Let us turn to the itihAsic presentation of hanumAn.

Let us turn to the itihAsic presentation of hanumAn. sumeru is a mountain full of gold and it was ruled by the vAnara named kesari. kesari's wife was called anjana. vAyu created his own son through anjana and Anjaneya was born. Leaving the child alone the mother went to the forest to procure fruits. Due to hunger the child began to cry like skanda in sharavana. Seeing the red color of the rising sUrya the child jumped at him after mistaking him for a fruit. It was the day of solar eclipse when rAhu the son of siMhika tried to catch sUrya. When the child jumped into the car of sUrya, rAhu became afraid. He ran upto indra and informed him of this. Indra mounted on his elephant airAvata and went to the spot accompanied by rAhu. hanumAn jumped at rAhu and airAvata. Indra grew furious and struck the child with his vajrAyudhaM. The child fell down on the mountain below and its left jaw (or cheek?) was broken. vAyu was highly enraged and carried his son to a cave and stopped his work. This stifled the three worlds and all the devas, headed by Brahma rushed to the cave to pacify vAyudeva. Brahma revived the child lying almost lifeless. Now vAyu started moving in all directions. indra gave a boon to the child that he will be immune to vajra. He was also named hanumAn due to his bent jaw. All the Gods poured their blessings on him and granted boons. varuNa's noose and water shall not cause him harm. sUrya offered to teach him all shAstras. yama said that his daNDa shall not affect hanumAn. shiva and vishvakarma granted immunity to their weapons. Brahma then caused even more joy to vAyu by blessing him for victory and also said that hanumAn shall perform wonderful deeds and would help rAma in the annihilation of the laMka and rAvaNa. Armed with a score of boons, hanumAn grew as a powerful young vAnara and began to tease the mahaRshis in their Ashrama. The mahaRshis of bhRigu and angirasa cursed him to forget his own prowess but he shall grow powerful when reminded. Thus when vAli and sugrIva were rivals hanumAn did not remember his prowess - he could have easily killed vAli otherwise. hanumAn studied the nine vyAkaraNa-s and their commentaries from sUrya within one day, walking behind and facing sUrya from morning to evening. hanumAn is thus an expert in the nine vyAkaraNa-s and will become the next Brahma by the grace of rAma. This is the basic itihAsa of hanumAn. What does it mean philosophically? We are now ready to explore the allegorism of hanumAn's itihAsa. There are various facets of this character called hanumAn, and we will explore them one by one. These ideas will be needed when we interpret the shlokas of Hanuman Chalisa. We will limit ourselves to a brief description, without rigorous exposition, though this topic is a very vast one. hanumAn as rudra: The word kapi denotes the number eleven according to the kaTapayAdi saMkhya that is used as an esoteric expression throughout the scriptures. ka is 1 and pi is 1 and kapi is 11. The kATapayAdi table, along with the rules is reproduced below. 1. All stand-alone vowels or svaras like a, A, i, I etc are assigned a value of zero. 2. Consonants or vyanjanas have numerals assigned as per the table shown below. 3. In case of a conjunct, consonants attached to a non-vowel will not be valueless. 4. Consonant without vowel will be ignored. 5. Decimal numbers with a "dot" cannot be represented using this system. 6. Numbers go from left to right, reversed from our normal notation for numbers. Most leading digits are at the far left. In sAra kANDa of Ananda rAmAyaNa the kapis are identified as follows. sugrIva - vIrabhadra; nala - shambhu; nIla - girISha; sushena - mahAyasha; jAmbhavAn - ajaikapAt; angada - ahirbudhnya; dadhivaktra - pinakadRk; tAra - ayutajit; tarala - sthANu; mainda - bharga; hanumAn - bhagavAn This episode was narrated by garuDa to rAma when they were felled by indrajit. garuDa furnished more information as follows. "I shall tell you the janma rahasya of kapis of kiShkindhA. In those days when the ocean was churned by the devas and asuras terrible diseases like leprosy, fever etc originated and spread all over the world. The Rishis and kings complained to Brahma. Brahma requested the rudras for their help. The eleven rudras incarnated as sugrIva, hanumAn etc. They roamed and roared all over hills and all the diseases were exterminated. Brahma was pleased and this spoke to the kapis - "You have the power of reviving the dead. Several mantra-s including the gAyatrI are prescribed for worshipping you who represent all rudras and vaisvAnaris and those who worship you accordingly will be freed from all diseases and secure immortality in the end." Thus, according to the account given in the Ananda rAmAyaNa, the kapis of rAmAyaNa represent the eleven rudras and their gaNas of which hanumAn is the chief rudra called bhagavAn shaMkara. The Ananda rAmAyaNa also furnishes this story regarding the birth of hanumAn. When anjana was seated on the top of the mountain pAyAsaM dropped on her from the beaks of a vulture that had carried it away from kaikeyi (at the time of putrakAmeShTi yajna). anjana ate the pAyAsaM and hanumAn was born in the month of chitra, bright fortnight, ekAdashi day, on makha naxatra. In some accounts it is also said that hanumAn was born on the fullmoon day of chitra. hanumAn is here described as having originated from a portion of the pAyAsam given to kaikeyi by dasharatha. The bRihadAraNyaka upanishad clarifies that the eleven rudras denote the ten prANa-s and the Atma - dashemepuruShaprANaH AtmaikAdashaH. rudra technically signifies removal of misery. rutdukhaMdrAvayatItirudraH || rudras also denote the vedas that furnish jnAna. hanumAn denoting the highest of the rudra-s is different from the public imagination of hanumAn as a monkey who lived in a distant past in the forests of the Deccan area. Hanuman is not a part of past history of India – he is an eternal yogic principle and power. The eleven rudra-s are ten prANa-s and the Atma. Since prANa and vAyu are conceptually similar ideas, hanumAn is nicely and elegantly portrayed as the son of vAyudeva. The tArasAra upanishad equates hanumAn with axara 'makAra' ( the third pAda of OM) and shiva. hanumAn as practical working knowledge of the Veda: hanumAn is mentioned to be the son of kesari who ruled over sumeru. Meru refers to the spinal column, and also the pure mAya, devaloka, AkAsha and vedas. kesari therefore refers to knowledge of the vedas. anjana the name of his wife means unfolding or manifestation. It is naturally clear that hanumAn refers to a very high stage of knowledge of the vedas. hanumAn's fascination for the Sun: Curiously, hanumAn is said to have leapt up towards sUrya on a solar eclipse day which occurs only on a new moon day. So how could he be born on the full moon day of chitra? hanumAn is said to have attempted to catch rAhu whom indra has permitted to afflict sUrya and soma at the time of the eclipse. The reason why indra has permitted this mischief is also mentioned by Ananda rAmAyana. Whenever rAhu by his nature as an asura attempts to tease the devas, indra orders him to attack sUrya and soma instead knowing that people in the world will perform their religeous karmas at the time of eclipse and by pleasing rAhu will relieve sUrya and soma from his clutches. We have already explained the philosophical meaning of Brahmanas performing religeous karmas to save sUrya from the clutches of demons called mandehas. Its literal explanation is obviously a silly superstition. When hanumAn was a child he saw the rising sun and thinking it to be a fruit jumped towards the sun. He also attacked rAhu at the same time who fled from the scene and sought help from indra. Now, we have noted that the religious sun of the shAstra is the internal sun seated as the Atma of all beings. Needless to say, this was the sun that hanumAn was naturally attracted to even as a child, as if it were a tasty fruit. This is an itihAsic presentation of the concept of bhakti towards the Atma. When hanumAn takes birth in the microcosm, the yogi is naturally attracted towards the internal sun and "jumps" towards it. Even as a child hanumAn was a nemesis to rAhu who represents an obstruction to the sun. But the young hanumAn was not protected from danger and was struck down by indra. This indicates the limitations of bhakti at its early stage of jnAna yoga, after the vision of the internal sun at the level of prAtaH sandhyA has been procured. So it is not bhakti in the ordinary sense, but this bhakti pertains to the devotion towards the Atma after the first vision of the Atma, from where much refinement has to be procured by continued devotion and sadhana. hanumAn's broken jaw: We already noted that hanumAn's jaw got broken after he was hit by Indra and he fell on the mountains. The name hanumAn itself comes literally from the fact that hanumAn has a powerful jaw. But we observed that the jaw is a yogic symbol denoting destruction of materialism and procurement of Brahma-jnAna. When a thing gets broken, it becomes two. Hanuman's broken jaw refers to the two fold vedic idea presented earlier - adharA hanu and uttarA hanu. Broken jaw here is therefore not a mishap, and it indicates the beginning of manifestation of uttararUpam from pUrvarUpam. And naturally, this incident is associated with Hanuman obtaining immortality through blessings from all gods. hanumAn forgetful of his powers: This hanumAn of the shAstra is thus a microcosmic yogic idea, who within us represents the yogi's urge or natural instinct to "catch" the internal sun as soon as it comes into view. As a child he cannot accomplish this objective and he was mischievous and invited the curse of Rishis to forget his prowess. We have to let our hanumAn's grow and receive the blessings of all Gods. Then he assumes a power of unheard of proportions. The power of bhakti and guru anugraha is unlimited but we mortals are not made to think that way. When we constantly remind our own hanuman about his powers, then he will remember them. This is the meaning of the curse on hanumAn that made him forget his powers. hanumAn as the philosophical prANAyAma of jnAna yoga: The birth of hanumAn to kesari and ajnana, together with his birth through vAyu denotes the philosophical prANAyAma. The inhalation of the philosophical Truth "Brahman is Truth" is the philosophical in-breath. Retention of this Truth as "I am that Brahman" in the heart is kumbhaka. Rejection of the false conception of jagat "World is untrue (World has no independent reality and is less real than Brahman)" is the technical recaka or out-breath. prANa thus technically represents the knowledge "Brahman is Truth". apAna represents the knowledge of falsity of the empirical world. The union of prANa and apAna is kumbhaka and represents constant abiding in the Highest Truth or Brahman with the knowledge "I am the eternal and blissful Atma". These are the philosophical ideas connected with Lord rAma and hanumAn. This is the interpretation of the philosophical prANAyAma when applied to gAyatrI for the sAMkhya shAstra. hanumAn as anugraha and sva-prakAshatva of Lord Rama: His birth on ekAdashi day, bright fortnight and chitra month point to the purified mind.( mind is the eleventh, after the ten indriya-s). The full moon on which he was born denotes the completion of karma yoga, only after which hanumAn originates. The sUrya that hanumAn tried to catch as a child was Atma itself. Naturally, he was obstructed by rAhu, a sun obscuring principle. hanumAn is also said to have originated from the portion of the pAyAsaM given to kaikeyi by dasharatha. This makes it clear that hanumAn and bharata are brothers and closely connected in the yogic sense. The Self-revealing power and grace of sarveShvara or rAma to the yogi is itself called hanumAn or guru tattva and it is a natural result of the birth of the microcosmic hanumAn or bhakti in the yogi. Thus hanumAn is used in two closely related ways in rAmAyaNa - one as the personification of the higher bhakti of the yogi (adhyAtmik bhakti following the vision of Atma) and another as personification of Lord rAma's anugraha upon the yogi. hanumAn as the higher bhakti pertains to the jIva-tattva. hanumAn as bhagavAn's prasAda or anugraha pertains to rAma-tattva. In the former sense, hanumAn is different from rAma and in the later sense hanumAn cannot be differentiated from Lord rAma. hanumAn's shortcomings and frailties in rAmAyaNa pertain to his relationship with the jIva-tattva. hanumAn's unlimited powers and wisdom are a direct result of his inseparability from rAma's own nature. hanumAn as knower of vyAkaraNa: The nine vyAkaraNa-s learnt by hanumAn from sUrya in a single day refer to the nine mystic sounds of the madhyama svara-s that are used for high class yogic meditation. The nine sounds as enumerated in the tripura rahasya are bindu, ardhacandraM, rodhini, nAdaM, nAdAntaM, shakti, vyApika, samanA and unmanI. These are madhyama svara-s and are inaudible to the human ears and can be heard only by evolved yogis. hanumAn is said to have spoken to rAma in the madhyama svara which is usually translated as a "low voice" but actually refers to the yogic sound called madhyama svara which has nine categories. vyAkaraNa is an esoteric branch of Veda and we had explained them during our analysis of the mAheshvara sUtras. hanumAn as next Brahma: What is the yogic meaning for hanumAn going to become the next Brahma? Brahma denoting the mahat tattvaM denotes the foremost of the twenty four tattva-s or divine bases within the yogic microcosm. It should be obvious now that hanumAn is the means for securing the knowledge of all the tattvams and then involuting them into their sources. The practical process for doing this is called bhakti. This bhakti as pertaining to jnAna yoga is called jnAna bhakti or adhyAtmiki bhakti. Bhakti that arises after the first vision of the internal sun at prAtaH sandhyA and continues to evolve until the final emancipation is termed hanumAn. Thus hanumAn as bhakti is the basis for meditation and grace in rAmAyana. hanumAn as messenger of Lord Rama: rAmAyaNa pays considerable importance to hanumAn as rAmadUtha, his role as messenger of rAma to sIta. This may even be considered to be the portfolio of hanumAn in rAmAyaNa. This idea is universal and the concept of "messenger of God" is synonymous with the idea of Guru tattva. Guru is God's messenger to the jIva sent to save him from the terrible ocean of samsAra. Guru is the intrinsic potential of the Almighty to reveal himself and is the means to attain God. hanumAn is the Self revealing nature of rAma through the agency of buddhi of the jnAna yogi. So hanumAn is the manifested form, face or the voice of the unmanifested Rama that is more easily accessible during sAdhana. Rama or Sita representing the unmanifest are very difficult to access in yoga through any amount of sAdhana - but relatively speaking, Rama is more easily available through hanumAn as pratyaxam-brahma. If you can somehow catch hold of his mighty Hanuman, rest assured that you can catch hold of the Supreme Being Rama also. Hanuman as naiShTika brahmachAri: One of the most conspicuous traits in the personality of Hanuman is his representation as a naiShTika brahmachAri. This is obviously a yogic concept, and the idea is much more generic than mere observance of the vow of celibacy. brahmacharya means "walking or abiding in Brahman" – it is a very generic concept encompassing a very high level of purity and devotion without any material contamination. Brahmacharya is completely observed only by a yogi who has completely surrendered to the Lord in every possible way, and is fully established in Brahmic awareness. Hanuman is said to be the very embodiment of purity because this particular yogic principle is entirely free from materiality, even a tinge of materiality is not present in him. We noticed how the very name Hanuman means the destroyer of materiality through philosophical enquiry and meditation. Being a naiShThika brahmachAri yogically means to eternally abide in Brahman – in the state of the Highest samAdhi. This concludes our brief introduction to the hanumAn tattva of the Veda, and in particular of rAmAyaNa. We will proceed with a brief study of Tulsidas, the author of Hanuman Chalisa, and then go through a brief summary of the yogic background of rAmAyaNa before taking a dive into the Chalisa. Previous: 1.4 The philosophy of Hanuman Next: 1.6 Philosophical introduction to Ramayana Please send your comments to mihiraastro@gmail.com, or alternatively post your comments below.

