Ritual of Ahnik for Tyagi saints narrated by Shri Hari.
Suvrat said:-
O King, on the twilight of the seventh day of the bright half of the month (of Kartika), Gopalanand with folded hands asked Narayan muni, who graced the assembly by His presence. 1.
‘O Lord, I wish to hear about the daily rituals and practices to be performed by the ascetics and devotees who have approached You.’ 2.
Narayan muni said:-
I shall briefly narrate the rituals to be performed by the ascetics, who have come up to me. Listen carefully. 3.
An ascetic, after getting up on the Brahma-muhurta, (the concluding period of the night), he should meditate on his own favourite deity. 4.
Then, the ascetic should recite the hymns of praise of Lord Krishna, and having bowed down to the associate Vaishnava followers, should go out of the town, with a pot of water. 5
He, after emptying the bladder and bowels in privacy, should move out of the town and go towards a lake, and wash his hands and feet with a lump of clay and water. 6.
The above acts should not be carried out while standing, or in the midst of water, grains, in front of Brahmins, women, fire, sun, moon, cows, or on the ploughed ground, on the road, on the bank of the river, or old temple. Spitting is also prevented on (evacuated) faeces and urine. 7.8.
The clay and the water used for cleansing should be free from worms, etc.; and it should not be one brought from an anthill or from the remnants of the feces. 9.
The penis should be washed once, the anus thrice, and the left hand ten times. Both, left and right hand together should be washed seven times, and both the feet should be washed three times (with a lump of) clay. 10.
He should cleanse his teeth with the available wooden twigs. But the ascetic should never by himself cut the wet wood from the tree. 11.
On the day of his fast, he should not cleanse his teeth by wooden twigs; but he should gargle twelve times with water. Then, he should take bath in a river, or a lake, or a well. He may utilize hot water, in times of distress or he may take a mental bath. 12- 13.
When one contemplates on Lord Shri Hari, while taking his bath envisages in his mind water showering on his body and mutters His holy names, that bath is considered to be a mental bath. 14.
While taking a formal bath, he should evoke sacred river Ganga, the destroyer of all the sins, and which has moved down from the feet of Lord Vishnu as a result of the great penance of Bhagiratha. 15.
He should wear a properly washed inner and outer garments. In the absence of another set of washed clothes, he might as well wear wet clothes and perform the rites. 16
The ascetic should face northwards, or eastwards; and sit on a seat made of Kusha grass or some other material, which is just of an adequate size for one person. 17.
The ascetic should sip with filtered water thrice and (with every sip) mutter the holy names of Narayan, Vasudev, and Vishnu. 18.
He should then put on a vertical sectarian mark, with a full moon mark (in the center of that mark, on the forehead by the remnants of the of the sandal or Gopichandan-paste, used for the worship of Narayan. He should always put the sectarian marks on his forehead, chest, and the two arms; and then at the center put a full moon mark with the remnants from the sandal paste after worship of Radha. 19-20.
While putting the mark on the forehead, chest, right and left arms, he should recall the holy names of Vasudev, Sankarshan, Pradyumn, and Aniruddha respectively. 21.
Again, the ascetic should sip the water thrice, according to his own, and utter the holy names of Vishnu as before and mutter the three sacred Gayatri (hymns). 22.
Narad is the seer of the Vishnu Gayatri, and the meter is Gayatri. Vishnu is the presiding deity. 23.
Knowledge is the primary cause, meditation is the active power, insight into the future is the central point and the usage, is recitation in the honour of Lord Vishnu. 24.
He should then perform Nyasa, i.e. (mental Mantric appropriation of the various parts of the body, by reciting the relevant corresponding chants, e.g. (Narad Rishaye Namah), Narad, on the head, (Gayatri Chhandase namah) etc., Gayatri, on the mouth, Vishnu on the chest, knowledge, on the navel, meditation, on the feet, and insight into the future, on all the limbs. 25-26.
Now, Kara-nyasa is ordained with each case ending of each inflected word in the Vishnu Gayatri, e.g. Narayanaya, for thumb, Vidmahe for Tarjani (pointing finger) etc. TannoVishnuh is considered as one word. 27
The ascetic should perform (all) the Nyasas, and meditate, after touching the heart, on Vishnu Gayatri in this manner: 28
I contemplate in my heart, on the Vishnu Gayatri, with a fair complexion and a smiling face, who always resides in the left side of Lord Vishnu, in the form of Lakshmi, who is ardently attached to Him, whose every limb has the lustre of the millions of autumnal moons, shining simultaneously; who has put on safflower coloured outer garment, and who is decked with various kinds of beautiful ornaments, who is kind, who has the characteristics of a Supreme Spirit; who bears a lotus in her left hand, and a jar of nectar in the right hand; who is always admired and adored by the Gods and Goddesses; who instantly bestows good qualities and absolute bliss, on the devotees. 29 -31.
