Tripundra
Every question on the site tagged Tripundra, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
The three horizontal ash lines applied to the forehead as part of Shiva worship's daily conduct.
18 notes from our sourcesNotes from our sources
What daily conduct and purification rules does the Shiv Puran prescribe?
Rules include morning ablutions before sunrise, eightfold mouth-rinsing after nature's call, proper etiquette at sacred rivers, restrictions on oil application on specific days, and facing east while bathing before applying Tripundra and wearing Rudraksha.
Wearing a tilak is not display; describing one's puja to a stranger is
The speaker says wearing a tilak or Tripundra is not display — if someone remarks on it, one need only say it is Sanatan culture, you wear it too; and if asked about puja, say one does not do much, just applies the tilak from the deity's feet. What is display is answering what puja was done — Bhagavati's work by sahasranamavali today — and then explaining what a Sahasranama is to someone whose qualification and shraddha are unknown. Such things are to be kept secret and never told to the unqualified; when their Punya rises they will come on their own.
How should Shiva be settled for the night?
Make his tripundra and the rest, place bilva patra, dry the flowers, remove all the water, and settle him in one place for rest for the night. Do not leave him in water for twenty-four hours.
What is done with the roli left on the Shivling after abhishek?
After doing the abhishek, the roli and camphor and the rest will remain stuck upon the Shivling. Removing that same roli — wiping it with your ring finger from off the Shivling — apply a tilak upon your forehead and upon your throat. Do this work, and along with it do the path of the Rudrashtak.
Which tilak may be applied on a picture of Batuk Bhairav?
Asked what tilak may be applied on a picture of Batuk Bhairav, the speaker answers that a tilak of chandan may be applied, a tilak of roli may be applied, and a tilak of bhasma may be applied.
Is it necessary to wipe the lingam before applying bhasma?
The speaker says that if after the snan you feel they should be wiped for the lepan of bhasma, then you may lift them and wipe them — but he does not have to wipe, and does not wipe. After abhishek, applying agar, gulab jal, itra and the like on those worshipped in the home makes them fragrant by itself and very well, and the bhasma and the tripundra then form nicely and they are beautifully adorned. If they are somewhat larger, it is easier still.
Wiping is permitted for the shringar, but his own heart does not accept lifting the lingam again once the abhishek is done
He says that if you feel wiping is necessary for the shringar you may wipe — but his own mind does not accept it. Once the abhishek of Shiva ji has been done, he says, we then see people taking them in hand and making the whole tripundra with a salaka and the rest, making various designs. That it should be done again — that they should be lifted again and placed on the arghi again after the abhishek has been done — does not please his heart. If you do it, do it, he says; we do not. This is a matter that stands differently for me and for you.
What should be offered daily at a Shivalaya in the simplest way?
Asked what should be offered daily in a Shivalaya temple in a simple way, the speaker says that first of all, if nothing else, after doing abhishek with water one should offer upon Shiva ji even a single bilva leaf, or a leaf of Shami ji, or a lotus flower — whichever you can obtain. And unbroken rice should be offered. That much; and if possible, along with it make their tripundra with bhasma, or make it with chandan. This should be done, and a lepan of chandan and the like should be made.
Where should a newly brought Shaligram shila be kept, and how worshipped daily?
Asked by someone who brought a Shaligram shila on Tulsi Vivah Ekadashi, the speaker says to keep them at the puja place itself. If you keep a Shaligram shila outside and it is small, birds very often pick it up and carry it away, and then you will be left searching for Vishnu ji. Keep them at the puja place on a yellow cloth or a plate; just as a stand comes for a Shivling, one comes for a Shaligram too, and you may keep him on that, or else spread a yellow cloth and establish Bhagavan Shaligram upon it.
Consciousness and awakening are now coming among Sanatanis through YouTube and Facebook, after a long slow washing of their brains.
These people, he says, have very slowly washed our brains completely. In the present time, on account of YouTube and Facebook, a great deal of consciousness and awakening is nevertheless coming among Sanatanis; otherwise where were all these things. If anyone spoke of it, if anyone kept a shikha, if anyone applied a tilak, people made his life miserable by mocking him. And all this mockery came from that same source.
What is offered to Shiva after the abhishek?
Then perform his abhishek with pure water, and after making a tripund and so on, offer the bilvapatra and whatever flowers you have taken upon the head of Bhagwan Shiva.
What must never be left off the shivling?
Do his shringar, make the Tripundra on him, he says. And never keep his forehead empty: a mukut should certainly remain upon the shivling of Bhagavan Shiva. If you cannot give one of silver or gold, then certainly keep a mukut even of the artificial kind; and if not that, then at least keep unbroken rice. As your capacity is, so.
A chowki of two to three hundred rupees for the abhishek, and the tilak of each deity in the yantra
For abhishek you need a chowki, or you may invert a katori that is used in the puja itself and do the abhishek over that. A chowki, he says, is easily had for ₹200–₹300; for daily use take a small chowki and a thali on which the yantra can rest, place it on them and do the abhishek. After that comes the tilak: in the yantra, wherever each deity has his place, there is a vidhi of their archan, pujan and tilak.
Without time for the seat-by-seat archan, do the abhishek and put the tilak on the mool in the middle
If you do not have that much time it is no problem, he says — do not let any doubt at all come into the mind that this could not be done. Those sadhaks who go to the brihad level, whose life's only aim is seva-puja and who have no other work, should do that much; whoever has his own work should just do the abhishek, and apply the tilak on the mool in the middle.
May women offer bhasma on a Shivling?
Asked whether women may offer bhasma on a Shivling, the speaker says that with bhasma lepan there is in some places a prohibition even in general, that not every person should offer bhasma in every time and every state. But on the subject of bhasma being offered by women there is a prohibition in very many places. Women should not offer bhasma, nor should they apply bhasma lepan on the forehead; they may apply bhasma on the throat and so on.
The bhasma from the arghi is worn on the throat, the forehead and the navel.
The bhasma that you apply upon the arghi, the speaker says, wear that on your throat, on your forehead and on the navel and such places. Along with this, get your kundali analysed once as well, so that it can be known actually where you have to strike.
Whose tilak should be applied to one's own forehead?
You may apply it, he says. In truth, the vidhan is that after doing the shringar of the deity, the tilak that remains is what is to be applied on your own forehead. One should not make a separate tilak for oneself and apply it. Whatever roli, kumkum, ashtagandha and so on is offered upon them at the time when you do achman or abhishek — that same thing should be picked up, gathered and kept, and that same thing applied on the forehead. Whatever has been offered on them is what it is; one is not to grind a separate tilak for oneself. This, he says, is the shastrokta vidhan.
Is it right to leave honey or ghee smeared on a shivling after abhishek?
No. He says some people go to a temple, offer honey on Shiva ji, coat him with it and leave him like that without pouring water. Honey is not applied and left. Rub it off and bathe him properly with feeling, then do the abhishek again with at least four or five lotas of water and rinse him clean. Only after that may gandh lepan or a tripundra be done. The same applies to a ghee coating, and the same is to be followed at home.
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