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namahsivaya
16 January 2011, 04:35 AM
Namaste friends,

I am looking to establish a daily sadhana that I can stick and adhere to. I personally am a very non-sectarian Hindu. I've heard before about each day of the week being dedicated to a particular deity, but never thought much of it. However, recently as I have been trying to establish a sadhana, I've been thinking about this and thought it would be a great idea.

I've searched around a bit, and as expected, there is no one definitive list of which deity is associated with which day of the week. But I have still found some common consistencies among different lists. Generally they are like this:

Sunday: Lord Surya
Monday: Lord Shiva
Tuesday: Lord Hanuman
Wednesday: Lord Vithal/Lord Krishna
Thursday: Lord Vishnu
Friday: Devi/Shakti
Saturday: Lord Shani

These two websites have good information:
http://hinduism.about.com/od/basics/ss/sevendays.htm
http://www.hindu-blog.com/2008/04/each-day-of-week-dedicated-to.html

As I said, I know there is no one definitive list, but these are commonalities I found among all the lists. I am wondering where the idea of these deities being associated with these days comes from? I mean is this referenced in any scriptures or does it have anything to do with jyotish? I'm just curious, as obviously there has to be some source as all of these that I listed are commonalities among all lists.

I am also wondering if anybody on this forum follows this practice or anything similar to this? I'm guessing this would be more popular with Hindus who aren't associated with a specific sect, like ISKCON or staunch Saivas or something. Is there any advice you have?

I'm thinking this would be a good sadhana for me to establish that I can stick to. I already do pray to all of the deities listed, except for the Sunday and Saturday ones, Lord Surya and Lord Shani. I know very little about them. Perhaps I will dedicate Sunday to Lord Ganesh, so that He may remove obstacles for the entire week. I noticed that Lord Ganesh isn't associated with any one particular day in most of the lists, but then again He is probably prayed to at the beginning of each day.

Thanks in advance for any advice, comments, or suggestions.

Om Namah Shivaya

namahsivaya
10 February 2011, 04:08 AM
Does anybody have any advice or comments or anything to say about this? Some feedback would be great on what you think.

Sahasranama
10 February 2011, 04:15 AM
Tuesdays are good for Hanuman, but Saturdays is more common used for Hanuman. Ganesha is often placed on Tuesday. Shiva you can place on either Monday, Thursday or Sunday. Vishnu and his avatars on wednesday. There are no strict rules about this though. I am not really sure who is the specific deity for brihaspati vara (thursday), Shiva is associated with Brihaspati, but also with Soma and Surya. Regarding avatars of Vishnu, Vamana is associated with Brihaspati according the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra. In the dasha mahavidyas, Tara is associated with Brihaspati. (http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showpost.php?p=23938&postcount=2)

Eastern Mind
10 February 2011, 08:10 AM
Does anybody have any advice or comments or anything to say about this? Some feedback would be great on what you think.

Vannakkam namahsivaya: Personally, I know of no Hindus who follow any tradition in this way. Of course, out there in the vastness of Hinduland, there probably is somebody. Since I am a Saiva, each day I worship Siva primarily. Ganesha and Muruga often also enter the picture. So every day is a Siva day. A simple but probably misconstrued analogy is how many cars I own: one. I don't need six or seven cars. One is plenty. It does all that its supposed to do.

Of course I am not alone in worshipping one God primarily, be it Siva, or Krishna, or a form of the Goddess. And of course there are many who worship all equally. Whatever works for whomever.

Aum Namasivaya