Why We Ring Bells as a Part of Puja?



When you’re doing puja next time, just concentrate on all the moments that you ring the bell or ghanti. Have you ever thought about why this simple and humble bell is such a crucial part of our rituals?

During childhood, you always want to be the one ringing the bell because it was one way to involve yourself in the puja and also do something that felt significant. Well, the truth is that it was actually very significant!

But that is plain to see if you begin to notice just how many places seem to have these sacred bells. You see them in offices, in homes, at temples, at ashrams, they’re almost everywhere!

So, now it’s time to understand what they symbolise and why we should always have a ghanti during a puja.

The most popular reason for using the ghanti before a puja begins is to invoke the deity that we are about to worship. It actually is a way of communicating to the universe that a puja is about to begin.

Another thing that the bell does is to awaken one’s spiritual self to the ritual that is about to begin. It tends to clear the mind of negative thoughts and helps you concentrate on the puja that is about to unfold. A well-constructed Bell also produces long, ambient sounds of “OM” that keep repeating as the puja is going on. This brings peace and tranquillity to the puja and everyone who is a part of the ritual.

So, we continue to ring the bell during a puja because it is an offering to the deity being worshipped. But also because it is said to chase away evil spirits that could cause harm or disrupt the puja. A peculiar and unique thing about the ghanti is the metals that it is made up of. This is a very carefully measured out composition of cadmium, lead, copper, zinc, nickel, chromium and manganese.


What does this do?
 
Well, when these metals are mixed in a particular ratio, they tend to produce a unique sound that can unify the working of the right and left sides of the brain. This increases your awareness to incredible levels!
 
Also, once the bell is rung, its sound is supposed to last for seven seconds, during which it can get in touch with the seven chakras or energy centres of the body. Once this is done, then internally, you are taken to an almost transcendental state where you can truly appreciate the benefit of the puja.
 
Finally though, let’s take a look at the body of the bell. Symbolically, it represents time – Ananta. The tongue, which is used to ring the bell, represents the Goddess Saraswathi and the handle is said to be a vital principle that symbolically represents Hanuman, Garuda or Chakra.
 
With these four embodied into the ghanti, every religious ritual needs its presence to help those in attendance to feel as one with the deity being worshipped.

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