Offerings to our ancestors (pitr-yajna ): This involves donating food, money, clothes and so on in the memory of our ancestors to thank them. After all, even if they left no material legacy for someone, their seed is the reason why we are here.
Offerings to gods (deva-yajna ): By making water and fire offerings, we perform deva-yajna . This type of yajna along with the one below is our primary focus presently.
Offering to the Universe (brahma-yajna ): This is done by chanting Vedic mantras. Therefore, in mantra yoga no fire offerings are made without associating a mantra with them. For on the path of mantra sadhana, sound (manifest or silence) is our first connection with the divine energy.
That which helps us realize the truth (jna ) of now, the present moment (ya ), is yajna . Our life is a series of present moments.
The yajna that has fire offerings is also called homam or agnihotra . It can be as elaborate as easily lasting eight hours or more, or it can be concise enough to be wrapped up within 15-20 minutes. What kind of yajna you do depends entirely on the nature and purpose of your sadhana. In this chapter, as far as mantra yoga is concerned, to make effective fire offerings, I present to you the short but sufficient steps of a yajna .
Ingredients required for fire offerings
Bricks and sand if you are making your own elevated platform (Vedi ).
An oil lamp. Incense is optional.
Ghee (or any specific oil as prescribed in the sadhana).
Any spoon or wooden spoons to make offerings of ghee.
A small water pot.
(Yajna ingredients are different for various sadhanas. Once again, for the sadhanas listed in this book, I’ve specified the ingredients.)
Firewood (Small sticks usually suffice unless you are doing a large yajna ).
A dry coconut. This is used in the end to offer the last oblation (ahuti ). The coconut is punctured (if it’s with skin) or cut at the top (if it’s without skin) and a bit of ghee and yajna ingredients are put in that (the lid is put back on the top if it’s without skin).
A bucket of water (I’ve done thousands of yajnas in my life and never needed to douse the fire. But, if you are starting out, you may want to keep a bucket of water close by in case of any fire hazard.)
How to make a firepit (Yajna-kunda )
The shape of a firepit can be a square, circle, rhombus, star, triangle, trapezium or undefined. The shape and size of a firepit are determined based on your mantra sadhana. For simplicity purposes and for the sadhanas contained in this book, you need the most commonly used firepit: a square.
You can buy them readymade from the market. They are portable and the most common ones are made from iron. Or you can dig a pit in the ground. Ideally, it should be as deep as wide and long. A firepit of 2 ft x 2 ft x 2 ft or even 1.5 ft x 1.5 ft x 1.5 ft is usually enough. If you can’t dig a pit or source a firepit from the market, you can build your own platform, a slightly elevated piece of ground (vedi ). Here’s how to do it:
Firepit without boundary
This is suitable for small yajnas with no more than 108 fire offerings of the main (mula ) mantra. You will need eight bricks to make the most basic one. Lay them horizontally on a clean surface in the following pattern as per the diagram below to make a firepit. Once done, make a thin layer of sand on it and sprinkle water. This is done to protect the surface (as it may have many small organisms) below the platform from the heat that’s generated from the fire offerings.
Firepit with boundary
You will need 18 bricks to create this yajna-kunda . Make the exact same firepit as in the table above and then create a boundary by laying 10 bricks vertically. This is suitable for up to 1000 fire offerings. As with the pit without the boundary, create a layer of sand and sprinkle water on it. It is important to filter the sand and to ensure that it is clean and that there are no insects in it that may lead to accidental harm to such tiny creatures. You can do this by leaving the sand out in the sun a day before and then washing it, drying it and sieving it.
Performing the yajna
Many preliminary steps of a yajna are exactly the same as the ones you do before you start your japa . I am listing those steps here:
Bathe
If you are performing your yajna immediately after your japa , you don’t have to take a bath. But, if you did japa in the morning but are doing yajna in the evening (or vice-versa) for example, you will have to bathe before making fire offerings.
Put on fresh clothes
Once again, if you are doing it immediately after your japa , you can wear the same clothes. Otherwise, put on fresh ones.
Keep a small pot of water in front of you (or on your right side) for purification.
A small container with ghee (clarified butter) will be required. You can use any spoon to make the offering in the fire or if you want to do it the traditional way, use a wooden spoon. The two wooden spoons are called sruka and sruva that are used to make ghee offerings in fire. Keep your pot of ghee to your right.
Keep the pot with the ingredients (charu ) for fire offerings in front of you. Ingredients for yajna vary from sadhana to sadhana. For all the sadhanas listed in this book, I’ve specified the ingredients next to them.
Purify the surroundings (Pavitrikarana )
Self-purification (Achamana )
Wash your hands (Hasta prakshalana )
Light the lamp (In addition, you can also light incense at this stage if you like, but it’s optional.)
Invoke Ganesha
Show three handlocks for Ganesha (Ganesh mudra)
Chant the Vedic hymn of auspiciousness (Svastivachana )
Meditate on your guru (Guru dhyana )
Chant your guru mantra (Guru mantra japa )
Offer obeisance to all siddhas
Meditate on your deity (Ishta dhyana )
Place your firewood in the firepit and light it. You can use the same mantra to light this as you do for lighting a lamp. You can light camphor or a wick dipped in oil to ignite the fire. Simply place it on one of the wooden chips at the base and light it (camphor or wick in oil). Start arranging firewood around it keeping space for the air to flow.
Once the fire starts, you are ready to make fire offerings. An important point to remember is that every offering made in the fire must end with the word “svaha ”. The Sanskrit word svaha means to burn completely and it is used to burn all our afflictions. Svaha in the Hindu tradition is the energy aspect of fire. It is responsible for taking the fire offering to its destination. Make the following offerings with ghee alone. Every time, you say “svaha ”, pour ghee using your spoon (or wooden spoon). All offerings are made with your right hand only. Sanskrit (Devanagari) Sanskrit (IAST) ॐ प्रजापतये स्वाहा । Oṃ prajāpataye svāhā । इदं प्रजापतये इदन्न मम । Idaṃ prajāpataye idanna mama । इति मनसा। Iti manasā। ॐ इन्द्राय इदमिन्द्राय इदन्न मम । Oṃ indrāya idamindrāya idanna mama । इत्याधारौ ।। Ityādhārau ।। ॐ अग्नये स्वाहा । Oṃ agnaye svāhā । इदमग्नेय इदन्न मम । Idamagneya idanna mama । ॐ सोमाय स्वाहा । Oṃ somāya svāhā । इंदसोमाय इदन्न मम । Iṃdasomāya idanna mama । इत्याज्यभागौ । Ityājyabhāgau । ॐ भूः स्वाहा । Oṃ bhūḥ svāhā । इदमग्नेय इदन्न मम । Idamagneya idanna mama । ॐ भुवः स्वाहा । Oṃ bhuvaḥ svāhā । इदं वायवे इदन्न मम । Idaṃ vāyave idanna mama । ॐ स्वः स्वाहा । Oṃ svaḥ svāhā । इदं सूर्याय इदन्न मम । Odaṃ sūryāya idanna mama । एता महाव्याहृतयः । Etā mahāvyāhṛtayaḥ । ॐ त्वन्नो अग्ने वरुणस्य विद्वान देवस्य हेडो अवयासिसीष्ठाः । Oṃ tvanno agne varuṇasya vidvāna devasya heḍo avayāsisīṣṭhāḥ । यजिष्ठोविहनतमः शोशुचानो विश्वादेवाँ सिप्रमुग्ध्यस्मत् स्वाहा ।। Yajiṣṭhovihnatamaḥ