Answer

Ashtaprakari Pooja means worship of Arihant Bhagwan with eight types of offerings. The eight poojas are:

1. Jal Pooja – offering pure water
2. Chandan Pooja – offering sandalwood paste
3. Pushpa Pooja – offering flowers
4. Dhoop Pooja – offering incense
5. Deepak Pooja – offering lamp
6. Akshat Pooja – offering rice
7. Naivedya Pooja – offering food/sweets
8. Fal Pooja – offering fruit

Steps

1. Prepare yourself with purity
   Bathe, wear clean clothes, and enter the temple with humility, silence, and devotion.
2. Do darshan of Jinendra Bhagwan
   Bow respectfully and mentally remember the qualities of Arihant Bhagwan—perfect knowledge, perfect faith, perfect conduct, and freedom from attachment and hatred.
3. Jal Pooja
   Offer pure water to Bhagwan.
   Meaning: May my soul become pure by washing away karmic impurities.
4. Chandan Pooja
   Offer sandalwood paste.
   Meaning: May my inner passions become cool and peaceful.
5. Pushpa Pooja
   Offer flowers.
   Meaning: May virtues blossom in my soul.
6. Dhoop Pooja
   Offer incense.
   Meaning: May the fragrance of right conduct spread in my life.
7. Deepak Pooja
   Offer a lamp.
   Meaning: May the light of right knowledge remove the darkness of ignorance.
8. Akshat Pooja
   Offer unbroken rice.
   Meaning: May I attain the imperishable state of liberation.
9. Naivedya Pooja
   Offer pure food or sweets.
   Meaning: May I reduce attachment to taste and worldly pleasures.
10. Fal Pooja
    Offer fruit.
    Meaning: May I receive the ultimate fruit of spiritual practice—moksha.
11. Pranam and prayer
    After completing the eight poojas, bow to Bhagwan and pray for right faith, right knowledge, right conduct, forgiveness, and freedom from passions.
12. Maintain inner bhav
    The outer offering is important, but the real pooja is internal devotion, humility, purity, and remembrance of the soul’s true nature.

Spiritual Understanding

Ashtaprakari Pooja is not done because Bhagwan needs anything. Arihant Bhagwan is free from all desires. The pooja is for our own spiritual upliftment. Each offering reminds us to purify our thoughts, reduce attachment, and move toward the qualities of the liberated soul.

Takeaway

Ashtaprakari Pooja is a devotional practice where eight symbolic offerings help the devotee develop purity, peace, knowledge, detachment, and the aspiration for moksha.