pAkayajnas, haviryajnas, and somayajnas

[Vaidya Sundaram]

Sorry for this delayed post ...

On 04 November 1999 Anand Hudli wrote:

> A Yajna
> is to be understood and worshipped in four ways -
> 1) svAdhyAya yajna, study of the Vedas, 2) japayajna, chanting of
> Vedas as prayers, 3) karmayajna, the actual performance of Yajna,
> and 4) mAnasayajna, the mental performance of Yajna, as indicated for
> example in the meditation on the sacrificial horse of the ashvamedha
> yajna in the BR^ihadAraNyaka upanishhad. Of these, each way of
> performing a Yajna is ten times more effective than the preceding type.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 Do you mean each way of performing the Yajna is ten times more effective than
the *following* or the *preceding*? I ask since it seems counter-intuitive to me
- that meditaing on the ashvamedha sacrifice is some how better than actually
studying / reciting / japa / performance of the the vedas!!
Please do find time to clarify.

> 4. shUlagava                            4. ashhTakA
> 7. ashhTakAhoma                         7. IshAnabali

H.H. Chandrasekarendra Saraswati of Kanchi has been known to specifically insist
on the ashhTkA shrAdhham. It is a must for every house holder. It is a yajna for
progeny and there are several references to this even in the Ramayana; it has
been said that Lord Vishnu chose to be born as a son of King Dasharatha because
Dasharatha and all of his ancestors had always religiously observed the ashhTakA
sharAdham.

> Even in the days of the not-too-distant past, people used to live up
> to their names, such as "somayAjI" (one who performs the soma yajna).
> But these days, the shrauta yajnas have been neglected, although some
> of the domestic yajnas are performed by some people.

 I think it should be mentioned that this goes on even today and only a few days
go I received a notification of a soma yajna to be preformed. I think it is
important that we look out for such events and learn from the knowledgeable
people who still perform these yajnas.

bhava shankara desikame sharaNam
Vaidya.

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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