[Advaita-l] Shankha and Siva Puja

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms
Hare Krishna

Namaste On the TV programme Satyadarshana in Chandana TV one big scholar 
said it is
not correct to do Rudra Abhisheka with Shankha water but many people are
doing this wrong practice. 

>  I think his name is Sri pAvagada prakAsha rAo. 

Some Swamijis are also using Shankha for Rudra Abhisheka. It is wrong.

>  Normally in devatArchana / shiva panchAyatana pUja,  what we do is 
after kalaSha pooja, we perform pUja to shankha also.  kalashOdakena 
shamkham prakshALya, tulasyA jala mAlOdya, shankham gandha, patra 
pushpairabhyarcha..and chant shankha gAyatri also..pAnchajanyAya vidmahe 
pAvamAnAya deemahi, tanno shankaH prachOdayAt etc.  One of the stOtra that 
we chant is shankhetishtanti viprendra, tasmAt shankhaM prapUjayet, tvaM 
purA sAgarOtpanna, vishNunA vidhrutaH kare, pUjitaiH sarvadevaischa 
pAnchajanya namOstute..No where we say that shankha is erstwhile asura 
:-)) shankhOdakaM kinchit kalashe nikshipya, shankhOdakena pUja dravyANi 
saMprokshya, devaM, Atmanancha prokhya, punaH praNavena shankhamApoorya, 
peethasyOpari nidhAya etc.  During pooja we use kalashOdaka only not 
shankhOdaka directly.

He told a story of one Asura and his Pativrata wife. Siva was doing battle
with the Asura to kill him but he became invincible because the wife was
very pure Pativrata. Her Pativratya was protecting him. Then Vishnu
disguised as the Asura came to the wife. The wife thought her husband has
come but it was Vishnu. He spoiled her Pativratya. At that moment Siva
killed the Asura because his wife's Pativratya was not there.
That Asura became Shankha and his wife became Tulasi. Vishnu gave a boon 
to
the wife and Shankha. In Vishnu Puja both Tulasi and Shankha are used.
Shankha always is near Tulasi because was loving his wife very much. There
is a love triangle. Tulasi loves Vishnu and Shankha loves Tulasi.

>  A good paurANika story :-)) vishNu is too smart and fast in doing these 
type of mischievous things :-)) 

But in Siva Puja we should not use Shankha water to do Rudra Abhisheka.

>  For rudrAbhishekaM we use sOma sUtra (dhArA pAtra) through the hole at 
the bottom of the pot (copper or silver)hooked to the stand, so that 
continuously water will be falling on the head of the shivalingaM. 

I have one question.

Can we use Shankha for Abhisheka of other gods like Ganesha, Ambika, 
Surya? Subrahmanya?

>  I heard somewhere that shaivAgama restricts the use of shankha in 
rudrArchana...but again not known the source for this prohibition. 

I heard some Swamijis are using Shankha for Ganesha Abhisheka also.

>  I have seen sri vaishNava-s (Iyengaars) use shankha more frequently 
during the devatArchana.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar