practical homam questions

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

(1) Even if you put the correct amounts, some smoke when the fire goes off

is unavoidable. Like you said, smoke is negligible when fire burns but there

is some smoke at the end.

 

One option is to take the homa kundam outside while the fire is still

burning and the smoke has not started yet. Another option if you have a

strong exhaust fan over the stoves in the kitchen is to place the homa

kundam under the exhaust fan and let the smoke go out. Third option is to

place the homa kundam close to a window and place a small exhaust fan in the

window.

 

(2) Exhaust fan is your best bet. One person I know has a nice setup. He put

a " clay chiminea " (search for it on google). He put some sand inside it, a

few bricks on the sand and arranged the copper homa kundam inside it so that

it is stable and does not move. He made an L-shaped metal tube and connected

it on the top of the chiminea. The other end of the L goes out the window.

One side of the chiminea is open and he accesses homa kundam through that

side. He actually uses a big firewood log and does Chandi homam in that

setup. The hot smoke goes up in the chiminea and goes out the metal tube. Of

course, for a homam with a few coconut pieces, such a setup may be

unnecessary.

 

(3) It is fine either way. It is good to leave the ashes there and keep

burning them everyday. However, smoke can be created when previous ashes

come in contact with fire. So your approach of cleaning it everyday is fine.

 

(4) Bear the cold. :-) Wear warm clothes.

 

(5) We used to do that, but I have a custom made 2ft x 2ft x 1ft deep

firepit (a four side open fireplace) now, with the chimney atop it going up

2 feet above the top of the house. One partial view of it is there in the

homam video. The video was recorded next to it. I place my copper homa

kundam amid bricks in that firepit and do homam with firewood logs and a big

fire. Ravi also uses firewood. We will see if we can take a picture and send

you.

 

I used to put two pieces next to each other with the white side facing up

and put a small camphor pieces on the ground between them to start fire. The

edges of the two coconut pieces catch fire. By moving them a little after a

while, you can make the pieces catch fire on different sides. The idea of

having two pieces is that one piece can help the other in catching fire in

different parts. After a while, I used to turn around one piece and turn

around the other piece after the first piece is brightly burning again. For

poornahuti, I used to put a third piece. So, the whole Ganapathi homam is

done with 3 dry cocnut pieces of 1.5 " x1.5 " and several ghee drops.

 

(6) Fire is fire. It is good to sit by it. However, if gods have already

been sent off, it is ok to get away. If you want to take the homa kundam

outside or under a kitchen exhaust, that is fine after you finish the

ritual.

 

But do not extinguish the fire forcefully (by pouring water or something).

Even if there is no god in fire, fire is fire. It should be allowed to burn

as long as it wants to. If you do with dry cococut pieces, it will go away a

few minutes after you stop putting ghee anyway.

 

Best regards,

Narasimha

 

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Spirituality:

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-

> Dear Narayan and Narasimha,

>

> I have some questions on homam, and am requesting your input. If you

> wish to copy this to , please remove my name (because of

> question #2)

>

> 1) With dried coconut and ghee, during the homam itself, there was

> very little smoke. At the end, a medium smoke was generated. It went

> on for several minutes, and ended up filling the room. Can you suggest

> ways in which this is minimized? Is this because of too much ghee and

> / or too much copra?

>

> 2) Even through almost no smoke was generated during the homam itself,

> a strong smell was generated, which my family would like to avoid.

> Other than a strong fan which blows everything out a window, are there

> ways to minimize it?

>

> 3) After the homam, parts of the kunda were blackened. I cleaned it

> and restored it to its " original state " . In the video, I noticed that

> the kunda was blackened. Is it better to leave it blackened?

>

> 4) Doing the homam near a window made the smoke problems better. But,

> the early morning cold (especially in winter) will make it difficult.

> Any suggestions?

>

> 5) In a previous mail, it was suggested that two 1.5 x 1.5 " copra

> pieces are enough for 30-40 minutes of homam. Would it be possible to

> take a picture of your copra arrangement before the fire is ignited?

>

> 6) After the homam is completed, it takes a while for the fire to die

> down. Is there much benefit in staying by the fire during this time

> (when smoke is generated)?