Rudrākṣa: The Tears of Śiva

A teaching for Pārvatī

Sūta tells the sage Śaunaka that he will now describe, in brief, the greatness of the rudrākṣa. The rudrākṣa, he says, is very dear to Śiva and is held to be supremely purifying. It should be understood as a form of Śiva himself; seeing it, touching it and doing japa on it take away all sins.

This is not Sūta's own teaching. Long ago, he says, the supreme Śiva described the glory of the rudrākṣa to the goddess Pārvatī, for the good of all the worlds. What follows is that conversation.

Śiva begins by telling Pārvatī why he is speaking: out of love for her, and wishing the good of his devotees.

The tears of Śiva

Long ago, Śiva says, he held his mind in restraint and remained in fierce tapas for thousands of divine years.

He is the free supreme Lord, he says, who does good to all the worlds. And so, at that time, simply as his own play, he opened both his eyes.

As they opened, a few drops of water fell from his beautiful eyes. From those teardrops, trees called rudrākṣa sprang up on the spot. To show grace to his devotees, the drops took on the form of something rooted and unmoving — a tree. Śiva says he then gave the rudrākṣas to the devotees of Viṣṇu and to people of all four varṇas.

Where the trees grew

On earth, Śiva says, he made his beloved rudrākṣas grow in the land of Gauḍa. He also raised their seedlings in Mathurā, Ayodhyā, Laṅkā, the Malaya mountain, the Sahya range, Kāśī and other lands.

These excellent beads, he says, break through heaps of sin that could not otherwise be borne.

Colour, size and quality

The Purāṇa says that by Śiva's command the rudrākṣas appeared on earth in four classes named after the four varṇas, with the colours white, red, yellow and black, and that people should wear the bead of their own class; it adds that the beads called śubhākṣa belong to the same family. Later in the chapter the same rule is repeated — white for brāhmaṇas, deep red for kṣatriyas, yellow for vaiśyas, black for śūdras — and is called the Vedic way. In the same breath the text says that people of all four varṇas who want enjoyment and liberation, and Śiva's devotees above all, should certainly wear rudrākṣa to please Śiva and Pārvatī.

On size, Śiva gives two measures. First: a bead as large as an āmalaka fruit is the best, one the size of a jujube berry is middling, and one the size of a chickpea is the lowest. Then he gives another way of judging. The jujube-sized bead, small as it is, gives excellent fruit and increases happiness and good fortune; the āmalaka-sized bead destroys all misfortunes; and the very small one, like a guñjā seed, accomplishes every wish. The smaller the rudrākṣa, he says, the more it gives — the wise say one small bead gives ten times the fruit of a large one. Further on he says that the fine, small rudrākṣa is always the one to be praised.

Good beads are even in shape and size, smooth, firm, full, covered with raised points, and beautiful; such beads give what is wished for, and both enjoyment and liberation. Six kinds are to be set aside: beads spoiled by insects, broken ones, cracked ones, ones without raised points, ones with sores, and ones that are not properly round.

A bead that has a natural hole for the thread is the best, Śiva says. One in which the hole has been made by human effort is of the middle kind.

How many, and where

Wearing rudrākṣa, Śiva says, destroys even great sins. A person who wears eleven hundred of them becomes the very form of Rudra, and the fruit of that could not be described in hundreds of years. No other garland, he says, is seen to give what this auspicious one gives.

He describes the full adornment. A devotee may make a crown of five hundred and fifty beads, and string three hundred and sixty on a long thread as a garland — three such garlands together forming a sacred thread.

Then he gives the counts for each part of the body: three in the tuft of hair, six at each ear, a hundred and one at the neck, eleven on each arm, eleven again at each elbow and each wrist, three on the sacred thread, and five worn out of sight at the waist. One who wears rudrākṣa in these numbers, he says, becomes like Śaṅkara to look at, worthy of everyone's bow and praise. When such a person sits down and repeats the name of Śiva with attention, sins leave of their own accord and run.

