When I did a post a little while back about a simple puja you can perform every day, some people wrote to say that they didn’t have some of the things mentioned.  For that puja and for most that you might do there are some basic accessories you should have, but it’s really not much and you can probably find things around your home that would work until you could get a proper puja set…

• A plate
• Vessle for water and small spoon
• Incense and Incense Holder
• Lamp
• A Bell

Some additional items that may come up: Conch shell, Sacred red thread, betal nuts, dhoop-style incense. But you don’t need those things to begin. (If there is an Indian grocery store near you, most of these things will be available there).

When you’re ready for a real puja set, I recommend looking to the Hare Krishnas. If they have festivals in your area they will probably have some booths set up to sell things. I got a beautiful complete aarti set from them. They also have websites that sell everything you could want:

KrishnaCulture.Com

Store.Krishna.Com (there’s even a mini child aarti set here!)

Here’s an example of what a puja set looks like:

This one is sold on http://www.onlinesapphire.com/ which appears to ship to the US. The base price for this set is about $5, though I don’t know how much shipping would be.

Here’s a UK online store with another set: http://www.tts-group.co.uk/shops/tts/Products/PD1725592/9-Piece-Brass-Puja-Set/

But really to start with you can use: A large serving-style plate, a bell of any kind, a small cup and teaspoon, tea lights, and something to hold incense. Serving plates and bells can usually be found at Goodwill stores!

How is my daily puja going?

Fantastic. Since I started using HabitRPG, I’ve only missed one puja in the last month. You will not be surprised to hear that the practice is deeply satisfying. Sitting in my altar room and centering myself every day is cultivating peace in me. My bouts of depression have been shorter and more manageable, even.

Now that I’m managing prayer every day I want to up it to twice a day. A morning puja and an evening puja.