DIVINEINFORMATION PART 19 Dear friends,
While going through one of my externalmemory device, I came across some good information from Kanchi SankaraMatam. I thought of sharing interestingones from them as a series. Inpart 19 , I am starting with 74th item in this posting. Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 29-05-2021.In72 74 Agni and the Vedic Religion (HinduDharma:Grhasthasrama) The householder has the duty ofperforming a number of rites in the sacred fire. Aupasana is the first of them. Agni is of the utmost importance to theVedic religion. This deity is called "Agni-Narayana". The hymns to Rudraalso show that he has a connection with the god of fire. InTiruvannamalai (in Tamil Nadu ) Isvara revealed himself as a mountain of fire. In Kerala there is the custom ofworshipping Amba [the Mother Goddess] in the form of light (in the flame of thelamp); the idol or yantra isnot important. The goddess is invoked in the lampitself. We speak of Subrahmanya who originatedfrom Siva's third eye as fire incarnate. Thus Agni is of great importanceto us. According to researchers, the term Aryan meansfire-worshipper. Fire worship is the dominant feature of the religion ofZoroastrianism which is a branch of Vedism. The sacred fire should keep burning andglowing in home after home. Ghee, milk and other oblations offered in it willproduce the aroma that will bring health and mental uplift to all. I have already stated that whatever the deity invoked in a sacrifice, theoblation must be placed in the sacred fire. 75 Sacrifices-(OUpasana etc. ) Four hundered yajnas or sacrifices are saidto be mentioned in the Vedas. Ofthese, aupasana alone is to be performed by all the four varnas. Though the first three varnas have theright to all the other sacrifices, in practice these were performed mostly byBrahmins and Ksatriyas only. But later Ksatriyas too neglected to perform them.There are yajnas to be conducted specially by them to earn physical strength,victory in war, and so on. Sacrifices like rajasuya and asvamedha were performedby imperial rulers. There are yagas that have to be performed by Vaisyasfor a good agriculture yield, for wealth, etc. As mentioned before, the yajamana of a sacrifice may be a Ksatriya or aVaisya but the four priests must be Brahmins. (The idea behind itis that if members of these two castes were toprticipate directly in the sacrifices their duties like protecting the countryand looking after agriculture would suffer. ) Notall sacrifices need be performed by all Brahmins. A number of them are meant ot serve one specific purpose oranother. For instance, you must have heard of the putrakamesti in the Ramayana, the sacrificeperformed to beget a son. Any rite meant to fulfil a wish is"kamya-karma" and it comes under the optional category. Then these are rites that are obligatory on your part to conduct for thegood of your Atman as well as of the world. They come under the category OF "NITYA-KARMA", BUT THE WORLD"NITYA" HERE DOES NOT DENOTE "DAILY". In the category of nitya-karma there are 21 sacrifices. There is no compulsion with regard tothe rest of the 400. But the 21, included in the forty samskaras,must be performed at least once in a life time. As we have seen, these are divided intogroups of seven - pakayajnas,haviryajnas and somyajnas. Marriage is conducted with offerings made in the fire, is it not? Aupasana, which must be performed every day, is commenced in this fire and itmust be preserved throughout one's life. The seven pakayajnas, rites like upanayana and sraddha must be conductedin the aupasana fire. My Note- Sraadha has to be conducted in theoupasana .fire is a new information to me The son lights his aupasana fire during his marriage from his father'saupasana fire. The son's aupasana fire, like his father's must be mantionedthroughout his life. Thus, without any break, tjhe sacred fire is kept burningin the family generation after generation. Mynote- If father has already died before son’s marriage ? His father’s oupasana fire is used for hisantheyshti is my assumption.Learnt readers can write. All rites in which the aupasana fire isused and pertain to an individual and his family are "Grhyakarmas". The sevenpakayajnas also belong to this category. They are related exclusively to thefamily and are not very elaborate. Even so they are conductive to the good ofthe world outside also. Grhyasutrasdeal with such rites. They belong to the