Ritual Of Worship

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offered. The invocation is called avahana, which itself consists of a series of

rites. For these, three concepts are important. They are the mudra, the nyasa,

and the mantra. Mudra: For every small act performed during Siva-puja, a

mudra has been prescribed. A mudra is a gesture of pose of the hand, where

either hand or both the hands and fingers perform a particular figure or

symbolic form. This is said to be appropriate to the kriya concerned, and is

also said to please the particular devata. The mudra is shown with the

appropriate mantra in front of the linga. Nysasa: Nyasa is placing and

assignment of the various parts of the body to the different devatas, with the

appropriate mantras. The physical body, which is gross matter, is not

qualified to perform worship to Siva. So, it has to be made fit for the puja,

Siva-hood has to be conferred on it. The simple nyassa are two- the kara-nyasa

and the anga-nyasa. By uttering the mantras and touching the parts of the hands

and the parts of the body, Siva is invoked and mode to abide in the two hands

and in the various parts of the body. Hands are particularly important because

they perform all the kriyas in the puja. Thus Siva-hood is sought to be

affected on the whole body. Similarly by other nyasas, Siva the Universal Self

is invoked, and placed on the Siva-linga. Now the symbol worshipped is Siva and

the worshipper is also

Siva. Mantra: There is no kriya in Siva-puja without a mantra; the term

mantra signifies 'protection to him who meditates' (or utters the mantra). The

mantra signifies the capacity to know all and the capacity to cross the ocean of

samsara. The first requisite for puja is of course thought; then follows deed,

the kriya, to the accompaniment of the utterance, which is the mantra. There

is a gayatri mantra for every section of Hinduism; for Siva worship there is a

Siva-gayatri-mantra. Japa: After every puja there is a japa. Japa is a

repetition of the Lord's name; this is symbolised by a mantra, a word or words

or syllables set in a

certain order. The japa in a Siva-puja is not aimed at any wordly or mundane

gain, but is aimed at final liberation; it is always spiritual. Having as its

object the attainment of final union with God. The mantra transcends language;

the mere sound of the mantra has great potency for conferring the desired object

on he who repeats it. In the ancient past, great seers who had realisation had

an experience of the Supreme Being. In their effort to give a form to that

Supreme, they could not find words; they used sound for expressing the form

which they had perceived. That sound-form has been handed down to us in the

name of mantras. Thus the mantra or the Divine name, in the form of a given

formula. So to say, has the power to mould the consciousness of the utterer

spiritually and evolve it along the godward path. The repetition prepares him

for the spiritual revelation of experience and ultimately, depending on

recognised

that sound has form. When the sound that was perceived as the form of a deity

or God by the seers in the remote past and was handed down to us, pulsating

with life and power, is repeated by us with faith and loving devotion, the

deity concerned reveals itself to us even through that sound-body. The same

realisation which the seers had of God in the form of the mantra, the

sound-body, can still be had by him who performs the japa of the mantra.

Dhyana: After japa, there is a dhyana, contemplation of Siva. God is

the only reality and all our endeavours and activities are perforce directed to

it. If people are to contemplate Him; there must be something for most

people, to grasp with the mind. The mind cannot contemplate abstract concepts;

nor can it conjure up any mental picture, where there is no substantial form

(or image) on which it can concentrate its thought. God has no form, and so

cannot be contemplated. Hence seers of the past have given definite form not

to God, but to the qualities attributed to God. These forms take concrete

shapes in the images worshipped. The form of Nataraja, for instance, is just a

symbolic representation of the various qualities attributed to God in

Saiva-Siddhanta (viz. the five functions, etc). The dhyana after japa has

always this aim. When the worshipper utters the dhyana - sloka, he becomes

aware of the form evoked by the dhyana-sloka; it is just a description in a

simple and picturesque language of the form of the deity worshipped. The

utterance of the sloka evokes in his

mind a mental picture of the deity; this in turn evokes in his mind an awareness

of the attributes or contemplation helps to produce in his mind through the

concrete image a mental picture, which in turn takes him to the sphere of

abstract conception of God. In this manner this dhyana helps to lift him up to

unknown planes of spiritual experience, even though the known concrete

experience.

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