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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 11: Chapter 27: Verses 25-39
Having (mentally) prepared a (high) seat for Me with Dharma etc. (viz., Dharma or Righteousness, janana or Wisdom, Vairagya or Dispassion and Aiswarya or Supremacy for its four feet; Adharma or Unrighteousness, Ajnana or Ignorance, Avairagya or Absence of Dispassion and Anaiswarya or Lack of Supremacy for its four sides; and Sattva, Rajas and Tamas for the three planks constituting its base) and the nine saktis or potencies (viz., Vimala, Utkarsini, Jnana, Kriya, Yoga, Prahvi, Satya, ISana and Anugraha or Purity, Exaltation, Wisdom, Activity, Supernatural Power, Humility, Truthfulness, Rulership and Graciousness mounted on it) and (mentally) spread on it a lotus of eight petals shining bright with its pericarp and filaments (and with the orbs of the sun and other luminaries fixed on it), he should (instal Me on it and) Offer to Me (various) articles of worship such as water for washing My feet and hands and rinsing My mouth with according to the spirit of the Vedas and the Tantras both and with a view to securing both (worldly enjoyment and final beatitude). He should (further) worship in their order of sequence (the discus) Sudarsana, (the conch named) Pahcajanya, the mace (Kaumodaki), the sword, the bow and the arrows as well as (the emblems of Lord Sankarsana, viz.,) the plough and the pestle in the eight directions and the Kaustubha (gem), the (Vaijayanti)garland and (the mark of) Srivatsa (all the three on the bosom of the Lord in their respective position). He should (likewise) worship (the eight attendants of the Lord, viz.,) Nanda, Sunanda, Pracanda as well as Canda, Mahabala and Bala; Kumuda and Kumudeksana (as standing around the Lord in the eight directions) and (His carrier) Garuda (as facing the Lord). He should (also) worship, by offering them water to wash their hands with and so on, (Goddess) Durga, Vinayaka (Lord Ganesa), (the sage) Vyasa and Viswaksena (all these four as surrounding the Lord in the four corners intervening the four quarters), his own preceptor (as standing to-His left) and the gods (viz., the eight guardians of the spheres) each in his relative position (according to the direction in which their spheres are located), (all) of course facing the Lord.The votary should, if there is (sufficient) wealth, daily bathe Me with water made fragrant by sandal-paste, Usira (a kind of aromatic grass), camphor, saffron and aloe-wood, chanting (all the while) sacred texts such as the Suvarna harmanuvaka (or Rgveda, commencing with the words ( etc.), the Mahapurusavidya (a sacred text sacred to Lord Visnu, the Supreme Person), the Purusa-Suktat and the texts of Samaveda such as the Rajana Sama and the Rauhina Sama. My devotee should (also) lovingly set Me off in the proper way with raiments, the sacred thread, jewels, wreaths of basil leaves, scents and sandal-paste. The worshipper should (then) reverently offer to Me water to wash My feet and rinse My mouth with, sandal-paste flowers and grains of unbroken rice (for decoration), incense, light and articles of food. If there be wealth, one should offer as food (to Me daily or at least on festive occasions) jaggery (or sugar), rice boiled in milk and sweetened with sugar, ghee; large round cakes of ground rice, sugar and sesamum seeds and cooked in oil; piles of sweet cakes made of meal and sugar and fried in ghee; lumps of sweets composed of meal cooked in ghee; a kind of porridge made of wheat flour with ghee, milk and molasses; curds and seasoned soup of pulses. Offering a brush (made of a small green twig with one of its ends crushed) for cleansing My teeth, perfumed oil for anointing My body with, a paste (of saffron and camphor powder) for being rubbed on the various parts of My body in order to free it from dirt; (bathing My image with a preparation composed of milk, curds, ghee, honey and sugar as well as with scented water; clothing Me with costly silk and adorning Me with jewels, sandal-paste and wreaths etc.), and putting a mirror before Me (in order to show Me how I look); offering Me food which could be (easily) swallowed (without mastication) as well as that needing mastication (together with fragrant water, betel leaves, a bed of flowers etc.), and (also) singing songs and dancing etc., should be arranged (at least) on a sacred day (e.g., Ekadasi or the full moon), and preferably everyday (if one's means allow it).
Depositing fire in a sacrificial pit, dug and constructed with due ceremony alongwith (three) zone-like constructions, a hollow and a raised ground, one should collect and concentrate it with the hand once it has been kindled (by fanning it). Then enclosing it on all sides with twenty blades of Kusa grass, one should sprinkle water on the Kusa blades all round and, duly replenishing it with fuel while uttering the Vyahrtis ( and so on) and placing (to the north of the sacred fire) articles to be offered to the fire and sprinkling them with water taken from the consecrating vessel, should contemplate Me in the fire as shining brightly like molten gold, distinguished by four arms resplendent with a conch, discus, mace and lotus, calm (and composed), clad in silk possessing the (golden) hue of the filaments of a lotus, adorned with a brilliant diadem, bangles, a girdle (round My waist) and excellent armlets, bearing the mark of Strivatsa on My bosom, distinguished with the lustrous Kaustubha gem and-with a garland of sylvan flowers.
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