Guest guest Posted May 19, 2007 Report Share Posted May 19, 2007 Well, Edward and I finally managed to get together and do a homa after propitiating and finally satisfying the Great Gods of Hot Water Heaters, Automobiles That Won't Start, and finally, Public Transportation. It was a good day. The sun was out and the temperature was in the low seventies. A fine spring day. Setting-up and preparing took a long time. I hadn't done much prep. before hand, so we cleared the patio, set out the portable khunda, and the platforms for our asanas, then mixed the offering, and got all the utensils together. Then I gathered flowers from the yard, washed them and placed them out. It all went rather slowly because I hadn't done a homa in a couple of years, or so, and after that long you kind of have to reinvent the process. Then we reviewed all of the mantras together and discussed just how it would go. So by the time it was all set up and we were ready to begin it was really pretty late (a not very unusual occurrence in my life!) so we cut back the offering to just one mala of the sarva badha mantra. But that's OK, it was mostly about the learning anyway. Since I was most familiar with the homa padhoti I took the lead in conducting the homa, and Edward followed along and offered the flowers and ghee. All in all, I think it went pretty smoothly, except for a couple of little things. When I came to the group of mantras " sarva mangalya mangalye Shive sarvartha sadhike... " [it's from memory, OK?], and I was walking around and around the khunda, I couldn't quite put my finger on the melody, though I kept trying, going up and down with my voice, singing the mantra with a sound rather like a trombone's until I finally found the melody on the last of the three verses, but discovered it on one of my low dips so that I had to sing the verse scraping the bottom of my vocal register, and barely able to vocalize the low notes. Not one of my better moments. It wasn't too bad (but it wasn't too good, either). The other little thing that happened was I lost my sankalpa flower, so when it came time to do visarjana (we toasted an apple for purnahuti) there was no flower (I think I must've burned it up). I placed a new one and just went ahead and did it. Afterward we just sat by the fire and talked for a while, burned the last of the offering (oh, that was the other thing I messed-up - I made offering for the multitudes - we didn't use but a small portion of it, so when I say, " burned the last of the offering " , I mean, " dump a whole bowl, so much that it nearly drowns the coals, then wait while it smokes and smokes and smokes before finally catching fire, and then adding more wood so all the offering gets burned, and waiting until everything is burned-up because I don't want to leave the fire unattended - twice " ), and then each of us had a bowl of hearty soup and some bread before Edward had to catch the last bus for home. It was good and I think we'll do it again fairly soon. Jai Maa! Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 20, 2007 Report Share Posted May 20, 2007 Namaste Chris and Edward! Congratulations and pranams to you both! Chris, what an entertaining account! i was sitting there with you both enjoying the whole thing only wish we had the video... as for the ending -- at the Mandir, whenever we used to invoke and dissolve the fire regularly, we would douse the whole havan kund with water after visarjan. then clean it out and orepare it for the next time. this way you don't have to wait until all the fire is out and don't worry about errant ashes. do tell more about your experience. gauri , " Chris Kirner " <chriskirner1956 wrote: > > Well, Edward and I finally managed to get together and do a homa after > propitiating and finally satisfying the Great Gods of Hot Water > Heaters, Automobiles That Won't Start, and finally, Public > Transportation. It was a good day. The sun was out and the temperature > was in the low seventies. A fine spring day. > > Setting-up and preparing took a long time. I hadn't done much prep. > before hand, so we cleared the patio, set out the portable khunda, and > the platforms for our asanas, then mixed the offering, and got all the > utensils together. Then I gathered flowers from the yard, washed them > and placed them out. It all went rather slowly because I hadn't done a > homa in a couple of years, or so, and after that long you kind of have > to reinvent the process. Then we reviewed all of the mantras together > and discussed just how it would go. > > So by the time it was all set up and we were ready to begin it was > really pretty late (a not very unusual occurrence in my life!) so we > cut back the offering to just one mala of the sarva badha mantra. But > that's OK, it was mostly about the learning anyway. > > Since I was most familiar with the homa padhoti I took the lead in > conducting the homa, and Edward followed along and offered the flowers > and ghee. All in all, I think it went pretty smoothly, except for a > couple of little things. > > When I came to the group of mantras " sarva mangalya mangalye Shive > sarvartha sadhike... " [it's from memory, OK?], and I was walking > around and around the khunda, I couldn't quite put my finger on the > melody, though I kept trying, going up and down with my voice, singing > the mantra with a sound rather like a trombone's until I finally found > the melody on the last of the three verses, but discovered it on one > of my low dips so that I had to sing the verse scraping the bottom of > my vocal register, and barely able to vocalize the low notes. Not one > of my better moments. It wasn't too bad (but it wasn't too good, either). > > The other little thing that happened was I lost my sankalpa flower, so > when it came time to do visarjana (we toasted an apple for purnahuti) > there was no flower (I think I must've burned it up). I placed a new > one and just went ahead and did it. > > Afterward we just sat by the fire and talked for