling milk: the first work in the kitchen is to boil milk. The woman of the house or another member of the family lights the stove and puts milk on in a new or clean vessel. The milk is allowed to rise and spill over a little, which the tradition takes as a sign of plenty of food and prosperity in the home. Keep children away from the stove while it rises. If the milk does not spill over, that is no bad omen. Make kheer or some other sweet from that milk.

10. The first meal: offer the kheer and the meal to God first, then do the aarti with 'Jai Ganesh Deva' and 'Om Jai Jagdish Hare', both in this library. Ask forgiveness for any slip. Then the family eats a sattvik meal cooked in that kitchen. In many homes no onion, garlic or meat is cooked that day.

11. Feeding Brahmins or the poor: give the priest a meal and dakshina and, as far as you can, feed Brahmins or people in need. Giving something to the masons and labourers who built the home, to the neighbours and to a cow is a lovely custom too. Many families also have the Satyanarayan Katha, which is in this library, on this day or some days later.

12. The first night: in many homes the custom is that the home is not left empty on the day of entry and that the family sleeps there the first night. If the whole family cannot stay, at least one or two members stay. Light a lamp at dusk, and before sleeping check that the lamp and the stove are out. After the tiring day this much is enough: a first quiet night in the home.

The formal sankalpa with mantras, the worship of the Vastu mandala, the Vastu shanti havan and Navagraha shanti are the priest's work. Do not try to do mantras and rites you do not know just by reading them; if you want them done, have a knowledgeable priest do them.

Lighting a lamp, remembering Ganesh with a simple puja, the swastika at the door, entering with the right foot, carrying in the kalash, boiling milk, the first offering, the aarti, giving, and spending the first night in the home can all be done by the family itself. Whether to have Vastu shanti or Navagraha shanti done rests on the family's faith, custom and means; for an apurva entry many families have them done, and many enter with a simple puja alone.

If no priest can be found, or the family wants to keep it simple, this short order is enough. It does not take the place of a full Vastu shanti; if you wish, that can be done separately later.

1. The day before, clean the house and make the toran and the swastika at the door. Choose a good day and time, and let everyone bathe and put on clean clothes.

2. Let the head of the household make the vow in their own words: with water, akshat and a flower in hand, say your name and that you are entering this home for the welfare of the family and the peace of the home. Then let the water fall to the ground.

3. Step over the threshold with the right foot first and come in. Let the woman of the house or another member of the family carry in a kalash of water.

4. Set a stool in the north-east corner or any clean place and place a picture of Ganesh and the kalash on it. Light a lamp, offer water, roli, akshat, durva, flowers and a sweet, and chant 'Om Gam Ganapataye Namah' eleven or twenty-one times. Here with folded hands bow to the ground and the deity of this home, name the nine grahas and pray for peace in the home.

5. Sprinkle a little of the kalash water through the whole house. In the kitchen boil milk, make kheer or some other sweet, and make the first offering.

6. Sing the aarti 'Jai Ganesh Deva', give everyone prasad and give food or a gift to someone in need. Let the family eat from that kitchen and sleep in the home the first night.

There is no one fixed rule for a rented home. In practice many families do not have a full Vastu shanti there, since they did not build the home and will live there only for a while; some do have it. The simple version above serves well: the lamp, the remembrance of Ganesh, the right foot, the kalash water and the boiling milk. Many families also have the Satyanarayan Katha done with it.

Many families also keep the muhurat less strict: they choose a good day and enter outside Rahu Kaal. If you want a havan, ask the landlord and the neighbours first, mind the smoke, and make no lasting change to the walls, the floor or the threshold. Cleaning the home and bowing to it on leaving is a good habit as well.

By tradition griha pravesh is a prayer for the peace of the home, the welfare of the family and plenty of food and wealth. Its heart is simple: gratitude to the ground one will live on, making the remembrance of God and respect for food the first work in the home, and feeding others out of one's own joy. It is a custom of faith, not a promise of results; what makes a home happy is the love and conduct of those who live in it.

The griha pravesh puja usually ends with the Ganesh aarti 'Jai Ganesh Deva' and then 'Om Jai Jagdish Hare'; the full text of both is in this library. Do the aarti with a ghee or camphor lamp, and if it is your custom to carry it through all the rooms, do so with care. Then pass your hands over the flame, touch them to your eyes and head, and share the prasad.