SIMPLE HOMA PROCEDURE - PART 1

Introduction:
This series covers simple homa procedure that can be done individually at home.
This is the normal procedure adopted while performing homa as per Vaidika method.
There is another procedure called Tantric method. Vaidika method means relating to
the Veda, derived from or conformable to the Veda or prescribed in the Veda. There
may be variations from what is described here.
1. Requirements:
1. Very small quantity of rice flour
2. Homa kunda

4. Small quantity of sand to spread on homa kunda

3. Bunches of dharba grasses (normal requirement is 108)

4. Two wooden darvi-s (darvi means wooden ladle); out of which one should be
bigger than the other
5. A cup to hold homa dravya (this cup is called jyaptra), the materials used for
oblations. Main ingredient will always be ghee (clarified butter). Sometimes,
according to the deity concerned, there will be additions to ghee.
6. Pacaptra and uttarani. This should be always two in numbers. One is meant for
the deity for whom oblations are offered and another for the self to do camana.
Each of these pacaptra-s should have a small cup by their sides to pour water
from pacaptra using uttarani.
7. Small broken wooden pieces according to the size of the homa kund a. This is
required in order to maintain the fire in the homa kund a till the entire homa
procedure is completed.
8. Samidh (). Samidh is firewood, fuel, a log of wood, faggot, etc. Generally
pala tree wood is used.
9. Sandal paste, kumkum and turmeric powder.
10. Aksata in a cup. Take plain rice in a cup, add a little turmeric powder and add
half uttarani water. Mix them and this is aksata.
11. Flowers both threaded and lose.
12. Two cups known as proksanptra and prantptra (, )

13. One more cup to put one drop of homa dravya after offering oblations. (This is to
be strictly followed in the case of prnapratist h andpuracarana homas).
14. Enough water and towels to dry hands.
15. A hand fan (this is to kindle the fire; one should not blow directly into the homa
fire.)
16. Powdered condiments such as cardamom, clove, edible camphor, saffron, etc.
17. Naivedya items, fruits, jaggery (small piece for offering to Varun a; he is fond of
jaggery)
2. camanam:
Water should be taken from small pacaptra.
acyutya namah |
anantta namah |
govindya namah ||

camana is a procedure where water is taken in the right palm, which is sipped after
reciting mantras. This is also known as mahvydhi praaman nma tray
vidy ( ). This means by swallowing water with mantras, it
cures all types of illness, both physical and mental. While taking water in the palm,
little finger and thumb should not be folded and other fingers should be slightly folded
inwards.
3. Ganapati dhynam:
Wear pavitra now. Pavitra is made out of two dharba grasses cut to the size
measuring from tip of thumb to tip of little finger. This is worn on the right hand ring
finger after washing it with water from bigger pacaptra. When this is worn,
camana should not be done. When camana is prescribed, this should be removed
and placed on the right ear (ocean is said to be there) and after camana is over,
right palm is to be washed and dried with a towel and thereafter pavitra is to worn
back.

uklbaradhara visn u asivarna caturbhujam |

prasannavadana dhyyet sarvavignopa ntaye ||

(Meaning: Eternally present, wearing white garments, shining like the moon, having
four hands, whose face is full of Bliss, I worship you to remove all the obstacles
(while performing this pj.)
While reciting this mantra, one should close all the fingers in both the palms
(knuckles) and cuff the sides of the forehead. This increases the blood flow to the
brain. There are certain ndi-s on both sides of the forehead and while slightly
cuffing these places with fists.
4. Prnymah
Fold index and middle fingers of the right palm. Use the little finger and the ring
finger to close the left nostrils and the thumb to close the right nostril. Inhale through
the left nostril, hold for a few seconds and exhale through the right nostril. This is one
round of prnyma. Thus one should perform three rounds of the following
Brahmagyatr mantra.



