Pranaprathishtapana

October 1, 2006

Dear Guru Masilamani Avargale,

Thankyou for giving me an opportunity to post after a long time.

Prana pratistha is the Hindu theological term for a rite or ceremony (Samskara in Sanskrit) by which the spirit or being of a deity is infused or brought to inhabit a murti or cult image of that deity.

When I was in a village near Manali(outskirts of Chennai, Tamilnadu) I had the following experience.

I went to meet a avadhuthar who used to roam about in the streets collecting stones. He used to be called Karuppu saamy.

This person used to fowlmouth people and people used to be afraid to see Him. Neverthless, I was game for it.

Now this avadhuthar is a very advanced practitoner of the shaja marga and rarely he wore clothes and sometimes he wore a black half-dhothi. He was very darkskinned(and hence called karruppu saamy('black swami').

He used to collect these stones for god knows what and then keep it in his place. But many people used to get cured just by seeing him of their afflictions and also many believed in his powers and used to stand at a distance and watch.

He was in a very explosive mood that day. I went with my friend and my friend said to me "Macchi unnakku edhukkudaa indha aallu? Avan oru sariyaana kirukku pudichaa baadu daa. Macchi kalambalaam daa ingirundhu"("Dude why do you need this guy? He is a mad-impotent bastard roaming around here. We will go).

I just halted my bike and said "Macchi nee kalambu daa ennakku inga vela irrukku. Naa kallau adi vaangi sathhallum paravayilla naa inga thaan irukka poren"

(Dude, you just get going, Iam gonna stay here even if I die getting stoned by him)

Just as I was saying those words

a huge brick just missed me and fell plop into the slush near me

and the Avadhuthar was fowl-mouthing and saying to me "Keep your mouth in ....* & ^%%% of your mother!!...you$$%%^^ . you think you are a & ^%%%$$$$$ing great guy?"

My friend smirked at this and said "Unnakku idhu thevayaa?"(Do you need this?)

I just remained silent and I could not explain to him that the avadhuthar did not mean my physical mother but mother maya.

Also it was his way of cleaning the sins of people who came near him.

His spiritual quotinet was not enough to understand such subtlities.

He just sped off saying" Nee saavvu indha lavadeikabal oda!"(just die with this....%^ & ***)

I just remained there and saw the avadhutha collecting each stone with care and carrying it to his place(a small plastic tent). He then started snoring.

I just came near him and people were shooing me off saying he will kill me with stones.

I just did not bother.

This avadhutha suddenly awoke with a start and said to me

" Enga un macchi?....ovvuru kallilum oru uyir(he repeated this thrice)...naan thoongale jaaami neengallem thaan thooongiteengaaa. ellaa enna paithyam ennu sollaraango."

(Where is your "dude"?...each stone has a life...i did not sleep...you all are sleeping...all call me mad!)

Now, this was serious stuff.

I just replied back(I should have kept silent)....and said "Naan nambaren neenga oru yogi endru....neenga paithyam ilaa"

(I believe that you are a great yogi not a mad man)

He started cursing me in the fowlest expletives(which is so horrible that i cannot reveal in coded language too here!)

People were stunned at my audacity to go near him.

Then he raised a brick at me.

I stayed put at that place ready to receive the blow.

He then threw it down. and said....

"Sari sari.....odu ingurundhu"

(OK OK Get lost from here).

I then got up and bowed and left the scene with my bike and came to a desolate shiva temple in the area many thousands of years old.

Suddenly i heard his voice saying you were searching for a uryirulla kallu(a stone which has life.....which is used for pranaprathistha for temple idols)...and it can be found with a gold streak near the shivalinga pootree..."

I went there and sure enough found that out and came back to my house with that.

Iam used to such miracles so did not get really "stunned"

That night too I had him come into my dream(details of which I cannot reveal here neither is it relevant to the topic now).

-----------------

The point to note is...

"uryirulla kallu"---stone with life...

The statues in side temples are not just pieces of rocks. With special mantras there have been invocation and institution of life energy in them. However, one can infuse life into a "life stone" not a "jada stone"(lifeless stones).

Also, it is not necessary that one should do pranaprathisthapana.

But still I would advice one because of the accelerated effects.

Meera did not do any pranaprathisthapana except with her bhakthi and tears.

Also, if one worships an idol daily a sort of life energy is infused automatically but it happens slowly and not as fast as a pranaprathishtapana done by a pure sadhaka with proper mantras.

The easiest and most effective puja is to sit silently in contemplation of the Supreme Divinity within ourselves with only one mantra. But the mind is restless. It won't sit still that easily. It wants to roam from the past to the future, and rarely observes the truth of the present. The rishis designed the pujas to guide the mind into that stillness. The Pratistha and nyasa viddhis allow the establishment of all the vibrations of existence into our being, and then the establishment of the DIvine Mother as the embodiment of all that energy.

We make prana pratishtha many times during the puja:

On the deity

On the pot.

On the worshipper

On the yantra.

On the fire.

In Mahatripura sundari Rajarajeshwari pranaprathishtapana our life breath is connected to the Mother, imbuing her with our energies for the purposes of the puja ritual

OM AYIM HRIM SRIM RAJARAJESHWARYAI SVAHA PRANA IHA PRANAH!!Om Creation, Dissolution, Sustenance– the names of the Great Goddess, we are with the Ultimate, for you are the life of all Life!!

Hum-phat swaroopini!

Yours yogically,

Shreeram Balijepalli

Purity, Powers, Parabrahmam...

Click to join Rajarajeshwari_Kalpataru