THE SAIVA UPANISADS (CHAPTER X) RUDRA OF THE UPANISADS

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beings, the strongest of the strong, wielder of the thunderbolt ; protect us,

carry us happily across our calamity, drive away all evils ". " Remove us from

whatever sins we have done ". Therefore, Rudra is not a terror inspiring God,

but a bestower of welfare or prosperity. He is the one great Lord of the

Universe.Rudra is the ideal of mendicants, because Rudra alone, of all the

deities, is spoken of in the scriptures as the mendicant God. He is mentioned

as having the ascetic water pot in the Rig Veda hymnsYou will find in the

Svetasvatara Upanishad, Chapter III " There is one Rudra only who rules all the

worlds by His powers. There is no one besides Him who can make Him the second.

He is present inside the hearts of all beings. He creates all the worlds and

maintains and finally withdraws them into Himself " .Rudra represents here Para

Brahman or the Supreme Self the Infinite or the Absolute.Rudra after having

created all objects, draws together or

takes them all back into Himself at the end of time, i. e., during cosmic

Pralaya or dissolutionRudra is the destructive aspect of Siva. There are eleven

Rudras in the cosmic hierarchy. Esoterically, the pranas ( the ten senses ) and

the mind represent the eleven Rudras, Sri Hanuman is a manifestation or aspect

of Rudra onlyIn Siva Purana, Rudra is another name for Siva. Rudra is one who

destroys the sins and removes the miseries of His devotees and confers on them

wisdom and bliss. Rudra is the Antaryamin or indweller of all beings. He

witnesses silently the actions and thoughts of men and dispenses the fruits of

their actions" O, Rudra with Thy form which is auspicious, which is not

dreadful and which manifests what is holy, with that all blessed form, appear

to us, O Dweller among the mountains ". THE RUDRAKSAJABALOPANISADThis Upanisad

which is the eighty eighth among the 108 Upanisads and forms part of the

Samaveda takes the form of a discourse between Bhusunda and Kalagnirudra

regarding the part played by Rudraksa in the attainment of the state of the

Brahman. Although Bhusunda was himself an accomplished Yogin of the high order

who had discharged all his duties and had nothing more to do in this world for

the attainment of Kaivalya of the incorporeal type, still, for the regeneration

of the deluded and the ignorant he approached the Lord Kalagnirudra with a

prayer for the exposition of the rules prescribed for the wearing of Rudraksa

Beads and the fruit attainable therefrom so as to enable seekers to attain the

right kind of knowledge, with a mind thoroughly purified through sincere

devotion to him as such knowledge is the sine qua non for the attainment of the

state of the Paramatman, Rudra, the main support of the phenomenal world,

preparatory to the attainment of the state of the formless and the support less

non differentiated BrahmanTherupon Bhusunda asked the reputed

Kalagnirudra thus : What, pray, is the genesis of the Rudraksa? What is the

fruit attainable through the wearing of the same?The Lord Kalagnirudra replied

unto him thus: For bringing about the destruction of the Tripura I had to close

my eyes. Thereupon drops of water fell on the earth from my eyes. Those drops

became Rudrakshas. For the sake of the regeneration of all beings, I have

ordained that, by the mere uttering of their name, there shall be attained the

fruit attainable through the gift of ten cows and through looking at them and

touching them the same fruit rendered two fold, I am unable to say anything

furtherFruit of wearing the Rudraksha and the uttering of Prayer with it. By

being worn by the devotee of Rudra it will remove all sin committed by day and

night. By looking at it religious merit will be attained a hundred thousand

fold, and by wearing it ten

thousand thousand fold. By wearing it a man will attain a hundred crores of

units of religious merit. By uttering prayers as Japa with its help and by

wearing the Rudraksha a man will attain religious merit to the tune of a lakh

of crores of thousands and a lakh of crores of hundreds respectively Sri Mad

Devi BhaghvatamChapter VIIf anybody holds Rudraksam on his head he gets Koti

times the fruit ; on his ears, ten Ko.ti times the fruit ; on his neck, one

