Rudrāksha Māhātmya

The rudrāksha is the seed of the Elaeocarpus ganitrus tree. Its name means “eye of Rudra” (Rudra-aksha), and it is held to be the holiest ornament a devotee of Śiva can wear. The Brahmottara Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Purāṇa gives a long Rudrāksha Māhātmya (glory of the rudrāksha).

It shows that even animals who wore rudrākshas were reborn in high human births. The power of the rudrāksha works whatever the wearer’s varṇa, knowledge or intention. Even a monkey and a rooster, dressed in rudrākshas as a costume, received the merit of wearing them and were reborn as a prince of Kāśmīra and the son of his minister.

The Rudrāksha Belongs to Śiva

The rudrāksha is Śaṅkarātmaka: it carries the very nature of Śiva. One who honours the rudrāksha with bhakti (devotion) every day gains rāja-rāja-śrī, royal prosperity, even if once poor. Japa (repeating a mantra) done with a rudrāksha mālā (string of beads) gives ananta-phala, endless fruit, while the same japa without rudrāksha gives only alpa-phala, a small fruit.

“A person on whose body not even one rudrāksha is found has wasted their birth.”

How Many to Wear, and Where

The ideal number of rudrākshas for each part of the body:

One who always wears 1,000 rudrākshas is honoured by all the devas as Rudra himself. Even wearing sixteen on each arm alone is thought to bring great merit.

When they are worn together with pearls, coral, crystal, silver, vaiḍūrya (cat’s-eye gem) or gold, the rudrākshas become even more auspicious, and the wearer takes on the nature of Śiva.

The Mukhī Types

Rudrākshas are sorted by the number of natural lines, called mukhīs or “faces”, that run from top to bottom on each bead:

• Eka-mukha (one face): the rarest and most powerful
• Pañca-mukha (five faces): the most common and most widely used
• Ekādaśa-mukha (eleven faces)
• Caturdaśa-mukha (fourteen faces)

All kinds are called loka-pūjita, honoured in all the worlds.

Rudrāksha in Japa and Bathing

• Japa done while holding a rudrāksha mālā gives ananta (endless) fruit.
• One who bathes with a rudrāksha tied on the head receives the fruit of bathing in the Gaṅgā (gaṅgā-snāna-phala).
• Pūjā to a rudrāksha, even without abhisheka (a water offering), gives the same fruit as pūjā to a Śiva-liṅga.

The Fruits of Wearing Rudrāksha

• All pāpas fall away, like darkness before the sun.
• The wearer is protected from every dosha (fault or harm).
• With one thousand rudrākshas, the wearer is honoured by the devas as Rudra himself.
• At death, the wearer rises through the realms of all the lokapālas (guardians of the worlds) one by one, and finally reaches Śivaloka.
• Wearing rudrāksha in even one birth creates pūrvajñāna, a pull carried over from the past life, so that in later births the ātmā naturally reaches again for the rudrāksha.

Examples from the Stories

Mahānandā’s Monkey and Rooster

Mahānandā, a gaṇikā (courtesan and dancer) of Nandigrāma, dressed her pet monkey and rooster in rudrāksha ornaments for her dance performances. These animals wore the rudrākshas without any understanding or intention, yet they received the merit of wearing them. When they died (the monkey was lost in a fire, and the rooster too), they were reborn as Sudharmā, son of Bhadrasena, king of Kāśmīra, and Tāraka, son of the minister. In this new birth they naturally went back to wearing rudrākshas and refused all other ornaments, even when the royal court pressed them.

Sudharmā and Tāraka, the Boys of Kāśmīra

King Bhadrasena of Kāśmīra asked the ṛshi Parāśara why his son Sudharmā and the minister’s son Tāraka refused all gold ornaments and would wear only rudrākshas. Parāśara told him the story of their past life as the monkey and the rooster. He also said that these two boys, through their past rudrāksha merit and their present devotion, would reach Śivaloka in this very birth.

Sources

• Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 20