PANCHBHOOTHA STALAMS- 5 elementas of nature.

pancha means five- bhootha basic elements of nature- lord shiva is worhipped, in all the five elements of nature, in five different places in india in linga form.lord is omnipresent.in linga cosmic energy is concentrated.focusing attention on the linga will increase the concentration power.linga has three parts lower part brahma- middle part vishnu and upper most shiva or rudra.different kinds of linga are worshipped at temple and home, like quartz(spatika), black stone, maragadam(green stone) .


THIRUVANNAMALAI.-FIRE
this is situated in tamil nadu. here shiva is worhiped in fire form agni .siva is called arunachaleshwara.lord brahma and vishnu aruged on who is the greatest. shiva was asked to be the judge. shiva said one who can see the crown as well as his feet will be termed as greatest.so lord shiva emerged in front of them in the form of a jyoti colum of fire..brahma took swan and flew up in the sky to find the crown . and vishnu took the varaha(wild boar) avatara and went deep into the earth to the feet. he could not find the feet so he accepted the defeat. brahma saw a tazham poo falling from shiva's head. he asked the tazampoo about the distance. it said it had been falling for forty thousand years. brahma requested that flower to be the witness for having seen the head. the flower agreed. brahma told shiva he saw the crown and tazampoo agreed. shiva got angry and cursed brahma that he will not have temple anywhere. in shiva pooja tazam poo will not be used as a punishment for lying. where shiva stood as the `column of fire is thiruvannamalai. on full moon day of karthigai month huge lamp is lit on the top of the hill.on any full moon day thousands of devotees do circumumbulation of the arunachala hill bare footed

CHIDAMBARAM-AKASHA-ether
this is situated in tamil nadu. here shiva resembles akasha. only a curtain will be there behind nataraja idol with vilva garland.here lord shiva is worshipped in three forms . one as natraja-, second is in linga roopa-spatika linga and the third one is space.
once few munis after learning mantras and tantras became proud . shiva came as a beggar to teach them a lesson.their wife's threw snakes on the beggar . he took and wore it as an ornament. then they sent a devil apasmarapurusa, shiva killed him and did ananda thandava nrityam on him. that is one form of shiva - nataraja.here the dance indicates a continuous process of creation preservation and destruction. the damuru in the hands of nataraja indicates SHABDA, hence akasha.fire in one hand represents destruction . this place is called chitra sabha. there are five sabhas where he performed dance.
chidambaram-kanaka sabha.
thiruvalamgur -ratna sabha.
kutralam-chitra sabha.
madurai-rajatha sabha.
nallaiappar koil at thirunelveli-tamra sabha.

KALAHASTI:-AIR
this also considered as rahu ketu parihara kshetra.here shiva is in the form of air. we cannot see the linga. there is a lamp lit inside the main sanctum , which constantly flickers though there is no opening . air movement is there. out side linga ,is white in colour and is self existent..
STORY:sri-spider,kala-snake,hasti-elephant. =srikalahasti. elephant will bring water in its trunk and clean the place and worship. spider will make cob web around the linga to protect it. snake will place a precious gem (mani) on the linga. like this all the three were worshipping god sincerely. one day elephant brought water and cleaned the place , there were lot of cobwebs and manis,thinking that to be some miscreants work ,a war started between the three. snake entered elephants trunk and died. elephant hit his head on the shiva linga and died because of the snake's poison. on the process spider got killed .shiva appeared and gave moksha to all the three.and named this place as srikalahasti. shiva cursed parvathi of assuming human body so she penanced here to get rid of it. and siva glorified her body again and gave her panchakshari mantra.

KANCHIPURAM-PRITHVI
this is tamil nadu. this is called temple town. ekambareshwarar ,is the main deity .this is the prithivi stalam. parvathi worshipped a linga made of sand under a mango tree.tree is` still there..vegavati river flooded and parvathi protected the linga with both her hands. pleased shiva gave darshan and married her. she is worshipped along with shiva . the presiding god ekambareshwarar and kamakshi amman are worshipped separately. the mango tree bears fruits of four different tastes at different season. this is supposed to represent 4 vedas.

THIRUVANAIKAVAL-APPU water.
this is the place of pilgrimage in tamil nadu on the bank of the river kaveri. siva is called jambunatha.it is believed that this place was a forest of jambu tree.(nagapazam) there was a shiva lingam under one tree. since this place was always surrounded by water. this is popularly known as appu kshetram. goddess parvathi here is called akilandeshwari.
previously the lingam was under the jumbo tree. a spider and an elephant worshipped god. spider would make a cob web around the linga and elephant would clean it up and pour water and put flowers. one day both fought vigourously and died. pleased with their bakthi shiva appeared and blessed them. since it was worshipped by an elephant it is called aanaikaa.-thiruAANAIKAAval.

linga is the mark of lord siva ,as pancha bootha linga and the jyotirlingas. linga speaks in silence and raises us above the body conscious to spirituality.



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