Worship of Earthen Images

The rishis said

Excellent one, please tell us the rules for worshipping earthen images. What rules must be followed so that everything desired is gained?

Suta replied

You have asked a very virtuous question about what always gives all that is desired. It calms miseries at once, wards off death at the wrong time and even death itself. Brahmanas, it gives wives, sons, wealth and grain at once, and leads to all that is wished for, cooked food, other edibles and garments. Worship of an earthen image gives everything desired on earth. It is settled that both men and women have the right to it. The clay must be collected from the water of a river, pond or well, crushed and purified with fragrances, and cleaned well with milk. On an excellent platform, one kneads the clay with the hands and makes an image. The body and limbs are shaped properly and adorned with the respective weapons. The image is seated in the lotus posture and lovingly worshipped. The images can be of Vignesha, Aditya, Vishnu, Amba and Shiva. A brahmana, though, must always worship Shiva in the form of Shiva's lingam. To succeed in gaining the fruits, the sixteen offerings must be used. With mantras, a flower is used to sprinkle water over the image. The food offering of shali rice is always measured in kudavas: one kudava for worship at home; one prastha for worship in a temple built by humans; three prasthas for a temple built by gods; five prasthas for a self-born image. This gives complete fruits, and double or triple gives greater. If this worship is done a thousand times, a brahmana goes to Satyaloka. The learned know that a vessel of iron or wood, twelve angulas wide, twenty-four long and sixteen high, is called a shiva. One-eighth of this measure is a prastha, equal to four kudavas. When ten, a hundred or a thousand prasthas of water, oil, fragrances and other things are measured out for worshipping a human, rishi or self-born lingam, this is called mahapuja. The bathing of the image is for purifying one's self, the offering of fragrances for auspiciousness, the food offering for long life, incense for prosperity, the lamp for gaining knowledge and betel for pleasures. So in every worship these six must be carefully done. Bowing and japa give all that is desired. For men who want pleasures and liberation, these must always be done at the end of a puja. A man must always worship every object in his mind before doing the rite. If the gods are worshipped, various worlds are gained, and desired pleasures are also gained in the lower worlds. Brahmanas, I will now describe special forms of puja; listen devotedly.

By worshipping Vignesha one gains everything one desires in this world. The special days are Friday, the fourth day of the bright fortnight in Shravana and Bhadra, and the month of Dhanus when Shatabhisha is in the ascendant. Vignesha should be worshipped properly at these times, or every day for a hundred or a thousand days. Through the god, the fire and devotion, constant worship gives sons and everything desired. Every sin is calmed and obstacles destroyed. Worshipping Shiva and the others on their own days purifies the self. All kamya worship depends on the tithi and the conjunction of stars. The day represents the brahman, and by tithi or star the length of the day neither grows nor shrinks. The day runs from sunrise to sunset, and rites for Brahma and the others must be done in their own days. Worship of the gods on tithis gives men complete pleasures. The first part of the night is praised for worshipping ancestors, and the second part of the day for the gods. If a tithi extends over more than one day, for rites connected with the gods the part from sunrise to midday is accepted, and the same for determining auspicious stars. Through puja, japa and so on, the proper rites are done on the respective days, and all the complete pleasures are gained by this rite. One is filled up through this rite; that is how the word puja is understood, from puh and jayate. According to one's mental state, desired knowledge too is counted as an object of enjoyment. That is how ordinary people understand puja, and people who know the Vedas understand it so too. Nitya and naimittika rites give benefits over time, but the fruit of kamya rites is instant. Nitya rites are done daily, naimittika monthly, fortnightly or yearly, so their fruits come respectively after a fortnight and so on. The great puja of Ganapati is done on the fourth day of the dark fortnight; it destroys sins for a fortnight and gives fruit for a fortnight. If done on the fourth day in Chaitra, it gives fruit for a month; in the months of Simha or Bhadra, for a year.

