SADAACHARA SMRUTI - THEERTHA

Step 23

Theertha

Piece of water

Bhagavantha’s theertha is the one which removes all the sins from our life. It vanishes our diseases.

sharire jarjari bhute vyadhi graste kalebare
auShadham jaanhaitoyam vaidyo NARAYANO harihWhen all vital life forces leave the body, when the whole body has stopped working by incurable diseases, what medicine is there, than river ganga, who else but Lord Narayana, Hari, would come as physician!

After consuming Shri Hari’s theertha, we should consume Vayu devars theertha. Then tulasi nirmalaya. Then apply angara, akshatha for our body  which is Sri Hari’s temple.

DONT’s while consuming theertha

should not take theertha while standing.

Should not drop the theertha on the floor.

Should not make sound while taking the theertha.

If Shanka theertha is available first prokshana of the theertha has to be done.

After this we should take devara theertha thrice.

Saying

Prathamam kaya shudhyartham

Dvityam dharma saddhanam

Thritiyam moksha siddyartam.

 Yevham theertam trithapived.

This means once theertha is consumed for purity of body, second time for succeed in dharma, and third for succession in moksha.

When we take the theertha thrice we should say :

Bharathi ramana mukyapranathargatha Shri RAMAYA nam:

Bharathi ramana mukyapranathargatha Shri KRISHNAYA nam:

Bharathi ramana mukyapranathargatha Shri VEDAVYASAYA nam:

                                       or

Bharathi ramana mukyapranathargatha Shri RAMAYA nam:

Bharathi ramana mukyapranathargatha Shri KRISHNAYA nam:

Bharathi ramana mukyapranathargatha Shri VASUDEVAYA nam:

We get purity of body when we think of Rama. As Rama is a respected man (mariyadha purushothama). If we think of Shri Rama our character will be good, automatically our body will be clean. We can achieve Dharma sadhana by thinking of Krishna. He was the one who explained dharma to all of us having Arjuna as his medium. Think of Vedavyasa we get knowledge (gynana). If we get gynana we inturn get Bhakthi. Without gynana and bhakthi we can’t get mukthi. Or we can also say Vasudeva as its famously said Vasudevah mukti pradah, He is the one responsible for Moksha. If one has purity of body and mind, follows Dharma, has tatvagynana and abdundant bhakthi  that person has eligibility to attain moksha.

On the day of ekadashi theertha should be taken only once. Since we are fasting on that day, we have acquired purity of body. Since we fast and think of Shri Hari always on that day we are doing dharma sadhana. Since God is responsible for our gynana, for getting that gynana we pray God and take the theertha once.

There may be chances, we might have consumed unclean/ impure food or drinks while eating. Taking theertha after food consumption purifies everything. Having theertha before having food (bhojana) implies vaishnava dikshe,

On the crisp:

When we take the theertha thrice we should say :

Bharathi ramana mukyapranathargatha Shri RAMAYA nam:

Bharathi ramana mukyapranathargatha Shri KRISHNAYA nam:

Bharathi ramana mukyapranathargatha Shri VEDAVYASAYA nam:

                                      or

Bharathi ramana mukyapranathargatha Shri RAMAYA nam:

Bharathi ramana mukyapranathargatha Shri KRISHNAYA nam:

 Bharathi ramana mukyapranathargatha Shri VASUDEVAYA nam:

After meals theertha taken only once.

On the day of ekadashi theertha should be taken only once.

SADAACHARA SMRUTI - BHOJANA

Step 22

Bhojana

What to eat and how to eat?

If we have a wish we should get satvik character, if we wish our troubles should get stopped, we should only partake the food that has been kept naivedya to God. 

The food that we eat is divided into three parts. The main (sthula) part comes out in the form of excretion; the rest (madya) part becomes our flesh, a minute (sukshma) part impact our conscience (manas). Hence the food that we eat has to be pure in order to have a good conscience.

Let us divide our free space of stomach into four divisions. The two parts has to be filled with food that we eat. The third has to be given space for water. The fourth is giving space to air. So we should eat only half stomach.

DONT’S

While eating

·       Should not speak.

·       Should not wear slippers/ shoes.