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The Hanuman Chalisa:

 Introduction & Explanation of first verses

Visit Hindu Perspective’s HANUMAN SECTION (special feature)

The Hanuman Chalisa is a prayer that many young Hindus will at least have heard of, if not be familiar with. Chances are that it may be sung in your own home or by somebody that you know. This article explains the background to the Hanuman Chalisa and provides an insight into the many layers of meaning – mystical, ethical and devotional – contained in the prayer, by focusing on the first two verses of this (43 verse) prayer.

The Hanuman Chalisa was written by the famous 16th century sage, Goswami Tulsidas. Tulsidas lived at a time when Sanskrit learning was on the decline in India, and he rewrote the ancient Ramayana in the common dialect of the people, once again making the story of Rama and Sita accessible to the people.

Out of all the personalities in the Ramayana, Hanuman occupies a crucial position. He is the embodiment of auspiciousness, courage, devotion, eloquence, physical prowess and victory. It was only through Him that Sita and Rama could be reunited. Sita represents the Earth, the field, Mother Nature, creativity, abundance.

Rama is the spiritual potential, which has been lost from creation. Hanuman represents the forces and teachings that can reunite the creation and spirit. It is through the lessons that we find in His character that the realm of divinity can transpire itself in our society.

The Hanuman Chalisa was written by Goswami Tulsidas to be a beautiful prayer and song, yet also to contain in itself the entire message of the life and character of Hanuman.

A Brief Insight into the Meaning of Verse 1

Shree Guru Charan Saroj Raj, Nij Man Mukur Sudhaari, Barnau Raghuvar Bimal Jasu, Jo dayaku Phal Chaari
With the dust of the Guru’s lotus feet, I first clean the mirror of my heart and then I narrate the glory of Shree Raghuvar, the giver of the 4 fold attainments of life

“With the dust of the Guru’s lotus feet, I first clean the mirror of my heart”

The Guru is the one who takes us towards the Truth. The symbol of a lotus is used a lot in Hinduism. The reason for this is that it is a flower that grows in murky water, yet grows as a clean and beautiful flower, bringing beauty to the surroundings.

Similarly, a real Guru, who can take us towards realisation of the Truth, is like a lotus, in that whatever the environment and circumstances they are in, the Guru will remain unaffected by any negativity, and will bring beauty and light to their surroundings.

The ‘dust of the Guru’s lotus feet’, stands for and symbolises the qualities that such a Guru has built his/her life upon – principles such as compassion, presence of mind, fearlessness and truthfulness.

Hence, to clean our hearts with the dust of the Guru’s lotus feet means to clean out the accumulated junk and negativity within us (cleaning our hearts), by recognising and honouring the principles which great teachers have built their lives upon (the dust of the Guru’s lotus feet).

“and then I narrate the glory of Shree Raghuvar”

Raghuvar means a person descended from the lineage of Raghu (a forefather of Ram). Usually the title Raghuvar is used to refer to Ram. However, here it is apparently talking about Hanuman.

In the Ramayana when Hanuman located Sita in Lanka, she was filled with emotion and called him son. Rama also called Hanuman son, in emotional times, like when Hanuman saved Laxman’s life after Laxman fell unconscious in battle. Referring to Hanuman as Raghuvar is to describe the extent to which Rama and Sita held him as dear.

It shows that a person who always keeps their minds focused on God and expends all their energy in God’s service is extremely dear to God.

“the giver of the four fold-attainments of life”

All goals in life can be put under 4 broad categories: Arth (livelihood and wealth); Kama (pleasure and enjoyment); Dharma (duties, good conduct, religion); Moksha (liberation).

The reason why Hanuman is the giver of all four of these is because He is the embodiment of devotion and determination. These are essential keys to achieving any goal in any of these spheres.

We can achieve great things in any sphere of life provided that the goal is approached with strong devotion and determination.

A Brief Insight into the Meaning of Verse 2

Buddhi heen Tannu Jaanike, Sumirow Pavan Kumar, Bal Buddi Vidya Dehu Mohi, Harahu Kalesh Bikaar
Knowing myself to be ignorant, I remember you, the Son of Pavan. O Lord! Bestow on me strength, wisdom and knowledge, and take away my miseries and vicious qualities

Prayer is a simple form of yoga. Not in the sense of physical yoga, which itself is only a part of yoga, called “Hatha Yoga.” In the West, this physical yoga is considered as the sole meaning of yoga, which is unfortunate because it often prevents people from grasping the true scope of the tradition that they practice. Of course, so far Hindus have been too lazy in promoting yoga as a larger and integrated tradition (hopefully this will soon change).

Properly understood, yoga refers to a far greater range of spiritual practices that are designed to take us towards unity with the Divine.

The message of the second verse is how to offer a prayer successfully. Why do we pray? It is usually because we recognise a higher power than ourselves at work around us and wish to acknowledge that force, and align ourselves with it.

Just like a single computer, no matter how powerful it is, has a limited capacity to store information, but when it is connected to the internet suddenly a new world has opened up to it, far beyond what we would have thought possible – in the same way, a mind, if aligned with the Divine, has an entire new capability, power and vision opened up to it.

The first and foremost point of this verse is contained in the first phrase:

“KNOWING MYSELF TO BE IGNORANT.” This says that a person must keep an attitude or state of mind which feels that “I know very little, I have so much more to learn.” If this state of mind is maintained, then a person will keep on growing and unfolding, whereas if a person keeps an “I know it all” attitude, it will be hard to learn or experience anything worthwhile. However much one knows, keeping an attitude of humility will always allow the mind to remain receptive to new knowledge, thus allowing it to develop further.

The point is made stronger by the actual choice of words that Tulsidas uses to express this – “Buddhi heen tannu janike.” “Tannu” means “myself.” But there are several ways to say myself, and he chooses quite an unusual word.

“Tan”- in Hindi related dialects, is a word referring to the body. The significance of using “tannu” in the phrase “Knowing myself to be ignorant” affirms that the source of the ignorance is our identification with the physical body – our material self. “I still identify myself with my physical body (tan), which is always changing. I know there is an inner self beyond that, but in ignorance, I can’t see it, but by your grace, please change that.” It is an acknowledgement that my true self is not the physical body, yet I am still identifying with it as I go about my life.

Filling our mind with the divine, speaking the qualities and greatness of divinity, asking for things that can make us dynamic, are the other points contained in this verse, about making an effective prayer.

Subconscious reinforcement

The prayers within Hinduism are written in a mystical form and contain various layers of meanings and symbolism. The importance in knowing the meanings behind a prayer we say regularly is to do with the subconscious mind. When we know the meanings, they become stored in our memories. When we say the verses, even though we are not consciously remembering all of the meanings, the subconscious mind is reinforcing these messages into our character. It is in the same way that we pick up so much from our surroundings, without consciously trying to, which is also a subconscious process. The action of the subconscious mind while praying and meditating is explained in depth in various scriptures, particularly the Patanjali’s Yogasutras.

Saying a prayer hence becomes a stream of clear water purifying our consciousness.

Insight into Verse 3

Jai Hanuman gyan gun sagar
Jai Kapis tihun lok ujagar 
Victory to Thee, O Hanuman, Ocean of wisdom and virtue, victory to the Lord of monkeys who is well known in all the three worlds.

This is a seemingly simple devotional verse in praise of Hanuman, but the arrangement and choice of words are crafted by the poet to give deeper dimensions of meanings and suggestions.

“Victory to Thee, O Hanuman, Ocean of wisdom and virtue”

Hanuman is a personality with immense knowledge (gyan). This was apparent to all who met him. When Hanuman met Rama and Lakshmana for the first time on the outskirts of Kishkinda, Rama commented to Lakshman that Hanuman is a true man of knowledge. Just by the way he spoke and conducted himself, it could be seen that he is a knower of the Vedas. In this world it’s easy to convince impressionable people that you have great knowledge. But when a divine being like Rama is the one who acknowledges someone’s wisdom, it is a sign of true knowledge.

However knowledge alone is not sufficient to earn our admiration and reverence. Therefore in the very next word we hear an even more important reason why Hanuman is so revered, this being his qualities/values (guna).

In the world, there are and have been many clever people with great knowledge in one or another field. This does not necessarily make a person great, especially if they are lacking essential qualities, like compassion, humility, bravery etc. Without such qualities, knowledge alone is dry and is likely to be a source of ego rather than a constructive force in the world. So Tulsidas’s praise of Hanuman’s knowledge(gyan) goes hand in hand with his qualities (guna).

“Victory to the King of Monkeys who is well known in all the three worlds”

Kapis is translated as “King of Monkeys”. One may wonder at this. Hanuman wasn’t after all a king. Sugriva and Bali were kings, but not Hanuman. But true leadership is measured by influence over people’s hearts and minds. In this measure, it was Hanuman who was king. Just as in the explanation of verse 1 it was explained that Hanuman is referred to as Raghuvar (kin of Rama), even though he is not a blood relative of Lord Rama, in the same way Hanuman is the King without being the actual monarch.

Kapis has another underlying meaning, relating to its Sanskrit route. The word can be divided into the roots “Ka” and “Pi”. “Pi” means “to drink”. “Ka” means joy, specifically the joy arising from spiritual illumination. Hence Kapis can also means “One who drinks the joy of spiritual illumination”. It is by such individuals – who rule people’s hearts without wielding political authority and who live in the joy of spiritual knowledge because of whom the three worlds are illumined (tihun lok ujagar).

Insight into Verse 4

Rama doot atulit bal dhama
Anjani-putra Pavan sut nama
You are the divine messenger of Rama and repository of immeasurable strength, and are also known as Anjaniputra and known as the son of the wind – Pavanputra.

“You are the divine messenger of Rama and repository of immeasurable strength”

“Rama doot” means “Rama’s messenger” or “Rama’s servant”. In life, a person generally prefers to be introduced as the family member or associate of the person he or she admires the most, or who is closest to them self. Hanuman could introduce himself in many ways, but he preferred to introduce himself just as Rama’s messenger. When he first met Sita and she asked him who he was, he said with humility, “Mother I am the servant of Ramachandraji.” In Lanka, Ravana asked him who the hell he was who had just come and wreaked havoc in his kingdom. Hanuman replied “By whose drop of power you have wielded power over the entire earth, I am His servant”.

To be a messenger of the Lord is a position of great responsibility – it means to do His work upon Earth. It is more than just being a devotee. Making oneself a servant of Rama, being proud of it, and taking responsibility to do His work is a key to developing immeasurable strength – because the strength flows from the a higher source than oneself.

Hanuman’s strength wasn’t manifest when he was just a servant of Sugriva (King of Kishkinda), even though he was a dutiful servant of the latter. It is when he came into the service of Rama that his immeasurable strength was witnessed. This shows that one’s full potential is manifested by being in the service of the right cause and right master – a message which is highly relevant today.

“and are also known as the son of Anjani and known as the son of the Pavan”

Anjani-putra means “Son of Anjani”. Anjani was Hanuman’s mother. Although to Hanuman it was his relationship with Lord Rama that was most important to him, rather than his family, he was still a dutiful family member, and in fact brought great honour upon his mother through his great deeds. The same should be the case for any person who is in service of a great divine cause which they believe in. The cause is worthy of first loyalty, but one’s mother should also be made proud and be honoured.

Hanuman is also known as the son of Pavan Devata (the Deity of Wind), one of the divine celestial powers which upholds the functioning of the world. Pavan Devata is the life force or life breath (praana) of the world. Spiritual commentaries of the Ramayana have described Hanuman as the subtle life force which links Spirit (Rama), with Sita (Nature).

Do Hanuman Pooja By yourself

You can use the resources below to perform a Hanuman Homam by yourself.

