What Happens When You Offer Archana In A Temple?

So you visit a temple, purchase an Arcanā ticket and have the priest perform saṅkalpa and pūjā on your behalf. What is the significance to this?

In a temple, a devotee has restricted leeway. As such, he cannot enter the garbha-gṛha or main shrine to offer his worship. The priest will do this as a representative.

Arcanā simply means offering worship to the arcā-vigraha, the deity of a temple.

The whole process has a flow to it. The prime components you find are saṅkalpa and upacāra-pūjā.

Saṅkalpa ~ The Cosmic Resolution

This is when your astrological details are obtained. There is a profound significance to this. The concept of time is relative. The flow of time on this planet is not universal. When we celebrate the birth (Jayantī) of Lord Krishna, we can say that He physically manifested on this planet about 5000 years ago.

This '5000' as a numerical value is only applicable to this planet. The Jayantī of Lord Krishna is, however, a cosmic event that is not restricted to planet Earth alone.

So cosmically, divine events — be it the birth of Lord Krishna, the marriage of Devī Mīnākṣī with Sundareśvara, etc. — are not time-bound.

In Hinduism, a cosmic event is based on and rooted in celestial geometry and mapping. When we celebrate Kṛṣṇa Janmāṣṭamī, we are not reminiscing about an Avatāra who came here 5000 years back and left. We are literally celebrating a 'cosmic event' which is beyond time and space. To quote an instance, we determine the date of Kṛṣṇa Janmāṣṭamī based on the Aṣṭamī of Kṛṣṇa Pakṣa during Bhādrapada. We determine this Janmāṣṭamī based on the movement, position, and angulation of the Sun and other heavenly bodies.

Kṛṣṇa descended physically on the planet and this event is cosmic. It is archived in the Ākāśic records. Hence, whenever the astronomical positions align as how it was during the birth of the Lord, we celebrate the event as His Janmāṣṭamī. The physical descent of Kṛṣṇa is coded in the form of the geometry of the heavenly bodies. So the birth of Kṛṣṇa on the planet, though not physically occurring now, is still as real as when He physically descended 5000 years back here. The numerals are only applicable to the planet and not the cosmos.

As per cosmos, Lord Kṛṣṇa happens during every Janmāṣṭamī.

So when we celebrate Mīnākṣī Digvijayam next year, remember that the event of Devī Mīnākṣī's conquest and victory is not bound to space and time. It will be as REAL and ALIVE as it was when She physically walked the planet in the past.
This is why we do grandiose ceremonies and re-enact the events in every temple. When the utsava deity of Mīnākṣī Devī is brought into procession during every Brahmotsava, She is manifesting as real as She was when physically walking the planet. There is not an iota of difference here.

Sankalpa - The Science of Manifesting A Reality

You will notice the ācārya announcing the blueprint of your individual existence at a cosmic level during saṅkalpa. This is when your name, rāśi and nakṣatra are announced too. Technically, the priest performing the arcanā on your behalf should utter ‘asya yajamānasya sakuṭumbasya’ instead of ‘asmākam sahakuṭumbānām’. Movies and TV serials these days misrepresent this part usually, unless you are a 90's kid who grew up watching actor Sathya Raj's lollu..

Video: You can find the accurate way in which an ācārya performs a saṅkalpa on a devotee's behalf. Watch at 13:10. Movies back then kept up with the authenticity.

Then, other details are announced, namely the year (nāma-saṁvatsara), the movement of Sun (ayana), season (ṛtu), month (māsa), lunar phase (pakṣa), and the celestial house (nakṣatra).

This is announced so that your reality is manifested to the right target, at the right planet in accordance to the present timeline.

Then before concluding the saṅkalpa, we announce the particular reality to be manifested, be it wealth, health, or destruction of enemies.

This same saṅkalpa principle is applied during a regular ātmārtha or parārtha pūjā, homa, or other rituals.

The upacāra-pūjā to the deity happens after the saṅkalpa. This is when the ācārya proceeds into the garbha-gṛha to offer worship to the deity.