Understand a Vedic Temple & it's Checking to Confirm God's Presence .

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna ! , The Deity of a Vedic temple is a live form of God . This is the secret behind the glorious existence of temples complying with the vedic requirements known as ‘Agamas’ . Unlike the non-vedic religions , there are specific systems in the vedic religion to check and confirm God’s divine presence in the temple . Agamas, the technology behind Vedic Temples . The ancient Sages understood that the entire cosmos is the overlaying and intermixing forces/energies mediated by massive heavenly bodies appearing and disappearing at regular intervals creating a chain of perpetual evolutionary life forms called ‘samsara’ . These evolutionary systems influence each other far and near either in positive or negative direction and affect various forms of manifested species differently. For the evolution to continue, it is primary to keep the species insulated from negative influences and provide positive energy influences to the maximum extant . That is the basic purpose of Agamas .

The ‘Deity’ represents a specific energy state with certain parameters, and associated with certain aspects of divine manifestation . Six Goals of Agamas : Agamas aim at 6 fundamental goals to achieve. They are as follows : 1. Utchatana - Vertical integration of natural energies (electromagnetic, gravitational etc) maintaining the balance of nature .2. Stambhana - Create and increase energy with holding capabilities of a particular place. 3. Marana - Destroy the negative energy influences over a particular area .4. Bhedana - Split different energies within a given area to maintain balance of nature .5. Santhi - Maitaining the balance of nature with social progress .6. Pushti - Nourishing the nature and species so that evolution progresses . Creation of a Vedic Temple . The first step of a "Yajaman" (a person who has prepared himself mentally and

financially) to build a temple, is to seek and accept an "Aacharya" (Guru, Tantri) . Only certain designated Brahmana-priests deserve to become "Tantris". ( An ideal Tantri ( Aacharya) is one who "is born into a high class Brahmana family, has performed all the "Shodasakriyas" from "Garbhaadhaanam" to "Agnyaadhaanam", has understood the concepts contained in the Vedas and Agamas , has received blessings and Mantra advice from Gurus and elders, is an expert in performing vedic rites and rituals , is capable of receiving spiritual powers through meditation and penance ("Tapas"), and is a pure believer (in God, of course). Future Acharya of the temple must be descendants of this Guru or Tantri ) . During the consecration of temple, the Tantri or Acharya performs the incredible task of transferring the aura ("Chaithanyam") of God and energizing the Murty ( idol) . The techniques employed are as described in the "Agamas". Following the consecration , the Deity is given all the prescribed "Shodasa Samskaarams". Only those Brahmanas who had received such Samskaarams or better are eligible to become the "Pujaris" (priests) there. If "Puja" is performed by persons who had not received all such “Shodasa Samskaarams” , then the aura and glory of the Deity will be diminished

.. The purity and serenity of the designated Pujari of the temple is very important . The Deity or its aura ("Chaithanya") is invoked and propitiated with oblations and prayers and later released back to the Murty

.. Apart from the normal daily worship rituals for propitiating the deities, there are many Tantrik rituals aiming at increasing the glory and power of the Deities and sometimes for atonement for any fading of such power. The daily Puja rituals in the temple

are for maintaining the glory of the Deity and for obtaining the blessings for the devotees . In the morning, the Pujari first awakens the Deity, opens the door, lights the lamps, and performs Abhishekam, Malar Nivedyam, Usha Nivedyam, morning Puja, Pantheeradi Puja (when the shadow lengthens to 12 steps), Noon Puja, Sreebali along with any of the Pujas, Pradosha Puja (evening Puja, if normally practiced in that temple), Athaazha (night meals) Puja, Athaazha Sreebali and Thruppuka. The elaborate Puja process is performed usually only for the first Puja of the day, while the later ones are often brief, with either three or one Puja, or in some temples, just with a "Nivedyam" (offering of rice preparation) . If even the minimum required Nivedyam is avoided, the glory or power of the deity will be

