[Advaita-l] Fwd: Shodashopachara during Homa/Havan

[Anand Hudli]

As far as I know, the Vedic rituals currently practiced have Agama
influences, as for example in the daily sandhyAvandana, we have nyAsas and
mudras. The Rigvedic agnimukha prayoga does not mention a ShoDashopachAra
pUja to deities in the agni. Rather, there is a kalasha pUjA of the deities
prior to the homa and it is this kalasha pUjA that is essentially the
ShoDashopacAra pUjA. During homa, there is a sankalpa called anvAdhAna
wherein the yajamAna (through the priest) declares the deities and
offerings for each deity. I have also noticed Agamic influenced
ShoDashopacAra pUjA to deities in the agni, but this could also be done
with purely Ajya (ghee) offerings instead of other articles.

The  belief is that agni is the messenger of the gods ("agniM dUtaM
vR^iNImahe") and he carries our offerings to the gods. Or, he also brings
gods to the yajna for the purpose of accepting our offerings, as the very
second mantra of the Rigveda says (sa devAn iha A vakShati).  So it appears
that agni undertakes the responsibility of bringing the gods and ensuring
the offerings reach them. We don't have to specifically invite the gods
into agni.

Anand