importance of timing

September 6, 2006

it is a good topic taken from www.theindianworld.com

It's all in the Timing! - Part 1

Whether it's in the telling of a joke or striking a business deal,

there's nothing more important than timing. What you do is important

but when you do it is just as important. We all know the importance of

timing in the material world. Even little kids understand the

importance of timing. When they want their next cool toy, they catch

their dads in a good mood and butter them up! Thus we have known the

importance of timing right from our childhood. The Siddhas say that

what we need to learn now is that timing is just as important in the

world of spirituality.

Just as timing is important in the material world, it's important in

the world of spirituality too. The efficacy of one's spiritual

practices can be increased greatly by timing it according to Siddha

injunctions. The Siddhas say that he who wants to transcend time must

know the connection between timing and karma completely.

We have pointed out the importance of karma neutralization in the

Agasthiar Primer. To effectively neutralize karma, everything we do

must be done in a spiritual way in accordance with the rules of the

spiritual world. It's the Sathguru who knows all the rules of the

spiritual world and it's he who instructs on how we can perform all

activities in a spiritual way. The Sathguru not only teaches us how to

do things but also when to do them for maximum effect. There are time

periods which are particularly effective and there are those which are

disadvantageous. We must learn both from the Sathguru so that we know

which time periods to pick and which to avoid.

The Siddhas teach us that each day has five attributes. These are

known as pancha angam: pancha = five, angam = attribute. These are:

1. vaaram or day of the week

2. tithi

3. nakshatram

4. yogam

5. karanam.

All five attributes are important, but we'll concentrate on the first

three in this article. We'll describe the latter two at a later date

in this Website.

The Siddhas tell us that upon waking up, one must recite the five

attributes of each day. This is an easy way of reminding oneself of

the spiritual specialities of each day. You can get these details from

the Agasthiar Spiritual Calendar provided in this Website.

Vaaram, Day of the Week

As pointed out in the article on the , the Nava Nayakaas (Nine Lords)

have been given much authority over human life. Each day of the week

is ruled by one of the first seven of the nine lords, viz., Sunday by

Soorya, Monday by Chandra, Tuesday by Angaaraka, Wednesday by Budha,

Thursday by Guru, Friday by Sukra and Saturday by Sani. The last two

of the nine lords, Raahu and Kethu, are associated with Tuesday and

Saturday respectively.

The day of the week is known as vaaram. Baanuvaaram is Sunday,

Somavaaram is Monday and so on.

Each day of the week reflects the characteristics of the Lord who

rules the day. Thus each day has its own spiritual specialities. For

example, Budha rules buddhi (intellect) and thus Wednesday is

particularly suited for activities that involve the intellect, e.g.,

writing, speaking. This is because Budha is in charge of vaak

chaathuryam, the gift of articulate speech. Likewise Chandra rules the

mind and Guru rules all spiritual activities. Spiritual aspirants need

to know these specialities so that they can structure their schedule

appropriately for maximum spiritual effect.

Within any given day, there are certain time periods which are

particularly spiritually potent. To start with, we will mention three

such time periods in every day:

1. Brahma Muhoortham: the three hour time period culminating at

dawn; assuming a 6 a.m. sunrise, this would be between 3 a.m. and 6

a.m. everyday.

2. Abhijit Muhoortham: high noon when the sun is at its zenith;

assuming a 6 a.m. sunrise, this would be at 12 noon.

3. Nitya Pradosha Kaalam: one and a half hours before dusk and half

an hour thereafter; assuming a 6 p.m. sunset, this would be between

4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. everyday.

These times are also known as sandhi kaalam, junction times within a

day. The first is when the night meets the day, the second is when

morning meets afternoon and the third is when day meets night. The

Siddhas say that spiritual activities conducted during these time

periods are particularly effective. Spiritual aspirants should make

use of these potent time periods for rapid spiritual advancement.

Within any given day, there are also certain time periods which are

inauspicious. Two of these are Raahu Kaalam and Yama Gandam. The

Siddhas say that it's ideal if we can use these times totally for

worship. If these time periods are used for worship and not for

material activities, they yield manifold spiritual benefits.

To start with, we will describe how to calculate the Raahu Kaalam time

period for any given day. Divide the time period between sunrise and

sunset into eight equal parts, which we will refer to as time octants.

Arrange the days of the week in the order M,Sa,F,W,Th,Tu,Su and assign

the second through the eighth time octants to these days in this

order. These time octants then are the Raahu Kaalam times on each of

the days of the week.

