Tilak (mark made on forehead as an emblem of a sect) can be made with many things like sandalwood paste, vermilion, cinnabar, ashes etc. But the tilak, which is made with the soils collected from different places of pilgrimage has unlimited benefits. In the ancient time, people used to wash their hands with soils. Germ killing capability of the soil is even recognized by the modern science. Put anything in soil and soil annihilates it within a few days. Hence soil is an excellent medium for smearing the body. Application of tilak on the forehead ignites the sensory organ known as skin and it also means a strong curtain to keep the mind pious. A tilak on the forehead also depicts upward movement of spinal nerve from the base of the heart to the top of the brain. Every thought that arise in our mind first of all triggers a vibration in the nerves of the brain. With that vibrations, brain stimulates all the sense and motor organs to act in a co-ordinated way. Hence purity of thoughts and distortion free brain is necessary for faithful execution of the thought. A spot on the forehead between the eyebrows is known as the forecenter. Whenever thinking gets intense, one feels slight pain at that spot. Hence, our sages made provision of applying a tilak at this spot to relieve it from unnecessary tension. Even the most distrusting people prefer to apply a tilak with sandalwood paste on their forehead when they suffer from severe headache
