MEANING WITH EXPLANATION OF ‘HAVAN MANTRAS’
Like sandhya mantras, havan mantras too, have been compiled by Maharishi Swami Dayanand out of vedic literature. In the beginning of this rite, worship mantras are cited.
Aachman mantras
Maharishi swami Dayanand has directed to do aachman, that is, drinking approximately one tablespoonful of water after reciting each of the following mantras.
First mantra-ओम् अमृतोपस्तरणमसि स्वाहा
Second mantra-ओम् अमृतापिधानमसि स्वाहा
Third mantra-ओम् सत्यं यशः श्रीर्मयि श्रयतां स्वाहा
-Tettriya Arnayak 10//32 and 35
Purpose of doing the practice of aachman– Aachman generates purity in the soul and thus makes it accept the good ‘sansakaaraas’, that is, tendencies. Aachman helps soul to be eligible to receive God’s grace.
Meaning of first mantra-O eternal God! You are the base of of this universe. I accept this truth.
Meaning of second mantra-O saviour eternal God! You are our cover, that is, you always protect us. I accept this truth.
Meaning of third mantra-O saviour God! With your grace, I may receive true knowledge, do right actions, have nice behaviour and good health.
Ang-sparsh mantras
After aachman mantras, maharishi has prescribed to dip the middle finger and the ring finger in water and touch the organs of the body mentioned in the respective mantras after citing each of the following ang-sparsh mantras. Only these fingers are used in ang-sparsh mantras because of their association with the thoughts of balanced way of life, that is, avoiding total sacrificing of worldly enjoyments and total engrossment in worldly enjoyments and the thought of doing a righteous act without the feeling of pride in that. This rite has been included here to specify the importance of human-organs so that necessary steps are taken by man to keep them healthy and to see that their tendencies are not tilted towards the wrong path.
First mantra-ओम् वाङ्म आस्येSस्तु
Second mantra-ओम् नसोर्मे प्राणोSस्तु
Third mantra-ओम् अक्ष्णोर्मे चक्षुरस्तु
Fourth mantra-ओम् कर्णयोर्मे श्रोत्रमस्तु
Fifth mantra-ओम् बाह्वोर्मे बलमस्तु
Sixth mantra-ओम् ऊर्वोमे ओजोSस्तु
Seventh mantra-ओम् अरिष्टानि मेSगांनि तनुस्तन्वा मे सह सन्तु
-Paaraskar-griha Kandika 3//25
Meaning of first mantra-O God! With your grace, my speaking power may become powerful.
Meaning of second mantra-O God! With your grace, my nostrils may have power of praanaas or I may have good respiratory-ability.
Meaning of third mantra-O God! With your grace, I may have good seeing-ability.
Meaning of fourth mantra-O God! With your grace, I may have good hearing-ability.
Meaning of fifth mantra-O God! With your grace, I may have great power in my hands.
Meaning of sixth mantra-O God! With your grace, my thighs may be powerful enough to meet the requirements of my body.
Meaning of seventh mantra-O God! With your grace, all the organs of my body be healthy and devoid of any shortcomings.