Aditya is worshipped on Sunday, on the seventh day, when Hasta is in the ascendant, and on the seventh of the bright fortnight in Magha. Worship of Vishnu gives expected desires and prosperity if done on Wednesday, on the twelfth day in Jyeshtha or Bhadrapada, or on the twelfth when Shravana is in the ascendant. Vishnu's worship on the twelfth gives good health. Giving the twelve gifts, cattle and the others, with their accompaniments, brings the fruits; such fruits come from satisfying Vishnu. On the twelfth, twelve brahmanas are assigned twelve of Vishnu's names and lovingly honoured with the sixteen offerings. In this way twelve brahmanas can be assigned twelve names of any god, and honouring them delights the god. Amba is worshipped on Monday and on the ninth in the month of Karkataka or Margashirsha. A person who desires prosperity and worships Amba gains all pleasures as fruits. The ninth of the bright fortnight in Ashvina gives everything desired. Monday and the fourteenth of the dark fortnight are special for Shiva's worship, as are Ardra and Maha-Ardra. The fourteenth of the dark fortnight in Magha gives everything desired, ensures long life, dispels sins and gives men all they wish. The fourteenth in Jyeshtha is also like Maha-Ardra. Shiva's image is worshipped with sixteen offerings and his feet seen also when Ardra is in the ascendant in Margashirsha. Worship of Shiva gives men pleasures and liberation.

Worship of the gods on their own days is special in Kartika. When Kartika comes, a learned person worships all the gods with gifts, austerities, oblations, japa and niyama, the image worshipped with the sixteen offerings and a brahmana pronouncing the mantras. When brahmanas are fed, a person is freed from desires and afflictions. Worshipping the gods in Kartika gives all pleasures, drives off ailments and destroys demons and evil planets. Worshipping Aditya on Sundays in Kartika with oil and cotton seeds counters leprosy and similar ailments. Giving haritaki, chillies, garments and milk and setting up Brahma counters the wasting disease. Giving lamps and mustard counters epilepsy. On Mondays in Kartika men worship Shiva, which calms great poverty and increases every kind of prosperity; houses, fields and household tools are given. On Tuesdays they worship Skanda; giving lamps and bells soon makes one eloquent. On Wednesdays they worship Vishnu; giving curd and cooked rice brings good offspring. On Thursdays they worship Brahma; giving honey, gold and ghee increases men's pleasures. On Fridays the elephant-faced god is worshipped; giving fragrances, flowers and cooked food increases pleasures, and giving gold and silver gives barren women excellent sons. On Saturdays the guardians of the worlds are worshipped: the great elephants, serpents, protectors of bridges, Tryambaka Rudra and Vishnu who dispels sin; Brahma for knowledge. Worship of Dhanvantari and the two Ashvins removes diseases and accidental death and calms ailments at once. Gifts of salt, iron, oil, beans, the three pungents, fruits, fragrances, water, and liquids and solids measured in prasthas and palas lead to heaven. At dawn in the month of Dhanus, Shiva and all the others are worshipped, which progressively leads to success. For the food offering, shali rice and havishya are especially praised, and in Dhanus above all it should be cooked rice in various forms. A person who gives cooked food in Margashirsha gains all he desires; his sins are destroyed, his desires fulfilled, his health good. He follows dharma, gains proper knowledge of the Vedas, follows good practices, gains great pleasures here and hereafter, and at the end eternal union. Success in gaining knowledge of Vedanta comes in Margashirsha. At dawn, for three days in Margashirsha, a person worships the gods. Desired pleasures are gained in the month of Dhanus, and rites may be done until the sangava time. A brahmana must master his senses and fast in Dhanus. Until midday he does japa of the gayatri, mother of the Vedas; after that, until bed, japa of the five-syllable mantra and others. Having gained knowledge, when he gives up his body such a brahmana will gain liberation. Other men and women bathe three times a day and always do japa of the five-syllable mantra, and gain pure knowledge. Constant japa of the desired mantra destroys all great sins.

