Archanai

[amala]

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Could you please explain the significance of performing an archanai in temples?. Is it like a personal prayer?. I have been asked by several North Indians here in London (UK) about archanai. Is it a uniquely South Indian pujai?.

Thanks.

 

[DURGADASAN]

Certainly nothing like that mam. I conisder your name as amala. I call you "mam" thinking your gender and also considering the respect. Your parents can call you amala. Your sons and daughters will call you "mom". Your husband may call you with some special names. In angry, all these persons can call you with someother names. In happy moods, these same persons will call you with other set of different names. Your friends will call you with pet names. Like this, just a human being, we are having these much names, though we are identifed by a single name.


Archana is like this only. We are calling him with his so many names. Some archanas have their sound vibration (For example, lalitha trisadhi has namas starting with panchadasakshari), they have healing values. Doing archana can be done in both ways. Many persons can join and perform a deepa pooja and do archana for that orelse you can simply sit in your pooja room and do asthothara archana for your favourite god. Considering this as a private prayer or public prayer depends on your mentality and also the situation.

Our human mind is like a monkey, which always wanders here and there. Concentrating on a single thing (that too eternal thoughts) is a tough task. To concentrate our mind while performing pooja, the concept of archanai has been came. The archana will also describe us some of the valor of the particular god, his description, his compassion, etc. so that it will be very easy for the devotee to focus on the god.

The Archanai is chanting the names and glory of God with devotion. When the Archanai contains 108 respected names of God, it is called the ASHTOTHRA SATHAM. When it contains 1008 names, the Archanai is called the SAHASRANANAM and 300 is Thrisadhi. As our resources (time and material) permit, when we do Archanai with love, devotion and concentration, we can fulfill our wishes and obtain the God's grace and bliss.

PRANAMS

 

[akura]

Dear Sri Durgadasan
What a teacher ! Why you did your MPhil ? There is no necessity .
You are born...

 

[DURGADASAN]

Dear Akura ji
Am not fit for those words sir. I just put it into words of my own. Thats all. With the blessings of people like you, I will turn sharper (sathsanga). Iam seriously watching each and every message posted by you, ramani sir, kunjuppu sir. Though a lot of differences between everyone's view, I learn new things from all your messages. Thanks for including me to in this authenticated wing.

Pranams sir.

 

[akura]

Dear Sri Durgadasan
Thanks sir . But not keep me on par with Sri Kunjjappu,, Rv ji and all
I have no flow of language like that of Sri Kunjjappu . I have lost my
English writing sense due working all these years , more than 35 years
with number codes and abbreviated English words . i struggle a lot for
finding proper spelling even . I realized this weakness of mine after
entering into this forum where I restarted gaining my English writing.

 

[kunjuppu]

Dear Sri Durgadasan
Thanks sir . But not keep me on par with Sri Kunjjappu,, Rv ji and all
I have no flow of language like that of Sri Kunjjappu . ...

i object your honour

durga, all of us learn. we never stop learning till our last breath.

i have learnt to write gently only after some disastrous experience in one previous forum.

it was a bad experience due to my immaturity, but a great lesson, for which i am ever grateful to the person, for putting up with my painful learning curve. but the consolation, is that we learn. for good. for goodness.

with each note, each of us becomes a better person. durga i have learned so much from you in a short time, you would be surprised.

many of us are not even aware of what we acquired in skillsets, knowledge base and above all, interacting with people.

i have been involved in small business & customer service - hence my brief extra notes to those folks among us who have just started a business.. and so on it goes.

for simple english notes, think tamil, translate it into english just like a conversation, and then type it. do not think english, as the message then becomes convoluted.

one thing i have learned after living in canada for a long time, is that indian english is very flowery. take the ornament and praises and verbal garlands out. keep it simple. it flows better.

keep sentences simple and direct. it is my goal not to use any word more than 3 syllables.. though i am not always successful in that. but i strive.

also, i have learned, that it is easy to read a note in forums such as these, if it is only one or two sentences between parsing a para. makes it easier on the eye.

let us all learn together. but more important, have fun, while learning.

