2. Ritualistic worship of the pindi Only cold water and bel is offered to Lord Shankar’s pindi. Neither is it bathed with milk and the five nectars (panchamrut), nor offered turmeric, vermilion (kumkum) or white consecrated rice (akshata). Milk and clarified butter (ghee) symbolise sustenance while turmeric is an underground stem and represents fertility of the soil, that is creation. Vermilion is prepared from turmeric. Since Lord Shankar is the deity of dissolution substances such as milk, vermilion and turmeric are not used in His worship. Holy ash (bhasma) on the contrary symbolises dissolution and is thus used. However in the fourteenth century the Shaivites too incorporated the usage of the five nectars, bathing with milk, etc. as was done by the Vaishnavites. Here, milk is believed to symbolise energy. 2.1 Holy ash (bhasma) After removing the dried bel leaves (nirmalya) and bathing, either only three horizontal stripes are drawn on the visible side of the pindi (divine phallus) or a circle is drawn in the middle of the stripes. This is referred to as Shiva’s eye (Shivaksha). 2.2 Bel A pindi contains two types of pure particles (pavitrakas) from both - the ahat sound (that produced by the falling of water onto its surface) and the anahat (subtle) sound. To absorb the three pure particles, that is the two pure particles as well as those in the bel leaves which are offered upon the pindi, trifoliate bel is offered to Lord Shiva. Tender bel leaves can unite ahat (language of sound) and anahat (language of light) sounds. The leaves should be offered with their stalks facing oneself and the leaf should be placed upside down on the pindi. The motive behind this is to attract the combined energy of the three leaves towards oneself. The combined energy of these three pure particles facilitates the reduction of the three components (trigunas). Bel is not offered upon the shalunka, but to the eye of Shiva on it. The kayakalpa from the Ayurveda discusses the importance of partaking juice of three leaves. Ayurveda refers to the fruit of the bel as the fruit of nectar (amrutphal). There is no disease which cannot be cured with bel. If some medicine is not available then bel should be used. However it is contraindicated in pregnancy as it can lead to fetal death. 2.3 The stream of water Since Shiva and Shakti (Divine Energy) are combined together in the pindi a tremendous amount of radiance is generated. To prevent radiance from having adverse effects on the particles of the pindi and also on its worshippers, a continuous stream of water is made to fall upon the pindi. This stream of water generates the sound of Om (a symbol of the unmanifest Brahman) of a low note. Similarly when a continuous stream of mantras falls upon an embodied soul it opens the kalpinda [the body (pinda) which has crossed the limits of time (kal) is called kalpinda] of the embodied soul. This indicates that one can go upto the unmanifest Brahman. FHA
Posted on: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 09:40:03 +0000
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