Smritis and are called"Smarta-karmas". The elaborate works that are espiciallymeant for the well-beingof mankind are called "Srautakarmas". They are so calledbecause their procedure is directly based on the authority of Sruti or theVedas. The sastras dealingwith them are "Srautasutras". I told you, do you remember, that therewas no question of Sruti being superior to Smrti or vice versa? Similarly, the Srautasutras and the Grhyasutrasare of equal importance. In the sanatana dharma that goes under the nameof Hinduism both are to be cared for like our two eyes. 75 Oupasanafire The aupasana fire (lighted at the time of marriage from that of the groom'sfather) is divided into two in a ceremony called "agniyadhana". One part is called"grhyagni" or "smartagni": it is meant for rites to beperformed at home. The second part is srautagni and meant forsrauta rites. These two sacred fires must be preserved throughout. Grhyagni is also called aupasanagni since the daily rite of aupasana isperformed in it. This is the fire contained in one "kunda" and so itis called "ekagni". Ritesconducted in the family are included in the chapter called"Ekagni-kanda" in the Apastamba-sutra. The samskaras and other rites I have sofar mentioned are mostly in accordance with this work since the majority of Brahmins inthe South are Krsna-Yajurvedins following this sutra. Rigvedinsand Samavedins who constitute a minority follow the Asvalayana andGobhila-sutras respectively. These differences, however, relate onlyto the rites performed at home. There are no differences in the srauta riteswith regard to the different Vedas. 75a Srautagni Srautagni meant for the srauta rites isin the form of three fires burning in three mounds. So it is called tretagni.The section in the Apastamba-sutra dealing with rites performed in it is called"Tretagni-kanda". One who worships the three Agnis iscalled a "tretagni" or "srautin" and, if he worships thesrauta and grhya fires, he is called an "ahitagnin". Onewho performs an elaborate sacrifice like a somayajna is called a"yajva", "diksita" or "makhin". Andone who conducts the greatest of the somayajnas, vajapeya, is known as a"vajapeyin". Sacrifices are called variously"kratu", "makha", "isti", "stoma","samsta". There are some difference between these. Ancient Tamilworks contain references to "mutti" (tretagni or srautagni). 75 bTretagni and Dakshinagni One of the three sacred fires, one ofthe tretagni, is called "garhapatya" and it belongs to the master ofthe household. It mustbe kept burning in the garhapatya mound which is circualr inshape. In this no oblations are to be madedirectly. Fire must be taken from it and tended in another mound for theperformance of rites relating to the fathers (this is different from the usualsraddha and is ritual performed to the manes every new moon) and also forcertain deities. Thismound is in the south, so it is called "daksinagni" and it is semicircular in shape. Offerings todeities are made generally in a third fire in the east called"ahavaniya" and it is also to kindled from the garhapatya fire. 76 Agnihotra In the North any yaga or sacrificial If auspasana is a grhyakarma, agnihotra is asrauta ceremony and it too must be performed twice a day. Agniyadhana mentioned before andagnihotra are the first two of the seven haviryajnas. Those who perform agnihotra are called agnihotrins. (Nowadays smoking is referred to asagnihotra and going to the races as asvamedha. Such references are intended tobe humorous but are indeed blasphemous. ) If the agnihotra fire is extinguished for whatever reason, it must bekindled again through a new adhana | | | | Reference for 0 from the Chapter "Grhasthasrama", in Hindu Dharma DOUBLE SACRED THREAD : What is called the 'sacred thread'or yajnopavita has three strands that are knotted toget... | | | (agniyadhana) ceremony. The same applies to the auspasana fire. Now in the majority of houses neither the aupasana nor the agnihotra fireburns. I have mentioned here how these fires can be renewed since most of youperhaps must not have kept them after your marriage. In aupasana unbroken rice grains are offered in the fire and inagnihotra milk, ghee or unbroken rice grains. (It has become customary now tooffer milk in the agnihotra. ) These are discourses by maha periyaval Iwill continue in next posting -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1960439972.1022900.1622268629903%40mail.yahoo.com.
