Saligram

[Guest guest]

Pleace accept my humble obeisances:

 

Regarding the above mentioned topic,I do agree with Sriman

Krishnamachari that any information is welcome on the above topic.

 

There is an interesting Book called Salagrama Sila ,Sastric evidence

Compiled by Sri Padmanabha Goswami that I had picked during my visit to

Vrindavan.

 

This can be got from :

Padmanabha Goswami

Shanti Kutir

Radharamana Temple

Vrindavana UP - 281121

India

Phone : (0565) 442323

 

This book is quite exhaustive and covers warious topics like: Appearance

of Saligram & Tulasi, Results of worshipping, different types of Silas,

different features of Silas, Glories of Silas, marriage of Saligrama &

Tulasi and the worship of Saligram sila.

 

The following is one of the chapters found in the book, I hope this is

found useful:

 

The results of worshipping different types of Silas:

 

The Gautamiya Tantra states that the worshippable stones known as

saligrama-silas are only found in the Gandaki river in Nepal. According

to Skanda Purana these Saligrama Silas appear in various colours, shapes

and markings. Their colur may be either

black,blue,yelow,whitish,blood-red,or tawny cloured. Their shape may be

either smooth,rough,uneven,very plump,or frog shaped.They may be without

markings, marked with one chakra,many chakras,large chakras,broken

chakras,a chakra in the middle of a circle or with one chakraattached to

another. Some Saligarm Silas exhibit a large mouth and others a

down-turned mouth.

 

The Skanda Purana also anumerates the good and bad results derived from

venerating diffrent types of Saligrama Silas. Worshiping a smooth sila

brings mantra-siddi (perfection in the chanting of one's given mantra).

Black silas bestow fame, yellow silas give sons, whitish silas destroy

one's sins, blue silas increase wealth, and blood-red silas bring

diseases. Rough silas create anxiety, uneven silas give poverty, and fat

silas decrease one'slife span. Silas devoid of markings yield no

results. if one mistakingly adores a sila with the following qualities

he will certainly get suffering: tawny coloured, uneven, broken with one

chakra, toomany chakras, large chakras, a circled chakra, a broken

cakra, a cakra attached to another, with alarge mouth, or with the mouth

turned down.

 

The Agni Purana mentions several types of saligram-silas whose worship

brings unhappiness and never happiness. These inculde a sila with a

mouth like that of a snake, a broken sila, one with chakras facing each

other, with a circled chakra, a sila with protruding navel, a

tawny-coloured sila known as Narasimha, a sila with many lines inside

the circle, and a sila unidentifiable due to its confusing markings.

 

The Agni Purana further describes many saligrama-silas who award

beneficial results to those who attentively worship Them. These

bebevolent silas include those that are perfectly smooth, jet black in

colour. round like a pearl, natural (not made by hand), or with an

evenly shaped chakra. The Varaha-sila, the Ananta-sila, the silas with a

deeply indented navel, the tiny Vasudeva-sila that has an evenly formed

mouth, silas shaped like amalaki fruits, or those shaped like the palm

of the hand(arched above and convex below) all give perfection. A

devotee of the Supreme Lord should carefully adore his favorite

saligrama-sila.He will thus be blessed both in this world and the next.

 

As for the saligrama-silas that bring misfortune and sadness, as

mentioned above, one should understand that this is only for worshippers

impelled by material desires. But for one free form material desires

there is no harm to worhip these silas. thus in the Brahma Purana the

Supreme Lord Visnu staes that any sila form the place of saligramas can

never be inauapicious though cracked, chipped, split in two though still

in one piece, or even even broken asunder. Lord Siva alos confirms in

the Skanda Purana that even if a sila is cracked, split, or broken it

will have no harmful effect if it is worshipped with attention and love

by a devotee. It further states there that the Supreme Lord Hari, along

with His divine consort, Lakshmi, live in the saligrama-sila athat has

either only the mark ofa chakra, a chakra along with the mark of a

footprint, or only a mark resembling a flower garland.

 

Some acaryas say that the best saligrama-sila is the smooth blackish one

and that the blood-red sila is the worst. But in the absence of the best

type of saligrama-sila one may worship an inferior one.

 

------end of chapter.

