In California - satya narayana vratam 15th or 16th ?

[Guest guest]

Dear Sel,

 

> Dear Narasimha P.V.R. Rao and others,> > I do not have much knowledge of the

auspicious days.> Kindly let me know when to perform the vratam in> California

? When to perform the vratam and when to> take the prasadam? Can one do it

alone? If so what can> one do to perform the vratam? Kindly illuminate.> Thank

you,> Sel

Normally it would've been 15th night even in California. But, the eclipse this

time messes up things.

 

One is not supposed to do any rituals at the time of an eclipse. In fact, one is

not supposed to eat from a few hours before the eclipse to a few hours after the

eclipse. Doing the vratam and not eating prasad and serving it to people is

wrong. Eating the prasad during (or a couple of hours before) the vratam is

also wrong.

 

So, a wise course of action would be to do the vratam one day earlier or one day

later. If you are simply looking for an auspicious day to do the vratam,

probably you can wait till the next month and do it on next Full Moon night

(June 13th night in California). If you do it on every Pournima (like I do) and

do not want to skip it this month because of eclipse, then you will have to

either do it on the next day or the previous day or during the daytime on May

15. In my case, my father's advice was to do it 1 pm - 3 pm (EDT) on May 15th,

while Pournima is still active and Moon is still away from the nodal influence.

After I got his advice, that was my final decision.

 

Yes, you can do the vratam alone. Though some people think only couples do this

vratam, there is nothing in sastras like that. To find the details of the

ritual, look at Reva khandam in Skaanda puraanam.

 

You first pray to Ganesha (please no arguments on who should be prayed first.

The procedure and order I am mentioning was explicitly taught to Narada by

Vishnu). Then you pray to Varuna in kalasam (a vessel) established in the

middle of the pooja area. Then you invoke to the 5 loka palakas (Ganesha,

Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra and Durga) in the northern direction from the kalasam and

pray to them. Then you invoke the Nava grahas (9 planets) along with adhidevatas

and pratyadhidevatas (primary and secondary ruling deities) in the respective

vaastu directions ruled by them. Then you invoke the rulers of the 8 directions

(ashta dikapalakas) in the 8 directions of the pooja area. You invoke and Brahma

and Achyuta (rulers of the other 2 directions - down and up) in the center

(north and south of kalasam). Finally, you invoke Satya Narayana and pray to

him with 16 services using mantras from Purusha sookta. Finally you read Satya

Narayana's 108 names and/or Vishnu's 1000 names. After offering prasad and

mantra pushpam, you read the story and then eat the prasad.

 

The exact mantras can be found in many books printed in Indian languages.

If you cannot do all this, simply read Vishnu Sahasram or say "Om

SatyaNaaraayanaaya namah" or even "Om Tat Sat" as manhy times as you can.

 

This month is a mess due to the eclipse, but you can do all this on other Full Moon nights.

 

May Jupiter's light shine on us,

Narasimha