In the month of Dhanus in particular a great food offering should be made. It has shali rice measured by weight; a prastha of peppers; twelve counted articles; a kudava each of honey and ghee; a drona of mudga; twelve kinds of dishes; sweet cakes in ghee; sweets of shali rice; twelve prasthas each of curds and milk; twelve coconuts and other counted fruits; twelve betel nuts; thirty-six leaves; camphor powder; the five fragrances; and betel leaves. These are the marks of a great food offering. It is offered to the god and then distributed to the devotees according to varna. Having offered it so, a person becomes lord of a kingdom in this world. Having offered a great food offering, a man goes to heaven. Bulls among brahmanas, if a person offers it a thousand times, he goes to Satyaloka and spends a whole lifespan there. If he offers it thirty thousand times, he goes to still higher worlds and is not reborn. Thirty-six thousand offerings are said to make the food offering of a lifetime. Giving such an offering is said to make a person completely full, so it is called the offering of a lifetime. One who makes it has no rebirth. It must be offered on an auspicious day in Kartika, at a sankranti, when the birth star is in the ascendant, on the full moon, and on the annual birthday. It can also be offered in other months when one's birth star conjoins, or when Saturn conjoins the birth star. Offering it is like offering up one's own life, and one gains the corresponding fruits. Shiva is delighted when one offers up one's own life and grants sayujya with him. This offering of a lifetime should be made only to Shiva.

The yoni and the lingam are Shiva's own forms, and he determines birth. So to prevent births, this worship of a lifetime must be made to Shiva. The whole universe, moving and unmoving, has bindu and nada inside it. Bindu is Shakti and nada is Shiva. The universe has Shiva and Shakti within. Bindu holds up nada and holds up the whole universe. Bindu and nada are established as the foundation of the universe. When they are united, everything becomes complete, and doubtless the universe is born from this completion. The lingam represents the union of bindu and nada and is said to be the cause of the universe. Bindu is the goddess and Shiva is nada; Shiva's lingam is their union. So to prevent birth, one should worship Shiva's lingam. The goddess is the mother of the universe and Shiva its father. When the parents are constantly worshipped, great compassion grows, and from that compassion prosperity is given to the worshipper. Bulls among sages, hidden gains are gained too. Shiva's lingam is worshipped as the mother and the father. Bharga is the form of Purusha and Bhargaa the form of Prakriti. Purusha is unmanifest, in the form of a hidden conception within. Prakriti is a conception well manifest, but inside. Purusha is the first conception, so Purusha is called the father. The union of Purusha and Prakriti is called the first birth. When Prakriti becomes manifest outside, that is called the second birth. Though born, a being is as good as dead; it gains proper birth only through Purusha. Others think and say that birth is the result of maya. The word jiva is said to mean that which decays from birth, and also that which is bound from birth. So from birth a person should worship the lingam to be freed from the noose of birth. Prakriti is called Bhaga because it enhances progress toward prosperity. The ordinary senses enjoy sound and the other objects of sense that arise from Prakriti. It is mostly heard that the word bhoga means that which Bhaga has given. Bhaga is primarily Prakriti, but Shiva is called Bhagavan, who gives bhoga. No one else can confer it. Bhagavan is lord of bhoga, so the learned call him Bharga. When Bhaga is joined with the lingam, Bhaga and lingam are united. For pleasures in this world and the next and constant enjoyment of them, one should worship Shiva's lingam, Bhagavan Mahadeva. In the form of Surya he gives birth to the worlds and his symbol points to that birth. One should worship Purusha in the form of the lingam; the lingam indicates the cause behind birth. The meaning of lingam is that it is a sign of existence. So one should meditate on the lingam. The lingam signifies Purusha and takes one to Shiva. It is called the sign of the union of Shiva and Shakti. He is pleased at his sign being worshipped, and the signs of what the symbol does become unimportant; those signs are birth and death. So one withdraws from birth and death. With the sixteen offerings and inner or outer means, one should worship Shiva's lingam standing for Purusha and Prakriti. Worshipping so on Sunday wards off birth. With Pranava the great lingam is worshipped on Monday. On Monday, bathing with the five products of the cow is especially effective: cow dung, cow's urine, milk, curd and ghee. Milk, honey and molasses may also be used separately. A food offering of rice cooked in cow's milk is made with the chanting of Pranava. Pranava is the dhvani lingam; nada is the self-born lingam; the yantra is the bindu lingam; "M" is the pratishthita lingam; "U" is the moving lingam; and "A" is the guru lingam. Doubtless a being who worships the six lingams is liberated. Devoted worship of Shiva frees men from the cycle of birth. A quarter of this benefit comes from wearing rudraksha and an eighth from smearing ash. Three quarters come from japa of mantras and worship with complete devotion. A man devoted to Shiva's lingam who worships it is liberated. Brahmanas, a person who controls himself and reads or hears this chapter finds his devotion to Shiva increasing and becoming steady.