Daily Schedule

Temple Hours:

Daily 7 am-8 pm in winter (October-March)

Daily 7 am-9 pm in summer (April-September)

Weekly Schedule

Aarti is offered daily at 7am and sunset.

Tuesday

Kirtan (starting at 4 pm in winter, 5 pm in summer)
Followed by prasad and evening aarti
Sunday
11 am Chanting of Hanuman Chalisa
Followed by aarti and prasad

LiveStream available, follow this link.

Chanting begins at 10 am (PST), 11am (MST), 1pm (EST).

Aarti

Aarti is a daily prayer ceremony offered in Hindu temples and homes.  It is a ceremony in which the devotees greet and give thanks to the deities and are reminded of God’s grace and glory.  The word “aarti” comes from the Sanskrit prefix “aa”, meaning complete, and “rati” meaning love.  It is thus an expression of the devotee’s complete and unflinching love for God.  It is sung and performed with a deep sense of reverence, adoration and meditative awareness.  Often called the ‘ceremony of light’, the aarti involves waving lighted wicks before the sacred images to infuse the flames with the deities’ love, energy and blessings.

Along with – or sometimes instead of – flames from ghee-soaked wicks, the light from camphor is also used. Other auspicious articles offered during the ceremony include incense, water, cloth and flowers and the waving of a chamara, or yak tail fan. These together represent the five elements – space (cloth), air (fan), fire, water, and earth (flowers) – and symbolize the offering of the whole of creation to the deity during the aarti ceremony.

The term ‘aarti’ also refers to the prayer sung in praise of the deity while the wicks are waved. This prayer is joyously sung to the accompaniment of musical instruments including drums, bells, gongs, and a conch-shell.

After the short prayer, the lighted wicks are passed around the congregation to allow members to receive the blessings infused within the flames.  The aarti is usually performed twice daily, in the morning and the evening, and sometimes when offering the deity the mid-day meal. The aarti also features as a component of other, more elaborate rituals and is often the concluding prayer in religious assemblies and festivals.

Just as the wicks burn in the service of the deities, devotees pray that they, too, can selflessly offer themselves in the service of God. As the wicks eventually burn themselves out, devotees pray their ego can similarly be eradicated through such service and humble worship.

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The Hanuman Chalisa is a chant consisting of forty verses in praise of Sri Hanuman-ji.  Download the Hanuman Chalisa lyrics and translation here.

Out of respect for sacred knowledge it is a tradition to keep such mantras in a clean place and not to put them on the floor. 

spacer Click here to Download Hanuman Chalisa (6685 KB)

spacer Click here to Download Complete Aarti Prayers including the Hanuman Chalisa (18518 KB)

Download recordings of the aarti prayers sung by Nina Rao with lyrics and translations here.

Click here to download aarti recordings

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