The Saligrama stone is not believed to be just another stone
found in the nature. It is found only at Gandaki River situated high in the
Himalayas in Nepal. It is believed that the chakra symbols are formed by river
worms called Vajra Keeta. It is believed that these worms drill the stones, get
inside and use the stones a dwelling place.
There is a legend behind the origin of Saligramam. Once upon a time, Lord Siva was waging a war with an asura called Jallundhara. The war seemed to be between two equals and not just another war of a God with a demon. It was in fact a test of chastity of their consorts. (It is a Hindu belief that chastity of the wife protects her husband even from death) Lord Siva knew that unless the chastity of Vrinda, Jallundhara's wife is spoiled, he cannot be killed as he will be protected by the power of her chastity. But it was against the nature of Gods to indulge in a heinous act like spoiling a woman's chastity.
But there was no such taboo for the demon Jallundhara. He thought that by spoiling the chastity of Goddess Parvati he could defeat Lord Siva. But Goddess Parvati could see through Jallundhara's trick and ended his guise. She signaled Lord Krishna (Avatara of Lord Vishnu) that it was now just to spoil the chastity of Jallundhara's wife and it will not be a sin. Lord Krishna approached Vrinda in the guise of Jallundhana. She could not understand that it is not her husband and lost her chastity.
Later when she came to know about this, she cursed Lord Vishnu to turn into grass, stone, tree and plant. It is believed that Kusha-grass, Saligram-stone, Pipal-tree and Tulsi-plant are incarnations of Lord Vishnu and worshipped henceforth. (There is another version of the story for the origin of Tulsi and Saligrama shila which will be posted later.)
Padma purana states that resident of a salagrama is Lord Kesava himself and along with him reside all the devatas, asuaras, yaksas and the fourteen worlds. Hence, giving a salagrama, is the best form of charity. It also states that Lord Siva himself stays in the salagrama sila and hence worshipping it is of importance to both Vaishnavites and Saivites. Even if a salagrama is cracked, split, or broken it will have no harmful effect if it is worshiped with attention and love by a devotee. Gautamiya Tantra states that merely by touching a shalagrama one becomes freed from the sins of millions of births. In Skanda purana, it is said that that any person who has seen salagrama stone, paid obeisances to it, bathed and worshipped it, has achieved the results of performing ten million sacrifices and giving ten million cows in charity. According to Garuda Purana, The Lord resides in many places in which he may be worshipped, but of all the places Salagrama is the best.
There is a legend behind the origin of Saligramam. Once upon a time, Lord Siva was waging a war with an asura called Jallundhara. The war seemed to be between two equals and not just another war of a God with a demon. It was in fact a test of chastity of their consorts. (It is a Hindu belief that chastity of the wife protects her husband even from death) Lord Siva knew that unless the chastity of Vrinda, Jallundhara's wife is spoiled, he cannot be killed as he will be protected by the power of her chastity. But it was against the nature of Gods to indulge in a heinous act like spoiling a woman's chastity.
But there was no such taboo for the demon Jallundhara. He thought that by spoiling the chastity of Goddess Parvati he could defeat Lord Siva. But Goddess Parvati could see through Jallundhara's trick and ended his guise. She signaled Lord Krishna (Avatara of Lord Vishnu) that it was now just to spoil the chastity of Jallundhara's wife and it will not be a sin. Lord Krishna approached Vrinda in the guise of Jallundhana. She could not understand that it is not her husband and lost her chastity.
Later when she came to know about this, she cursed Lord Vishnu to turn into grass, stone, tree and plant. It is believed that Kusha-grass, Saligram-stone, Pipal-tree and Tulsi-plant are incarnations of Lord Vishnu and worshipped henceforth. (There is another version of the story for the origin of Tulsi and Saligrama shila which will be posted later.)
Padma purana states that resident of a salagrama is Lord Kesava himself and along with him reside all the devatas, asuaras, yaksas and the fourteen worlds. Hence, giving a salagrama, is the best form of charity. It also states that Lord Siva himself stays in the salagrama sila and hence worshipping it is of importance to both Vaishnavites and Saivites. Even if a salagrama is cracked, split, or broken it will have no harmful effect if it is worshiped with attention and love by a devotee. Gautamiya Tantra states that merely by touching a shalagrama one becomes freed from the sins of millions of births. In Skanda purana, it is said that that any person who has seen salagrama stone, paid obeisances to it, bathed and worshipped it, has achieved the results of performing ten million sacrifices and giving ten million cows in charity. According to Garuda Purana, The Lord resides in many places in which he may be worshipped, but of all the places Salagrama is the best.
