Daily Seva of a Bhairav Temple — Which Temple to Adopt, How to Enter It, and What It Cuts

When we enter within our own culture and try to know it, the speaker says, we see that on any auspicious work or any auspicious day of our life, going to a temple has certainly been enjoined. That includes the TithiA lunar calendar day — some idols (like a Shivling) need daily bathing regardless, while others only need it on their dedicated weekly day or tithi. of one's birth — tithi meaning the day as reckoned by our Hindi panchang, so one should go on the day of the birth tithi. One should go on the tithi on which one's marriage took place. And when any auspicious day of any member of the family comes, one should go to a temple that day.

Bhagavan Bhairava has been held to be the very form of Shiva, the speaker says. The authority to give danda was given first of all to Bhairav ji in the kshetra of KashiVaranasi, the city on the Ganga held to stand outside ordinary dissolution.. Thereafter, at all the Shakti Peeths that exist, Bhagavan Bhairav remains present everywhere for the sake of protection. And in the form of the gram devata, in the form of the Kshetrapal, it is Bhagavan Bhairav who remains. So Bhairav's presence is in one way obligatory everywhere. But Bhairav is not only a deity, he says. Just as Indra is not only a deity but a post, in the same way Bhairav too is a post. So it is not necessary every time that it is Bhagavan Shiva's own form that is present as Bhairav. In 98 percent of places, wherever you look, Bhagavan Bhairav is Shiva's own form — but there are a few tirtha sthals, tirtha kshetras and Shakti Peeths of Sanatan Dharma where other deities are present in the form of Bhairav. There, he says, you will be able to understand that Bhairav ji is also a post. Everywhere, however, there is Batuk Bhairava; Batuk Bhairav is called in one way the child form of Shiva, and in that form it is Bhagavan Sadashiva.

A person upon whom some abhicharik prayoga has been done whose counter is simply not being achieved should certainly go daily to a Bhairav temple, the speaker says. If possible such people should go to a Bhairav temple. You can of course go to Mahadev's temples, but if a temple of Bhairava ji becomes available to you, then whether you are a woman or a man you should certainly go to Bhairav ji's temple regularly. The reason he gives is that in all Abhichara work, which shaktis move? Somewhere or other it is shamshanik shaktis that move; somewhere or other negative shaktis are involved. And of all these shaktis, the presiding shakti beneath whom all of them stand is Bhagavan Bhairav.

When you go to Bhairav ji's temple, which temple of Bhairav ji may you go to? Keep in mind, the speaker says, that a GrihasthaThe householder, who carries a family alongside practice — the audience these talks address. should never go regularly, daily, to such a Bhairava temple or such a Kali temple as stands within Shamshaan bhoomi. If the temple stands before the boundary of the shmashan bhoomi begins, then you may go there regularly.

Even where a temple stands before the boundary of the Shamshaan bhoomi begins and may be visited regularly, the speaker says, care is still to be taken. A woman in pregnancy, if the pregnancy has passed three months, is not to enter shmashan bhoomi; nor should any pregnant woman go to a temple in the area around shmashan bhoomi. Along with that, those who are about to become fathers should also not go into this kind of kshetra.

The Shamshaan kshetra of the Avimukteshwar kshetra, KashiVaranasi, the city on the Ganga held to stand outside ordinary dissolution. and so on, and the Chakra Tirtha shmashan kshetra of the region of Ujjain — of all of these, the speaker says, he is not speaking. He is speaking of the ordinary kshetras. It is not the case, he says, that you are going to Ujjain Mahakaleshwar and there you say that entry into shmashan bhoomi is forbidden; or that you are going to Tarapith and it is forbidden there. No — for all these places, for tirtha kshetras, it is not so. The prohibition concerns the ordinary kshetras: the shmashan bhoomi of the areas in your town, around your village, around your city. In that condition one should not go into those.