You can use the resources below to perform a Hanuman Homam by yourself. Homam or havan is a Hindu fire ritual

 1
Om Sri MahaaGanapathaye Namah Om Sri Gurubhyo Namah Om Rishibhyo Namah
Hanuman Homam
Laghu Paddhati (Short Procedure)
By P.V.R. Narasimha Rao (www.VedicAstrologer.org)
Date of current version: 2009 July 16
A Word from the author
My spiritual master Dr Manish Pandit hails from Pune, India and lives in Manchester, UK. The
idea of spreading homam in the world was revealed to him in a dream a few years ago. He saw
eight elevated beings in a dream. They transported him across blue skies to Chennai, India,
where he was shown the big fire that was to be lighted in future. They told him to start the work.
They assured him that homam as a spiritual sadhana was very appropriate in Kali yuga. As
spiritually inclined people have fewer and fewer hours to spend on spiritual sadhana everyday
with the progressing Kali yuga, sadhanas that work fast are more relevant. Homam works much
faster than japam and other spiritual sadhanas. They told him that the practice of homam would
transform into a movement that would reach across caste, class and race barriers.
Later, when we were performing a Shata Chandi Homam in the first week of March 2006 at the
Kalikambal temple in Chennai, he had a darshan of Divine Mother on a Friday and was
reassured by Her about the right course of events regarding spreading homam. A Mahaganapathi
homam manual was published later and several people are performing it daily or weekly or
monthly.
Our goal is to create a community of people who regularly perform a quick homam for the deity
that they are attracted to. We intend to make manuals available for simplified homam procedures
for several deities.
What is Homam
Homam is a fire ritual of sacrifice. It is also known as homa or havan or yajna (yagya) or yajana.
In homam, divine presence is invoked into fire using specific procedures. Then materials are
sacrificed into fire, along with sacred chants (mantras). The sacrifices are supposed to reach
gods. It is interesting to note that fire ritual is an ancient practice and several religions taught
worshipping gods in fire.
Why Homam
Homam is a very powerful tool for spiritual progress. Chanting mantras in front of fire while
offering material substances into fire has a great cleansing and calming influence on one’s mind
and gives great level of mental focus, peace, calmness and bliss. This practice has been extolled
in many scriptures such as Yajurveda and Bhagavad Gita. Vedic seers practiced it regularly.
Several people are experiencing the benefits of homam even today. The proof of the pudding is
2
in eating it. If one performs homam regularly for a few months, one will surely see the difference
in one’s mental state.
Why Hanuman Homam
Lord Hanuman is an avatara of Shiva and he has the essence of eleven Rudras in him. He is the
greatest devotee of Lord Rama. He is the most perfected master of jnaana yoga, bhakti yoga,
karma yoga and raja yoga. He learned Veda and aatma jnaana directly from Lord Sun (universal
soul). He is an epitome of knowledge, bravery, devotion and daasa bhaava (spirit of a servant).
Worship of Lord Hanuman can give knowledge, energy, bravery, physical strength, success over
enemies, good health, humility, devotion and aatma jnaana (knowledge of Self), depending on
the aptitude and attitude of the worshipper. It can also give relief from problems given by
planets, especially Saturn and Mars.
What Homam Does
Hinduism teaches that gods come into fire and receive the prayers of spiritual aspirants. Even
when one meditates without an external fire, gods being meditated on come into the internal fire
of the aspirant and receive the mantras via that fire. However, the internal fire is quite weaker
than an external fire for most people and hence it is beneficial to perform worship using an
external fire. That practice eventually strengthens the internal fire also.
We all see and feel our sthoola sareera (gross body), which is made up of gross matter. But, we
also have a sookshma sareera (subtle body) made up of subtle matter. It cannot be perceived by
the senses attached to the gross body (eyes, ears, nose etc). It contains thousands of naadis,
which are essentially subtle channels of energy flow. A fire called bhootaagni (existential fire)
burns in this subtle body. It is the subtle basis of one’s entire existence. It manifests in the gross
body in the form of various fires. Examples are the “fire” in the stomach that helps one digest the
food eaten and the “fire” in the brain that helps one digest and understand various sense
experiences.
This bhootaagni is vital to one’s existence. In most people, it is quite weak. Due to impurities
and obstructions in the naadis of the subtle body, this fire cannot burn strongly to energize the
entire existence. When it burns low, the divine presence that can enter it is quite limited in
magnitude.
If one overcomes the internal weaknesses such as desire, anger, greed, false prestige, wantonness
and jealousy, develops compassion, one-pointed devotion, detachment, and sheds one layer of
ego and delusion after another, eventually the impurities in the naadis will be cleared and
bhootaagni will burn strong. However, this is a very difficult and time-consuming process.
One can take advantage of an external fire in that regard. As the deity of homam enters the
external fire on a regular basis, the nearby divine presence burns the impurities in the naadis, by
burning various karmas (actions from the past, which will get corresponding reactions in the
3
future) in the kaarana sareera (causal body). This eventually leads to the strengthening of
bhootaagni.
After one performs homam for a long enough time, one’s naadis are cleared of the obstructions
and one’s bhootaagni burns brightly. At that juncture, all sadhanas performed by one, including
regular meditation, become much more effective. If bhootaagni can accommodate divine
presence to a larger degree, the meditation becomes more effective.
The goal of all spiritual sadhana, whether one thinks in those terms or not, is actually to cleanse
oneself of all the internal impurities. Various karmas from previous lives hang on to the kaarana
sareera (causal body), making it heavy. These in turn manifest in the sookshma sareera (subtle
body) as various impurities in various nadis (subtle energy channels) that block the free flow of
energy. These in turn manifest in the sthoola sareera (gross body) as various problems of the
body and mind. These also cause dense conditioning of one’s mind to sink one’s consciousness
in an ocean of delusion. This conditioning of the consciousness due to previous karmas is also
known as maayaa. When one is sunk in maayaa, one is beaten down by the six enemies – kaama
(desire), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (delusion), mada (wantonness) and maatsarya
(jealosy). As one makes spiritual progress, one’s karmas drop off the kaarana sareera, the
impurities in the nadis are cleansed, one’s mental conditioning becomes weaker and one can
resist the internal enemies. All these are inter-related and happen simultaneously. When one
burns all of one’s major karmas, one becomes karmically very light. Nadis in the sookshma
sareera are all clear and energy can freely flow anywhere. One is untouched by the internal
enemies then. When one sees all as god, nothing can make one angry or jealous or deluded.
When mental conditioning drops, nothing excites one and nothing saddens one. One stays in a
state of bliss always. Despite the changing nature of the external work and appearance, one is in
the same state internally.
The goal of all spiritual sadhana is to reach that state. Whether through jnaana (knowledge and
wisdom) or through bhakti (devotion and surrender) or both, one has to burn the karmas and
impurities blocking one from reaching that state. The goal of all sadhana is to let ego (the sense
of “I-ness”) go completely and merge (have yoga) with divinity. If a vacuum can be created
within oneself, then divine presence can fill the vacuum. As long as one has egotism and various
kinds of conditioning (vasanas) of mind, such a vacuum cannot be created. When all those cease
and the mental conditioning is weakened, the mind become extremely calm and a vacuum is
created within. Then divine presence fills one and the result is indescribable bliss.
Homam facilitates this process quickly by burning various karmas that are creating various
layers of conditioning and obstructing spiritual progress.
A lot of Hindu rituals involve invoking divine presence in an idol or a water pot (kalasha) and
offering worship to the idol/pot. Unfortunately, we are living in Kali yuga in which the elements
of earth, water and air are not pure. If the idol has any impurities on account of the time when it
was made, how it was made, the thoughts of the person who made it etc, the impurities heavily
restrict how much divine presence the idol can accommodate.
The only elements that cannot be polluted are space/ether (aakaasa) and fire (agni). It is very
difficult to do spiritual sadhana via the medium of space. So the best medium for sadhana is fire.
4
One of the Sanskrit words for “fire” is “paavaka”, which means “the one that purifies”. Fire is by
definition pure and purifies everything that it comes in touch with. The wood or coconut used to
sustain fire may have impurities, but fire itself is very pure and accommodates a divine presence
of the highest degree. For a ritual using the earth or water elements as the medium to be
successful, the sadhaka must be quite pure and the sadhaka’s bhootagni must be reasonably
strong. On the other hand, a ritual using the fire element as the medium can be successful
irrespective of the stature and purity of the sadhaka. For this reason, homam is the most apt
sadhana for most spiritual aspitants in this yuga, especially as the Kali deepens. Unfortunately,
many people have unfounded fears of making mistakes and being punished for them and hence
do not take advantage of the fantastic practice of homam.
Apart from the personal benefits, there are universal benefits of homam. The offerings in the fire
finally reach Sun, who feeds the entire earth. The gross material body of the burnt offerings
reaches the gross material body of Sun. The subtle body of the burnt offerings reaches the subtle
body of Sun. It is the subtle body of Sun that feeds the subtle bodies of all beings on earth. Thus,
feeding it is very important for the smooth running of life on earth. As we enter the Ghora Kali
(terrible age of strife and disorderliness) phase, adharma (un-righteous activities) will be on the
rise in the world and as such the subtle body of Sun will become weaker. If more and more
people perform homam and strengthen the subtle body of Sun, it will balance the adharma and
keep the world away from a total collapse.
Common Mis-conceptions
(1) Misconception: Homam is very difficult to perform. It is for experts only.
Comment: Not really. Several people who did not know anything about how to do any kind of
worship conducted homam by themselves by reading this document. It is a simple practice.
(2) Misconception: One must either do a “perfect” homam or not do any homam at all. A perfect
homam takes a very long time.
Comment: Though one may eat a sumptuous meal on an important festival day, one does not
necessarily get a lot of energy from it. One gets most of one’s energy from the regular dal
(lentils) and rice that one eats everyday.
Though there are complicated versions of homam, it is better to do a simple homam on a regular
basis than to do a complicated version very rarely. A small half-hour or one-hour homam done
on a daily basis is far better for spiritual sadhana than a big annual or half-yearly homam.
(3) Misconception: If mistakes happen in a homam, the consequences will be bad.
Comment: If a homam is performed with a saattwik spirit for saattwik purposes, there are no
risks.
5
If you act nice with your parents because you want their money, you have to understand their
thinking well, take the advice of people who know them well and act very carefully to get money
from them. Mistakes can be costly and spoil your goal.
But, if you act nice with your parents simply because you love them and want to show your love,
you do not need to be careful. You just show your love in whatever way you know. There is no
need to follow anybody’s advice strictly and there are no risks.
Similarly, you have to be careful if you perform a homam for certain material goals (such as
getting money, attracting someone, destroying someone etc). If you perform a homam just to
show your love to god, cleanse yourself spiritually and make yourself worthy of divine
communion, then there are no risks. The procedure taught in this document is based on the
teachings of rishis and it is safe for anybody to use. Small mistakes will not result in any
punishment.
In fact, it is expected that everybody who uses this document is interested in only the second
kind of goal, i.e. spiritual cleansing and upliftment.
(4) Misconception: One not initiated by a guru (master) cannot perform homam or recite certain
mantras.
Comment: If one receives a mantra or a procedure from the mouth of a master, it is analogous to
a millionaire opening a bank account in his son’s name with a high starting balance. The son is
lucky, as he is starting off with a big balance. Similarly, some of the siddhi (attainment) the
master has in the mantra or procedure is transferred to the disciple even as (s)he starts out.
If one does not receive a mantra or a procedure from the mouth of a master, it is analogous to
starting off with a zero bank balance. While it is useful to start off with a positive balance, it is
neither necessary nor sufficient. There are sons of millionaires who used up the millions earned
by parents and reduced them to zero, while there are some self-made men who made millions
purely with self-effort. Similarly, one taught by the greatest guru can fall while one not taught by
a guru can reach the ultimate. While it is desirable to have a guru, it is by no means compulsory.
