Fwd: essence of saligramam worship: Part I

[Guest guest]

At 05:26 AM 1/5/03 +0000, you wrote:

>My Pranams to you,Adyean based in Chennai and working as a sales manager in

a company.My interests range from reading our vedic literature and an great

urge to know things in depth to collecting antiques.In my futher line of

doubts can you knidly let me know the significance of " Saligramam " worship?

I know for a fact that the saligramam is the embodiment of the supreme and

we have been continueing the practise of " Aradhanam " thru our generations.

Acharayan DasanTatachar Mukund

 

Dear SrIman Mukund Tatachar :

 

Bhagavan makes His presence in SaaLagraama Moorthams

and makes His abode in our homes for us to worship

Him without major effort .

 

His saanidhyam in SaaLagrama Silais and worship of Him in

that form is an ancient tradition for us.

 

There are many ways in which He is present in the SaaLigrama

form . The Moorthy LakshaNams and the identification of

such LakshaNams to determine the particular saannidhyam

of the Lord has been covered in various PurANams and

SrI tatthva Nidhi. Experts at SrI matam (AhObila Matam )

and dhivya dEsams (archakAs) can help with the identification

of the individual Moorthis. For instance , there are 16 variations of

SrI KrishNa SaaLigrAmam , 13 of SrI Narasimhan ( Baala Narasimhan ,

Suddha VarAha Narasimhan , VidhAraNa Narasimhan , RaakshasAnthaka

Narasimhan , VivruthAsya Narasimhan , LakshmI Narasimhan ,

Haara Narasimhan , VibhIshaNa Narasimhan ,AdhO Mukha Narasimhan,

Kapila Narasimhan et al). There is a dozen types of Raama

SaaLigrAmams.

 

SrIman M.S.KrishNamachariar has cataloged the various

forms of SaalagrAmams and their LakshaNams in his 1981

monograph entitled " SaaLagrAma SilOthpatthi Vimarsanam " .

Here, he talks about the location in NepAl , where

GaNdaki River , a tributary of Gangai flows .

 

There are number of ways to perform AarAdhanam for

SaaLagrAmams at one's home :

 

1) Taantric way with ShOdasOpachArams.

 

2) Standard Bhagavath AarAdhanam followed by

VishNava Dinacharya established by AchArya

RaamAnujA ( please refer to AchArya RaamAnujA

intractive multimedia CD ROM for details or

ask for help from the family elders or AchAryAs).

 

3) Chathurvimsathi Murthi sthOthra KaTana PoojA

This is simpler and any one can do it by

reciting this sthOthram in front of SaaLagrAmam(s)

and offer Pushpam , Milk and NaivEdhyam . Thirumanjanam

can be done with few spons of milk as well.

 

4) Those who are in a hurry can take few minutes

to recite the two dhyAna slOkams , perform japam

odf AshtAksharam , offer milk, TaambhOlam , Karpoora

haratthi . The SaaLagrama Moorthys at home should not

be neglected and starved since inauspiciousness will

result otherwise to the home.

 

The two dhyAna slOkams are:

 

dhyAyAmi Devam LakshmIsam Sankha-chakra-gadhAdharam

PeethAmBara paridhAnam Padhmasannibha lOchanam

Mandasmitha mhukhAmbhOjam madhanAyutha Sundaram

MaayAnirmitha lOkaougam mEgasyAmaLa vigraham

SrI LakshmI NaarAyaNam dhyAyAmi

 

NamO NamasthE KaruNAlaya NamO NamasthE KamalAdhavAya

NamO NamasthE JagathAm cha srashtrE namO namasthE nathsOka harthrE

ThrAhi maam KaruNAsindhO ! Paahi maam KamalApathE!

Thvayi bhakthi: sadhaivAsthu mama sarvArTadhAyini

(PraNavam ) NamO NaarAyaNa ..Subhamasthu.

 

Even on days in which one is unable to perform AarAdhanam

for SaaLagrAma Moorthys , The ladies of the house or children can

recite the above slOkAs in fron t of the Moorthys , offer

the food cooked for the day as naivEdhyam and complete

the aarAdhanam this way.

 

SaaLagrAma dhAnam is one of the most auspicious dhAnam .

 

At Sudarsana Sannidhi at Kaanchi , One can see a large

number of Sudarsana SaaLagrAmams .

 

When one is unable to perform SaaLagrama PoojA ,

which is the easiest daily ritual to perform ,

one should give them away to temples or to those,

who can accept that daily duty .

 

The dhivya dEsam of SaaLaigrAmam is a svyam vyaktha sthalam

(where the Lord is self-manifest).It is 60 miles away from

Kaatmandu in NepAl on the banks of GaNdaki river.

 

When there are dozen or more SaaLagrAmams at any home ,

then that home is considered as a dhivya dEsam.

 

Two AzhwArs have performed MangaLAsAsanam for

the dhivya dEsam of SaaLagramam:

 

PeriyAzhwAr: His Thirumozhi:2.9.5 , 4.7.9

Kaliyan: 10 Paasurams in 1.5 Periya Thirumozhi.

 

adiyEn will summarize the meanings of these paasurams

on a future occasion.

 

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan

[Guest guest]

Dear SrI Raja Ram:

 

I respect your longing to be near BhagavAn

in Saaligrama Roopam at work as well as at home.

 

I will be posting few more articles on the subject.

HH PoundarIkapuram Andavan has written on ther vaibhavam

of SaaLagrama AarAdhanai in the PeraruLALan journal .

 

SrIman Narasimhan of Bangalore has sent them to me .

 

Those articles would be most interstign with

quotations from authentic sources.

 

A direct answer to your question would be

to state that the asuddhi of the work environment

that one can not control from an AchAram point of view

would recommend against the travel of the Saaligraa Moortham

to work areas . One will be wearing shoes to work

and carrying the Sacred Moorthams with shoes on

while transporting yourself in public and

private vehicles is not also recommended.

 

The best place is the box (Petti) in which the Moorthy

reside at home in PoojA room and perform aarAdhanam there

after bath and sandhyA vandhanam .

V.Sadagopan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

>dear sri sadagopan,

>

>i apologze if the following question is inappropriate : is it okay to carry

saligramam on one self while going to work just as one would carry the

picture of the lord in one's purse ?

>

>yours humbly

>

>rajaram v.

>

>