The greatest reason for going regularly, the speaker says, is that the PrarabdhaThe portion of destiny already set in motion by past actions — spiritual practice and good deeds can lessen its severity, but not eliminate it., the karma, the affliction that is being cut nowhere at all will be cut by Bhairava ji's grace. As for which temple: whatever temple is apujit — if you see some temple of Bhairav ji where regular puja is not happening, where people come on some particular day, on a Sunday, do puja and go, and on the remaining days not even a lamp burns there — then such a temple should be seized immediately. If such a temple of Bhairav ji becomes available to you, where there is nobody to perform the regular seva, where a regular lamp does not burn or where daily seva is not able to happen, then take upon yourself the burden of the regular seva there.

Keep in mind, the speaker says, that the Shri Vigraha of Bhairava ji is not to be touched if you are not initiated. If you are initiated in such a panth, such a sampradaya, such a Guru Parampara where the Shri Vigraha of Bhairav ji may be touched, or if you are initiated in Bhairav ji's mantra and have received an adesh from your guru that yes, you may touch the Shri Vigreh, then and only then touch his vigraha. Otherwise, without touching the Shri Vigraha, you may touch a ShivlingThe aniconic form of Lord Shiva worshipped at home and in temples. — but the touching of Bhairav ji's vigraha is not something every person should do, simply walking up and doing it. This is the one restriction he places on the seva; the Diksha bar, he says later, applies to men and women alike.

Without touching the Shri Vigraha, the speaker says, place flowers and the like before him, place BhogThe food offering placed before a deity before anyone in the household eats. and the like before him, light DhoopIncense offered during worship; its smoke is treated as an offering in its own right within the sequence of upacharas. and a lamp, and before him you may do a paath of the Bhairav SahasranamaA recitation of a deity's thousand names — a devotional text genre used across many deities, not one single fixed composition. and the like, or of the Bhairav Ashtak, of the Kaal Bhairava Ashtak, with bhaav; and having done aarti and so on, come away again. Do this and see, he says: however great a court case there may be, if you have been trapped in a false suit, if it is the biggest of cases, if no path is visible from anywhere, if some wrong prayoga of any kind has been done upon you and no way is to be seen. If a Bhairava temple of this kind is found, where nitya seva does not take place, and you go to that place and begin the seva — for three months, 90 days, or up to 108 days, going regularly and continuously and doing his seva — then he will free you from every affliction.

Such is his boundless grace, the speaker says. Bhagavan Bhairava increases extraordinary Punya and holds the capacity to quell many, many sins. The human being who attains his sharanagati becomes free of every kind of fear. No fear of any kind remains. So if any affliction is upon you, if a great calamity of any kind has fallen, accept the sharanagati of Bhairav and go into his refuge. Become his sharanagat, and make the effort to find such a temple as is apujya, where puja happens little, where people do not always go but come only now and then. It is at such a place that this should be done.

If you are a stri sadhika and are going to do Bhairava ji's seva, the speaker says, the biggest question that arises is that people will first of all forbid you, saying a woman cannot do Bhairav ji's seva — and you take that as final. Absolutely not, he says. The prohibition is on touching, on touching the Shri Vigreh. And that is forbidden for men too, as he has already said. Nobody is to touch the vigraha.

There are always the UgraThe fierce mode of a rite or deity, as against the saumya or gentle mode. shaktis, the speaker says — the shmashan forms of Mahakali, Shamshan Kali, Shmashan Bhairavi, all the shmashan Shri Vigrahas, or the ugra forms whose Shri Vigraha has been made in an ugra form itself. They are not worshipped from in front of them. Those who stand before their eyes and, meeting their eyes, do mantra japa — a GrihasthaThe householder, who carries a family alongside practice — the audience these talks address. should not do this. Those who have become detached from grihastha life, let them do it, that is a separate matter. But you should not do it. So if there is a Kaal Bhairava temple and he is installed there in an ugra form, then at such a time worship is done standing at his side. That is, you do not stand in front of him; you stand right beside the Shri Vigreh.