---

om bhh| om bhuvah| om suvah| om mahah| om janah| om tapah| om satyam ||

om tat saviturvarenya bhargo devasya dhmahi |
dhiyo yo nah pracodayt ||
ompo-jyot-raso'mr ta-brahma bhrbhuvassuvarom ||
(Meaning: All the seven worlds are . We meditate on Brahman in the form of Light,
who makes us to perform different actions. is water, light and essence. Essence of
food that is given by the Earth,prna, which is important for our existence, the
vastness of the sky and three vyhr ti-s bhh, bhuvah and suvah which represent
mind, intellect and ego are also .)
5. Vignevara (Ganea) pj:
i) sakalapam

mamoptta
samasta
duritaksayadvr
rparamevara
prtyartha
kariyamnasaya karmanah nirvignena parisamptyartha dau vighnevara
pj karisye ||
ii) Ganea vahana:

asmin haridrbimbhe r mahganapati dhyymi | vhaymi

sana | pdya | arghya | snapaymi | camanya | gandhn dhraymi |
puspaih pjaymi ||
iii) Arcana: (only flowers to be offered)

om sumukhya namah | ekadantya namah | kapilya namah | gajakarnakya

namah | lambodarya namah | vikat ya namah | vignarjya namah | vinyakya
namah dhmaketave namah | gandhyaksya namah | phlacandrya namah |
gajnanya namah | vakratund ya namah | rpakarnya namah | herambya
namah | skandaprvajya namah ||
iv) Upacra-s:
dhpa, diprdhana, naivedya and nrjana.
v) Ganea gyatr:

tatpurusya vidmahe vakratund ya dhmahi |

tanno dantih pracodayt ||
vi) Prayer:

vakradund a mahkya
sarvakryesu sarvad ||

sryakot i samaprabha

| nirvigna kuru me deva

(Meaning: O Ganea, the one with a twisted trunk and a mighty body, one who has
brilliance of infinite number of suns, my Lord, always make all my endeavours free of
obstacles.)
6. Main sakalapam or homa sakalapam:
(This sakalapam is based on navvarana pj. This sakalapa is taken for the
sake of convenience, and to avoid any confusions).
Take some flowers in the left palm and place right palm over this and recite the
following mantra
-
**

, , , , , ,
,

.. .

ubhe obhne muhrte dyabrahmanah dvtya-parrdhe vetevarhakalpe

vaivasvatamanvantare
ast viatitame
kaliyuge
prathamepde
lalitnma dvpe lalitnma varse, lalitnma khand e, asmin vartamne vyavahrike
lalitnma savatsare, lalitnma ayene, lalitnma r tau, lalitnma mse,
lalitnma pakse, lalitnma tithau, lalitnma vsarayukty , lalitnma
naksatrayuktym, ubhayoga ubhakarana sakalaviesana viist
y asy
lalitnma
ubhatithau
mamoptta
samasta
duritaks ayadvra
r
paramevaraprtyartha asmka ks emasthairya vryavijaya yurrogya aivarya
abivr ddhyartha samasta magala avptyartha samsta duritopantyartha
. anugraha prasda siddhyarthe .homa karis ye ||
(In the dotted lines name of the god for whom oblations are made and the name of
the homa are to be filled. For example, if it is Ganapati homa, Mahganapati and
Ganapati hom are to used.)
Now put the flowers down.
apa upaspr ya || (wash both the palms with water from small pacaptra

and dry both the palms)

Now move turmeric Ganapati slightly towards north.
7. Varuna Pj:
Take bigger pacaptra and pour water and mix powdered condiments. Apply sandal
paste and kumkum on all the four sides of the vessel. Vessel should always be

based on a plate. By closing the top of the pacaptra, recite the following mantra.
This is for purification of water in the pacaptra. This is for invoking Varuna