 

[amala]

Thank you all for the input. Much appreciated

 

[drsundaram]

thanks to all>>> Akuraji, RVji, Kunjuppuji and Durgadasasanji. What a flow of humility and expressions. Very well going. I owe to all of you. Kind regards.
But Durgadaasanji, you say by chanting all Namese of God in an archanai one's mind is concentrating. I beg to differ because I feel chanting on one syllable or on to one object is comfortable and possible to concentrate upon than in more alphabets more so with more names etc. Is not mind oscillating then hearing and listening to ? Please clarify.

 

[tbs]

Could you please explain the significance of performing an archanai in temples?. Is it like a personal prayer?. I have been asked by several North Indians here in London (UK) about archanai. Is it a uniquely South Indian pujai?.

Thanks.

hi amalaji,
according to north indian system of worship bhajan/havan/pujan/
bhojan are important...but according to south indian paddhati..
three A's..means abhishega/ alangaram/archanai....so archanai
is no so important to north indians....its quite new to them..

regards
tbs

 

[DURGADASAN]

Drsundaram sir

Your view is acceptable. Simply saying 1000 times rama rama will be very easy. At the same time, you cannot count even when you are travellng in bus or somewhere outside. If you start calculating, you will start concentrating on the count rather than the nama. Whereas, though 1000 namas is quite tough to recite, it will sure make you to get rid of these problems.

If you are going somwhere outside. Iam seeing you. I call you several times by your name "sundaram sir", you are not turning. If I keep on calling, what others will think??? Am I not irritating them. At the sametime, I knew well that you have some other name. Why don't I try with that???

One more thing, when you pay and do archana in a temple, if the priest is simply saying rama rama rama 100 times, will you accept???

Archana is the way to get practised with the Kalyana gunas of swami. It is the way to move closer towards him. Chanting a single nama many a times is a kinda "Dhyana". How a Dhyana which is purely a private worship can be confused with Archana which has dual roles sir.

Iam chanting lalitha sahasranama for past 13 years. Not even stopped a single day. I found very much difficult to chant a single nama many times. Even a simple "om sakthi", its hard for me to chant. It depends on our mindset only sir. We have to just change and try to put that in various situations. I mean if you go 100 times a temple and do archana, you will get fond of it. Practice makes better na...

Dear TBS sir,
I just want to bit contradict your statement. Can you say that Bhajan, poojan and bhojan are not common in south Indian worship??? We the people from south india only developed many bhajans, although a single language (marathi) developed many bhajans. Haridas giri, gnanananda maharaj, krishna premi are all from here only na. Also, patthadis like radha kalyanam are all very famous here only. Next bhojan, Annadhana a concept is attached with all the poojas. We people are also doing that after each and every pooja. Then I also wont accept that abhisheka alankara archana is south indian style. Are they in north india not following all these??? Each and every linga is getting always abhsihekam by the hands of bhaktas themselves there. Also, the concept of "tharapatram" came from them only. Then comes alankara, Various Jari works, other small ornaments (nakasu works) were all their properties only, regarding alankara of the idol. Can you say the idol of mathura krishna has not been well decorated?

What I think is Alankara, abhisheka, archana, bhajan, havan, poojan, bhojan everything are necessary. All are here and we are performing almost all these in both south and north india. There is no such partition I think.

Alankara and Deeparadhana- control our eyes
Bhajan- Control our ears (we have to hear first and repeat that with perfection)
Archana- to control mouth
Bhojan- to control whole body
Doopa- to control our nose
Naivedhya- athmasamarpanam

Every action is thus concerned woth controlling our senses amd make us to focus only on god. We should not leave anything. Abhishekam, alakaram, archanai may be consider as Poorvanga (first to do). bhajan, poojan and bhojan as next dos.

Pranams...