diminished, and its re-introduction will need a "Praayaschitham" (atonement/expiation) to be performed first . It has been a practice for the Tantri to decide and declare the normal worship rituals proposed to be performed in a temple even at the time of the consecration ceremony of the Deity in that temple. Next to the spiritual concentration and power ("Tapasakthi") of the Tantri and his adherence to the daily Vedic rituals, it is the strict performance of all the rituals so prescribed by the Tantri, which helps to maintain the power of the Deity ; it even increases the power and glory . Vedic Verification of Divine presence in a Temple ( “Ashtamangala Deva Prasna” ) When there are unpleasant incidents or inauspicious omens such as : eclipse during puja , birth or death inside temple premises , theft , falling of blood in temple, entry of forbidden birds or animals inside temple, falling down of temple flag , Fire , etc , “Ashtamangala Deva Prasna” become necessary . “Ashtamangala” is a method of vedic numerology and “Deva Prasna” is a particular kind of “vedic astrology” specifically dealing with temple matters . The Deity in a temple does not speak , but reveals His/Her instructions via the disclosures in “Ashtamangala Deva Prasna” . When the need for an “Ashtamangala Deva Prasna” ( Hereafter we call it ADP) is identified , the temple Tantri should provide his permission after obtaining the approval of Deity . Then the Administrators hold discussions with the expert “Jyothishis” (Vedic Astrologers) to decide about the conducting of ADP . The Jyothisi keenly observes every “nimitam” (auspicious or inauspicious omen) right from the first

instance when he is contacted for AFD . How many people came first ?... At what time they arrived ?….What they said first ?….How they behaved ?… How the “nimitams” occurred before during and after the discussion . ( for instance presence of a cow , crow , scorpion or snake nearby ) . All these data are carefully noted and later analysed in the ADP . It is to be noted that , ADP is a process in which the Deity reveals His/Her mind in the form of revelations to the Jyothishis ( vedic astrologers) . Before the commencement of ADP , the Tantri performs the necessary pujas such as Ganapaty Homa , special Pujas to invoke the Deity , Griha-puja ,etc . Tantri , Mel-Santi , senior Brahmana-representatives , Administrators , Representatives of Traditional temple associates ,

Representatives of Bhaktas , etc are present during the Deva Prasna . An Eye Witness Report of an “Ashtamangala Deva Prasna” . ( by

His Grace Shyamasundara Dasa , Author of ISKCON’s Vaisnava Lunar Calendar ) On the morning of July 23, 1982 I found myself outside a Durga temple on the outskirts of Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala, South India. I was gathered with six of the most learned Jyothishis of the area, including my Jyothisha-Guru Brahmashree Krishnan Potti, (an author of over a dozen books on vedic astrology) , to do “Ashtamangala Deva Prasna” . The setting was lush with many fruit-bearing coconut and banana trees as well as the heady and intoxicating aroma of Champaka and Jasmine flowers . Incense wafted in the breeze outside as everyone in attendance : the temple Managers, elderly Brahmanas, Tantri , Pujaris, and local congregation waited for the “Jyothishis” to begin the Ashtamangala Deva Prasna ( ADP) . ADP is explained in the encyclopedic treatise "Prasna Marga" (the path of horary astrology) .

However, as I was soon to discover, successful ADP required more than knowledge of this subject . Success depended on a thorough knowledge of all the principles of Prasna Marga , plus a high degree of intelligence, great powers of observation, and keen intuition stemming from spiritual practices and an austere, pure lifestyle .

Because the subject of Prasna was a temple and the presiding Deity, only the very best Jyothishis were called upon to conduct the Prasna . By having several scholarly Jyothishis present it was expected that mistakes would be minimized, and that what one Jyothishi might miss another would pick up on . It would be impossible for me to include everything that was said and done in the (approximately)

seven hour period necessary to conduct the ‘Ashtamangala Deva Prasna’, however we hope that the reader will be able to appreciate the mystical nature of the experience which, even for many students of Vedic astrology, will seem to border on magical . Countless experiences like this destroyed in my mind the mechanistic world view of modern science and permanently established the Vedic, God-centered, world view of Krishna Consciousness . As Jyothishis, we are sometimes bound up in thinking that everything revolves around symbols drawn on a piece of paper. This limiting paradigm is shattered when we realize that everything in existence is a message from Lord Sri Krishna if we only knew how to read them. A Jyothishi must always keep his eyes and ears open and be prepared to read everything that is happening during a

