My dear Brahmachaaris and fellow-gruhasthaas
Om namo ganesha shaaradaa gurubhyo namaha
Om shree maathre namaha
Om namah shivaaya
Om namo bhagavathe vaasudevaaya
Sarvebhyo braahmanebhyo namo namaha
Please let me share with you one or two tips learned from my grandfather, father, brother, and other elders re practice of sandhya-vandanam. Feel free to reject part or all of this, or to modify as you deem fit.
(1) Make time. Don't let worldly needs squeeze out your time for spiritual needs. You have 24 hours per day. Put them to maximum beneficial use.
(2) Gruhasthaas I know, and I myself, find we need about 25 minutes for praatha sandhyaa, about 16 minutes for maadhyaahnikam, and about 20 minutes for saayam sandhyaa. Samidaa-daanam and aupaasanam will take about 15 minutes each. We discovered that getting up two hours before sunrise each day helps tremendously. This has become a habit now.
(3) If time is pressing on work-days and on school-days, postpone samidaa-daanam and aupaasanam to Sundays and public holidays.
(4) If you are rusty in your nithya krarmas, consult your practising male relatives, family vaadhyar ,or any elder willing to listen and to teach you with sympathy and patience.
(5) Counting up to 108, 32, 64 is relatively easy. You have two hands. That means two thumbs and eight fingers. Stretch your open palms in front of you.
(6) Place the tip of your right thumb at the middle joint of your ring finger , i.e. just above where you would wear a ring or a darbha pavithram. Say "One." Move the tip of your thumb lower -- to the lowest joint, touching your ring/pavithram. Say :Two".
(7) Move left sideways to the base of your little finger. Say "Three". Move up to the middle joint. Say "Four.". Move up to the top joint. Say "Five". Move right, to the top joint of your ring finger. Say "Six".
You are well on your way now. A few more steps to reach "Ten".
(8) Move right to the top joint of your middle finger. Say "Seven". Move right to the top joint of your index finger ("all-kaatti viral" in Tamil). Say "Eight". Move down to the middle joint. Say "Nine". Move down to the lowest joint. Say "Ten."
Easy, wasn't it? And fun? Pause a while to take a deep breath, then work methodically backwards to the starting point to reach "Twenty". This is how it goes.
(9) Stay with the tip of your right thumb at the base of your index finger, and say "Eleven". Move up to the middle joint and say "Twelve". Move up to the top joint and say "Thirteen". Move left to the top of your middle finger and say "Fourteen".
You probably would already have got the gist by now. But please continue.
(10) Move left to the top joint of your ring finger and say "Fifteen". Move left to the top joint of your little finger and say "Sixteen". Move down to the middle joint and say "Seventeen". Move down to the bottom joint and say "Eighteen".
(11) Move right to the bottom joint of your ring finger and say "Nineteen". Move up to your starting point and say "Twenty".
You have now done one round, albeit with some difficulty at first. Congrats! Now count "One" by touching the top of your LEFT thumb to the middle joint of your LEFT ring finger. This means you have already done one round of 20 chants.
So, please proceed to the next round of 20 chants, using the right hand. When done, move the tip of your left thumb down to touch the bottom of your LEFTHAND ring finger to indicate "Two" rounds are done. Carry on till all five rounds are done, indicating completion of chanting 100 gaayathris. Use your right hand to count chanting of another eight gaayathris. You would have performed chanting 108 as required for praatha sandhyaa-vandanam.
Take time to get acquainted with and to practise this new form of counting up to 20 with each hand, i.e. up to 400 in all using both hands. Comes in useful when chanting 1008 gaayathris on the day after upaakaarma (aavani avittam).
(12) I found that performkng both praatha-sandhya and maadhyaahnikam one after the other in the morning left me with time for other worldly needs, as I did not have to interrupt my work/studies to perform maadhyaahnikam.
(13) Unless your family observes "madi", it will be adequate if you wore the same veshti-uttareeyam set for both moning and evening sandhyaas. You need to bathe before both sandhyaas, though.
(14) Keep your chombu, panchapaathra-uddarani, thaambaalam, veshti-uththareeyam, pavithram, darbha, vibhoothi/thirumann, chandanam, kumkumam, spare poonools, palaka, all in a regular place, so you need not rush about to find them when needed.
Om namah savithre, jagatheeka chakshushe......virincha-naaraayana-shankaraathmane. Kaayenavaacha.... shreeman naaraayanaayethi samarppayaami.
Namaskaarams
S Narayanswamy Iyer