·       Should not stand

·       Should not wear shirt and pant if men

·       Should not sit on chairs/ dining table (eating food becomes an yagna if eaten on floor. Anyhow exceptions are given for the people who are aged and who are not in the state of sitting down.)

·       Should not eat facing the south direction.

·       No watching TV or speaking unwanted world affairs.

·       Should not eat spoiled food.

·       Should not mix the food in middle of hand/palm.

·       Should not make sound.

·       Should not get up in between.

·        Usually should not eat in steel plate. Which simply means should never eat in plastic plates. Instead can eat in leafs, if possible eat in silver mixed with a little gold. Getting leaves and silver plate is not possible in the current scenario.  Hence its best to eat in bronze (kamchu) plate.

We all know plastic is the main cause of cancer. So please avoid plastic as far as possible in every means. We can also avoid plastic covers and start using big shoppers/ cloth bags.

DO’S

·       Should wash hands and legs before and after eating

·       Sit and eat.

·       Make a square mandala with water, think of Bhagavan, devatas and rishis. We should keep our plate or leaf in which we eat above that mandala. The mandala (draw a square with water) should be in the size of the plate or leaf. Should not be small.

Brahmadyakcha surah sarve vashishtadya cha maharshaya

Mandalam cha upajivanti  tata kurvita mandalam   

Devatas including Brahma etc and Rishis like Vashita are all present in the madala that we draw. Since we draw a mandala the food we eat are accompanied by devatas otherwise it’s accompanied by asuras. 

·       Should sit facing east, north or west for eating.

·       Should do theetha prokshana on the food by chanting Gayathri mantra, Narayana ashtakshara mantra. Should keep ahuti for Chitra and Chatragupta  and wash the hands. The ladies are not supposed to say these mantras what will we do? That’s the reason why our ancestors have told sumangalis should eat in the same leaf or plate of her husband. Where she gets purna phala of the bhojana yagna.

·       Should do vaishva deva. If we eat th food after vaishva deva to agniyantharga Vishnu, through bali harana offer to all devatas and bhootas it’s the best food.

·       Should think of God, can ONLY speak about God and his attributes.

·       While eating biscuits/fruits, etc we should break it with hand and then eat it. Breaking it with teeth is not considered clean/succhi.

·       While drinking water fill the water in tumbler only as much required, should not leave rest of the water.

·       Similarly serve food as much as required. Should  keep the rest of food in the plate and eat it later.

·       Thank the person who are responsible for our food today. Thank the God first, all abhimani devatas (surya, varuna, agni etc), farmers, our wife who has cooked the food.

What should we think while eating?

·       Sankrashna and Pradyumna stays within us and gives strength to eat our food.

·        Narayana and Anirudha makes us happy and satisfied by what we eat.  Narayana and Aniruddha stays within the food item and makes it possible.

·       Vasudeva creates space in our stomach so that the food can be consumed.

·       We should not think I am eating. Should think these five of them stay within us and makes us to eat.

·       While having our food always think of Vasudeva, Sankrashna, Pradyumna, Anirudha, Narayana roopa’s.

When is a food called Musure?

Rice + water + Angi

Wheat/ Ragi (or any flour) + water + Salt

[If its just water it’s not musure, if salt added it becomes musure]

Vegetables when boiled with SALT. (If it’s boiled with water alone it’s not musure).

In that case anything cooked with salt it becomes musure.

Any person will get happy and fully satisfied if they are offered food for sure, visa versa if offered any material (money, gold, silver, utensil, etc) they may expect more and no surety they are satisfied fully. That is why shastra says anna dhanam is maha dhanam.

On the crisp:

Anna dhanam => Maha dhanam.

·       Wash hands, legs and mouth before and after eating. Do achamana for four times. Take theertha.

Consumption of food becomes an Yagna if all rues of do and donts are followed.

·       As Krishna has mentioned in GITA, think that He is present in the food that we eat. He is also present within us and He is the one who consumes the food.  If we think this way and eat our food it becomes a Yagna.

·       Should draw a mandala as big as possible with water in the size of plate/leaf.

·       While having our food always think of Vasudeva, Sankrashna, Pradyumna, Anirudha, Narayana. Say Govinda, Govinda while eating.