If one is the kind who needs to have a guru figure behind every mantra or procedure, one can
think of the author and/or his spiritual master, Dr Manish Pandit from Pune, India (currently
residing in Manchester, UK) as the guru for this homam procedure.
(5) Misconception: Those who are not learned in Veda cannot recite Veda mantras and perform
homam based on Veda mantras.
Comment: Jnaneshwar was a 12th century master. He was a great Krishna devotee. When he was
asked to not recite Veda by a council of erudite scholars, as he was not formally qualified, he
replied that every being had a right to recite Veda. When he started reciting, they tried to shut his
mouth. Then, a buffalo standing next to him recited Veda! The scholars begged his pardon and
corrected their narrow-minded attitude.
6
Many great souls like him taught that Veda could be recited by anyone. One engaged in tantric
practices that serve specific purposes and give specific siddhis (attainments) need to be afraid of
side effects and punishments for mistakes, but mantras from Veda were taught by great rishis for
the highest purpose of self-realization. One reciting them need not be afraid of any side effects.
Veda mantras are saattwik, self-correcting and ultimately leading to self-realization.
Those who have an affinity to tantric practices should not be discouraged from learning and
using them, but those who appreciate the teachings of rishis must be encouraged to recite Veda
mantras and perform homam based on Veda mantras. The key is to have an attitude of
submission and a desire for nothing other than self-realization and to do homam without any
expectations whatsoever. Then there are no risks.
The procedure taught in this document contains just a few Veda mantras, which are not very
difficult to pronounce.
(6) Misconception: Those who are not born in a Brahmin family cannot perform homam.
Comment: One’s varna (caste) is not to be determined solely from the family one is born in.
There are examples of men born to parents belonging to various castes performing tapascharya
and becoming rishis. Maharshi Viswamitra, who taught the Savitru Gayatri mantra, was a
kshatriya by birth. Maharshi Valmiki, who taught Brahma Jnana to Maharshi Bharadwaja, was a
shoodra by birth.
One who has affinity to knowledge is a Brahmin (scholar). One who has affinity to power and
authority is a kshatriya (warrior). One who has affinity to money is a vaisya (trader). One who
has affinity to carnal pleasures is a shoodra (worker). If a person born in a Brahmin family is
after money, he becomes a vaisya and not a Brahmin. On the other hand, if a person born in a
vaisya family desires nothing but knowledge and self-realization, he automatically becomes a
Brahmin and very fit to perform homam.
Irrespective of the caste of birth, one who is interested in knowledge (especially knowledge of
self) and one whose interest in power, money and pleasures is decaying is fit to perform homam.
(7) Misconception: Women cannot perform homam.
Comment: There is a big difference between men and women when it comes to the gross body.
But, at the level of subtle body or causal body, there is no difference based on gender. All
spiritual practices operate mainly at the subtle and causal level. So, it makes no sense to have a
total ban on women performing homam.
However, there are some practical reasons behind the biases of tradition. Though there are no
differences based on gender in the subtle body, the differences at the gross body level can come
into play in the initial stages. Women interested in performing homam may carefully consider
the following factors and make their decision.
7
Any spiritual practice performed well over a period of time eventually results in a Kundalini
awakening and rise. Kundalini is nothing but one’s self-identification. It is a microcosmic
representation of the Divine Mother within oneself. It defines how one identifies oneself. Though
everything in the universe is just Brahman, each being forms a separate self-identity and that
self-identity is reinforced quite strongly with time. When one identifies completely with the body
without any kind of questioning, Kundalini is asleep. As kundalini wakes up and rises, one starts
to wonder “who am I” and one’s awareness of self becomes more and more refined. As kundalini
reaches higher chakras, one realizes one’s true nature. When Kundalini reaches Sahasrara
chakra, one realizes one’s truest nature, i.e. one realizes that one is the formless Brahman.
If Kundalini gets stuck at swadhishthana chakra, one’s sexual drive increases and one is tested in
that matter. In this matter, women and men are very different. This phase can be very difficult for
women. This is not to say that this phase is easy for men.
More importantly, some spiritual experiences in a pregnant lady can even kill a fetus, if the soul
in it is not spiritually elevated. On the positive side, if an elevated soul is in the fetus at the time
of such experiences, a siddha may be born.
There is a negative for every positive and it is a matter of balancing the factors and making an
individual decision. Women interested in homam should consider the above factors and decide
whether they want to perform homam or not. If any women are interested, they should be
encouraged to perform homam.
(8) Misconception: Homam is just like meditation. It is not any better. It does not really make
any difference.
Comment: The proof of the pudding is in eating it. If one tries performing a homam to the best of
one’s ability on a daily basis for a few months, one will know what homam can do! After doing
homam for several months, one will find that all other sadhanas one does become more effective
as a result of homam.
(9) Misconception: One should get a priest to do homam and not do it oneself.
Comment: Let us revisit a previous analogy. If one wants to be nice to one’s parents to get their
money, one may engage someone who will act on one’s behalf to get the money of parents. But,
if one’s sole purpose is to just love one’s parents and show that love, it is better to do it directly
than to engage other people.
(10) Misconception: Before doing homam with any mantra, one must do japam of that mantra by
a count that is ten times the homam count. For example, one must do japam by a count of 10,000
before one does homam by a count of 1,000.
Comment: This convention is not without reason. The true meaning of this convention is that
homam is ten times more powerful than japam. If one does a mantra 1,000 in a homam, it is
equivalent to doing the mantra 10,000 in japam. If one wants, one can offer the mantra entirely in
external fire and there is no need to do any japam before doing homam.
8
All thumb rules and conventions have exceptions. If a rishi with a very strong bhootaagni does
japam, it is equivalent to a homam and the “ten times” rule does not apply. However, for most
normal people, homam is ten times more powerful than japam. The bottomline is that the
strength and the purity of the medium that accommodates the presence of the deity who receives
the mantra will decide the effectiveness of the mantra.
About This Document
This document describes a short procedure for performing Hanuman homam, which takes 30-45
minutes. This document is for those who are interested in performing Hanuman homam by
themselves every day or week or month. The procedure taught here is simple enough to do daily
and yet retains all the important steps in a full-fledged traditional Vedic homam. Those who want
an even simpler procedure with fewer mantras may refer to Appendix A for a super-short
procedure with bare minimum mantras.
One should consult one’s elders and gurus and decide whether one is allowed to perform a
homam or not. If one thinks one is allowed to do homam and is interested in doing homam on a
regular basis but does not know how to do it, then one can use this document to learn one way to
do it. If one’s gurus have taught one a different procedure, one may use the procedure taught by
one’s gurus. This document is for the benefit of those who do not know any procedure and want
to learn some procedure to do homam. Those who learnt a slightly different procedure from the
previous versions of this document need not worry and either follow what they have already
learnt or switch to the procedure in this document.
Excessive Movement of Body and Mind
Some people move a lot when they meditate. As it was mentioned earlier, the goal of all sadhana
is to calm the mind down and create a vacuum within oneself, so that the deity of the sadhana
can come and occupy the space. One should lose awareness of the body. When meditating, it is a
good idea to keep the back straight without making it too tense. It is a good idea to not move. If
it is not possible to stay still for extended periods, one should at least try to stay still over short
periods of time. It is also a good idea to close the eyes. One can focus one’s mind on either a
deity or on the sound of the mantra.
Similarly, when performing homam also, it is a good idea to keep the back straight and minimize
the movement, especially of the back. It is ideal if one keeps the back and head erect and
manages with a minimal movement of just one arm.
If body is stationary, there is some chance that mind too will become stationary for a while in the
middle. That is the goal after all.
Correct Attitude
While it is good to follow the procedure faithfully, it is even more important to surrender oneself
to god, leave ego and identify one’s self with the deity in the fire when performing the homam. If
that is there, all other minor errors will have no negative effect. If that is not there, even an
9
impeccably performed homam will not have any tangible effect. Like mentioned earlier, the goal
is to melt ego (I-ness or sense of self) and create a vacuum within oneself, so that the deity can
fill it. Complete devotion, single-minded focus on deity/mantra/procedure and minimization of
the activity of body and mind can help one achieve that eventually.
If one has an over-active mind, doing pranayama before homam can be useful. The time around
sunrise in the morning is a particularly conducive to a pleasant homam.
Materials Needed
Must have
· One homa kundam1 (a copper container with preferably a square shaped base). If a homa
kundam is not available, one can dig a square shaped pit in the ground (with 1-2 foot sides
and half to one foot deep) and arrange a few layers of bricks around the pit.
· Dry coconut halves (available in Indian stores) or wood (for burning)
· Ghee (clarified butter) from cow’s milk. It is available in Indian stores. If unable to find, just
get some butter and melt it in low heat. After it melts, some black stuff will separate from the
melted liquid. Filter out the black deposit and use the liquid. It will solidify after a time.
Before the homam, melt it again and use it.
· A wooden spoon/ladle to put ghee into the fire
· Some akshatas. Those can be made by mixing raw (uncooked) white (or brown) rice grains
with a drop of sesame oil (or some other oil) and a pinch of turmeric powder. Instead of
turmeric powder, one can also use vermilion (kumkum) powder used for the dot on the
forehead.
· A small lamp, consisting of a wick that can be lit in sesame oil/ghee. A candle can also be
used as an alternative, though it is better to burn ghee or sesame oil than wax.
· A match box to light fire
· One tumbler or cup to store water. It should preferably be made of silver or copper or clay. If
unavailable, you may use steel or glass.
· One spoon (preferably silver or copper)
· Some water
Optional
· A small idol of Lord Hanuman. If you have none, use a metallic coin or any metallic object.
Actually, you can do without any idol and just invoke Lord Hanuman in fire.
· A mixture of various auspicious materials known as the havan samagri (available in India
stores), if possible.
· Some sandalwood powder, turmeric powder and kumkum (vermilion) powder
· Some flowers or flower petals
· Some sesame seeds, some mamra/murmura (puffed white rice), some nuts, some mildly
popped corn and other materials that can be offered in fire. Small fruits are also fine. Honey
1 If in India, search for “Havan Kund” on http://shopping.rediff.com. If in US, search for “Kund” on
http://indousplaza.com.
10
can also be used. All these are optional. The absolute minimum needed is coconut pieces and
ghee.
· Some darbhas (dried blades of sacred grass). Check with a local temple priest to find out how
to procure them. If darbhas are unavailable, you may think of creative alternatives. For
example, find some other dry grass or dry leaves or just thin twigs and pray to your ishta
devata (favorite deity) before the homam to make them acceptable.
· An incense stick (agarbatti) if available and a holder to stick it to (a banana can be used
instead)
· Camphor and a container or plate for lighting camphor and offering haarati
· Some food that you can offer to god. Eggs, meat and seafood should not be used in that food.
In fact, do not eat eggs, meat and seafood on the day of homam. Onion, garlic, strong spices
and too much of chillies should also be avoided in the food cooked for God. Fruits are also
fine. Just sugar or brown sugar or rock candy sugar or jaggery can be offered to god too.
When using sugar, please note that the normal white refined sugar used these days has bone
ash in it. Brown sugar, vegetarian sugar or jaggery are to be prefered.
· Some milk, if available.
Preparation Before Homam
(1) Instead of arranging homa kundam directly on the floor, place a wood plank or something
on the floor, wrapped with aluminum foil (or some such thing), and put 4 bricks of the
same height on it and place the homa kundam on the bricks. Thus, there is some air and a
wooden plank under the homa kundam and the floor does not get heated up.
(2) If you want easy cleaning, place some aluminum foils on the floor all around the plank
containing homa kundam. If ghee or something is spilled in that area, it is easy to clean.
(3) If you want, you can also cover the interior of homa kundam with some aluminum foils, so
