Day One Shiva puja class shiva's dhyaanam

[Guest guest]

Om gam ganapataye namah!

Om sang saraswatyai namah!

Om namah shivaaya!

Om shri gurave namah!

 

Namaste to all,

 

Today is the first day of the sanskrit month of sravan which Shree

Maa says is particularly auspicious for Lord Shiva.

 

The other night Shree Maa sang a beautiful song to Lord Shiva.

The refrain says:

"Daridra dukha dahanaya namo shivaaya."

 

Swamiji translates: We bow to Lord Shiva who burrns all

afflictions and unhappiness.

 

Today we will begin our more advanced class of Lord Shiva's

puja. May Lord Shiva burn all our afflictions and unhappiness

and bless us and the universe with peace.

 

Format for class

 

We will use the format of the beginner Shiva puja book and add

mantras from the Advanced Shiva puja book to the Beginner

Shiva book. (kind of like a cut and paste technique) The page

numbers from the advanced book will be given. Hopefully those

who are interested will already have both books. If not the books

can be ordered at http://shreemaa.org/bookstore.htm

 

I will be posting at least once a day, sometimes with new

information or with answers to questions. Please do not

hesitate to ask questions or share your thoughts. If I cannot

answer a question I will ask Swamiji.

 

Remember that Swamiji says the most important ingredient is

bhakti. Don't worry

if you do not not have the articles to offer. You can always offer

from your heart where the garden of delight resides. Or you could

offer a drop of water, or a flower petal for the various offerings.

You can also just recite the mantras without any offerings or just

read the English.

 

If you don't have alot of time then one possible sankalpa would

be to perform Shiva puja every Monday for the month of shravan.

That would be Aug. 8, 15, 22, 29.

 

Day 1

Today we will focus on shiva's dhyaanam, the meditation on

Lord Shiva.

 

On page 6 in the Beginner Shiva puja we begin with Shiva's

gayatri mantra.

 

"Om sadaa sivaaya vidmahe sahasraksaaya dhiimaahe tanno

sambho pracodayat"

 

Today we will add shiva's dhyaanam from the advanced shiva

puja book starting on page 11-13. It also begins with shiva's

gayatri. So first you will recite Shiva's gayatri and then the

dhyanam.

 

*note: Each of the dieties in the samasti upashana(Cosmic

puja) have their own gayatri mantra. For example Durga's gayatri

is " om kaatyaayanaaya vidmahe kanyakumaari dhiimahi tanno

durgih pracodayaat om" The beginner Durga puja also begins

with Durga's gayatri.

 

For Day One please study the meaning and practice reciting the

mantras either from the sanskrit or the transliteration of shiva's

dhyanam in the advance shiva puja book 11-13.

 

One way to help deepen our understanding of Sanskrit is to try to

match the sanskrit words(using the transliterated text) with the

english meaning.

 

For example:

 

vaamadevaaya namo-I bow to the beloved God who is Beloved

jyesthaaya namah-I bow to the Pleasant One

sresthaaya namo- I bow to the Ultimate one

rudraaya namah- I bow to the Reliever of Sufferings

 

Please share any insights or thoughts you might have about

Shiva's dhyanam.

 

 

Parvati