When does eating food becomes an Yagna?

·       Everyday thank the person who are responsible for our food today. Thank the God first, all abhimani devatas (surya, varuna, agni etc), farmers, the bulls responsible for farming, our wife who has cooked the food.

·       Before eating say annadhatha Shri Harihi or annadhatha sukhi bhava.

·       As we all know no food on Ekadashi.

SADAACHARA SMRUTI - ACHAMANA

Step 21

Achamana

Act of purifying

When should we do achamana?

After starting any pooja or pataa,sandhyavandhana achamana is  must to make ourselves pure.

Whenever we get unclean (asucchi)

·       Early morning after washing our hands, legs and face we should do achamana. ( Everytime we should wash our hands, legs and then wash our face. We can’t wash our face directly).

·       After we wake up from the sleep

·       After taking food

·       After drinking water

·       After crying

·       After coughing

·       After sneezing

·       After farting

·       After coming from travel (bus, train, car etc)

·        After goig to toilet should do achaman for four times.

·       After getting anger (as we all know anger is the enemy for everything ad its milege(asucchi)).

While doing achamana we should keep our palm in the shape of cow’s ear. Should not drop too much water from udharane. The water has to be in a quantity in which the urud dal will immerse, means should have only very little water.

We should do achamana in Brahma theertha part of our palm. There are five theerthas in our hand. In the tip of our fingers DEVA theertha is present. the point near thumb is ACHARYA theertha. The point near our little finger is RISHI theertha. Middle of our palm is AGNI theertha. Edge of the palm is BRAHMA theertha.  Hence we should pour the water in Agni theertha, and sip the water through Brahma theertha.

Brahma Theertha

 Please note the Pitru theertha written in the picture, we call it as ACHARYA theertha.

Rules of doing achamana

·       We should not make any sound (nisshabdha) while doing achamana. If we do achamana with sound its equal to have consumed alcohol.

·       Once we take water for achamana, since it’s only a little water that we are going to use, the rest of the water will remain in the uddarane (ritual spoon). This rest of the water should be thrown away in pela (ritual cup) or discard the water away. We should not use the remaining water.

·       Should not do achamana in one single uddarane water, means few people will take water once and say Keshava swaha, Narayana swaha, Madhavaya swaha in one single uddarane water, which won’t give full phala. Because once the water is sipped it becomes salivated, hence new water should be taken. Achanamana for every single name has to be separately taking fresh water from pancha patre (ritual cup).  

·       Should not be cold water.

·       The water should not contain froth/bubbles.

·       The water should not contain salt, sugar, tamarind etc. the water should be as pure as possible.

·       Should sip water through Brahma theertha.

·       Has to be done in the east (first preference).

·       Sit on a wooden plank/pallet (maradha halage)

What are the outcome / resut of doing achamana??

ü WATER is a resource used to clean our body.

ü We take bath everyday to keep ourselves clean outside. Similarly we do achamana meditating on Bhagavath roopa’s to clean ourselves INSIDE.

ü Once we do achamana thrice our conscience gets purre (anthakarana shuddhi).

ü Thrice achamana is did to pure heart, neck, leg (the respective tatvabhimani devatas will do the purification). It helps us to lead life with dharma, artha and kama.

How many times of achamana?

Before starting any aactivity should do achamana twice.

After going to toilet do achamana thrice.

After eating do achamana four times.

After intercourse with spouse do achamana five times.

What should I do if there is no water?

In few situations may be we are travelling in bus or working in office there is no availability of water then what do I do. Simply touch our right ears is the solutions. If we touch our right ears after coughing/sneezing its equivalent to doing achamana.  

This has been proved by parasharar, Jagganada dasaru has

told this in Hari Kathamrutha Sara. There are Devathas in our right ear. There are ashta dig devatas, Chandra adi devatas, veda abhimani devatas all rivers and theerthas. Thinking all of them and Shri Hari touching right ear definitely makes us pure.

Here is a story from Mahabharatha Adi Parva.

There once lived a king named Pousha raja. Pousha raja’s wife Madayamdi was a great Pathi vrata. She had a special character, where only people who are pure can see her. (Similar to devas, devatas who are not visible to people unpure (asucchi)).