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Balram Sanjay, quoting from a sAlagrAma book, wrote:

> The Skanda Purana also anumerates the good and bad results derived from

> venerating diffrent types of Saligrama Silas. Worshiping a smooth sila

> brings mantra-siddi (perfection in the chanting of one's given mantra).

> Black silas bestow fame, yellow silas give sons, whitish silas destroy

> one's sins, blue silas increase wealth, and blood-red silas bring

> diseases. Rough silas create anxiety, uneven silas give poverty, and fat

> silas decrease one'slife span. Silas devoid of markings yield no

> results. if one mistakingly adores a sila with the following qualities

[ .. rest deleted .. ]

 

In my opinion, based on my exposure to the sastras of our

sampradaaya, Sri Vaishnavas should only obtain and perform

sAlagrAma worship in the spirit of loving service. Going

to the extent of worshipping a sAlagrAma for the sake of

some material or non-material wealth could not be further

from the spirit of Sri Ramanuja's teachings.

 

With this in mind, the very thought that pure-hearted worship

can cause any kind of detrimental effect should be banished.

 

Emberumaanaar (Ramanuja) begins the "nitya grantha", his manual of

daily worship, with the words:

 

atha paramaikAntino bhagavadArAdhanaprayogam vakshye |

 

Now I will speak about the procedure of worshipping

God for the extremely single-minded one.

 

The word 'paramaikAntin' is significant, as it refers to extreme

single-mindedness of purpose. Devotees of the Lord are classified in

three ways: mere Vaishnavas, ekAnti-s (single-minded in purpose), and

paramaikAnti-s (extremely single-minded in purpose).

 

Sri V.V. Ramanujam explains this classification in the following

manner.

 

The "Vaishnava" worships Narayana as the means to liberation but

thinks of Him as being distinct from the supreme goal. God here is

simply a means to attain a greater good. [ yas tu upAyatayA nityam

nityanaimittAdikam / satkRtyam kurute vishnoH vaishnavaH sa udAhRtaH

// ]

 

The ekAnti realizes that the means and the goal are one (God Himself)

and does what is ordained as His command, to secure His favor. He is

"single-minded" in his desire to serve Narayana for this purpose.

[ vishnor Aj~natayA yas tu satkRtyam kurute purah / ekAntIti

samunibhih procyate vaishnavottamaH // ]

 

But even superior to the ekAnti is the great person of God who

practices these acts purely as loving service to God, purely out of

the selfless desire to please Him. This person is the paramaikAnti,

since he is extreme in his single-mindedness. [ yas tu bhogatayA

vishnoH satkRtyam kurute sadA / sa eva paramaikAntI

mahAbhAgavatottamaH // ]

 

While we may be attracted to worship in the beginning out of a desire

for "siddhi-s", or some selfish benefit or another. To my regret, I

personally cannot yet say I am wholly above that feeling. But let's

always keep the real goal in mind, and not get embroiled in the fear

(or selfish delight) of what may happen through the worship of a

particular sila or the other.

 

SrI kRshNArpaNam astu

 

Mani

[Guest guest]

dear mr.mani,

 

the ilustration of paramaikantin is really brilliant.

would you kind enough to throw light on some of the do's and dont's

of a paramikantin or atleast an "ekantin"

 

i also accept the view that god in any form is acceptable for worship.

for devotees, we should always remember the words of our alwars,

 

"nannenje namperupan namkku arul than seivane"

"thirumal thalikonda nankattku enge varum theevinaiye"

 

but still due to the attachement to material things, still we fear the

worship of our own namperuman. it is intersting to note that, calender

of sri krishna with flute on his mouth and a cow beside him, many of

our own vasihnavas fear to keep in the house as it is wrongly believed

that it would wipe off the wealth.i was also one of such people once.

after discussing with elders it took long time for me to come out of

this wrong notion.

 

1.is not wrong to assume that a PARAMATMA ONCE just for his freinds,

goes as a messenger.(during old days duty of messenger is not so great!-

it was looked down upon as a menieal service)

2. is it not wrong THE GRATEST SOUL just for his freindship addresses

Arjuna as "priosmi.. etc, etc.. (we can compile one more sahasranamam on

arjuna as told by parthasarathi in gita.)

 

we have to come out of these

"maschariaryam"

BEST REGARDS

 

KM NARAYANAN

 

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