Homas - the various Homas and ways of conducting them

[Nacchinarkiniyan]

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The Homas have undergone a sea change from the Vedic times. It would be surprising if they have not changed in the last thousands of years.

A thread has been been started about AGNIŞŢOMA. But these Vedic homas are not being conducted now.

But a number of Homas are being conducted by individuals and groups.

These Homas take into account the change in the times.

I am starting this discussion to post about the various Homas and their mode of conduct.

Of course it goes without saying that the discussion would be only for those who believe in the efficacy of these Homas.

 

[Nacchinarkiniyan]

I would classify the Homas into three categories.

Private Homas:

These are conducted by individuals by engaging a qualified Sasthirigal. He does it for the individual Yajamana. The most common type. Some of the important homas are

1. Ganapthy Homa.

2. Navagraha homa.

3. Mrithunjaya homa.

4. Sudharshana Homa.

5. Tila homa.

6. Chandi Homa.

Public Non-Participative Homas.

Here a group of individuals get the Homa conducted. The homa is still done only by the sasthirigals. There is individual sankalpa in favour of the individual members of the group. Sometimes it is done by an organization. They sell tickets or invite contributions. The contributor gives the details of name, Gotra etc. for sankalpa.

The most common Homa done this way is

Chandi Homa.

Public Participative Homas.

These are conducted by individuals/organizations. Though there may be qualified sasthirigals participating, they do only in their individual capacity. All individuals take sanklapa, chant the mantras and offer ahudhis into the fire.

Smaller Groups:

This is done mostly by members who follow a particular Guru. We used to perform a Yagna every Pournami night at the temple erected by my Deekasha Guru. Here people who have the Adhikara sit along with the Guru around the fire with all the numerous Samagris. All of them recite the Mantras and offer Ahudhis into the fire. Many Deities are worshiped and Mantras recited. A specific number of Ahudhis are offered with each mantra. There is no distinction of sex or caste. People belonging to both sexes and all castes recite the Mantras and offer Ahudhis.

The Purna Ahudhi is done by the Guru.

There are also people who come to witness this Yagna. They sit around the fire. They are permitted to chant the Mantras, though they do not offer the Ahudhis.

In a similar way Chandi Yagna, Dhanvantari Yagna and others are conducted. In these cases the Mantra is that of a particular Deity.

Bigger Groups:

In bigger groups all the people recite the Mantras and also give ahudhis. But in a large crowd it is not possible for their offerings to reach the Fire. So two plates are given to all. One plate for holding the Samagri and the other for putting them in. You recite the mantra and put the samagri in the other plate. At the end of the yagna you walk up to the fire and pour the samagri into the fire. Of course it all depends on how well the yagna is organized.

The point to be noted here is that all the participants irrespective of any distinction of sex, caste or for that matter religion take the sankalpa, recite the Mantra and offer Ahudhis.Generally this kind of yagna is only with one Mantra for the deity. The Mantra is printed and distributed to all the participants.

There are many variations of this. A couple of years back we did a yagna on the Banks of the Ganges river in Varanasi. Early morning before sun rise facing the Manikarnika ghat. We recited Siva Sahasranama. Some bodies were burning in the back ground. It was fantastic.

In all these yagnas there is no role for the Priests. There are none in many cases. I remember a local person who joined us in the Varanasi yagna, inquiring about Brahmin dakshina at the end of the yagna. We had a hearty laugh.

These participative yagnas are becoming popular. It is very satisfying as there is no intermediary. You take the sankalpa and you perform the yagna.

 

[samarapungavan]

Shri Nachchinarkiniyanji,

AGNISTOMA was performed recently at the Srirangam Srimad Andavan Ashramam last month. Pl refer to details and description in the "Ranganatha Paduka" - monthly publication of Srimad Andavan Ashramam.There somayajis who perform this even now.

Regards,

 

[Nacchinarkiniyan]

Thank you, Samarapungavan.

We should be happy that the ancient Homas are being conducted. We only hear of the high profile Homas which are conducted with grants from Western universities as a part of a study. Such homas otherwise receive very little publicity from our English press.

