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10. Different Techniques for Different Manifestations
The Siddhas and rishis have prescribed different worship techniques for different manifestations.
They have also mentioned specific worship procedures for honoring Sri Sarabesvara.
| Narayana |
Bathe Narayana's archa avathaara moorthi with thirumanjana abishekam.
Adorn the moorthi with beautiful cloth, ornaments and other regalia (vasthra, aabarana alankaaram).
Decorate the moorthi with fragrant flowers (pushpa alankaaram).
Offer dhoopam and deepam.
As a group, recite scriptural texts (sathsanga paaraayanam).
|
Ganapathi
(Ganesh) |
Conduct the fire ceremony (hómam) in His honor.
Apply sandalwood kaapu (a coat of sandalwood paste) to His divine form.
Apply pancha amirtha kaapu and kaapu (coat) with other substances too.
Perform archana with arugu grass.
Offer Him lots of delicacies and distribute the same to the poor and the needy.
|
Muruga
(Skandha) |
Perform abishekam for Muruga's moorthi and His Vel (spear).
Perform the kaavadi dance in His honor.
Observe ritual fasts (vratham) in His honor.
|
| Siva |
Apply thaila kaapu (coat of oil), perform abishekam, archana and offer dhoopam and deepam.
|
Sarabesvara
and
Narasimha |
If Sri Sarabesvara is in statue or figurine form, apply a coat of sandalwood paste to the entire form.
If the Lord's form is found in a pillar, apply a coat of coconut oil.
If the Sarabesa and Narasimha forms are present in opposite pillars,
first worship Sri Narasimha by applying a coat of sesame (gingelly) oil,
mixed with the extract of karisalaanganni (Eclipta prostrata),
ponnaanganni (Illecebrum sessile) and other moolika herbs.
Then apply a coat of coconut oil to Sri Sarabesa's form.
Follow this with abishekam, alankaaram, archana, neivédyam and prasaadham distribution.
|
Those who follow the above Siddha procedures will make rapid spiritual progress.
11. Transforming Ugra Sakthi Into Grace
As we mentioned in a previous section, the Lord manifests His wrathful, aggressive forms
to put the evil ones in their place. But these forms are full of fiery energy (agni thathva ugra moorthi).
It's not easy to approach these divine forms.
Divine forms like those of Sri Narasimha, Sarabesvara, Kaali and Veera Bhadra are ugra (aggressive)
forms, not saantham (tranquil) forms.
How can their ugra sakthi (aggressive divine energy) be transformed into grace that we humans can easily
partake of?
The Siddhas and rishis have prescribed some simple worship techniques to effect the transformation
of hot divine energy into cool divine grace.
The worship of Sri Sarabesvara is full of these techniques.
The first of these is performing abishekam using water
in which thulasi and vilvam leaves have been placed.
Abishekam with this water is symbolic of the cooling off process.
Moreover, this procedure also shows the unification of Saiva and Vaishnava principles.
12. Worship with Flowers
The Siddhas say that worshipping Sri Sarabesvara with flowers
imparts kaarya siddhi, divine grace that makes our endeavors bear fruit.
They have prescribed which flower should be used on which day of the week.
This is their flower-of-the-day archana worship procedure in honor of Lord Sarabesa.
| Day of the Week | Flower(s) |
| Sunday | Thulasi (Ocymum Sanctum) and Vilvam (Cratæva religiosa) |
| Monday | Paarijaatham also known as pavala malli (Nyctanthes) |
| Tuesday | Kondrai (Cassia) |
| Wednesday | Lotus |
| Thursday | Kondrai (Cassia), Saamandhi (Chrysanthemum Indicum) |
| Friday | Jasmine, Thumbai (Borago Indica, phlomis Zeylanica) |
| Saturday | Kadhambam (Nanclea cadamba) |
During the
Pradosham
time period | Arugampul (Asclepias gigantca), Vilvam (Cratæva religiosa) |
It's extremely important that only flowers that are fragrant be used in worship.