Of whatever bhog and lamp you are to offer before him, the speaker says, first of all it is the lamp that should be lit. A Chaumukh DeepakA four-faced oil lamp with four wicks, used in pairs or in multiples across a house during application rituals for Bhairava and similarly potent deities. should be lit for Bhairava ji, making a heap of black sesame. Into it two cloves and one cardamom should be put, and camphor should be put in. First you kindle the lamp in Bhairav ji's name. After that, offer the BhogThe food offering placed before a deity before anyone in the household eats. of imarti or jalebi, or the bhog of dahi bada — dahi bada made with your own hand, offer that. Offer the bhog of papad, or offer any sweet or mishthan you wish. Having offered flowers and the rest, having submitted itra and so on near him, burn the DhoopIncense offered during worship; its smoke is treated as an offering in its own right within the sequence of upacharas. well — fragrant dhoop, or the GuggulA fragrant resin burnt as dhoop or mixed with ghee for ahutis, used heavily in protective and prosperity rites. cup sambhrani that comes nowadays.

After that, the speaker says, do the paath of the Bhairav SahasranamaA recitation of a deity's thousand names — a devotional text genre used across many deities, not one single fixed composition. or of the Kaal Bhairava Ashtak, having taken the SankalpaA formal ritual resolution spoken aloud before an offering or observance, declaring its intent and dedicating its merit. that: O Bhagavan Bhairava, free me from this affliction. Then the AartiA ritual of waving a lit lamp or flame before a deity's image, performed here at the close of Deepdan once the lamps begin to burn down. and so on — with a camphor tablet, the kind of camphor that comes in a lump, placing two cloves in it, do the aarti with that, showing the aarti five times and keeping it near Bhairav ji, making kshama prarthana and the rest, saying that all the Punya is dedicated to you, O Bhagavan Bhairav. Saying this, release water, and after that come away.

The BhogThe food offering placed before a deity before anyone in the household eats. that is offered, the speaker says, if you are a man and you take it yourself, should be taken as NaivedyaThe food offering (Bhog) presented to a deity during worship, accompanied by water offerings and dedicatory mantras. right there outside the temple, on that very spot. Or you may distribute it to small children; or Bhairava ji's bhog should be given to the sevaks of that same place so that they eat it; or it should be given to dogs. Place it so that they may eat it, wherever it may be found. Take a little yourself, accept that much. All the rest should be fed right there to everyone. Serve at Bhairav ji's temple in this way, he says, and you will become free of many, many afflictions.

Those people who keep running after siddhis — siddhi is not being obtained, the mantra is not becoming siddha, the mantras are giving no effect — such a person, the speaker says, should do Bhairava ji's seva and see. Not only will every kind of mantra become fully awakened for you, but whenever you take a SankalpaA formal ritual resolution spoken aloud before an offering or observance, declaring its intent and dedicating its merit. and use it, it will begin to give the entire effect, the effect that you want. If any error occurs in Japa of any kind — that is, dosha in the pronunciation of the mantra and in its japa — that is quelled by Bhairav's grace. So by doing Bhairav ji's seva this dosha too will be finished.

If some dosha has attached itself to you, the speaker says; if a Shraap of some kind has come upon you; if a curse has been laid upon you by some creature; if a killing has happened by you unknowingly; or if you knowingly committed some sin about which you now wish to do PrayashchittaRitual atonement performed to offset the karmic burden of a weighty act, such as a Shatkarma that results in an enemy's death., and it seems to you that no god or goddess is going to give you shelter. Then you should take the sharanagati of such a temple of Bhagavan Bhairava, of such a Shri Vigreh, as is apujya — where regular pujan does not happen. Apujya means, he explains, where regular pujan does not happen or where puja happens very little. There take the sharanagati. And do the seva of Jagadamba"Mother of the World" — an epithet of the Devi. and Bhagavan Bhairav there in this manner and see. Even this much you do, he says, and you will obtain extreme benefit — what is there that cannot be obtained by Bhagavan Bhairav's grace?

So the seva of such a temple of Bhairava ji, the speaker says, is its cleanliness — the cleaning of that place, of that temple, and the cleaning of the surrounding area — and the seva of dogs, that is, feeding dogs salted roti and feeding them sweet roti. As much as possible, make arrangements for them, for water and for food. He is not saying to bring them home and tie them up. The seva is to be done outside. Do this, he says, and you will obtain extreme benefit — Bhairav gives more than you can imagine. He closes by saying that whatever affliction one may be in, one should do the seva of Bhagavan Bhairav in this manner and attain liberation from that affliction.