 

[kunjuppu]

durga,

your observations re archanas are timely, in my family.

for various reasons, we performed a navagraha homam yesterday at the temple.

i cannot but explain the immediate sense of peace.

durga, if you don't mind, there is also another side to the story.

while there are avowed scholars of your calibre, who are not only familiar but also take the interest and care to educate us here in the forum, re the proper procedures..

i have always wondered, is it not the purity of mind and earnestness of the person, that is more important.

we too have a distinguished lady in my family. we call her 'the keeper of the values', for she is a ready reference, for any ritual, puja, tradition and whatsover related matters.

but, she takes the job so seriously, that she has come to near blows with the vaadhiyars at religious functions ...

some of us take a humourous view of things, but i am not kidding when i say, that some functions have stopped, the vaadhiyars walking out, and instant replacements rushed in, to conform to the dictats of the 'keeper of values'.

all i am saying here, is caution needs to be exercised.

ultimately, our God, would He hold it against us, if we do the namaskaram in a wrong direction in a temple? do forms matter so much as intentions?

hope you don't mind my query and thoughts on these lines.

thank you.

 

[anandb]

Dear Shri. Durgadasan

Drsundaram sir

Your view is acceptable. Simply saying 1000 times rama rama will be very easy. At the same time, you cannot count even when you are travellng in bus or somewhere outside. If you start calculating, you will start concentrating on the count rather than the nama. Whereas, though 1000 namas is quite tough to recite, it will sure make you to get rid of these problems.

If you are going somwhere outside. Iam seeing you. I call you several times by your name "sundaram sir", you are not turning. If I keep on calling, what others will think??? Am I not irritating them. At the sametime, I knew well that you have some other name. Why don't I try with that???

One more thing, when you pay and do archana in a temple, if the priest is simply saying rama rama rama 100 times, will you accept???

Archana is the way to get practised with the Kalyana gunas of swami. It is the way to move closer towards him. Chanting a single nama many a times is a kinda "Dhyana". How a Dhyana which is purely a private worship can be confused with Archana which has dual roles sir.

Iam chanting lalitha sahasranama for past 13 years. Not even stopped a single day. I found very much difficult to chant a single nama many times. Even a simple "om sakthi", its hard for me to chant. It depends on our mindset only sir. We have to just change and try to put that in various situations. I mean if you go 100 times a temple and do archana, you will get fond of it. Practice makes better na...

Dear TBS sir,
I just want to bit contradict your statement. Can you say that Bhajan, poojan and bhojan are not common in south Indian worship??? We the people from south india only developed many bhajans, although a single language (marathi) developed many bhajans. Haridas giri, gnanananda maharaj, krishna premi are all from here only na. Also, patthadis like radha kalyanam are all very famous here only. Next bhojan, Annadhana a concept is attached with all the poojas. We people are also doing that after each and every pooja. Then I also wont accept that abhisheka alankara archana is south indian style. Are they in north india not following all these??? Each and every linga is getting always abhsihekam by the hands of bhaktas themselves there. Also, the concept of "tharapatram" came from them only. Then comes alankara, Various Jari works, other small ornaments (nakasu works) were all their properties only, regarding alankara of the idol. Can you say the idol of mathura krishna has not been well decorated?

What I think is Alankara, abhisheka, archana, bhajan, havan, poojan, bhojan everything are necessary. All are here and we are performing almost all these in both south and north india. There is no such partition I think.

Alankara and Deeparadhana- control our eyes
Bhajan- Control our ears (we have to hear first and repeat that with perfection)
Archana- to control mouth
Bhojan- to control whole body
Doopa- to control our nose
Naivedhya- athmasamarpanam

Every action is thus concerned woth controlling our senses amd make us to focus only on god. We should not leave anything. Abhishekam, alakaram, archanai may be consider as Poorvanga (first to do). bhajan, poojan and bhojan as next dos.

Pranams...

Amazing explanation, sir. Since the human mind is pulled in all directions, concentration becomes very difficult. I personally am able to concentrate better when I say a ashtotram with the different names of god than repeat a single naama a hundred times. Probably to do with visualization. For ex, when saying ganapati ashtotram, I say Modhakapriyaya namaha, I can visualize ganapati eating a modhakam. So wherever I can understand the meaning, my mind can visualize a particular image associated with the meaning. So my concentration is retained a majority of the time.

