Very few on the earth are fortunate who have the urge of doing some thing for the temple because the thoughts of services to the temple come from one's Poorv Janma Phalam. Astrologers call it ninth house in the birth chart. Shivaalaya Deepam is a wonderful idea whoever first thought of that. This makes one's birth sacred on the earth.

Location - Shivaalaya Deepam is very popular in popular Temples. Vilakku Deepam is common to both men and women. In a temple, Ganesh, Murugan, Dakshinamoorthy and Devee are the locations where Deep could be performed. Of course Mool Sthaaan is important. Easna Mool (North East corner) is also need to be bright with a lamp.

Tithi or Day and Time - It is also important to know the Tithi and positions of other planets. New Moon, Full Moon, Pradosh are a few important days to light a Deep. Time is also very important like very early morning and sunset time are good times. Sunset time is very special in our Hindu philosophy. When the Sun sets the Sun turns into red orange color. That is the color of Lord. Shi Vaa Ya Na Mah or Na Mah Shi Vaa Ya should be used as Mantra while lighting the Deep at this time since this time is very auspicious.

Selection of a Temple and Oil - One should select the temples that are not very popular or that are in dark without lamp. A temple that is extremely dark and no one to enter there; and a devotee makes an effort to light a lamp there, he would surely make a big difference. Ghee, castor oil, sesame seed oil are good for the lamp. Special cotton should be used to make the wick. When lighting the lamp make sure the oil smells good, lamp is clean and the cotton is clean and good. Use always non metallic lamp as much as possible. Clay lamp is good. While lighting the lamp, Shiv Mantra should be used. Shi Vaa Ya Na Mah, or Na Maa Shi Vaa Ya. When applying Vibhooti over the forehead, these Mantra should be chanted.

The person who lights the lamp should wave the lamp in front of Lord. It is good the devotee could see the face of the Lord in the light of the lamp that is being lighted. Lamp lighting eliminates Karm of the person and gives inner strength to the soul. The span of the person life is extend and good fortune and Lakshmee Devee starts living in the hands of that person. Prosperity grows. It is a wrong idea that only women can do this job . The eye sight increases with this light of lamp. After waving the lamp, the devotee should take the light and its heat to the eyes and forehead. Taking light to the eyes does not mean burning the eyes. The light should enter the eyes and brighten the soul. This is to be done carefully.

There is a large science in the lighting the lamp. Just light lamp and run away for the other duty is what practiced by most people today. One needs to sit down for a few minutes and meditate upon Lord is to be performed to get full benefit of this prayer.

Keeping the temple clean and quiet and lighting lamp in the night is the best prayer that one can offer to the temples. When doing the Aaratee one should show the lights in front the face of the Lord as close as possible so that the light reflects from the Lord's face properly and shed on the eyes of the devotees. It should be done very slowly. No rush in the action is allowed. One should place himself on the south or right side of the Lord or Devee and extend the hand completely to the Lord or Devee's face. In doing that he should make sure that he is not blocking the view of the devotees. All devotee men should stand on the right side of the Lord and women on the left side of the Lord with clear center walking spacing such that all the devotees on the back could see the Lord. Nandee and his vision on the Lord should not be blocked.

After the Pooja is done, all the devotees should go to the Sandikeshwar and tell Shi Vaa Ya Na Mah one more time. And ask Sandikeshwar to bestow the benefit of the Shiv prayer and Poojaa. Similarly, before beginning the Poojaa Nandee is to be worshiped when entering the temple itself.

When offering Shiv Deep Poojaa, Naivedya should be prepared and offered too. One should know - what is praying of God, why do we pray God and how do we pray God. Many people rush to the temple and light lamp and run away. Poojaa done in this way does not benefit in full.

A soul takes birth with certain bank account balance and credit when born. When people get old, certain people's  the account credit balance is reduced. Their soul then suffocates due to inadequate power to withstand the problems of life. This soul's inner strength comes from Lord. Soul should maintain certain minimum Lord's power within to survive on the Earth. Life is going through a cycle of Dashaa of birth chart. This is a long term effect. A soul never goes through the same Dashaa twice in its life span, because the total Dashaa cycle is repeated once in 120 years. Hence the soul goes through the various different experiences in the life cycle. God is not responsible totally for these changes, because, these changes are natural phenomena of the cycles of the planets. If Lord needs to change the Dashaa for a devotee, he has to change the physics and cycles of the planetary motions for a devotee, but then it will affect reset of the Universe also.

Saint Sambandar says all these planetary motions are only good for the devotees of Lord. That is why we pray Lord. Lord gives personal strength to the person. Living with Lord and without Lord is the choice of the person. Lord cannot be owned, but only borrowed only by Bhakti and devotion. Retaining Lord permanently with ourselves is not possible. We borrow him and spend his grace on our worldly affair. Then go and borrow him again. Temples are the God lending banks. Aagam Chakra are very powerful ways that temples are designed with where Lord could be placed within. Devee plays very important role in that. Lord is very inert and Devee is dynamic. Lord is like power of parallel lines which never meet, whereas Devee makes them meet with triangle forms. Thus the Lord's power is generated and utilized in the Devee Chakra. Aadi Shankaraachaarya understood this principle very well and placed chakra wherever he went.

Shiv is the one name of the Lord, but in fact Lord is only Lord. As explained he has five faces with five actions. Devee has thousands of faces with thousands of powers and actions. She is ever expanding with the help of Lord. Thus a temple is the energy center for the soul. Soul is very similar to Lord minus with one quality - the inner strength. Soul needs Lord to get that strength. Inner power is very important for the human to live on the earth. Many modern saints are popular because of this inner strength. They obtained that from the 9th house of their birth chart. Many say that they are self-realized but they are not really. They talk good, they have sharp brain, some has Taantrik powers too, but Lord is beyond all this. People do not have the Taantrik power to remove your Dashaa, while Lord has this special power to attach to the soul for this when the soul prays to the Lord. This gives a lots of strength to the soul. His face gets brighten, the body gets resistance power to diseases, when someone tries to harm you physically and mentally, the power protects. Karm theory is very complex. One need not worry about the Karm theory. All Karm lead to results - enjoyment or sufferings for the life. All Poorv Punya Phalam and Deep Poojaa could help lot in getting the Lord back for people without Lord living on the Earth.

Guru is a person who retain Lord maximum with his soul and helps the student to practice Lord in a formal and regular way. Every one should have a guru. Living Guru is a must. Guru is like a hot milk, if you add a few drops of yogurt to make the hot mile turn into full cultured yogurt in a couple of hours. Guru takes the Lord from his soul and add it to the student's soul. Thus the student soul turns into a sacred soul with Lord now. Then the student develops the Lord within his soul.

Soul has no strength without the Lord. Devee offered the body and power to the soul. Lord Ganesh offered the Stithi. Lord Subramanyam offered the love. Lakshmee offered the prosperity and the talents are offered by the Saraswatee Devee. The human that we see as a whole is fully offered by various Lords and Goddess only. All gods and goddess depend on Lord Shiv. The gods and goddesses and the planets are functioning from the strength of the Lord. When the power is expended, the soul attains back to its original form with no power.

The soul has reached this stage early in the life with various Karm performed by the soul. Thus the regaining of the power is offered by the Lord only. That is why going to the temples becomes very important. Lighting Deep is the best way to get soul strength. This is a simple science and no magic involved in this. People should know the Tithi and the importance of certain Tithi and perform this Deep Poojaa. The individual need not be a Braahman and need not be a priest to light the Deep.