So how do you calculate the Raahu Kaalam time period for your location

on any given day? First find out the sunrise and sunset times for your

location (this information is generally available in your local

newspaper). Find out the length of the time octant by dividing the

period from sunrise to sunset by eight. Pick the time octant that's

appropriate for the day in question by following the order mentioned

above. This is the Raahu Kaalam time period for the day in question

for your location. Here are two examples of this calculation:

Raahu Kaalam Calculation Day of the Week Example 1:

Sunrise 6:00 a.m.

Sunset 6:00 p.m.

Time Octant = 90 minutes Example 2:

Sunrise 5:58 a.m.

Sunset 8:14 p.m.

Time Octant = 107 minutes Example 3:

Sunrise 6:36 a.m.

Sunset 6:10 p.m.

Time Octant = 87 minutes Sunday4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.6:27 p.m. to 8:14

p.m. 4:43 p.m. to 6:10 p.m. Monday7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.7:45 a.m. to

9:32 a.m. 8:02 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Tuesday3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.4:40 to

6:27 p.m. 3:16 p.m. to 4:44 p.m. Wednesday12 noon to 1:30 p.m.1:06

p.m. to 2:53 p.m. 12:23 p.m. to 1:50 p.m. Thursday1:30 p.m. to 3:00

p.m.2:53 p.m. to 4:40 p.m. 1:49 p.m. to 3:17 p.m. Friday10:30 a.m. to

12 noon11:19 a.m. to 1:06 p.m. 10:56 p.m. to 12:23 p.m. Saturday9:00

a.m. to 10:30 a.m.9:32 a.m. to 11:19 a.m. 9:29 a.m. to 10:57 a.m.

Since the Raahu Kaalam time period is dependent on the sunrise and

sunset times for your particular location, you must calculate it for

each day using the above method.

Horai

Just like a day has its own specialities, each hour of the day also

has its own specialities. Originally each 24 hour day was split into

60 naazhigais. Thus two and a half naazhigais constitute one modern

hour which was known as horai in ancient times. The Siddhas say that

each horai of each day is ruled by one of the first seven of the nine

lords. Just like each day reflects the characteristics of the lord who

rules the day, each horai also reflects the characteristics of the

lord who rules the horai. Thus we have Soorya horai, Chandra horai,

Angaaraka horai, Budha horai, Guru horai, Sukra horai and Sani horai

times during each day.

Now here's a question for you. At what time or times of the week are

the characteristics of each of the seven lords most prevalent? Think

about it...

The answer should be pretty obvious. Here it is: The characteristics

of each of the seven lords are most prevalent during his horai times

on the day ruled by him. For example, Budha's characteristics are most

prevalent during the Budha horai times on Wednesday. and hence these

are the best time periods for conducting activities governed by Budha.

The Siddhas have specified further refinements and we'll explore these

in a future article.

When do the various horai periods occur during the day? Horai periods

start with Soorya horai at sunrise on Sunday and continue in the

following cyclic order: Soorya, Sukra, Budha, Chandra, Sani, Guru,

Angaaraka. For example, assuming a 6 a.m. sunrise, 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.

on a Sunday would be Chandra horai and 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. would be Guru

horai.

We encourage the reader to tabulate the horai schedule for each day.If

you do the tabulation, you'll find that each day starts with the horai

of its governing lord at sunrise. That is, Monday starts with Chandra

horai at sunrise, Thursday starts with Guru horai and so on.

How can we make sure that we get the maximum spiritual benefit during

every hour of the day. Sathguru Venkataraman has communicated to us a

simple horai based nava naayaka worship program devised by the

Siddhas. All a spiritual aspirant has to do is to meditate on the

governing horai lord 108 times during each horai. For example, during

Soorya horai times meditate thus: Om Sooryaaya Namaha or Salutations

to Soorya. Likewise Om Chandraaya Namaha, Om Angaarakaaya Namaha, Om

Budhaaya Namaha, Om Guruve Namaha, Om Sukraaya Namaha, Om

Saneesvaraaya Namaha during their respective horai periods. Observe

that this is a very simple worship procedure; it takes only about two

minutes and so it's very easy to do even when you are at your place of

work. This is yet another way in which the Siddhas help us conform to

the Will of the Universal Lord Arunachala for maximum spiritual benefit.

There are some subtleties in horai computations. We'll explore these

at a later date.

