Aupasana

[krsganesh0819]

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It would much help if someone can tell me how does one go about learning the Nitya Aupasana procedure and how to go about doing it...
Thanks

 

[nannilam_balasubramanian]

Normally, Aupasana starts on two occasions. On the Avani Avittam
day, a bachelor is permitted to perform aupasana. For a person, at
the time of wedding, Aupasana plays an important role. That is why,
these days, Sastrigals do not permit the visitors to hand shake with
the newly wedded couple, until the Aupasana is complete.
Hence, from that day onwards, a person is permitted to do Aupasana
until he turns into a Sanyasi or untill his/her demise. The sacred fire is
the Witness to the wedding and it is clearly explained in Vedic
rules too. However, you may like to read the following for further
clarifications.

Aupasana and Women from the Chapter "Grhasthasrama", in Hindu Dharma : kamakoti.org:


P.S. Bachelors do Samithadaanam (Replace it for Aupasana)
Balasubramanian

 

[sangom]

Normally, Aupasana starts on two occasions. On the Avani Avittam
day, a bachelor is permitted to perform aupasana. For a person, at
the time of wedding, Aupasana plays an important role. That is why,
these days, Sastrigals do not permit the visitors to hand shake with
the newly wedded couple, until the Aupasana is complete.
Hence, from that day onwards, a person is permitted to do Aupasana
until he turns into a Sanyasi or untill his/her demise. The sacred fire is
the Witness to the wedding and it is clearly explained in Vedic
rules too. However, you may like to read the following for further
clarifications.

Aupasana and Women from the Chapter "Grhasthasrama", in Hindu Dharma : kamakoti.org:

Balasubramanian

I don't know whether brahmachari can do aupasanam.

 

[krsganesh0819]

Mr.Bala, thanks for your response. I have read the same above as well in those sites quoted...i am more interested to knowing the actual procedure, which i hear is to be learnt over the course of a month or 2 , with a vadhyar's help.
I'm one of the person affected by this trend of vadhyars going too commercial...He didn't even come regularly to teach sandhyavandhanam, leave alone aupasanam

 

[Mohaar02]

Dear Bala sir,

Thanks for that beautiful and informative reference. I beg your pardon to differ on few thoughts. If i was wrong please do correct me.

Normally, Aupasana starts on two occasions. On the Avani Avittam
day, a bachelor is permitted to perform aupasana. - I think you are referring to Samitha Dhanam . My readings says " Not only on a Avani avittam , samithadhanam for bachelors is one of the daily duties like sandhiyavandhanam.

Mr Ganesh - I Think I can do a little help on this. Lets please meet over a phone call and discuss. you can send me a PM with your details.

Thanks,
Arun M

 

[nannilam_balasubramanian]

No doubt, these days Vadhyars have become commercial. To get an
appointment from him, one has to speak to him in person and remind
him prior to the date of the function, if any.

Balasubramanian

 

[sangom]

Normally, Aupasana starts on two occasions. On the Avani Avittam
day, a bachelor is permitted to perform aupasana. For a person, at
the time of wedding, Aupasana plays an important role. That is why,
these days, Sastrigals do not permit the visitors to hand shake with
the newly wedded couple, until the Aupasana is complete.
Hence, from that day onwards, a person is permitted to do Aupasana
until he turns into a Sanyasi or untill his/her demise. The sacred fire is
the Witness to the wedding and it is clearly explained in Vedic
rules too. However, you may like to read the following for further
clarifications.

Aupasana and Women from the Chapter "Grhasthasrama", in Hindu Dharma : kamakoti.org:

Balasubramanian

S/Shri krsganesh, balasubramanian,

Firstly the statement "On the Avani Avittam day, a bachelor is permitted to perform aupasana." itself is patently wrong. A brahmachari is required to perform "samidaadhaanam" daily, in the morning and evening after sandhyaavandanam. This has to be continued religiously till the date of his marriage in the vedic way when the "aupasanam" starts in the place of the samidaadhaanam. We have forgotten all these lessons (as is clear from Balasubramanian's reply) and many brahmacharis today do not perform samidaadhaanam even on Avani Avittam day morning, which was the general practice till some years ago.

