[Advaita-l] Shankha and Siva Puja

[Crbala Subramanian]

Hi Venkatesh Sir

In Shaivagama, there is a chapter which tells that how to do shanka
abhisheka to Lord Shiva. And it also mentions the paddhati to do 108 shanka
and 1000 shanka abhisheka. Like before doing shanka abhisheka all the
shanka are placed above the rice grain or in other arranged in some shape
and there is a namavali for doing the archana for each and evry shanka be
it 1000 or 108. Then there will a raja shanka the main shanka and the
special pooja is done for that. Then shivacharya takes this raja shanka and
do one pradakshina of the temple by reciting durga sooktha, purusha sooktha
and some agama mantra. Then Sri Rudra Prashna is chanted and all the holy
water that is there in the shanka is offered as abhisheka to Lord Shiva. So
I don't see any objection of doing shanka abhisheka to Lord Shiva.


Thanks
C.R.Bala

Om Sri Saccidananda Shivabhinava Sri Nrisimha bharati Thirtha
CharanaaravindhabhyAm Namaha
Om Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Mahaswami CharanaaravindhabhyAm Namaha
Om Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati Thirtha CharanaaravindhabhyAm Namaha


On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 11:48 AM, Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com> wrote:

> 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
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