         

There was a guru named Vaidyacharyaru. A student named Uthanga joined his gurukula. He decided not to trouble his student  too much in his gurukula. So he decided to teach them veda and loved him a lot. Once Vaidyacharyaru went for a program outside the village. Then he told Uthanga to take care of the household. You be in charge of the house and do all the duties that I should do without fail.  Uthanga agreed his Guru’s order.

         

Vaidyacharyaru wife decides to test his sincerity, asked him to have associate with her for a day. Uthanga disagrees for her condition; he knows associating with teacher wife (Guru Patni) is a sin. She forces him and says you’re in the position of my husband so you should do his duty. But he says I can’t do this in you give me any other work I’m ready to do it.

Vaidyacharya wife asks him to bring the earring of Poushya raja’s wife. In the function that’s coming in few weeks I wish to wear that precious earring and serve feast for the Brahmans. So you go to Poushaya raja’s place. Uthanga agreed and started his journey. On his way Indra deva came in disguise like a man on a bull. He then asks Uthanga to eat the dung (droppings) of his bull.  He refuses to eat the dung. But Indra deva says your guru Vaidyacharya has eaten it and why not you. Then due to the respect he has in his guru, he too accepts to eat it.

He reaches Poushya raja palace. He introduces himself as Vaidyachar sishya. He requests to raja that his guru’s wife needs the queens earring and he would return the earring after the feast served by her.  Poushya raja accepted to it and asked him to go anthapura and ask his wife.

When he came to anathapura he was not able to see the queen. As told before she was a maha pativrata and won’t be able to seen by impure people.  Uthanga became very angry came to raja and complained that he was not able to see the queen. Raja told no she is available in ananthapura, but she can be seen only by people who are pure. Uthanga reassured that he was a brahmachari and he was very pure. Then Poushya raja explains Uthanga, there may be chances you didn’t do achamana after eating, or something would have happened on your way. Just try o remember the incidents that happened from the start of your journey. Uthanga while recalling came to know he has eaten bull dung that was given by a stranger, and didn’t do achamana that may be the reason for the impurity. 

          So as raja told he washed his hands, legs and face and did achamana with pure water thrice. He enters the anthapura, now Mayamdi was visible. He places his request, the queen gives him the earrings. He takes the earrings to Guru’s wife.

          Hence this shows the importance of achamana.

SADAACHARA SMRUTI - FOR LADIES

Step 20 b 

For LADIES

Urdhva Pundra Dharne

Applying Nama with gopichandana

Please refer the importance of Urdhva Pundra in previous posts.

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.

For ladies if they have to be sumangalis for a long time then urdhva pundra dharne is a must.

Women – Bend the thumb of your left hand inside your palm/fist and hold all the fingers together. First put drop of water, then bit of turmeric on which should mix gopichandhana. It has to be similar to the picture

  

Having the Saligramaabhishiktha Thirtha in the left fist,

Imam Me gange Yamune saraswathi Shuthudri Sthomam Sachatha PurushNyaa

Asikniya Marudwa Drudhe vitasthayaRjikiye ShRNohya Sushomayaa

Thus you are doing Prathana for Jalaabhimaani Devatha. 

*the water that we mix the gopichandhana with has to be pure. We should mix it with nirmalya theertha/saligrama abhisheka   theertha.

Then you are rubbing the Gopichandana with water and turmeric.

Urdhva pundra lalate thu bardur aayushya varthagam

Lalate kumkumam chaiva sadhaa Lakshmi nivasagam.

While applying urdhva pundra on forehead

Namake abhimani Narayana devaru

Shanka Chakra Garuda sesha Rudradhi devaru

Gadage abhimani Bheemsena devaru

Iti Shri nama stotram sampurnam.

Mudra dharne

For ladies there are only two mudras. Narayana mudre and gada mudre.

As mentioned above on the three days of the year alone women(sthri) can have shanka and chakra mudras from tapta mudra dharane. Otherwise it’s only two mudra for everyday.

