[Advaita-l] Worship

[K Kathirasan NCS]

Namaste Sastrigal,

I get the idea that such a practice of worshipping the Guru is something
modern and perhaps something that could not have been prevalent during
the times of the Upanishads.  

As rightly explained by your blessed self, there also seems to be a lot
of Agama Tantra influence in the current Vedanta tradition which seems
to be absent in the Prasthana Traya bhashya of Shankara. 

Thanks. 

Kathirasan 

-----Original Message-----
From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
[mailto:advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org] On Behalf Of S.N.
Sastri
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 1:10 PM
To: advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
Subject: [Advaita-l] Worship

Sri K.Kathiresan  wroteonJune28:--

The last statement by Sastrigal has prompted me to ask the following
question: Today we have a few rituals such as Guru Pada puja, Guru Puja
etc... Are these mode of rituals enjoined in the Shruti? Or how about
the
Smrti?
-----
The rituals for worship of various deities are laid down in works on
Tantra
and other works based on them, like Sri Sankara's prapanchasara. There
is an
ancient work known as Tantrasamuccaya which is followed in most of the
temples in Kerala. For guru pada puja, in the Sringeri Mutt they have a
pair
of silver sandals and puja is done to them. The archana is with Lalita
sahasranamam, Lalita Trisati, Sankaracharya ashtottaram, etc.  In guru
puja
or Vyasa puja which  falls on July 11 this year, puja is done to Vyasa
or
Sri Sankara. In any puja there is a mixture of Veda and tantra.
Abhisheka is
done chanting Srirudram, etc from the Vedas. The mudras shown in pujas
in
temples and also in Devi puja done in houses are all from tantric works.

S.N.Sastri
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