Thanks

 

[DURGADASAN]

Dear Kunjuppu sir,
Might be my age is the problem becoz of which am arguing much. Might be am wrong. If so, kindly educate me in these things. I dont have much exposure to outside. உங்கள் அனுபவங்கள் முன்னால் என் வயது அடி பணிந்து கொள்கிறது. Not only, this thread, please check whenever there is some confrontation in my scraps. It will be a tough task to you. Anyhow, hope you will do that for me

Pranams

dear durga,

big problem here. i am the one who needs help.:help:

please, let us all level set here. the beauty of anonymous forums is that, i think, we are all equal.

we stand on an assumed nomenclature, which may or may not reflect our true selves. there is nothing wrong with that, i think.

but i think, seriously, that in order to exchange ideas freely, without fear or scorn, is to treat every member here on par.

giving special consideration, especially to 'age', i think, is being unfair to the guy who has spend a few more years on this earth, thanks only to his date of birth.

knowledge is acquired through reading and interaction with people. i think, wisdom, is a crowning achievement of knowledge, in the sense, whereas knowledge can be termed as ஏட்டு சொரக்காய், wisdom involves விவேகம்

i have serious problems with you bestowing the latter (ie விவேகம்) upon me. i am not even sure how much of knowledge i have, except that i know that you are much more erudite and familiar with philosophies.

to me this is a gift, for from you, we learn to appreciate and understand some aspects of our background.

my own note was a take on perfection and it is only an observation, based on my family situations.

please do not consider that as anything more than a note, with a somehow humorous side effect, of taking things too seriously. the world usually is far more relaxed, than the individual.

so, durga, hopefully you will now agree, as far as i am concerned, i too can say 'துர்கா
உங்கள் அனுபவங்கள் முன்னால் என் வயது அடி பணிந்து கொள்கிறது' .. which is equally valid and true.

looking forward to more of your views and presentations. they are awesomely interesting. thank you.

God Bless.

ps..this note is answer to one portion of durga's post. i do apologize, as i accidentally deleted the first portion... error of my finger..so sorry about that.. will be more careful next time..sorry again

 

[vikrama]

Archana is something more than a collection of names used to draw the attention of the god. It is a graphic description of the form of god, which enables us to picture the god in our mind. It also lists the various attributes of god. It tries to define the indefinable. Please look at the following portions of Lalitha sahasranamam and Vishnu sahasranamam

Srimatha Mother who gives immeasurable wealth who removes all sorrows and gives only happiness.-indicates also her role of creation
Sri maharajni She who is the empress who takes care of the universe- indicates her role of protection
Sri math simasaneshwari She who sits on the throne of lions-indicates her role of destruction
Chidagni Kunda Sambootha She who rose from the fire of knowledge and is the ultimate truth
Deva karya samudhyatha She who is interested in helping devas
Udyath bhanu sahasrabha She who glitters like thousand rising suns
Chadur bahu samanvidha She who has four arms
Ragha Swaroopa pasadya She who has love for all in the form of rope(pasa)-She has this in one of her left hands
Krodhakarankusojwala She who glitters and has anger in the form of Anghusa –in one of her right hands.
Mano Rupeshu Kodanda She who has the bow of sweet cane which is her mind-in one of her left hands
Pancha than mathra sayaka She who has five bows of touch , smell, hearing, taste and sight
Nijaruna prabha poora majjath brahmanda mandala She who makes all the universe immerse in her red colour which is like the sun in the dawn


Sarwa He who is everything
Ssarva He who destroys everything when the deluge comes
Shiva He who is pure
Sthanu He who is stable
Bhootaatha He from whom all the beings evolved
Nidhiravyaya He who is never destroyed (even at deluge)
Sambhava He who is all that happens
Bhavana He who is the giver of every thing
Bhartha He who is the basis supports all beings
Prabhava He in whom all things were born
Prabhu He who is extremely clever
Easwara He who controls and rules all beings or He who is a natural ruler.