Gada mudra

Bramanda bhuvana aramba moolasthambo gadadharah kaumodhaki kareyasya tvam namami gadadharam            

Where should we apply gada mudra

1.    Forehead

2.    On the wrist

3.    Below the wrist

4.    Stomach

5.    Lower middle of the spinal cord

While applying gada mudra

Thing  namaka bharathypathi vyanathargtha lakshmipathi niddhana bhinna Shri virolkaya nam:

(If anybody wishes to buy mudras its available in madhwakart.com)

Narayana mudra

This narayana mudra is powerful ashta akshara naama mudra.

Narayana namastestu naama mrudhangitham naram drishteva labathe mukthim  kaandalo bramhagathakah

Where should we apply narayana mudre

1.    Forehead

2.    On the wrist

3.    Below the wrist

4.    Stomach

5.    Lower middle of the spinal cord

While applying narayana mudra

Vidhya namaka bharathypathi samanathargatha jayanthi pathi utgitha bhinna  Shrisahasrolkaya nam:

Tilaka dharne

  Apply bhindi in the form of tilak.

After wearing Urdhva pundra, wear these mudras and then tilak. For tilak put a drop of water in the palm and then put kumkum, mix it and apply.  Think of Lakshmi Narayana while keeping the tilak.

While mixing kumkum and applying tilak

Gade stotram

Ananta sana swetha dweepa vaikunta embo Bheema sena devaru. Enta Bheemsena devaru Gadayalli idre Krishna Devaru Astradalli.  Mudaidhe hachidhare mooru koti punya. Vedige hachdhare Kasige hodha punya. Kasiyalli Magana nodithashtu punya. Prayogi snana madidhastu punya. Iti Shri Gade stotram sampurnam.

Haladi dharne

Apply  turmeric.

After tilak apply turmeric on your cheeks. Then apply turmeric and kumkum to magalsutra. [

As for gents how tulasi/kamalaksha mala is very important to them, and gives them pavitra. For ladies karumani (black mani) is important for sumangalis.]

While applying turmeric

Haladi dharana stotram

Haladi daari draya naasanam

Soubhagya haldi. Sampatu haladi

Putra poutra abhivrtyartam.

Kulu kunj ashtu haladi hachi kodene

Beta thashtu muthaithi thana kodu.

Shri haladi stotram sampurnam.

Then start doing nityakarmas. If got any doubt feel free to mail – sarvotamah@gmail.com

Every woman puts rangoli in front of their home. We all know that only after cleaning outside the house we should clean inside our house. Okay so the thinking (anusandhana) while drawing the rangoli has to be like -: While sweeping – oh Shri Varaha, im cleaning your house While spilling water – oh Shri Varaha, im doing abisheka for you. While drawing rangoli – Shri Varaha, im decorating you with jewels. *Ladies should not say OM in any instance. Substitute OM with SHRI.

On the crisp:

While rubbing the Gopichandana with water and turmeric.

Urdhva pundra lalate thu bardur aayushya varthagam

Lalate kumkumam chaiva sadhaa Lakshmi nivasagam.

While applying urdhva pundra on forehead

Namake abhimani Narayana devaru

Shanka Chakra Garuda sesha Rudradhi devaru

Gadage abhimani Bheemsena devaru

Iti Shri nama stotram sampurnam.

While applying gada mudra

Thing  namaka bharathypathi vyanathargtha lakshmipathi niddhana bhinna Shri virolkaya nam:

While applying narayana mudra

Vidhya namaka bharathypathi samanathargatha jayanthi pathi utgitha bhinna  Shrisahasrolkaya nam:

While mixing kumkum and applying tilak

Gade stotram

Ananta sana swetha dweepa vaikunta embo Bheema sena devaru. Enta Bheemsena devaru Gadayalli idre Krishna Devaru Astradalli.  Mudaidhe hachidhare mooru koti punya. Vedige hachdhare Kasige hodha punya. Kasiyalli Magana nodithashtu punya. Prayogi snana madidhastu punya. Iti Shri Gade stotram sampurnam.

While applying turmeric

Haladi dharana stotram

Haladi daari draya naasanam

Soubhagya haldi. Sampatu haladi

Putra poutra abhivrtyartam.

Kulu kunj ashtu haladi hachi kodene

Beta thashtu muthaithi thana kodu.

Shri haladi stotram sampurnam.