This rule can not be relaxed. Please observe it diligently.
13. Worship with Sandalwood
As we mentioned before, sandalwood paste is an important ingredient in the worship of Sri Sarabesvara.
It's very important that you make the sandalwood paste yourself; we have discussed this rule in an
article in AUMzine Issue 4.
Sandalwood paste is made by rubbing a smooth stick of sandalwood against
a special soft stone that has been moistened.
This process may take a while but it's a great karma nullifying spiritual exercise (saadhana).
The Siddhas suggest that you take the sandalwood and the stone to the temple
and make the paste in front of Sri Sarabesvara. Use water from sacred rivers
like Ganga and Kaveri for moistening the stone.
The paste thus made must be offered in worship within three hours.
You can either apply the paste to Sri Sarabesa's form or make it into little spheres
with your fingers and use them in archana like you would use flowers.
Before making little spheres of sandalwood paste,
mix in a little rose-water (water perfumed with rose essence).
The Siddhas suggest a similar procedure for making turmeric powder.
They say that rather than buying turmeric powder, spiritual aspirants
must convert solid turmeric into turmeric powder using pestle and mortar.
This is a great spiritual saadhana too.
The turmeric powder thus made can be converted into paste form by adding
the right amount of water to it.
Just like one can make little spheres out of sandalwood paste and offer them in archana,
one can also make little spheres of turmeric paste or butter
and offer them in archana exactly like one would offer flowers.
For each such archana offering, one should recite a line from the
108 lines glorifying Sri Sarabesa which we have provided elsewhere
in this article.
It's a good idea to honor Sri Sarabesa with archana using little spheres of butter during
the Nitya Pradosham time period. The butter used for this purpose must be of good quality and it must
have been made with cow's milk only.
Please note that for all worship procedures, we must make sandalwood paste and turmeric powder ourselves while
reciting the appropriate mantras. This is the Siddha way.
Buying these readymade from a store is not acceptable.
14. Honey Abishekam
There's an old saying that Narayana likes decoration (alankaaram) and
Siva likes abishekam. This is quite true. Abishekam is an ideal worship procedure for Sri Sarabesvara.
Abishekam using honey is particularly ideal, say the Siddhas.
The Siddhas say that flowers are born only to decorate the divine form.
That is, only souls which want to adorn the divine form take birth as flowers.
But not all flowers are blessed with the opportunity of resting on the divine form.
There are flowers which are unseen and untouched like many which bloom in forests.
These are precious too. These souls feel sad that they are not able to fulfill their
mission of decorating the divine form.
The Lord hears their silent prayers and makes appropriate arrangements
through His divine emissaries, the Siddhas.
In holy hills like Kolli Malai, Pacchai Malai and in the Himalayas,
the Siddhas take form as honey bees and beetles and collect honey from these unseen, untouched
forest flowers. Perform abishekam for Sri Sarabesa using this mountain honey (honey obtained in holy mountains).
Abishekam on Thiruvaadhirai (Aarudhraa) nakshatram day
and during the Raahu Kaalam time period on Sunday is particularly effective.
There's a Siddha procedure for honey abishekam.
They say that the spiritual aspirant should mix the sweetness of honey
with the never ending sweetness of the divine name as described below.
Gather 108 conch shells. Fill one shell with honey, place it in front of Sri Sarabesvara
and recite the Sarabesvara Kavacham hymn (provided elsewhere in this article) once.
Repeat this process for each conch shell.
Deposit the contents of these 108 conch shells in one big conch shell and perform
abishekam using that.
(If you do not have 108 conch shells, then place dollops of honey 108 times in one big conch shell.
Make sure you recite the kavacham hymn once for each deposit.)
Collect the honey offered in abishekam in a vessel; using a teertha kandi for this purpose is ideal.
Consume a little bit as prasaadam (Sarabesa's grace in tangible form)
and save the rest for yourself and others.