 

[kunjuppu]

sorry durga,

inadvertently the first portion of your message got erased as i used the wrong button (edit instead of quote.. i get to edit as moderator)

so sorry. please forgive me... an error of the finger.

i hope you don't mind that.. i will be more careful in the future..

sorry again

 

[DURGADASAN]

Dear Kunjuppu sir

I sent that particular to you. So there is nothing wrong in deleting that. Iam just considering evrything as a note only sir. But, the thing is am quite arguing. As you said, the forum is here for that only. Let we argue argue and then come to a conclusion, so that we all get clarified. Anyhow thanks sir. But as my request and wish keep an eye over all my scraps. Iam eager to learn new things sir...

Pranams

 

[iyerponnu]

Durgaji, Kunju ji, RV ji and the many others...

Reading through all the posts has definitely enlightened me... But I have another question..when we ask the priest in the temple to perform an archanai, he will immediately ask us for our gothram/name/nakshathiram. I have seen people say 'Swami peruku pannugo' and some others who give the names and nakshathirams of all in the family.When I questioned someone who performed archanai on swami's name, he said that one learned Vedic scholar told him that, by performing the archanai on swami's name, we are doing for the good of all beings. Which is the right method?
Also, when we give the names, is there a specific way of mentioning them?

Mythili

 

[DURGADASAN]

Mythili ji
You said the answer itself na. God is there in each and every being. When we perform it on the name of god, we are doing it with a public concern. At the same time, when performing archana on your name it is limited (private concern).
It is very usual in my family custom, we will do all sorta archanas in the name of elderly people. The archaka himself will include "saha kudumbasya". So usually will do like that. Only when some archanas doing for "parikarams", we will perform with our names itself.

 

[iyerponnu]

Durgaji,

This is what we do in our family. My father always says 'Swami perla' when we do an archanai when we visit the temple. For specific occasions like birthdays/anniversaries or even before exams/attending interviews etc, he would do it on our names. When we visit our kula deivam temple, my grandfather would say the names of all his children and grand children. Whatever it is right, I think we should pray for the good of the World when we go to the temple..
Mythili

 

[vijisesh]

Dear Durgadasan ji ..

Excellent , the explanation that you have provided so far is clear and laudable.
Now the doubt raised by Ms." iyerponnu " & "Mythili" ji is in my mind too !
Please take your time and answer the following :

1) Why people go to the prohithar and tell their names , gothra's and nakhshatra ?

2) Does God need an introduction to the souls that he has created ?

3) Do we get more plus points doing the Archanai referring their own names to GOD ?? i mean more karmic points ( is there any other advantage other than increasing our positive energy / improving concentration levels / mind control etc etc )

All these doubts arise in my mind because there may be many people in this world with my name , gothra and nakshatram , and they may reap the benefits that I sow by doing archana in my name ! and vicevera . Pls explain.

gender (vijisesh) = male

 

[DURGADASAN]

Dear Vijisesh sir,

1. The introduction which you give to the archaka is not for the god. That is mere a sankalpa. It is like when you want to go somewhere to meet a person, you will call him and know whether he is free and say him that for this matter am coming over there. Like this, you are telling the reason. The priest on behalf of you will say, that he belonging to this star, this gothra, this rasi, this name is doing now an archana for the fulfillment of this particular wish. God doesn't need any intro from us. He never get confused although he sees 1000s of his devotees at a single time.

Are you telling the name of soul which god has created vijisesh sir?? It is not certainly. we are just saying name of this fleshy body and certainly not the soul. anyhow, god knows each and everything and certainly he does not expect any intro from us.


2. Vijisesh ji, there are many other things which a simple archana can do. I cant say that it totally reduce your karmic effects. If your sins has changed into a sac full of 1 rupee coin and make it a burden for you to carry, doing archana (I mean taking a footstep towards god) will turn it into a thousand rupee note and simply you can carry that in your pocket. Many archanas can be done for specific reasons (karyasiddhi). You will be hearing in many temples if you visit 3 tuesdays and perform archana, you will get good job. Like this. I can say you one thing. First is belief. You should totally surrender yourself. (Even Iam not a right person to say this). Then, the devotedness. (Dont think that archaka said only 20 namas and get money from me and all. Thats their business, thats all.) Atleast at that time, you focus yourself totally on god.


