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A mother places the traditional mark on her daughter\u2019s forehead. These sectarian marks, called tilaka, are beautiful, meaningful symbols. The Saiva tripundra and pottu are inset (lower left).<\/em>\u00a7<\/a><\/p>\n SHUTTERSTOCK<\/small>\u00a7<\/a><\/p>\n O<\/samp><\/span>ur forehead marks are a distinctive Hindu cultural and spiritual practice. We wear red or black dots, white stripes and designs in sandalwood paste. Most marks are sectarian. They tell the world which Hindu tradition we follow. Worshipers of Lord Vishnu often wear a U-shaped tilaka made of clay. Saivites wear three stripes of white sacred ash, called\u00a0vibhuti<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0tiruniru<\/em>, across their forehead. This mark is called a\u00a0tripundra<\/em>. These practices have mystical explanations. Holy ash can be seen by the devas in the inner worlds, especially during puja. This allows them to better help us. The holy ash signifies purity and the burning away of the soul\u2019s three bonds: anava, karma and maya. Wearing it brings the blessings and protection of God Siva. It also reminds us of the temporary nature of the physical body and inspires us to strive without delay for God Siva\u2019s grace. A dot is often worn just below the middle of the forehead. It is called\u00a0bindi<\/em>\u00a0in Hindi and\u00a0pottu<\/em>\u00a0in Tamil and is used by Hindus of all sects. Said to represent the \u201cthird eye\u201d of spiritual sight, it is a reminder to use our mind\u2019s eye or inner vision and not just see life with our physical eyes. A red bindi can indicate a woman is married. A black one, especially on a child, is intended for protection. The sacraments passed out after a puja in a Saivite temple include vibhuti, kumkum and sandalwood. Both men and women apply all three. Women usually use a smaller amount of ash on the forehead than men. Visitors to a Hindu home are often blessed first at the doorway with a pottu. We proudly wear our forehead marks, knowing they distinguish us as devout Hindus.\u00a7<\/a><\/p>\n GURUDEVA:<\/small><\/strong>\u00a0We wear the pure white ash to alert the devas that we are members of this religion. This vibhuti is a sign, a way of saying, \u201cWe seek your help, and we seek your blessings.\u201d And by seeing the ash, they can distinguish your face. \u2026The dot worn on the forehead is a sign that one is a Hindu. The dot has a mystical meaning. It represents the third eye of spiritual sight, which sees things the physical eyes cannot see.\u00a7<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A mother places the traditional mark on her daughter\u2019s forehead. These sectarian marks, called tilaka, are beautiful, meaningful symbols. The Saiva tripundra and pottu are inset (lower left).\u00a7 SHUTTERSTOCK\u00a7 Our forehead marks are a distinctive Hindu cultural and spiritual practice. We wear red or black dots, white stripes and designs in sandalwood paste. Most marks are sectarian. They tell the world which Hindu tradition we follow. Worshipers of Lord Vishnu often wear a U-shaped tilaka made of clay. Saivites wear three stripes of white sacred ash, called\u00a0vibhuti\u00a0or\u00a0tiruniru, across their forehead. This mark is called a\u00a0tripundra. These practices have mystical explanations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-path-to-siva-a-catechism-for-youth","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u00a7<\/a><\/p>\n