Why We Do Pradakshina

PRADAKSHINA—Its Significance


The term ‘Pradakshina’ is an age-old devotional practice, generally associated with the visit to a temple. Before the devotees enter the shrine that houses the deity, they go round the temple, normally three times, as a token of their reverence and self-surrender to the deity. This is called Pradakshina or circumambulation.

Any visit to a temple is generally followed by raising our thoughts from the mundane to the sublime and spiritual. Being active all- through with worldly thoughts, to raise the thoughts to a higher level cannot be achieved all of us a sudden and it does take time for the transformation. The Pradakshina provides this time. The time taken during Pradakshina gradually halts the flow of mundane thoughts and brings the deep-seated feelings of devotion to the devotee’s surface-consciousness, before he is actually face to face with the Deity. With a view to having better results, most of the devotees during Pradakshina resort to Namajapam, either reciting it in a low tone or with a Japamala [Rosary], the moment they enter the temple premises.. Having gone through these preparations, the devotee is usually rewarded by a rapturous communion with the Divine at the time of Darshan.

It is customary to do the Pradakshina in a clockwise direction, keeping the object of devotion to our right side. Right is normally considered auspicious as opposed to the anti-clockwise movement which is considered inauspicious. That is why we go round in an anti-clockwise direction during an inauspicious occasion like going round a funeral pyre during the last rites of a dead body. In fact, even in the English language we hear of the phrase ‘keep the person always on the right’, implying that the person is to be kept in good humour as we expect his guidance and help.

In the ‘Shabdakalpadruma’ [which is a Literary Encyclopedia of the Sanskrit language written in 1850A.D.and which consists of 7 volumes, each volume to running about 1,000 pages and which took 36 years for completion], the word ‘Dakshina’ has been defined as ‘efficacy’ and ‘Pradakshina’ as ‘special efficacy’. In the light of this interpretation, Pradakshina enables a devotee to be more efficacious and deserving to receive the blessings of the Deity.

There is no definite rule about the number of Pradakshinas one is supposed to do. Normally three rounds are very much in vogue. Some people go round the temple 11 times, as number 11 is also considered auspicious. Occasionally a devotee goes round as many as 108 times for a specific purpose such as acknowledging the fulfillment of a specific wish, seeking the fulfillment of a specific desire, as an atonement or a Prayaschitta for having done a wrong deed, self-purification etc. When the Pradakshina route is very long as in the case of going round a hill [like the Giri Pradakshina for Arunachala Hill in Tiruvannamalai, which is as long as 13 kms], there is no binding that one should do it non-stop. The devotee may take rest at as many places as he wants. During such long Pradakshinas, it is customary for the devotee to go on reciting Namajapas mentally or chant the name of the Lord in a subdued tone or resort to Japa with the help of a rosary. This serves the purpose of meditation.

Just as we cannot draw a circle without a centre or a focal point, similarly the Pradaksina is a circle around the Deity as the focal point. Just as the centre is the focal point from which emanate the radii, the Grace of God emanates from the Deity and reaches the devotees who are all at equal distance from the Deity. This is just to remind the devotees that God makes no distinction whatsoever and that all the devotees are equally eligible for his grace.

It could be observed that during one Pradakshina that the devotee takes four right- angle turns by the time he returns to the starting point. It means he has turned himself around himself completely once, as he would have done if he had taken those four turns standing still at a place. Since the Self or Atma is felt to be inside the body, this would mean that he has made one Pradakshina around his own Self and this is called ‘Atma Pradakshina’ or Self-circumambulation. It is customary that after the Pradakshina around the Sanctum is completed, the devotee turns around himself, normally three times, which reminds him of the presence of Divinity within himself, which alone is idolized in the form of the Lord that we worship outside. As we circumambulate we chant:

Yani kaani cha paapani Janmantara kritani cha
Taani taani vinashyanti Pradakshina pade pade

This means “All sins committed by an individual from innumerable past births are destroyed by each step taken during Pradakshina”

In Pradakshina, it is observed that both concepts of Advaita and Dvaita are harmoniously blended. From the Dvaita standpoint, the object of Pradakshina is held to be outside, say inside the shrine. From the Advaita standpoint, the object id held inside as one’s own Self.

Pradakshina is also practiced around holy objects too, such as a Mahatma’s Samadhi, around a Brindavana [pot containing the Tulasi plant], around a hill like the Arunachala, a lake like Manasa Sarovara, a mountain like the Mount Kailas. Hindu marriages are sanctified by the Pradakshina of the bridal couple around the Agni. In the conduct of a Yagjna, going around the sacrificial fire in Pradakshina is an integral part of the proceedings.

In an esoteric language, Acharya Shankara defines Pradakshina as “Real Pradakshina is the meditation that thousands of universes are revolving around the Great God, the unmoving centre of all forms”. Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi beautifully explains the benefits of Pradakshina in the following words:

PRA stands for removal of all kinds of sins
DA stands for fulfilling all desires
KSHI stands for freedom from future births
NA stands for giving deliverance through Jnana.

B.M.N.Murthy

470--PRADAKSHINA, Its Significance
Created: Friday, October 24, 2008 11:04 AM