For those who cannot get so many, Śiva gives another arrangement: one in the tuft, thirty on the head, fifty at the neck, sixteen on each arm, twelve at the wrists, five hundred across the shoulders, and a string of a hundred and eight worn as a sacred thread. Whoever wears a thousand in this way with firm resolve is a form of Rudra, and the gods bow to that person as they bow to Śiva.

And a third, lighter still: one in the tuft, forty on the head, thirty-two at the neck, a hundred and eight on the chest, one at each ear, six or sixteen on each armlet, twice that on the hands — or simply as many as one lovingly wishes. A devotee who does this, Śiva says, becomes worthy of worship and reverence like Śiva, someone people wish to see again and again.

Mantras, food and who may wear it

The beads are put on with mantras. On the head, the Īśāna mantra; at the ears, the Tatpuruṣa mantra; at the neck and heart, the Aghora mantra; on both hands, the Aghora seed-mantra; and on the belly, with the Vāmadeva mantra, a string of fifteen beads. Three, five or seven garlands may be worn with the five Brahma-mantras beginning with Sadyojāta and with the limb-mantras — or all of them may simply be worn with the root mantra.

A wearer of rudrākṣa, Śiva says, should give up liquor, meat, garlic, onion, the drumstick pod, the śleṣmātaka fruit and the flesh of the village pig.

Who should wear it? The celibate student, the householder, the forest-dweller and the renunciate — all should wear it with observance and not go without it. Śiva calls this a great secret: the good fortune of wearing it comes from much merit, and the text says that one who throws it off goes to hell. People of every āśrama and every varṇa, women and śūdras too, should always wear rudrākṣa by Śiva's command; renunciates are to put it on while uttering the praṇava, Oṃ.

Rudrākṣa, Śiva tells Umā, is his own auspicious liṅga-form. Beads that are diseased, without raised points, eaten by insects or without a hole for the thread should not be worn by those who want well-being.

Yama's order to his messengers

Wearing rudrākṣa by day frees a person from the sins of the night, Śiva says, and wearing it by night from the sins of the day; so too at morning, noon and evening. Those in this world who wear the tripuṇḍra, the three lines of ash, who wear matted hair and who wear rudrākṣa do not go to the world of Yama.

Here the chapter gives a small scene. Yama instructs his own attendants. Those whose foreheads bear the tripuṇḍra, whose limbs are all adorned with rudrākṣa and who are repeating the five-syllable mantra are to be honoured by people like you, he tells them; they are truly good. Bring to my world the one who has no rudrākṣa on the body, no tripuṇḍra on the forehead and no “Oṃ namaḥ Śivāya” in the mouth. But those who wear ash and rudrākṣa, whether they know its power or not, are always to be honoured by us. They are not to be brought here.

Kāla gave his attendants the same order. The attendants, astonished, said “So be it” and fell silent.

What the Purāṇa promises the wearer

So, Śiva tells Pārvatī, rudrākṣa is a destroyer of sin. The one who wears it, even if a sinner, is dear to him and pure. One who wears it on the hand, the arms and the head cannot be slain by any creature and moves over the earth as a form of Rudra — always to be honoured by gods and asuras alike, and able, like Śiva, to destroy the sins of whoever sees him. Even someone without meditation or knowledge who wears rudrākṣa is freed from all sins and reaches the highest state.

Japa done on rudrākṣa, the text says, earns ten million times the merit of japa done on gems and the like, and wearing it earns a hundred million times. For as long as the bead is on the body, the Purāṇa says, untimely death does not trouble that person. To see someone marked with the tripuṇḍra, adorned with rudrākṣa and repeating the Mṛtyuñjaya mantra is to gain the fruit of seeing Rudra himself.

Nor is the bead only for Śaivas. Those who worship the five deities and those who love all the gods may do the japa of any mantra on a rudrākṣa garland, Śiva says. Devotees of Viṣṇu and the other gods should wear it without hesitation — and for devotees of Rudra it is especially necessary.

The beads of one to fourteen faces

Rudrākṣas are of many kinds, Śiva says, and he now names them by the number of their faces, the mukhas. Each kind gives enjoyment and liberation. This is the list exactly as the chapter gives it.

