Pradosha Puja
kartikvashishta108
PRADOSHA VRATA
By
SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA
http://dlshq.org/religions/pradosha.htm
ALL THINGS in this vast creation function upon definite cosmic laws or
laws of God. There is always a beautiful system and sound rationale
governing every phenomenon and process, mundane or mystical. Just as
the gross elements and physical forces operate differently under
different states and conditions, so also the subtler and higher forces
respond and react in the inner mystic planes, and in the purely
spiritual processes like meditation, prayer, worship, etc. Therefore,
you will find definite injunctions for performing certain types of
worship in the morning, certain other injunctions for the midday
prayers, and still others for the evening worship. Again, some
observances are meant to be performed during certain phases of the
moon, some when a particular star is in the ascendant, or at the time
of a particular conjunction of planets.
The Pradosha worship is to be done in the evening twilight on the
thirteenth day of each lunar fortnight. It is the worship of Lord Siva
for victory and success in all undertakings, and the fulfilment of all
your heart's cherished desires. When you desire to obtain a favour
from a superior person, don't you naturally approach him at a moment
when he is likely to be in a very pleasant frame of mind? You will
perhaps see him after he has had a good dinner and is happily chatting
with a friend in a hearty, expansive mood. Even so, the Hindu,
especially the Hindu who is engaged in the motivated type of worship,
usually selects the most pleasant aspect of God for his worship. He
performs it at a time which the ancient Rishis experienced as being
the most helpful and efficacious in propitiating the Deity. The
Pradosha worship is based on such mystic psychology.
Pradosha is the worship of Lord Siva and Parvati when they both are in
an extremely propitious mood. Repeatedly worsted in war by the demons,
the gods approached Lord Siva to bless them with a leader for their
celestial hosts. They came to the Lord at twilight on the thirteenth
day of the lunar fortnight and found Him in the blissful company of
His consort, Parvati. Hymned and glorified by them, Siva immediately
granted their prayerful request. Hence, the extreme auspiciousness of
the period.
The Skanda Purana relates how Sandilya Muni prescribed this Vrata to a
certain Brahmin lady. She came to the sage with two boys, her son,
Suchivrata, and an orphan prince, Dharmagupta, whose father was slain
in battle and the kingdom overrun by enemies.
Acting upon the advice of the sage, the woman and the boys performed
the Vrata with great devotion. After four months, that is, in the
eighth Pradosha, Suchivrata obtained a pot of nectar and drank the
divine ambrosia. Prince Dharmagupta won the hand of a celestial
princess and, as ordered by Lord Siva, with the help of the celestial
king himself, his enemies were slain and his kingdom restored to him.
Then Dharmagupta attained the Lord's supreme abode. So easily, and yet
so greatly is the Lord of Kailas pleased by this Vrata.
One who takes this Vrata fasts on that day, and keeps vigil at night
after the fast is over. Bathing an hour before sunset, the worshipper
first performs a preliminary worship of Lord Siva, together with all
the others of His divine family, namely, Parvati, Ganesha, Skanda and
Nandi. After the worship of Ganesha, Lord Siva is invoked in the
special kalasha placed on a square mandala with a lotus drawn in it
and spread over with darbha grass. After the formal worship has been
completed, a Pradosha story is read and heard by the devotees. This is
followed by the recitation of the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra 108 times.
In the end the sacred kalasha water is partaken of, the sacred ash is
applied to the forehead, and the water which was used to bathe the
Lord, is drunk. A gift of a pot, a cloth and an image of the Lord is
given to a Brahmin to conclude the worship.
A very important point to be remembered in this connection is that
during this auspicious period all the hosts of celestial beings and
gods come down from the heavens and attend the worship in their subtle
forms. This adds immensely to the sanctity of the worship.
