How to do Agnihotra?

The Process of Agnihotra.

The process of doing agnihotra has to understood very clearly before starting the agnihotra practice. Once understood clearly one has to just follow a fixed routine with discipline to reap its benefits.

Things that are required for practicing Agnihotra.

1) Copper Pyramid Vessel.

2) Cow dung cakes.

3) Ghee (Clarified Butter) made from Indian Cows milk.

4) Unpolished Rice.

5) Sunrise and Sunset timings.

An initial preparation of five minutes is needed before actually starting the agnihotra ritual.

• Take the copper pyramid and place it in the centre of the house, if centre is not accessible it can be kept in any clean and airy place. It is better to keep the windows open so that the fresh air can circulate the house.

• Place the cow dung cakes in the copper vessel in a systematic manner, so that there is enough air to circulate in the vessel and the cakes get sufficient oxygen to burn fully.

• Apply ghee on the cow dung cakes.

• Take a cow dung piece and light it outside the copper pyramid with the help of a lamp or a candle and place that lighted cow dung piece in the vessel. See to it that all the cow dungs are properly lit and the whole vessel is lit with fire. This whole process should take about 8-10 minutes.

• Now exactly at sunrise or sunset timings mix the unpolished rise with ghee in your palm and put it in the fire saying the mantra.

Sunset Mantra

Agnaye Swáhá I Agnaye Idam¹ Na Mama I

Prajápataye Swáhá I Prajápataye Idam Na Mama I

Sunrise Mantra

Sooryáya Swáhá I Sooryáya Idam Na Mama I

Prajápataye Swáhá I Prajápataye Idam Na Mama I

These are the two mantras. And when you chant the swahas you have to put the oblation at that point of time into the fire. With this particular mantra the fire element is fully active and prepare to receive.

There after one can sit near the agnihora and watch it, till the whole fire gets extinguished. this is the basic requirement. One cannot just walk out, because there is Gods presence, the elements are present there and the divine is already arrived. The maximum impact of that happens in the next ten minutes. It is like most of the churches, temples where you have aartis and masses prayers, where the real impact of the prayer comes only when the God responds to the prayer. That is the time humans are supposed to be there. The next ten minutes or twenty minutes are very fertile in the sense of energy development and management of one’s own energies and so one should not miss that. And during that 15-20 min if one is just sitting and observing the yagnya or the fire and even after the fire gets extinguished and if you sit there for some time one can really feel that energy restoring ones body, mind, the whole “chitta”, the emotions, the intellect, human existence get streamlined and balanced.