Significance of Lemon Lamp and Wick:
The light symbolizes knowledge, illuminating and “en-lighten-ing” us.
Women who desire to get married, who desire for a child, women who pray for a happy married life and a long life for their husbands, pray to the Goddess Durga by lighting a lemon lamp during the rahu kaalam period on Tuesdays or Fridays which are believed to be the days of the Devi.
It’s also said that there is a delay in the marriage of many girls as they might have a Rahu dosha. So during Rahu kaalam elders advice to keep the lemon lamp and pray. It is a very effective parihaaram and has worked for many a people. Prayers, I believe have a deep psychological effect of human minds. In the yesteryears when elders gave certain advices to do certain things for God it was also a way of making the person think positive and feel hopeful for happy days to come in their life thereby having a psychologically healing effect on people who are depressed or thinking negatively or facing sadness or grief in their lives. Isn’t lighting a lemon lamp for the Goddess and thereby making time for prayers in our life better than visiting a psychiatrist and taking anti depressant drugs which keep you lethargic through the day.
How do we light the lemon lamp?
It is believed that 3 Ripe yellow lemons have to be taken and cut into equal halves. When you cut 3 lemons, you get 6 pieces(6 halves), one is offered to Ganapati(Lord Ganesh) who had been given the boon by Goddess Parvati (Shakti and Durga are the forms of Goddess Parvati) that he will always get the privilege of being worshipped
Step 1
first before any Gods and Goddesses. So one piece of the lemon lamp is offered to Lord Ganesha and the remaining 5 pieces to Goddess Durga. We must remember that the number of lemon lamps lit for the Devi have to be always Odd Numbers, so 1, 3 5, 7 or 11 as per how you pray to the Goddess.
Step 2: The juice of the lemon has to be squeezed.
Note: The juice of the lemons cannot be consumed before lighting the lamp for the devi as it will be considered as leftover(“echhal” as they say in Tamil or “jhoota” as they say in Hindi). In some temples they have a vessel where in you can squeeze the lemon, incase you wan to squeeze the lemons at home and take you can keep the lemon juice in a vessel and after you light the lamp at the temple you can do Neivedyam (offer to God and take like Prasad) and consume the juice or make lemon sherbet out of it.
Step 3 : Scoop out everything inside the lemon, and turn it inside out, so it becomes like a cup. If its very wet wipe it with a tissue, otherwise it’s okay, now introduce a thread or a wicker or a ball of cotton shaped with a wicker on top and fill the lemon with ghee
Step 4: Apply some manjal (turmeric) and kumkumam (kumkum) on both sides of the lemon. Light the lamp, praying to the Goddess simultaneously requesting her to fulfill your wishes. Place the lemon lamp at the place allotted for keeping lemon lamps in the temple and bow to the Goddess.
The lime resembles us and we need show the inner part of us to God. Garment of illusion, greedy, lust and angriness need to throw away before God. The white dermis of the lime shows our pure conscious and the darker part (green in color which is hidden inside) is our Maya.
There is a belief among Hindus that :
Wick made of banana stem fiber removes offences before God and ancestral curse. Cotton wick- obtains all good fortune, lotus stem fiber ( wick ) – removes karma from pervious birth and establishes a happy and prosperous life, white madder plant –pulp of the bark – increase wealth and dispels misfortunes, new yellow cotton cloth – obtains the grace of Goddess Parasakti and frees one from entanglements and will not be affected by further misfortunes and New Red cotton cloth- removes any marriage obstacles and child bearing obstacles, keep on free from spells, mantras and tantras.
Source: singaporehindutemples.
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