salagram silas must have chakra sign

[sambya]

The most important feature distinguishing a salagram from other stones is the circular chakra mark(geologically ammonite fossils)found on it.In olden days , when there was an abundance of such stones on the holy river gandaki only the best of the stones were collected for puja.And as a rule these stones always had a circular opening on them , revealing an inner cavity with the chakra markings.

 

All ancient silas have such openings on them and depending on the number of chakras,size of the openings,size of the silas,its texture,colour etc each sila was given a name(damodar,sridhar,nrisimha etc)

 

But sila search over thousands of years have almost extinguished that stock of beautifull,shiny,smooth salagrams. Todays salagrams are most bizzare shaped. i dont intend to disrespect salagrams(for it is lords direct manifestations),but just describing the facts.But so long it has a chakra it is a salagram .

 

But to my amazement I saw that in iskcon many devotees worship silas with no chakra.This is absolutely not recomended in shastra.One prabhuji also said that silas can be without chakras !! Can someone well versed in iskcon's principles tell me the scriptural basis of such a wierd practice? Which sloka tells us about a salagram having no chakra?

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

Not all shalagramas have chakra symbols on them. There is a small book published by Radha Raman temple (Vrindavan) that provides scriptural quotations describing different types of shalagramas. There is also a book called Shalagrama Kosha published in Bangalore that provides many quotations from shastra. The conclusion of that book is that worship of a shalagrama without proper marks and with sakama bhakti (material desires) will result in negative results. But with Nishkama bhakti one can worship even a broken shalagrama with no negative result.

 

All shalagramas are Vishnu, but different classes of people are advised to worship different shalagramas.

[Kulapavana]

 

Can someone well versed in iskcon's principles tell me the scriptural basis of such a wierd practice? Which sloka tells us about a salagram having no chakra?

 

I am not an expert on shastra, but from a purely practical perspective even a perfect salagrama sila can be worn down over time by the strong river current and constant friction of sand and rocks into a small, round stone with almost no features.

 

I worship two such salagrams, of which only one has a slight trace of the cakra. Maybe they are not 'real' salagrams in the shastric sense, but for me they certainly and directly ARE Lord Vishnu.

[balarmds]

 

I am not an expert on shastra, but from a purely practical perspective even a perfect salagrama sila can be worn down over time by the strong river current and constant friction of sand and rocks into a small, round stone with almost no features.

 

I worship two such salagrams, of which only one has a slight trace of the cakra. Maybe they are not 'real' salagrams in the shastric sense, but for me they certainly and directly ARE Lord Vishnu.

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yes, it is true that salagram should have a mark of cakra, otherwise that can't be call salagram sila. but the point is that, after all our senses are imperfect to see the cakras. some time there may be no cakra visible on the surface of salagram sila but the cakra could be inside which we can't see. I remember one day,one devotee was worshiping salagram sila which externally has no cakra at all, but by mistake that salagram fall on the grond and broke. amazingly the inside part of the sila have a wonderfull mark of cakra. so, with this example, we can conclude that even though salagram sila that iskcon devotees r worshiping have no visible cakra, but the cakra could be inside as above example. let us not to blame unless we know the truth.

[sambya]

 

yes, it is true that salagram should have a mark of cakra, otherwise that can't be call salagram sila. but the point is that, after all our senses are imperfect to see the cakras. some time there may be no cakra visible on the surface of salagram sila but the cakra could be inside which we can't see. I remember one day,one devotee was worshiping salagram sila which externally has no cakra at all, but by mistake that salagram fall on the grond and broke. amazingly the inside part of the sila have a wonderfull mark of cakra. so, with this example, we can conclude that even though salagram sila that iskcon devotees r worshiping have no visible cakra, but the cakra could be inside as above example. let us not to blame unless we know the truth.

 

the kind of shila that you are reffering to was already known by the ancient sages and are called baddha chakra shilas . it means that the chakra is there but trapped inside . and most shastras instructs not to worship such shilas . although there are a few isolated texts where we do find instructions to worship any kind of shila .

 

in fact a shila without a brahmarandhra or mukha (opening on its surface to veiw the chakras ) were not taken in the old days . infact having a darshan of this chakra is said to destroy the bad karma of one full year . many families in bengal start their bengali new year with a special puja and a darshan of this chakra through the hole .

 

now however the things have changed . indiscriminate collection of shalagrams have made them a very rare object . and a shila with a opening inside is even more rarer . naturally modern men tend to favour that isolated text instead of the more mainstream ones and worship all kinds of shila .....