Ashaucham & Nitya karma

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Srimathe Lakshmi Nrusimha Parabhrahmane Namaha

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

Srimathe Nigamantha MahaDesikaya Namaha

Srimathe SrivaN Sadagopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra MahaDesikaya Namaha

Srimathe SrivaN Sadagopa Sri Narayana Yatindra MahaDesikaya Namaha

------------------------------

Sriman Narayana,

 

Dear Bhagavadotthamas,

 

adiyen in the month of Oct'98 had raised the following question (the entire

question is reproduced for quick reference) :

--

adiyen have a doubt on nitya karma (like sandhya vandanam,

ijya etc.) that we are supposed to be performing daily. What

should be the status when one is on vriddhi Ashaucham (the

stage when one is unholy due to the birth of a child to him or

to his near relatives) or kshaya Ashaucham (the stage when

one is unholy due to the death of a near relative)? adiyen

understand the sandya vandanam can never be ignored

even under such circumstances though the karta (person)

can only do the least japa (austerity) i.e. 10 times gAyatri.

But the problem is on other mantrAs like rahasya trayam.

Can this also be performed?

 

Will it make any difference in the light of having different

sampradyas having different ways. The Sri Sannidhi sishya

(ahObila Mutt) are supposed to be doing ashtAkshara

Japam before the gAyatri UpastAnam but immediately

after the gAyatri Japam. This means is a part

of sandhya vandanam whereas the rest are doing after

the sandya vandanam. What is the view on Bhagavad

Aradhanam on such a situation? adiyen recall in good old

days one does not cook in that house but the relatives/friends

(those are not under Ashaucham) bring the food and feed

such people. What is the view expressed by sAstras with

regards to the mUrthys (sAligramam) at home? How will

the mUrthys at home be offered naivedyam?

-

adiyen went to India on vacation and had a chance of viewing a book

published by Sri Nrusimha Priya Trust on dharma sAstra - questions & answers

by Sri U.Ve. MelpAkkam Narasimhachar swamy. adiyen also have consulted some

elders on this. Though the above questions were not answered directly adiyen

could arrive some possible solutions and would seek approval of these from

the bhAgavatAs in this list. Also,

there could be few bhAgavatAs who had these doubts like adiyen and would

benefit from these discussions.

 

1. CAN THE RAHASYA TRAYA JAPAM BE PERFORMED?

adiyen feel only gAyatri japam could be recited during this period as there

cannot be discontinuity. However, Thiru AshtAkshara japam in case of ahObila

mutt is part of sandhya vandanam (reasons can be cited in Ahnika commentary

by present azhagia singhar in his pUrvAshramam) and hence must also be

recited as many times as of gAyatri japam. With regards to other two

rahasyams it cannot be recited as japam (i.e. with counting) in Ashaucham

period, but could be recited normally any time. This adiyen could interpret

from following slokAs:

dEvatAntara nAmAni nAsuchi: parikIrtayEt

nArayanasya nAmAni sadA sarvatra kIrtayEt

 

apavitra: pavitrO vA sarvAvastAm gatOpi vA

ya: smarEt pundarIkAksham sa bhAhyAbhyantara: suchi:

 

2. CAN BHAGAVAD ARADANAM BE PERFORMED? HOW WILL THE MURTYS AT HOME BE

OFFERED NAIVEDYAM?

No. Elders of the opinion that they will not even go near the kOilazhvar

(room for the deity - where we think we have imprisoned the sarvEswaran).

Then the question comes how would the sAlagrAmam at home be worshipped? For

this we have two solutions. First, we could give the mUrtys to a person who

does daily ArAdanam (and of course whom we have faith, this is because

adiyen heard sometime back it will not be wrong even if one steals

sAlagramam from other house and perform ArAdanam. May the other bhAgavatAs

confirm this-nor that we are interested in stealing). Second solution is

asking an outside person to place the kOilazhvar inside the rice tin [Elders

derive this by quoting following]:

gruham smasAnam tava bimbavarjitam

 

sAlagrAmasilA yatra na tishtati mahIpatE

tasyAnnam naiva BhOktavyam aBhakshyEna samam hi tat

 

It is also said that even if ArAdanam is stopped for couple of days it is

not a problem and the pramAnam could be

sAlagrAmasilAyAstu pUjAlOpO na dhUshanam

 

Request feedback on these interpretations from other bhAgavatAs on this

list.

