SADAACHARA SMRUTI - MUDRA DHARANE

Step 20 

Mudra dharne

Applying  mudra

Mudra dharane is vaishnava chihne (symbol). Urdhva pundra dharane is vaidika chihne (symbol of Bhagavath Bhakthi, astika). Just like how applying ashes ( basma) is saiva chihne, similarly vaishnava chihne is applying mudra dharane.

As a vaishnava after applying twelve urdhva pundras, should apply five mudras. In five mudras four are the mudras of bhagavan ayudha (shanka, chakra, gada and padma), and one is nama mudra – narayana akshara mudra.

Atleast once or thrice in a year we should have tapta mudra dharane from our gurus. 1. Ashada shuddha ekadashi. 2. Bhadrapada shuddha ekadashi 3. Karthika shuddha ekadashi.

 

       Tapta Mudra dharne by Shri Vidyadeesha theertharu 

For GENTS

Chakra mudra

Think of sudarshana maha jwala.

While applying chakra mudra

Kamanthargatha dhinnamaka bharathy ramana mukya prananthargatha himkara bhinna Sri krudholkaya nam:

Shank mudra

Panchajanya gaja dwara ukta padaka sanjaya trahimam papinam gora samasaranava papinam.

While applying shanka mudra

Prtvi namaka bharathy pathi apanathargatha ambranipati Sri maholkaya nam:

Gada mudra

Bramanda bhuvana aramba moolasthambo gadadharah kaumodhaki kareyasya tvam namami gadadharam            

Where should we apply gada mudra

1. Forehead

2. Stomach

3. Left side of heart

 4. Below nama of left shoulder

While applying gada mudra

Thing  namaka bharathypathi vyanathargtha lakshmipathi niddhana bhinna Shri virolkaya nam:

Padma mudra

Samara bhaya bhithanam yoginaam abhaya pradaha padma hastena yo devo yogishantvam namam yaham.

Where should we apply padma mudra

1.    Heart

2.    Right side of stomach

3.     Right side of heart

4.     Below nama of right side shoulder (2)

While applying padma mudra

Vang namaka bharathypathi uthanathargatha dhakshinapathi prasthavabhinna  shri julkaya nam:

Narayana mudra

This narayana mudra is powerful ashta akshara naama mudra.

Narayana namastestu naama mrudhangitham naram drishteva labathe mukthim  kaandalo bramhagathakah

While applying narayana mudra

Vidhya namaka bharathypathi samanathargatha jayanthi pathi utgitha bhinna  Shrisahasrolkaya nam:

Jagath Guru Madvacharyaru with shanka chakradi chihnegalu

Where should we apply narayana mudre

Should be applied on all the sides where ever we have kept the namas.

Then wear tulasi mani/male praying “hey! Tulasi mani let Shri Krishna love me similar to how he loves you. Let him care, shower blessings on me”. Can also wear kamalaksha mala –

aksha male namastubyam dadmasan krute sadaa padmavati prasadan twam dharana tho mahi.

Im wear aksha mala/ kamalaksha mala why, because I should be loved by God.

Ye kanta lagna tulasi -lalilaksha  malaha

Ye bahu moola parichinhita shanka chakraha

Ye va lalata palake nasar urdhva pundraha

Ye vaishnavaha buvana vasi pavitrayenti.  

Ye – whoever / whom so ever

Kanta – neck

Bahu – arms

Lalata-  forehead

One who wear tulasi/kamalaksha  mala  in the neck, who has applied shanka, chakra, the very own symbol of Shri Hari, in whose forehead urdhva pundra is seen so clearly, these vaishnavas will make the world pure. These are the lakshnas for viashnavas. If we see a person wearing all these with Hari Bhakthi, our doshas will get vanished, if we speak with such persons our vak(speaking) doshas will vanish, if we stay with them all our sins get vanishes.

Who are vaishnavs? The one who accepts Shri Hari. Who does Vishnu Bhakthi. He is sarvaswami, sarvapraritha, sarvagnya, swathanthra, gunapurna….   If one say I have full of bhakthi inside, I don’t like to wear all this and make a show off, then its of no use. These has to be worn, both bhakthi and these (*these and those refers to wearing tulasi mani, urdhva pundra and mudras) chihne’s goes hand in hand.