hundred Koti times the fruit ; on his Holy Thread, ayta times the fruit ; on

his arm, one lakh Koti times the fruit and if one wears Rudraksam on ones

wrist, one attains Moksa. Whatever acts, mentioned in the Vedas be performed

with Rudraksam on, the fruits obtained are unboundedIf anybody holds Rudraksam

together with pearls, Prabala, crystal, silver, gold and gem ( lapis lazuli ) ,

he

becomes a manifestation of Siva. If a body, through laziness even, holds

Rudraksam, the sin cannot touch him as darkness cannot come near light. If

anybody makes japam of a matram with a Rudraksa rosary he gets unbounded

results. Such a merit giving Rudraksa, if one such Rudraksam be not found in

anyone's body, his life becomes useless, like a man who is void of Tripundrak (

three curved horizontal marks made on the forehead by the worhippers of Siva ) .

If one simply washes his head all over with Rudraksam on, he gets the fruit of

bathing in the Ganges. There is no doubt in this. One Faced Rudraksam, the Five

faced, eleven faced and fourteen faced Rudraksams are highly meritorious and

entitled to worship by all. The Rudraksam is Sankara made manifest ; so it is

always worshipped with devotion. The greatness of Rudraksam is such as it can

make a king out of a poor man. Srimaddevibhagavat 11th Skand Chapter IV God

Said 19 - 20 Those men who wear either the rosary of Rudraksa or even one bead

on their head, get rid of all pains, sorrows and sins and attain all the

credits and fabulous money. Such men on chanting the names of Siva become

superior to all other men. 22 Wearer of Rudraksa on hair tuft of the crown, in

ear, in neck, in hand and in abdomen attains the status of Siva Visnu and

Brahma. 23 All the dieties saints etc. reside in the Rudraksa if worn with

devotion. 24 Saints, religious persons and all the pious souls born in the

genealogy of such persons feel pleasure and become pious. 25 - 26 According to

Jabala instinct for wearing Rudraksa results only after attaining the

perfection of Vedas and Blessings of Lord Siva during preceeding births. 27 O

son the benefits and greatness of Rudraksa beads famous in all the three worlds

are studied by all the saints and by myself. 28 - 29 Rudraksa wearing provides

hundred million times more punya (merits) than that accrues on touching and

seeing it. If a man does chanting (japa) on it he attains several trillion

times benefits. It is an eternal truth and therefore it is needless to speak

any more on its benefits. 14 - 16 The berry (of the Rudraksa)

should touch the middle finger. then in the proper order one should mutter,

moveing ones hand, and again and again touching the central bead of the rosary.

One should count the number of the mantras (sacred word/name/formula) that are

muttered. If they are not counted they are fruitless. One should mutter (the

names0 of all gods with (ie by counting the beads of) ones own rosary. 17 - 21

(If he after) being pure (mutters the Mantras) in all sacred places the merit

would be a crorefold. He would obntain endless fruit if he mutters a Mantra in

honour of the image of Visnu or Siva or Ganapati or the Sun, on a pure ground,

or at the pure root of a tree, in a cowpen, or in a house at a crossway. The

Lord Spoke91 - O Kartikeya hear correctly about the assignment and wearing of

Rudraksaas of different numbers of mouths. The merits (already) told are had

without the recital of a sacred hymn. The merits and the importance of the man

who on the earth wears it to the accompaniment of a sacred hymn cannot be

told.92 - Now the sacred hymns are indicatedOm Rudra ekavaktrasyaOm Kham

dvivaktrasyaOm Ambum trivaktrasyaOm Hrim caturvaktrasyaOm Hram PancavaktrasyaOm

Hrum SadvaktrsyaOm Hrah saptavaktrasyaOm Kam astavaktrasyaOm Jum navavaktrasyaOm

Aksam dasavaktrasyaOm Srim ekadasavaktrasyaOm Hrim DvadasavaktrasyaOm Ksom

trayodasavaktrasyaOm Nram caturdasavaktrasyaThus the sacred hymns should be

assigned in due order. A man who wearing a rosary (of Rudraksas) on

his head or chest, walks, obtains, at every step the fruit (of the performance)

of a horse sacrifice not otherwise93 - 99 A man becomes equal to me by wearing

Rudraksas of all mouths (ie by wearing Rudraksas having any number of mouths.

Therefore O son with all effort wear a Rudraksha. Yours George Pillai

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