Empty pots make lot of noise

Just posing as great Vedic scholars by some just because they can recite from memory a few stanzas or sookthams from some Veda.. memorizing and repeating parrot like is just cheating others.

Even reeling out the words and letters in certain forms is not everything.

The Vedas have a historic cultural and linguistic background.

Every statement every invocation is deep in meaning.

The language of Vedas is not the same as the lucid Sanskrit presented to us by great works from the adikavyam Ramayanam of Valmiki onwards.

Many great persons have spent their whole lifetimes interpreting the contents of whatever is available as Vedas.

We can remember Sayanaacharya and Bhattabhaskara as pioneers in interpreting many parts of Vedas.

And many Indian and western scholars followed.

No one can say for sure that these interpretations are all correct and complete.

But then their lifetime toils are far more laudable than the pompous show of people today who repeat things parrot like pose for videos publish audio versions and make bombastic but funny claims about their greatness.

Such class of people are mushrooming in social media.

I do not say memorizing or chanting is bad or wrong..

But the exercise should be sincere and not just show off

I am very sorry for some others who do not know even to make such parrot like chant but who never fail to hover around such half-baked fellows announcing their greatness.

Empty pots make lot of noise

rudram,chamakam,rudraikadashini,Lghu Rudram,Maharudram,Atitudram

chanting the whole eleven anuvakams of Srirudram followed by eleven anuvakams of chamakam is called the sadharana rudra japam.

chanting srirudram once followed by the first anuvakam of chamakam, then the whole rudram again followed by the second anuvakam of rudram... thus continuing to chant the rudraprashnam eleven times each time followed by the successive anuvakams of chamakam is called rudraikaadashini

Eleven times rudraikadashini is called Laghu Rudram

Eleven Laghu rudrams constitute a Maharudram

and

Eleven Maharudrams constitue and atirudram..

These are the usual variations in chanting Sri Rudram.. namakam and chamakam..

shiva or vishnu

A friend asked me whether it is true that while offering prayers, Devi should be preferred to Shiva, Vishnu etc.

My answer was and is…
It is only a matter of preference..
The brahmins, especially of Tamil origin and those who migrated from their Tamil homeland, if they remember their roots, will realize that they are divided essentially as the followers of Vishnu and Shiva..
Of course Vaishnvas Bhattacharyas,etce are purely followers of Vishnu and Gurukkal or Shivacharyas among brahmins follow Shiva.. Smarthas either follow Vishnu or Shiva..

Any religious act is done by them either as Parameshwara preethyartham... or Sreeman Narayana preetyartham..

Even pooja and worship to other Gods, devi, ganesha, surya, subramania etc are performed by us after paying respects to Vishnu or Shiva as the case may be..
This is the tradition of brahmins..

I am giving my view as a brahmin, as applicable to brahmin or the Tamil brahmin..
Now there are experts who say Devi etc are supreme.. some do things in the name of Saibaba etc, some say they do it in the name of Periyavaa and all..
But for a Brahmin, these entities can be gurus, but cannot take the place of Shiva or Vishnu..
However, Anyone is free to do anything, that is democracy..

Of course, if one takes the Kaula path or Shaktha path, get initiated into some mantras of those sects, they may do it in the name of Shakti..
But Vedic or basically smartha brahmin is not expected to prefer that path, to be frank..
What we do individually is different..
You can quote this view to any person and get validated.. Brahmin should do prayer to Savitri(Gayatri) and Sandhya first and then to either Shiva or Vishnu according to their family practices.. and then alone other deities will be relevant..