Vishnu likes tulasi mani and kamalaksha mani through Lord Lakshmi.

It makes us pure (pavitra).

After mudra dharne we should start to do our nitya karma. Achamana, sandyavandhana, Narayana ashtakshara mantra, hamsa mandira samarpana,jeeva panchakashara mantra japa (om shivaya nam: om – should pray rudra devaru as he is manoabhimani and will give us tatvagyana.) etc. As we all know Akrura while bringing back Krishna from Vridhavan, did Sandyavandhana even tough Krishna was sitting just near him in the cart. Which says the importance of Sandhyavandhana, and nothing can stop it.

On the crisp:

While applying namas think of Shri Hari’s

1.    Krudholka

2.    Maholka

3.    Virolka

4.    Julka

5.    Sahasrolka

And also think of the mukya prana devaru who are respective authorities of  Shri Hari’s forms

1.    Prana

2.    Vyana

3.    Apana

4.    Udhana

5.    Samana

While applying chakra mudra

Kamanthargatha dhinnamaka bharathy ramana mukya prananthargatha himkara bhinna Sri krudholkaya nam:

While applying shanka mudra

Prtvi namaka bharathy pathi apanathargatha ambranipati Sri maholkaya nam:

While applying gada mudra

Thing  namaka bharathypathi vyanathargtha lakshmipathi niddhana bhinna Shri virolkaya nam:

While applying padma mudra

Vang namaka bharathypathi uthanathargatha dhakshinapathi prasthavabhinna  shri julkaya nam:

While applying narayana mudra

Vidhya namaka bharathypathi samanathargatha jayanthi pathi utgitha bhinna  Shrisahasrolkaya nam:

As shri Vyasarajaru has told “kamalanabha chihneyanu dharasikondu merayiro. Yamana bhattaru nodi anji adagi hoguvaro. Krishna Krishna Krishna endu mooru bari neneyiro  ” So just applying the urdhva pundra, mudra chihnes are only not enough, instead we should think of Shri Krishna , we should keep on repeating his again again and again as much as possible.

SADAACHARA SMRUTI - WEARING CLOTHES

Step 16 

Vastra dharne
Wearing clothes

Always wear only dry clothes.

While wearing clothes:

Bharatiramana Mukyaprananthargatha Upendraya namah

What is madi (succi/succhi)?

Madi means cleanliness.

When we sit for homa, Havana, while praying God there should not be any distractions within us.

We should be away from doshas like kama (lust), krodha (anger), loba (greed), moha (fantasy), mada (pride), matsarya, (envy).

We may have taken bath with a lot of water, even may be standing in river Ganga  but it’s of no use. It is considered we are not clean even if we have any one of the doshas in this.

As dasar has said “horege nintu olage niyadhavara kandu beregagi nagutippa purundara vittala ”. We have to do snana both inside and outside. The statement which says if we are pure inside it’s enough no need to take bath or if we take bath that’s enough it shows we are clean. NO. For both the statements no is the answer, both inside and outside bathing and cleanliness is expected if we need to go near God.

In Rudra geetha, Bhagavatha Lord Rudra told to prathechasaru “athana gangro thava theerthayoho antharbahi snana vibhutha vathmanah  bhutheshu anuskruncha heynam yapsanghavaha anugrahastava” 

  After bath wear DRY clothes. Do achamana. Sitting in a asana put on gopichandana mudra. Do prokshana by apo eshta mantras. Do gayathri argya. Think of Shri Narayana and do argya. And the following japa tapas for the day.

Succhi/madi or being clean is most important for doing bhakthi as said by Srimad Acharyaru in Sadachara smruthi. 

Inner cleanliness

 Which depends on Body cleanliness, Clean clothes, Clean environment. (If a laptop has to work then we should connect it to the required switches install OS, whatever steps are necessary has to be done. Similarly if we need inner cleanliness we should follow the three given steps).  

What is clean cloth (madi vastra) and what is unclean cloth (mailige)?

Some points are given related to the question.

Rule 1:

Avastra / nanga

Should not be unclothed always.  

According to shastra if the cloth is unclean, unwashed, with full of stain it is considered to be Avastra. 

