[Advaita-l] Dog Headed God

[SIVAKUMAR RAMAKRISHNAN]

Dear Sriramji
sAdara praNAmam,
 Like to know more about 'Chidgaana chandrika'
 of Kalidasa.Is it now available?
 Namaste.

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On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 5:06 PM, Venkata sriram P
<venkatasriramp at yahoo.in>wrote:

> Namaste Dear Venkatesh Murthy,
>
> In tantra, the vAhanA of deities have special significance for appeasing
> the deities.  The sunaka is the vAhana of Bhairava and if properly appeased,
> the Bhairava is pleased.   That is the reason, at the time of kAsi
> samAradhana, the Dog is worshipped at homes by chanting Kalabhairava Ashtaka
> and naivedya of vadai is offered.
>
> In Kali Upasana, the appeasing of Dog is taken to be an aspect of omen
> (good / bad).  For instance, for testing whether Goddess Kali is pleased
> with mantra anushtana, Siva Bali is offered at the cross-roads in the
> midnight or at graveyard.  If the Dog comes howling and accepts the Siva
> Bali, it implies that Kali is pleased; if the Dog doesn't take the Bali,
> there are certain prayaschitta karmas for that.  Even the colour of the Dog
> is also the deciding factor.
>
> The Bhairava Upasana is generally done with vAmAchAra mode with madhya
> offerings.  But Sri Abhinava Vidya Tirtha Mahaswamigal of Sringeri adviced
> some of his devotees that Bhairava can be appeased with sattvika mode of
> worship without any inhibitions and that is what is being carried out in
> Sringeri.
>
> Now, as you pointed the place called Ujjain, there is a wonderful temple
> for Bhairava and even today the worship is done with vamachara rituals and
> naivedya of madya is offered there and some portion of the same is offered
> to devotees as tirtha.  But we are free to say a diplomatic no to that.
>
> Sri Kalidasa in his work "Chidgagana Chandrika" explains the esoteric
> essence of the Bhairava Tattva and the sunaka aspect and obviously the
> esoteric science is Tantra.  Afterall, it is tanyate vistAryate jnAnam iti
> tantraH ie., that which widens the horizons of knowledge is tantra.  The
> punaH srushti or the Creation is accompanied with a Formidable Howl by
> Bhairava which is depicted with the Howling of Dog [bhai ...bhai ...rava] or
> [bhayankara rava].   Mahamaheshwara Abhinava Gupta Pada also mentions some
> of the esoteric aspect in the sutra "udyamO bhairavaH".
>
> namaH svabhyaH svapatibhyascha namaH...
>
> regs,
> sriram
>
>
>
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*sivakumarr*