Can we keep pictures of Sanyasi's in the bedroom

[Sumi]

Here is a question from one of our regular Forum members.

"Namaskaram!I have a question in my mind. Recently we laminated a photo of Periyava taken from a blog. That photo looks like Periyava directly seeing us. I wanted to hang it in bedroom since I have lots of anxiety regarding children, family etc. While looking at Periyava photo – we feel relieved. Also while getting up , we can look at it.

I myself had a second thought but decided to keep it there like we put up a calendar. My husband also did not mind. It is there for almost a month now and I am happy .

Yesterday, my sister-in-law came home and told us that we are not supposed to keep pictures of Sanyasi's in the bedroom. We are in a small flat and our pooja shelf is already full of swami padam.

Can you please advise me if I can keep the photo in the bedroom or remove it. Since out of my wish – it should not be a sin – hence this question. "

*****

[jkanna]

Pranaams.

Please ask yourself this question. Go with what your inner thoughts convey. It will not be wrong. In any case you decide, please trust both the decision could have been a wish of Periyava.

thanks

[athmapremprakash]

hara hara sankara jaya jaya sankara

nothing sinful/harmful . ever blessful and omni present and omni potent.even if the laminated photo is placed in some other room of the house will it b possible for us to have the controlled vision and blessing of shri maha periva within that room ? no worry the bagwan our saviour is ever and anywhere present and blessing us all without even a photoidentity . omni present

[Deleted]

Interesting question, which is also in my mind.

Incidentally, I have another query on the same context.

I would like to know iif we can keep pictures of our parents who have passed away, in the Pooja shelf.

I have my in-laws photos along with Periva's picture and other pictures in the pooja shelf. Some of my relatives told me to put it up separately and not in the pooja shelf, but I am keeping it there as as I do not want to offend my husband.

I hope the experts in this forum will be able to tell me what I should do.

[athmapremprakash]

hara hara sankara jaya jaya sankara

the Devatha moorthams only should be in the pooja shelf.
our parents though divineful and blessful are after dimisal categorised as Pithrus come next should not be mingled along with pooja shelf Devatha moorthams . for instance take our Navaratri steps arrangement .in the topmost step we keep purnakumbam the Kalasam as the devimoortham and other swami statues next and avatars series we can place. as such keeping of photos of parents in pooja shelf is not worthful.

[Kanchi Periva]

First of all, let me thank our members for raising such useful queries - which can be clarified for the benefit of many more people on this Forum. The answers to the queries are grouped and presented below - and these have strong pramaanams from dharma sastra experts. We hope you would find it very logical and acceptable too.

Can we hang the pictures of deities or mahaans anywhere?[/u][/color]

This is a common problem faced by many families. They get too many pictures of deities – some come from friends who visited temples, some are bought by the family itself on kshedraadanam, some taken from calendars and framed etc. Considering the space constraints in the modern world, we put up some of the photos in the pooja room, some photos in kitchen, some photos in bedroom, some in the walkway or corridor etc. Their stand or justification for such spread out hanging is that God is anyway omnipresent, and we are just ensuring that the same message is clearly brought out in our homes.

It is a different story that today that most families have a study room, but do not even allocate a space for pooja – one of the kitchen shelves turn out to be a make shift pooja desk without any pooja or even neivedhyam. This approach definitely needs a change.

Just think about this – when you have someone respectable in front of you (may be an elder of the family, or a senior officer, or someone who has earned your respect in some form), you do not talk useless stuff in front of him, you do not sit with your legs on top of each other, you behave with lot of respect and discipline, right? If we do all this self-control just for a mortal human being who is respected, should we not do something better when we have the deity sitting in front of us – pratyaksham in a picture?

One can easily make an argument that God is omnipresent, but if we have come to a mental state of always realizing that in life, we would have achieved salvation or jeeevan-mukti. It is used only for argument, but we never realize it even for a second in everyday life – else would we ever afford to speak lies, eat in prohibited places and stealthily perform so many tasks which our mind or conscience keeps indicating to us as incorrect?