that it is easy to clean.
(4) Make some food items to offer to god. You can just use rock sugar candy or raisins or dates
or fruits or jaggery also. Please see the notes in the previous section on this.
(5) Cook a little plain white rice. I put a few grains of rice and a little water in a small
container and put it in microwave oven before my homam and cooked rice is ready at the
end when I need it. If this is not possible, take a banana or apple or some other fruit and
make it into 6 slices.
(6) Fill water in the tumbler/cup and place the spoon in it.
(7) Make a seat for yourself in front of the homa kundam. Ideally you should be facing east,
i.e. homa kundam should be on the east from you. On the east of the homa kundam, place a
small plate or a wooden plank, make a pile of some rice grains on it and place the idol (or a
metal/clay object such as a coin) on it. You can decorate based on your ability and taste. An
idol is optional. You can worship Lord Hanuman directly in fire.
(8) From the middle of the western edge of the homam kundam, draw two parallel red lines
with kumkum (vermilion) powder towards your seat. They should go east-west and connect
homa kundam to your seat. Melt the ghee and place the bowl containing it on those lines.
(9) Cut dry coconuts into small pieces. Pieces of 1 inch x 1 inch size are useful.
(10) Important: Do not consume any food within 3-4 hours before the homam (atleast one hour).
Evacuate the bowels before homam and take bath. Stomach should be empty during a
homam for the best experience.
11
Homam Procedure
Anujnaa (Permission)
Before starting the homam, think in your mind of Mother Earth who is bearing you, Lord
Ganesha who removes obstacles, your ishta devata (favorite deity), your parents, the rishis of
your gothra (if you know them), all the rishis and all your gurus. Then say the following, while
mentally requesting all the gods to co-operate with your homam.
om åÞddhyäsma× haÞvyairnama×sopaÞsadya×| miÞtraà deÞvaà mi×traÞdheyaà× no astu| aÞnüÞräÞdhän
haÞviñä× vaÞrdhaya×ntaù| çaÞtaà jéve×ma çaÞradaùÞ savé×räù|
If you have a “pavitram” (a ring made of darbha or a special ring made of metal), wear it now. If
you don’t have a pavitram, take any ring that you have, pray to your ishta devata and wear it. It
should be worn on the right hand ring finger. If you don’t have a ring, don’t worry and move on.
Aachamanam (sipping water to purify)
Take a little water from the tumbler into your right hand with a spoon. Drink the water after
saying the first item below. Take more water with the spoon into your hand, say the second item
below and drink it. Take more water, say the third item below and drink it. Imagine that Vishnu
who is within you is getting that water.
om keçaväya svähä| om näräyaëäya svähä| om mädhaväya svähä|
Vighneswara Pooja (worshipping the remover of obstacles)
In order to not have any obstacles in the pooja, we have to pray to Ganesha in the beginning. Just
read the following verses:
çuklämbaradharaà viñëuà çaçivarëaà caturbhujaà| prasannavadanaà dhyäyet sarva
vighnopaçäntaye||
agajänana padmärkaà gajänanamaharniçaà| anekadaà taà bhaktänäm ekadantam
upäsmahe||
vakratuëòa mahäkäya koöisüryasamaprabha| nirvighnaà kuru me deva sarvakäryeñu
sarvadä||
Pray within your mind to Ganesha to remove obstacles from your homam. If you have time,
energy and inclination (or when you are doing a longer version), you can even make a small
Ganesha idol with turmeric and water and do shodasopachaara pooja to the idol. But just reading
the above verses and praying to Ganesha in mind should suffice for a short homam that is
performed on a regular basis.
12
Praanaayaamam (restraining the life force)
Take some akshatas (see “Materials Needed” for a description of how to make them) in the the
left palm, place the left palm on the left lap, hold the nostrils with the right hand and do
praanaayaamam. Place the little finger and ring finger on the left nostril and thumb on the right
nostril. Close the left nostril, open the right nostril by releasing the thumb and say the Gayatri
mantra mentally while gently breathing in through the right nostril (without making any
breathing sound). If you don’t know the Gayatri mantra, use one of the following mantras:
om namo bhagavate väsudeväya| om namaççiväya| om gaà gaëapataye namaù|
After saying the mantra once, close the right nostril with the thumb and say the mantra once
more while retaining the air previously breathed in. Then open the left nostril by relaxing the
little and ring fingers and say the mantra for the third time while breathing out through the left
nostril. When done, say the mantra once more, while breathing in through the left nostril. Then
close the left nostril with little and ring fingers and say the mantra for the fifth time while
retaining the air previously breathed in. Then release the thumb and say the mantra for the sixth
time while breathing out through the right nostril. While reading the mantra all the six times,
contemplate the formless supreme Brahman (supreme soul of the entire universe) that fills each
being of this universe and also the air being breathed in and out. If you want, you can imagine a
specific form (such as your ishta devata) also and imagine that your ishta devata fills the entire
universe. If you want, you can repeat the above sequence as many times as you comfortably can.
Sankalpam (taking the vow)
Now, declare your intention of doing a homam to please Lord Hanuman. Transfer the akshatas to
the right hand, place the open left palm (empty) on right lap, place the closed right palm
containing akshatas on the left palm. Then say the following, while mentally thinking that you
are going to do a homa to the best of your ability, to please Lord Hanuman.
om mamopätta samasta duritakñayadvärä çré parameçvara prétyartham çré hanumat prasäda
siddhyartham adya çubhadine çubhamuhürte çré hanumaddhomakarma yathäçakti kariñye|
Then leave the akshatas from your hand in front of the homa kundam or the idol and sprinkle a
little bit of water on the palms. Now light the ghee/oil lamp.
Kalasa Suddhi (water purification)
When you are doing a long version of the homam, you can establish a kalasam in the
northeastern side of the homa kundam and invoke Varuna in it and do shodasopachaara pooja to
Varuna and read Punyaaha Vaachanam (Pavamana Sooktam). For a short homam, you can just
do the following.
Place a few akshatas and a flower (if available) in the tumbler containing water. If you can, put
dhenu mudra (else, don’t worry). Say the following syllable 11 times to purify the water.
13
vaà
Now read the following and think that auspicious essence of various rivers of the world is
entering the water in the tumbler.
gaìge ca yamune caiva godävari sarasvati |
narmade sindhu käveri jale'smin sannidhià kuru ||
amåtaà bhavatu
Then take a little water from the tumbler with a flower or flower petal or spoon and sprinkle it on
yourself, on homa kundam, on the idol you are going to use and other materials to be used in
homam (like fruits, flowers and food).
Take a darbha (see “Materials Needed” for a description) and draw 6 lines with the darbha on the
base of the homakundam, in the same order as shown in Figure 1. The direction in which each
line is drawn is indicated by the direction of the arrow in the figure. Say the following six
mantras while drawing the six lines (respectively).
om brahmaëe namaù|
om yamäya namaù|
om somäya namaù|
om rudräya namaù|
om viñëave namaù|
om indräya namaù|
Figure 1
Agni Pratishthaapana (fire installation)
Take a darbha. Place it inside the homa kundam (on the base), with the tip of the darbha facing
east and the other end facing west. Take another darbha. Place it inside, with the tip of the darbha
facing north and the other end facing south.
14
Take a piece of camphor, light it from the lamp and place it in the middle of the homa kundam,
while saying:
om bhürbhuvassuvarom|
Place one or more dry coconut pieces (or a log/twig/piece of wood) above the burning camphor
and make sure that it catches fire. Next pray to the fire god using the following mantra from
RigVeda. It requests the fire god to keep an inauspicious form of fire called “kravyaada” and
carry the offerings to gods through the auspicious form of fire called “jaatavedas”.
kraÞvyäda×maÞgnià prahi×ëomi düÞraà yaÞmarä÷jïo gacchatu ripraväÞhaù |
iÞhaiväyamita×ro jäÞtave÷dä deÞvebhyo÷ haÞvyaà va×hatu prajäÞnan |
Now we have to do samskara (refinement) to the fire. Pour 8 drops of ghee in the fire while
saying the following mantra 8 times.
om bhürbhuvaÞssuvaÞù svähä÷|
Take 2 or more darbhas (or twigs). Place them outside the homa kundam, along the eastern
boundary. The tips should be facing north and the other end facing south. Then take another 2 or
more darbhas and place them on the southern boundary, with tips facing east and the other end
facing west. Then take 2 or more darbhas and place them on the western boundary, with tips
facing north. Then take 2 or more darbhas and place them on the northern boundary, with tips
facing east. If you do homam on a regular basis, you can leave these darbhas/twigs around the
homa kundam there is no need to do this step every time.
Take some water with the spoon and sprinkle it outside the homa kundam, on its four boundaries
while reading the following 4 mantras. The order and direction of sprinkling is shown in Figure
2. For example, first sprinkle water from the southwestern corner to the southeastern corner, as
shown by the arrow marked “1”. Then follow other arrows marked as 2, 3 and 4.
adiÞte'nu×manyasva| anu×maÞte'nu×manyasva| sara×svaÞte'nu×manyasva| deva saviÞtaù prasu×va|
15
Figure 2
Now pray to Agni (fire god) with the following mantra:
caÞtväriÞ çåìgäÞstrayo× asyaÞ pädäÞ dve çéÞrñe saÞptahastä×so aÞsya |
tridhä× baÞddho vå×ñaÞbho rora×véti maÞho deÞvo martyäÞð ävi×veça |
eÞña hi deÞvaù praÞdiço nuÞ sarväÞù pürvo× hi jäÞtaù sa uÞ garbhe× aÞntaù |
sa viÞjäya×mänaù sa janiÞñyamä×ëaù pratyaÞìmukhä÷stiñöhati viÞçvato×mukhaù |
präìmukho deva| he agne| mamäbhimukho bhava|
Now think within your mind of Lord Ganesha, your ishta devata (favorite deity), rishis of your
gotra (if you know them), all rishis, your gurus, various gods and other beings of this universe.
Dikpaalaka Pooja (worshipping the rulers of directions)
Now, take some akshatas and also some flowers (if available) and offer them to the rulers of
directions. Starting with the eastern edge of the homa kundam, go clockwise (i.e. east, southeast,
south, southwest etc) and offer akshatas and flowers in the eight directions. You can place them
on the edges of the homa kundam. After the eight directions, offerings are made to Brahma (ruler
of the upward direction) in the middle of northeast and east and to Sesha (ruler of the downward
direction) in the middle of southwest and west.
Then offer akshatas and flowers to Agni in the middle of the homa kundam. Finally, touch your
heart and offer respect to the self (soul). For the 8+2+1+1=12 offerings, say the following 12
mantras:
om indräya namaù | om agnaye namaù| om yamäya namaù| om niråtaye namaù| om varuëäya
namaù| om väyave namaù| om somäya namaù| om éçänäya namaù| om brahmaëe namaù| om
çeñäya namaù| om agnaye namaù| om ätmane namaù|
16
Poorvaangam (preliminary offerings)
Now hold the wooden spoon/ladle pointing from northwest towards southeast and offer a ghee
drop in the fire for Prajapati (progenitor of all beings), with the following mantra.
om prajäpataye svähä÷| prajäpataya idaà na mama|
Now hold the wooden spoon/ladle pointing from southwest towards northeast and offer a ghee
drop in the fire for Indra (ruler of gods), with the following mantra.
om indräya svähä÷| indräyedaà na mama|
Offer a little ghee to Agni (fire god) in the middle of the fire with the following mantra:
om agnaye svähä÷| agnaya idaà na mama|
Then offer a little ghee to Soma (god of nourishment and well-being) in the upper half of the
northern side of the homa kundam with the following mantra:
om somäya svähä÷| somäyedaà na mama|
Now, we have to offer a “forgiveness offering” to Prajapati again to request his forgiveness for
all the mistakes that happened in the homa upto this point, with the following mantra:
ärambhaprabhåti etatkñaëaparyantaà madhye sambhävita samasta doña präyaçcittärthaà
sarva präyaçcittaà hoñyämi| om bhürbhuvaÞssuvaÞù svähä÷| prajäpataya idaà na mama|
After making an offering to the basic gods as shown above, one can invoke Ganesha in the fire.
After the above preliminary offerings and before invoking Ganesha, one can also make offerings
to rishis. One can, for example, make offerings to the rishis of one’s lineage. It is optional.
Quick Homam for Mahaganapathi
Before calling the main deity of homam (Lord Hanuman) into fire, a quick pooja of
Mahaganapathi in fire needs to be done for the removal of obstacles. Mahaganapathi can be
invoked in fire while chanting the following.
om gaà gaëapataye namaù| asu×né teÞ puna×raÞsmäsuÞ cakñuùÞ puna×ù präÞëamiÞha no× dehiÞ bhogaà×|
jyokpa×çyemaÞ sürya×muÞccara×ntaÞmanu×mate måÞøayä× naù svaÞsti| om çré mahägaëapati
präëaçaktyai namaù| atra ägaccha| ävähito bhava| sthäpito bhava| sannihito bhava|
sanniruddho bhava| avakuëöhito bhava| praséda praséda|
17
Now, we have to offer worship with several servies to Mahaganapathi in the fire. Say the
following and offer sandalwood powder/paste to Mahaganapathi in the fire. You can also offer
turmeric powder and kumkum.
laà påthivyätmane namaù| gandhaà samarpayämi|
Say the following and offer a flower (or a flower petal) to Mahaganapathi in the fire.
ham äkäçätmane namaù| puñpaà samarpayämi|
Say the following and offer dhoopam (incense) to Mahaganapathi in the fire and the idol. Light
the tip of the incense stick, let the fire burn brightly and then extinguish the fire. There should be
no fire on the stick but smoke coming from the burning tip. Show the smoke to the fire in the
homa kundam. You can also offer the incense stick completely into fire.
yaà väyvätmane namaù| dhüpam äghräpayämi|
Say the following and show the deepam (light/lamp) to Mahaganapathi in the fire.
ram agnyätmane namaù| dépaà darçayämi|
