This blog will contain an assorted mixture of whatever that pours out of my mind and finds expression in words.. I love the beauty of words, I love my friends and above all I love the dark pearl of Dwaraka, the one and only Krishna
seven types of bath are prescribed as most preferred.
1 Vaaruna Snaanam..
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Taking bath, fully immersing the whole body including head and hair, and raising and dipping the head fully at least thrice.. in a pond, or river.. The normal bath
2 Paarthiva Snanam
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Smearing the body with clean mud.. with mantram.. mruthike hana me paapam.. etc.. and removing the whole mud.
3 Aagneya Snaanam
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Smearing the body with the holy ashes taken from the kundam where agni hotram has been performed .. and chanting the five mantras starting eeshaanah sarvavidhyaanaam.. etc.. worshipping the five heads of Lord Shiva.
4.Vaayavya Snaanam...
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smearing the whole body with the dust collected from where the cows have travelled leaving their hoof marks.. we should chant Go Savitri mantram during this cleaning process.
5.Divya Snaanam...
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This happens in the middle of Utharaayanam... May June... When it is raining during day and the sun is also shining one should walk out in the rain and receive the entire shower on his body and head.
6. Mantra Snanam...
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Sprinkling water on all the limbs, chanting the mantra.. Apohistaa mayobhuvaH.. from the Pavamana Sooktham.
7. Maanasa Snaanam
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If no water or cleaning material is available, fix the mind with utter devotion of the divine form of Narayana or Shankara as being present in the orb of the Sun and visualize that the holy waters of all the great rivers, Ganga, Yamuna, Kaveri, Sarasvathi, Narmada, Sindhu Godavari Krishna are all flowing from their lotus feet and are washing us clean of all our mental and physical impurities..
tatrasnaanaM prashastam syaat sa hi puNyatamaH smR^itaH
The period within four naazhika (96 minutes) before the sunrise is the period of Arunodaya. The most appropriate time for bath is time of raise of Aruna. This time is praised by sastraas as endowing the performers with great vitue
आपो नारा इति प्रोक्ताः ता यदस्यायनं पुनः
तस्मान्नारायणं देवं स्नानकाले स्मरेत् बुधः॥
वायुभूतास्तु गच्छन्ति तृषार्त्तास्सलिलार्त्थिनः
निराशा ते निवर्त्तन्ते वस्त्रनिष्पीडने कृते॥
शिरो वारि शरीराम्बु वस्त्रतोयं यथा क्रमात्
पिबन्ति देवा मुनयो पितरो ब्राह्मणस्य तु॥
सुरा बिन्दुसमं चाम्भः शिखायाः पृष्ठपातितं
तदेव पुरतोवर्त्ति गङ्गा बिन्दुसमं भवेत्॥
aapo naraa iti proktaaH taa yadasyaayanaM punaH
tasmaannaaraayaNaM devaM snaanakaale smaret budhaH..
sura bindusamam chaambhaH shikhaayaaH pR^iSThapaatitaM
tadeva puratovartti ga~Ngaa bindusamaM bhavet..
Waters are also known by the name Naaraas… and the Lord of Lords Mahavishnu assumed the name of Narayana because he is sleeping over his aadisesha bed floating in the waters. Therefore the benevolent God Narayana should be remembered with reverence by the wise people while they are engaged in bath.
When a Brahmin sets out towards a source of water for bath, the gods,the sages and pithrus who are thirsty also follow him in the air. If the Brahmin just dries up his body with a cloth without offering the waters to the pithrus and devas, they turn away from him in disappointment. (It has to be remembered that one should not take bath without at least minimum clothes, and one should not enter a source of water with naked body and he should not urinate in water during bath) . The water from the head of the Brahmin is partaken by the devaas, the water flowing from the body of the brahmin is drunk by the sages and the departed elders (pitrus) quench their thirst from the waters flowing from the clothes of the Brahmin. ( Remember in pitrukaaryaas, we offer vaasodakam – offer water from cloth to them) The water from the Shikha after bath, if allowed to flow down keeping the hair in the back takes the shape of alcohol or sura. If the sikhodakam is allowed to flow keeping the sikha to the front, that water is like the theertham of Ganga.. It means we should allow water to drip from our Sikha keepin the sikha to the front and keeping the head bowed to the front and not arrogantly keeping the head erect and the hair being allowed to fall back.
They are Gaunam and Mukhyam (also called Vaarunam). The Vaaruna snaanam is of six
categories.