crucial moment such as a Prasna . The “Ashtamangala Deva Prasna” Begins : To begin the ‘Ashtamangala Deva Prasna’, the vedic Jyothishis first prepared a small, clean area of land and tidied it up and then covered it with a layer of raw rice . The Questioners were asked to adorn it with a ghee lamp, white flowers and other ornament s as well as offerings such as Tambula (Pan leaves and Betel nut) that the congregation of the temple offered . They then performed puja (worship) with devotion on all the articles that would be used in the process of divination and meditated on their respective Ista-Devatas (personal patron Deity) for the ability to predict correctly . The Jyothishis then called on a Brahmin Pujari of the temple with little or no

knowledge of vedic astrology to come forward . They showed him a diagram of the zodiac as it is drawn in typical South Indian style and ask him to duplicate it on the prepared ground . Using a stick he carefully prepared the diagram by first drawing the Western line, then the Southern line, then Eastern and finally the Northern line. (In Prasna the directions of the diagram are such : The side that has Aries and Taurus is East, Cancer and Leo is South, Libra and Scorpio is West, and Capricorn and Aquarius is North). The Jyothishis noted down very carefully the order that he drew them . One Jyothishi stated that because the Pujari drew the Western line first it was a highly inauspicious omen indicating that diseases (or general harm) would increase . And this was made worse because he had drawn the other lines in a counter clockwise order which indicated many serious obstacles ahead . In general, these two things were looked upon as unfavorable omens . They then looked for any irregularities in the way the lines were drawn, that is, if they were thick or thin, broken, etc . But none were observed. The Jyothishis then called on any young child not conversant with vedic astrology who was recently bathed and well dressed to come forward . The adults pushed a child forward, the Jyothishis directed the child to worship the ghee lamp and other divinatory paraphernalia with flowers. They then placed in the child's right hand a piece of gold, along with flowers, water, sandal wood paste and ‘aksata’ (rice mixed with turmeric). The child was then instructed to go around the ‘Cakra’ of the zodiac and then stand near it facing east . In the mean time the questioner, the person who had called this convocation of

Jyothishis, was instructed to be meditating on the Deity to reveal Her will . All the Jyothishis then reflected on the problems of the questioner and repeated their mantras, and the one Jyothishi who would do the ‘Ashtamangala’ was touching his cowry shells . At the end they asked the child to deposit the gold in any one of the signs that had previously been drawn by the Pujari . The child placed the handful in the square designating Virgo . This ‘Swarna Lagna’ (gold ascendant), as it is also known, became

the ‘Arudha Lagna’ for the ADP. The ‘Arudha Lagna’ is, as we have seen, chosen through a divinatory omen process directed by the will of the Deity . The exact time the Swarna lagna was chosen was noted as 8:45 AM, thus the ‘Udaya Lagna’ , the Lagna based on time, was Leo . The planetary positions at the time were fixed and the chart filled in with all the

planets including ‘Mandi’ . The exact degree of the Arudha lagna was calculated by noting the degree of the ‘Udaya Lagna’. Since the Udaya Lagna was 12LE13 thus the degree of the ‘Arudha Lagna’ would be 12VI13. Therefore the ‘Arudha navamsa’ would then be the fourth ‘navamsa’ corresponding to Cancer. The position of the ‘Swarna Lagna’ was then

examined . The piece of gold was located in the middle of the square designating Virgo, however it was face down, on top of the ‘aksata’ and flowers, it was also tilted and slanted toward the South . The Jyothishis declared this to be another bad omen indicative of death and other evils (if it actually meant death would have to be judged according to the whole picture) . While the Swarna Lagna was being chosen the head astrologer of the group, Krishnan Potti, did the first part of the ‘Ashtamangala’ . (This requires a little explanation ; a major instrument for divination in Jyothisha are cowry shells which have been specially selected, cleaned, sanctified (generally by chanting of mantras and bathing in the waters of the sacred river Ganga or other sacred rivers) and used only for divination . In less complex types of Prasna, that is other than Deva Prasna, the ‘Arudha lagna’ is often found by using the cowries alone . For divination 108 cowries are used . To do the first part of the ‘Ashtamangala’ the Jyothishi first touches the cowries while meditating on his mantra and asking for

