Theology of Shalagrama

THEOLOGY OF SHALAGRAMA : IN THE LIGHT OF HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY The Problem Throughout India, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Shalagrama is being worshipped as a deity-form of Visnu. In a recent research it has been revealed that Shalagrama worship was introduced round about 5th century B.C.. Kalyanbrata Chakraborty, Emergence of Hinduism and Human Face of God, Firma K L M, Kolkata,2007. Annex- 1. The mystery regarding Shalagrama worship is yet to be revealed. An inanimate round object, blackish in colour, capable of being taken in one’s finger-fold, has been accepted to represent Visnu, the almighty god of the Hindus. What can be the reason behind? Who introduced Shalagrama as an image of Visnu and with what innate meaning? What was the necessity of this innovation? Surprisingly the antiquity of this practice has silenced all these questions. Worship is done because that is the practice. It is not necessary, as if, to question why. But a true religion cannot exclude reason. There must be some reason behind considering Shalagrama as a deity-form of Visnu. Unfortunately that reason appears to be lost today. The object of this work is to reveal the mystery. To avoid the problem some people like to put forward their opinion that creator and the matter of creation are very complicated issues beyond the perception of the common men. God has created everything. He is omniscient and omnipotent. To bring this infinite god to a level of perception a finite form was required. Sectarian religions in India were developed on this idea and an anthropomorphic form of the god was given appropriate to the belief of each sect. But the theory seems inadequate to throw light on Shalagrama problem. We do not get answer why of all things a small round object, identified as an Ammonite fossil by the palaeontologists, has been chosen to represent the god? This is neither aniconic nor iconic. This may be called symbolic. Symbolism drawn on the basis of what objective reality? Why the god is Visnu, the Supreme god of the Aryans and none else? Visnu had also been given anthropomorphic form in later times in a sectarian religion but still why Shalagrama stands in a position of highest reverence and highest importance? Where is the philosophic explanation penetrating into the concept of Visnu and justifying his condescension to the form of Shalagrama? Unless these questions are answered Shalagrama worship will ever remain an enigma. If we remember certain postulates of history the problem will become all the more serious Notwithstanding the possibility of Visnu’s existence amidst early non-Aryan communities in some form or other Cf. Miss Mrinal Dasgupta’s article: Early Vaisnavism and Narayaniya Worship, in Indian Historical Quarterly, IND, 1931 (vol-7), also J. Gonda, Aspects of Early Visnuism. it may well be asserted that during the Vedic period Visnu was a god of the Aryans having had accretion to higher importance with passage of time. In the Brahmanic period when the ritual of the Aryans was limited to performance of sacrifice only Visnu, the Vedic god of lesser importance, turned to the prime god relegating other gods in importance. The point has been discussed later under the sub-title ‘Visnu as a Vedic God’. Around 5th century B.C. the Aryans accepted image-worship side by side performance of yajna. Ample evidence of this can be found from the Sutra and other Smriti literatures. Before this the Aryans did not worship images. I refer to Prof. J.N Banerjea’s Development of Hindu Iconography Image-worship was practised by the non-Aryans, particularly by the Dravidians. A.K.Coomaraswamy, History of Indian and Indonesian Art. Edwin Goldstone, London, 1927,p-5. and they did not have Visnu as one of their gods. It can be known from some mantras of Rgveda that the Aryans did not have good relation with the pre-Aryan people of India who were worshippers of Shisna Deva and Muda Deva Rgveda. VII,21.5 and X, 99.3. In the first verse Indra is prayed to so that Raksasas may not harm the hymnists and he may kill the ferocious enemies; the god is also besought not to let the Sisnsdevas approach the sacrifice. In the second verse Indra is described as having slain the Sisnadevas when he won the treasure of the hundred gated fort.. They hated worshipping such inanimate objects. An insight into the above mentioned postulates would suggest that Shalagrama worship was introduced by the Aryans and at the same time would raise the question as to why they did so when it is known that they despised worship of inanimate objects. A change of attitude is obvious. But what can be the reason behind this change? This is a real problem connected with Shalagrama worship. But a greater problem shows up here. Why the Aryans, supposed to be a superior language-culture group with higher intellect, were induced to accept image-worship, the ritual of the Dasa-Dasyus with whom they had only inimical relationship. As a result of this odd acceptance a mixed religion, Hinduism, was brought