Beginner Puja – Day 12 – Q&A, And the most famous Nyas is…..

[Guest guest]

Dear All,YES! The correct answer is - Nyas means Establishment. I am

giving the most famous example of Nyas at the end of this post.

 

So happy to know, Linda, that you got your Beginner Shiva Puja Book. I

will send you a file of all the posts in this thread so that you can

get started. I look forward to your questions.

 

Kudos, Berijoy! You got the Panchang assignment correct.

Just wanted to point out regarding your response

"a) 3rd May 2005 = Chaitra mase, Krishna pakshe, Dasamam or Ekadasam

depending on time of day (sunrise/sunset)"

 

It is Dasamam if the puja is done before sunrise, and Ekadasam if the

puja is done after sunrise. Nothing to do with sunset at all. Hope

that clarifies any doubt you may have. Please let me know if you have

any questions.

 

Henny dear, I havent posted on this in a day, and it seems like we

haven’t chatted in ages. Hope your Shiva Movies are entertaining and

beautiful

 

Moving to your comments on Day 12.

 

"Om Yah Netratrayah Vausat" - my description seems to have confused a

lot of people. Henny you had said, " I thought you were supposed to

point the three middle fingers, so that the middle finger points to

the third eye. " So I asked Swamiji, " Can we use any three fingers

or the middle,ring and little fingers" and Swamiji said "Henny is

right: The three middle fingers mean pointer to the right, middle in

the third eye, and ring for the left."

 

There you go dear friends, hope that clarified any doubts that you may have.

 

Both Grace and Henny had questions on Japa and Pranayam. Both wanted

to know if we count the mantra on the in-breath. The answer is -If

you want to. As a rule of thumb we only count those that we exhale,

as it is easy to keep track.

 

Henny wanted to know "Do you mean that the outbreath should be much

longer than the inbreath? Or do you draw in a loooong 'Om Namah

Shivaya' and then recite 'Om namah Shivaya' quite quickly (how you

ever get to 20 mantras to the breath is beyond me), so that you get

as many mantras out as comfortable (I mean you would vary the speed

of the recitation of the mantra, but the breaths would be even in

length?)."

 

Yes, Henny, the outbreath is longer than the inbreath for this kind of

pranayam when chanting. (There are many kinds of pranayam but we are

focusing here only on the one used during chanting).

 

And correct, we chant "Om Namah Shivaya" quickly for as many times as

we can during exhalation, NOT one looooong "Om Namah Shivaya".

 

Getting 20 "Om Namah Shivaya" to breath is really no biggie as you

will discover when you recite with pranayam.

 

(A small aside here) A couple of Shivaratri's ago - Shree Maa chanted

"Om Namah Shivaya Swaha" at the fire. We had a sankalpa (forgot the

exact number) and so we were keeping track of the numbers with a

counter. Maa chanted "Om Namah Shivaya Swaha" so fast that it was all

we could do to keep track of how much She said. So when She stopped

after one breath we determined She had done at least 30 to a breath.

Whew! And the counter kept clicking away. Swamiji once referred to

Maa as a 70-pound dynamo ... you just hafta see her in action to know

what he means.

 

OK, enough reminiscing and back to the questions...

 

Henny asked, "Do you use a mala or do you count on your fingers? "

 

I personally prefer using my fingers, but use a mala during homa where

I need the use of one hand to throw grains into the fire.

 

Henny also asks,” And if you can use a mala, is it true that it should not touch the floor?"

 

I asked Swamiji, and he said,” Yes, it should not touch the floor."

 

I didn’t know that! Thanks for asking Henny!

 

Grace brought up a very valid question. She says,"If the idea is to be

continuous and to have Japa going on continuously why would you do

different mantras for the in breath and out breath?"

 

There are different kinds of pranayam . For the purposes of chanting

or japa, the length of the outflow in pranayam will be greater than

the length of inhalation. Typically for recitation or japa, we inhale

for the length of our Guru mantra and the recite the mantra of the

deity (in this case Shiva) during exhalation - hence two different

mantras. If we do not have a Guru mantra, we can use the same mantra

for both inhalation and exhalation. I ran this by Swamiji and he

confirmed my statement.

 

And oh, the famous example of Nyas (according to Swamiji) is SanNyas,

which means Established in Truth.

 

We will talk about another step in Puja - "Offering" in my next post.

 

May we all be Established in Truth.

 

Jai Maa

Jai Swamiji

NandaDo You

?

 

[Guest guest]

Dear Nanda,

> Henny dear, I havent posted on this in a day, and it seems like we

>haven't chatted in ages. Hope your Shiva Movies are entertaining and

>beautiful

 

Missed me, have you? Well, I missed you too this morning, but of

course I understand this class is very demanding and I greatly admire

your dedication to the task of answering all the questions. Having

said this, here's some new ones:

 

the forehead pointing is clear now, thank you (and again thank you,

Swamiji), but when I was practicing the movement with the hands which

comes directly after that, the question arose what this movement

actually means? Why do we roll hand over hand forwards and backwards?

And, having succeeded in finding all words except one, what does

'prstabhyam' mean?

>Yes, Henny, the outbreath is longer than the inbreath for this kind

>of pranayam when chanting. (There are many kinds of pranayam but we

>are focusing here only on the one used during chanting).

> And correct, we chant "Om Namah Shivaya" quickly for as many times >

>as we can during exhalation, NOT one looooong "Om Namah Shivaya".

 

So, if I understand correctly, you do NOT take an extra-long inbreath

(filling up completely to the belly) in order to be able to recite

more mantras on the out-breath? Or does the inbreath automatically get

longer the more mantras you get out?

 

Now, as I try to recite quickly, the pronunciation tends to get a bit

blurry. Is it important to keep the pronunciation correct?

 

It is often said that you should recite the mantra continously, either

verbally or mentally, so it can 'sink in' and become part of you. Is

there a difference in recitation during puja and recitation apart from

puja? I mean, when going about your business during the day, can you

vary the tempo or melody (I have found I tend to recite very slowly

when watching my Shiva movie at odd moments, and I love to sing along

with the Shiva Puja cd, and then I am more involved in mood than

rhythm) or should you make a mental effort to keep up the tempo in

order for the recitation to become automatic? Or should you practice

japa apart from puja for a set period each day? Is 'chanting'

different from 'japa'?

 

Why is it important to recite as many mantras on the outbreath as you

comfortably can? Has it something to do with total emptying both body

and mind?

 

> May we all be Established in Truth.

 

may it be so,

 

with love,

 

Henny

 

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

> Kudos, */Berijoy/*! You got the Panchang assignment correct.

> "/a) 3rd May 2005 = Chaitra mase, Krishna pakshe, Dasamam or

Ekadasam depending on time of day (sunrise/sunset/)"

> It is /Dasamam/ if the puja is done

/before sunrise/, and /Ekadasam /if the puja is done /after sunrise/.

Nothing to do with sunset at

> all. Hope that clarifies any doubt you may have. Please let me

know if you have any questions.

thanks nanda--that's

just how i did translate that in my mind.  thanks, much.

> */Swamij/*i said "*/Henny/*/ is right: The three middle fingers

mean pointer to the right, middle in the third eye, and ring for the

left/."

good. this is what i was doing.

> There are different kinds of pranayam . For the purposes of

chanting

> or japa, the length of the outflow in pranayam will be greater

than

> the length of inhalation. Typically for recitation or japa, we

inhale

> for the length of our Guru mantra and the recite the mantra of the

> deity (in this case */Shiva/*) during exhalation - hence two

what are our guru

mantras?

--

Be Love,

Berijoy

http://www.egyirba.net