One face: Śiva himself. It gives enjoyment and liberation, and the mere sight of it removes the sin of slaying a brāhmaṇa. Where it is worshipped, Lakṣmī does not stay far away, all troubles of that place end, and every wish is fulfilled.

Two faces: called Devadeveśa, the Lord of the lord of gods. It grants all wishes and fruits, and in particular quickly destroys the sin of killing a cow.

Three faces: it always gives the fruit of one's practice, and by its power all branches of learning become firmly established.

Four faces: Brahmā himself. It removes the sin of taking a human life, and by sight and touch it quickly gives the four aims — dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa.

Five faces: Rudra himself, under the name Kālāgni. It is all-capable, gives every kind of liberation and every wished-for fruit, and removes sins such as union with a forbidden partner and eating forbidden food.

Six faces: Kārttikeya. Worn on the right arm, it frees the wearer from sins such as brāhmaṇa-slaying — of this, the text says, there is no doubt.

Seven faces: known by the name Anaṅga. By wearing it even a poor person becomes prosperous.

Eight faces: Bhairava in his eightfold form. By wearing it one lives a full span of life and, after death, becomes a trident-bearer — one like Śiva.

Nine faces: Bhairava and the sage Kapila; or else its presiding deity is the great Goddess Durgā in her nine forms. One who wears it on the left hand with devotion becomes, Śiva says, a lord of all like himself.

Ten faces: the god Janārdana, Viṣṇu himself. By wearing it one obtains all wishes.

Eleven faces: Rudra. By wearing it one is victorious everywhere.

Twelve faces: to be worn in the hair. It is as if all twelve Ādityas, the suns, were seated there.

Thirteen faces: the Viśvedevas. Wearing it, a person gains every wish, good fortune and well-being.

Fourteen faces: the supreme Śiva. It is to be worn with devotion on the head, and all sin is destroyed.

A mantra for each, and the close

Śiva then gives, in order, the mantra with which each bead is put on. As the chapter lists them: for one face, “Oṃ hrīṃ namaḥ”; two, “Oṃ namaḥ”; three, “Klīṃ namaḥ”; four and five, “Oṃ hrīṃ namaḥ”; six, “Oṃ hrīṃ huṃ namaḥ”; seven and eight, “Oṃ huṃ namaḥ”; nine, “Oṃ hrīṃ huṃ namaḥ”; ten, “Oṃ hrīṃ namaḥ”; eleven, “Oṃ hrīṃ huṃ namaḥ”; twelve, “Oṃ krauṃ kṣauṃ rauṃ namaḥ”; thirteen, “Oṃ hrīṃ namaḥ”; fourteen, “Oṃ namaḥ”. The seeker should put aside sleep and laziness and wear each bead with its mantra, with faith and devotion. The text is severe about the opposite: one who wears rudrākṣa without a mantra, it says, goes to a dreadful hell for the span of fourteen Indras.

At the sight of someone wearing a rudrākṣa garland, the Purāṇa says, ghosts, pretas, piśācas, ḍākinīs, śākinīs and other hostile beings all run far away, and harmful rites directed at that person turn back in fear. And at the same sight Śiva himself, Viṣṇu, Durgā, Gaṇeśa, Sūrya and the other gods are pleased. Knowing this greatness, Śiva concludes, one should wear rudrākṣa duly, with devotion and with the mantras, for the growth of dharma.

Sūta now speaks in his own voice again. In this way, he tells the sages, Śiva described to Pārvatī the greatness of ash and rudrākṣa, which give enjoyment and liberation. Those who wear the two are very dear to Śiva. One who wears them is called a devotee of Śiva; one who, wearing them, repeats “Oṃ namaḥ Śivāya” is called a complete devotee. And Mahādeva, the text says, does not give the wished-for fruit to worship offered without the tripuṇḍra of ash and without a rudrākṣa garland.

Whoever listens with devotion to this greatness of rudrākṣa and ash, Sūta says, has every wish fulfilled, enjoys all happiness in this world with children and grandchildren, reaches liberation at the end and becomes very dear to Śiva. With that, he tells the sages, the Vidyeśvara Saṃhitā is complete.