Say the following and offer some food to Mahaganapathi in the fire. You can use cooked food or
a fruit or jaggery or sugar. Show it to the fire and offer a little bit into the fire. If you cooked only
one item, keep it for Lord Hanuman and use something else for Mahaganapathi. You can offer
just a raisin or a little sugar also.
vam amåtätmane namaù| naivedyaà samarpayämi|
Say the following and offer some akshatas to Mahaganapathi in the fire. This mantra means that
we are offering “all services” to Him.
saà sarvätmane namaù| sarvopacärän samarpayämi|
Now say the following offer ghee (or other allowed materials mentioned at the beginning) into
fire for Mahaganapathi. Repeat that 4 or 8 or 12 times.
om gaà gaëapataye namaù| svähä|
Praana Pratishthaapanaa (invocation of main deity)
Now we have to invoke the deity in the idol and the fire. If you know how to do anganyaasam
and karanyaasam, do it while saying the following. Otherwise, just read the following.
18
asya çré präëapratiñöhäpana mantrasya brahma viñëu maheçvarä åñayaù ågyajussämätharväëi
chandäðsi çré hanumän devatä| häà béjaà| héà çaktiù| hüà kélakaà| häm aìguñöhäbhyäà
namaù| héà tarjanébhyäà namaù| hüà madhyamäbhyäà namaù| haim anämikäbhyäà
namaù| hauà kaniñöhikäbhyäà namaù| haù karatala karapåñöhäbhyäà namaù| häà hådayäya
namaù| héà çirase svähä| hüà çikhäyai vañaö| haià kavacäya huà| hauà netratrayäya vauñaö|
haù asträya phaö| bhürbhuvassuvaromiti digbandhaù|
dhyänaà - manojavaà märuta tulya vegaà
jitendriyaà buddhimatäà variñöhaà
vätätmajaà vänara yüdha mukhyaà
çré räma dütaà çirasä namämi
Now invoke the deity in the fire and the idol with the following mantra. While saying it, imagine
that Lord Hanuman who is in your own heart is entering the fire and the idol.
om häà héà hauà yaà raà laà vaà çaà ñaà saà haà øaà kñaà| om haàsaù so'haà so'haà
haàsaù| çré hanumataù präëa iha präëaù| jéva iha sthitaù| sarvendriyäëi väìmanastvak cakñuù
çrotra jihväghräëa präëäpänavyänodänasamänäù ihaivägatya sukhaà ciraà tiñöhantu svähä|
sännidhyaà kurvantu svähä| asu×né teÞ puna×raÞsmäsuÞ cakñuùÞ puna×ù präÞëamiÞha no× dehiÞ bhogaà×|
jyokpa×çyemaÞ sürya×muÞccara×ntaÞmanu×mate måÞøayä× naù svaÞsti| häà héà hauà| hauà héà häà|
hanumatpräëaçaktyai namaù| atra ägaccha|
Now read the following and make the aavaahani, samsthaapani, sannidhaapani, sannirodhini and
avakunthana mudras with your hands if you know them. If not, don’t worry and just read.
ävähito bhava| sthäpito bhava| sannihito bhava| sanniruddho bhava| avakuëöhito bhava| deva
praséda praséda| yävaddhomävasänakam| tävattvaà prétibhävena mürtau agnau ca sannidhià
kuru|
While saying this, pray to Lord Hanuman in your mind and ask him to stay in the fire and the
idol till the end of the homam. Now, till the end of the homam, you should firmly believe that
Lord Hanuman is in the fire and treat him with respect and love.
Panchopachaara Pooja (worship of god)
Now, we have to offer worship with several servies to Lord Hanuman in the fire and idol. There
are several options. One can do a panchopachaara pooja with 5 services or a shodasopachara
pooja with 16 services or a chatusshashtyupachara pooja with 64 services. For simplicity, a
panchopachara pooja is recommended in a homam. Those who have a lot of time and want to
perform a shodasopachara pooja may refer to Appendix B and use that procedure instead of what
is given in this section.
19
Say the following and offer sandalwood powder/paste to Lord Hanuman in the fire and the idol.
You can also offer turmeric powder and kumkum.
laà påthivyätmane namaù| gandhaà samarpayämi|
Say the following and offer a flower (or a flower petal) to Lord Hanuman in the fire and the idol.
ham äkäçätmane namaù| puñpaà samarpayämi|
Say the following and offer dhoopam (incense) to Lord Hanuman in the fire and the idol. Light
the tip of the incense stick, let the fire burn brightly and then extinguish the fire. There should be
no fire on the stick but smoke coming from the burning tip. Show the smoke to the fire in the
homa kundam.
yaà väyvätmane namaù| dhüpam äghräpayämi|
Say the following and show the deepam (light/lamp) to Lord Hanuman in the fire and the idol.
ram agnyätmane namaù| dépaà darçayämi|
Say the following and offer some food to Lord Hanuman in the fire and the idol. You can use
cooked food or a fruit or jaggery or sugar. Show it to the fire and idol and offer a little bit into
the fire.
If you made only one food item, it is a good idea to offer it at the end of the homam. There will
be a naivedyam (food offering) again. Offer something else for now. The offering at the end is
the main one.
vam amåtätmane namaù| naivedyaà samarpayämi|
Say the following and offer some akshatas to Lord Hanuman in the fire and the idol. This mantra
means that we are offering “all services” to Him.
saà sarvätmane namaù| sarvopacärän samarpayämi|
Pradhaana Homam (main part)
Now, you can offer any mantras of Lord Hanuman you want. Suggested count for each mantra is
4 or 8 or 11 or 12 or 16 or 21 or 28 or 108 or 121 or 1008. Pick a count with each mantra and try
to meet that count. At the end of the mantra, you have to add the following and then make an
offering in the fire.
svähä÷
20
When making the last offering with a mantra (i.e. you are going to stop that mantra after this
offering and switch to a different mantra), you add the following instead of the above:
vauñaö
The offering can be a drop of ghee or sesame seeds or murmura/mamra (puffed white rice) or
havan samagri or small dry coconut pieces or small pieces of darbha. If you are doing homam on
a big scale with a big fire, you can even put banana slices, full coconuts, various fruits, nuts
(cashews, almonds etc), dates, raisins, sugar cane pieces, several sweets and snacks etc. But, if
you are doing on a small scale with a small fire, stick to sesame seeds, dry coconut pieces, puffed
white rice and ghee drops. At any cost, avoid spicy substances like any kind of pepper,
cinnamon, cloves etc and products containing eggs, meat etc. In general, sweet substances are
better. Just offering ghee when you do not have any other substances is also fine.
Various shlokas of Hanuman are given below. Hanuman Chalisa is given in Appendix D. It has 2
optional verses at the beginning and the main 40 verses which are mandatory. Bheemarupi
Hanuman Stotra is given in Appendix E.
You can pick multiple mantras and do all of them also. But it is advisable to pick any one mantra
you like the most and repeat it as many times as you can, instead of doing a little bit of several
mantras. If one wants water, one should dig deep for a well in one place instead of digging a
little in ten places. One’s chance of finding water is maximized then.
If you are unable to decide, then I suggest Hanuman Chalisa. Even though it is not in Sanskrit, it
is a very very powerful mantra as it was composed by a self-realized man. In my view, Tulsidas
was a self-realized man by the time he composed Hanuman Chalisa and the purity of his mind,
devotion and humility were infused into that composition.
manojavaà märuta tulya vegaà
jitendriyaà buddhimatäà variñöhaà|
vätätmajaà vänara yüdha mukhyaà
çré räma dütaà çirasä namämi|| svähä÷|
buddhirbalaà yaço dhairyaà nirbhayatvamarogatä|
ajäòyaà väkpaöutvaà ca hanumätsmaraëädbhavet|| svähä÷|
aïjanänandanaà véraà jänaké çokanäçanaà|
kapéçamakñahantäraà vande laìkäbhayaìkaraà|| svähä÷|
goñpadékåta väräçià maçakékåta räkñasaà|
rämäyaëa mähämäläratnaà vande'nilätmajam|| svähä÷|
21
hanumän aïjanäsünuù väyuputromahäbalaù|
rämeñöaù phalguëasakhaù piìgäkño'mitavikramaù|| svähä÷|
udadhikramaëaçcaiva sétäçoka vinäçakaù|
lakñmaëa präëadätä ca daçagrévasya darpahä|| svähä÷|
om hanumate namaù svähä| om aïjanäsünave namaù svähä| om väyuputräya namaù svähä|
om mahäbaläya namaù svähä| om rämeñöäya namaù svähä| om phalguëasakhäya namaù
svähä| om piìgäkñäya namaù svähä| om amitavikramäya namaù svähä| om udadhikramaëäya
namaù svähä| om sétäçokavinäçakäya namaù svähä| om lakñmaëapräëadätre namaù svähä| om
daçagrévasya darpahäya namaù svähä|
Punah Pooja (worship again)
After all the offerings with mantras, we offer a quick worship again to Lord Hanuman in the fire.
Say the following and offer some food to Lord Hanuman in the fire and the idol.
om haà hanumate namaù| naivedyaà samarpayämi|
Light a small camphor piece in a plate and show it to the fire while saying the following. At the
end, you can throw the camphor piece into fire.
om haà hanumate namaù| néräjanaà samarpayämi|
If one has time, a panchopachara pooja can also be done as the punah pooja. But the above two
things will suffice.
Now get up and do pradakshinas to the homa kundam. If someone stands on the roof (or in the
sky) and looks down at you, it should look like you are going around the homa kundam in the
clockwise direction. Do one or three rounds and then sit down again in front of fire.
Uttaraangam (vote of thanks)2
Now, offer one drop of ghee to Prajapati, then the controllers of the three worlds (bhuh – fire
god, bhuvah – wind god, who controls space too, suvah – sun god for all the non-material
spiritual realms), to Agni who processes the food for gods and makes it consumable and finally
Prajapati again. Read the following and offer a drop of ghee at each “swaahaa”.
om prajä×pateÞ na tvadeÞtänyaÞnyo viçvä× jäÞtäniÞ pariÞ tä ba×bhüva| yatkä×mäste juhuÞmastanno× astu
va×yað syä×maÞ pata×yo rayéÞëäm| svähä÷| prajäpataya idaà na mama||
om bhüù svähä÷| agnaya idaà na mama||
2 Skip this and go to the next section to find a shorter procedure for uttaraangam.
22
om bhuvaùÞ svähä÷| väyava idaà na mama||
om suvaùÞ svähä÷| süryäyedaà na mama||
yada×syaÞ karmaÞëo'tyaré×ricaàÞ yadväÞnyü×namiÞhäka×ram| agniñöaÞt svi×ñöaÞkådvidvän sarvaà svi×ñöaàÞ
suhu×taà karotuÞ svähä÷| agnaye sviñöakåta idaà na mama||
om bhürbhuvaÞssuvaùÞ svähä÷| prajäpataya idaà na mama||
Now do pranaayaamam again. The procedure of pranaayaamam is explained earlier.
Now, make three offerings to the fire god, asking for forgiveness for any mistakes committed
knowingly or unknowingly, while using fire as the medium. Read the following and offer a drop
of the ghee in the fire at each “swaahaa”.
Next, three offerings are made to the fire god, wind god and sun god, the controllers of the three
worlds. Read the following and offer a drop of the ghee in the fire at each “swaahaa”.
anä÷jïätaà yadäjïä×taà yaÞjïasya kriÞyateÞ mithu×| agne÷ tada×sya kaÞlpaÞyaÞ tvað hi vettha×
yaÞthäÞtatham| svähä÷| agnaya idaà na mama||
puru×ñasammito yaÞjïo yaÞjïaù puru×ñasammitaù| agne÷ tada×sya kaÞlpaÞyaÞ tvað hi vettha×
yathäÞtatham| svähä÷| agnaya idaà na mama||
yatpä×kaÞträ manasä déÞnada×kñäÞ na| yaÞjïasya× maÞnvate× martä×saù| agniÞñöaddhotä÷ kraÞtuÞvidvi×jäÞnan|
yaji×ñöho deÞvän åÞtuÞço ya×jätiÞ| svähä÷| agnaya idaà na mama||
om bhüù svähä÷| agnaya idaà na mama||
om bhuvaùÞ svähä÷| väyava idaà na mama||
om suvaùÞ svähä÷| süryäyedaà na mama||
One final offering to Prajapati is made to beg for forgiveness for various mistakes made in the
homam, with respect to pronunciation, actions, procedure, devotion, materials used etc. Read the
following and offer of drop of ghee.
asmin homakarmaëi madhye sambhävita samasta mantralopa tantralopa kriyälopa bhaktilopa
çraddhälopa niyamalopa niñöhälopa dravyalopädi samasta doña präyaçcittärthaà sarva
präyaçcittähutià hoñyämi| om bhürbhuvaÞssuvaùÞ svähä÷| prajäpataya idaà na mama||
An offering to Vishnu and an offering to Rudra must be made. Read the following two lines and
offer a drop of ghee for each line. Think of Vishnu and Shiva.
om çré viñëa×veÞ svähä÷| viñëave paramätmana idaà na mama||
om namo ruÞdräya× paçuÞpata×yeÞ svähä÷| rudräya paçupataya idaà na mama||
After making an offering to Rudra, wash the hand once. You can simply sprinkle a little bit of
water on the right palm for that purpose.
23
Uttaraangam – shorter version (vote of thanks)
When you are in a hurry, you can perform uttaraangam in a brief form by saying the following
and making an offering of ghee with each line.
om bhüù svähä÷| agnaya idaà na mama||
om bhuvaùÞ svähä÷| väyava idaà na mama||
om suvaùÞ svähä÷| süryäyedaà na mama||
om bhürbhuvaÞssuvaùÞ svähä÷| prajäpataya idaà na mama||
om çré viñëa×veÞ svähä÷| viñëave paramätmana idaà na mama||
om namo ruÞdräya× paçuÞpata×yeÞ svähä÷| rudräya paçupataya idaà na mama||
Suddhaanna Bali (sacrifice of pure rice)
Now, we have to offer bali (sacrifice to other associated beings). Get the cooked white rice (or
banana slices or some other fruit slices or raisins). Just place a small token amount as bali. You
need to place bali in six different places outside the homa kundam. First, place it on the east of
the homa kundam. Then on the west, then on the north, then on the south and finally two more
on the east (a little north to the previous bali(s) placed in the east). The order and positions can
be found in Figure 3. While offering balis in six places, the following sentence can be said:
om pärñadebhyo namaù| balià samarpayämi|
Figure 3
The rice remaining after offering balis should be thrown away and not consumed. If cooked rice
is not available, small banana slices or some other fruit slices can be used. Again, any fruit pieces
left over after bali should be thrown away and not consumed.
24
Vasordhaaraa (stream of excellence)
Take a little ghee into the ladle and pour it slowly on the burning dry coconut pieces in the homa
kundam while reading the third verse from “Rudra Chamakam”. It is given below.
Don’t pour too much ghee if you don’t want much smoke. Just take one teaspoonful of ghee in
the wooden ladle and manage with it slowly. This ghee should be just enough to make the pieces
burn well so that poornaahuti (about to be offered) burns well.
om çaà ca× meÞ maya×çca me priÞyaà ca× me'nukäÞmaçca× meÞ käma×çca me saumanaÞsaçca× me
bhaÞdraà ca× meÞ çreya×çca meÞ vasya×çca meÞ yaça×çca meÞ bhaga×çca meÞ dravi×ëaà ca me yaÞntä ca× me
dhaÞrtä ca× meÞ kñemaçca× meÞ dhåti×çca meÞ viçvaà× ca meÞ maha×çca me saàÞvicca× meÞ jïätraà× ca meÞ
süçca× me praÞsüçca× meÞ séraà× ca me laÞyaçca× maåÞtaà ca× meÞ'måtaà× ca me'yaÞkñmaà caÞ
me'nä×mayacca me jéÞvätu×çca me dérghäyuÞtvaà ca× me'namiÞtraà caÞ me'bha×yaà ca me suÞgaà ca×
meÞ çaya×naà ca me süÞñä ca× me suÞdinaà× ca me||
