Doing Pradakshina Clockwise
Why is pradakshina done only in a clockwise manner :
The reason is not, as a person said, to avoid a traffic jam! As we do pradakshina, the Lord is always on our right. In India the right side symbolizes auspiciousness. So as we circumambulate the sanctum sanctorum we remind ourselves to lead an auspicious life of righteousness, with the Lord who is the indispensable source of help and strength, as our guide – the “right hand”.
Indian scriptures enjoin – matrudevo bhava, pitrudevo bhava, acharyadevo bhava. May you consider your parents and teachers as you would the Lord. With this in mind we also do pradakshina around our parents and divine personages.
After the completion of traditional worship (pooja), we customarily do pradakshina around ourselves. In this way we recognize and remember the supreme divinity within us, which alone is idolized in the form of the Lord that we worship outside.
From the words of Sadhguru
Sadhguru: Pradakshina means circumambulation. Circumambulation means going in a clockwise direction, particularly in the northern hemisphere. In the northern hemisphere of the planet, this is a natural phenomenon. If you notice closely, many natural phenomenon turn clockwise above the Equator and anticlockwise below it. It is not just with air or water, the very energy system functions like this.
This is why if there is an energetic place in the northern hemisphere, and you want to derive benefit from or absorb the energy, you must go clockwise around it. If you want to benefit more, your hair should be wet. If you want to benefit even more, your clothes should also be wet. If you want to benefit still more, you must go around naked. But wet clothes are probably better than nakedness because the body dries up very soon. Clothes remain wet for a long time. So wet clothes are the best way to go around any energy space because you will receive it best – you are most receptive that way.
This is why if there is an energetic place in the northern hemisphere, and you want to derive benefit from or absorb the energy, you must go clockwise around it. If you want to benefit more, your hair should be wet. If you want to benefit even more, your clothes should also be wet. If you want to benefit still more, you must go around naked. But wet clothes are probably better than nakedness because the body dries up very soon. Clothes remain wet for a long time. So wet clothes are the best way to go around any energy space because you will receive it best – you are most receptive that way.
A Vortex of Energies
When you go clockwise, you are moving with certain natural forces. Any consecrated space functions like a vortex which means that it reverberates, and it also draws. Both ways, an intermingling of what we are referring to as the divine and what we are calling as the self, happens. The idea in this culture is that we don’t want to meet God, we don’t want to go to heaven and sit on his lap. Here, we want to become God – we are very ambitious people. We are not looking at seeing the divine. We want to realize and become divine. The idea of being in a consecrated space is to constantly allow this transaction to happen, so that gradually, the living body itself becomes like a divine entity. If you want, you can keep this body like a beast. Or you can make it like a sacred form or divinity.
Going clockwise around a consecrated space is a simple way of receiving this possibility. Particularly from the equator up to thirty-three degrees latitude, this is very intense. That is why we set up most temples within this region because this is where you get maximum benefit. You can clearly see that as you go up north, temples were set up mainly for devotion. In the south, the devotion aspect is there but the most important thing is they are scientifically constructed in a certain way – magnificent structures which took lifetimes to create