I don't know if Shri Ganesh is married, but my hunch is that he is not, since he mentions learning sandhyaavandanam. Both sandhyaa and samidaadhaanam can be learned, with some effort, from internet resources themselves. The fire for samidaadhaanam is usually kindled afresh every time, unlike the 'aupaasanaagni' which has to be preserved till the death of either husband or wife.

Having said all that, "fire" was a difficult thing to produce even as late as the 18th. century (in our Travancore countryside even as late as the 1940's 'fire' used to be preserved in the kitchen by using the dried wick-like parts of the அயனி or Artocarpus hirsutus Lam, and the kerosene lamps used to be lighted not with match sticks, but from the kitchen fire. I think there was hardships in the availability of safety matches. Fire used to be "taken" from rich households by the poor in the mornings because they did not have the wherewithal, in their simple thatched huts, to keep the fire overnight.

In the more ancient days, possibly brahmins were the fire-keepers and gave such 'fire-supply' to the poor and the needy and that was the reason for keeping three fires (gaarhapatya - for home requirements, aahavaneeya - that which could be called to some other place, and dakshiNaagni - for cremation purposes of the concerned couple only. Hence, the significance of samidaadhaanam today is very insignificant and there is no harm in discontinuing it, I think.

 

[Nacchinarkiniyan]

According to

Aupasana and Women from the Chapter "Grhasthasrama", in Hindu Dharma : kamakoti.org:

Paramacharya said

I said [in an earlier talk ] that members of all castes must perform aupasana. The husband and the wife must do it together. Even when the husband is away the wife must perform it by offering unbroken rice grains in the sacrificial fire. The Vedas themselves have given women such a right.

Aupasana is the only Vedic right that a woman is entitled to perform on her own. Of course, there are so many pauranic vratas and pujas that she can perform according to the sastras, but these belong to a different category. Besides, she has naturally a share in all the works of her husband. Apart from caring for the household, she does not have to perform any rite (other than aupasana). Even if she does, it will not yield any fruit, for such is the rule according to the Vedic dharmasastras.

The fact is that leaving alone the women the tamil Brahmin men have given up the practice of aupasana. I had pointed this out in this forum earlier. No reason has been given for giving up the practice.

Though Paramachrya asked the Women also to perform Aupasana, the Vadhyar community and the Brahmin society in general refuses to accept that.

I know this from personal experience.

Aupasana is not rocket science. It is a simple homam. Any one can learn it in a matter of days.

 

[tbs]

hi
welcome nacchi sir....

 

[nannilam_balasubramanian]

By oversight in place of Samithadanam, I mentioned as Aupasanam in
respect of Bachelors.

 

[nannilam_balasubramanian]

Sandhyavandanam is an easy task one can do. There are many
books. A self tutor is available in Giri Traders and if you go through
you can easily learn without any assistance.

In fact books are available for Srartham too. One can read it in advance
so that, when Vaadhyaar tells, one need not have to utter a wrong
pronounciation due to mishearing or due to his low voice. But when one
buys, one has to be sure about the Sudras viz. Aapasthambam, Bodayanam
for Yajur, Aasvalaayana, Kaadhyaayana for Rig, Thraahyaaayanee and Ranaayani
for Sama.

Balasubramanian


Balasubramanian

 

[krsganesh0819]

Mr. Sangom, i have read a lot of your posts and feel privileged that you responded along with so many other respected people...
I should have mentioned i am married and perform sandhyavandhanam. But interested to know how aupasanam can be done. I see many have responded on who to do and when, but is it too much to ask (as a simple question in the forum) for a reference for how to do Aupasanam? Meaning, is there a link or a book i can buy to learn that..Much appreciate all your patience..