Thus meditating, he should mutter twenty-four syllabled Gyatri as per his capacity, and Submitt the total figure of the (Mantra) to Shri Hari. 32.
He may recite the Gayatri thousand times, hundred times, or ten times, according to his own capacity. Then, the devotee should invoke his own desired deity with the chant: Arise, arise, O Govinda!; Arise Garudadhvaja! arise! O Kamalakanta!; and Bless the three worlds. 33-35.
He should install the sacred image of the deity on a holy seat, and then by cleaning it with a fine piece of linen meditate on it. 36.
Then, having performed the mental worship according to the manner and the procedure laid down by the preceptor, the sage should invoke, the desired deity on the image. 37.
The images are supposed to be of eight types: those made up of stone, wood, metal, sandalwood, bamboo, stones, painted picture and a mental image. 38.
With full devotion, facing north or the eastern direction, or facing the image, one should worship the image of the deity, with the available materials of worship. 39.
Without conversing with others, he should worship with the sixteen services of worship as (directed). In the absence (of such service-articles), he may worship with (respective) chants. 40.
An ascetic should every day, worship Lord Vishnu, with affection, chanting the Puaranic Hymns, or by muttering His holy names. 41.
While worshipping, he should avoid negligence, disrespect, and keep a stable mind, and always recite Krishna-chants according to his capacity. 42.
As far as possible, he should use rosary, Basil: Tulasi, or lotus beads or sandal wood beads, which are also considered as sacred. 43.
A seat of wool, grass, leaves, cloth or deer-skin is recommended for chanting by an ascetic. Prayers, uttered while sitting on bear ground (without a seat) is said to be void. 44.
He should chant the prayers with a stable mind, sitting erect in a swastika posture, observe silence and conceal the rosary beads with a piece of cloth. He should recite the hymns of praise, to Lord Vishnu according to his capacity; and may choose to recite the holy names of Lord Vishnu, in adverse circumstances. 45-46.
Then, after paying obeisance to his preceptor, he should install the image of Lord Shri Hari (Vishnu) at a proper place; he may proceed to beg alms at the houses of noble people (householders). 47.
He should ask only for uncooked food. He should purify himself, after he returns back; and again recite the Gayatri Hymn. 48.
In adverse circumstances, (instead of chanting the hymns twice), the Hymns to be chanted in the morning, he may recite them in the evening; and those to be chanted in the evening, he may recite them in the morning. Then, the ascetic at a proper place cook the sacred food to be offered to Lord Vishnu; and after offering a bed to Him, feed Him himself. 49-50.
He should sprinkle with water, the sacred food, offered to Lord Vishnu, and in normal circumstances, he should take meals only once in a day. 51.
An ascetic should never eat the food, that has not been offered to Lord Vishnu. In adverse circumstances, in the absence of an image (of Lord Vishnu), he should offer it to Him mentally. If a mendicant begs for meals, when he is having his lunch, then, he should voluntarily (at his free will), offer him food, without any regrets. 52-53.
He should not take food on the birth anniversary of Lord Shri Hari, on eleventh day of every month, and on the day of the expiatory fasts. 54.
Every day, an ascetic should recite and narrate the sacred religious texts; except in adverse conditions, he should not sleep at day time. 55
He should not spend a single moment, without engaging himself in listening narrating, meditating, saluting and worshipping Lord Vishnu. 56.
An ascetic, after emptying the bowels, should take a waist bath, and should wash his clothes. After urinating, he should wash his penis. 57.
In the evening, after performing the purification rites, he should wave the lights to Lord Vishnu; and praise Him, by reciting His holy names. 58.
In this manner, the ascetic should invoke Lord Krishna, from his lotus heart, install into the palanquin, and bow down to his preceptor. Again, having purified himself, an ascetic in a steady posture, as in the past, should recite Gayatri and Krishna hymns. 59-60.
He should keep awake for a period of three hours; and read, narrate and meditate on sacred texts relating to Lord Vishnu. 61.
Thus, the ascetic contemplating upon Lord Krishna, may sleep on the ground or in adverse condition lie down on a bed. 62.
If the ascetic regularly performs his daily rituals as directed, Lord Shri Krishna will certainly bestow favours on him. 63.
Suvrat said:-
O king, thus having listened to the instructions, given by Lord Narayan, about the performance of the daily practices, the great sage (Gopalanand), himself willingly started practicing them; and preached them to all the other sages. 64.
Thus ends the twenty eighth chapter entitled, ‘Narration of description of the daily practices of the ascetics,’ in the third prakaran of Satsangi Jivan, the life story of Lord Narayan, also titled as Dharmashastra, (the rules of the code of conduct). 28