Dear Friends
In the course of the last week, we have received information about Rudrabhishekam to be performed by us each day from 3rd July to 16th July. A pertinent question that arises in the mind is “What is Rudraabhishekam?” One of the names of Lord Shiva is Rudra. The typically understood meaning of this word is anger or destruction caused by anger. Such a constricted meaning would be incorrect. In one of my earlier posts, I had mentioned that the Lord, as the destroyer, helps us in destroying our ego, false tendencies and vain passions. So Lord Rudra enters our hearts, destroys wrongful notions about ourselves, creates an attitude of peace and calmness within us and assists us in climbing the pinnacles of happiness, which is nothing other than the Mount Kailash which is inside our hearts.
Sri Rudram is a sacred text appearing in the Yajurveda, which salutes different names of Paramashiva, extolls different virtues of Mahadeva and seeks blessings from Sadashiva, who is residing in Mount Kailash. Divided into 11 sections, the Sri Rudram is followed by the Chamakam which seeks gains on the material plane through the Lord’s blessings. Collectively, it is the single-most auspicious chanting for Jagadeeshwara. At the end of the first section there is one verse that offers salutations to different names of the Lord, which I am reproducing here
Namaste Astu Bhagavan,Vishveshvaraaya, Mahadevaaya, Trayambakaaya, Tripuraantakaaya, Trikaagnikaalaya, Kalaagnirudraaya, Neelakantaaya, Mrutyunjayaaya, Sarveshvaraaya, Sadashivaaya, Shriman Mahadevaaya Namah
Abhishekam as we all know is offering of different substances like fruits, milk, honey, butter, water, flowers, etc to the image-form of the Lord, called shivalinga. So as we chant His holy names, we will be offering different material possessions to his image-form, in utter surrender and prayer unto his qualities and grace. The material substances that we offer, symbolically would represent our wrong tendencies, ungainly passions, our anger, greed, jealousy, pride, fear, and all other negative thoughts.
In the course of our parikrama, if we remember the Lord, His names and His benign grace and thereby surrender our bundle of ego and wrong vasanaas, He is sure to grant us His blessings and provide all the benefits that we seek on this material plane. We are going to be moving very slowly during our parikarama. As we take every step forward, let us pause and think of Mount Kailash as the shivalinga and at every step, let us remember His name and His grace, surrendering our ego unto Him bit-by-bit for each step. That will be the best Rudrabhishekam that we can perform for the Lord who is none other than our Inner Self. Let not the physical challenge of ascending or descending the mountains deter us from remembering Him at all times. Because finally He is the One Supreme Being who is going to be our companion in the yatra and who will enable us to complete this Holy Pilgrimage, for which we had taken a sankalpa about 4 months ago.
This is my 18th and the last message in the course of this Kailash Yatra. I thank the Lord for inspiring me to share my thoughts with you. I thank each one you as the Shiva-Amsham (part of the Lord) for tolerantly reading my posts and at times responding to them as well. I must confess that it has been a selfish act on my part, because as I have shared, I have grown within myself. So to that extent each one of you is a contributor to my growth in this journey. May the King of Kailash Bless one and all! OM NAMAHA SHIVAYA
With Prem & Om
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