Simple Homa Procedure - Part 1

Homa Procedure Introduction:

This series covers simple homa procedure that can be done individually at
home. This is the normal procedure adopted while performing homa as per
Vaidika method. There is another procedure called Tantric method. Vaidika
method means relating to the Veda, derived from or conformable to the Veda
or prescribed in the Veda. There may be variations from what is described
here.

1. Requirements:

1. Very small quantity of rice flour

2. Homa kua

4. Small quantity of sand to spread on homa kua

3. Bunches of dharba grasses (normal requirement is 108)

4. Two wooden darvi-s (darvi means wooden ladle); out of which one should
be bigger than the other

5. A cup to hold homa dravya (this cup is called jyaptra), the materials
used for oblations. Main ingredient will always be ghee (clarified butter).
Sometimes, according to the deity concerned, there will be additions to
ghee.

6. Pacaptra and uttarai. This should be always two in numbers. One is

meant for the deity for whom oblations are offered and another for the self to
do camana. Each of these pacaptra-s should have a small cup by their
sides to pour water from pacaptra using uttarai.

7. Small broken wooden pieces according to the size of the homa kua. This
is required in order to maintain the fire in the homa kua till the entire
homa procedure is completed.

8. Samidh (). Samidh is firewood, fuel, a log of wood, faggot, etc.

Generally pala tree wood is used.

9. Sandal paste, kumkum and turmeric powder.

10. Akata in a cup. Take plain rice in a cup, add a little turmeric powder and
add half uttarai water. Mix them and this is akata.

11. Flowers both threaded and lose.

12. Two cups known as prokaptra and pratptra (,

)

13. One more cup to put one drop of homa dravya after offering oblations.
(This is to be strictly followed in the case of prapratih and puracaraa
homas).

14. Enough water and towels to dry hands.

15. A hand fan (this is to kindle the fire; one should not blow directly into the
homa fire.)

16. Powdered condiments such as cardamom, clove, edible camphor, saffron,

etc.

17. Naivedya items, fruits, jaggery (small piece for offering to Varua; he is
fond of jaggery)

2. camanam:

Water should be taken from small pacaptra.

acyutya nama |

anantta nama |

govindya nama ||

camana is a procedure where water is taken in the right palm, which is

sipped after reciting mantras. This is also known as mahvydhi praaman
nma tray vidy ( ). This means by swallowing
water with mantras, it cures all types of illness, both physical and mental.
While taking water in the palm, little finger and thumb should not be folded
and other fingers should be slightly folded inwards.
3. Gaapati Dhynam:

Wear pavitra now. Pavitra is made out of two dharba grasses cut to the size
measuring from tip of thumb to tip of little finger. This is worn on the right
hand ring finger after washing it with water from bigger pacaptra. When
this is worn, camana should not be done. When camana is prescribed, this
should be removed and placed on the right ear (ocean is said to be there)
and after camana is over, right palm is to be washed and dried with a towel
and thereafter pavitra is to worn back.

uklbaradhara viu asivara caturbhujam |

prasannavadana dhyyet sarvavignopa ntaye ||

(Meaning: Eternally present, wearing white garments, shining like the moon,
having four hands, whose face is full of Bliss, I worship you to remove all the
obstacles (while performing this pj.)
While reciting this mantra, one should close all the fingers in both the palms
(knuckles) and cuff the sides of the forehead. This increases the blood flow
to the brain. There are certain ni-s on both sides of the forehead and while
slightly cuffing these places with fists.

4. Pryma
Fold index and middle fingers of the right palm. Use the little finger and the
ring finger to close the left nostrils and the thumb to close the right nostril.
Inhale through the left nostril, hold for a few seconds and exhale through the
right nostril. This is one round of pryma. Thus one should perform three
rounds of the following Brahmagyatr mantra.

