Five verses in which a complete temple worship is performed and nothing at all is offered. The Shiva Manasa Puja constructs a jewelled throne, a bath of cold water from the celestial river, silk garments, sandal paste, jasmine, incense and lamps — and constructs every one of them in the mind, saying so as it goes. Then it apologises for everything.
🧠 Shiva Manasa Puja at a Glance
Attributed to: Adi Shankaracharya
Length: 5 verses, in shardulavikridita metre
Form: manasa puja — the full sixteen-step worship, performed mentally
Opens: ratnaiḥ kalpitam āsanam — a throne fashioned of jewels
Closes: kara-charaṇa-kṛitaṁ vā — the apology for every fault
Requires: nothing — no materials, no place, no purity of setting
📑 Table of Contents
🧠 What Manasa Puja Is
The ritual tradition recognises worship at several levels, and mental worship is not the lowest of them. The standard ordering places manasa puja — performed entirely in the mind — above physical worship with materials, on the reasoning that the mind can supply what no household can afford and that the offering is limited only by attention.
ratnaiḥ kalpitam āsanaṁ himajalaiḥ snānaṁ cha divyāmbaraṁ
nānāratna-vibhūṣhitaṁ mṛigamadā-modāṅkitaṁ chandanam |
A throne fashioned of jewels, a bath with cool water, divine garments, ornaments of many gems, sandal paste fragrant with musk …
The word doing the work is kalpitam — imagined, fashioned, conceived. It recurs through the verses. The hymn never pretends the jewels are present; it states that they are constructed, and offers them anyway, closing the first verse with kalpitaṁ manasā mayā — “fashioned by me with the mind” — and the request that Shiva accept it.
🌸 What Is Offered
| Verse | What it constructs |
|---|---|
| 1 | Throne of jewels, bath, divine garments, ornaments, sandal paste, jasmine and bilva, incense and lamp — the upacharas of a formal puja |
| 2 | A canopy, two whisks, a fan and a mirror; song and dance; a full offering of food — payasam, ghee, curd, fruit and betel |
| 3 | The identification: the Self as Shiva, the mind as Parvati, the pranas as attendants, the body as the temple, enjoyment as offering, sleep as samadhi, walking as circumambulation, all speech as praise |
| 4 | The confession — of faults in the arms, the feet, the speech, the body, the ears, the eyes, and in the mind |
| 5 | kara-charaṇa-kṛitaṁ vā … — the closing plea for forgiveness of everything done and not done |
📌 The turn at verse 3
The third verse is where the hymn stops being an inventory. Having imagined a temple's worth of materials, it reassigns everything:
ātmā tvaṁ girijā matiḥ — you are the Self, Parvati is my understanding, the pranas are your attendants, the body is your house, all my enjoyment is your worship, my sleep is samadhi, my every step is circumambulation of you, every word I speak is your praise — whatever I do, all of it is your worship. Nothing is left over to be secular.
🙏 The Apology
The closing verse is recited far beyond this hymn — it is used to end pujas of every deity, and most people who say it do not know it comes from here:
kara-charaṇa-kṛitaṁ vāk kāyajaṁ karmajaṁ vā
śhravaṇa-nayanajaṁ vā mānasaṁ vāparādham |
vihitam avihitaṁ vā sarvam etat kṣhamasva
jaya jaya karuṇābdhe śhrī mahādeva śhambho ||
Whatever fault has been committed by hand or foot, by speech or body or action, by hearing or seeing, or in the mind — prescribed or unprescribed — forgive all of it. Victory, victory, ocean of compassion, Sri Mahadeva, Shambhu.
💡 Vihitam avihitam
The phrase covers both what was prescribed and what was not — that is, both the errors made while doing the rite properly and everything done outside it. The verse is designed to leave no category of fault unnamed, which is why it works as a closing for any worship at all.
In practice
- When materials are unavailable — travelling, ill, or without a temple. This is the hymn's most common use and its explicit design.
- As a closing — the fifth verse ends pujas across traditions and deities.
- On Mondays, at Pradosha, and on Maha Shivaratri.
- As practice in itself — reciting it slowly enough that each offering is actually visualised, which is the difference between the hymn and a list.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What is manasa puja?
Worship performed entirely in the mind. The tradition places manasa puja above physical worship with materials — the mind can supply what no household can afford, and the offering is limited only by attention. The hymn's key word is kalpitam, fashioned: it never pretends the jewels are present, it says they are constructed and offers them anyway.
Where does the verse kara charana kritam va come from?
It is the fifth and closing verse of the Shiva Manasa Puja. It is recited far beyond this hymn — used to end pujas of every deity — and most people who say it do not know its source. The phrase vihitam avihitam covers both prescribed and unprescribed — errors made while doing the rite properly, and everything done outside it — which is why it closes any worship at all.
What happens in the third verse of the Shiva Manasa Puja?
The hymn stops being an inventory. Having imagined a temple's worth of materials, it reassigns everything: the Self as Shiva, the mind as Parvati, the pranas as attendants, the body as the temple, enjoyment as offering, sleep as samadhi, walking as circumambulation, all speech as praise. Nothing is left over to be secular.
When should the Shiva Manasa Puja be recited?
Its explicit design is for when materials are unavailable — travelling, ill, or without a temple. Also on Mondays, Pradosha and Maha Shivaratri, with the fifth verse used to close pujas of any deity. Recited as practice, the point is to go slowly enough that each offering is actually visualised — that is the difference between the hymn and a list.
🙏 Conclusion
The Shiva Manasa Puja is the answer to a practical problem — what to do when there is nothing to offer — and its answer is that this was never the constraint. It builds a throne of jewels out of attention, reassigns the body as the temple and sleep as samadhi, and then, having offered everything, apologises for all of it in a verse that has outgrown the hymn and now closes worship everywhere.