Partaking of Sarabesa's abishekam honey for a minimum of one mandalam (48 days)
can cure several severe ailments. It's a cure for diseases caused by too much heat in the
body like piles and dysentery. It's a cure for diseases of the uterus and other female reproductive organs.
It can solve menstrual problems. It can provide relief from mouth sores and even from cancer of the throat.
It's a solution for those who stutter. It's best if these folks partake regularly of Sri Sarabesa's honey prasadam
over a long period of time.
15. Raiment for Sri Sarabesa
One of the important facets of any worship procedure is vasthra pooja,
decorating the deity with appropriate clothing.
What's the appropriate raiment
for Sri Sarabesa? The Siddhas have discussed this at length.
As we mentioned before, Sri Narasimha tore the evil demon Hiranyakasipu apart,
consumed all of his blood and worse his flesh and bones as a garland.
Later Sri Sarabesa embraced Narasimha. In this embrace between divinities, the flesh and bones
caught in between got converted to white silk. This white silk shone on Sri Narasimha's frame.
It was a beautiful decoration for the incomparable Sri Narasimha who requested Sri Sarabesa
to accept the same as appropriate vestment for Him too.
Sarabesa agreed; this was an agreement between two divinities!
Therefore those spiritual aspirants who honor this divine agreement by decorating
Sri Sarabesa with white silk
will win the blessings of both Sarabesa and Narasimha.
Those who do this are truly blessed, say the Siddhas.
White silk vestment for Sri Sarabesa is particularly important on Pournami (full moon) days.
Decorate Him with white silk and follow it with archana using 108 spheres of sandalwood paste or butter.
Recite the kavacham hymn once for each archana offering.
This potent worship procedure will offer relief from the so called white leprosy affliction.
During Raahu Kaalam time periods, worship Sri Sarabesa using white or blue silk.
During daytime, worship Him using yellow silk.
Perform archana using little spheres of sandalwood paste.
This worship procedure will provide relief from skin diseases.
16. Food Offering for Sri Sarabesa
An important part of any worship is the offering of the appropriate
food item as neivédyam. Just like the substances
offered in abishekam become receptors of divine grace, those offered
as neivédyam also get transformed into concrete representations
of divine grace.
For each divine manifestation, there's a particular food item that must be offered as neivédyam.
Without this offering, the worship procedure can not be considered complete.
| Manifestation | Food Offering |
| Ganapathi | Módhakam |
| Muruga | Millet flour mixed with honey |
| Maha Vishnu | Sweet rice pongal |
| Aayur Devi | Gold colored dishes |
| Perumaal | Sweet appam flour patties fried in oil |
| Hanuman | Urad dal patties |
| Saneesvara | Sesame based dishes |
| Ayyappa | Rice pongal with ghee |
| Balaji | Laadoo sweets |
| Uppili Appan | Dishes without salt |
| Rama | Paayasam |
| Chandra | Sweet milk mixed with rice |
| Sarabesa | See below... |
What is the right food offering for Sri Sarabesa?
A sweet dish known as suyyam.
To make this dish, break open a coconut and scrape the kernel into fine flakes.
Mix these flakes with brown sugar syrup and fashion little balls out of these, say one inch in diameter.
Dip these balls in flour batter and fry them in oil.
The incredibly tasty result is known as suyyam!
Offer these tasty dumplings to Sri Sarabesa during Sunday Raahu kaalam.
Accept a few as prasaadam (concrete representations of Sarabesa's grace)
and distribute the rest among the poor and the needy.
Why is this the right offering for Sri Sarabesa?
Because these delectable dumplings were first fashioned by the Universal Mother
in Her Annapoorani manifestation out of amrutham (nectar of immortality)
droplets that issued forth from Sri Sarabesa's divine form.
Hence this unforgettable dish is the appropriate offering for Sri Sarabesa.
Try it once and you'll never forget it!
Make your worship whole by including this offering.
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