THE SAIVA UPANISADS (CHAPTER X) RUDRA OF THE UPANISADS

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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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