सावित्री-प्रयोगाः

The ritual of ācamana

• He sips water 3× with the 3 feet of the Sāvitrī.
• Thereafter, he performs mārjanam at the appropriate spots on the face and one shoulder with the feet of the āpohiṣṭhiya mantra-s, at other shoulder with the 7 vyāhṛtis, at the chest with the whole sāvitrī and on the head with the brahmaśiras.
• He may use this ācamana for routine smārta and ekāgni purposes. The only exceptions are Atharvan rituals (where he should use the Atharvavedīya ācamana-vidhi) and the three-fire śrauta rituals.

saṃdhyopāsanā

• The Sāvitrī is the essential mantra for the twilight saṃdhyopāsanā or the worship of the god Savitṛ during the day. Every dvija has to receive this mantra from his father or male guardian during his upanayana. If a brāhmaṇa male does not perform this rite at all then the king who observes dharma may employ him a śūdra.
• He should first take a bath if he is an state of impurity before performing the Savitropāsanā. Beyond a bath with water, a dvija should also perform prokṣaṇa.
• Having deployed the saṃdhyā preliminaries as ordained in his śruti or that ordained by in the Baudhāyana tradition, he can perform the mantra-practice.
• He does japa (inaudibly) of the Sāvitrī 1008× or 108×.
• If he does not have the time he may perform prāṇāyama with the 7 vyāhṛti-s and the brahmaśiras 10×.
  • The most simple form of prāṇāyāma involves inhaling with oṃ bhūḥ.
  • Retaining the breath with the rest of the mantra and exhaling with the brahmaśiras.
• After concluding the japa or prāṇāyāma he offers arghya 3 ×  + 1 for expiation with his cupped palms or a shell.
• He then invokes Mitra (morning) and Varuṇa (evening) or both if he has missed one. Then he utters the purificatory incantation of Agni, Sūrya or the waters.

Purification

• If a dvija has committed a ghora-pāpa, e.g. abortion, brāhmaṇī-gamanam, puṃścalī-gamanam etc, or has killed a dog, a beaver, a mongoose, a goose or a garden lizard, then he may purify himself after reciting the Sāvitrī 8000× continuously starting before the sun rises.
• If a dvija has had his bath but is uncertain of his ritual purity due to activities he has performed since his bath, he may wear new clothes and perform a japa of the Sāvitrī for a fixed number of times or do prāṇāyāma as described above.
  • Then he recites the following incantation of Vasiṣṭha:
    शुची॑ वो ह॒व्या म॑रुतः॒ शुची॑नां॒
    शुचिं॑ हिनोम्य् अध्व॒रं शुचि॑भ्यः ।
    ऋ॒तेन॑ स॒त्यम् ऋ॑त॒साप॑ आय॒ञ्
    छुचि॑-जन्मानः॒ शुच॑यः पाव॒काः ॥
    Pure oblations to you O Marut-s, the pure ones;
    A pure ritual I offer to the pure ones;
    By the ṛta the ṛta-knowers have attained truth,
    of pure birth, they who are pure, the purifiers.

Concluding ritual

• After the conclusion of upāsanā the ritualist must invoke Savitṛ for protection. He sprinkles water on the place where he did is upāsanā and having touched the ground with his ring finger, he touches the spot between his eyebrows with the same finger. While doing this action he recites the following Sāvitra incantations of Śyāvāśva Ātreya:

अ॒द्या नो॑ देव सवितः
प्र॒जाव॑त् सावीः॒ सौभ॑गम् ।
परा॑ दु॒ष्ष्वप्न्यं॑ सुव ॥
विश्वा॑नि देव सवितर्
दुरि॒तानि॒ परा॑ सुव ।
यद् भ॒द्रं तन् न॒ आ सु॑व ॥

Today, god Savitṛ, you have impelled to us a good share consisting of offspring. Impel away the bad dream.
O god Savitṛ impel away all difficulties; what is auspicious, impel that here to us.

These are also the mantra-s with which the Vaiśvadeva-śastra is initiated in the śrauta ritual. The Hindu freedom fighter of Rām Prasād Bismil when being executed by the English was asked for his last wish. To which he replied: “The downfall of the British Empire.” Then he invoked Savitṛ reciting these mantra-s as he was taken to the noose. They supposed to be for him to be reborn to fight the English again and the reborn Indian nation

Rite of herb mixture

• The rite of the herb-mixture taught by the sage Uddālaka Āruṇi to his student Yājñavalkya Vājasaneya.
• He performs the preparatory vrata of 12 days during which he controls his diet and observes celibacy.
• The rite is done during uttarāyaṇa on an auspicious day of the waxing phase of the moon when it is in a male constellation after his regular evening rituals and before sleeping.
• He takes all kinds of plants and fruits and grinds them into a mixture with a little bit of butter in a bowl made of fig-wood or metal
• He then prepares the fire altar by cleaning and wiping. Then he makes the initial ghee offering using a darvi at the svāhā with the mantra:

याव॑न्तो देवास्॒ त्वयि॑ जातवेदस्
ति॒र्यञ्चो॒ घ्नन्ति॒ पुरु॑षस्य॒ कामा॑न् ।
तेभ्यो॒ ऽहं भ॑ग॒धेयं॑ जुहोमि॒
ते मा॒ तृप्ताः॒ सर्वैः॒ कामै॑स् तर्पयन्तु॒
स्वाहा॑ ।
या ति॑रश्ची नि॒पद्य॑ते॒
ऽहं वि॑धर॒णी इ॑ति ।
तां त्वा॑ घृ॒तस्य॒ धार॑या॒
यजे॒ सग्ँरा॑धनीम् अहग्ँ॒
स्वाहा॑ ॥

