Day One Shiva puja class Q/A

[Guest guest]

Day one Q/A

 

Namaste to you all,

 

Many thanks to Steve, Nanda and Henny for your sharing your

questions and ideas and I look forward to hearing from more of

you, Grace, Mukti Maa, Chris, Kalia, Berijoy, Ramya, Michael and

Karen, Steve, Dawn, Morningsong, Vasantha and anyone else

interested in learning shiva puja or enhancing their beginner

shiva puja.

 

To Zach: I noticed that you recently ordered a beginner Shiva

puja so please don't hesitate to ask questions if you have any.

 

If anyone doesn't want to post on line you can send me an email

directly to parv108.

 

1) Steve asked:

 

Q: "By "Shiva's Dhyanam" you mean specifically the section

entitled

Dhyanam on page 18 of Beginner?"

 

A: No. Actually page 18 beginner shiva puja is another

dhyaanam which we will get to later in the puja. The one I am

referring to is in the Advanced Shiva puja book on page 11-13.

This dhyaanam will be recited in the beginning of the puja. Do

you happen to have the Advanced Shiva puja book and yajna?

We will be using the mantras from the advanced shiva puja book

to add to the beginner shiva puja.

 

Q: The mgra mudra ... I am wondering, if that is the mudra

considered the

teaching mudra[?]

 

A: The mgra mudra which you are referring to in the beginner

shiva puja book in Shiva's other dhyaanam on page is the

kalpataru mudra. You may have seen this mudra in one of

Ramakrishna's pictures where he is bringing the energy from

above to the earth.

 

 

2. Nanda asked:

"Are there different kinds of dhyaanam

where we describe different attributes of the deity?"

 

A: Yes. Each deity has its own dhyaanam some describe the

physical and some describe the metaphysical qualities or

characteristics of the deity.

 

 

3. Henny asked:

Q: How are 'who instills the fear of evil' and 'who saves the

righteous from

fear' put together in Sanskrit?

 

A: Henny, recently I had this same discussion with Swamiji

about these particular names. This is what he said:

 

Aghora-free from fear

uttaraghora-instills fear of evil

aghoraghera-saves the righteous from fear

 

Swamiji reminded me that since this sanskrit comes from Vedic

Sanskrit many of the names run together. It is more difficult to get

a word for word translation with some of the mantras. He

suggested we continue to focus on the goal and the

philosophical meaning underlying the mantras.

 

Henny said: I have done some research and found that

Sadyojata, Vamadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha and Ishana are the

names of the 'five faces' of Sada Shiva

(mentioned in the beginner's puja dhyanam).

 

A: Henny, you are right about the 5 faces of Shiva being

contained in this meditation. Thanks for sharing this insight and

research.

 

Sadyojata-he who gives birth to truth

Vamadeva-beloved God

Aghora-he who is free from fear

Tat purushaaya- universal consciousness

Ishana-seer of all

 

Henny said: By reciting this dhyaanam we are led to a deeper

understanding, to the awareness of Shiva being the being of our

being.

 

A: May we all be blessed with this awareness.

 

 

4.Q: Linda asked:

I thought the word, "dhyanam," meant meditation. However, I

notice your spelling of the word has an extra a, in between the y

and the n. So are you referring to the same word?

 

A: Linda, if you don't mind my responding, Nanda was referring

to the word dhyaanam. In the transliterated form you will notice

the letter a has a line above it. That means it is long and has two

"aa". You are right that the word refers to meditation and is

a

"special meditation on the diety involved."

 

 

5.Q: Kalachandra asked, "I have a question: In this dhyanan we

"place a flower in your left hand, cover it with the right hand" too?

When we can offer mudra? Do you can tell us about it too?

 

A: In the dhyaanam that we are learning now which is on page

11-13 of the advanced shiva puja and yagya we are just reciting

the mantras. There is no flower and no mudra offered here.

 

When we "place the flower in our left hand, cover it with the

right

hand this is in the dhyaanam on page 18-19 of the beginner

shiva puja book.

 

We do various mudras throughout the puja see beginner shiva

book page 15(ankush mudra), page 16 (prarthana mudra and

dhenu mudra).