Before our ancestors used to wash the cloths (beat the clothes atleast twice) and then take bath.         

Our cloth should not be torn.

Our cloth has to cover our knees; it applies for both gents and ladies.

Our cloth should not be very small

Our cloth should NOT be wet or a cloth in which water is dropping. Even if we soaked it in water and have to wear it immediately shastra says then swing the wet cloth back and forth in the air so that the cloth is a bit dried off and water doesn’t drop  .

Should not wear a cloth that is stitched together from many pieces.

Rule 2:

kacche

Wearing kacche is must for both men and women. Men should wear kacche for every divine work. Ladies should wear kacche for Tulasi pooja. Sashtra says we don’t have any authority without wearing kacche. We can’t do so much, but at least we can wear kacche during pooja and nitya (daily) karmas.

Men should wear uttariya if grahasta. For bramachari uttariya (shawl or angavastra) is not required.

Rule 3:

VASUDEVA ROOPI

Vasudeva roopi bhagavantha is present in clothes. Hence we should not kick the cloth, should not take the clothes from legs. Should bent down and take the clothes. (while taking it in the hands its like doing puja to bhagavantha)

Rule 4:

ü Cotton clothes

Cotton clothes have to be worn only once. Then it has to be washed for reuse.

ü Silk clothes

Silk (reshme) clothes can be used reused for the pooja. But once if we eat our food wearing the silk clothes, it has to be washed for reuse.

ü Woolen clothes

Wool (uurna) is considered always clean/ madi (nitya shudha).    But wearing uurna should not eat. Once eating wearing wool its then milege.

New clothes                                                                               

We should keep the new clothes in front of god on a plate. Keep haldi and kumkum for the clothes. Pray to God saying this is given by you, you should stay in this. Then think of Upendra roopi bhagavan and wear the dress.

We should not wear new clothes as soon as we get from the shop. Wearing the clothes for “TRAIL” usually done in malls is not allowed in our culture.

      When should we wear a new cloth?

Sunday – if we wear a new cloth on Sunday, the cloth tears very early.

Monday – if we wear on Monday, it will have always get dirty soon and in result we will have a state of always washing it.

Tuesday – when wearing on Tuesday, the day will always be sorrowful.

Wednesday – it will make us wealthy

Thursday – it will increase our intellect

Friday – have a chance to be together with a person whom we love a lot, or things that we love a lot.

Saturday – it won’t be clean always

So this concludes we can wear new clothes on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

On the crisp:

v While wearing clothes:

Bharatiramana Mukyaprananthargatha Upendraya namah

v While wearing clothes think of Shri Hari’s hand, his legs, his hip, navel.

v Vasudeva roopi bhagavantha is present in clothes.

v When we wear an unwashed, stainful, torn, stitched, wet, above our knees, it is considered we are cloth less ( nagna/nude).

v Wearing kacche and uttariya is must for poojas.

Can wear new clothes for the first time on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

When should we be in mouna/ not speak to others/ in phone While taking bath If we speak varuna will take his kanti and shakti Homa/vaishadeva – agni will take away our sampath/wealth  Eat – mrutyu will take away ayush can speak about god, dasar kriti but no other worldly matters.

SADAACHARA SMRUTI - URDHVA PUNDRA DHARNE

Step 19 

Urdhva Pundra dharne

Applying Nama with gopichandana

Pundra in Sanskrit means sugargane. Since our gopichandana is in shape of sugarcane we call as urdhva pundra.  Urdhva means erect/straight. Hence nama that we apply should start from down drag upwards.

Why do we apply urdhva pundra?

Whatever our ancestors said has abundant genuineness and helps increase our satvik gunas. They are our well wishers and not enemies. They have proved a lot of things which science is not able to find the result until today.  The answer to many question Science calls it as approximate, unpredictable, etc to which our ancestors have given perfect answers. Ha! Ha! The worst part is we don’t believe our own blood and we believe in something called western culture and science which has installed many wrong thoughts and beliefs that has spoiled our culture and habits.  Now everywhere we see brats as our own children, we ourselves feel ashamed to wear traditional dress/ attire, to apply gopichandhana, even to keep bindhi on our forehead. Shame on us is what we feel. On the other hand good news is foreigners are joining ISCON following and praying our Krishna each and every second. They follow our culture; they even make their own food growing the plans that’s necessary for them.