forth in course of time. This is therefore, a highly significant incident which remained unexplained. Transition of Yajna into image- worship To penetrate into the problem it was necessary to explore the history of the transition of Vedic yajna into image-worship taking into consideration all the aspects of social, religious, political and economic life of the two communities i.e. the Aryans and the pre- Aryan people of India. Recently in a work that history has been written. Author, book: Emergence of Hinduism and Human Face of god. loc cit. Here we like to take note of some points from that work: 1 .The ethnic, religious and cultural differences between the Aryans and the pre-Aryan people of India were basic and inalienable. The enmity between the two groups, record of which can be had from the Rigveda, might have been moderated in course of time but was never resolved. The pre-Aryans were accepted in the Varna-based social system as Shudra, the lowest of the four Varnas, and were kept bound to a position of disrespect and torture. 2. Around 5thcentury B.C. the Shudra class who were by far the majority of Indian people retaliated and rose in a revolt or was about to rise in a revolt. 3. In such a calamitous condition the Brahmanas had to prostrate to the Shudras who were now in a position to dictate terms for peace. The greatest grievance of the Sudras was that they were denied of any respectable ritual status in the society. Now under their demand for honour of their image-worship the same had been greeted on the glorified fire-altar of the Aryans and puja was accepted as the common ritual. By acceding the right of performance of yajna to the Shudras their grievance could not be redressed because Shudras had grudge on yajna for many reasons. 4. Being marshaled to accept puja the Aryans had to fall back upon intellectual manoeuvring to reprieve the situation. This was possible by introduction of Shalagrama worship impregnating the same with the Vedic philosophy. Having taken note of the above salient points of the transition of yajna to image-worship, wherein also lies the history of growth of Hinduism as distinct from Brahmanism, we now like to enter into some details of the different aspects of Shalagrama worship unveiling the theology inherent in it. We have seen that the Aryans had no other alternative but for accepting image-worship. It was a question connected with their existence. The gods worshipped by the non-Aryans, particularly by the Dravidians, were Siva, Parvati, Kuvera, Vrikshika, Sarpadevata etc. How the Aryans could remain satisfied by worshipping such gods only? Their principal god was Visnu. If Visnu cannot be given a deity-form the essence of their own religion would die down and will not appeal to the newly initiated people swarming around them. That is why making an image of Visnu became extremely necessary. But it is almost an impossible task to make a sensible image of Visnu as would reflect the all-pervading nature of the god. It can be proved that the idea of all-pervading nature of Visnu prevailed in the religio-philosophic thoughts of the time when image-making was so necessary i.e.in the 5th century B.C.. What is the solution then? It appears that a pragmatic and philosophically sound solution was contrived by accepting Shalagrama as an image of Visnu. Before penetrating into the theological issue we have to know the concept of Visnu. Visnu as a Vedic God It cannot be known with certainty if Visnu as a god or some traits of the god embodied in some other form which existed among the original people of India from pre-Vedic age. The possibility of this is remote. But during Vedic period there is no evidence giving trace of Visnu among the non-Aryan people. In Rigveda Visnu as a god occupied a subordinate position. He is celebrated in not more than five whole hymns and in part in another, while his name occurs only about 100 times. A.A.Macdonnel, Vedic Mythology, motilal Vanarasidas, Delhi, 1981, p-37. Considering the volume of Rigveda Visnu thus may be said to be rendered to be a deity of fourth rank. The only anthropomorphic traits of Visnu are the frequently mentioned strides which he takes. Idam Visnurvicakrame tredhanidadhe (1.22.17.) This taking of three strides is mentioned in different places about a dozen times. With these three strides Visnu is described as travelling earth or the terrestrial spaces. Two of these steps or spaces are visible to men but the third or highest step is beyond the flight of birds or mortal ken (1.155.5). The opinion that Visnu’s three steps refer to the course of the sun is almost unanimous. But it is doubtful if the three steps mean the rising, culminating and setting of the sun as conceived by most European and some Indian scholars. The alternative view that prevails throughout the younger Vedas, Brahmanas as well as post-Vedic literature and supported by Yaska’s predecessor Sakapuni to which Macdonnel also contributes Ibid. p-38. interpretes the three steps as the course of the solar deity through the three divisions of the