 

[krsganesh0819]

Mr.Arun, I live in the US..are you as well?
If you'd like for me to call, i can do as well.
Thanks

 

[B V RAAGHAVAN]

Dear Ganesh,
It is very heartening to note that you want to start aupasanam as your daily ritual. Yes, after marriage, with the agni started at the marriage, in whose presence (as sakshi) you performed your marriage should be brought to the house and from the next day onwards, the aupasanam is to be started. Nowadays, the three day wedding method is a history. If anybody could not start the aupasanms immediately after the marriage, he can start the aupasanam anyday after that but with some prayaschithams. Nowadays we live in apartments and in many apartments there may not be any place for the ladies to stay during their cycle days, which is very important to be observed. In many houses ladies never stay out during the days and even started cooking after simply taking a bath (without offence to anybody-please excuse me). Aupasanam should be strictly under very serene environment. I think it is proper that these days the aupasanam has been discontinued. What our other fellow members are thinking about this?
Anbudan
Adiyen

 

[krsganesh0819]

Dear Mr.Raghavan, your explanation certainly is 100% true and something i believe. If you do something, do it piously. or don't spoil the sanctity . However, i am still interested to know the process, and if someone has a link where i can refer. I find it hard to believe i can't find that information on the net, when almost everything about the Vedas is there...
Thank you
Ganesh

 

[sangom]

Mr. Sangom, i have read a lot of your posts and feel privileged that you responded along with so many other respected people...
I should have mentioned i am married and perform sandhyavandhanam. But interested to know how aupasanam can be done. I see many have responded on who to do and when, but is it too much to ask (as a simple question in the forum) for a reference for how to do Aupasanam? Meaning, is there a link or a book i can buy to learn that..Much appreciate all your patience..

My dear ganesh,

The aupaasanaagni has to be started afresh through the āraṇi (ஆரணி) in which two stones are rubbed to create fire by friction and from those sparks, a steady fire is first grown. Our present day hoodwinking processes like matchsticks, first burning camphor and then lighting the homa fire therefrom, etc., are considered by the orthodox people as fooling ourselves and inviting long-standing "agni Saapam" (அக்னி சாபம்) which will bring untold sufferings to the family line. In olden days the embers from the kitchen fire (அடுப்பு) were considered as equally pure as ஆரணி-made fire because a tabra household always kept some fire in the kitchen for next day's use and no அசுத்தம் was allowed to pollute the kitchen.

But the tabra living conditions have degraded considerably now (even though some of our members seem to believe as if they are living like the torch-bearers of brahmin purity and all that). The most important impurity is from a woman in her menses; she should not come inside the very room in which this aupaasana fire is maintained. Similarly, no non-brahmin who is untouchable should enter the room. Even the adhikaaris (i.e., the husband and wife maintaining the aupaasana fire) should enter the said room both in the morning and evening after taking body & head bath and wearing ritually pure (மடி) clothes and handle the fire or the pot (ஔபாசன பானை) only for the purpose of aupaasanam.

The procedure of the aupāsana is rather simple but is not available in any of the common books today; what we get is the procedure for निर्विघ्नौपासनाग्निसन्धानम् (nirvighnaupāsanāgnisandhānam)—which means lighting a homa fire as though it is done from an uninterrupted aupāsana fire (another make-believe and self-cheating!). This is not real aupāsana procedure.

Last but not least, crossing the sea makes one unfit for keeping aupāsana as per our orthodox beliefs.

Hence, the first thing you will have to do - for commencing aupāsana - is to return to Indian shores, perform the praayaschittham for having crossed the oceans and then not to go abroad in future. Please consider whether you are prepared for all such sacrifices for the sake of complying with just one out of the many more daily rituals which are required to be done by a brahmin when our caste (tabras) itself has discarded this aupāsana practice some hundred years ago.

In case you decide to stick to aupāsana at any cost, any good vaadhyaar will be able to teach you the procedure and the mantras and you will be able to pick up by rote in just a few days. Since this regular aupāsana seems to have been given up even from the time of my great grandfather's time, I am unable to give you the procedure or the mantras. Kindly excuse me.

 

[B V RAAGHAVAN]

Dear Sirs,

Instead of doing aupasanam with all the regulations, we can go in for daily brahmayagnam which can be performed alongwith the sandy in the afternoon. This has to be performed after 8.45 AM in the morning but before the noon and after performing madhyanigam. Doing brahmayagnam is equally good.

Anbudan
Adiyen