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From the Bhakti List Archives

BALRAM SANJAY • July 24, 1998 


Pleace accept my humble obeisances:

Regarding the above mentioned topic,I do agree with Sriman 
Krishnamachari that any information is welcome on the above topic.

There is an interesting Book called Salagrama Sila ,Sastric evidence 
Compiled by Sri Padmanabha Goswami that I had picked during my visit to 
Vrindavan.

This can be got from :
       Padmanabha Goswami
       Shanti Kutir
       Radharamana Temple
       Vrindavana UP - 281121
       India
       Phone : (0565) 442323 

This book is quite exhaustive and covers warious topics like: Appearance 
of Saligram & Tulasi, Results of worshipping, different types of Silas, 
different features of Silas, Glories of Silas, marriage of Saligrama & 
Tulasi and the worship of Saligram sila.  

The following is one of the chapters found in the book, I hope this is 
found useful:

The results of worshipping different types of Silas:

The Gautamiya Tantra states that the worshippable stones known as 
saligrama-silas are only found in the Gandaki river in Nepal. According 
to Skanda Purana these Saligrama Silas appear in various colours, shapes 
and markings. Their colur may be either 
black,blue,yelow,whitish,blood-red,or tawny cloured. Their shape may be 
either smooth,rough,uneven,very plump,or frog shaped.They may be without 
markings, marked with one chakra,many chakras,large chakras,broken 
chakras,a chakra in the middle of a circle or with one chakraattached to 
another. Some Saligarm Silas exhibit a large mouth and others a 
down-turned mouth.

The Skanda Purana also anumerates the good and bad results derived from 
venerating diffrent types of Saligrama Silas. Worshiping a smooth sila 
brings mantra-siddi (perfection in the chanting of one's given mantra). 
Black silas bestow fame, yellow silas give sons, whitish silas destroy 
one's sins, blue silas increase wealth, and blood-red silas bring 
diseases. Rough silas create anxiety, uneven silas give poverty, and fat 
silas decrease one'slife span. Silas devoid of markings yield no 
results. if one mistakingly adores a sila with the following qualities  
he will certainly get suffering: tawny coloured, uneven, broken with one 
chakra, toomany chakras, large chakras, a circled chakra, a broken 
cakra, a cakra attached to another, with alarge mouth, or with the mouth 
turned down.

The Agni Purana mentions several types of saligram-silas whose worship 
brings unhappiness and never happiness. These inculde a sila with a 
mouth like that of a snake, a broken sila, one with chakras facing each 
other, with a circled chakra, a sila with protruding navel, a 
tawny-coloured sila known as Narasimha, a sila with many lines inside 
the circle, and a sila unidentifiable due to its confusing markings.

The Agni Purana further describes many saligrama-silas who award 
beneficial results to those who attentively worship Them. These 
bebevolent silas include those that are perfectly smooth, jet black in 
colour. round like a pearl, natural (not made by hand), or with an 
evenly shaped chakra. The Varaha-sila, the Ananta-sila, the silas with a 
deeply indented navel, the tiny Vasudeva-sila that has an evenly formed 
mouth, silas shaped like amalaki fruits, or those shaped like the palm 
of the hand(arched above and convex below) all give perfection. A 
devotee of the Supreme Lord should carefully adore his favorite 
saligrama-sila.He will thus be blessed both in this world and the next.

As for the saligrama-silas that bring misfortune and sadness, as 
mentioned above, one should understand that this is only for worshippers 
impelled by material desires. But for one free form material desires 
there is no harm to worhip these silas. thus in the Brahma Purana the 
Supreme Lord Visnu staes that any sila form the place of saligramas can 
never be inauapicious though cracked, chipped, split in two though still 
in one piece, or even even broken asunder. Lord Siva alos confirms in 
the Skanda Purana that even if a sila is cracked, split, or broken it 
will have no harmful effect if it is worshipped with attention and love 
by a devotee. It further states there that the Supreme Lord Hari, along 
with His divine consort, Lakshmi, live in the saligrama-sila athat has 
either only the mark ofa chakra, a chakra along with the mark of a 
footprint, or only a mark resembling a flower garland.

Some acaryas say that the best saligrama-sila is the smooth blackish one 
and that the blood-red sila is the worst. But in the absence of the best 
type of saligrama-sila one may worship an inferior one.

                ------end of chapter.      


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