universe. Here the third step of Visnu by no means is connected with sun-set, but on the contrary is identical with the highest step. Visnu’s highest step has been conceived of as his distinct abode which has been called as Visnupada(R.V.154.5) Hopkins seems to be correct when he argues that Visnu’s later popularity lay in the importance of the “highest step or place”, the home of the departed spirits, where he himself is said to dwell. Discussed by J. Gonda in his book : Aspects of Early Vaisnavism, Motilal Vanarasidas, Delhi, p- 2 Vedic Visnu is a solar god not in the general character of the sun but as the personified swiftly luminary which with vast strides traverses the universe. The mystic expression about his third step Visnupada has been the cause of attributing a different personality to this god in later times. The second characteristic of Visnu is in his friendship with Indra. Indra is the ideal deity of the warrior class occupying the most important position in R.V.. Indra allied with Visnu in his fight with Vritra (6.22.2). Visnu and Indra together triumphed over the Dasa, destroyed Sambara’s 99 castles and conquered the hosts of Varchin (7.99.4and5).Visnu is Indra’s intimate friend. Thirdly, Visnu is a benevolent god. The reason of his traversing the universe is for helping the distressed and bestowing on man dwelling, progeny, wealth and health (R.V.6.49.13.and 7.100.4.) Subsequently Visnu takes a foremost place among the twelve Adityas or distinct forms of the sun in the twelve months of the year. In the Brahmanas myths are there connected with Visnu, the source of which can be traced to the R.V.. Visnu in alliance with Indra is always victorious in R.V.. But in Brahmana texts gods and demons are two hostile hosts and the gods are often worsted by the demons. The gods therefore have to take recourse to tricks. In Aitareya Brahmana(6.15) it is stated how Indra and Visnu befooled the Asuras by agreeing in a conflict to accept only that much as Visnu could stride over in three steps. Asuras had no point to disagree. Visnu strode over these worlds, the Vedas and speech leaving nothing for the Asuras. In Satapatha Brahmana(1.2.5.) the myth appears in a different way. The Asuras having conquered the gods agreed to allow them for their existence as much space as Visnu, a dwarf, could lie on. Then the gods by sacrificing with Visnu, who was equal in size of sacrifice, gained the whole earth. Elaboration of the story can be found elsewhere. Visnu comes to figure more prominently and definitely as the personification of sacrifice in the Brahmanas. The sacrifice is, indeed, according to Brahmanas , the universal principle of life (S.B.14.3.2.1). “ Now, this! to wit, the sacrifice – is the self (atma) of all beings; of all gods, after its successful consummation the sacrificer prospers in off springs and cattle……….it leads to heaven, has a nutritive function, is happiness itself”. Visnu is not only constantly declared to be the sacrifice (S.B.5.2.3.6; 5.4.5.1.) he is also the protector of the oblations (Vajasaneyi Samhita 1.4.7.20). Besides, the sacrifice is identified with him (V.S 4.10; S.B. 3.2.1.17.). In TattiriyaSamhita (1.7.4) we are told that ‘Visnu is verily the sacrifice’ Visnu vai yajna. Prajapati was identified with yajna. In the Rgveda itself Prajapati was associated with Visnu. One may perhaps venture the hypothesis that Visnu was in a sense Prajapati’s successor. Ibid. p- 79. We have produced ample evidence of Visnu’s accretion in importance during Brahmanic Period. It will be interesting now to examine position of the god in the post Brahmanic period. It is necessary to remember that during the Upanisadic period the speculations connected with yajna and the god concept settled down to a philosophic plane upholding pantheism. The idea of one omnipotent omniscient and omniexistent god with the appellation Brahman was developed during this period. God is the protector of all beings, is the lord of all and dwells in the heart of man, in blissful condition a wise man having purification of soul attains to perfect similarity with the supreme soul. Narrated in the Mundak Upanisad The quest of Upanisad is to know the self (Atmajnana). The sages came to the realization that the individual soul (Jivatma or Bhutatma purusa) is without beginning or end, is invisible, immortal and is only knowable by reflection. When the Paramatma or Brahman or Purusa bedews the five primordial elements (Kshiti, Ap, Tej, Marut and Byom) it produces the living body and becomes by its action evident. There is no difference between the human soul and Soul of the world. Human soul is the condescending manifestation of Paramatma’. Philosophy of Purusa –Visnu and Human-centricity of the religion The above realization is not dissociated with the Vedas, rather it is rooted in the Purusa Sukta of the 10th Mandala of Rigveda. So far as philosophy of R.V. is concerned the Purusa Sukta seems to be most significant part. The first mantra reveals the philosophy in capsule Sahasrasirsa purusah sahasraksa sahasrapat Sa bhumim visvato