spiritual guidance. Then the Jyothishi arbitrarily divides the shells into three piles, one to his left, one in front of him and one to the right . ) After examining the ‘Swarna Lagna’ Krishnan Potti did the second part of the ‘Ashtamangala’ by going to each pile of cowries and counting off multiples of eight (ashta) and keeping the remainder , if the remainder is zero then let it be eight . You will now have a three digit number in which no digit is greater than eight . The digits represent past, present

and future respectfully from left to right . 1=Sun, 2=Mars, 3=Jupiter, 4=Mercury, 5=Venus, 6=Saturn, 7=Moon, 8=Rahu. (This is simplified, they also represent other things as well). Odd numbers are considered good, even numbers bad . The ‘Ashtamangala’ number that was obtained for the Prasna was 8 3 1 ruled by Rahu, Jupiter and the Sun respectively . Though it seemed to me that , 831 indicated that the past was bad, the present and future looked good . However, the Jyothishis stated that this was not actually the case. They said that because the numbers were in a descending order from left to right this indicated that the past was good, the present was bad and the future would be worse. Other parts of the reading seemed to confirm this observation on their part . After this, the ghee lamp was lit and the flame was observed to lean toward the South, this was again declared to be an evil omen . Just then one of the Jyothishis stated that the Deity must have

been moved at least twice before being established in the present temple . The temple managers replied that this was true and wanted to know why he had said that ? The Jyothishi said this was so because he had noted that the ghee lamp had been placed near the worship area but then picked up and moved twice before the Prasna started . The Jyothishis then examined the Tambula (Pan leaves) that was offered for worship. These Tambula represent the (12) houses of the Deva Prasna chart and the conditions of these houses can be determined by the condition of the leaves. Before we interpret the meaning of the leaves, we will take opportunity to give, in synopsis, the special meaning of the 12 houses in Deva Prasna : Temple building, Murti (Image form of the Deity ), and divine presence of the Deity in the Murti . · Wealth, income, temple treasures and guardians. · The naivedya (offerings made) and servants. · All buildings and land connected with the temple as well temple vehicles. · Murti and divine

presence in it (again). · Pollution of the temple, enemies and thieves. · The people (congregation) and deity ornaments. · Divine presence, offerings, servants, and good and evil matters. · Nature of the temple authorities and the state of merit and piety . · Daily ceremonies (puja), special festivals and devalakas (persons involved in making garlands, and performance of musical entertainment, etc.). · Piety, merit, prosperity and income. · Nature of the Priests, expenditure and waste. In this case, there were only three Pan leaves (only the first three houses of the Deva Prasna chart could be examined by this method) . The first representing the ‘lagna’ had marks and cuts thus things have not been good up till now . The second was smaller than the others and had cuts, thus there were financial problems. The third was in much better shape so it declared those who served the temple were capable of doing good

.. The number of leaves were now used to determine the ‘Tambula Lagna’ which is arrived at by the following formula (T x 10 + 1)/7 where T is the number of Tambulas. Since T=3 when we substitute we get a remainder of three which represents Mars in the normal order of planets . Since Mars is in Libra this becomes the Tambula Lagna . Mars itself indicates that there have been strife and conflicts, and because it is Mars in

Libra they deduced that the Deity of the temple was the goddess Kali . Now that the preliminaries were over, the readings and predictions based on the planetary positions started . Since ‘Rahu’ ruled over the first ‘Ashtamangala’ number and

he was in the 10th with Venus, one Jyothishi declared that the temple must have been towards the East of the present place in a location occupied by a “Naga” (special race of serpent-devatas endowed with mystical powers and at times irritable) . This was admitted by the temple Mangers. Since Mars had only just transited into Libra one Jyothishi

dared to say that in the past there must have been an accidental fire in the temple . Affirmative was the response . Another Jyothishi pointed out that, Rahu and Venus in the 10th also indicated that someone must have died from poison nearby and the ghost was still lingering in the vicinity. It was told that in the past a child had taken poison and died in the temple compound. ( It should be noted that up to this time we were not informed why the ADP was taking place, of course we could surmise there was trouble but had no details. But as the ADP proceeded the details started to be revealed by the Deity ). At this point the original question of the Questioner is finally revealed by the Jyothishis . One Jyothishi said that because Saturn is in the