Rules for Chanting mantram… Vaachikam, Upaamshu and Maanasam

Rules for Chanting mantram… Vaachikam, Upaamshu and Maanasam

वाचिकाख्य उपांशुश्च मानसश्च त्रयस्मृताः।

त्रयाणां जपयज्ञानाम् श्रेयान् स्यादुत्तरोत्तरः॥

यदुच्चनीचस्वरितैः स्पष्टैः स्पष्टपदाक्षरैः।

मन्त्रमुच्चारयेद्वाचो जपयज्ञः स वाचकः॥

शनैरुदीरयन्मन्त्रं ईषदोष्ठौ प्रचालयेत्।

किंचिच्चब्दं स्वयंविद्यात् उपांशुः स जपः स्मृतः॥

धिया यदक्षरश्रेण्या वर्ण्णाद्वर्णं पदात्पदम्।

मन्त्रार्त्थचिन्तनं भूयः कथ्यते मानसो जपः।

उत्तमं मानसं जप्यं उपांशुर्म्मद्द्यमं स्मृतम्।

अधमं वाचिकं प्राहुः सर्वमन्त्रेषु वै द्विजाः॥

वाचिकस्यैकमेकं स्यात् उपांशोः शतमुच्यते।

सहस्रं मानसं प्रोक्तं मन्वत्रिभृगुनारदैः॥

vācikākhya upāṁśuśca mānasaśca trayasmṛtāḥ|

trayāṇāṁ japayajñānām śreyān syāduttarottaraḥ||

yaduccanīcasvaritaiḥ spaṣṭaiḥ spaṣṭapadākṣaraiḥ|

mantramuccārayedvāco japayajñaḥ sa vācakaḥ||

śanairudīrayanmantraṁ īṣadoṣṭhau pracālayet|

kiṁciccabdaṁ svayaṁvidyāt upāṁśuḥ sa japaḥ smṛtaḥ||

dhiyā yadakṣaraśreṇyā varṇṇādvarṇaṁ padātpadam|

mantrārtthacintanaṁ bhūyaḥ kathyate mānaso japaḥ|

uttamaṁ mānasaṁ japyaṁ upāṁśurmmaddyamaṁ smṛtam|

adhamaṁ vācikaṁ prāhuḥ sarvamantreṣu vai dvijāḥ||

vācikasyaikamekaṁ syāt upāṁśoḥ śatamucyate|

sahasraṁ mānasaṁ proktaṁ manvatribhṛgunāradaiḥ||

The procedure for chanting mantras or Divine chants can be in three ways. First..Chanting openly with audible sounds.. Second.. Upaamashu.. Third.. Chanting just in mind..or maanasam.

Chanting of the mantras with proper accent upwards, downwards and evenly (ucha, neecha and swarita) according to laws of rules prescribed in phonetic codes, with clearly audible and flawless pronunciation of letters and words, is defined as the Vaachaa or verbal chanting..

The mode of chanting a mantra slowly and without conscious attempt of producing any sounds but permitting the lips to vibrate producing some sympathetic and involuntary vibrations cause negligible effect by way of sound output is defined as Upaamshu.

Contemplating in the mind the entire train of a mantra letter by letter, word by word in the exact sequence understanding the meaning of it in great depth and detail, ( of course with no vocal output) is the mode of Maanasa or mental chanting.

Understand thee learned men that, of the three modes of chanting, the Vaachikam chanting.. the open throated chanting, is considered as of inferior value. Upaamshu is considered madhyamam.. or comparatively betterr, but the most appropriate and praiseworthe (Utthamam) method of chanting is Maanasam..

It is prescribed by sages like Manu, Atri, Bhrigu and Narada that if the vocal rendering of a manthra has the effect of one unit, the upaamshu will be worth hundred times the upamshu chanting and maansam will be thousand times as effective as vocal chanting..

