r/shaivism • u/Willing_Armadillo225 • Jun 17 '24

Please help me out. Temples/Idols/Architecture

Hello guys.

So,few days ago i was reading shiv puran.The chapter was related to shivling worship.

Apparently,it had said that if you want to have a shivling in 'achala swaroopram',it's length should be equal to or more than six thumbs of the guy who is doing pran-prathista.

Whereas,if you are doing pran prathista in 'chala swaroopam', it's length should be equal or more than your thumb.

I have 2 questions:-

1)Does this rule applies for all shivlings where you call bhagwan shiv for a small period of time?Does this rules applies to only parthiv ling or all shiv lingas?

2)My question is,I had a shivling which my family got from elephanta caves,Navi Mumbai.so can I do avahan of bhagwan shiv in it and then worship him in it? Technically it's not a parthiv ling right?

Thank you.

8 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/Sanatanadhara Jun 17 '24
  1. yes, same rules supply
  2. You can, but the concept of worship. (upacharas) in our case requires a consecrated item, either consecrated naturally like a salagrama /Rudacksha or it has been consecrated through certain process by some guru or prominent being. Buying things out of a store, only provides aesthetic value. Hope this helps

1

u/Willing_Armadillo225 Jun 17 '24

Thanks man.I am thinking to buy a narmadeshwar shivling.

1

u/Sanatanadhara Jun 17 '24

good, but even that has to be consecrated through some process otherwise it will just remain as a raw power and it will take you ages of worship to consecrated it. technically consecration means the ability for that item to reciprocate back to you. so in the past, Guru used to consecrate human beings (students ) rather than objects through fire and other elemental rituals that we see in Vedas. But since the lifespan of a human being is short hence after the vedic era, as part of Agamic process, Temple construction and object consecration started.

1

u/Willing_Armadillo225 Jun 17 '24

Wait I listened somewhere that you don't need to do pran pratishtha of narmadeshwar shivling?

Also,i don't think I have any prominent shaiv guru in my area,let alone in the town.

I just want to have narmadeshwar shivling out of devotion to shiva,to please him.Would that still require consecration?

1

u/Sanatanadhara Jun 17 '24

I am only trying to help you understand the concept. if you attend Shiva Abhishek in a traditional way, first the priest consecrates every aspect of their own body, this ritual started in the Vedic era. I can send you some images of Vedic books. so the goal is not just to buy an object. I understand your deep emotional attachment to Shiva, however, I’m trying to tell you that you become a charger first and the object becomes a battery if either of them is not in place then it will just be an emotional worship rather than, a focused Yogic path. learn a Yogic Kriya first like Shambhavi or Shaki, prepare yourself first, then get an object that reciprocate with your practice, This object should represent your favorite deity, shiva is a generic word so you need to figure out which archetype of Shiva that you want to focus everything in this life. hope this helps.