 

[nachi naga]

homam gundam is our stomach.the fire in the belly is agni devatha.athma is the yajamana.body is the temple.when we understand this concept and think not only us but with others with whom we interact are also deiveega praani,we have a divine aura encapsulating us all the time.i personally feel,homam,abhishekham ..etc shud use minimal quantity as a form of namesake and bulk of the material be supplied to poor people to fill their belly from hunger.its just my viewpoint regarding homam and abhishekams.

 

[Nacchinarkiniyan]

I do not understand repeated advices about money being wasted on Homas and about such money being used for feeding the poor. It is called a waste.

Does drinking of liquor represent usefulness? Does money spent on cosmetics represent useful expenditure? What about money on smoking? I spend more money on my cigarettes per day than on materials for my daily Puja. We waste thousands of crores for putting up Games shows. Liquor, Tobacco, cosmetics and what not. India wasted enough money on the recent games which could have fed all the poor people of the country for years. But everyone thinks of waste only when they start talking about waste of Ghee on Homas.

This is sheer Hypocricy.

Do you remember the poor when you eat expensive food in an expensive restaurant?

 

[Nara]

....This is sheer Hypocricy.

If homas are nothing more than entertainment, like alcohol, cigarettes, and a cricket match, then it can defend against the charge of hypocrisy. But touting them as rituals intended for lokakshemam is indefensible, and objections to such claims are not hypocritical.

Cheers!

 

[Nacchinarkiniyan]

Expenditure on fairness creams, and cosmetics which claim to make one fair, manly, womanly and what not far far exceeds the amount of money spent on Homas. Then not many people go around campaigning against these beliefs in the efficacy of cosmetics. These beliefs about cosmetics and dubious drugs for enhancement of virility and what not are much more prevalent than the beliefs about the efficacy of Homas.

But then you are not politically correct to campaign against such beliefs. Nor would you get a hearing because of the power of the multinational cosmetic and drug manufacturers.

Alcohol and tobacco are drugs and not entertainment. You get addicted to them.

 

[nachi naga]

nara and nacchinarkiniyan,both of you are valid in your assesment.india has many hungry stomachs to feed.i am saying,use minimal amount in homam and abhishekams NOT stopping it completely as an extreme step.actually my older generation shud have done it by now unfortunately this is going on.being an ex-agnihothri ( a smoker) nara is right its an addiction.i quit because of "love" as a weapon or tool.now my state has banned smoking in public places,what a great acheivement for state leaders.boozing in limited quantities a peg or two of scoth is ok,but not getting drunk and behaving irrationally and then when sober rationalising your acts of irrationality owing to liquor??.

 

[BALAGOPAL]

Dear all, homams are for universal good only, even if we perform in our homes we have to have that attitude only.it may be costly, but benefits are immense for us.for example, agnihotra homam if performed, will drive away all poisonous air around us, it got succeeded in bhopal gas tragedy when one person performed it and many lives were saved when they were about to be affected by poisonous gas! It can be tried in japan to eradicate air affected by radiation.anybody listening? This agnihotra homam is not at all costly and the requirements are minimal.
Balagopal

 

[sangom]

Expenditure on fairness creams, and cosmetics which claim to make one fair, manly, womanly and what not far far exceeds the amount of money spent on Homas. Then not many people go around campaigning against these beliefs in the efficacy of cosmetics. These beliefs about cosmetics and dubious drugs for enhancement of virility and what not are much more prevalent than the beliefs about the efficacy of Homas.

But then you are not politically correct to campaign against such beliefs. Nor would you get a hearing because of the power of the multinational cosmetic and drug manufacturers.

Alcohol and tobacco are drugs and not entertainment. You get addicted to them.

Shri Iniyan,

Once it is agreed that the various homas resulting in Lokakshemam is just as frivolous a belief as fairness creams, aphrodisiacs (excepting viagra perhaps), etc., there is no further argument IMHO. Still, I would say that we must think of less polluting methods to bring in the supposed Lokakshema.