Lord
Shiva speaks to his son, Skanda - in this mortal world, if anyone does not
worship Shalagram Shila, I do not not at all accept any of their worship and
obeisances.
The Shaligrams are specifically described as fossil-stones which have taken shape in the Gandaki-river, and are characterized by the presence of discus marks. Shaligrams are always naturally found in the river Gandaki. These also include the famous Kali-Gandaki River , Muktinath, Damodar Himal, Damodar Kunda, Devghat, etc.
Shaligrams are sacred 'shilas' or stones representing the abstract form of Lord Vishnu. His followers, the Hindu Vaishnavas, place these stones in their puja altars for daily worship. Just as the abstract form of Shiva is the stone ‘lingam’ which the Shaivites worship in their temples and homes, so is the ‘shila’ of Lord Vishnu.
According to Hindu tradition, the Shaligram stone is the shelter for a small insect known as the 'vajra-keeta' that cuts through this stone and lives inside it. In actuality, however, these stones are the fossils of the common ammonite that lived millions of years ago when the Himalayan mountain range formed the bed of a vast ocean floor.
The Shaligrams are specifically described as fossil-stones which have taken shape in the Gandaki-river, and are characterized by the presence of discus marks. Shaligrams are always naturally found in the river Gandaki. These also include the famous Kali-Gandaki River , Muktinath, Damodar Himal, Damodar Kunda, Devghat, etc.
Shaligrams are sacred 'shilas' or stones representing the abstract form of Lord Vishnu. His followers, the Hindu Vaishnavas, place these stones in their puja altars for daily worship. Just as the abstract form of Shiva is the stone ‘lingam’ which the Shaivites worship in their temples and homes, so is the ‘shila’ of Lord Vishnu.
According to Hindu tradition, the Shaligram stone is the shelter for a small insect known as the 'vajra-keeta' that cuts through this stone and lives inside it. In actuality, however, these stones are the fossils of the common ammonite that lived millions of years ago when the Himalayan mountain range formed the bed of a vast ocean floor.
It is said that mythologically in this month the samudra manthan
(churning of the ocean) occurred when the 14 celestial gems came up. "This
is an auspicious month and on the ekadasi day (eleventh day from no-moon day) a
unique festival called Kartik Puja is performed by women on the banks of the
Ganga in Varanasi. This also happens to be the day of celestial marriage of
Tulsi with Saligram Shila. Tulsi is a plant (Ocimum basilicum or Ocimum
sanctum). There are two types of Tulsi ' one is Rama Tulsi with light green
leaves and the other is Krishna Tulsi with dark green leaves. Its is a
prerequisite for the worship of Vishnu and Narayan. A Saligram Shila is an
ammonite fossil can generally be classified under Cephalopoda class which is
roughly 425 million years old. This stone is one of the most sacred stones for
Hindus.
The origin of the Saligram Shila goes back to the Puranic or mythological era. The Puranic encyclopaedia says Saraswathi and Lakshmi once had a terrible quarrel and cursed one another. Saraswathi's curse transformed Lakshmi into a Tulsi plant destined to live on earth forever. Vishnu, however, intervened and said, "Lakshmi, you will live in the world as a holy Tulsi plant and when the curse has been completed you will come back to me. On that day a river named Gandaki will start from your body which will be in the shape of a Tulsi plant. On the bank of that river I will remain as a stone image (Saligram). There will be many worms with strong tusks and teeth which will pierce the stone into the shape of the sudarshan chakra (quoit) and it will create numberless Saligram."
The origin of the Saligram Shila goes back to the Puranic or mythological era. The Puranic encyclopaedia says Saraswathi and Lakshmi once had a terrible quarrel and cursed one another. Saraswathi's curse transformed Lakshmi into a Tulsi plant destined to live on earth forever. Vishnu, however, intervened and said, "Lakshmi, you will live in the world as a holy Tulsi plant and when the curse has been completed you will come back to me. On that day a river named Gandaki will start from your body which will be in the shape of a Tulsi plant. On the bank of that river I will remain as a stone image (Saligram). There will be many worms with strong tusks and teeth which will pierce the stone into the shape of the sudarshan chakra (quoit) and it will create numberless Saligram."
Posted
by Umamahesw
It
is not a stone-formation by nature. The chakras on the stones are formed by the
river worms called Vajra-keeta. Its teeth/nails are said to be harder than
granite stone. The chakra formation is found not only on the outer surface of
the Saligrama. There are chakras inside Saligrama also. This can be seen
through the hole or holes on the Saligrama with the aid of torch light. The
holes are termed as vadana (mouth). Chakras can be seen inside these holes. At
the very face of this chakra one can confirm or suspect whether a particular
Saligrama is original or duplicate.The Vajra keeta worms drill the stones, get
inside and live there. During their stay inside the stones, they cause these
chakras. Similarly outside Chakras also are caused by the worms only. Saligrama
are used as living place by the worms not used as shells. The puranic
declaration is that the Lord Himself causes these chakras in the guise of
worms.
