Naivedya for Navagraha worship

It is customary in our Hindu religion to offer fruits and various food articles as Naivedya after performing a Pooja (ritual/abhishek). Then we partake this as a Prasad. In the same manner after worshiping Navagrahas, it is customary to offer Naivedya. The Puranas recommend variety of articles and food to be offered. Details of Naivedya for each of Navagrahas is as follows.

1. Surya (Sun) – South Indian sweet khichadi (sweet pongal)
2. Chandra (Moon)  – Milk-rice pudding (Pal Payasam) i.e. kheer made of rice, milk and sugar 
3. Mangal (Mars) - South Indian ghee khichadi (Ven Pongal) i.e. salted pongal with ghee and pepper
4. Budha (Mercury) – Tamarind rice
5. Guru (Jupiter) – Curd rice
6. Shukra (Venus) – South India ghee khichadi
7. Shani (Saturn) – Rice cooked with salt and sesame (Teel rice)
8. Rahu – Rice cooked with urad daal (black gram)
9. Ketu – Lemon rice or coconut rice

Lord Ganesha

(This article is based on an article which appeared in a Tamil spiritual magazine.)

We all know that Pranava Mantra is “Om”. In Tamil Nadu it is customary to start any writing by symbolizing this pranava mantra at the top first. Lord Ganesha is the Pranava Swaroopa, hence we all pay our obeisance (respect) to Him first. Vedas address Him as Jyeshtharaj (one who has appeared first and King of Kings). It is believed that the name Ganapati may have been derived from the elephants which roamed in the forest first as Kings. Hence in Sanskrit, elephants were addressed as Kanaga Ganapati. Aadi-Shankara stated, that Lord Ganesha was Anayaka Nayaka (Leader of par excellence or leader who doesn't have any leader i.e. he is leader in himself). In Atharvashirsha upanishada of Atharvana Veda, it is stated that the word, “Ga-na-pa-ti” explains the tatva “tatvamasi” i.e. attaining moksha after attaining dhyana. “Ga” stands for Riddhi and “Ti” stands for Siddhi.

In Lalitha Sahastranama, the Mother Lalitha Devi created Vigneshwara, to nullify the effect of Vighna Yantra (Mohan mantra) of Bhandasura, by combining Her Shakti and grace of Lord Shiva (Kaameshwara).

There are number of legends in Purana about how Ganesha got his elephant head. The following story is from Matsya Purana. Once Parvati went to take bath. Before going to bath, she created a small boy of turmeric powder. She gave it a life and placed him as a guard outside. Lord Shiva was stopped by this boy from entering the place where she was taking bath. In anger, Lord Shiva cut the head of this boy. In order to console Parvati, Lord Shiva fixed the head of an elephant to the slain boy and brought him back to life. Thus Ganesha was born with elephant head. Hence it is customary in South India to prepare a Ganesha of turmeric powder and perform Avahana before starting any worship. 

Another legend stated that Parvati prepared an earthen image of boy as she badly wanted to have a son. Due to Saturn’s bad vision on the image, the boy’s head fell off. Lord Shiva ordered his Ganas to get head of an animal that was sleeping with head towards North and fix it above boy's neck. In this manner, the legend explains how Lord Ganesha got head of elephant.

According to Bramhanda Purana, once Ganesha was standing as a guard at entrance to Kailash. Parshurama tried to enter the Kailash and was stopped by Ganesha. Parshurama, in anger, threw his axe (Parshu) at Ganesha, who stopped it with his left tusk and hence his tusk broke. This gave him the name “Ekadanta”.

In order to remove the curse on Agni Deva, Ganesha used his ears as fan. Hence he got the name Shurpakarna. This is also mentioned in Bramhanda Purana. 

Parvati obtained upadesha of Ekakshar mantra from Lord Shiva. She delivered a boy with elephant head and six hands. This child was white like a moonlight and hence he got the name Bhalachandra. 

He is worshiped in the form of the sacred stone, known as Sonabhadra Vinayaka which is red triangular stone.

According to Bhargava Purana, Bramha started the creation with ego, without first worshiping Ganesha. Hence all his creations were ugly. Realizing his mistake, he did penance and obtained Dhyana Shakti and Kriya Shakti as his daughters with Lord Vinayaka's blessings. He proceeded his work of creation. Later on Lord Vinayaka married his daughters.