This Vrata is highly lauded by the scriptures and is of very great
sanctity and importance to worshippers of Lord Siva. The mere sight of
the Deity in a temple during this period will destroy all sins and
bestow bountiful blessings and Grace upon the fortunate beholder. Even
a single bael leaf offered to the Lord at this unique, auspicious
moment equals a hundred Mahapujas. It is usual to have special
additional lights in the shrine during the Pradosha. To light even a
single wick at this juncture is highly meritorious and productive of
untold benefits, spiritual as well as material. Most fortunate and
blessed is the person who performs the Pradosha Vrata, for upon him
Lord Siva showers His choicest Grace and blessings in a very short
time.
Here is the Yogic interpretation of the Pradosha:
According to the Siva-Raja Yoga, concentration is directed towards the
central point in the middle of the eyebrows, where the spiritual light
can be perceived by the Yogi who turns the vision inwards. The Yogi
passes through various stages, all of which are subdivisions of the
four states of waking, dreaming, deep sleep, and the Superconscious
State or Samadhi. Each one of these states is further sub-divided into
four states, for example, the waking-dreaming, waking-sleep, waking-
fourth, and waking-waking. It will be seen that when the states are
sub-divided in this way, the first three states comprise a total of
twelve sub-states. The thirteenth is the fourth-waking. There is
correspondence between this and the thirteenth day of the lunar
fortnight, either bright or dark.
Those who worship Mother Shakti have certain beliefs of their own, one
of which is that the Goddess that is worshipped acquires one ray on
each of the days of the bright fortnight, starting from the first day.
Thus, on the full moon night, the Goddess would have received fifteen
rays and would be ready for the final form of worship intended to
benefit the devout worshipper in all ways. That is why the Navavarana
worship is always conducted on the full moon day.
The moon is believed to have a direct influence on the mind.
Incidentally, the word mati means both the moon and the mind.
According to Siva-Raja Yoga there are two channels through which the
Prana flows. These are the Ida and the Pingala, ruled respectively by
the moon and the sun. Midway between these two there is a third, known
as Sushumna. The Yogi is asked to start the practice of Yoga when the
breath is passing through the lunar channel. This coincides with the
flow of the breath through the left nostril. If, however, at the time
of practice the flow is through the right nostril, the Yogi is asked
to perform a special exercise by which to change the flow to the left.
When the Yogi concentrates on the point between the eyebrows, he
transcends, stage by stage, the first twelve sub-states. The current
of breath continues flowing through the lunar channel. The "moon" is
gaining more and more strength. When the thirteenth day is reached,
the spiritual power of the Yogi has correspondingly increased, and he
is in a condition to see the lights which appear in the nerve centre
in between the eyebrows. In inverse proportion to the increase in
concentration is the duration of the Yogi's breath. At the start of
the practice, the breath will occupy a space of 16 fingers (inches
approximately). The moment the concentration has led him from the
waking to the dream state, the length of the breath becomes only 12
fingers. In this way, when he reaches the thirteenth stage, only 4
fingers of breath would remain. As this breath now circulates only
within the nostril, no breath is noticeable at the tip of the nose.
From that moment the light is fixed permanently at the centre between
the eyebrows, and the Yogi would have realised the object of his
practice.
Let me now describe the actual process of Siva-Raja Yoga.
The Yogi sits in utter darkness, with the head and body erect, eyes
open, and the gaze directed to the centre of the eyebrows. He utters
the Mantra in his mind and, without restraining his breath,
concentrates his gaze at the middle of the eyebrows, ever on the
thought of the appearance of the lights. The deep concentration
resulting thereby yields the following fruits, in order.
First, he overcomes the distractions of his mind. He reaches a stage
wherein he seems to hear somebody talking somewhere in the distance.
The words are not distinct, but a sort of murmur is heard.
Nevertheless, since his mind is elsewhere, he pays no attention to it.
