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Re: Vedic deities

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Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian • June 15, 1999 


Mani Varadarajan  wrote:

> The following is taken from the Ahnika of Tirukkudandai Gopala
> Desikan (18th century), who set a standard for Vaidika anushThAna
> in the sampradAya. My sandhyA krama is nowhere near so detailed,
> and what I reproduce below is taken purely from my understanding
> of the text, so I apologize in advance for any errors.
>
> After arghya-pradAnam and tarpaNam, the details for gAyatrI japa
> are as follows.

[ details of Srivaishnava praxis deleted for brevity]

> I thank God (I mean that literally) we prapannas do not depend on
> our performance of sandhyAvandana for moksha!
>
> Rama, would you care to tell us how this differs from the
> smArta krama as taught to you?

Thanks for the information. I was taught the following:

After arghya and tarpaNam

1. Achamanam, shuklAmabaradaram, prANAyAma, sa.nkalpam

2. R^ishhi, chhandas, devata for praNava, ditto for saptavyAhR^itis,
etc (same as you mentioned)

3. 10 prANAyamas

4. R^ishhi, etc for ayAtu mantra

5. gAyatrI avAhanam with ayAtuvaradAdevI mantra

6. R^ishhi, chhandas, devata for the gAyatrI mantra

7. karannyAsa:
tatasavituH brahmAtmane a.ngushhTAbhyAm namah, vareNyam vishhNvAtmane
tarjanIbhyAma namaH, bhargodevasya rudrAtmane madhyamAbhyAm namah,
dhImahI IshvarAtmne anAmikAbhyAm namah, dhiyoyonah sadashivAtmne
kanishhiTikAbhyAm namah, prachodayAt sarvAtmane
karatala-kara-pR^ishhTakAbhyAm namah

8. a.ngannyAsa:
tatsavituh brahmAtmane hR^idayAya namah, .. shirase svAhA, ..
shikhAyai vashhaT, ... kavachAya hum, ... netratrayAya vaushhaT, ...
astrAya phaT (dots can be filled in from the karannyAsa part).
bhUrbuvasuvaromiti digbandah. The parts of the body where the nyAsas
are placed are the heart, head, shikha, shoulders, eyes and the space
between the eyes.

9. gAyatri dhyAnam with muktAvidru mantra

10. kalpa pUjA:
lam pR^thivyAtmane gandham kalpayAmi, ham AkAshAtmne pushhpam
kalpayAmi, yam vAyvAtmne dhUpam kalpayAmi, ram agnyAtmane dIpam
kalpayAmi, vam amR^itAtmane amR^itanaivedyam kalpayAmi, sam sarvAtmane
sarvopachAra pujAh samarpayAmi

11. dhyAnam with yodevaH savitA mantra

12. gAyatrI japam

13. Repeat a.nganAya and finish bhUrbhuvahsuvaromiti digvimokah,
gAyatrI dhyAnam and kalpa pUjA

Part of the a.nganYasa can be found in the mahAnArAyaNa upanishhat
(34-35). But it says: agnirmukham, brahmA shiro, vishhNur-hR^idayam,
rudrashshikhA. As you can see in our praxis, the devatas for hR^idaya
and shiras have been interchanged. agni does not even occur. I don't
know what original text (smR^iti) our order is from. The kalpa pUjA
uses the standard bIja mantras to invoke earth (lam), fire (ram), etc.
The a.nga and karannyAsas are to be done in a particular way with the
fingers and hands. It's impossible to describe it in words.

Rama