About Dwarka Shila
The Glories of Dwaraka-Shila-
The Varaha Purana says that whoever touches a Dwarka Shila with the mark of a Vishnu-Chakra will become free of all sins. The Garuda Purana declares that simply the Darshana of all Dwaraka-Shila fulfils all desires. The Skanda Purana declares that without a doubt if a very sinful man worships a Dwaraka-Shila with devotion, or even without devotion, he becomes free from all sinful reactions. According to the Dwaraka Mahatmya, a Shila marked with Chakras coming from Dwaraka is also called Chakra-Tirtha. Even if this Shila is worshipped by a sinful person from a degraded country, the worshiper still becomes liberated.
As per Brahma Purana the worshipper of Dwarka Shilas along with Shaligrama Shilas bestows the devotee with liberation, opulence, gives one respect equal to Lord Indra, brings religious thinking, economic development, worldly comforts, all sorts of enjoyment, remove the fear of birth and death, will give one beauty and wealth, gives fame and a continuation of ones dynasty, kingship, lordship, gives sons, grandsons, wealth, power, peace, extreme protection and Vaikuntha Dhama.
Identifying Symbols of Dwaraka-Shilas –
The Prahlada Samhita states that a Dvaraka-Shila with one prominent Wheel (Chakra) is known as Sudarshana, a Shila with two Chakras is Lakshmi-Narayana, and one with three Chakras is Trivikrama. The Shila marked with four Chakras is Janardana, with five Chakras is Vasudeva, with six Chakras is Pradyumna, and with seven Chakras is Baladeva. The one that has eight Chakras is called Purushottama, with nine Chakras Navavyuha, with ten Chakras is Dashmurti, and with eleven Chakras is Aniruddha. That Dwaraka-Shila with twelve Chakras is Dvadasatmaka, and one with more than twelve Chakras is known as Ananta. The shape of the Dwarka Shila also determines the type of the Shila.
Benefits of Different Types of Dwaraka-Shilas-
The Kapila-Pancaratra explains the benefits of worshiping different types of Dwaraka-Shilas. That charming shila known as Sudarsana, which has one Chakra on it, gives one liberation. The Lakshmi-Narayana Dvaraka-Shila with two Chakras gives opulence and liberation, and an Acyuta-Shila with three Chakras gives one respect equal to Lord Indra. The Shila known as Chaturbhuja with four Chakras brings religious thinking, economic development, enjoyment, and liberation. A Vasudeva-Shila, Which has five Chakras, will remove the fear of birth and death, and a Pradyumna-Shila with six Chakras will give one beauty and wealth.
The one called Balabhadra-Shila
With seven Chakras gives fame and a continuation of ones dynasty, while a Purushottama-Shila with eight Chakras gives all types of benedictions. With nine Chakras, a Narasimhadeva-Shila gives the highest benefits, and a Dashavatara Dwaraka-Shila with ten Chakras gives kingship.
An Aniruddha-Shila,
Which has eleven Chakras, give fame and lordship, and the one known as Dwadasatmaka-shila with twelve Chakras gives liberation and happiness. – The Kapila-Pancaratra also describes that the white Shila gives sons, grandsons, wealth, power, and all types of happiness, so this type of Shila should be adored. Garga and Galava Rishis have stated that a Dwarka Shilas with uniform Chakras brings happiness, a twelve or more Chakra Shila is very auspicious, and round and square shilas give happiness.
Worshiping Shaligrama-Shila
With Dwaraka-Shila-The Brahma Purana states that wherever Shalagrama-Shila and Dvaraka-Shila sitting together are worshipped, certainly salavation or mukti resides there. In the conversation between Brahma and Narada in the Skanda Purana Brahma says, O Munishvara! Wherever Dwaraka-Shila sits in front of the Shalagrama-Shila every class of opulence goes on increasing unlimitedly. In another place it says that one who daily worships Dvaraka-Shila along with twelve Shalagrama-Shila will be honored even in Vaikuntha-dhama. It was mentioned earlier that in the Vaishnava tradition, the worship of the Dvararvati-stone (obtained from the Gomati river in Dvaraka) along with the salagrama-stone is considered meritorious, for the latter variety of stones are special forms assumed by Krishna himself.
The chakra-mark
Is the most distinguishing feature of the Dvarvati stones, and hence they are called chakrankita-sila. According to Garuda-purana, there are twelve varieties of this stone, owing to the number of chakras, colours and forms (dasadha cha prabhinnas ta varnakrti-vibhedatah). When there is only one chakra, the stone is called Devesa; when there are two chakras, it is Sudarshana; three chakras represent the deity Ananta. When there are four chakras, the stone is Janardana. Vasudeva is represented by the stone having five chakras, Pradyumna by six chakras, Bala-bhadra by seven, Purushottama by eight, Nava-vyuha by nine, Dasavatara by ten, Aniruddha by eleven and Dvadastma by twelve. Nava-vyuha represents the collection of nine forms of Vishnu: Vasudeva, Samkarshana, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, Narayana, Hayagriva, Vishnu, Nrsimha and Varaha. The first four forms are well known as chatur-vyuha. The twelve major forms of Vishnu are derived from these nine forms, according to the Tantra-siddhanta division of Pancharatra.
The text also indicates the specific rewards for worshipping each of these twelve varieties of Dvaravati-silas: 1) and 2) salvation; 3) freedom from the fear of births and deaths 4) fulfillment of desires; 5) obtainment of prosperity and elimination of enemies; 6) wealth and lustre; 7) continuation of progeny and celebrity; 8) satisfaction of all that one aspires for; 9) rewards which are difficult even for the gods to obtain; 10) sovereignty and prosperity; 11) lordship; and 12) final emancipation. The stones having more chakras fulfill whatever one longs for, when worshipped.
Prahlada-samhita
Quoted in Salagrama-pariksha (by Anupasimha) gives the first few names differently. The Dvaravati-sila with only one chakra is called Sudarsana, with two chakras Lakshmi-narayana and with three Trivikrama. The rest of the names are the same as given above. The name Ananta is given to stones have more than twelve chakras. The name for Dasavatara in the above list is given here as Dasamurti. When the chakras are more than twelve, only even numbered chakras are to be preferred, according to Galava-smrtir.