Poornaahuti
Now, we have to prepare a package for poornaahuti (“complete offering”). The normal
procedure is to place a full dry coconut, some metal coins, some turmeric, some sandalwood,
some kumkum, some akshatas, samples of some of the materials used in homam as offerings in a
cloth and tie the cloth.
For a simple homam with a small fire, you may take a dry coconut half and place a few akshatas,
one coin, little sandalwood powder, turmeric powder, kumkum powder and samples of materials
offered earlier in it. If you do a small homam everyday in a western country and need to
minimize the smoke, you may put just a small coconut piece as poornaahuti. If you are doing
homam in a big firepit that is dug in ground, you may want to experiment with a regular full
coconut that has little water. It is a more accurate representation of the ego of a normal person.
Place the poornaahuti on the wooden ladle, say the mantra below and then place the poornaahuti
in fire carefully with hand (if you drop it on a small fire from the wooden ladle, it can extinguish
the fire and also loose materials can spill everywhere in the homa kundam).
om püÞrëähuÞtimu×ttaÞmäà ju×hoti| sarvaàÞ vai pü÷ rëähuÞtiù| sarva×meÞväpno×ti| atho× iÞyaà vai pü÷
rëähuÞtiù| aÞsyämeÞva prati×tiñöhati|
om pürëaÞmadaùÞ pürëaÞmidaàÞ pürëäÞtpürëaÞmudaÞcyate| pürëaÞsya pürëaÞmädäÞya
pürëaÞmevävaçiÞñyate||
om haà hanumate namaù| pürëähutià samarpayämi|
While (or after) placing the poornaahuti in the fire, say the following mantra.
om brahmärpaëaà brahmahavir brahmägnau brahmaëä hutaà| brahmaiva tena gantavyaà
brahma karma samädhinä||
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Imagine that you are completely surrendering yourself to Lord Hanuman. Poornaahuti basically
means “complete surrender”. The full (or half) coconut used in the poornaahuti is a symbol of
one’s head, i.e. ego (“I-ness”), which is to be sacrificed (surrendered) to Lord Hanuman. Think
of Lord Hanuman as a manifestation of the Supreme Cosmic Being who fills the whole universe
and who is the true owner of your body, mind, existence, thoughts, knowledge and actions.
Surrender to Him fully. Without that inner sense of complete surrender, an elaborate poornaahuti
ritual with pristine materials has no meaning. Most Vedic rituals are symbolic of certain inner
changes that you bring about within yourself, to remove obstacles within your sookshma sareera
that are blocking self-knowledge. The purpose of Veda is the knowledge of self (Aatman) and all
rituals are ultimately for that purpose. Doing rituals blindly is a good starting point, but at some
stage, one has to wonder about the inner meaning.
Winding Up and Meditation
The fire god (Agni) has carried all our offerings to various gods. So the final offering is to him.
Read the following and offer a drop of ghee in the fire.
saptaÞ te× agne saÞmidhaù× saÞptajiÞhväù sapta åña×yassaÞptaù dhäma× priÞyäëi×| saÞpta hoträ÷ saptaÞ
dhätvä× yaÞjaÞntiÞsaÞptayonéÞräpå×ëasvä ghåÞteÞnaÞ svähä÷| agnaye saptavata idaà na mama||
Take some water in a spoon and sprinkle it around the homa kumdam as shown in Figure 2. This
is similar to what we did at the beginning, but the mantras to say are slightly different. Instead of
the four mantras used earlier, use the following four mantras when sprinkling water along the
four arrows marked as 1, 2, 3 and 4 in Figure 2:
adiÞte'nva×maàsthäù| anu×maÞte'nva×maàsthäù| sara×svaÞte'nva×maàsthäù| deva× savitaùÞ präsä×véù|
The ritual of homam cleanses one internally. The powerful divine presence in the fire has a great
ability to cleanse one. Especially, a sincerely offered poornaahuti creates a lot of positive energy
as it burns. One can take advantage of it by meditating in front of the fire as the poornaahuti
burns. The time when the poornaahuti burns is the best time to meditate.
Sit still with a straight back in front of the fire and meditate. Make sure that the back is erect and
yet not too tight. Make sure that the neck and head are also erect. Close the eyes, imagine your
favorite deity in a form you like and meditate on that form with your favorite mantra. You can
meditate on Lord Hanuman also. It can be the mantra with which you did homam or any other
mantra of any deity. Try to forget about the your body and what you are doing and get into the
mantra fully. Think that the deity you are imagining is a manifestation of Supreme Cosmic Being
and think that all beings and all objects of this world are expressions of the play of that deity.
Think that that deity is the true Doer of all actions by all beings of this world. Your chances of
losing consciousness of your body and immersing in the mantra fully are the maximum at this
point of time than any other (while the poornaahuti is burning)! Take advantage and meditate for
atleast 5-10 minutes with maximum focus now. Consider this an essential part of the homam.
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Rakshaa
Now, take the darbhas placed at the beginning outside the homa kundam on the western side (or
new darbhas, if you did not place any darbhas along the boundaries due to lack of darbhas),
apply a little ghee to them and place the tips in fire. When they catch fire, remove them from the
fire, place them in a container and let the whole darbhas burn. The black ash you get is called
“rakshaa” (protection). At the end of the homam, you can apply a little rakshaa to the forehead of
the idol and then a little to your own forehead and the foreheads of others. This is believed to
protect from evil forces. You can store the rakshaa for future use on important occasions.
If your fire is too small and does not last till this point, you may consider taking rakshaa before
meditation.
It is not necessary to take raksha. One can skip this step. Alternately, one can skip now and later
mix the ashes of the materials burnt in the homa kundam with ghee and use that as rakshaa.
Udvaasana (good bye)
Take a couple of darbhas in your right hand and a couple more darbhas with your left hand. Take
some flowers or akshatas also if available. Hold the darbhas with the tips facing away from you
and the bases in your hands. Now touch the two sides of the homakundam with the darbhas in
the two hands. Then touch the idol with those darbhas and leave the akshatas and flowers on the
god. Imagine that the energy from the homakundam has been transferred into the idol. To
simplify this, you can also place your fists containing a few akshatas on top of the northern and
southern sides of homa kundam and then deposit the akshatas in those fists at the feet of the idol.
Say the following and show your heart with your hands. Imagine that Sri Mahaganapathi has
exited the fire and came back into your heart.
asmädagneù çrémahägaëapatià yathästhänaà pratiñöhäpayämi|
Say the following and show your heart with your hands. Imagine that Lord Hanuman has exited
the fire and the idol and came back into your heart.
asmänmürteçca agneçca hanumantaà yathästhänaà pratiñöhäpayämi|
Now, we have to say goodbye to the fire god too. Say the following and bow to the fire god.
agneÞ naya× supathä× räÞye aÞsmän viçväni× deva vaÞyunä×ni viÞdvän| yuÞyodhya×smajju×huräÞëamenoÞ
bhüyiñöhäà× teÞ nama× uktià vidhema| agnaye namaù||
Conclusion
Say the following three verses. Think of Krishna and imagine that you are not the doer and
Krishna is the doer who is acting through you. While you do it, place a few akshatas on the tips
27
of the ring and middle fingers of the right hand, place the palm on the small deposit bowl and
wash it such that the water and akshatas are deposited in the deposit bowl.
mantrahénaà kriyähénaà bhaktihénaà hutäçana| yaddhutaà tu mayä deva paripürëaà
tadastu te||
präyaçcittänyaçeñäëi tapaù karmätmakäni vai| yäni teñämaçeñäëäà çré kåñëasmaraëaà
paraà|| çré kåñëa kåñëa kåñëa|
käyena väcä manasendriyairvä buddhyätmanä vä prakåteù svabhävät| karomi yadyat sakalaà
parasmai näräyaëäyeti samarpayämi||
Say the following finally. Imagine that Lord Hanuman became pleased with your homam.
Surrender the doership of the homam to Krishna and pray for peace.
anena divya maìgaøa homena bhagavän sarvätmakaù hanumän préyatäm| om tatsat| sarvam
çré kåñëärpaëamastu| om çäntiù çäntiù çäntiù|
After this, you should not think of yourself as the doer of the homam just finished, for you have
surrendered the doership to Krishna!
The naivedyam (food) you offered can be eaten now and served to others. The rakshaa (holy ash)
can be mixed with a drop of ghee and applied on the forehead as a dot or a line.
If you used a kalasam (water pot) in addition to an idol to invoke the god, you can take a bath
with the water in the kalasam. Pour the water on yourself after you finish your bath, while saying
a mantra of Lord Hanuman. After pouring that water on yourself, don’t pour any more regular
water. The water from kalasam should be the last water you pour on yourself in the bath. In other
words, you should absorb the energy in that water for a while.
It is possible to put a kalasam and use it everyday without changing water. One may change the
water every weekend or on every Ashtami or Ekadasi day and take bath with the old water.
:: Sarvam Sri Krishnarapanamastu :: :: Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ::
Appendix A: Super-short Homam (minimum mantras)
For those who are uncomfortable with Sanskrita and yet want to perform homam, the procedure
given in this document may still be difficult. For such people, I can recommend a much shorter
procedure. It is hoped that those who start with this super-short homam will eventually make an
effort to switch to the main procedure given in this document, after they get some practice and
become comfortable with mantras in Sanskrita.
Mantras offered to a deity in fire are powerful irrespective of the procedure used. Instead of not
doing homam at all, it is better to do this super-short homam.
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This appendix will describe a super-short procedure very briefly. If some details are unclear,
please contextualize them by reading the rest of the document. The sanskrita mantras are
minimized in this super-short procedure.
Preliminary Procedure
Think in your mind of Mother Earth, Lord Ganesha, Lord Hanuman, your parents, rishis of your
lineage (if you know them), all rishis and all gods. You can use a language that you are
comfortable with (e.g. English or Hindi or Russian) and say something in an intuitive way to
remember all of them.
Take a tumbler or glass of water. Take three spoonfuls of water from the tumbler and drink them
while saying: “This is for Keshava (keçava)”, “This is for Naaraayana (näräyaëa)” and “This is
for Maadhava (mädhava)”.
With akshatas in hand, pray to Ganesha: “O Ganesha (gaëeça)! Please remove obstacles from my
homam”. Do praanaayaama (see the section on it in the main document), possibly with the Om
sound or a mantra given earlier.
Now take a vow: “I shall now perform a homam to the best of my ability, for the pleasure of
Hanuman(hanumän).”
Leave the akshatas in front of the idol or homa kundam.
Early Offerings
Light a lamp. Put some akshatas in the water tumbler and say “vam (vaà)” 11 times. Take the
water with the spoon and sprinkle it on yourself, on the homa kundam, on the idol and on the
food, fruits and flowers.
Homa kundam should be on your east and you should be facing east. Draw two red parallel eastwest
lines with kumkum (vermilion) connecting the middle of the western edge of homa kundam
with your seat and place the container with melted ghee on those lines.
Take a small camphor piece, light it in the lamp and place the burning camphor piece in homa
kundam while saying the following.
om bhürbhuvassuvarom|
O Fire god, please co-operate with me and make my offerings reach gods in a state of purity.
Place dry coconut pieces or wood above it and make sure that they catch fire. Now offer five
drops of ghee while saying the following:
om prajäpataye svähä÷|
om indräya svähä÷|
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om agnaye svähä÷|
om somäya svähä÷|
This is for forgiveness of my mistakes so far.
om bhürbhuvassuvaù svähä|
Qucik Worship of Ganesha in Fire
Say “O Ganesha (gaëeça), please come into this fire”. Say the following while showing the fire
with folded palms (as though you are telling someone “come here”):
ävähito bhava| sthäpito bhava|
Put some akshatas in the fire and say “O Ganesha (gaëeça), please be pleased with these services
from me”. Now repeat the following mantra of Ganesha 4 times with an offering of ghee or
something else.
om gaà gaëapataye namaù| svähä|
Main Homam of Hanuman
Say “O Hanuman(hanumän), please come into this fire”. Say the following while showing the
fire with folded palms (as though you are telling someone “come here”):
ävähito bhava| sthäpito bhava|
Put some akshatas in the fire and say “O Hanuman(hanumän), please be pleased with these
services from me”.
Now repeat the mantras of Lord Hanuman that you know 4 or 8 or 11 or 12 or 16 or 21 or 28 or
108 or 121 or 1008 times. At a minimum, do the following simple mantra as many times as you
can.
om haà hanumate namaù | svähä|
Each time you say this, offer ghee or akshatas or sesame seeds or some other materials described
earlier in this document in the fire. If you do the above mantra many times and not do any other
mantras, it is acceptable.
At the end of the offerings, take some food you cooked (or fruit), show it to the fire and say “O
Hanuman(hanumän), please accept this” and throw a small bit into fire. Then stand up and go
around the homa kundam once or 3 times. If someone looks at you from the roof or from the sky,
30
it should look like you are going around the homa kundam in clockwise direction. At the end,
you can bow in front of the fire. Finally sit down in front of the fire in your original place.
Final Offerings
Say the following lines and offer a drop of ghee in the fire after each line:
om bhüù svähä|
om bhuvaù svähä|
om suvaù svähä|
om bhürbhuvassuvaù svähä|
om viñëave svähä|
om rudräya svähä|
At the end, sprinkle a little water on your right hand.
If it is possible, now offer six chunks of cooked white rice or fruit slices in the six places shown
