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What offerings does Lord Shiva like?

Rainbow Mage

Rainbow Mage

Lib Democrat/Agnostic/Epicurean-ish/Buddhist-ish
I want to give him something for Maha Shivaratri, but I'm not sure what. Any ideas friends?
 
Breathe

Breathe

Hostis humani generis
"Tej Prasad Sharma, priest of the Gauri Shankar Temple in Delhi said: "Since three o'clock in the morning devotees are flocking to the temple to worship Lord Shiva. Devotees are coming from faroff places for worshiping and offering milk, curd, honey, bael (wood apple) leaves."


Try any of these. :)

Hell, even offer water if you have none of the above. I doubt Shiva will mind. :D
 
Vinayaka

Vinayaka

devotee
Premium Member
flowers, your humble obeisance, fruit of any kind, incense, Are you doing abhishekham as well?
 
Rainbow Mage

Rainbow Mage

Lib Democrat/Agnostic/Epicurean-ish/Buddhist-ish
I am planning to offer milk, red flowers, and chant Om Namah Shivaya. Is that ok?
 
Riverwolf

Riverwolf

Amateur Rambler / Proud Ergi
Premium Member
Shiva, to me, is one of those Gods who doesn't really care what you offer Him, as long as its done with full humility and love.
 
Rainbow Mage

Rainbow Mage

Lib Democrat/Agnostic/Epicurean-ish/Buddhist-ish
Riverwolf said:
Shiva, to me, is one of those Gods who doesn't really care what you offer Him, as long as its done with full humility and love.
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Yes, that's what I was reading on a Hindu site. The deities of the Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva) care more about the Bhakti then the actual offering.
 
Vinayaka

Vinayaka

devotee
Premium Member
Royal Falcon of God said:
Well... people do pray to Lord Shiva for a husband... or for a good sex life.

:D
Click to expand...


This would not be a common prayer. A cleared path toward Godhead, clarity of mind, forgiveness of ignorance would be more in line with dharma. Praying for money or anything selfish is also not likely to be answered.

This is not to say people don't pray for these things, but mostly that would be misguided prayer according to SD tradition.
 
Vinayaka

Vinayaka

devotee
Premium Member
Riverwolf said:
Shiva, to me, is one of those Gods who doesn't really care what you offer Him, as long as its done with full humility and love.
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure. There are many things that wouldn't be traditional, like booze or ganja, except perhaps in some rather obscure tantric sects.
 
Riverwolf

Riverwolf

Amateur Rambler / Proud Ergi
Premium Member
Vinayaka said:
I'm not so sure. There are many things that wouldn't be traditional, like booze or ganja, except perhaps in some rather obscure tantric sects.
Click to expand...

Well, one time Ramakrishna helped an alcoholic find God by giving him this advice: "Just offer your drink to the Divine Mother first, and then drink it as prasada." If memory serves me right, it worked.

But from what I've seen, "tradition" is really just "what's always been", not necessarily the only possible correctness, and therefore just because something is not traditional doesn't automatically mean it's incorrect.

While in a Temple, it's certainly best to stick with tradition (if only to avoid weird and possibly bad looks from other devotees and the priests), but at home, I don't think it's as big a deal.
 
G

Gaura Priya

IRL
Vinayaka said:
This would not be a common prayer. A cleared path toward Godhead, clarity of mind, forgiveness of ignorance would be more in line with dharma. Praying for money or anything selfish is also not likely to be answered.

This is not to say people don't pray for these things, but mostly that would be misguided prayer according to SD tradition.
Click to expand...

I was always taught that we can pray to Lord Shiva for such things... husband, sex life, or any boon, because Lord Shiva is the most merciful devata. :p

Back when I was practicing Sanatana Dharma, I was complaining on how I could not find a good boyfriend to be a husband, and my friend offered to take me to Mahadeva's temple to pray for a husband. She said that it worked for her, and she tells other girls to pray to Him for a husband.

So we drove to the temple, but it was closed, LOL. But at least amongst the Hindu women I knew, Shambhu would be the one to ask for such boons! :shout
 
Vinayaka

Vinayaka

devotee
Premium Member
Now that's one of the beauties of SD of course. To each his own. If one wants to pray for a better sex life or a nice husband, then all the power to them. People pray for all kinds of things, like success in exams, health, and more. The beauty is that this is mostly directly between devotee and Siva, and its based on an individual relationship between person/devotee and Him. Of course as observers, we can only comment based on our own experiences or on what we've read. So if two people live in very different areas of mind where the religion is practised differently, and different scriptures are read, different experiences had, naturally there will be different takes, each of them correct to the individual posing them.
 
murugan

murugan

Member
On Shivaratri, only cold water and bael leaves are offered to the Shiva Lingam. Other traditional offerings, such as bathing Him in milk and Panchamruta (milk, curd, ghee, sugar and honey (symbols of sustenance) one after the other respectively, or anointing it with vermilion (kumkum) or white consecrated rice (Akshata) (symbols of fertility, or creation), are done on this day, when Lord Shiva is worshipped as the deity of dissolution.


Chanting the Rudram is considered very auspicious.
 
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