vritvatyatishthad dasangulam. (Purusa is the all pervading power, the emanated force behind every living and non-living beings and stays in human heart in a space ten fingers wide.) It means that although everything is manifestation of Purusa his highest manifestation is in human heart. Philosophically it means Purusa is the Macrocosm and human being is the microcosm. Human being is the finite form of the Infinite Being, the Supernal Man. There is no elemental difference between the two. The unitary power that created everything has created man as well, and in man the power rests as efficient cause of creation. This is not a fallacy because cause is not different from effect. Time is the factor that creates difference between the two. Nabhyeti karanam karyam na karyam karanam tatha Karyanantupakarane kalo bhabati hetuman (The seed produces the tree and the tree again produces the seed. What is cause today is effect tomorrow and what is effect today is cause tomorrow.) During the period of Sutra literature, i.e. close to 5thcentury B.C. there had been a further development in the thought process. As we have explained before, it became imperative now to make an image of a personal god for worship purpose. We have seen that by this time Visnu assumed prime importance being the god of sacrifice. The ideas obtained in the Upanisads, i.e. the theory of Brahman and atman has to remain unaffected and at the same time a personal god had to be conceived of. This could possibly be done by conferring the concept of Brahman or Purusa on Visnu. Here we like to propose a point that has not yet been developed by scholars but that can be substantiated by evidence. As is usual in India’s literary history, to search evidence of an incident literature current in that time is not of much help. We have to search literature of considerably later times. Our proposition is that when the mantle of Purusa of Rigveda was conferred on Visnu the idea of Visnu’s incarnation as Avatara did not take place. That was an incident of later time. Purusa’s conversion to Visnu presumably took place at the very outset of acceptance of puja when bhakti was yet to occupy an important place in Brahmanic ritual. On the other hand the theory of Visnu’s incarnation or a human hero Krisna’s assuming the position of the almighty celestial god, were inventions of a later time when bhakti was running riot. We like to say, adhering to logical sequence, that as a bridge between personal and impersonal god there was a phase of comingling between Purus and Visnu. The time in question should be 5th century B.C. or close to that when puja was first introduced. We have to collect evidence from later literature of this admixing of Purusa and Visnu-Krisna Adhibhutam ksharobhavah Purusaschadhidaivatam Adhiyajnah ayamevatra dehe dehabhritambara, (All transient things are bedewed with Purusa, the supreme god. Myself (Krisna) in this body am the Supreme god indivisible with Purusa) The Gita – 8.4. Elsewhere Param Brahma param dhama pabitram paramam bhaban Purusam saswatam divyamadhidevamajam bibhum. (Arjuna said, O Lord, You are the supreme self, the place of last refuge, the salvager of all. You are all-pervading, eternal, the unborn, the supernal man) The Gita -10,11. In the above few lines what has been attempted to establish is that when making an image of the Vedic God for worship purpose became an imperative the godhead of the Aryans was Visnu comingled with Purusa of the Purusa Sukta of Rigveda. By Purusa the Vedic Risis meant the all-pervading productive power of Nature and its best play-ground was observed as human heart. Human heart as the Supreme abode of Visnu The tenacity shown to establish identity of Visnu with Purusa is just to discover a figurative notion of the god which presumably worked in the minds of the Rishis to conceive of an image of Visnu. The god is having thousand heads, thousand eyes, thousand feet which means that he is in everything, he is all-pervading. This all-pervading characteristic was there in the concept of Brahman as well, but the second interesting feature that is associated with the concept of Purusa is that he dwells overwhelmingly in human heart (atisthaddasangulam). Purusa-Visnu stays in an area ten fingers wide which is nothing but the human heart. In Atharva Veda we find Benastat pashyat paramam guha yad yatra visvam bhavatyekarupam. (2.1.1.1.) [Bena(Aditya) found that supreme being in the hollow of every creatures heart in a condition of unity} Kathopanisad mentions Angustha-matrah puruso madhya atmani tisthati (2.1.12) (The person of the size of a thumb resides in the middle of the body) In the Taittiriya Aranyaka (10.38.1.) the same idea is there. In all probability the person of the size of a thumb indicates the human heart where lives paramatma. In later literatures plenty of support may be found of the above proposition. The Gita says: Iswara sarvabhutanam hriddeseh Arjuna tisthati Bhramayan sarvabhutani yantrarurhani mayaya (Oh Arjuna! the god of all living beings stays in the hearts of all beings as their