One of the deities in Panchayatan worship, started by Aadi-Shankara, is Lord Ganesha. This is known as Ganapatya. This particular worship is prevalent in Maharashtra. In Maharashtra there are eight places which are considered highly sacred for the worship of Lord Ganesha. These eight places together are known as Ashta Vinayaka.

Quotes of great Saints

Quotes of Swami Chinmayananda on devotees:

The devotees can be classified into four categories

1. In the first type, the devotee perceives God in all living and non-living things. Such devotee is considered to be greatest of all devotees. He feels that atma exists in everything similar to his own. At the same time he also feels, that all the atmas, get merged in to Paramatman. Hence he sees no difference in anything.
2. In the second type, the person bows (prays) to God, moves with his friends and relatives with love and affection. At the same time he treats his enemies in same manner as others. This type of devotee is secondary.
3. In the third type, devotee believes that God exists only in idols and prays Him only. He does not treat and serve others. This type is inferior to first two types.
4. Last type of devotee bows and worships only in the temples. He cannot tolerate other worshipers and different paths of worship and so on. He is unable to grasp the fact that God is omni-present (present everywhere). He is most inferior of all devotees.

Quotes of Swami Shivananda (of Divine life society):

1. In this world, love is the supreme force. Self-confidence is even more supreme. Develop self-confidence.
2. Being a loving and caring person is Dharma. Forgiving and forgetting the mistakes, done to us is Dharma. Uttering soothing words to sufferers is Dharma.
3. Some people use the difficulty of others to torture them (others). But a time will come that they will repent for their actions.
4. Don’t presume that God is outside. Pray to Him by keeping Him in your heart.
5. There are no right or wrong deeds in this world. Your own thought is responsible for analyzing them.
6. No one has a real enemy outside himself. His own ego, greed, anger, evil thought, selfishness and jealousy are his own enemies.
7. You do your duty truthfully then automatically your rights will come to you.
8. Your thoughts alone are responsible for creating a hell for you. So think of God always.
9. In this world nothing is certain but death is certain.
10. Make full effort after making firm decisions and with full determination. At the end you will succeed fully.
11. Concentrate fully on the work at hand. Live the day with discipline. Forget about the past as you cannot change what has happened. As far as tomorrow is concerned it is still far off. Live in the present then future will take care of itself.

Quotes of Ramakrishna Paramhansa:

When a person wants to drink water from a shallow pond, he has to take water with his hands slowly without disturbing the mud at the bottom. Otherwise the water will become muddy and unfit for drinking. Similarly, if you want to progress in spiritual path i.e. have divine vision, you must have faith in your Guru, perform step by step sadhanas. Arguing about vedas, puranas and engaging in useless discussions will only confuse you and ultimately you will achieve nothing.

Quotes of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu:

A doctor does not reveal the type of decease as far as possible to the patient. He bans the tasty food and makes patient take bitter medicine and prescribes food which patient may not like. When the patient gets relief, he realizes the greatness of what doctor has done for his (patient’s) benefit. Similarly a true Guru treats his disciple with strictness and makes him work hard. Finally when the disciple attains knowledge (gyan), he realizes that the Guru made him undergo hardship only to make him attain knowledge.

Panchayatan puja using stones

Back in 2014 we posted information about Panchayatan Puja Padhhati. Whereas in previous article, puja padhhati was described using idols, in this article it is described using stones.

In this panchayatan aradhana, instead of having five idols, there are five stones, which are equivalent to those of idols, are used in the worship. They are 

1. Banalingam - this represents Lord Shiva. This stone is found in Omkar kund of river Narmada. 

2. Swarnamukhi sheela - This represents Goddess Ambika. This type of stone is found in the swarnamukhi river in Andhra pradesh. 

3. Shaligram - This represents Lord Vishnu. This is found in river Gandaki in Nepal. 

4. Sfatik - This represents Sun. This is found in a place known as Vallam in Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu. 

5. Sone bhadrasheela - This represents Lord Ganesha. It is found in river Sone in Bihar (Zharkhand) where it meets river Ganga.