Similarly, instead of accumulating too many pictures and not doing any pooja at all, it would be worthwhile to just have a few pictures, have them in a clearly designated place for pooja and give away the rest to nearby temple, which will take care of the same.

To specifically answer the member's question - photos of Deities or Mahans should not at all be hanged in the bedroom.

Directions for hanging pictures of deities/mahaans:[/u][/color]

In terms of the directions, we must generally keep all pictures/vigrahams of deities facing east (such that we will sit facing north and perform pooja) or hang them facing north. Only the pictures of Guru or mahaans or acharyas can be hang facing south (dakshina dik is for dakshinamoorthy and his successors - gurus). Generally it is not preferable to hang any pictures facing west.

Can we keep pictures of our elders/forefathers along with deities:[/u][/color]

We can certainly feel glad about some people who still think about their elders/forefathers and hang their pictures in their houses. Because a lot of youngsters leave their parents to hang around in the streets or in some old age homes, and do not find time to even think about them.

However, elders (or pitrus) are definitely in a different (lower) state, as compared to God which is very evident from the different set of karma-anushtaana we have for both. Pitrus can bless (or even curse) only their next generations whereas God does it for the entire world as a whole. Pitrus’ powers or coverage is thus, very limited and is a marginal fraction of God’s.

It would do a lot of good if people do their pitru-poojana like tarpanam etc regularly (don’t stop with just amavaasya, do it also in maasa-pirappu (month beginnings) and at least once in a life time do the shannavathi-tarpanam that is performed 96 days in a year), along with good anushtanam of mahalaya-paksha (do nitya tarpanam and one day of braahmana bhojanam) and annual sraardham with complete dedication and observance of niyamas stipulated. However, a few people have this habit of elevating their elders to Godly status by keeping their pictures alongside deities, and offering them flowers everyday forgetting the other rites to be performed – this is not acceptable at all.

Pitrus would be satisfied and approve of your actions/bless you and your family (next generations) only if their needs are satisfied – by offering of tila and water regularly through tarpanam/sraardham etc. Offering them a flower every day is no substitute. Also note that they cannot be equated to God and their pictures should not be placed alongside God, unless they happened to be your great guru or mahaan or siddha purushar – in which case you can hang their picture facing south, like you will do for any other guru.

If you want to hang the pictures of any elders or pitrus of your family, you can certainly do so and it is welcome – but not alongside the pictures of other deities. Such pictures can be hung on any other wall – preferably facing south as dakshina dik is where pitrus belong. As said earlier, if any of them happen to be a guru or siddha purusha, that would be an exception and can find a place in your pooja shelf.

We must pay our obeisance to our elders by our sincerity in our pitru-karma-anushtanams and not by placing their photos alongside other deities.

[athmapremprakash]

HARA HARA SANKARA JAYA JAYA SANKARA

thinkable beyond

[raksankar]

Upon bed, we try to get away from the waking world of concrete objects, slip for a time helplessly into the dreaming world of indistinct objects and finally into dreamless deep sleep with no objects. Hence, it may be more appropriate to think of the Light of God (flowing through all form) rather than the Form of the Satguru. Anyway, the Satguru is simultaneously aware of the Supreme Self, the Light of Satchidananda and the Form of Ishwara made of Sound and Light...

[s. padmanabha iyer]

thanks

[uma2806]

I read this discussion just today. I am reminded of an incident in our life, in our family. My father-in-law, a staunch devotee of Maha Periyavaa was very sick and was in ICU - one complication leading to another. One day when all of us were very worried, I thought that Maha Periyavaa alone can save him now, and got 8 big photos of Maha Periyavaa laminated and hung in all the rooms of our house. Every doctor in the hospital termed his recovery as "Miracle", as he was already 77 years old. He came home and after some physio-therapy for 6 months, he is back to his normal self - travels on his own and is back to general health. Though I did not know the rules, I had put them facing South and East.

Maha Periyavaa took charge of his devotee's condition and brought him back to full recovery! Miracle recovery happened because of His grace alone!