a while, burned the > last of the offering (oh, that was the other thing I messed-up - I > made offering for the multitudes - we didn't use but a small portion > of it, so when I say, " burned the last of the offering " , I mean, " dump > a whole bowl, so much that it nearly drowns the coals, then wait while > it smokes and smokes and smokes before finally catching fire, and then > adding more wood so all the offering gets burned, and waiting until > everything is burned-up because I don't want to leave the fire > unattended - twice " ), and then each of us had a bowl of hearty soup > and some bread before Edward had to catch the last bus for home. > > It was good and I think we'll do it again fairly soon. > > Jai Maa! > Chris > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 21, 2007 Report Share Posted May 21, 2007 Hi Gauri, Actually, I have one of those metal fire pits with a fitting lid, so putting out the fire isn't an issue with me yet. I just put the lid on! But I asked Swamiji about how big the fire should be once and he said that it should be big enough to consume all the offering, so I decided consuming all the offering must be important. I also seemed to recall someone saying that leftover offering should be scattered under trees, etc., if it isn't burnt, and since there was so much of it, I didn't want to have barley sprouting everywhere or ants everywhere, so I burnt it all. But thanks for the info on the process. It will come in handy. Did you hear Swamiji's comment on his stock of vibhuti, that he has ash from every homa he has done and that he adds a little of it to every homa he begins? I started my own little vibhuti stash with this homa. Jai Maa! Chris , " gauri_108 " <gauri_108 wrote: > > Namaste Chris and Edward! > > Congratulations and pranams to you both! > Chris, what an entertaining account! i was sitting there with you > both enjoying the whole thing only wish we had the video... > > as for the ending -- at the Mandir, whenever we used to invoke and > dissolve the fire regularly, we would douse the whole havan kund with > water after visarjan. then clean it out and orepare it for the next > time. this way you don't have to wait until all the fire is out and > don't worry about errant ashes. > > do tell more about your experience. > > gauri > > , " Chris Kirner " > <chriskirner1956@> wrote: > > > > Well, Edward and I finally managed to get together and do a homa after > > propitiating and finally satisfying the Great Gods of Hot Water > > Heaters, Automobiles That Won't Start, and finally, Public > > Transportation. It was a good day. The sun was out and the temperature > > was in the low seventies. A fine spring day. > > > > Setting-up and preparing took a long time. I hadn't done much prep. > > before hand, so we cleared the patio, set out the portable khunda, and > > the platforms for our asanas, then mixed the offering, and got all the > > utensils together. Then I gathered flowers from the yard, washed them > > and placed them out. It all went rather slowly because I hadn't done a > > homa in a couple of years, or so, and after that long you kind of have > > to reinvent the process. Then we reviewed all of the mantras together > > and discussed just how it would go. > > > > So by the time it was all set up and we were ready to begin it was > > really pretty late (a not very unusual occurrence in my life!) so we > > cut back the offering to just one mala of the sarva badha mantra. But > > that's OK, it was mostly about the learning anyway. > > > > Since I was most familiar with the homa padhoti I took the lead in > > conducting the homa, and Edward followed along and offered the flowers > > and ghee. All in all, I think it went pretty smoothly, except for a > > couple of little things. > > > > When I came to the group of mantras " sarva mangalya mangalye Shive > > sarvartha sadhike... " [it's from memory, OK?], and I was walking > > around and around the khunda, I couldn't quite put my finger on the > > melody, though I kept trying, going up and down with my voice, singing > > the mantra with a sound rather like a trombone's until I finally found > > the melody on the last of the three verses, but discovered it on one > > of my low dips so that I had to sing the verse scraping the bottom of > > my vocal register, and barely able to vocalize the low notes. Not one > > of my better moments. It wasn't too bad (but it wasn't too good, > either). > > > > The other little thing that happened was I lost my sankalpa flower, so > > when it came time to do visarjana (we toasted an apple for purnahuti) > > there was no flower (I think I must've burned it up). I placed a new > > one and just went ahead and did it. > > > > Afterward we just sat by the fire and talked for a while, burned the > > last of the offering (oh, that was the other thing I messed-up - I > > made offering for the multitudes - we didn't use but a small portion > > of it, so when I say, " burned the last of the offering " , I mean, " dump > > a whole bowl, so much that it nearly drowns the coals, then wait while > > it smokes and smokes and smokes before finally catching fire, and then > > adding more wood so all the offering gets burned, and waiting until > > everything is burned-up because I don't want to leave the fire > > unattended - twice " ), and then each of us had a bowl of hearty soup > > and some bread before Edward had to catch the last bus for home. > > > > It was good and I think we'll do it again fairly soon. > > > > Jai Maa! > > Chris > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 21, 2007 Report Share Posted May 21, 2007 Namaste Chris! " ...Did you hear Swamiji's comment on His stock of vibhuti [....] I started my own little vibhuti stash with this homa. " That is soooooo awesome. it really made me smile. you got the idea and i hope to be invited to one of these homas sometime Jaaaaaaaaaaai Maa! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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