How do I worship my own Shivling? Your guide!
A short guide for you to worship your own Shivling daily.
As a travelling nomadic inter-dimensional fairy, I carry my deities around with me - I have a muri of Maa Durga, a Shivling from Tiruvannamalai carved by a villager by hand, Maa Tara, Hanuman and also Ganesh.
Often people wonder how I carry them around or worship them - and how YOU can also worship your own shivling so here is a short guide!
During a time of puja in my house, I got my shivling and murtis Pran Prathisha (activated) by our karmakandi brahmin who conducts the rituals. This means that the murtis are activate or alive. I then carry them around and set up my mini puja table wherever I go.
There are many benefits of doing shivling puja, especially on a daily basis. Shiva is the most easily pleased deity, even just offering water pleases him. At the very least, you can offer water, light a diya and some dhoop. What this does is it purifies your consciousness because the shivling is actually the representation of the whole universe. The top is the lingam and the base is the yoni; we understand this not just in physical terms but the sacred union and source of all creation.
Worship of Shiva also balances your five elements, the Panch Mahabhutas - as Shiva Shakti is the whole of creation. In fact, the mantra Aum Namah Shivaya is known as the ‘Panchakshari’ which also contains all the five elements.
How do you worship your own shivling?
If you already have your own home temple and shivling, you may already have your own rituals as guided by your family pandit. Here is a simple ritual you can start by yourself.
It is always a good idea to get your Shivling ‘Prana Prathishta’ done by a karmakandi pandit, if you have a Narmadeshwar shivling which occurs naturally in shivling form then you don’t need to do that. Ask the pandit to guide you (make sure you find an authentic traditional one). The Narmadeshwar NEEDS to be kept upright so you’ll need to get a stand for that.
Some of the key things I carry with me for my shivling worship include
- generally I keep my travelling shivling in a copper plate to collect water
- I also have a diya stand for lighting ghee lamp and dhoop (incense)
- bell for aarti
- camphor
- kumkum (red colour) and chandan (both as natural brands as possible)
- copper lota for water offerings
- dry fruits to offer and then take as prasadam
- fresh flowers mostly every daySo, how can you do a simple and easy worship of your own shivling? Make sure that your shivling is placed in the plate such that the yoni of the shivling is facing northwards. Here I will detail out the procedures for a short panchopchar puja. Panch means five and that corresponds to the five elements of the universe! Did you also know that Aum Namah Shivaya, the Panchakshari also depicts the five elements of the universe (the whole universe). Doing Panchopchar Puja helps to balance the five elements inside you and in your life.
For the most simplest Panchopchar puja, simply first remember Ganesh and then light a Diya (lamp with ghee or oil). Offer it to the shivling. Simply fold your hands and state internally I am going to do Panchopchar Puja please accept my offerings. The mantras associated with this are in the ‘Nityakarma’ Sanskrit text. This is very simple and can be done easily.
- first offer sandalwood and kumkum to the shivling. This symbolises the earth element
- then offer flowers which symbolises the ether element
- after this offer dhoop (incense) which is the air element!
- next offer the lamp (just show the lamp) which is the fire element
- lastly offer the dry fruits in a metal plate (water element)
- and then offer water on the shivling to completeAfter doing this, you can then light some camphor and sing the Aarti Shloka for Shiva whilst doing Aarti of the shivling:
कर्पूरगौरं करुणावतारं
संसारसारम् भुजगेन्द्रहारम् ।
सदावसन्तं हृदयारविन्दे
भवं भवानीसहितं नमामि ॥karpūragauraṁ karuṇāvatāraṁ
sansārsāram bhujagendrahāram |
sadāvasantaṁ hṛdayāravinde
bhavaṁ bhavānīsahitaṁ namāmi ||karpūragauraṁ – The one who is as pure/white as camphor (Karpur).
karuṇāvatāraṁ – The personification of compassion.
sansārsāram – The one who is the essence of the world.
bhujagendrahāram – The one with the serpent king as his garland.
sadāvasantaṁ hṛdayāravinde – Always residing in the lotus-like heart. Where, Hridaya aravinde means, ‘in the heart, that is (as pure as) lotus’. Lotus, though born in the muddy waters, is untouched by the mud around it. Similarly, Lord Shiva always (Sada) resides (Vasantham) in the hearts of beings that are not affected by worldly matters.
bhavaṁ – To the Lord
bhavānīsahitaṁ namāmi – Accompanied by the Goddess Bhavani (A form of Goddess Parvati, Shiva’s consort), I bow
Then you can offer Jal (water) on top of the shivling with the copper lota and chant any mantra that you know like Aum Namah Shivaya or Aum Namo Bhagavate Rudraya. When you have the copper lota be sure to best offer with both hands and otherwise make sure your left hand is touching your right hand when you offer! MAKE SURE THE LOTA IS COPPER OR SILVER AS FAR AS POSSIBLE, AVOID BRASS AS IT’S A LOWER METAL.
If you wish to sit and do Japa (mantra japa) please read my full article on how to do mantra japa to start with over here.
You can easily do this everyday. Your Bhavana or emotion matters, so even if you can’t do the full thing, at least offer a lamp and incense every day - take some moments to sit in silence in meditation, to do some pranayama if you can and simply chant Aum Namah Shivaya.
The point here is to connect and you can connect through your heart. Vedic rituals offer us the most sophisticated framework of heightening and modulating our consciousness.
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