THE SYNTHESIS IN SIVA WORSHIP

    The worship trains the sadhaka in concentration and in the co-ordination of thought, word and deed.  The left hand rings the bell; the right shows dhupa or dipa, or places flowers; the lips utter the kriya mantras; the mind dwells on the ritual performed by these three organs.  In Siva-puja, the entire personality of the worshipper is fully brought into focus.  It is not as though he is simply performing a mechanical ritual.  All his faculties are made to play a conscious part in the various little acts of the puja.

    In every installation and puja in atmartha worship, there are three in-separable functions-bhavana (thought), mantra (word) and kriya (action) Bhavana is to imagine or conceive of the Being worshipped as actually inhabiting the concrete object installed for worship, such as the image linga, handful of sand or sandal, kalasa or even a flower;  this is a mental process involving the exercise of thought.  The second function is the utterance of the mantra, i.e., uttering the appropriate mystic syllables which are calculated, to welcome and install that Being in the object chosen; this is a vocal process.  The third is the kriya - actual ritualistic puja - the various detailed actions connected there with such as inviting the honoured guest to step in, to be seated, to accept service, food etc., to listen to prayers and so on; this is a process involving action done mostly with the hands.  Thus it is evident that all the faculties of the worship per find full expression in the puja; and self purification in the physical, mental and psychic planes is the first direct and wholesome outcome of the Siva-puja.

    The greatest synthesis is this integration of thought, word and deed through bhavana, mantra and kriya.  Development of personality is an important aim of educators in this century; it consists of an integrated development of the three faculties of body, mind and soul.  It is indeed amazing that such an integration is sought to be effected in the spiritual sphere, through worship, by a meaningful synthesis of bhavana, mantra and kriya.

    All the details of the Siva-puja are sought to be related to one or the other of the basic concepts of Saivism.  Siva's function for the succour and liberation of the souls are fivefold; acts of service to Siva in the puja are related to these functions.  The abhiseka denotes creation; naivedya of the offering of food denotes preservation; bali(sacrificial offering of food) signifies dissolution; the showing of light denotes obscuration and finally the ritual of agni-karya or homa signifies the bestowal of grace.

    Puja is again an expression of trancendent humanism in the practice of the Saiva religion.  No Siva-puja, is complete without a Candesa-puja as the last item.  Candesa was just a small human boy who tended cows and who was raised to the celestial region for his intense love of God.  At the end of all Siva-puja, a go-puja, worship of the cow, is prescribed.  Rsabha deva, the bull mount of Siva also to be worshipped.  There is invariably the worship of the sthala-vrkas, worship of the particular tree or plant in the place, under whose shade Siva was considered to have manifested Himself in the ages past.

    Siva worship as laid down in the agamas has come to stay.  It seems to have satisfied a thrist of the people to reach God-realisation, not through total renunciation, but even through the enjoyment of the good things of life.  It appears to have succeeded marvellously and perpetuated a system of worship, which had stood the test of time.  The parartha-Siva-puja is still going strong, and today, in the latter half of the twentieth century, it continues to be the bedrock on which the edifice of family and society stands.