in Figure 3, while saying “these are for the associates of Hanuman(hanumän)”. Otherwise, you
may skip this step.
Poornaahuti
While saying “Om”, pour a stream of ghee from the spoon into the fire. When the fire becomes
big, you can offer poornaahuti.
Please read the section on poornaahuti in the main document for the description of materials
needed, meaning of poornaahuti and the spirit to be followed. Instead of the mantras in the main
document, just say the following:
om haà hanumate namaù| pürëähutià samarpayämi|
Then drop the full coconut or half coconut or coconut piece in fire. Offer one more drop of ghee
while saying:
om agnaye saptavate svähä|
Now, meditate with any mantra you like for 5-10 minutes as the poornaahuti burns. For some
useful tips, please refer to the main document.
At the end of the meditation, show your heart with your hands and say “O Ganesha (gaëeça) and
O Hanuman(hanumän), please come back into my heart”. Also, thank the fire god mentally for
his co-operation in the ritual. Then say:
sarvam çré kåñëärpaëamastu| om çäntiù çäntiù çäntiù|
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If you minimize the entire procedure and spend maximum time chanting a mantra of Lord
Hanuman with offerings into fire and then meditating as the poornaahuti burns, you will get the
most out of your homam and not lose much! After some practice, you can compare this supershort
procedure with the procedure given in the main document and keep adding mantras from
the main procedure and eventually switch to the main procedure. But even this super-short
procedure, when performed sincerely, can give good results.
Appendix B: Shodasopachaara Pooja
[If you want to perform a shodasopachaara pooja (a worship consisting of 16 services) to Lord
Hanuman who is in fire and the idol, instead of the panchopachaara pooja mentioned in this
document, please use the procedure in this appendix instead. This will take more time.]
Say the line below and think in the mind that you are offering a nice seat to Lord Hanuman to sit
on. While imagining that, just offer a few akshatas to the idol and the fire.
om haà hanumate namaù| äsanaà samarpayämi|
Now, say the line below imagine that you are washing his feet. While imagining that, show a
little water with the spoon to the fire and leave the water in a small empty bowl (we will call it
“the deposit bowl” from now onwards).
om haà hanumate namaù| pädayoù pädyaà samarpayämi|
Say the line below, imagine that you are washing the hands of Lord Hanuman, show a little
water in the spoon to the fire and leave it in the deposit bowl.
om haà hanumate namaù| hastayoù arghyaà samarpayämi|
Say the line below, imagine that you are offering drinking water to Lord Hanuman’s mouth,
show a little water in the spoon to the fire and leave it in the deposit bowl.
om haà hanumate namaù| mukhe çuddhäcamanéyaà samarpayämi|
Say the first sentence below, imagine that you are giving a bath to Lord Hanuman, show a little
water in the spoon to the fire and leave it in the deposit bowl. Say the second sentence below,
imagine that you are giving drinking water to Lord Hanuman’s mouth after bath, show a little
water in the spoon to the fire and leave it in the deposit bowl.
om haà hanumate namaù| snapayämi| snänänantaram äcamanéyaà samarpayämi|
Say the line below, imagine that you are offering a pair of nice clothes (one in the top and one in
the bottom, i.e. like a shirt and a pant) and offer a few akshatas to the idol and the fire.
32
om haà hanumate namaù| vasträëi dhärayämi|
Say the line below, imagine that you are offering a yajnopaveetam (sacred thread) and offer a
few akshatas to the idol and the fire.
om haà hanumate namaù| yajïopavétaà samarpayämi|
Say the line below, imagine that you are offering nice jewelry and offer a few akshatas to the
idol and the fire.
om haà hanumate namaù| äbharaëäni samarpayämi|
Say the line below and offer a little bit of sandalwood paste, turmeric powder, kumkum powder
and akshatas to the idol and the fire. If you don’t have all these, just sprinkle a few akshatas on
the idol and the fire.
om haà hanumate namaù| gandhän dhärayämi| haridrä kuìkumaà samarpayämi| akñatän
samarpayämi|
Keep sprinkling a few flowers or flower petals or akshatas on the idol and the fire while reading
the following 16 names of Lord Hanuman. Make sure you put very little amount of materials in
the fire, so that you don’t extinguish it accidentally. Offer most things to the idol instead. Just
offer a token amount in the fire.
om haà hanumate namaù| puñpäëi samarpayämi|
Say the following line and show the incense stick lighted before to the fire and the idol.
om haà hanumate namaù| dhüpam äghräpayämi|
Say the following line and show the lamp lighted before to the fire and the idol. Then show a
little water in the spoon to the fire and idol and leave it in the deposit bowl.
om haà hanumate namaù| dépaà darçayämi| äcamanéyaà samarpayämi|
Say the first sentence below, show one of the two food items you prepared (or fruits) to god and
imagine that he tasted it. If you know the standard procedure of offering naivedyam with the
Gayatri mantra, you can do it. Else, don’t worry and just say the line below. When saying the
second line, imagine that you are offering a nice taamboolam (paan) to Lord Hanuman and offer
some akshatas in their place to the idol and the fire.
om haà hanumate namaù| naivedyaà samarpayämi| tämbülaà samarpayämi|
33
Place a little camphor on a camphor container or a plate, light it and make a clockwise vertical
circle in the air with the plate in front of the fire. Say the line below while you do it.
om haà hanumate namaù| karpüranéräjanaà samarpayämi|
Take a small flower (or some akshatas) in your right hand, say the following and offer the flower
to the idol (and perhaps a couple of petals into the fire). If you know “Narayana Sooktam” and/or
Mantrapushpam (and if you have time), read them first and then say the line below. Otherwise,
just this line will do. Imagine that you are offering a flower that captures the essence of all
mantras.
om haà hanumate namaù| mantrapuñpaà samarpayämi|
Say the following and bow before Lord Hanuman mentally. Of course, you can also get up, go
around the homa kundam once or thrice and bow down (or kneel down or lie down) in front of
the fire, if you are not in a hurry. If someone looks at you from the roof or sky, it should look
like you are going around the fire in clockwise directions.
om haà hanumate namaù| pradakñiëa namaskärän samarpayämi|
While you do all this, make sure that the fire gets going. Keep placing more dry coconut pieces if
necessary to keep the fire going. It may be tricky the first few times, but you will get used to it.
When necessary, you can sprinkle a little camphor powder in the fire to make it bigger.
Appendix C: Practical Tips and Hints
Here are some hints related to practical aspects of homam:
(1) In the beginning, there may be problems with maintaining the fire. New dry coconut pieces
(or wood pieces) have to be put in the fire while old pieces are still burning, in order to keep the
fire going. One’s ability to estimate how long a dry coconut piece can sustain fire will improve
with time.
(2) If the fire completely goes away, sprinkling some camphor powder on the hot pieces can
bring the fire back. That fire can be sustained by placing new pieces.
(3) If only a small amount of akshatas are offered during pooja (one or two akshatas each time)
and placed on a coconut piece, they will eventually burn.
(4) When offering a flower, if only a petal is placed on a coconut piece and the rest of the flower
is placed near the idol, it has a better chance of burning fully in the fire without creating
problems to the fire. Of course, in a homam performed with a big fire, full flowers burn easily.
(5) If small amounts are offered, it works better (when the fire is also small).
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(6) If merely a drop of ghee is offered each time, less smoke is generated.
(7) Wood generates smoke. But dry coconut generates very little smoke. It generates smokes
mainly at the end when the fire goes away. If the homa kundam is close to a window and the
window is opened at the end, that may be sufficient to drive the little smoke out.
(8) Apart from mantras of Lord Hanuman, mantras of other deities can be offered in the fire
while imagining them and Lord Hanuman to be different manifestations of the same Cosmic
Being.
(9) It is a very good idea to keep the body as still as possible, with minimal movement of only
those body parts that must move (e.g. arm and mouth). It will maximize the positive spiritual
benefit from homam.
(10) It is a good idea to keep atleast two coconut pieces burning all the time. Even if the fire in
one becomes weak, the other piece can help re-ignite it.
(11) If one puts a lot of oil or ghee in a pan and heats it, it generates smoke as the ghee burns. If
one puts too little oil in a pan and tries to fry vegetables, they burn and generate smoke. If one
puts the right balance of oil and vegetables, they get cooked properly and there is no smoke.
Similarly, if one puts the right balance of ghee and solid materials, they burn without smoke.
There will be some smoke only at the end, when the fire goes off. Wood, on the other hand, is
different from dry coconut and generates more smoke.
Appendix D: Hanuman Chalisa
çré gurucaraëa sarojaraja nijamana mukura sudhäri |
varaëau raghuvara vimala yaça jo däyaka phala cäri || svähä÷|
buddhihéna tanu jänikai sumirau pavana kumära |
bala buddhividyä dehu mohi harahu kaleça vikära || svähä÷|
jaya hanumäna jïäna guëasägara | jaya kapéça tihuloka ujägara || svähä÷|
rämadüta atulita baladhämä | aïjani putra pavanasuta nämä || svähä÷|
mahävéra vikrama bhajaraìgé | kumatinivära sumatike saìgé || svähä÷|
kaïcana varaëa viräja suveçä | känana kuëòala kuïcita keçä || svähä÷|
hätha vajra aura dhvajäviräjai | känthe müïja janevü säjai || svähä÷|
çaìkara suvana kesaré nandana | teja pratäpa mahäjaga vandana || svähä÷|
vidyäväna guëé ati cätura | rämakäja kariveko ätura || svähä÷|
prabhu caritra suniveko rasiyä | räma lakhana sétä mana basiyä || svähä÷|
sükñmarüpa dhari siyahi dikhävä | vikaöarüpa dhari laìka jarävä || svähä÷|
bhéma rüpa dhari asura saàhäre | rämacandrake käja saàväre || svähä÷|
läya sajévana lakhana jiyäye | çré raghuvéra harañi uraläye || svähä÷|
raghupati kénhébahuta baòhäyé | kahä bharata samatuma priyabhäyé || svähä÷|
35
sahasra vadana tumharo yaçagävaià | asakahi çrépati kaëöha lagävai || svähä÷|
sanakädika brahmädi munéçä | närada çärada sahita ahéçä || svähä÷|
yama kubera digapäla jahänte | kavi kovida kahi sakaikahäte || svähä÷|
tuma upakära sugrévahiìkénhä | räma miläya räjapada dénhä || svähä÷|
tumharo mantra vibhéñaëa mänä | laìkeçvara bhaye saba jagajänä || svähä÷|
yuga sahasra yojana parabhänü | lélyo tähi madhura phalajänü || svähä÷|
prabhumudrikä melimukha mähéà | jaladhiläìghigaye acaraja nähéà || svähä÷|
durgama käja jagatike jete | sugama anugraha tumhare tete || svähä÷|
räma duväre tuma rakhaväre | hotana äjïä binu paiöhäre || svähä÷|
saba sukha lahai tumharé çaraëä | tuma rakñaka kähuko òaranä || svähä÷|
äpana teja samhäro äpai | ténoàlokahäìkate kämpai || svähä÷|
bhüta piçäca nikaöa nahimävai | mahävéra jaba näma sunävai || svähä÷|
näçai rogaharai sabapérä | japata nirantara hanumata vérä || svähä÷|
saìkaöa seà hanumäna chuòävai | manakrama vacana dhyäna jo lävai|| svähä÷|
saba para räma tapasvé räjä | tinake käja sakala tuma säjä || svähä÷|
aura manoratha jo koyé lävai | täsu amita jévana phalapävai || svähä÷|
cäroàyuga paratäpa tumhärä | hai parasiddha jagata ujiyärä || svähä÷|
sädhu santake tuma rakhaväre | asura nikandana räma duläre || svähä÷|
añöasiddhi nava nidhi ke dätä | asavara dénha jänaké mätä || svähä÷|
räma rasäyana tumhare päsä | sadä raho raghupatike däsä || svähä÷|
tumharo bhajana rämako pävai | janmajanmake duùkha bisarävai || svähä÷|
antakäla raghupatipura jäyé | jahäà janmaharibhakta kahäyé || svähä÷|
aura devatä cittana dharayé | hanumata seyi sarvasukha karayé || svähä÷|
saìkaöa haöaimiöai saba pérä | jo sumirai hanumata balavérä || svähä÷|
jaijaijai hanumän gosäyéà | kåpäkaro gurudevaké näyé || svähä÷|
yaha çatavära päöhakara koyé | chüöahi bandi mahäsukha hoyé || svähä÷|
jo yahapaòhai hanumän cälésä | hoyasiddhi säkhé gaurésä || svähä÷|
tulasédäsa sadä hari cerä | kéjai nätha hådaya mahaòerä || svähä÷|
Appendix E: Bheemarupi Hanuman Stotra
bhémarüpé mahärudrä vajra hanumäna märuté |
vanäri anjanésütä rämadütä prabhaïjanä || svähä÷|
mahäbaøé präëadätä sakaøäm uöhavé baøeà |
saukhyakäré duùkhahäré dhürta vaiñëava gäyakä || svähä÷|
dénänäthä harérüpä sundarä jagadäntarä |
pätäladevatähantä bhavyasindüralepanä || svähä÷|
lokanäthä jagannäthä präëanäthä purätanä |
puëyavantä puëyaçélä pävanä paritoñakä || svähä÷|
dhvajäìgem ucalé bäho äveçeà loöalä puòheà |
36
käøägni käøarudrägni dekhatäà kämpaté bhayeà || svähä÷|
brahmäëòeà mäiléà neëom äàvaøe dantapaìgaté |
neträgni cälilyä jväøä bhrakuöé taöhilyä baøeà || svähä÷|
puccha teà muraòileà mäthäà kiréöé kuëòaleà baréà |
suvarëakaöikäàsoöé ghaëöä kiìkiëi nägarä || svähä÷|
öhakäre parvatäaisä neöakä saòapätaøü |
capaøäìga pähatäà moöheà mahävidyullateparé || svähä÷|
koöicyä koöi uòòaëeà jhepäve uttarekaòe |
mandädrésärikhä droëü krodhem utpäöilä baøeà || svähä÷|
äëilä mäguté nelä älä gelä manogaté |
manäsé öäkileà mägeà gatésé tüøaëä nase || svähä÷|
aëüpäsoni brahmäëòäyevaòhä hota jätase |
tayäsé tuøaëä koöheà merumändära dhäkuöeà || svähä÷|
brahmäëòäbhoàvate veòhe vajrapuccheà karüà çake |
tayäsé tuøaëä kaiïcé brahmäëòéà pähatäà nase || svähä÷|
ärakta dekhileà òoøäà gräsileà süryamaëòaøä |
väòhatäà väòhatäà väòhe bhedileà çünyamaëòaøä || svähä÷|
dhanadhänya paçuvåddhi putrapautra samagrahé |
pävaté rüpavidyädi stotrapäöheà karüniyäà || svähä÷|
bhütapretasamandhädi rogavyädhi samastahé |
näsaté tüöaté cintä änande bhémadarçaneà || svähä÷|
he dharä pandharäçloké läbhalé çobhalé bhalé |
dåòhadeho niùsandeho saìkhyä candrakaläguëeà || svähä÷|
rämadäsém agragaëyü kapikuøäsi maëòaëü |
rämarüpé antarätmä darçane doña näsaté || svähä÷|