3. The fruits of performing archana by your name certainly did not go to anyother person simply as they possess your name or star. This is karmic effects. It knows very well whom it has to be attained. Did you have anywhere got a marklist instead of yours? did you got anywhere a bank account transferred totally from someother account to yours beoz of mere name similarities???. Likewise this also won't happen. Anyhow, I will say you a thing, why not someother also get that (I mean just to wide your heart).
Even if doing archana is not possible, there is nothing to worry. A simple story: A king of thirumala daily performed archana with suvarana pushpa (Golden lotus), at the same time hearing this, an old potter also did lotus flowers with clay and since, he is of low caste he himself did a balaji vigraha too on clay and do archana with that fresh clay flowers daily. To show his devotedness, balaji one day accepted his clay lotuses under his lotus feet. On seeing this, the king got curious and asked his servants to search for the origin of clay flowers. The servants finally found this potter. Then, king himself went to the hut and worshipped the mud balaji there.

What it means here? Mere performance of archana just for a pomp is of no use at all. In old days, we people of our community themselves do archana. But, nowadays due to various jobs, tight schedule and not knowing even namavalis made us to do archanas with help of archakas. But atleast listen when they perform archana. If you doesn't know the meaning or archaka is too fast, you just think of the beauty of the god, his compassion, his grace. Thats enough...

Iam not sure how far I clarified you sir...

Pranams

 

[Madhavi Eswari]

archanai

Certainly nothing like that mam. I conisder your name as amala. I call you "mam" thinking your gender and also considering the respect. Your parents can call you amala. Your sons and daughters will call you "mom". Your husband may call you with some special names. In angry, all these persons can call you with someother names. In happy moods, these same persons will call you with other set of different names. Your friends will call you with pet names. Like this, just a human being, we are having these much names, though we are identifed by a single name.


Archana is like this only. We are calling him with his so many names. Some archanas have their sound vibration (For example, lalitha trisadhi has namas starting with panchadasakshari), they have healing values. Doing archana can be done in both ways. Many persons can join and perform a deepa pooja and do archana for that orelse you can simply sit in your pooja room and do asthothara archana for your favourite god. Considering this as a private prayer or public prayer depends on your mentality and also the situation.

Our human mind is like a monkey, which always wanders here and there. Concentrating on a single thing (that too eternal thoughts) is a tough task. To concentrate our mind while performing pooja, the concept of archanai has been came. The archana will also describe us some of the valor of the particular god, his description, his compassion, etc. so that it will be very easy for the devotee to focus on the god.

The Archanai is chanting the names and glory of God with devotion. When the Archanai contains 108 respected names of God, it is called the ASHTOTHRA SATHAM. When it contains 1008 names, the Archanai is called the SAHASRANANAM and 300 is Thrisadhi. As our resources (time and material) permit, when we do Archanai with love, devotion and concentration, we can fulfill our wishes and obtain the God's grace and bliss.

PRANAMS

Vannakam Sri Durgadasan,

Wonderful your explanation on archanai. I personaly perform the ASHTOTHRA SATHAM every time I go to the the Temple .The words found therein are pure and such an archanai come directly from the heart. Actually it is the recitation Skanda Shasthi Kavacham as we are fasting For Lord Muruga untill Saturday . Try this type of archanai and you will discover wonders in your communication with the Lord. Mikka Nandri Sir.

 

[DURGADASAN]

Thanks a lot Madhavi ji, Mythili ji, Vijsesh sir for sharing your personal experiences to strengthen my thoughts.

Pranams

 

[Gururajan]

Durgadasan you are amazing! i am astonished your comments about archanai! you did so well! you explained great things in simple manner! keep it up.... i am looking forward your comments..

Guru....

 

[vijisesh]

Thank you Sri Durgadasan ji , for providing a great explanation .
I agree to you that " Prayer should definitely be done in full faith and by total surrender to GOD , with complete and focussed dedication of each and every cell in our body " .

Now for the benefit of myself and some other veiwers , please take us slowly into " How archanais are performed at home ? , What sort of purity is required ? Why do we start with Ganesha all the time ? Even provide us information on how a beginner can start doing his pujas/ archanai etc.

We are ready for our mudhiyor kalvi !