Namasthe- Be divine to worship divine

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Om namo narayanaya !!

 

Respected Sastriji,

 

Namaskaram ............

 

The contents of the mail is so informative that it helps even non brahmins to worship his/her devotee the way it is described. Tonnes of gratitude for the knowledge transmitted through your great mail.

 

Best regards

 

On 21/09/2008, S.N. Sastri <sn.sastri wrote:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Savitri-ji,

I wish to add the following details on this topic.

There is a rule, " Devo bhutvaa devam pujayet " . The idea is that before doing puja to Siva one should consider oneself as the Deva. This idea is contained in the following sloka quoted by Adi sankara in his Bhashya (commentary) on Vishnusahasranamam:--

 

na avishnuh kirtayet vishnum na avishnuh vishnum archayet |

na avishnuh samsmaret vishnum na avishnuh vishnum apnuyat ||

 

Meaning: One who does not consider himself as Vishnu should not sing the praise of Vishnu; one who does not consider himself as Vishnu should not worship (do archana to) Vishnu; one who does not consider himself as Vishnu should not meditate on Vishnu; one who does not consider himself to be Vishnu cannot attain to Vishnu.

 

The following statement also appears in the Bhashya in the same context:--

Aatmanam Vishnum dhyaatva stutinamaskaaraadi kartavyam—

Meaning: One should sing His (Vishnu's) praises and prostrate before Him, thinking of oneself as Vishnu.

 

In all important pujas there are in the beginning two items known as bhutasuddhi and nyaasa. For example, in the nava-avarana puja of Lalita Mahatripurasundari Devi, the bhutasuddhi consists of the following steps:

1. The jiva siva in the mooladhara chakra is imagined to go up through the sushumna nadi and become united with Paramasiva in the sahasrara chakra in the head.

2. Then the worshipper imagines that his body made up of the five elements is dried.

3. Then he imagines that his body is burnt to ashes.

4. The next step is to imagine that nectar from the sahasrara chakra (Paramasiva amritam) is showered on the ashes.

5. Then he imagines that he has acquired a divine body.

6. The jiva who had united with Siva in the sahasrara chakra comes down though the sushumna nadi and enters the mooladhara chakra at the bottom of the sushumna nadi again.

During all these steps pranayama has to be done.

The result of all the above steps is that the worshipper looks upon himself as having acquired a divine body, i.e., he has become divine.

Then various nyaasas are performed, by which the moola mantra of the particular deity he is worshipping is chanted and various parts of the body are touched (anga nyaasa and kara nyaasa). By this the worshipper becomes identified with the deity he is worshipping. Thus the Devi worshipper thinks of himself as the Devi during worship. This is what is meant by saying that one has to become Deva for worshipping Deva.

In temples also the priest first worships the deity in his own body before worshipping the Vigraha. This is known as 'Atma-aaraadhana'. By this he elevates himself to the status of the deity. There is a work of the 15th century A.D. known as Tantrasamucchayam by Chennas Narayanan Namputiri which is the basis for worship in temples in Kerala. Atma-aaraadhana is described as one of the items of daily puja in temples in this work.

Regards,

S.N.Sastri

On Sat, Sep 20, 2008 at 4:38 PM, Savitri Puram <savitriopuram wrote:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear all,

 

I read this statement long ago: devo bhootva devam aaraadhayet - be divine to worship divine. I am not sure where I read that. But this morning this statement came to my mind and gave me a lot of delicious food for thought. What can we infer from this statement?

 

With in us and around us there are divine vibrations caused by the movement of atomic and subatomic particles. Whenever we produce saatwic vibrations they will be in harmony with these divine vibrations and an atmosphere of peace and tranquility prevails. But when thaamasic or aasuric vibrations that are different in their frequency are produced, chaos and restlessness prevails.

 

Scriptures say that all the rituals we are instructed to do are for purifying the mind. Chanting different manthras, chanting namaas and all other prayers elevates our mind to a stage from where only vibrations that are in complete harmony with the divine vibrations will be produced. Only at that stage our real worship begins and we get connected with the divine. As our bond of connection with this material world loosens, connection with the divine energy tightens. Then with a pure mind, one attains samadhi.

 

Sree Ramakrishna Paramahamsa told Vivekanada that he himself did not know when he got ready for a samadhi. In the beginning, sometimes for days he did not get connected with divine and later he realized that his impure mind was the reason behind that. So every prayer of ours is a preparation to get connected to the divine and when we reach that level of purity, we become divine and realize that the divinity we were trying to connect with, is with in us, completely filling us. Sree Ramakrishna called the preparation for filling our mind with divinity by the word " sadhana " and the experience of divinity with in oneself by the word " aanandam " or bliss. He says that depending on the intensity of devotion, people attain intermittent and eternal bliss in one life time or several life times.

 

One thing Lord Krishna assures is that He is standing there ready to move forward 10 steps when we put one step forward. The moment we take the first step, we are taken to the 11 th step and we go to the 12 th step and He flies us to the 22nd step. Depending on the purity of our mind, He will slowly take us all the way. Why worry about the number of steps and when we will reach there as long as He is guiding us? Bhagavan assures " na mae bhaktha pranashyathi " .

 

Regards and prayers

 

savitri

 

 

-- Best regardsJayasree Menon

Bangalore+9900149461my blog link: http://www.pythrukam.blogspot.com/--A well-thought out plan, execution excellence, market timing, personal leadership are drivers of the growth trajectory.