 

dAsan

Vijayaraman

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Dear Bhaktas,

 

Prompted by Sri. Vijayaraman's queries and answers to the above, here are

*my own* humble

opinions based on my limited understanding.

 

I have held on to these for a long time, and many qualified elders have

endorsed it in their own style,

but I would also like to seek the opinions from members of this excellent

group, deriving their knowledge

from many Acharyas, Sampradayams and sources.

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but here is the gist of my feeling:

 

In order to understand and appreciate the Asaucham / Nitya Karma guidelines,

I feel one should

first ask the question " What is their purpose ?"

 

In my opinion, the Asaucham rules are to *relax* (relatively speaking) or

more

appropriately, re prioritize the general Nitya karmas / kainkaryams

and help us to concentrate on the actual task at hand / special karmas /

duties associated

with *those* specific situations, like birth / death as the case may be.

 

For Eg :Kshaya Asaucham rules forbids us from performing

Aradhanam since a person in great distress / sorrow will

not be in the right frame of mind, immediately after the loss, to perform

such

kaimkaryams.

 

Therefore a "time frame" is stipulated to help us in getting back to

regular activities like

Aradhanam, etc , progressively as the days go by, and in the meanwhile

discharge our specific duties at such (Asaucham) times like Tharpanams etc,

etc.

 

Having said that, in my opinion, therefore, one most not dig too deep into

the rules / regulations per se,

as there may be many variants / schools of thought, but to follow generally

accepted practises / regulations

according to the advice as per Acharyas / qualified elders in the

sampradayam one belongs.

 

And there is nothing wrong, if one feels more comfortable/ (mana saanthi ?!

) saying Slokams,

Gayatri Japam during such times.

 

In effect, what this means is one may continue such nitya duties like

Sandhyavandhanam, Aradhanam or slokams etc. as long as it is

NOT STRICTLY AND EXPLICITLY FORBIDDEN, and

one should not go to great depths to analyze what is not specifically and

openly laid down as this might

give confusing or contradictory answers.

 

However, it is definitely a must, to clearly understand to a degree,

what is said and not said in the rules / regulations

governing such Asaucham .

 

Sri. Vijayaraman's queries and subsequent findings throw light on these

issues, and as he has

rightly observed, perhaps for the above reasons, no one gives a definite

straight-forward interpretation, but common answers

generally based on their experience, even though the Asaucha rules go to a

great length in defining the

period of "theetu" in a precise manner.

 

Again, I request to be corrected if wrong.

 

Regards

Sriram Ranganathan

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Sri:

Sri Lakshminrusimha Parabrahmane namaha

Sri Lakshminrusimha divya pAdukA sEvaka SrivaNN-

SatakOpa Sri nArAyaNa yateendra mahAdESikAya namaha

 

Dear Sri Sriram,

namO nArAyaNA.

 

thanks for your note. adiyEn would like to add few lines here.

>

> For Eg :Kshaya Asaucham rules forbids us from performing

> Aradhanam since a person in great distress / sorrow will

> not be in the right frame of mind, immediately after the loss, to perform

> such

> kaimkaryams.

>

> Therefore a "time frame" is stipulated to help us in getting back to

> regular activities like

> Aradhanam, etc , progressively as the days go by, and in the meanwhile

> discharge our specific duties at such (Asaucham) times like Tharpanams etc,

> etc.

 

"theetu" is a thing which one can't see directly through the eyes.

We don't know how it gets associated with the body. But as a

vaidhIkA, sAstrAs (which deals with things that are supra-sensory in

nature) are the pramAnam for us and when it says that one's body gets

"theetu" due to such and such reasons, it is a fact (we all agree to that

ofcourse).

 

The role "theetu" of the body plays with respect to performing a karmA

like ArAdhanam is supra-sensory and one can understand its role strictly

from sAstrAs only. But, we can reason out if possible and you have

given a very good reasoning. But, adiyEn feels that it is not just for

making one get some time to get back to right frame of mind etc.

The role of "theetu" being supra-sensory makes one difficult to understand

how it is affecting the performance of karmAs etc.

 

>

> Having said that, in my opinion, therefore, one most not dig too deep into

> the rules / regulations per se,

> as there may be many variants / schools of thought, but to follow generally

> accepted practises / regulations

> according to the advice as per Acharyas / qualified elders in the

> sampradayam one belongs.

>

 

Absolutely. One has to follow his/her AchArya's aNushtAnams.

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

ananthapadmanAbha dAsan

krishNArpaNam