Sandhya Vandanam Procedure

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from vedic links

Introduction

Sandhya Vandanam literally means either "Salutation to the goddess

of Dawn and dusk or the prayers done during dawn and dusk." Hindus

considered the period just before dawn and just after dusk as well

as the exact period of noon , as extremely suitable for meditation.

All Brahmins after Upanayanam (prescribed to be done at the age of

seven), were required to do these prayers without fail. Essentially

these prayers are offering oblations to the devas (arghya pradanam),

doing breathing exercises (pranayamam) and then meditating on

Gayathri by chanting the king of all manthras "Gayathri". This

Manthra is taught to every boy by his own father during the ceremony

of brahmopadesam. After learning Gayathri every boy is supposed to

have taken a second birth and is entitled to be called "Dwija".

Our scriptures attach lot of importance to Sandhya vandanam .They

prescribe that a dwija should do it without fail every day, They

also say that the knowledgeable Brahmin who salutes the Sun god

daily thrice would attain whatever he wants. They further say that

one who does not do sandhyavandanam is a sinner and is not eligible

for any Vedic duties.

What is given below is the Sandhya Vandanam procedure prescribed for

Yajur Vedis. But the manthras to be chanted by followers of the

other Vedas is also mentioned wherever there is a difference. All

people are requested to do the Sandhya vandanam initially for a few

times under the guidance of their "Guru" and use the procedure and

manthras given below later. This is requested because English being

not a very phonetic language is inadequate to transliterate Sanskrit

slokas and that too those written in the Vedic Sanskrit.

A summary meaning of all the manthras chanted is also included.

Sandhya vandhana has two parts, the first one normally to be done

either standing in a river or sitting with hunched legs on the feet

outside the house and the second part is done by sitting on firm

ground using the lotus pose. (Padmasana).