souls and by his maya propels everybody to work like machines) Elsewhere: Ahamatma Gudakesha sarvabhutasayasthita (Oh! Gurakesha (Arjuna) , I am the soul residing in everybody’s heart) In Prapanna Gita we find Twaya Hrisikesha hridisthitena yatha niyukto’hashmi tatha karomi (Oh! the indwelling god Hrishikesha (Visnu) ! For whatever task I an appointed by you I shall be obliged to do that ). Mystery of Shalagrama revealed Before presenting our view on the issue of Shalagrama-worship it seems necessary to say something about the material identity of the object and the views offered by the Puranas justifying worship of this object as an image of Visnu. The science that deals with living creatures is known as zoology and the science that deals with creatures that appeared in this earth and had been extinct long back is known as palaeontology. The palaeontologists informed us that the object which is worshipped now as a deity-form of Visnu is in fact the fossil of a marine creature called Ammonite. The Ammonites were the predominant creatures in the sea during the Jurassic period i.e. the period between18 and 6.5 crores of years back. After a long span of domination in the sea those have been extinct 6.5 crores of years back. Fossils of these creatures are now found in coastal regions as well as in the river Kaligandaki in Nepal. This is because three crores of years back the Himalayas had been thrown up by the dash of two geological plates and everything at the bottom of the sea had come up. Now it is necessary to mention what has been said in the Puranas regarding the deism of Shalagrama. In Brahmabaibarta Purana it has been narrated that once a demon, Sankhachur, became exceedingly powerful. After getting over-lordship of the world he aspired to be the king of heaven as well. Struggle with the gods became inevitable. One after another the gods were being defeated by him and thus confrontation with Siva became inevitable. Almighty Siva also could not defeat him in a prolonged struggle. This is because Sankhachur had two immunities. First, as long as he would have in his arm a consecrated amulet he would remain unconquerable in battle and, second, as long as his wife, Tulasi’s chastity would remain unimpaired he would not be liable to be killed by anybody. In this situation all the gods appeared before Visnu and requested him to remedy the peril of Sankhachur. Visnu assured the gods of a remedy and bereaved Sankhachur of the two immunities he was blessed with falling back on heinous acts most un-becoming of a good soul. First, taking the guise of a Brahmana he appeared before Sankhachur and begged for his consecrated amulet. Sankhachur agreed to give the same because with his generous mind he could not think of anything that could not be given to a Brahmana. Then Visnu played the second shameful tricks. In the guise of Sankhachur, seated in a war chariot, he appeared before Tulasi who thought that her husband has come back being victorious in the battle. Taking the earliest opportunity Visnu united with Tulasi sexually and made her unchaste. Having lost the immunities through the deceitful act of Visnu Sankhachur now fall an easy victim to Siva’s weapons. But this deception of Visnu did not remain secret to Tulasi for long. Being infuriated Tulasi cursed Visnu telling that people uselessly call him a benevolent god, in reality his heart is as insensate as stone otherwise he could not play such a treacherous act. Tulasi imprecated Visnu to be converted into stone. At this imprecation Visnu was converted to Shalagrama. Again at the desire of Visnu Tulasi was converted to river Gandaki where Visnu took shelter as Shalagrama. In Padma Purana more or less the same story has been told but in a different form. I think no sensible person will agree to the filthy stories of the Puranas. It has been established before that when image-making of the principal Aryan god Visnu was necessitated the god in question was intermingled with the philosophic idea of Purusa of the Purusa Sukta of Rigveda and his dwelling place was ascertained to be the heart of all living beings as their soul. What could be the image of such a god? Nevertheless a form of the formless power is essentially needed for worship purpose. What is the solution then? The solution was found in the Purusa Sukta itself. When it has observed that a space ten fingers wide, i.e. human heart, is the most significant dwelling place of Purusa-Visnu, then that heart itself may be considered as the personified form of Visnu and accepted as his image. What else could be done? The highest manifestation of the Supreme power has been observed in man. If man is started to be worshipped as image of Visnu confusion is sure to arise. Hence it is better that the favoured seat of the existence of the Lord, human-heart, is accepted as an image of Visnu. Now, what may be an ideal replica of human-heart? Anything made of its shape and size may be treated as a replica of human heart. It may be cut out of stone, wood, earth or any other material. But in that case its credibility