last updated 25th October 2005
1 = Pradhan
6 = cluster (kshetram)
12 = Kshetram
108 = Tirtha
1000+ = Dham (Hari-dham)
Some guidelines from Sri Lakshminarasimhan Swami
- Sri sampradaya:
Sri Padmanabha Gosai from Radha-Raman
temple - guide book:
Vaishnavism Thru' The Ages - (more mention
of kinds than amounts)
How many Silas do you have - article by Parama Seva dasa
Do not worship two Saligram or two Dwarka silas together
What to do if you don't seemingly have the right
number !!!
As per Skanda and Garuda Purana the place where more than one Shaligrama is worshipped, that place itself becomes a pilgrimage. Lord Narayan further says that a place where 108 Shaligrama Shilas are placed and worshipped I personally come and stay there and grant boons to the worshipper. If the devotee worship Shaligramas of different types as 'Sangraha' he is blessed with the supernatural powers with which he can establish peace, prosperity and 'Vaikunta' like environment in the society.
dve cakre dvarakayan tu salagrama siladvyam
etesam arcanannityam udvegam prapnuyad grhi
Worshipping two dvaraka silas or two
Salagram silas at once will cause disturbance in the mind.
Manra tantra prakasah
If one has two Salagrama, one should worship them separately, not together. However if one has many Salagrams, one can worship them all together.
The number of Salagrama shilas that you can have is based on the following rule:
If you have one, then it is fine.
Two and three are considered to be inauspicious. Some people think three is ok but according to Late. Sri. U.Ve Melpakkam Narasimhachariar Swami, count of three is also not good.
Count of four is fine. From this point on, the count of shaligramas should be even. i.e 4,6,8,10,12 etc.
If you have 12 Saligramas worshipped in your place, then the place is considered a kshetram.
If in your case (as you may have 2), please do bring 2 more saligramas and add it for thiruvaradhanam.
As you already have two Saligramas, thiruvaradhanam should not be performed for two of them together.
First, one Aradhanam needs to be performed for one murthy. For the other one, again another aradhanam needs to be done. That means, if you have two Saligramas or three Saligramas, you have to do separate thiruvaradhanams for the two or three Saligramas. If you have 1,4,6,8,... then one aradhanam (worship) is suffice for all Saligrama moorthis.
In case if you cannot do thiruvaradhanam for the second Saligrama in detail, you can do lagu Aradhanam for the Second perumal.
Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan
Lakshminarasimhan S.
I am attaching a note from SrIman Narasimhan of Bangalore regarding this active topic on the number of SaaLigrAmams that we should have in our Pooja gruhams
NamO NaarAyaNAya ,
V.Sadagopan
Here is the Input from SrIman Narasimhan
*****************************************
You may kindly refer the article translated from HH Pundarikapuram
Swamy's tamil articles in Perarulalan:
--------
saalagraamaha samaaha poojyaaha samaeshu dvithayam na hi
asamaaha naiva pujyanthae ekaha pujyatamomataha
Even number of saalagraamams have to be worshipped, exception being
two saalagraamams.
Odd number of saalagraamams should not be worshipped, exception being
one saalagraamam.
-------
There is no specific mention that a different rule applies for numbers
above 12 in these set of articles. However we can check with our Acharyans
on this.
Also, I have heard from elders that if Dwaraka Shila is present, it would compensate for this even/odd problem as every Kuzhi (hole) in the dwaraka shila is considered equivalent to a saligramam.
Regards,
Narasimhan
"dileepan " wrote:
--- In SriRangaSri@yahoogroups.com, "Ram Anbil" <Ramanbil@h...> wrote:
Can anyone clarify the correct position with appropriate PramaaNams?
The only pramnams I have are the words of elders spoken to me in person and the printed words in books such as "kELvi Bathil" by Sri Visihtadvaita Research Centre and, if my memory serves me right, the Ahikagrantham book by Srimad Azhagiya Singar in poorvasramam. Textual pramanam may be found in these books, I have to look it up.
The rule goes like this, I have paraphrased it a little bit:
"Odd is no good, except 1, even is good except 2"
Therefore, the count of Saligrama in one kovil azhvar can be a number from the following series, 1, 4, 6, .....
This rule applies only to Saligrama moorthees.
-- Dileepan
1) Rule of thumb: Treat a Saligrama sila like a five year old child (this is a Sri Vaishnava rule of thumb) aka don't neglect them, dote on them and love them with lots of affections. And oh, don't forget to feed them daily!
2) If you don't have the "right" number of them in one place, statues of Lord Krishna can "top off" the number. So if you have three silas, then one Krishna statue makes you good to go, and so on... This was told me by the pujari in Srirangam
3) If you have silas that do not include Lakshmi devi in them (such as Lakshmi Narasimha, etc), then placing a small coin with Lakshmi devi with the sila "calms" Him down, and makes Him less ferocious. This was suggested by the pujari for the Sudarshana and Matsya murthy silas we received...
4) How to keep the silas? In a silver box, which is then placed in a wooden (preferably sandal or rose wood box). Apparently, the wooden box serves as a shock absorber for impurities in the immediate environs. The silver, well Gods don't use anything that isn't at least silver. Eg: in Srirangam, the garbagriha doors aren't opened untill a pot of water from the Kaveri river is obtained for the daily abhiseka. The state of Tamil Nadu suffers so much from drought, that the pujaris take till mid morning to get the single required pot (reason being, iron pipes cannot touch water meant for abhiseka in the temple). The pujari mentioned that if only the plumbing was made of silver....
Interesting stuff...
Sincerely,
Krishna Akilesh