ganapathi homam

It is the days of Vinayaka Chaturthi.. Therefore I would like to  share some thoughts about Ganapathi Homam.. There are very elaborate Homas  with a lot of ingredients in the Homadravya, including gold and gems being offered to Ganapthy  invoked in fire. Simultaneously an elephant is given sweet naivedyam, and a brahmachari, or a few of them, are fed.  These are all the macro aspects and the ostentatious ceremonies we either see or read about.  Some say Ashtadravyas,  coconut, jaggery,  ghee, puffed rice, gingely, sugarcane, ganapathy naranga  and plantain (some include honey) makes  homam great.  But a for a simple Ganapathy Homam  we require three important aspects.  Kaalam, moolam and lolam.. The timing,  the whole aahuuti should have been offered and received by the lord before sunrise... in  the Brahma muhoortam,  moolam—the exalted moolamanthra  should be used for offering aahuti...this has to be learnt from an initiated guru,  and the coconut pieces should  be as this as possible so that the Lord relishes every bit of it... Kaalam, moolam, lolam ennaal kaanaam kolam,(കാലം മൂലം ലോലം എന്നാല്‍ കാണാം കോലം) goes a Malayalam saying on this.  The simplest Ganapthy Homam can be performed like this.   A simple fire with coconut fibre, shells, pieces of firewood from Plavau,  and such noble trees, samith etc should be lighted.  First, before the lighted lamp, the coconut should be cracked, and if the pieces come in symmetry, it is a sign that the Lord is pleased.  Without further breaking the shell the kernel  should be extracted and cut into very thin crescent shaped wafers.  Powdered jaggaery ( three palam for one coconut) should be added.  Ghee also should be added to the extent of one palam   ( a palam  പലം will be equal to about 100gms)  These three ingredients are sufficient. All  others are optional.  With the homadravyam ready,  we have to prepare a padmam.  Ganesha padmam is complicated.  So to the side of the fire we can prepare a swasti padmam with rice and turmeric powder.   When padmam is ready and the fire is also ignited, we have to start the puja.. Kalasa, sankha, aatma peeda poojas have to be performed.  Then with the manthra..gananaam twa.. we should invoke Mahaganapathy on fire as well as on the swastipadma.  Before invoking the Lord in fire some chant Jaathavedase Sunavama.. and also do aditenu manyaswa... this is also optional.  Immediately after invocation, we should do the Pranapratishta on fire as well as the padmam.  And immeditately after fixing the pranaas, some naivedyam like plantain, or aval or pori should be offered. The all the upacharaas  like arghya, aachamaniiya, snana  vastra yajnopaveetha uthariiya aabharanaas should be offered.  Then dhoopam and deepam should be offere.  Then there is naivedyam.  The homadravyam should be divided into four parts, three for offering to agni and one as naivedyam to the Padmam.   Then  naivedyam should start.  First to padmam.. pranaaya swaahaa ..etc to brahmane swaahaah..  stop there, repeat pranaya swaahaaH and contemplate that the Lord is present in the agni holding up his trunk and opening his mouth and offer one handful of Homadravyam to fire. For the other apana vyana udhaana   samaana ad brahma also similar aahurtish should be offered. Do not conclude the naivedyam.  Start to chant the moolmantrhram right from rishi chandas devata, nyasam dhyanam etc, and after repeating the moolamanthram  say 21 times or so and when you feel the presence of the Lord, with chanting of moolamantram, offer handfuls of homa dravyam to agni.  Some give aahuti with simple chant of moolamanthra. Some improvise it with ----nakshatre---rasau----jathasya-----sharmanah  sampado vardaya vardaya, aapado nashaya naashya,  sarvaabhiistaan sadhaya sadhaya ( and whatever prayer according to your knowledge of Sanskrit and your needs) followed by moolamanthra and then offer aahuti.  God knows what we want  and I feel this announcement is crassly commercial and unnecessary.  But the vaadhyaars have t o do it necessarily to satisy the yajamana.  When the homadravya meant for fire is exhausted (each time we have to contemplate that the Lord is present in the agni with upraised trunk, and happily eating the coconut-ghee-jaggery mixture from our hands) the moolamanthra should be chanted  continuously to a desired total like 108,336 or 1008 as one finds it comfortable.  Then  two coconut shell  are smeared with ghee and offered to the fire, with some manthra.. Further fule like samith or pieces of firewood sufficient to burn away the dravyam should be added now. Then it is the waiting game.  We need not fan the fire. We should give the Lord Sufficient time to eat. The smoke should spread  all around.. it will drive away all evil spirts.

When one is sure that the whole homadravyam is burnt up, the naivedyam to the Lord in the Padman should be completed.  Gritha guda samyuktham naalikerakhandam mahanaivedyam nivedayaami.. At this time more naivedyas can be offered.  Naivedyas like modakam, vadai, neyyappam etc can be offered to the fire also with moolamanthram.  

After naivedyam, upacharadeepams, Karpooradeeparadhana, swarnapushpam, vedaparayanam  pradakshinam  namaskaram and all the other  upacharas can be offered.  Some charred pieces from the homakundam, or burnt samith or darbha can be mixed with ghee to form the Raksha, which can be preserved and word as tilak daily.   At the end of the puja, some offer aditenumangsmstaa etc to fire, and definitely the lork invoke in the swastipadmam has to be given a send off.. Ganaanam twa.. etc.. om bhurbhuvaswaH  asmaat swasti padmaad Sri Mahaganapathim yadhaastaanam pratishtapayaami.  Shobhanarthe kshemaya purnaragamanaaya cha... a send off with fond hope that the lord will comeback to visit us again.  The padma should be disturbed with hand, and the mixture of rice and turmeric powder can be used as a material for tilakam. 

Of course if some vaadhyar is doing the Homam for you you should offer him  dakshina.

This is a bare minimum ganapathihomam affordable to all and may not cost more than Rs75 to Rs 100.