In fact, the sound comes from nowhere outside. It is his own mind that
produces these sounds. The mind is actually functioning in its form as
sound. Soon afterwards, this sound ceases, and he begins to see all
sorts of visions, in the same manner as we see pictures in a movie. It
appears (as if in a dream) that he is passing through hills of varying
degrees of beauty, through seas and lakes of all sorts of colours and
shapes, and through clouds of different hues. The clouds appear dark
and thick at first and thin out gradually. These are scenes which are
very pleasant to witness. But they are only thought-forms, an imagery
created by the mind as it is functioning as a form. It is in this
stage that the Yogi may hear musical notes as well—of the flute,
violin, cymbals or any other instrument.
The Yogi then passes through an entirely different experience. He
suddenly awakens from a deep sleep. He does not remember when he got
into the sleep state, but he is conscious of the sudden awakening. The
truth is that he had not slept at all. His mind became a complete
blank, he lost consciousness of the workings of the mind, which was
nonetheless still active all the time. When he regained consciousness,
he suddenly felt his awareness once again. He is now tempted to
examine himself to ascertain if his posture is still erect and if his
eyes are still fixed between his eyebrows. Finding no change in these
he realises that the temporary loss of consciousness was only a stage
which he passed through in his Yoga.
Next comes the stage when he feels as if something of the nature of a
hot nail is pricking him at the centre of his eyebrows. In the earlier
period of his practice there will only be this sensation, but as he
advances, this is followed by the appearance of the lights. Even then
there are various stages which have to be passed before the lights get
their proper shape.
At first a yellow and a red light appear, the red being in the centre
and two yellow flame-like lights on either side. After a few days, all
these colours pass away and he begins to see a steady light of the
shape and colour of the moon. As his practice advances, this grows
brighter and brighter, and the whole room in which the Yogi sits is
gradually illumined, starting with the intensity of twilight until it
becomes a flood of bright light. Yet in this state nothing that is in
the room is seen; other things which are not there, begin to appear.
They come and go with amazing rapidity, and reveal many things to him.
Thus far, we have dwelt upon only the first four stages of the entire
series of sixteen stages which have to be passed through by the Siva-
Raja Yogi before he finally attains union with Lord Siva. The details
of the experiences at each stage vary from man to man, as also from
day to day. But, in the main, these are the stages:
At first, the Yogi is aware of what transpires about him. He is in the
waking part of the waking state. Then the pictures come in the dream
part of his waking state. The feeling of overpowering sleep occurs in
the deep sleep part of the waking state. The appearance of the light
occurs in the fourth part of the waking stage.
The dream and the deep sleep states also have their four sub-divisions
which have to be passed. When the Yogi comes to the thirteenth stage,
he is in the waking part of the fourth state. The vision of Lord Siva
in the form of Self-Consciousness now begins.
The form of the Lord appears before him as though coming out of the
lights, which began at stage four of the sixteen stages. From this
stage onwards the mind loses its sense of separate activity. It
becomes deeply absorbed in the Self within.
On the thirteenth lunar day nature assists the worshipper in waking up
from his mental deep sleep and in becoming aware of the fourth state.
The Yogi who practises his Yoga on the Pradosha day gets these
experiences of Lord Siva quite readily.
Similar to the above is the significance of the worship of Lord
Ganesha on the fourth day of the lunar fortnight. This corresponds to
the fourth part of the waking state, when the lights are first seen.
On the eighth day or the Ashtami, Mother Durga is adored. This
corresponds to the fourth part of the dream state. Ekadashi or the
eleventh day corresponds to the deep sleep part of the deep sleep
state. In this state there is complete unawareness of the mind. This
is the most favourable moment for a direct contact with God, the
indweller. If we fast and pray on this day, we can reduce our bodily
activities to the minimum and can have the vision of the Lord who
resides in our heart.
If we thus analyse the rationale of our holy days, we discover that
our ancients took particular care to effect a synthesis of Yoga—Karma,
Jnana and Bhakti.
At the Sivananda Ashram in India, a special havan and an elaborate
worship are conducted for the long life, health, success and
prosperity of all. The Lord's sacred prasad is sent to devotees all
over the world.