Rudraksha Beads - Introduction

The word ‘Rudraksha’ has originated from the two Sanskrit words ‘Rudra’ and ‘Aksha’ which means ‘tears of lord shiva’. Regarding the Origin of Rudraksha Beads it is said in Shiva Purana that Lord Shiva was meditating for thousands of years and when he finally opened his eyes he saw that the humanbeings were in a deplorable state and hot tears rolled down his eyes and fell on the ground and mother earth gave birth to Rudraksha trees.

There is no ornament worn on a humanbody which is as auspicious and powerful as these beads. Rudraksha is said to be Rudra's (Lord Shiva) gift to the mankind. Anyone who wears Rudraksha with devotion is like Rudra himself. Shastras speak of 1 to 38 mukhis in Rudraksha but normally 1 to 14 mukhis are used for astrological purposes and the rest are rare and special beads. The common mantras for all beads is "Om Namah Shivaya" and "Mahamrityunjaya Mantra".

The scientific name of the tree from which rudraksha comes from is called ‘Elaeocarpus sphaericus’. 70% of the trees are found in the Javanese Islands of Indonesia, 25% in Nepal and 5% in India. Rudraksha beads are said to contain approximately 50% carbon, 1% nitrogen, 18% hydrogen and 31% oxygen. Rudraksh is also known by names Shivaksh,Neelkantaksh,Shivbindu, Shivpriya, Paavan, Sarvaksh, Haraksh or Bhutanashan. Rudraksh Beads are normally found in four colours:- White, Red, Black and mixed colour.

There are mentions of Rudraksha beads in ancient scriptues like Padmapurana, Shiva purana and Srimad Devi Bhagavatam about the wonderful powers of this beads.Rudraksha Beads are known to work by sight, touch, possession and worship. Researches have been done on rudraksha beads confirming its ability in healing and curing many diseases. It is proved that 'Rudraksha Therapy' gives better results than gem or magnetic therapy in curing many diseases! Find more on rudraksha power of individual beads in my further posts.