Depending who you worship as a main deity, the placement of stones changes. E.g. in Maharashtra, Ganesha is considered as main deity and hence the stones are placed accordingly

Here are placement of stones for each Panchayatan

Ganesha Pramukh Panchayatan

Shiva Pramukh Panchayatan

Vishnu Pramukh Panchayatan

Ambika Pramukh Panchayatan

Surya Pramukh Panchayatan

Rudraksha and its importance

Rudraksha is a seed which is held in high esteem in spiritual path. The origin of the Rudraksha can be attributed to the story from the Puran. For that we have to know the meaning of Rudh and Vedic god Rudra. In Rigveda we come across the reference to the god Rudra. It is believed that later on Rudra was referred as Lord Shiva in Purans. The origin of the word Rudra is from the Sanskrit word Rudh which means crying by shading tears.

The following story illustrates the origin of Rudraksha.

During the Vedic period there were 3 asuras named – Tarkasur, Kamalaksh, Vidunmali. They did severe penance and obtained boon from Shiva. He gave them 3 gopurams (shikharas) made of Gold, Silver and Iron respectively. Along with that he gave a boon that they can fly anywhere and get any weapon with the help of these shikharas. The 3 asuras conquered all the 3 worlds and tormented Rishis, Munis and Devataas with the help of the boon. Rishis, Munis and Devataas who could not bear this torture did penance to please Lord Shiva. They prayed and stated that he should get back the boons granted to asuras as they were mis-using those to torture them. Lord Shiva agreed to annihilate these asuras. For that purpose he emitted fire from his 3rd eye and destroyed 3 asuras and shikharas. But in the process he felt sorry for the death of the asuras. So droplets of tear fell from his eyes. These tear droplets were known as Rudra-aksha (tear). They later on became Rudraksha.

It is mentioned in old text and Purans that 12 different types of Rudraksha originated from the Sun, 16 different from the Moon and 10 different from the Agni. Those that appeared from the Sun were blood red in color. Those from the Moon were white in color. Those from the Agni were reddish-black.

Rudraksha trees are found in Asia, Malaysia, Australia and Pacific islands. Besides they are also found in Nepal and in India, especially in Bihar, West Bengal, Aasam, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

There are grooves running horizontally from the top to the bottom of the Rudraksha. The faces formed due to these grooves are known as Mukh. The importance of the Rudraksha depends upon the number of grooves (Mukhs). Rudraksha may contain a number of faces which may be unfinished or incomplete. For the sake of spiritual purpose only those faces that are fully developed are considered. A fully developed Rudraksha will be hard and the face will be a well-developed groove. Rudraksha are generally strung on a silk or cotton thread. Copper, silver or gold wire may also be used. Most of the Rudraksha garlands contain 108 beads as this number is considered as sacred among Hindus. The extra bead in the garland is known as Meru, Bindu or Gurubindu. The number of faces (Mukh) may vary from 1 to 25.

It is observed that Shaivaites wear Rudraksha garlands. In Padma Puran it is mentioned that using Rudraksha garland of 27 beads is very beneficial from spiritual point of view. According to Shiva Puran, a Rudraksha garland of 25 different faces is beneficial from spiritual point, health and prosperity. This garland is known as Indramala. It is believed that only 5 people have this in the entire world. Among them 4 are in India. When Rudraksha mala is used for doing Japa, it is stated in Puran that the mantras attain more power and energy.

Rudraksha can be worn as garland around the neck or in ears or head or on wrist. Sadhus and saints wear 3 in each ear, twelve on each wrist, 36 on head, 27-36 as garland around the neck. According to Skanda puran and Padma puran, wearing Rudraksha mala leads to Moksha. In Upadesh Khanda of Suta Samhita, the names of great sages and elders who attained Moksha by using Rudraksha is mentioned.

Though red color seeds are found commonly, white and golden color seeds are very rare. The importance of the Rudraksha does not depend upon its skull.

Rudraksha garland has to be worn only after purifying it by reciting proper mantras and proper ritual. In Shiva puran, the procedure, the ritual and the mantras are mentioned in detail. In Yoga Shastra the details of ruling Deity, ruling planet, Beej mantra and benefit of Rudraksha are stated. They are also mentioned in Bhagwat Puran and Shiva Puran.