There is a Siva temple near Alappuzha town. Rigveda Laksharchana is being held (once in two or three years I think) in that temple. Only Namboodiris take part in the archana and the aim is to recite one particular Saakha of rigveda one lakh times. Lot of flowers are of course used, but they become manure for the earth eventually without any smoke pollution. Why cannot the mutts follow such examples? I think the basic weakness lies in the fact that the other brahman sects do not have competent people to recite, say yajurveda or samaveda (which is an endangered knowledge right now, though as an agnostic I am not directly concerned with it; still it is a heritage of humanity, is it not?) or atharva veda, even devi mahatmyam, bhagavatam or anything else; they want to make do with repeating the same mantra or a limited set of mantras and to make up for the monotony by the fire and ghee offerings etc., I believe.

Why not have Laksharchana, Koti archana, Satakoti archana and so on, instead of these gigantic homas?

 

[saidevo]

namaste s/shrI Nacchinarkiniyan, PV Iyer, Balagopal, smt.Renukakarthikayan and others,

For those of us who believe in the efficacy of universal welfare in the vedic homa rituals, such ongoing research as in the following link would be more convincing and informative:

HitXP » Sanskrit Vedic Chants and the Secret World of Human DNA – Wave Genetics of Biological Internet causing Hyper Communication - by Gurudev

HitXP » Vedic Science and Modern Science - by Gurudev

Therefore, we need not have any misgivings about some non-believers trying to sidetrack it by their opionated expressions.

If the world does not understand the efficacy of the Vedic homa rituals, the loss is only to the people which will be felt only eventually as the Kali Yuga advances.

 

[Nacchinarkiniyan]

Shri Iniyan,

Once it is agreed that the various homas resulting in Lokakshemam is just as frivolous a belief as fairness creams, aphrodisiacs (excepting viagra perhaps), etc., there is no further argument IMHO. Still, I would say that we must think of less polluting methods to bring in the supposed Lokakshema.

There is a Siva temple near Alappuzha town. Rigveda Laksharchana is being held (once in two or three years I think) in that temple. Only Namboodiris take part in the archana and the aim is to recite one particular Saakha of rigveda one lakh times. Lot of flowers are of course used, but they become manure for the earth eventually without any smoke pollution. Why cannot the mutts follow such examples? I think the basic weakness lies in the fact that the other brahman sects do not have competent people to recite, say yajurveda or samaveda (which is an endangered knowledge right now, though as an agnostic I am not directly concerned with it; still it is a heritage of humanity, is it not?) or atharva veda, even devi mahatmyam, bhagavatam or anything else; they want to make do with repeating the same mantra or a limited set of mantras and to make up for the monotony by the fire and ghee offerings etc., I believe.

Why not have Laksharchana, Koti archana, Satakoti archana and so on, instead of these gigantic homas?

Sangom,

I had stated very clearly in my first post.

I am starting this discussion to post about the various Homas and their mode of conduct.

Of course it goes without saying that the discussion would be only for those who believe in the efficacy of these Homas.

I had replied to Nara's post to counter the allegation that expenditure on homas is a waste of money. Only in that context I had drawn a parallel to expenditure on cigarettes, alcohol, face creams etc. That is only that. Please do not twist my words or read into it meanings which are out of context.

This is in the religion category and assumes the efficacy of the Homas. You have a thread where you have posted about other aspects of Homas. But not here.

About your question regarding Archana and Homa, we believe that the offerings in the Homas directly reach the Deity through the medium of Agni. This is basic Hindu belief. So Homa is far superior to Archana.

About pollution, the pollution that I have caused by driving around in cars for decades is much more than what is caused by hundreds of Homas. We all do that and never even think about it.

 

[Nara]

....This is in the religion category and assumes the efficacy of the Homas. You have a thread where you have posted about other aspects of Homas. But not here.

Shri Nacchinarkiniyan,

I just want to point out a technicality.

As Shri KRS has clarified, you have the right, as the OP of this thread, to tell us to take a hike, and we have to honor it. But, you cannot ask us to go away on the grounds that this thread is in the Religion category. The rule for this category is that we are not allowed discussions anything against any particular religion, that is all. Here is the rule.

