shivling puja

July 26, 2005

Dear friends

Namaste,

A question: when shivling puja is done, what do you do with the

panchmni (sorry don't know how to spell in english >> its the milk,

water, curd, honey and ghee mix to bath Shivling<< BTW isx that the

right mix? Oh, and i finish off with rose water. Is sandalwood

essential to finish off puja?). Do i drink or taste the mix (which is

what i did until i added the curd to the Panch'i mix. I now pour the

PAnch'ni mix on to the grass facing the sun in the morning.

Am i doing all this right??

Namashkaar

M Vaghela

July 29, 2005

Namaste,

Thanks for your reply Ketan.

Another question>> I have a Tulsiji plant too and i offer a leaf every

morning, from the plant, to my Shivling in the mandir along with a

white flower. Now, what do i do with the Tulsi leaf afterwards... do i

eat it myself? I don't feel right eating such a holy plant/leaf

although many say it's good for you. At the moment I am eating the

Tulsi leaf; should I be??

Also, to the many friends out there doing puja with shivling>> what are

your procedures; I know SimoneJi said that as long as you have bhakti

when you do puja its all that counts; but still i would like to know

what do others with a busy working lifstyle do in their morning puja.

I ask this question as I have been praying to Lord Krsna for a little

over 10yrs now and converted to vegitarian. Before then (my teenage

years i prayed to whatever my mother had in our home mandir (and there

was many gods/deities<< have i spelt it right this time Richarn

BrownJi). I hadn't fixed my self to a particular god but I fasted on

Saturdays for Hunamanji.

I fixed on to ShreeKrsna during my University years by influience of a

bramin frind who introduced me to ISKCON. I have read many books like

the Gita, Maahaabart, Ramayana and other philosophical books mainly

influenced on Krsna/Vishnu. I just used to pray and read a section out

of the Gita. With all this devotion and faith all these years I look

back at my life and notice that things have not been great with

obsticles and struggles in life and have been untouched by the faith in

God all these years (although i felt good and safe to some degree).

With no change in life I felt a little betrayed and hence went on a

search for answers.

Now that i have come across Rudraksha and have started some reading on

Lord Shiva I have somewhat treading on new area on praying. I feel good

in prajing to Shiva and look forward and enjoy my daily japa every

morning. Doing puja to Shiva I feel there is still hope; eventhough i

have not lost faith in Krsna I feel my Puja and faith with Shiva

has "overtaken" my faith with Krsna. Now, I do not want to stop prayinf

Krsna as I have been doing so for such a long time and it doesn't feel

right to just stop! I have seen and heard many say that all devotion

and concentration should be to one diety for best acheivment and

connection to God. But I feel that i would be betraying and doing a

huge wrong doing if I stopped praying to Shree Krsna. I do know that

there a two types of followers: one for Shiva and the other to

Vishnu.... I, however, am in the middle!!! I even to japa twice, one

round for Lord Shiva and another for Shree Krsna with the same japa

mala << don't know if i should be doing this.

So, I just want to be doing this (Shiva Puja)a little right if I'm not

doing so already. I have mentioned befor what I do for Shivling puja on

an earler post, I just wanted to know how others where doing it so that

I know i'm on the right track. I see I have made this longer than it

should be, but i just wanted people to know where i am coming from.

Thanks for all you replys.... and sorry for making you read so much.

Namashkaar

M Vaghela

, yourstruelyprince

<no_reply> wrote:

> Dear Vaghela,

> It is called Panchaamrut or Panchaamrit. Panch-amrit.

> You are suppose to eat some portion and rest is given to people

> around, as prasad.

> You can ofer it to tree or grass also whereever it wont get stepped

> on, if there is no one to give it to. Best thing is eat it all if

> there is no one.

> see you.

> Sincerely, Ketan.

July 29, 2005

Well first of all let me salute you for your love to the good Lord. You

must be a great soul (though it seems that you aren't aware of it) to be

able to do japa not for one but two forms of the Lord.

Frankly as far as I know (and don't claim to know a whole lot to be

frank!!) it does not matter what or who you pray to. What matters is

what is in your heart. Pictures, Statues and such are simply symbols

that help us concentrate our mind towards the great source of all

knowledge.

Having said that, there is rituals and forms of worship described in the

sacred texts. Most of these have a specific meaning and worships are

strictly followed to attain a certain form of 'benefits'. These rituals

are generally hard to follow and are not necessarily designed for people

who have families to look after and provide for.

If you follow the Sanatan Dharm, it believes in the holy trinity as the

source from where all of the creation has sprung. In this Brahma is the

creator of all of the worlds, Vishnu is the beholder and Siva in Rudra

form is the destroyer. This basic structure provides for an order that

can be established around these three basic entities and all of the

creation has a beginning, life and end established through the three

basic building blocks.

What is important for all of us in human form is to understand and

appreciate 'our' relative position in the order of things and try and be

true to ourselves and our innermost nature.

There are stricter forms of Saivite, Vaishnava, Shaktik and many other

forms where the Sanatan Dharm is re-interpreted and the writings have a

specific tinge to the basic truth thus showing one form of the stricter

Sanatan Dharm to be 'better' (or maybe a more accurate word should be

'different') from the rest of the Sanatan Dharm.

I would find it hard to believe if anyone claims to have a 'true'

representation of the form of 'God'. There are many things that our

'normal' humans brains simply can not compute. These truths are 'known'

to each and every one of us but we are so frightened to get things wrong

that we would go to great lengths in trying to have someone else

interpret our feelings so that we don't have to feel guilty if we got

things wrong. Well it does not matter an incy bit when it comes to the

relationship of one man and his link with the supreme being. Everyone

have their own paths to follow and hence NO path is an absolute path to

realization and by the same token NO path is the 'wrong' one. Right and

wrong is determined by our own actions and intentions and not by the

paths we follow. In the end we all have to walk 'our' path to

realization no matter how different it may seem from everyone else.

Personally I find myself having 'dialogue' with my 'God'. I am what you

might call a lesser Saivite. It would describe someone with devotion to

both Aakar and Niraakar forms of Siva. However have had the pleasure of

visiting many holy places including the Vatican city and personally

found peace in every form of the house of 'God'. The feeling of peace I

get from worshipping the SivaLingam is exactly the same when I sit in a

temple dedicated for Lord Krishna or in a church or a guru-dwara or a

Mosque. It really is that simple. Just go with what you find peace in

and everything becomes clear.

Yes, if on the other hand, you are in religion from 'gain and loss'

point of view, then you ought to concentrate your attention to one deity

and one deity only. This way all your senses would eventually be

'tuned-in' to a particular way of achieving what you desire and if you

have enough faith in your prayers, you are likely to succeed.

Hope this helps.

With kind regards

Anand

[] On Behalf Of

gcat_mmv

29 July 2005 12:23

RBSC : Re: shivling puja