Fwd: question on mudrA-s & others

[Guest guest]

shrouta, bhaskar.yr@i... wrote:

praNAms everyone

Hare Krishna

 

I've question regarding mudra-s to be shown during pUjA time.

Nowadays, it

is very hard to see that the pUjA kartru showing various mudra-s

while

performing pUja (even I wont do it in nitya devatArchana!!). I think

we

have to show various mudra-s & bandha-s(??) at various stages of

shOdashOpachAra pUja for example dhEnu mudra at the time of

naivEdya. I

want to know what is the sanctity behind showing mudra-s & bandha-s?

is it

mandatory to show all mudra-s & bandha-s?? Is it a part of tAntrika

sAdhana?? Also I want to know complete details of mudra-s & bandha-

s

that to be shown in devatArchana & vrataM-s. Any book / website

either in

kannada or english would be helpful.

 

My next question is what is the difference between : yAga - yagna,

hOma-havana, vrata-pUja.

 

I humbly request the concerned to clarify.

 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!

bhaskar

 

"bjganeshprasad" <bjganeshprasad>

Fri Mar 26, 2004 11:57 am

Re: question on mudrA-s & others

 

 

 

 

 

 

Namaste,

 

A very pertinent question indeed about mudras in poojas.

 

Mudra is defined as Modanaat dravanaat yasya saha mudreti

prakirtitaha.

 

That which brings joy to a person on making a gesture is a mudra.

 

Mudras are necessarily tantric by nature.

 

As per the veda and vedangas there are no mudras asociated either in

pooja or sandyavandana, with the EXCEPTION of suryavekshana or

seeing surya in madhyanika.

 

There is an interesting shloka in the sandyavandana done by some

people following the Sringeri paddathi, who show 54 mudras..

"Sumukham dvimukham chaiva.."

 

The shloka reads at the end that:

 

Yete mudraaha na jaanaat cheth |

Gayathri na siddidaa bhavet ||

 

If one does not know and perform these mudras then to him Gayathri

mantra will not fructify!!! Ashvalayana in fact condemns these

practices stating that they are tantric by nature and are out of

place.

 

Mudras are essential features of tantra shastra and natya shastra.

In fact, a lot of medieval granthas have intermixed mudras with

nitya karmas and hence we have today's nitya pooja circumscribed

with dhenu, shanka, chakra, ankusha mudra etc.

 

Mudras have even creapt in agni mukha prayogas, where the purnahuti

is prescribed holding the sruk and sruva in shankha mudra!! There is

no shastric backing for all these practises.

 

Therefore, mudras are not required in nitya devatarchana or

sandyavandana. The case of shaktas is totally different as

performing shrichakra pooja etc is derived from tantra shastra where

mudras take a front seat. However in vaidika karma there is no need

for such mudras.

 

Coming to our next question Yaga - Yagnas and Homa and Havanas are

just noun forms with varying grammatical usages.

 

Vrata - Pooja are two seperate concepts altogether. A pooja is

worship of gods or human beings taking either nitya or naimittika

swaroopa or form. Vrata is a specific kamya karma which may also be

a pooja. All vratas need not be poojas and the corollary is also

true.

 

The Vedangas describe Vrata in a more elaborate manner than the term

used in poojas such as Varalaskshmi vrata or swarna gowri vrata.

 

I shall post more on vratas in my next e-mail.

 

GP

 

 

"Jaldhar H. Vyas" <jaldhar@b...>

Sat Mar 27, 2004 11:36 am

Re: [shrouta] Re: question on mudrA-s & others

 

 

 

 

 

On Fri, 26 Mar 2004, bjganeshprasad wrote:

 

> Coming to our next question Yaga - Yagnas and Homa and Havanas are

> just noun forms with varying grammatical usages.

>

 

The way I understood it is Vedic havana (from dhatu ju) is done

sitting down

with svAhAkara while yajna (from dhatu yaj) is done standing up with

vaShaTkara.

 

But nowadays they are just synonyms.

 

 

Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar@b...>

 

"MSR" <ravi@a...>

Sat Mar 27, 2004 10:50 pm

Re: question on mudrA-s & others

 

 

 

 

 

shrouta, "bjganeshprasad"

<bjganeshprasad> wrote:

>

> Mudras are necessarily tantric by nature.

>

 

Even though this may be the case, their absorption into traditional

smArta worship happened long ago. For instance, there are references

to the usages of mudra-s in devii bhaagavata (for example, Book 12

of devii bhaagavata talks of mudra-s such as shanka, yoni etc.)

 

namaste.

 

Ravi