There is always a relation between spirituality and yoga practices.

The person who practices yoga knows about the naadis.

There are seven chakras in our body.

SAHASRARA (Crown Chakra) -- spirituality

VISHUDDHA (Third Eye Chakra) -- Awarness

AJNA (Throat Chakra) – Comunication

ANAHTA (Heart Chakra) – Love Healing     

MANIPURA (Solar Pixels Chakra) – Wisdom Power

SWADHISHTANA (Sacral Chakra) – Sexual Creativity

MULADHARA ( Root Chakra) – Basic Trust

Applying urdhva pundra helps all these chakras to get activated one by one. It takes the flow from Sushumna nadi to Brahma nadi which is in the tip of our head.  It also helps invoking God from the twelve parts where we apply gopichandhana.

Urdhva Pundra dharane by our Acharyaru

Its told by our acharyaru

yajno danam tapo homah svadyayah pitrutarpanam
vyartham bhavati tatsarvam UrdhvapunDram vina kritam

We get authority (yogyatha) to do yagna, dhana, pooja, homa, tapas, pitru tarpana or pitru karya only if we wear urdhva pundra. Else every work that we do is a waste (vyarta).

Which shows everybody should apply urdhva pundra. Its misinterpreted that it is a symbol for Vishnu Bhaktas (vaishnava chinha), no that is wrong shanka, chakra,gada, padma are the vaishnava symbol. Hence everybody should wear urdhva pundra.

It’s told by our Madhvacharya that a person who has eaten flesh of dog (a person with very less values – we call him as ayogya) if he applies urdhva pundra which can be seen by others he gets purified. 

Hence the nama that we put has to be seen by everyone. People it can be invisible, any way we have bhakti in our heart. No it has to be visible.  Acharyaru did not have nama for exposing to others, he did it so his shishyas can follow and everybody will get the benefit of bhagavath anugraha. To make us pure, to always keep us as bhagavath we need to apply urdhva pundra. A person with urdhva pundra on their forehead will never commit a mistake.

Urdhva pundra dharane on our Sushameendra theertharu

A forehead without urdhva pundra is equal to graveyard (smashana). One has to do prayarchita by looking at the sun after seeing a face without urdhva pundra.

Men - should mix gopichandhana and water in mid of their palm. (sure everybody kows this)

While taking gopichandhana with water*:

Gopichandana Papagna Vishnu Deha Samudbhava|

Chakrankitha Namasthesthu DhaaraNan Mukthi dho Bhava||

Meaning:

Hey! Gopichandana! You are washing all our sins. You are born out of Vishnu Deha. You are having the sign of Chakra. I prostrate to you. Please bestow me Mukthi as I am wearing you.

*the water that we mix the gopichandhana with has to be pure. We should mix it with nirmalya theertha/saligrama abhisheka   theertha. It can also be nirmalya of previous day.

Having the Saligramaabhishiktha Thirtha in the left palm,

Imam Me gange Yamune saraswathi Shuthudri Sthomam Sachatha PurushNyaa

Asikniya Marudwa Drudhe vitasthayaRjikiye ShRNohya Sushomayaa

Thus you are doing Prathana for Jalaabhimaani Devatha. 

Then you are rubbing the Gopichandana with water. 

Say “ Namo NarayaNaaya Namah”, reciting Bhagavad Naamas, the Gopichandana is to be applied to your body.

 First keep it on the forehead praying:

Rathipathi manmadhanthargatha  Umapathi Rudranthargatha Bharathiramana Mukyapranathargatha Sri Bhoovarahaya nam:  

Fingers for applying Urdhva pundra nama dharane – what is the result

Thumb (angushta) – well nourish

Fore finger (toru beralu) – moksha  

Middle finger (Madhya) – long life 

Ring finger (anamika) – will never be short/lack of food

Hence mostly we apply nama with fore finger to get moksha.

Applying nama :

Before snana apply tulasi mrthika.

Immediately after snana in water.

Before sandhyavandhana in gopichandhana (with 12 namas).

After puja should apply nama with the sadal (gandha) that we offered to God.

After that apply angara.

Shri Krishna will sit on the places where we apply urdhva pundra.