Daily bath, bath occurring on
account of some good or bad happenings, pollution etc., bath taken in waters
with a view tow fulfill some desire,
bath taken as a part of some rituals
(eg. Mangala snanam after Saptaham,
bath during upakarmam etc.,), bath to remove dirt and bath to regain
purity after some Kriyaas.
The bath
should be taken only in waters that are purified with manthraas. Mere floating on water will give the effect
as if one is just a fish or some other marine creatures .
The Gouna snaanaas are
also of six types.
Paarthivam,
Aagneyam, Vaayavyam, Divyam, Maanthram and Maanasam.
If one covers his body with mud with the
manthras in Taittariya aranyakam, "Mruttike hana me paapam" and removes the mud,
it is the parthiva snaanam.
Smearing the body with agnihotra ashes chanting the manthra " IsanaH sarvavidyaanaam, iswaraH sarva
bhootanam brahmaadipatir brahmanaadipathir brahma sivo me astu sadaasivom.." is
called aagneya snaanam.
If one smears the dust coming from the hooves of a cow
with chanting the Go Savitri mantram, it is called vaayavya snaanam.
Divya snaanam is the one where, during
Uttaraayanam, a person stands in open sunlight facing the raising Sun when there is also small rain with
sunlight.
Manthra snanam is where one
sprinkles water on the various parts of his body with manthraas "Aapohista mayo bhuvaH" etc .
When one contemplates
on the form of Narayana wielding shanka,
chakra and gadha and residing in the nucleus of solar disc and invokes the
pranic powers from mooladhara to aajna
chakra, with the vision that the Ganga
is flowing from the golden thumb of the Lord and entering us through the
brahmarandhram it is maanasa snaanam
Various types of gouna snanams may be useful when one is in a conditiion where he is not able to find pure water, or is prevented from taking water bath for some reasons.
स्नात्वा कर्माणि कुर्वीत Snaatwaa karmaani kurveetha… is the first instruction by Sastraas. One should do the daily rituals, spiritual or temporal only after having a bath, is one of the fundamental rules of our religious culture. The intense sense of self-hygiene and reverence to the sources of water and the keenness of our ancestors to keep such sources absolutely clean have no parallels in any civilization. If we had imbibed that sense of reverence to rivers and springs, wells and lakes, by not polluting them by effluents of various nature, and cared to regulate the maintenance of the ground waters our lives would have been much happier. The praise of water finds expression in Pavamana suuktam.. or punyahavachanam practiced by us. That can form part of another essay. Here the importance of bath as ordained in dharmasaastraas is dealt with in brief.
A person on waking up in the morning should perform the cleaning of the teeth as prescribed ( the rules have been already discussed) and in the early hours of morning called UshaH kalam before sunrise should perform oblations through giving water (tarpanam) to the gods and the departed elders.
By performing the bath, a man is released of the sins incurred by having carnal relationship with prohibited counterparts, from the sins of theft, from the sins of receiving presents from the sinful people and from the sins committed in secret.
The bath gives us equanimity and pleasantness of mind. It endows on us great beauty and health and helps us in maintaining these two for a long time It is the elixir relieving us from mental agony, bad dreams and it gives us ultimate emancipation from worldly toils (moksham) and it makes us jubilant and excited
All the practices prescribed in Vedas and Saastras are to be performed by men only after bath and therefore all should stick to the schedule of morning bath which is the enhanced of wealth, welfare and good health.
The tortures for the sins that one may face after death and after reaching the house of yama will never vist the person who is performing his morning-baths regularly. With one dip in the water during bath, all the sins and evils stored in a man vanishes. With the second dip in water, one becomes absolutely clean in body and mind. With the third dip there will be satisfaction for the self, devaas and pitrus. These are the benefits of a nice bath
There are five limbs to the ritual bath. First is the sankalpa or declaring with devotion that one is going to take bath in the name of and for the satisfaction of the God. Then the mantras worshipping the presiding deities of the water and the source of water like the river should be chanted. Then one should clean oneself of all the physical dirt with water. Then one should chant the Aghamarshana mantra ( found in Taittareeya Aranyaka..Mahaanaarayanopanishat…starting with Hiranyashringam Varunam…). As the final ritual one should pay oblations with water to the Gods (and departed elders wherever called for.)
It is reiterated that the dharmasastras state that very grave sins will be washed away by bath. It should be understood that the intention is to praise the greatness of bath and its impact on the physical and mental welfare of the people. It should never be construed to mean that one can commit all the sins in the world and get away with it by just having three dips in water in the morning.
A second chapter for this with details for various types of bath, the prayers connected with such baths etc., will follow.