Please do not use this forum to engage in discussions against any particular religion or caste. Such topics will be promptly deleted
​

Unless you think expressing a preference to archanai as against homas itself is a discussion against Hindu religion, I don't see why there must be an objection on that ground.

As I said, this is only a technicality, consider it if you wish before gagging anyone.

Cheers!

 

[Nacchinarkiniyan]

The earliest Hindu practice from the Vedic times was the Homa. It was only Homas then. Even the Tantrik homas follow the basic Vaidic procedure regarding establishing the fire and invoking Agni. The recitation of Shanti Mantras at the beginning and the end of the Homas is another common feature. Archanas are used in Homas. The term Namah is replaced with Swaha.

Namah - means I bow to you o lord.

Svaha - means in effect please receive this offering.

I think may be Sangom can throw more light on the usage of these terms.

 

[sangom]

Sangom,

I had stated very clearly in my first post.

I had replied to Nara's post to counter the allegation that expenditure on homas is a waste of money. Only in that context I had drawn a parallel to expenditure on cigarettes, alcohol, face creams etc. That is only that. Please do not twist my words or read into it meanings which are out of context.

This is in the religion category and assumes the efficacy of the Homas. You have a thread where you have posted about other aspects of Homas. But not here.

About your question regarding Archana and Homa, we believe that the offerings in the Homas directly reach the Deity through the medium of Agni. This is basic Hindu belief. So Homa is far superior to Archana.

About pollution, the pollution that I have caused by driving around in cars for decades is much more than what is caused by hundreds of Homas. We all do that and never even think about it.

Looking at posts 5, 7, 8, 9 I thought comments which do not decry homas were allowed. But now I find that perhaps you have some allergy for my comments. Please go through the above posts as also mine once again and let me know in what way mine is being objected to.

Shri KRS,
I request SM to please look into this. In any case I have better work to do and so unless I get satisfactory reply, I am off from this forum itself.

 

[Nara]

Shri KRS,
I request SM to please look into this. In any case I have better work to do and so unless I get satisfactory reply, I am off from this forum itself.

Dear Shri Sangom sir, I do understand your anguish, stay away from this particular thread if you wish until you get satisfaction, but please do not leave the forum altogether, it will be a great loss if you did.

best regards ....

p.s. Shri KRS, the rules of what opinion will be tolerated is becoming somewhat unpredictable, or may be I should say predictable in some ways. A uniform code may lessen such incidences. Just my half-a-penny....

 

[renuka]

Is the Yagnam a Waste of Resources?

A good act can only result in good results just like a mango seed can grow only into a mango tree as Swami often says. There are some who question the various oblations made to the fire during the Yagna – the grains, the ghee, etc. Is it not ludicrous to submit all these edible articles to fire when thousands do not have food to eat?

To this Bhagawan gave a beautiful reply in His discourse on the 16th of August. He said,

“Today a farmer sows five bags of paddy in a field. When they sprout, he transplants them in the entire field and waters them. Can anyone say that he is throwing valuable paddy into mud and water? Ultimately, he reaps a harvest of fifty bags.

Similarly, the rituals being performed by the Ritwiks (priests) confer great benefit on humanity; they are never a waste. Whatever is offered to God today is like this paddy and ghee; they all confer great benefit to humanity at a later date. Just as a bag of paddy sown in a field multiplies itself into fifty bags, similarly all the materials that are offered to Agnihothra (the fire-god) multiply themselves several times…. Whatever is offered to God, comes back to us a thousand fold.”

 

[Nacchinarkiniyan]

Mu Guruji has unshakeable faith in Yagnas. He believes that they will make India powerful and prosperous. The Gods become happy whenever a Yagna is performed. In the Vedas we read: Sacrifice (Yagna) is the foremost of our duties. It is the mainstay of the world. It bestows blessings on all things. It is the boat to cross the ocean and live well. Only through it the Gods attained the heaven. Through it deliverance is afforded.

