The Significance of Pradakshinam.

Discussion in 'Chitvish on Hindu Culture & Vedanta' started by Chitvish, Apr 12, 2007.

  1. Chitvish

    Chitvish Moderator IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Sri,
    Thanks for the interest you are showing in this thread.
    Please go to my post
    Why do we do Namaskaram to God and Elders ?

    The reason for ladies' panchanga namaskaram is

    Traditionally, women do only “panchanga” namaskaram and not the other two.
    A “panchanga” namaskaram is where one, generally, a woman kneels down with palms joined together or touching the feet of the revered one in front. A woman does not do sashtanga namaskaram for the following reason. There is an injunction in the scriptures that the womb and the breasts of women should not touch the ground. They ruled that the part of the body which sustains the growth of the foetus during pregnancy and the part that creates within itself the nourishment for the new born and feeds it, should not be allowed to come in contact with the ground.

    About the difference in the namaskarams of saivites & vaishnavites, I shall get the correct information and write it soon.
    I am planning a post on " The importance of coconut in Hindu culture" !
    I thank you again, Sri.
    Love,
    Chithra.
     
  2. Kamla

    Kamla IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Chithra,

    Whenever you post a new theme in your spirituality thread, I take it for granted that a fresh new feast awaits my eyes and thoughts.

    You are covering every single aspect of worship that we take for granted and execute without even giving it a second thought. Now all these actions are being viewed with fresh understanding and respect. Some significances have been stored away somewhere in the mind, but your timely write ups refreshen these thoughts and give a fresh life to it. Thank you.

    Besides, the following exchanges that follow these posts are equally interesting and enlightening.

    L, Kamla
     
  3. jothi

    jothi Senior IL'ite

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    Dear Chithra,

    What an informative and enlightening post. Thank you so much. Living in America I have missed out going to the temple everyday, or even once in a week. Life here is so hectic and busy that it is so hard to take the time to go to a temple as often as I would like to. I miss doing pradakshinams too on the kal tharai in our temples. Here all the temples are indoors and the floors are marble or granite. I miss the wonderful feeling that our feet feel when we do pradakshinams in our temples. I am just glad that soon I will be able to do pradakshinam knowing the full meaning of why we do it and how to do it. Thanks Chithra.

    Love,
    Jothi.
     
  4. BhargaviChakravarthy

    BhargaviChakravarthy Bronze IL'ite

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    Dear chitvish,
    I read the entire explanation.AS usual when i read tha mantras energy has reached inside me.But the important piece of information is "Never do namaskaram facing south".Already we are aware of not to sleep facing south,not to hang the pictures of deities facing south.Thank you for every thing.
     
  5. raginiprakash

    raginiprakash Senior IL'ite

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    Dear Chithra Ma'am,

    That was such an enlightening & informative post, thank you!

    Reading this post took me down memory lane & made me nostalgic about the pooja room in our house in b'lore where going with my mother's creativity & insistence we have the god in the center just like in the temples & we all would do pradakshinam everyday. I miss that so much & the positive energy that vibrated from there & also the temples back home.

    Though i've been doing pradakshinam everyday since ages, did not know the significance of it, but i do now, thanks to you.

    Regards,
    Ragini.
     
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2007
  6. sudhavnarasimhan

    sudhavnarasimhan Silver IL'ite

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    Dear Chitra,

    Welcome back to the thursdays thread.....missed you on this day!
    Good one on pradakshinams ......to keep GFod in the centre of our life is a wonderful thought.....and facing north...i have to find out the direcions in our small temple here and do namaskaram accordingly, now that u have made us aware of it!
    awaiting ur New year writeup.....thanks a ton.
     
  7. anuu

    anuu New IL'ite

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    Dear Chitra Madam,

    Wonderful write up on Pradakshinam...... Like mentioned earlier by another member Ms.Kamla,Its very true that some things which we do everyday but we take it for granted.I guess in this fast paced life we fail to realise why certain things are done in a certain way but when we get to know the true meaning of it I'm sure we would feel even more geniuine and happy when we do it.

    And regarding Maha periyava's words on doing Pradakshinam,I have an incident to share.This happened a few years back,as I was doing pradakshinam in maangadu temple one very old man stopped me and told me "If you do pradakshinam this fast do u think God will also answer ur prayers fast?"I was taken aback as this person was laughing after he told this and then continued again telling"Always in whatever u do,you have to do with passion and also do it geniuinely if not don't expect good results.So remember if u cannot do pradakshinam don't do it but don't insult God by doing things just for the sake of doing it." I was quite embarassed but I guess it gave me a very good understanding of my mistake and since then I have implemented this in all walks of my life.

    I enjoyed reading ur post and I'm looking forward to learn more from you.

    Love,
    Anuu
     
  8. vmur

    vmur Silver IL'ite

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    Dear ChitVish,

    Welcome back to Thursday postings. I missed your posts in this thread. It was a very eye-opening and lucid article on Pradakshinams. I especially love the slokam "Yani Kani..". We usually go to the Kanchi Mutt functions in the Bridgewater temple in NJ, and it is such a delight to watch the crowd chant this slokam and do the Pradakshinams.

    Could you please throw some light on the Soma Sukta Pradakshinams that is done on Pradosham days? I have seen some people do it, but have been scared to do it without knowing the full significance of the same. Also, if I want to do the Pradakshinams at home and do not have the means, can I do it by just moving around in the same place, like most of us do sometimes in temples? Is it equivalent to doing the Pradakshinam? If we really look at the Advaitic meaning of it (this is purely my own perception), where we view God and ourselves as one, this makes sense doesn't it? (Excuse my arai kurai pethals :)

    Also, regarding Namaskarams, I love the way Our Paramacharyal quotes Adi Shankara. Let me post it in the Namaskarams thread.

    Let me stop here before I blabber on and on..

    Regards,
    Vidya
     
  9. Chitvish

    Chitvish Moderator IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Kamla,
    Thankyou for the feedback.
    A very warm F B, I realise, increases my responsibility as well. With all faith in God, I leave it to Him to lead me.
    A newcomer this time is Reverend Cheeniya Sir !
    I too enjoy the interaction for every thread because I am able to convey in my replies more points in my thoughts on the topic, all of which I cannot write in my post.
    In the "why do we" series, I have just 3,4 topics more, after which it will be more Gita & points in Vedanta. Now I am scared to go to V , all over again, after reading the revelations in Cheeniya's thread on Vedanta. To do or not to do, is again putting me in a dilemma. This is just thinking aloud, Kamla, nothing more.
    You are welcome to share your thoughts frankly - let us take all liberties with eachother.
    Love,
    Chithra.






     
  10. Chitvish

    Chitvish Moderator IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Jothi,
    Thankyou for your nice & warm F B.
    Let me share a point with you here - my physiotherapist friend tells me that walking on kal tharai generally improves coordination when we walk & also gived us the mild acupressure therapy ! I was surprised, how thoughtful, our forefathers have been.
    But now with summer setting in, it is difficult to walk on hot kal tharai & now, don't laugh, I wear socks before entering the temple, choicelessly ! I want to concentrate on God-centred thoughts rather than on an extremely hot floor, challenging you all the time !
    Love,
    Chithra.

     

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