Besides these, some special names are also mentioned in Purans. 1 mukhi is known as Bramharoop; 2 mukhis are known as Gauri-Shankar. It is stated in Purans that Rudraksha is the abode of Bramha, Vishnu and Shiva. Mere sight of Rudraksha is supposed to remove sins. It is also mentioned that those who wear Rudraksha garland can perform Japa and recite mantra with calmness and peace of mind.

(Source: Old spiritual Tamil magazine)

A comprehensive chart of Rudraksha is given below -

# of Mukh	Ruling Daity	Ruling Planet	Beej Mantra	Benefit
1	Shiva	Ravi	Om Hreem Namaha	Improves concentration during meditation. Brings detachment from worldly things.
2	Ardha-narishwar	Chandra	Om Namaha	Brings Guru-shishya unity. Cohesion between husband and wife; cohesion between parents and& children – i.e. it brings oneness in everything
3	Agni	Mangal	Om Kleem Namaha	Helps in attaining purity, overcoming inferiority complex, subjective fear, guilt feeling and depression
4	Bramha	Budh	Om Hreem Namaha	Helps in obtaining creative skills, increases memory power and intelligence
5	Kalagni rudra	Guru	Om Hreem Namaha	Helps in getting peace, improving health and reduces BP
6	Kartikeya (Shanmuga)	Shukra	Om Hreem Namaha	Removes emotional sorrows, gives knowledge, wisdom and helps in learning, reduces understanding, appreciation of love, sexual pleasure, music and relationship
7	Maha-laxmi	Shani	Om Hum Namaha	Helps those having miseries due to body illness, financial difficulties, improves the business
8	Ganesha	Rahu	Om Hum Namaha	Removes obstacles, helps in getting Riddhi and Siddhi and overcoming opponents
9	Durga	Ketu	Om Hreem Hum Namaha (Marathi)	Gives lot of energy, power, dynamism and fearlessness
10	Vishnu		Om Hreem Namaha	Helps in overcoming evils
11	Hanuman		Om Hreem Hum Namaha	Gives wisdom, vocabulary, adventurous life, fearlessness and protects from accidental deaths
12	Sun		Om Sraum Raum Kraum Suryaya Namaha	Gives radiance and strength, removes worries, suspicion and fear
13	Indra	Shukra	Om Hreem Namaha	Gives all comforts of life, fulfills earthly desires, gives ashtamahasiddhi, useful in meditation, spiritual and materialistic attainments
14	Hanuman	Saturn	Om Namaha	This is known as Dev Mani. It gives sixth sense. Helps in foreseeing things that are to happen, helps in overcoming calamity, misery, worry. Protects from ghosts, evil spirits and black magic
15	Lord Pashupati	-	Om Namaha Shivaya	Economic progress and helps in overcoming skin diseases
16	Lord Shriram	-	Om Namaha Shivaya	Useful for saints and sadhus, gives victory and protects from heat and cold
17	Vishwa-karma	-	Om Namaha Shivaya	Gaining property, vehicle and physical assets
18	Mother Earth	-	Om Namaha Shivaya	Gives happiness and health, helps in protecting child during pregnancy
19	Lord Narayana	-	Om Namaha Shivaya	No scarcity in lift, gains all worldly pleasures
20	Vishvasu Sadhu and Narayana	-	(secret)	Speaks truth, keeps his word. These qualities one gets due to grace of Lord Shiva. His words come true. He gets 21 mukhi rudraksha and attains Moksha
21	Ekahi Alakh Niranjan	-	(secret)	Very rare, belongs to shakti of all Daities. Bearer gets all comforts, pleasures and finally mukti

(Source : Wikipedia)

Gauri-Shankar (Shiv-Parvati) – it’s a very rare Rudraksha. It is considered to be bestowing peace, comfort, pleasure for the whole family as well as the place it is kept and worshiped.

Another seed similar to Rudraksha is known as Badraksha is found abundantly but it has no spiritual/medicinal value.

Though a number of tests are stated for determining the originality of Rudraksha, it seems none are conclusive. I feel only the grace of Guru can help in getting genuine Rudraksha.