and sacredness become questionable. On the contrary if we get an object which is a creation of nature, of the shape and size of human-heart, available sparingly in some special places and that too under water making it an awe inspiring object, that certainly becomes a better choice. Shalagrama is preferred on that ground. Its size is more or less of the size of human heart, its shape bears some special resemblance with human heart as it is not a solid mass and contains perforations as if passages for vein and artery. It also has some peculiar signs on its surface which gave scope to later Pundits for explaining those as disk, sacramental thread (paita), garland etc. of Lord Visnu. Acceptance of Shalagrama as a replica of human heart and as an image of Visnu, therefore, is appropriate on all counts. This seems to be the real reason for introduction of worship of Shalagrama, a good replica of human heart, as an image of Visnu. There is no aniconism in it. It is a contrivance for embodiment of a lofty philosophic idea for better perception. It is recognition of internalization of the germ of the World-Power in man. It is a most inspiring and hallowing phenomenon in the whole history of mankind. Purusa , and later Visnu, the omnipotent and omni-existent god is best manifested in human energy, human thoughts and human activities. This speaks of the infinite potential of human power. God is to be searched nowhere else other than the human heart. Awareness of this lofty ideal is beneficial for the whole mankind. ‘Atmanam viddhi’, know thyself, is the ultimate dictum. The rule of daily worship of Shalagrama vouchsafes the proposition that the same has been conceived of as human heart. In respect of other deities there is no binding of daily worship. Worship of those deities can be done according to the free will of the worshipper. But Shalagrama is to be worshipped daily because Visnu or Paramatma lives in living hearts of man. When a man ceases living the soul immediately deserts the heart. The metaphysics of Shalagrama is that it is a living heart. Now, life is conditioned by food and drink. If food and drinks are stopped vibration of heart stops and the soul passes out of that stale heart. The heart, therefore, has to be kept alive by providing food and drink daily. The explanation put forward by us regarding Shalagrama worship, we believe, is no innovation. It is rediscovery of the real meaning that had been lost. It is no surprise that many lofty ideas of man go into oblivion. Why only ideas? We have plenty of evidence that some best works of art and architecture had to be rediscovered after being lost. The wonderful paintings of Ajanta, the huge monastery of Sompur in Bangladesh, the enigmatic temple of Angkorwat in Cambodia and many more objects of art and architecture went out of sight and mind of men and by sheer chance had to be discovered again. Hence there is nothing strange that the thought behind an object will be lost. A question may be raised why the reason of accepting Shalagrama as an image of Visnu has not been mentioned in any religious literature? Our humble submission is that not only Shalagrama, an extremely important event like the transition of Vedic sacrifice to non-Vedic image-worship also finds no mention in any religious literature. But there is no gainsaying that the transition took place. The reason of no mention is probably that the Aryans never accepted image-worship with pleasure or satisfaction. They had to accept it under pressure. An act that does not proclaim glory of the Aryans rather betrays their weakness was deliberately avoided to be mentioned in any contemporary literature. This seems to be a plausible explanation why the transition of sacrifice to image-worship as also the back-ground story of acceptance of Shalagrama as an image of Visnu remained untold. All that has been said in this work helps to reconcile the apparent divorce between the Jnana Kanda (Knowledge part) and the Karma Kanda (Work part) of Hinduism. The religion that proclaims Tat tvamasi , So’ham or Sarvam khallidam Brahman makes images of gods side by side and worships those in temples. The contradiction is mitigated when it is observed that the image worshipped is self-image. Establishment of the doctrine that the highest god, i.e. Visnu represented by Shalagrama, is inseparably connected with human body, will uphold the supremacy of mankind of all times and all places. Here lies the boundless magnanimity of Hinduism. There is no point in searching an external god in heaven and stretching out arms upwards for receiving his grace. Cultivate inwardness to search your own god. That is the message of pristine Hinduism and the idea is very well translated in the concept of Shalagrama worship. Shankaracharya has endorsed searching of god within oneself and has preached Atma puja (self-worship) Deho devalaya prokto jiva-devah sadasiva Tyajedajnana nirmalyam so’ham bhavena pujayet. (Know your body as a temple and the soul within as the Supreme god and worship that god with the realization ‘He am I’.)