‘Arudha Lagna’ they want to know why has Durga devi (Sri Krishna’s material potency, the goddess of the material world) left the temple? The people agree that indeed, this is their question . The reason she has left, the Jyothishis say, is because the rules of conduct were not properly observed : entry into the temple of impure people such as person(s) who had a recent death in their family or women during their menstrual period, etc . Since the ‘Arudha Lagna’ is Virgo it was deduced that the land is owned by the ladies of the

family by special arrangement . This was also confirmed to be true. The Jyothishis agree that since Mars is the ‘mahabadaka’ and Jupiter is the ‘Samanyabadaka’ for Virgo (Raman, 1980 pp. 545-547) are in the 2nd house and since Ketu is in Virgo ‘navamsa’ , this same Virgo being the ‘Arudha Lagna’ , then some other person must have also died . This dead person (along with poisoned child) having no shelter came to this temple and have contaminated the place . The temple managers admit that indeed another person did die, a family member died nearby by a fall from a

tree. The Jyothishis continue that since Jupiter is the ‘badaka’ conjoined with Mars significator of land, and this same Jupiter is aspecting Venus then the land the temple is on was previously owned and that now a ghost of a fallen brahmana is haunting the place. They also claim that from the symptoms they conclude that ‘Bhadrakali’ (the ferocious form of Durga) has also manifested and is covering over Durga . The temple Managers have to remove Bhadrakali and leave only Durga . After examining all the houses of the Deva Prasna, the Jyothishis concluded that because of Ketu in the 4th and 4th lord Jupiter afflicted, the temple should be reconstructed . That conclude that, some theft has taken place . And that the decorations i n the temple are non-existent . And that the affliction to 10th and 12th house indicate much improvement necessary in regards to the priestly functioning in the temple. They also recommend on the basis of the condition of the 8th house that they should make special offering and worship to pacify the Deity. Final Recommendations . Several questions are asked regarding what exactly should be done to pacify the Deity and remove Bhadrakali . Suggestions for remedies were proposed to the Jyothishis . To determine if a proposed suggestion is acceptable to the Deity, the Jyothishis would use the cowries to get a yes or no answer . After posing the question and the proposed solution, Krishnan Potti would meditate and then take a handful of cowries . Then counting off multiples

of twelve he would arrive at a number, if the remainder was zero then it was considered to be 12 . This number represented a new ‘Arudha Lagna’ , if Jupiter was found to be in a trine or quadrant from this new ‘Arudha Lagna’ the answer was "yes" (otherwise it was "no") . In this way for several hours various strategies were tried to find a solution acceptable to the Deity, to resolve the temple's problems. Conclusion As we have seen from this one example, the system of ‘Ashtamangala Deva Prasna’ is a very powerful method. To master it requires a lot of hard work, training and above all pure bhakti in Lord Sri Krishna . Great Bhakti-yoga is necessary because we are conditioned to think in a mechanistic way, we must go beyond that and understand that from a spiritual perspective everything in conscious and is being controlled by God. The process of divination allows us to carry on a dialog with God

through apparently inanimate objects or chance occurrences. This dialog can only be accomplished if we train and purify our intelligence, mind and senses, through study of appropriate vedic texts ; as well as a sattvika, brahminical and pure lifestyle based on the teachings of the Vedas . Sri Krishna says in Bhagavatam 11.7.23 “ Although I, the Supreme Lord can never be captured by ordinary sense perception , those situated in human life

may use their intelligence and other faculties of perception to directly search for Me through both apparent and indirectly ascertained symptoms ” . Om Namo narayanaya !!!

Get your own web address for just $1.99/1st yr. We'll help. Small Business.

[jadhavedhan]

Namaskaram,

 

I have a doubt, regarding a routine practice, I perform. I'm a bachelor from Brahmana family. I got a teaching from Shri Sai Baba to chant a particular Thripurasundhari Moola manthra. I'm strongly instructed to perform this before sunrise and with certain degree of cleanliness.

 

But I'm doing my sandhavandhanam, following this. As I'm supposed to perform the chanting and nivedhyam in usha kaalam.

 

Please let me know, if my practice is correct.