-- -
om bh| om bhuva| om suva| om maha| om jana| om tapa| om
satyam ||

om tat saviturvareya bhargo devasya dhmahi |

dhiyo yo na pracodayt ||

ompo-jyot-raso'mta-brahma bhrbhuvassuvarom ||

(Meaning: All the seven worlds are . We meditate on Brahman in the form
of Light, who makes us to perform different actions. is water, light and
essence. Essence of food that is given by the Earth, pra, which is
important for our existence, the vastness of the sky and three vyhti-s bh,
bhuva and suva which represent mind, intellect and ego are also .)

5. Vignevara (Ganea) Pj:

I) Sakalapam

mamoptta samasta duritakayadvr rparamevara prtyartha

kariyamnasaya karmaa nirvignena parisamptyartha dau
vighnevara pj kariye ||

Ii) Gaea vahana:

asmin haridrbimbhe r mahgaapati dhyymi | vhaymi

sana | pdya | arghya | snapaymi | camanya | gandhn

dhraymi | pupai pjaymi ||
Iii) Arcana: (Only Flowers To Be Offered)

om sumukhya nama | ekadantya nama | kapilya nama |

gajakarakya nama | lambodarya nama | vikaya nama | vignarjya
nama | vinyakya nama dhmaketave nama | gadhyakya nama |
phlacandrya nama | gajnanya nama | vakratuya nama |
rpakarya nama | herambya nama | skandaprvajya nama ||

Iv) Upacra-S:

dhpa, diprdhana, naivedya and nrjana.

V) Gaea Gyatr:

tatpuruya vidmahe vakratuya dhmahi |

tanno danti pracodayt ||

Vi) Prayer:

vakradua mahkya sryakoi samaprabha | nirvigna kuru me deva

sarvakryeu sarvad ||

(Meaning: O Ganea, the one with a twisted trunk and a mighty body, one
who has brilliance of infinite number of suns, my Lord, always make all my
endeavours free of obstacles.)

6. Main Sakalapam Or Homa Sakalapam:

(This sakalapam is based on navvaraa pj. This sakalapa is taken for

the sake of convenience, and to avoid any confusions).
Take some flowers in the left palm and place right palm over this and recite
the following mantra

-
** , ,
, , , , , ,
, ,

..
.

ubhe obhne muhrte dyabrahmaa dvtya-parrdhe vetevarhakalpe

vaivasvatamanvantare aviatitame kaliyuge prathamepde lalitnma
dvpe lalitnma vare, lalitnma khae, asmin vartamne vyavahrike
lalitnma savatsare, lalitnma ayene, lalitnma tau, lalitnma mse,
lalitnma pake, lalitnma tithau, lalitnma vsarayukty, lalitnma
nakatrayuktym, ubhayoga ubhakaraa sakalavieaa viiy
asy lalitnma ubhatithau mamoptta samasta duritakayadvra r
paramevaraprtyartha asmka kemasthairya vryavijaya yurrogya
aivarya abivddhyartha samasta magala avptyartha samsta
duritopantyartha . anugraha prasda siddhyarthe .homa
kariye ||

(In the dotted lines name of the god for whom oblations are made and the
name of the homa are to be filled. For example, if it is Gaapati homa,
Mahgaapati and Gaapati hom are to used.)

Now put the flowers down.

apa upaspya || (wash both the palms with water from small
pacaptra and dry both the palms)

Now move turmeric Gaapati slightly towards north.

7. Varua Pj:

Take bigger pacaptra and pour water and mix powdered condiments. Apply
sandal paste and kumkum on all the four sides of the vessel. Vessel should
always be based on a plate. By closing the top of the pacaptra, recite the
following mantra. This is for purification of water in the pacaptra. This is
for invoking Varua


- -

kalaasya mukhe viu kahe rudra samrita |

mle tatra sthito brahm madhye mtga smt ||

kukau tu sgar sarve saptadvp vasundhar |

gvedo'tha yajurveda smavedo'pyatharvaa ||

agaica sahit sarve kalabusamrit |

yatu dev-pjrtha duritakaya-krak ||

gage ca yamune caiva godvari sarasvati |

narmade sindhu kveri jalesmin sannidhi kuru ||

(Meaning: Mouth of this vessel is Viu, its neck is Rudra and its base is
Brahm. In the centre all the akara-s reside. All the oceans are within,
along with the seven continents. Four Vedas together with all their
branches dwell within this water. Holy rivers Gaga, Yamun, Godvar,
Sarasvat, Narmad, Sindhu and Kveri are present in these waters.)

