80. रुद्राराधनतत्परः Rudrārādhana-tatparaḥ

One who was intent on worshipping Lord Rudra

While nāma 8 spoke about praising Lord Śiva, nāma 10 about being devoted to Him, and nāmas 17 and 35 about meditation on Him, this nāma focusses on ārādhanā, worship, of the Lord. Reference to Śiva in this nāma by the specific name, Rudra, has a significance. Śiva is said to be fond of abhiṣeka, and while performing abhiṣeka during Śiva-pūjā, it is customary to chant the Śrī-rudra which is in praise of Rudra and is found in the Taittirīya-saṁhita of the Kṛṣṇa-yajurveda.

One of the nāmas in the aṣṭottaraśata-nāmāvali of Śaṅkara-bhagavatpāda describes Him as ‘kailāsa-yātrā-samprāpta-candramauli-prapūjakaḥ (One who ardently worshipped the Candramauli liṅga obtained on His pilgrimage to Kailāsa)’.²²³ It is that treasured crystal liṅga of Lord Śiva, known as the Candramaulīśvara-liṅga, that was given by Bhagavatpāda to the Sringeri Sri Sharada Peetham. To this day, pūjā is performed thrice to the liṅga every day, with the pontiff of the pīṭha performing the Candramaulīśvara-pūjā every evening apart from performing additional pūjās on special occasions such as Śivarātri and the Mondays of the Śrāvaṇa and Kārtikā months.

His Holiness took particular delight in the conduct of Mahārudra and Atirudra yāgas, and would prescribe Śri-rudra-japa or homa for devotees who sought His intervention and grace to tide over various difficulties.

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Lord Malahānikareśvara whose ancient temple is situated on a hillock at Sringeri, was very dear to His Holiness. His Holiness had the temple renovated under His direct supervision and performed the kumbhābhiṣeka in 1984. As per tradition He used to proceed to the temple and worship the large liṅga of Malahānikareśvara on Mahāśivarātri day.

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His Holiness has visited and performed, through rudrābhiṣeka, worship of the Jyotirliṅgas of Somanātha (Somnath, Gujarat), Mallikārjuna (Srisailam, Andhra Pradesh), Mahākāleśvara (Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh), Oṁkāreśvara (Mandhata, Madhya Pradesh), Vaidyanātha (Deoghar, Jharkhand), Viśvanātha (Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh), Rāmanātha (Rāmeśvaram, Tamil Nadu) and Kedāreśvara (Kedarnath, Uttarakhand).

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His Holiness reminisced about His tour of the 1960s as follows: “One day, as the tour was headed towards Varanasi, many dissuaded me, ‘Communal clashes and violence are prevalent in Kashi. The atmosphere is not conducive.’

“I could not decide. Praying to Lord Viśvanātha alone is our way, strength and duty. I pondered, ‘O Visveśvara, why this? I cannot come when You call me! When I come, You should give me darśana. Why don’t You fulfil my intense urge?’ Musing like this for a while, I proceeded for about 40 miles towards Kolkata, when two eminent persons from Kashi came and wanted Me to return to Varanasi. I declined; they insisted; I acceded. Evidently, the Lord’s grace was there. What a grand welcome awaited me at Kashi! I was immensely fortunate for the Lord’s darśana and the glory of the pūjā! Reminiscing about these itself accentuates happiness, satisfaction and thrill.”

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When His Holiness visited Kathmandu in 1967 (as mentioned under nāmas 33 and 77), a Mahārudra-yajña was commenced under His guidance and supervision. He visited the Paśupatināth Temple multiple times for worship. On the Mahāśivarātri day, He went on foot to the Paśupatināth Temple followed by thousands of pilgrims and devotees to the accompaniment of Vedic chanting, and offered worship. The Mahāśivarātri-pūjā throughout the night was performed by His Holiness in the presence of a huge gathering, to the accompaniment of the repeated chanting of the Śrī-rudra.

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Sri A. Ramaswamy, a close disciple of His Holiness, recalled, “Once during a pūjā session, I noticed that the curtain that had been drawn to enable His Holiness to offer naivedya to the Lord in private as per tradition was opened after a longer time than usual. Curious to find out what had caused the unusual delay, I asked His Holiness about it when I had His darśana later. He said, ‘The naivedya was very hot. How could I offer it to the Lord? So I had to wait for some time for it to cool down before I offered it to Him.’

“His Holiness’s devotion to God was unparalleled. His performance of pūjā was bewitching. He never thought of the idols as mere images of God. He always felt the living presence of God in them. Naturally, He did not wish to offer a naivedya that was too hot and hurt the Lord.”

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212 81. Vaśīkṛtendriya-grāmaḥ

The following is excerpted from an article in a souvenir released in Mysuru in 1981 on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of saṁnyāsa-svīkāra of His Holiness. It is a narrative penned by Sri Shivjibhai H. Suchde.

“Once in the early 1980s, a person known to me who had gone from Shivamogga, Karnataka, for darśana, informed His Holiness that powercuts were the order of the day and that there was shortage of water in the Linganamakki Dam across River Śāravati, adding that in certain parts of Mysore (Mysuru), people were suffering greatly because of lack of drinking water. When He heard this, His Holiness said that there will be rain, provided Rudra-abhiṣeka is performed at Ambuthirtha, the birthplace of River Śāravati.

“We made arrangements for the pūjā at Ambuthirtha and went there for its commencement on the 1^st of August. When we reached there it was completely dry and the sky was clear. By the time the pūjā was completed, it started raining heavily and continued to do so for several days. In fact, on enquiring we discovered that it was raining heavily in all the surrounding areas such as Thirthahalli, Sringeri, Koppa and Shimoga (Shivamogga). Not only this, in the whole month of August there were copious rains and the Linganamakki Dam was filled. The suffering of the people of Mysore because of lack of water, thus ended.”

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The following is culled from the narrative of Sri A. Krishnan in the Kannada book, ‘Jagadguru’.

“One day, my son did not return from college after classes were over. We searched for him everywhere but could not find him. Even after six months he did not come home. We then wrote a letter to His Holiness stating our problem and praying for His grace.

“His Holiness directed us to perform Ekādaśavāra-rudra-abhiṣeka preceded by the chanting of the Mahānyāsa, for ten days and also on my son’s birthday. The rite commenced on 1^st September, 1959. On the 28^th we received a telegram from my uncle’s house that my son had turned up there.”

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