• He then makes the long series of ghee offerings with the yajus mantra-s:

ज्ये॒ष्ठाय॒ स्वाहा॒ श्रेष्ठा॑य॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥
प्रा॒णाय॒ स्वाहा॒ वसि॑ष्ठायै॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥
वाचे॒ स्वाहा॑ प्रति॒ष्ठायै॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥
चक्षु॑षे॒ स्वाहा॑ सं॒पदे॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥
श्रोत्रा॑य॒ स्वाहा॒ऽऽयत॑नाय॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥
मन॑से॒ स्वाहा॒ प्रजा॑त्यै॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥
रेत॑से॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥ अ॒ग्नये॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥
सोमा॑य॒ स्वाहा॑॥
भूः॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥ भुवः॒ स्वाहा॑॥ स्वः॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥ भूर् भु॒वः स्वः॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥
ब्र॑ह्मणे॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥ क्ष॒त्राय॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥ भू॑ताय॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥ भवि॒ष्यते॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥ विश्वा॑य॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥ सर्वा॑य॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥ प्र॒जाप॑तये॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥

After each distinct offering (marked by a double daṇḍa), whatever ghee remains behind in the darvi he pours into the herb mixture and stirs it up.

• Touching the bowl with the mixture with his right hand and holding his left hand to his chest he recites the following incantation:

भ्रम॑द् असि । ज्वल॑द् असि । पू॒र्णम् अ॑सि । प्र॒स्त॒ब्धम् अ॑सि । ए॒क॒स॒भम् अ॑सि । हि॒ङ्कृ॒तम् अ॑सि । हि॒ङ्क्रि॒य॒मा॒णम् अ॑सि । उ॒द्गी॒थम् अ॑सि । उ॒द्गी॒य॒मा॒नम् अ॑सि । श्रा॒वित॑म् असि । प्र॒त्या॒श्रा॒वि॒तम् अ॑सि । आर्द्रे॑ संदी॒प्तम् अ॑सि । वि॒भूर् अ॑सि । प्र॒भूर् अ॑सि । अन्न॑म् असि । ज्योति॑र् असि । नि॒धन॑म् असि । सं॒वर्गो॑ ऽसि ॥ अथै॑न॒म् उद्य॑च्छ॒त्य् आम॒ग्ँस्य् आम॑ग्ँ हि ते॒ महि॑ । स॒ हि॒ रा॒जेशा॒नो ऽधिपतिः ।स॒ मा॒ग्ँ राजेशा॒नो ऽधि॑पतिं करोतु ॥

• He then consumes the mixture as an offering to Savitṛ within him in three courses each with the following incantation (the feet of the Sāvitrī are silently muttered in each case):

ॐ तत् स॑वि॒तुर् वरे॑ण्य॒म् ।
मधु॒ वाता॑ ऋताय॒ते
मधु॑ क्षरन्ति॒ सिन्ध॑वः ।
माध्वी॑र् नः स॒न्त्व् ओषधीः॑ ।
भूः॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥

भर्गो॑ दे॒वस्य॑ धीमहि ।
मधु॒ नक्त॑म् उ॒तोषसि॒
मधु॑म॒त् पार्थि॑वग्ँ रजः ।
मधु॒ द्यौर् अ॑स्तु नः पि॒ता ।
भुवः॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥

धियो॒ यो नः॑ प्रचो॒दया॑त् ।
मधु॑मान् नो॒ वन॒स्पति॒र्
मधु॑माग्ँ अस्तु॒ सूर्यः॑ ।
माध्वी॒र् गवो॑ भवन्तु नः ।
स्वः॒ स्वाहा॑

He then recites (Sāvitrī is muttered in silence):

ॐ भुर्-भुवः-स्वः ।
ॐ तत् स॑वि॒तुर् वरे॑ण्य॒म् भर्गो॑ दे॒वस्य॑ धीमहि ।
धियो॒ यो नः॑ प्रचो॒दया॑त् ॥
मधु॒ वाता॑ ऋताय॒ते
मधु॑ क्षरन्ति॒ सिन्ध॑वः ।
माध्वी॑र् नः स॒न्त्व् ओषधीः॑ ।
मधु॒ नक्त॑म् उ॒तोषसि॒
मधु॑म॒त् पार्थि॑वग्ँ रजः ।
मधु॒ द्यौर् अ॑स्तु नः पि॒ता ।
मधु॑मान् नो॒ वन॒स्पति॒र्
मधु॑माग्ँ अस्तु॒ सूर्यः॑ ।
माध्वी॒र् गवो॑ भवन्तु नः ।
अहम् एवे॑द॒ग्ँ सर्वं॑ भूयासं
भूर् भु॒वः स्वः॒ स्वाहा॑ ॥

He then sips some water and washes his hands and sleeps behind the fire altar with his head to the East.

• He the wakes up the next day and utters the following incantation looking at the sun.

दि॒शाम् ए॒कपु॑ण्डरी॒कम् अ॑सि ।
अ॒हं म॒नुष्या॑णाम् एकपुण्डरी॒कं भू॑यासम् ॥

• He then silently recites the lineage of teachers of this rite:

उद्दालक आरुणिर् याज्ञवल्क्यो वाजसनेयो मधुकः पैङ्ग्यश् चूलो भागवित्तिर् जानकिर् आयस्थूणः सत्यकामो जाबालिः॥

• If he has seen a beautiful woman in his dream that night then his rite is a success.