Search:

From the Bhakti List Archives

Raymond Crawford • December 15, 1995 


This is a comment on what Krish had to say on 11 November.  Sorry about the 
delay in this, but I am slowly catching up!

Krish:
I recall attending a prayer group, where I took a Shaligram. ..... When I 
showed this unusual piece (million year old) the man who conducted the prayer 
was upset that the women in the group touched it and that I who did not 
provide daily aradhanas was possessing it.

The house where I stay when I am in Vrindavan in UP is owned by the Rani of 
Nepal.  The other rooms are occupied by widows who have come to Vrindavan to 
live out their lives. Each of them has Shaligram.  They do daily abisheka and 
pooja, and their daily lives are centered in this way.  I was always told that 
Shaligram could only be worshiped by men, and only certain men, and so on. 
When I asked about their custom, they each said that they had been given the 
Shaligram by their guru.

So there you go. People, places and usage: as simple as that.

How many people go to the temple with milk and offer it to the Shiva-ling? How 
many households have Shiva-ling which is worshiped by all present?  It seems 
that the worship of Shaligram becomes more intricate and elitist the further 
one is away from where the shaligrama originates.

Just my observations
Ramadas