- -

kalaasya mukhe visn u

h kant h
e rudrah samritah |
mle tatra sthito brahm madhye mtr ganh smr th ||
kuksau tu sgarh sarve saptadvp vasundhar |
r gvedo'tha yajurvedah smavedo'pyatharvanah ||
agaica sahith sarve kalabusamrith |
yatu dev-pjrtha duritaks aya-krakh ||
gage ca yamune caiva godvari sarasvati |
narmade sindhu kveri jalesmin sannidhi kuru ||
(Meaning: Mouth of this vessel is Vis n u
, its neck is Rudra and its base is Brahm. In
the centre all the aksara-s reside. All the oceans are within, along with the seven
continents. Four Vedas
together with all their branches dwell within this water.
Holy rivers Gaga, Yamun, Godvar, Sarasvat, Narmad, Sindhu and Kveri are
present in these waters.)
Now take away the right palm from pacaptra and do the following upacra-s:

Take flowers and do the following arcane by offering flowers at the base of
the pacaptra.
varunya namah || sana | pdya | arghya | snapaymi | camanya |
gandhn dhraymi | pus paih pjaymi ||

varunya namah | pracetase namah | surpine namah | apmpataye namah |

magaravhanya namah | jaldhipataye namah | pahastya namah | varunya
namah |
nnvidha patrapuspni samarpaymi ||
dhpa, diprdhana, naivedya* and nrjana.
*Jaggery can be offered as naivedya, if possible. In Sanskrit jaggery is known as
guda.
Now take some water from this pacaptra and pour a few drops into the small
pacaptra used for self. Then sprinkle this water all over the place and on all the
materials that are kept for homa.
Now take some water and sprinkle on the homa kund a by reciting the following
mantra

pohist
mayo bhuvah | tna rje dadhtana | mahe ranya caksase | yo vah
ivatamo rasah | tasya bhjayateha nah | uatriva mtarah |tasm ara gamma
vah | yasya ksayya jinvata | po janayay ca nah | om bhrbuvassuvah ||
(Meaning: You the deities of water are the cause of our happiness. Please nourish us
with the divine vision which brings glory and loveliness. Please make us worthy of
imbibing the auspicious bliss like a mother showering her love on her children. We
approach you to grace us with perpetual bliss, as you are the embodiment of bliss. .
Bestow on us the boon of a next life endowed with supreme knowledge.)
8. Homa procedure preparatory:
1. In the place where homa is to be performed, draw a square, preferably using rice
flour.
2. Now place the homa kund a on this.
3. It would be ideal to spread some sand on the surface of homa kund a.
4. Take two dharba grasses (kua grass) and draw three parallel lines beginning
from west and ending in the east and again another three parallel lines starting from

south and ending in north. This is shown in the image below. Touch right fingers in
water (tma pacaptra), touch the dharba grasses used above and then put away
these grasses in the direction of south west and again touch the water.

5. Keep wooden sticks and light the sticks using camphor piece by reciting
Bhrbuvassuvarom This is known as agni pratis t h
a ( ). Now add more
wooden sticks and make the fire burn well. Samidh as mentioned in 8 above need
not be used here.
6. Now paristrna () is to be done around the homa kunda
with dharba grass.
For this we need four sets of 16 dharba grasses. We have to place these four sets
as shown below. First start from east which is marked as 1 in the image and the
directions in which the tips are to be placed are shown as arrow marks. The tips
should be facing only east and north. Paristrna in the south should be on the top of
paristrna in the west and paristrna in the north should be below the paristrna in the
west. Nothing should be kept within paristrna, except homa kund a and paridhi
(paridhi consists of three samidh-s and forms part of idmam, discussed later.

7. Ptrasdanam: Outside the paristrna on the northern side (to our left), spread 12
dharba grass and place the following beginning from the western side small dharvi
and jyaptra (vessel for ghee); these two should be in touch with each other. Then
place proksanptra and prantptra and they should be touching each other.

After this bigger dharvi and idhmam and these both should touch each other.
Idhmam is a bundle of 21 samidh-s. All these 21 samidh-s should be tied together.
Out of this 21, three are meant for paridhi, two are meant for food for fire, 15 for
homa and one for upasthna (presence, proximity, nearness) and this will be
discussed later. Ptrasdanam will be like this.

(to be continued)

SIMPLE HOMA PROCEDURE - PART 2

9. ymatham: Now take two long dharba grasses and make a knot above the tips
of the grasses. This is called aymatham. Take water from bigger pacaptra and
purify aymatham. By holding aymatham with thumb and ring fingers of the right
palm, touch all the six articles placed in theptrasdanam beginning from western
side (from our side) to the eastern side. Untie the knot and place aymatham in the
south west side.
10. Now take 12 dharba grasses and place on the western side (opposite to us),
their tips facing north; they should be placed outside the paristrna. Now
take proksanptra and place it on the top of these 12 dharba grasses. Now put
some aksata and pour some water from the bigger pacaptra into proks a
nptra.
Care should be taken to kindle the fire in the homa kund a during these processes.
Once agni is lighted, it is not advisable to light it again.
11. Now take prantptra and keep it in front of our seat. Add aks ata and pour
some water from the bigger pacaptra. Take two dharba grasses and make a knot
in the middle. Now place this knot inside pran tptra and move dharba grasses
inside east to west three times. Now take this dharba and place it down. Take the
prantptra till the tip of the nose and place it on the north above
theptrasdanam (12 dharbas in the northern side) and recite the following mantra.

om varunya namah || sakalrdhanaih svarcitam ||

After reciting the mantra cover prantptra with 8 dharbas and tops these
dharbas should be facing east.
12. Brahm vahanam: If the homa is done by the self, one can mentally invoke
Brahm by reciting this mantra. Alternatively a krca (a bundle of dharba grass) can
be done and a knot be made a few inches above the tips and place this on the
southern side. This krca can be considered as Brahm. Take some aks ata and
flowers and recite the following mantra.

asmin homa karmani brahmnam tv vr n e

|
brahmane namah | sakalrdhanaih svarcitam ||
(Meaning: I submit to you that you should remain as Brahm for this homa. I pay my
obeisance to you. Please conduct this homa auspiciously in all respects.)
After reciting the above mantra, place aks a
ta and flowers on the krca representing
Brahm.
13. Take jyaptra and keep this in front. Ghee should be in melted form and should
not be melted on homa fire. Move jyaptra towards north. Now take two dharba
grasses as mentioned in 10 above and place the knotted portion inside jyaptra*.
Now pour ghee through the knot. Now take two tips (may be half an inch height) of
dharba grasses and put them into the jyaptra. Take the remaining portions of
these two dharba grasses, do proks a
na using water from bigger pacaptra and
keep it on the flame in the homa kund a and rotate it three times clock wise over
jyaptra. Aftr doing this, place these dharba grasses on the northern side. Now
move the knotted dharba grasses* inside jyaptra towards east and west three
times and unknot these dhrbas and put them into homa fire gradually. While doing
so, tips should be facing east.
14. Now take two dharvi-s, show them on the fire in the homa kun d
a
. Take two
dharba-s@ and touch the two dharvi-s with the tips of the dharbas beginning from
the handle side to the tip. Repeat this process three times. Place the dharvi-s in front
us (bigger one on our left and smaller one on the right). Now do proks a
na on the
dharvi-s using water from bigger pacaptra. Again take some water from bigger
pacaptra and touch the two dharba-s@ and place these dharba-s into the fire.

15. Parisecana: Take water from bigger pacaptra in the right palm and pour water
around the homa kund a (outside the homa kund a). While doing so, recite the
following mantras
Begin from west and end in east on the southern side - adite
anumanyasva |
From south to north on the western side - anumate anumanyasva |
From west to east on the northern side - sarasvate anumanyasva |
Begin from north west and end at north west thereby making a full circle -

devasavitah prasva ||
(The above is a prayer is addressed seeking permission to Aditi, Anumati and
Sarasvati Devi-s. The last one is seeking grace from Savitr (stimulator; or this could
refer to Tvast r , the heavenly builder).
16. Invoking Agni in the middle of the homa kunda
:
Take some flowers and aksata in both the hands and recite the following mantra.

catvri r
g trayo asya pd dve rse sapta hastso asya | tridh baddho
vr s abho roravti maho devo martygu vivea || es a hi devah pradio'nu sarvh
prvo hi jtah sa u garbhe antah | sa vijyamnah sa janisyamnah
pratyaamukhstist hati vivatomukhah ||
pramukho deva he agne abhimukho bhava ||
Place the flowers in the middle of the homa kund a and hold the palms together and
pray to Agni.
17. Agni alakarana:
This is preparing and decorating the agni for homa. Mainly this is about worshiping
eight cardinal deities. On the sides of the homa kunda
apply sandal paste and
kumkum. Then take aksata and flowers and after reciting the mantra place the
flowers on the respective cardinal directions. We have to begin from east.
East - indrya namah |

South East - agnaye namah |

South - yamya namah |
South West - nirr t aye namah |
West - varunya namah |
North West - vyave namah |
North - somya namah |
North East - nya namah |
In the middle of homa kunda
- agnaye namah |
Take aksata and put them on the self
On the self - tmane namah |
Take aksata put them on those who are present during homa ritual.
sarvebhyo brhmanebhyo namah ||
18. What to do with idhmam:
Now take the bundle of samidh-s containing 21 numbers. Place two bigger ones
inside the homakund a on the western side. They should be placed in vertical
position, inside the homa kunda
. These two are known hra samidh. Take another
three samidh-s and place them in horizontal positions on all three sides except east.
They are called paridhi (an enclosure, fence, wall, protection) and are known as
madhyama, daksina, uttara. Now we have 16. Take one away and keep this on the
northern side. This will be used at the end (upasthna reaching the deity). Now we
have 15.
19. First huti () to Brahm:
Take 15 samidh-s and dip one end into the jyaptra (with ghee) and by reciting this
mantra put them into the middle of homa fire. Take ghee in the small dharvi and offer
this oblation from north east to south west. While offering this oblation, ghee should
be pouring continuously without break (but practically this may not be possible; as far
as possible, care should be taken to follow this).
-

asmin homakarmani brahman idma-mdsye |

svh || prajpataye ida na mama ||

After doing this, touch all the three idhmam-s
20. Oblation to Indra:
Now put down the small dharvi and take the bigger one. Take ghee in this dharvi.
Begin the oblation from south west point to the north east point inside the homa
kund a. This oblation should also be poured continuously as explained above.
indrye ida na mama ||

21. jyabhga: Two oblations, one meant for Agni and another for Soma (soma
represents essence of soma plant, purified with water and added with ghee and
some flour for fermentation. This is offered to gods as oblations; instead of this,
oblation with ghee is done now.)
Place the bigger dharvi down and take the smaller dharvi and take ghee for
oblations.
Oblation to Agni: This oblation is to be done at a point little away from the north east
(in the mid point between the central point and the north east point).
agnaye svh | agnaye ida na mama ||

Oblation to Soma: This oblation is to be done at a point little away from the south
east (in the mid point between the central point and the south east point).
somya svh | somye ida na mama ||

22. Pryacitta huti:

This is done to seek pardon for any mistakes that happened unknowingly from the
point of sakalpa till this point. Pryacitta means atonement. Here oblation is again
offered to Brahm. This oblation also is to be done with smaller dharvi.

sakalpaprabhr ti
etatksanparyanta
madhye
pryacittrtha sarvapryacitta hos ymi ||

sabhvita

samastados a

om bhrbhuvassuvah svh || prjpataye ida na mama ||

With this, preliminary homa procedure is concluded. This is called prv ga or
preparatory part. Next comes individual homa for different gods such as Gan a
pati,
navagraha, etc. After completing homa for a particular god, for example Gan a
pati

homa, uttarga oblations are done, which includes jaydihoma ( ) which

consists of about 60 oblations to different gods. After jaydihoma is concluded,
further procedures are there to conclude the homa ritual.
(to be continued)