Shiva Pooja : Restrictions on Neivedam? THANK YOU!

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Dear Ramesh,Words cannot express my sincere thanks for such a quick and detailed clarification.You have helped me tremendously in opening my mind and in my spiritual path progression.Thank you very very much.Warmest Regards,NarayananOn Jan 26, 2010, at 3:55 PM, Ramesh Krishnamoorthy wrote:Dear Narayanan,Lord Shiva is the most easily pleased. He accepts everything from His devotees. Only thing required from the offering is love and devotion. These are some of the neivedhyams He accepted..!! 1. The foot mark of Kannappa when he placed it on the Shiv Linga.2. The water he took on his mouth as abhisheka3. The meat he bought, after carefully selecting them by tasting it himself.4. The pooja done by the Snake, Spider and Elephant in SriKalaHasti5. Stones, offered by a Nayanar when he did not find flowers to offer. So there is only one requirement to Lord Shiva pooja. It is love and devotion. He is such a benevolent and merciful lord. After all, we do these poojas to purify ourselves, isn't it? Fruits can be offered. Cooked rice or anything offered with love is sufficient enough. There is an interesting story in the Mahabharata. Arjuna visits the Shiva Loka where he finds the Bootha Ganas carrying heavy loads of flowers in a big line. He thought to himself 'great is this bhakti, who offered so much of flowers to the lord, and who is he?' He asked one of the Ganas and he was astounded by their reply. It was his dear brother Bheemasena, they replied. He wondered 'Bheema?!! The one who eats all the time and shouts 'war, war, war'...I have never seen him doing any sort of such pooja?!! The Ganas replied 'He offers these flowers to the Lord through his mind itself, in the middle of all his activities and thats why you see so much of flowers piled up. Please forgive us, we don't have time to talk to you as there are many more piles that needs to be taken..! Hope it clarifies. PranaamRamesh On Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 9:27 AM, Om.NamoNarayanaya <om.namonarayanaya (AT) me (DOT) com> wrote: Namaste,Can any member please help clarify if there are any restrictions on offering neivedam to Shiva lingam pooja at home?I was told by a priest that we must offer only cooked white rice.Can I offer fruits instead?Thank you.Warmest Regards,Narayanan