Tithi

A lunation is the interval between new moons, roughly 29.5 days. Each

lunation is divided into 30 tithis or lunar days with each tithi

defined as the time required for the longitude of the moon to increase

by 12 degrees over the longitude of the sun. Thus there are 14 tithis

between every new moon and full moon and vice versa. The zeroth and

the fifteenth tithis are of course the new moon and the full moon

respectively.

Here are the names of the tithis: 0Amavasya, the new moon day

1Prathamai 2Dvithiyai 3Thrithiyai 4Chathurthi 5Panchami 6Sashti

7Sapthami 8Ashtami 9Navami 10Dasami 11Ekaadasi 12Dvaadasi 13Thrayodasi

14Chathurdasi 15Pournami, the full moon day. After Pournami, the

tithis once again go on from 1 to 14 and end in the next Amavasya thus

completing one lunation.

Each tithi has its own spiritual specialities. Here is a sampling:

AmavasyaIdeal for pithru worship ChathurthiIdeal for Ganapathi worship

PanchamiIdeal for worshipping the Universal Mother SashtiIdeal for

Muruga worship AshtamiIdeal for Krishna worship NavamiIdeal for Rama

worship EkaadasiIdeal for Narayana worship DvaadasiIdeal for Narayana

worship ThrayodasiIdeal for Siva worship ChathurdasiIdeal for Siva and

Ganapathi worship PournamiBest tithi for all worship activities,

particularly Arunachala and Sathguru.

Paksham

As we saw in the last section, a lunation is divided into 30 tithis. A

lunation is also divided into two phases. The phase between Amavasya

and Pournami is called Sukla Paksham, the bright phase or the waxing

phase. The phase between Pournami and Amavasya is called Krishna

Paksham, the dark phase or the waning phase. So for example, the third

tithi in the waxing phase would be called Sukla Paksha Thrithiyai and

the the fourteenth tithi in the waning phase would be called Krishna

Paksha Chathurdasi.

Each paksham has its own spiritual speciality. The Siddhas say that

activities that you want to grow should be started in the waxing

phase, e.g., starting a business. Likewise activities which you do not

want to grow should be conducted in the waning phase, e.g., surgery.

Maasam, Ruthu, Ayanam, Varusham

A varusham is a solar year. A varusham starts roughly in the middle of

April each year. The present varusham (1998-99) is known as

Bagudhaanya varusham.

The varushams repeat in a 60 year cycle. So the next Bagudhaanya

varusham will occur in 2058-59 A.D.

A varusham is made up of two ayanams. That half when the sun is on a

northward path (generally from the middle of January to the middle of

July) is called Uttara Ayanam or Uttaraayanam (uttara = north). The

other half when the sun is on a southward path (generally from the

middle of July to the middle of January) is called Dakshina Ayanam or

Dakshinaayanam (dakshina = south).

A maasam is a solar month. There are 12 maasams in a varusham.

A ruthu is two solar months. There are six ruthus in a varusham.

Nakshatram

The moon revolves around the earth in roughly 27 days. During this

period, the moon traces a path around the sky. The ancients split this

path of the moon into 27 units and gave each unit the name of a star,

star group or constellation. These 27 units are known as nakshatrams.

They are also referred to as brides of Chandra.

The 27 nakshatrams are as follows: 1Asvini 2Barani or Apa Barani

3Krithigai or Krittika 4Rohini 5Mrigaseersham or Mrigasira

6Thiruvaadhirai or Aarudra 7Punarpoosam or Punarvasu 8Poosam or Pushya

9Aayilyam or Aslesha 10Magam or Magha 11Pooram or Poorva Palguni

12Uttaram or Uttara Palguni 13Hastham or Hastha 14Chithirai or Chitra

15Svaathi 16Visaakam or Visaka 17Anusham or Anuradha 18Kettai or

Jyesta 19Moolam or Moola 20Pooraadam or Poorvashada 21Uttaraadam or

Uttarashada 22Thiruvonam or Sravana 23Avittam or Sravishta or Dhanista

24Sadhayam or Sathabishak 25Poorataadhi or Poorva Broshtapadha

25Uttarataadhi or Uttara Broshtapadha 27Revathi

Each nakshatram is goverened by the spiritual force of a nakshatra

devi. Each nakshatra devi is a great servant of the Universal Mother

and she attained her spiritual status by exceptional divine service.

Each nakshatram has its own spiritual speciality and we'll elaborate

on this in future AUMzine issues.

The Siddhas have prescribed a worship procedure called nakshatra

dhyaanam, meditation on the nakshatrams. We'll describe this procedure

in future AUMzine issues.