Hindu Religious Rite,Sandhya Vandanam Explained.

Sandhya Vandana -Sandhya,Vandana means”praying when day meets night’.

This happens twice a Day.

-When Day Meets Night,Sun Rise

-Night Meets Day,Sunset

In addition, two equal divisions of Day meet,Noon.

The Smritis, Texts to be followed by the Hindus for their Religious Rites, enjoins one to perform this Rite thrice a Day.

Sandhya Vandana Part I

Timings:

Early Morning, just before Sunrise.

Noon

At Sunset.

The Smritis declare ‘No Mantra/prayer will yield results if one does not perform the Sandya Vandana as no Good will come to one who neglects his parents, even if he worships God and performs all the Duties enjoined by The Vedas‘

The Sandya Vandana addresses The Sun.

Sun is the visible God , who showers His Blessings to all irrespective of who or what they are .

The mantras seek atone for sins committed by one knowingly or unknowingly to the other Living beings in the process of Living,seeks guidance,  Blessings for Clarity of Vision, Knowledge and the well-being of all.

The mantras differ slightly for each of the Time we perform the Sandya Vandana, depending on the senses which go active during this period.

To quote one.

In the Morning  Prachanam it seeks atonement for the’ sins committed during the Night by the Genital Organs’ .

This is not present in the other Mantras used in the Sandya Vandana Prachanam-because it is only at night Human beings ae expected to have sexual Relationship.

The Sandya Vandana has the following parts.

• Aachamana
• Pranayama
• Sankalpam
• Jalaprashanam or Marjanam
• Arghya pradanam
• Navagraha Kesavathi Tarpana
• Gayatri japam
• Upasthanam
• Abhivadanam
• Samarpanam

Acahamana To be performed by sitting on the heels ,keeping the forehands  in between the knees;water is to be taken from a receptacle kept only for Puja with a spoon with deep cavity,’water is to be taken and dropped in the Palm of the right palm(for the position look up to YouTube;this has to be done thrice;each time the water is to be sipped without touching the lips)

Pranayama is the control of breath;there are definite rules on the number of seconds one has to inhale,retain and exhale the breath with a special arrangement of the fingers of the Hands.

Salkalpam, Clear Determination.

Jalaprasthanam or Maarjanam, the sprinkling of water over one’s head after the water has been purified with the mantras.

Argya Pradhanam, the offering of the Life giving water as a token .

Navagraha,Kesavaathi Tharpana,the offering of gratitude to the Planets and the Lord of Beings and protector,Narayana.

Gayatri Japam ,Prayer,Self dedication and  Dedication, The results of every thing we do,including this action to Lord Narayana .

Audio Link in a separate posts(in two parts-read these posts ,play the Link and perform  Sandya Vandana).

Mantras in Text form with details of actions to be performed are posted separately.