In the Gita (3: 10) we find the following idea: In the beginning while creating the human beings, God instituted the sacrifice and said, "May this grant your desire like Kamadhenu and may you grow with its help:"

The Gods accept only the food offered in a sacrifice. When they are satisfied they send rain. As a result there will be no scarcity of water and people reap a rich harvest. This process has been mentioned in the Gita (3: 14). Lord Krishna declares that I am Yagna (Gita 14: 16).

 

[Nacchinarkiniyan]

Homas could be classified into two categories.

Vaidik Homas

Tantrik Homas.

Some of the Vaidik Homas are

Ayush Homa

Navagraha Homa

Nakshatra Homa

Tila Homa

Mritunjaya Homa

Sri Suktha Homa

Sudharshana Homa

The Tantrik Homas are

Chandi Homa

Dakshina Kali Homa

Dasa Maha Vidya Homas

But this distinction is not always defined. Homas like Ganapathy Homa, Sudharsana Homa and Mrintunjaya Homa are performed both in the Vaidika and Tantrika methods.

Many Gurus believe that this differentiation is not correct and the present day Homas are basically Vaidik with Tantrik overtones. This is based on the belief that Tantras are extensions of the Karma kanda of the Vedas.

 

[renuka]

I have pasted this stanza here from Nirvana Shatakam not to oppose Homa and Yagna but just to bring to notice about this stanza which some might view as opposing to the need of a Homa or Yagna.

This stanza purely explains the Nature of the Atma and I am just pasting it here to make sure its not wrongly used to target Yagnas and Homas on technical grounds.(Every angle needs to be covered in a discussion which might have opposing views..being technical here thats all)


न पुण्यं न पापं न सौख्यं न दु:खम् न मन्त्रो न तीर्थं न वेदा: न यज्ञा:
अहं भोजनं नैव भोज्यं न भोक्ता चिदानन्द रूप: शिवोऽहम् शिवॊऽहम् ॥


Na Punyan Na Paapan Na Saukhyan Na Dukham, Na Mantro Na Tirthan Na Vedaah Na Yajnaah
Aham Bhojanan Naiv Bhojyan Na Bhoktaa, Chidaananda Rupah Shivoham Shivoham


I have neither virtue (punya), nor vice (paapa). I do not commit sins or good deeds, nor have happiness or sorrow, pain or pleasure. I do not need mantras, holy places, scriptures, rituals or sacrifices (yajna). I am none of the triad of the observer or one who experiences, the process of observing or experiencing, or any object being observed or experienced. I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva, love and pure consciousness.

 

[Nacchinarkiniyan]

Most of the discussions in this forum regarding Scriptures, rituals, mantras and almost everthing else could be dimissed by quoting Nirvana Satakam. Advaita Vedanta was opposed to the ritualistisic religion of Purva Mimansa. That was what it was all about in Sankaracharya's debate with Mandana Mishra.

Homas follow the Karma Kanda of the Vedas. Thr Jnana Kanda or the Upanishads were opposed to the Karama Kanda. Tamil Brahmins by and large are followers of Purva Mimansa.

Thank you all for reading my posts in this thread.

 

[Nara]

... Just as a bag of paddy sown in a field multiplies itself into fifty bags, similarly all the materials that are offered to Agnihothra (the fire-god) multiply themselves several times…. Whatever is offered to God, comes back to us a thousand fold.”

Dear Professor Nara Ji,

This is exactly a posting from the non believer's perspective that Sri Nacchinarkiniyan Ji was trying to prevent on his thread. Can you please edit yours, if you see it fit to do so?

Regards,
KRS


Done!

 

[KRS]

Dear Sri Sangom Ji,
You have every right to post here, as you have not violated any Forum rules.

Dear Sri Nacchinarkiniyan Ji,
Seems to me that Sri Sangom Ji has raised a very pertinent question on the efficacy of the homas, not from a non believer perspective. I think you have answered that also. So, hopefully you would allow such discussions here, without any restrictions placed on valid questions, which actually help others, like people like me.

Regards,
KRS