He reveals His presence in Saligrama
through the Chakras. Because He is already present there by his own choice, We
do not perform any pratishta-ritual for Saligrama just as we do for other
idols.There are also some normal size, small and very small size Saligramas
with no hole and ni chakra. They look like mere black stones. But if you hold
it against the lamp and look through the stone, you will be surpraised to find
it is transparent. That is, the reddish light will be visible insid the stone.
These Saligramas are called Ratna Garbha. They are very rare.
Of the 18 Puranas, a
good number of them, under different contexts, proclaim the mahima of Saligrama
as Vishnu pooja. They also proclaim that the White stones ashore at Dwaraka is
as powerful as Saligrama. These white stones are called : “chakranika".
Benefits of worshipping
Salagrama: The Lord Krishna himself mentions the qualities of Shaligram to
'Yudhishtra' in the Mahabharta. Most of the Shaligrams are considered
auspicious, some are very sacred, while others are considered to bring good
luck, money, peace, sons and so on. The temples can use any kind of Shaligrams
in their rituals. The place where the Shaligram stone is found is itself known
by that name and is one of the 108 sacred pilgrimage places for the "
Vaishnavas" outside India. In fact such is the auspiciousness of this
place that the Puranas mention that any stone from this land is equally sacred
to Shaligram.Worship Saligram gives Righteous living, Wealth, Protection, good
health, pleasures and Spiritual life.
Anyone can keep sacred saligrama at home. To my knowledge i don't find any reason for not keeping saligrama, but Saligrama is one of the most important Puja items of the Hindus. This is actually a stone worshiped by the Hindus.Saligrama is another name of the Vishnu. Those who daily puja at home can keep saligrama. Saligrama requires daily puja except some occasional days.
All saligramas are giving benefits and having power. Many interpreters may come with new findings. This is not required for those who do puja daily. Saligrama keeping at home, doing puja at home will give benefits.He creates the entire variegated universe and then enters into it as the Super soul. Through this means He provides the life force and consciousness of everyone, and, thus, maintains the creation. As Sri Krishna explains, “As the mighty wind, blowing everywhere, always rests in ethereal space, know that in the same manner all beings rest in Me.” Vishnu is the God that helps to maintain the equilibrium between all the planets and whole universe, which ultimately affects our life so worshipping different incarnation of Lord Vishnu in the form of Shaligram stone will help to alleviate the problem.
The Skanda Purana, Padma Purana and other epics, the worshipper of Shree Shaligram knows no fear and is blessed to attain all desirable things, worldly comforts, good wife, good sons, good health, immense wealth, peaceful environment prevails in his surroundings and he gets immense protection against all evil forces. His all anxieties, mental tension goes off and all ambitions are fulfilled Even the water that has just touched the Shaligram becomes Amrit and by drinking it man is relieved of all diseases. Worshipping of Shaligram helps humans to live happy and peaceful life.
Anyone can keep sacred saligrama at home. To my knowledge i don't find any reason for not keeping saligrama, but Saligrama is one of the most important Puja items of the Hindus. This is actually a stone worshiped by the Hindus.Saligrama is another name of the Vishnu. Those who daily puja at home can keep saligrama. Saligrama requires daily puja except some occasional days.
All saligramas are giving benefits and having power. Many interpreters may come with new findings. This is not required for those who do puja daily. Saligrama keeping at home, doing puja at home will give benefits.He creates the entire variegated universe and then enters into it as the Super soul. Through this means He provides the life force and consciousness of everyone, and, thus, maintains the creation. As Sri Krishna explains, “As the mighty wind, blowing everywhere, always rests in ethereal space, know that in the same manner all beings rest in Me.” Vishnu is the God that helps to maintain the equilibrium between all the planets and whole universe, which ultimately affects our life so worshipping different incarnation of Lord Vishnu in the form of Shaligram stone will help to alleviate the problem.
The Skanda Purana, Padma Purana and other epics, the worshipper of Shree Shaligram knows no fear and is blessed to attain all desirable things, worldly comforts, good wife, good sons, good health, immense wealth, peaceful environment prevails in his surroundings and he gets immense protection against all evil forces. His all anxieties, mental tension goes off and all ambitions are fulfilled Even the water that has just touched the Shaligram becomes Amrit and by drinking it man is relieved of all diseases. Worshipping of Shaligram helps humans to live happy and peaceful life.
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