Guest guest Report post Posted July 22, 1988 Dear group members I have heard that it is not advisable to have Maa Kali's photo/idol at home especially in 'roudrabhava'. Is it true? If true, what is wrong if Maa Kali is your Ishta devatha and one worship's her as 'kuladvatha'. Would be grateful if any one can elucidate please . Regards Ravindra kumar - Loladas Monday, July 22, 2002 2:54 PM placing multiple deities Dear family The website of a Tamil temple once told me that for home puja, you put the image/statue of your Ishta in the middle, with Lord Ganesh to Her/His right, and any other Deities to Her/His left. The site gave an example of what a home altar with Lord Shiva as Ishta might look like:(from left to right as you are looking at it) Ganesh Shiva Amma Murrugan Vishnu based on this system of placement, I want to arrange my altar like this: Ganesh Kali Shiva Now my problem is that many sources say that Shakti is always toward Shiva's left side. Is it therefore inauspicious to have Shiva on Her left as I wish to do? Also, the website said that in a temple you worship Lord Ganesh first, then the main Deity of the temple, then other Deities. Does this rule hold for home puja? Many other sources differ from this and say that Lord Shiva must always be worshipped before Goddess Kali. Any thoughts? Jai Maa Loladas Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted July 22, 2002 Dear family The website of a Tamil temple once told me that for home puja, you put the image/statue of your Ishta in the middle, with Lord Ganesh to Her/His right, and any other Deities to Her/His left. The site gave an example of what a home altar with Lord Shiva as Ishta might look like:(from left to right as you are looking at it) Ganesh Shiva Amma Murrugan Vishnu based on this system of placement, I want to arrange my altar like this: Ganesh Kali Shiva Now my problem is that many sources say that Shakti is always toward Shiva's left side. Is it therefore inauspicious to have Shiva on Her left as I wish to do? Also, the website said that in a temple you worship Lord Ganesh first, then the main Deity of the temple, then other Deities. Does this rule hold for home puja? Many other sources differ from this and say that Lord Shiva must always be worshipped before Goddess Kali. Any thoughts? Jai Maa Loladas Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted July 23, 2002 Loladas, There is no standard way of arranging the Deities in the altar. There are many schools of thought and everyone has a justification for the arrangement. Your arrangement of Ganesha, Maa KAALI and Shiva is correct. Here you are worshipping individual Deities. As Maa KAALI is your Ishtadevata your arrangement is the best. Then Maa being on the left or right side of Shiva is applicable only for Maa Parvathy. For Sakthas Maa KAALI is the Supreme Power. Another point. Many KAALI Upasakas worship Shiva in the form of Bhairava. Make any arrangement you like. What is of primary importance is Bhakthi. About the worship most Hindus start their Pooja with a prayer to Ganesha. As he is the remover of obstacles you pray to him to remove the obstacles to your Pooja. First Ganesha, then Guru and the main Pooja. It is not necessary to worship Lord Shiva before MAA. If you are worshipper of MAA it should be Ganesha, Guru, MAA and then Shiva and others. Jai MAA KAALI !!! Sankar Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted July 23, 2002 Ravi, This statement about Rowdhra Bhava and Sowmya Bhava is often heard. Many Hindus especially for the South and Maharashtra seem to have this opinion. For years many of well meaning friends and also total strangers have been telling me that I should worship MAA in a Sowmya form and not MAA KAALI. In Madras the temple of Maa Bavatharini is called Ugra Kali temple. In Kerala they prefer Bhadra KAALI without realizing that the form of Bhadra KAALI is no less Ugra than Dakshina KAALI. In Bengal where Maa KAALI is widely worshipped this attitude is not prevalent. In fact this kind of remark will be taken to be an insult to MAA. The altitude towards God is different among the public. You would have heard the term " God Fearing person " . For such people God is to be feared. For Sakthas MAA is to be loved and not feared. MAA is Dayamayi, Karunamayi and Anandamayi. MAA carries those weapons to protect us from our enemies and evils. Our enemies are mostly internal. Kama, Krodha, Moha, Loba and Tapa. Our Ego and selfishness. These have to be destroyed to attain Mukthi. MAA is always looking for one single good deed that the Bhaktha does to reward him. To think that God is looking out for ways of punishing every one for the slightest mistake is ridiculous to say the least. MAA KAALI is worshipped mostly as Dakshina KAALI. The most popular Image is that of Bavatharini MAA whom Bagavan Ramakrishna Paramahamsa worshipped and saw. Ravi. We all love our mother. When we were toddlers we could not do without her. Does it mater to anyone how the mother looks like. She is our mother. Period. KAALI MAA is our mother and her bhava is immaterial to our devotion. So ignore such advice, which is based on ignorance and blind prejudices. Jai MAA KAALI !!! Sankar Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
