Mantra, purashcharana

[Guest guest]

A repost from another club, maybe members find it

interesting?<br>“All mantras usually have a deity associated,

something like name and form. As name and form are

identical so is the mantra and the particular deity. To

know which mantra is best for one is very difficult,

hence the help of a Guru is necessary who knows the

inherent nature of both the deity and the shishya.<br>Now,

even if one knows the proper mantra and the proper

form to be visualized alongwith the associated

niyama(do’s and don’ts), even if one keeps repeating the

mantra at any possible moment, this will not be

sufficient to attain mantra siddhi(later on that).<br>For

mantra siddhi, a specific process called purushcharana

is followed.<br>Although there are various schools

of thought, here is a common one.<br>1)You decide

the no. of repetitions you can do in a year and then

calculate the no. of repetitions for each day by dividing

equally(Here the year is a lunar year, as in the Hindu

system).You do this for the year first. This is

JAPA.<br>2)After finishing the above, ten percent of the Japa is

offered as oblations ie as offerings into a homa fire.

This is HAVANA.<br>3)Then ten percent of the oblations

must be offered with water. This is TARPANA.<br>4)Ten

percent of the no. of tarpana are then recited as you

sprinkle water about yur body in a particular way. This is

MARJANA.<br>5)Finally ten percent of the above number is offered as

BHOJANA, gifts of food to Brahmins, children or little

girls depending on the deity being worshipped.( for eg.

Hanuman accepts bhojana offering through the mouths of

little boys, Maa Durga thru little girls)<br>This

completes just one Purushcharana; in kaliyuga, it is said

that you need to do only three correct purushcharanas

to bring about the full effects of a

mantra.<br>continued...