Learn sandhyA vandhanam

srI:
srImathE satakOpAya nama:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srImadh varavaramunayE nama:

For children born in srIvaishNava families of brAhmaNa, kshathriya and vaisya varNam, yagyOpavItham is an important ceremony. At the appropriate age, the boy undergoes brahmOpadhEsam (upadhEsam of gAyathri manthram) from his father (generally). At this juncture, the boy enters into brahmacharya Asramam. According to sAsthram, this brings about a lot of change in the life style of the boy. brahmacharya means getting closer to brahma (supreme lord) and learning the appropriate vidhyai (knowledge) to get close to bhagavAn.

During brahmacharya, one must live an austere life with very little focus on material pleasures. Usually, the boy should sleep on floor, not accept sandalwood paste, betel leaves/nuts, etc., which are considered as pleasure giving objects and ofcourse curb the desires for any other material pleasure. The boy should fully focus on learning vEdham, dhivya prabhandham, pUrvAchArya sthOthrams, etc., during this stage of the life.

Also, at this stage, the boy becomes qualified to engage in nithya, naimiththika karmas. nithya karmams are the ones that are performed daily – sandhyA vandhanam, samithAdhAnam, etc. naimiththika karmams are the ones that are performed on special occasions – pithru tharppaNam, grahaNa snAnam/tharppaNam, etc.  Both nithya and naimiththika karmams are performed as bhagavadh AgyA kainkaryam – those which are ordained by bhagavAn as mandatory activities. So these kainkarayams must be done. “sandhyA hIna: asuchi:” says sAsthram meaning one who has not performed sandhyA vandhanam for the particular session/day is impure. It is a bhagavadh AgyA kainkaryam (compulsory activity to be performed as per the orders of srIman nArAyaNan) that is to be done thrice a day (morning, noon, evening) for every dhvijan (brAmaNa, kshathriya, vaisya). It is also to be performed even during Asoucham (both vruththi and kshayam).

With this introduction, we will now see a simple demonstration of the most important of nithya karmams – sandhyA vandhanam by srI u. vE. P. dheivanAyagam swamy.

srI u. vE. dheivanAyagan swamy has given full demonstration of prAthas sandhyA vandhanam, mAdhyAnniham and sAyam sandhyA vandhanam – specific for yajur vEdham. Previously, a DVD was released and is still available for sale for Rs 100 and can be purchased by contacting 044-28440009 or kaarimaaran@gmail.com. We have now uploaded these videos in to youtube for the benefit of every one.

• part 1 – introduction and prAthas (morning) sandhyA vandhanam