Why to ring the bell while coming to Temple or starting any pooja?
The mantra chanted while ringing the bell is as follows:
” AgamaarThantu devaanam gamanarThantu rakshasam |
kurve Ghanta ravam tatra devathaahvana lanchanam ||”
It means, I am ringing the bell to signal the arrival of Gods and to warn the evil forces to leave the place.
In Mantra-Shastra, the entire cosmos is described to be the manifestation of sound energy, both possitive and negative, personified as Gods and demons respectively.
The purpose of any “Puja” is the unification of the “Atman” with the “Paramatman”
Ringing the bell helps to create a possitive atmosphere that is free from negative vibrations – which distracts both the mind and the body.
From the view of “Kundalini yoga”, the bell’s sound, invokes and energises the internal “Chakras” in the human body thereby bringing harmony and balance in the distribution of energies. It is specified in many Agama that the bell should be made out of “pancha loha” (an alloy of 5 metals – copper,silver,gold,brass,& iron) and should be sounded 8/16/24/32 times. The 5 metals correspond to the 5 elements of Nature – “pancha bhoota” (earth, fire, water, air & space). The numbers 8/16/24/32 usually corresponds to the no. of letters in the mantra called ‘Chandas’ like Gayatri, Anustup, Tristup etc.