Homam in Tantragni Homam in Tantragni ??????????? ????? Performing homam in vaid ika agni requires us to adhere to strict rules regarding purity of the location, time, and the person performing the homam This may be difficult to follow these days Tantragni provides greater flexibility in this regard It can be performed anywhere - even outside India, at any time, and by anyone However, the performer and observers should not be ritually impure at the time the homam is being perf ormed Rules of impurity apply in case of birth or death among relatives in the p ast few (usually 10) days (see http://www.celextel.org/mantrasandr ituals/samkshe padharmashastra.html?p age=4 for details) They also apply to ladies four days in a month Background 2 Homams can be performed in either vaidika style or tantric style We describe homam in tantragni, but use vaidika tradition for other aspect s, as far as possible For example, the tantric style usually includes lots of bi jaksharas which we dont chant in vaidika style The invocation of agni in the tant ric style is simpler and requires less restrictions, and so we use that style to invoke agni While a homa can be quite elaborate, we describe a simple procedure Homam Styles Homa kundam a container for holding the fire A small plate in whic h to bring agni A little sand, to place in the agni kundam 16 Darbhas A samit (t wigs of certain trees) or darbha Two pieces of samit Ghee (clarified butter) and a container to hold it Two dharvis (ladles) to offer ghee into the fire Akshata raw rice with turmeric powder mixed in it Water in a small container (pancha/ku la patram) Flowers Coconut, dried fruits, and cloth for purnahuti Required Mater ial The following convention is used to express mantras in English (obvious ones are not given below) Transliteration Scheme i: as iin bit ee: as eein feet u: as uin put e: as ain late ai: as iin bite au: as ouin doubt R: it is pronounced as risome and ruby others Example: RShi (rishi) H: visarga ( :in devanagari script) A co nsonant followed by hdenotes aspiration Example: bhas in bhaktiCapitalized letters are retroflex T: as tin tiger D: as din dog N: as nin vishnu S: as sin vishnu jna nasalized gnya-like sound, as jnin jnana The visarga (H) is pronounced in differen t manners depending on the context. Pronunciation Tips If it is at the end of a sentence and preceded by aor aa, then it is pronounced as hanamaHat the end of a s ence is pronounced namahaIf it precedes sh, then it is pronounced as shnamaH shivaay is pronounced namash-shivaayaIf it precedes s, then it is pronounced as sbhuuH svaah ais pronounced bhuus-svaahaaIf it precedes p, then it is pronounced as fpuShpaiH p ayaamiis pronounced puShpaif-puujayaamiEach deity has a mula mantra which is chan ted at specific times in the homam Ganapati: om gam gaNapataye namaH Durga: om d um durgaayai namaH Sharavanabhava: om hreem vreem sharavaNabhavaaya namaH Krishn a: om kleem kRShNaaya namaH Rama: om ram raamaaya namaH Lakshmi: om shreem mahal akShmyai namaH Hanuman: om rudraatmakaaya hanumate namaH Sarasvati: om aim saras vatyai namaH Mula Mantra Ganapati: ? ??? ?????? ??? Durga: ? ???? ???????? ??? S haravanabhava: ? ?????? ?????? ???????? ??? Krishna: ? ?????? ??????? ??? Rama: ? ??? ????? ??? Lakshmi: ? ?????? ???????????? ??? Hanuman: ? ???????????? ????? ? ??? Sarasvati: ? ??? ????????? ??? Mula Mantras in Devanagari 8 Alternatively, we can use the following mula mantras om namaH shivaayafor homam to Shiva family ? ????????Shiva, Ganapati, Durga, Sharavanabhava om namo naaraayaNaayafor homam t o Vishnu family ? ??? ????????Vishnu, Rama, Krishna, Lakshmi, Hanuman Mula Mantra Alternative Place some sand in the homa kundam. Sit on the ground or on a mat o r on a wooden plank, to the West of the kundam, facing East. Place all the remai ning material close to you, so that you can reach them easily. Setup East You Ho ma kundam Chant gaNanam tva . Step 1 Chant the mula mantra while looking at the ho ma kundam Do prokshanam (sprinkle water) to the homa kundam and say phaT(???) at th e end, hitting the fingers of the right hand against the left palm while saying it Hit the homa kundam with a set of 16 darbhas, while chanting the mula mantra These darbhas can be reused if we live in a place where they are difficult to ob tain Avakuntanam Say hum(????) while snapping fingers of both your hands Keep fore fingers of both hands together, fingertips facing down, East of the homa kundam and draw a circle around the homa kundam in the air with these fingers, as shown in the next slide This invokes divine powers in the area enclosed by the circle Step 2 Drawing a Circle for Avakuntanam East You Homa kundam Left hand Right ha nd Start here Draw three lines in the sand in the homa kundam with a samit or da rbha as follows (see next slide for details) Draw three lines from west to east,