Think of  Keshava when applying urdhva  pundra on forehead.

Think of  Narayana when applying urdhva  pundra from belly button to heart.

Think of  Madhwa when applying urdhva  pundra on heart.

Think of Govinda when applying urdhva  pundra on neck.

Think of  Vishnu when applying urdhva  pundra on right side of stomach.

Think of Madhusudhana when applying urdhva  pundra on right shoulder .

Think of  Trivikrama when applying urdhva  pundra on right side of neck.

Think of Vamana when applying urdhva  pundra on left side of stomach.

Think of  Sridhara when applying urdhva  pundra on left shoulder.

Think of  Hrishikesha when applying urdhva  pundra on left side of neck.

Think of  Padmanabha when applying urdhva  pundra on middle of lower back.

If you want to know more about urdhva pundra please refer to

https://sites.google.com/site/aktbfkollam/mudhradharam/urdhav-pundra-and-mudra

On the crisp:

Every men and women should apply Urdhva Pundra.

While mixing gopichandhana with water:

Gopichandana Papagna Vishnu Deha Samudbhava|

Chakrankitha Namasthesthu DhaaraNan Mukthi dho Bhava||

Having the Saligramaabhishiktha Thirtha in the left palm,

Imam Me gange Yamune saraswathi Shuthudri Sthomam Sachatha PurushNyaa

Asikniya Marudwa Drudhe vitasthayaRjikiye ShRNohya Sushomayaa

 First keep it on the forehead praying:

Rathipathi manmadhanthargatha  Umapathi Rudranthargatha Bharathiramana Mukyapranathargatha Sri Bhoovarahaya nam:  

Parts of the body	Bhagavath roopas
Forehead	Keshavaya nam:
Neck	Govindaya nam:
Right side of neck	Trivikramaya nam:
Left side of neck	Hrishikeshaya nam:
Right side of shoulder	Madhusudhanaya nam:
Left side of shoulder	Sridharaya nam:
Heart	Madhavaya nam:
Right side of stomach	Vishnave nam:
Left side of stomach	Vamanaya nam:
Belly button to heart	Narayanan nam:
Middle of lower back	Padmanabhaya nam:

SADAACHARA SMRUTI - GOVU VANDHANA

Step 17

Govu vandana

Do namaskara to the govu (cow).

But now a days there are no cows. We are leading a very lifestyle where we are not able to see the cow or take care of it.

Hence every day after tulasi vandhana, think of cow and pray

Bharathiramana mukhya Pranarthaga Utgitapinna Gopalakrishna nam:

In ancients people used to go to cow shed(hati/kotige), nurse the cow with love and feed them grass. Do pradakshina namaskara.

“Gavan drushtva namas krutya kuryath yastu pradakshanam.   Pradhikshane krutha thena satvat dweepa vaasundara  ”

Which means if we do pradakshina namaskar for a cow it is equal to doing  pradakshina namaskar for this whole earth with seven islands(satvat dweepa). There are lot of Gods in the cow. Especially Lord Mahalakshmi resides in cow.

Go Matha -- sannidhana of 33 crore devathas

The cow urine (gomuthra) and cow dung (gomaya) helps to eradicate diseases. It helps to eradicate Kali. It helps in keeping the house clean, free from bugs, flies and instects.  Our ancestors used to consider cow and bull as our mother(matha) and father (pitha) respectively. Our mother usually feed us milk and protect us, the cow does a similar job. Father gives us food and nourish, the way bulls helped in farming.

We should pray all the cows as mother and all the bull as father.

Think of kapila govu. ( It’s a rare breed of cow that belongs to Karnataka). Think of Gomatha (cow).  The cow is sadhu, its helpful, useful animal. Today sure it’s difficult to kapila govu. So we would visualize kapila govu.

Why think of cow (hasu) for a happy life

·       It helps everyone ( Similarly we should also do paropakaara).

·       Kind animal (hence we too should be kind to avaoid our ego).

·       There are 33 crore devatas in the cow.

·       Where a cow is present no evil or disease will enter.

·       Lord krishna is present in the cow.

·       On the crisp:

Think of cow and pray

Bharathiramana mukhya Pranarthaga Utgitapinna Gopalakrishna nam: