Introduction to Tarpanam: Let us now see how do we do Ganapati tarpanam.

For knowing the same, we've to know what tarpanam is. Tarpanam comes from the word tripti, which is satisfying. We're satisfying the Goddess by following a process, which in turn removes obstacles, bestows us some good things in life and elevates us spiritually over time. In Srividya Upasana, Parasurama Kalpa Sutras or aphorisms serves as the base or core. This is what was given by Parasurama Rishi after receiving the knowledge from Lord Dattatreya. In Parasurama Kalpa sutra, the first Upasana that is advised is Ganapathy and in Ganapathy, Tarpanam is there, pancha AVarana puja is there and there is Homam also. Out of these, now we'll learn Ganapathy Tarpanam. Its traditional name is Ganapathy Chaturavritti Tarpanam, that is we'd be pouring water 444 times on Ganapathy through our hand. Let us now see and learn how to do Ganapathy tarpanam. The check list for Ganapathy Tarpanam is the following: Betel or any other leaf, turmeric powder, flowers, kumkum, big plate, water bindi or vessel, Pancha patram, Uddharani, sugandha dravya powder. How do we sit ? We sit facing east on a wooden plank or a silk seat. Then, keep the big plate which can hold upto 5 glasses of water in front of you. Take the fresh betel leaf and keep it on the plate such that its tip faces east and the stalk west. After keeping the betel leaf, take a teaspoon of turmeric powder in your left palm, mix a spoon of water and make a semi solid paste of it. Turmeric Ganapathy: From this semi solid turmeric paste, make a four sided Pyramid with your right hand by shaping it correspondingly with fingers. Once it is done, keep this turmeric pyramid on the betel leaf. This turmeric pyramid is our Ganapathy for doing Ganapathy Tarpanam. After keeping the Ganapathy on the betel leaf, keep kumkum on all the four sides and keep some flowers to him. Sugandha Jala: Our Ganapathy for doing Tarpanam is ready now. Mix the sugandha dravya powder to the water in the big bindi and stir it uniformly for half a minute. The sugandha powder is a mix of spices powdered nicely such that it gets dissolved in the water. According to Parasurama Kalpa Sutra, this sugandha jala or water is the fittest water for Ganapathy Tarpanam. Tarpanam process: Pour some water from the bindi into pancha patra uddharani till it is filled. The following procedure comprises of one Tarpanam. To take water in the uddharani using left hand and pour it on the horizontally kept right hand palm. Keep the water and chant the prescribed Mantra and at the end of the Mantra, when "tarpayami namaha" comes, pour the water from the right hand onto the Turmeric

Ganapathy kept on the betel leaf on the plate. Start Ganapathy Tarpanam: Mula Mantram of Ganapathy is "om shreem....". The Mantra has 28 Aksharas. How does the count go ? om shreem hreem kleem gloum gam ga na pa tha ye va ra va ra da sar va ja nam me va sha ma na ya swa ha Firstly, pour some water in the right hand palm with uddharani in left hand and chant the full mula mantra. "om shreem hreem kleem........." followed by tarpayami namaha. when we say tarpayami namaha, pour the water from the right hand palm onto turmeric Ganapathy. Let us repeat it, take water on the right hand palm, chant the mula mantra totally followed by tarpayami namaha and when you say tarpayami namaha, pour the water on Ganapathy. Similarly this has to be repeated 12 times. (Total 12) We told earlier that there are 28 aksharas or syllables for the mantra. Ganapathy Tarpanam continues by doing tarpanam with all these 28 aksharas in the following way. Take one akshara, add "swaha tarpayami namaha" and pour water on the Ganapathy. This has to be followed by the Mula Mantra tarpanam, that is the full mula mantra has to be chanted followed by "tarpayami namaha" and the water has to be poured onto Ganapathy. So for the first akshara, "om", this is how it goes.

om swaha tarpayami namaha om shreem hreem kleem gloum gam.... tarpayami namaha This has to be repeated four times. That is, om swaha tarpayami namaha om shreem hreem kleem gloum gam.... tarpayami namaha om swaha tarpayami namaha om shreem hreem kleem gloum gam.... tarpayami namaha om swaha tarpayami namaha om shreem hreem kleem gloum gam.... tarpayami namaha Then, take the next akshara which is shreem. Follow the same process. shreem swaha tarpayami namaha om shreem hreem kleem gloum gam.... tarpayami namaha shreem swaha tarpayami namaha om shreem hreem kleem gloum gam.... tarpayami namaha shreem swaha tarpayami namaha om shreem hreem kleem gloum gam.... tarpayami namaha shreem swaha tarpayami namaha om shreem hreem kleem gloum gam.... tarpayami namaha In the same way, you need to do tarpanam for all the 28 given aksharas. For each bijakshara, there are 8 counts of tarpanams done. So, for 28 aksharas, 28X8 that is 224 tarpanas will be done. The second part of the tarpanam is over. Then the third part. For Ganapathy Upasana, there is a separate Yantra called Ganapathy Yantra. It has five layers and having close to 26 spots where different parivara devtas of Ganapathy are sitting. This is similar to Khadgamala Devatas sitting in Srichakra. These Devatas inside Ganapathy Yantra are called Mithuna Devatas, because they are present in the Yantra together, as couples. What are the names of these 26 Devatas ? They are: sri sripathy girija girijapathy rati ratipathy mahee maheepathy

mahalakshmi mahalakshmipathy xx xx We've to do tarpanas for them also. How does it go ? shreem and add tarpayami namaha to it and pour water onto Ganapathy. Followed by Mula Mantram tarpayami namaha. So, how does it go ? shreem tarpayami namaha, om shreem hreem ......... This has to be done totally four times. shreem tarpayami namaha, om shreem hreem ......... shreem tarpayami namaha, om shreem hreem ......... shreem tarpayami namaha, om shreem hreem ......... shreem tarpayami namaha, om shreem hreem ......... The difference between this mithuna devata tarpanam and the previous bijakshara tarpanam is that there was swaha added to each bija and here there is no swaha. So, in this way, we have to do tarpanam for all hte 26 mithuna devatas. As there are 8 tarpanas for each Devata, there are totally 26 devatas and hence there are 26X8 = 208 So, till now there are 12 initial mula mantra tarpanas, followed by 224 tarpanams with Bijaksharas followed by 208 Mithuna Devata Tarpanas totalling 444 tarpanas. This completes the tarnam. The last part is Phala Sruti Slokam. It means, the sloka explains the fruit obtained by doing the Ganapathy Tarpanam. It goes like the following: aayur arogyam aishwaryam balam pushtihi mahadyashaha kavitvam bhukti muktee cha chaturavrutti tarpanaat. after chanting the sloka, take some water using the uddharani and drink it. You can give the same to all the people in the house. The sloka means that this Ganapathy Tarpanam blesses a devotee with longevity, good health, wealth, strength, stability, great fame, poetical skills, all the rich experiences and the liberation from

birth and death. Take the betel leaf out of the plate it and keep in a dry place so that it can dry over time. You can sprinkle the water all over the house and if there is any water remaining, pour it to a plant in a garden. Make sure that you dont pour it where people step on it. Totally this has to be done for 41 days and this process removes any obstacles in our endevours, removes any mental blocks, removes fears and gives clarity in thinking and blesses us with all the riches. The 41 betel leaves dried thus, can be offered into Ganapathy Homam by chanting 41 times. This completes the 41 days of Ganapathy Tarpanam.