Now take away the right palm from pacaptra and do the following
upacra-s:


Take flowers and do the following arcane by offering flowers at the base of
the pacaptra.

varuya nama || sana | pdya | arghya | snapaymi | camanya |

gandhn dhraymi | pupai pjaymi ||

varuya nama | pracetase nama | surpie nama | apmpataye nama

| magaravhanya nama | jaldhipataye nama | pahastya nama |
varuya nama |

nnvidha patrapupi samarpaymi ||

dhpa, diprdhana, naivedya* and nrjana.

*Jaggery can be offered as naivedya, if possible. In Sanskrit jaggery is known

as gua.

Now take some water from this pacaptra and pour a few drops into the
small pacaptra used for self. Then sprinkle this water all over the place
and on all the materials that are kept for homa.

Now take some water and sprinkle on the homa kua by reciting the
following mantra

pohi mayo bhuva | tna rje dadhtana | mahe raya cakase | yo va

ivatamo rasa | tasya bhjayateha na | uatriva mtara |tasm ara
gamma va | yasya kayya jinvata | po janayay ca na | om
bhrbuvassuva ||
(Meaning: You the deities of water are the cause of our happiness. Please
nourish us with the divine vision which brings glory and loveliness. Please
make us worthy of imbibing the auspicious bliss like a mother showering her
love on her children. We approach you to grace us with perpetual bliss, as
you are the embodiment of bliss. . Bestow on us the boon of a next life
endowed with supreme knowledge.)

8. Homa Procedure Preparatory:

1. In the place where homa is to be performed, draw a square, preferably

using rice flour.

2. Now place the homa kua on this.

3. It would be ideal to spread some sand on the surface of homa kua.

4. Take two dharba grasses (kua grass) and draw three parallel lines
beginning from west and ending in the east and again another three parallel
lines starting from south and ending in north. This is shown in the image
below. Touch right fingers in water (tma pacaptra), touch the dharba
grasses used above and then put away these grasses in the direction of
south west and again touch the water.

5. Keep wooden sticks and light the sticks using camphor piece by reciting

Bhrbuvassuvarom This is known as agni pratiha ( ). Now add

more wooden sticks and make the fire burn well. Samidh as mentioned in 8
above need not be used here.
6. Now paristra () is to be done around the homa kua with dharba
grass. For this we need four sets of 16 dharba grasses. We have to place
these four sets as shown below. First start from east which is marked as 1 in
the image and the directions in which the tips are to be placed are shown as
arrow marks. The tips should be facing only east and north. Paristra in the
south should be on the top of paristra in the west and paristra in the
north should be below the paristra in the west. Nothing should be kept
within paristra, except homa kua and paridhi (paridhi consists of three
samidh-s and forms part of idmam, discussed later.

7. Ptrasdanam: Outside the paristra on the northern side (to our left),
spread 12 dharba grass and place the following beginning from the western
side small dharvi and jyaptra (vessel for ghee); these two should be in
touch with each other. Then place prokaptra and pratptra and
they should be touching each other. After this bigger dharvi and idhmam and
these both should touch each other. Idhmam is a bundle of 21 samidh-s. All
these 21 samidh-s should be tied together. Out of this 21, three are meant
for paridhi, two are meant for food for fire, 15 for homa and one for
upasthna (presence, proximity, nearness) and this will be discussed later.
Ptrasdanam will be like this.
Related articles:

Simple Homa Procedure - Part 2

Simple Homa Procedure - Part 3

Simple Homa Procedure - Part 4

Simple Homa Procedure - Part 5

Simple Homa Procedure - Part 6

Source: http://www.manblunder.com/articles/homa-havana-
procedure