We all seek blessings from God while sailing through the sea of life and many times, for most Hindus and others who choose to worship God in its “Sagun” form, this God in the form of an idol adorns the holy altar in our home temples. These idols become a source of inner strength for us for the time they have a divine presence in our homes but during the festivals old idols are replaced by new shining idols and that is when the old idols have been the source of divinity for us for a year or two suddenly have to make space for the new ones. Would you just let that God of yours Who was your divine inspiration, be a part of your waste or dump “Them” under a tree or be very callous about “Them”, of course not, so what do you exactly do with the old idols so that they do not lose the reverence you have shown them for years? And how would you be able to dispose of the puja waste?
To enable all of us to dispose of our puja waste more responsibly “Avacayam” a Delhi-based NGO has stepped in. Ms Saroj Raja representing the NGO approached the SRWA for the collection of puja waste that was accepted by Ms Kusum Sharma aka Ms Mona and a collection centre for puja waste has been set up at the mandir gate is gate number 8 (Towards Baba Mohan Ram Mandir). The NGO looks forward to collecting the puja waste and recycling it responsibly. All of us can be important stakeholders in this endeavour by consciously putting only the old murtis, diyas and chunnis in the designated boxes. By irresponsibly putting in trash like used tissue papers, crumpled papers, empty wrappers, cow dung cakes, sealed bottles of oil and dust swept off the floor into the collection boxes, we undermine the sanctity of our murtis and other puja material and make the task of recycling the puja waste difficult, for the NGO that is working in this area.
Puja waste can be segregated very well in the following steps
1. Tissue papers and empty wrappers can be put into trash
2. Crumpled papers with images of God and burnt wicks can be carefully put in a small pit in your garden or a pot having some soil, it will get decomposed easily and will not be mixed with trash
3. Cow dung cakes can be crumbled and put into pots or the garden soil as fertilizer
4. Domestic helps or anyone in need will be able to take away the sealed bottles of oil and thank you for the same
5. Unused cotton wicks can be safely put back into your puja material for future use
6. Finally you are left with old murtis, diyas and chunnis, that can easily find their way to the collection boxes at the Mandir Gate (Gate No. 8)
Let us take one more step towards sustainability and also towards ensuring the disposal of our puja waste with utmost dignity, failing which the NGO might withdraw the collection boxes from Suncity. We all will surely receive the divine grace in abundance once we pray to our Gods and dispose of the puja waste in a more eco-friendly and divine way after the puja.