Explanation-There are many sayings, which talk of the greatness of speech. No ornament but good speech beautifies man. Harsh speech brings lots of problems. As such, knowledgeable and effective speech, which can generate peace is prayed for from God. This is the reason for giving priority to speech in these ang-sparsh mantras. Second mantra talks of healthy nostrils. Undoubtedly, healthy nostrils and their ability to breath correctly is very important for our existence. Importance of eyes can be understood by a blind man only. No doubt, one receives pleasure by seeing different things of the world through eyes but true pleasure can be had only if eyes see only good things. Here, in the third mantra, seeing-ability to see the unseen too, has been prayed for. Likewise, to have true pleasure in hearing, we should constantly analyse ourselves to see that we are not in a habit of listening to bad things. Today, it has been established that sound waves affect our mind. If hearing of ills of others brings enjoyment to us, then our mental tendencies are wrong. As such, in the fourth mantra, good hearing-ability has been prayed for. In the fifth mantra, power in hands and arms has been prayed for. Actually, hands are just a mean of manifestation of power of the body. Power of the body is meaningless if our hands do not help the good and needy people. Power can be said to be of three types-power of knowledge, power of money and power of body. Only that man, who earns all these three powers and utilises them for the welfare of others, is great. Bad people use the power of knowledge in useless discussions, the power of money to increase their egoistic feelings and power of their bodies to bring pain to others. Good people use these powers for meeting the opposite ends. In the sixth mantra, power of the thighs has been prayed for. Here, power of the thighs is not prayed for merely for the mobility of the body but this power becomes meaningful only when the body uses its mobility for the welfare of others. In the seventh mantra, prayer has been made for the healthy body and for the health of various organs of the body. Only a man with a healthy body can think of doing a righteous action. A person, whose body is not healthy cannot be interested in doing any action for the welfare of his soul. There is a definite link between the good things, we comprehend and our actions. Our good actions are followed by our good thoughts. Good thoughts are generated only if, we have good ‘मन’. And our good ‘मन’ resides only in a healthy body. It is not possible to have a healthy body without God’s grace. Since, only a healthy body can follow ‘dharam’, the purpose of ang-sparsh mantras is to invite God’s grace towards a healthy body.
In this rite, it has been prescribed to touch different organs of the body by the fingers, wet with water. Water has been chosen for this rite especially for its attribute of ‘purity’.
मन्त्र
ओम् भूर्भुवः स्वः ।
-Gobil-grihsutra 1//1//11
Meaning –O saviour God! You are the reason of others’ existence. You create others. You destroy pains of others. You are blissful. With your grace, my this act of doing havan may become successful.
After citing this mantra, fire is burnt in a small utencil and small pieces of wood are placed in the fire, which, then is finally placed in the havan-kund, after citing the following mantra. Havan-kund refers to the utensil meant for doing havan.
मन्त्र
ओम् भूर्भुवः स्वर्द्यौरिव to पृष्ठेSग्निमन्नादमन्नाद्यायादधे ॥
-Yajurved 3//5
Meaning –O saviour God! You are the reason of others’ existence. You create others. You destroy pains of others. You are blissful. With your grace, I may be blessed with the light of knowledge like the Suns and the great attributes of the Earth. For food and enjoying other worldly pleasures, I place physical fire, whose food is good vegetation, in the havan-kund or ‘utensil meant for doing havan’ situated on the Earth on which very learned people do havan.
Explanation-The explanation of this mantra is for the ordinary people, who do this rite without knowing its spirit and for inspiring the general public, who do not do or negate this rite because of ignorance of its spirit.
After citing the words ओम् भूर्भुवः स्वः, fire is burnt and then after citing the mantra ओम् भूर्भुवः स्वर्द्यौरिव to पृष्ठेSग्निमन्नादमन्नाद्यायादधे॥, that fire is placed in the havan-kund. Now, the words ओम् भूर्भुवः स्वः are cited twice. From the first citation of the words ओम् भूर्भुवः स्वः, we should understand that there are three types of fires in the universe. भूः refers to the physical fire, existing on the Earth. भुवः refers to the electricity, which is a form of fire existing in the atmosphere and स्वः refers to the fire of the Sun, existing in the space. All these three fires are very useful and are subtler and more effective than the previous one, that is, electricity is more effective and subtler than the fire on the Earth and energy of the Sun is more effective and subtler than electricity. Citation of भूर्भुवः स्वः for the second time – भूः means body, भुवः means the soul present in the body and स्वः means bliss. By this mantra, we are made to understand that we should not concentrate ourselves at the level of body only. Rather, we need to go deeper in the reign of soul. Then, we should not restrict ourselves to that level only but should move towards obtaining the bliss of God.
This mantra tells us the way to move towards obtaining the bliss of God. The way is to inculcate the attributes of the Earth like patience, perseverance, tolerance and stability and the attribute of ‘hugeness’ of space in one’s soul. We should always discard ill-will and act for the welfare of others, irrespective of others’ behaviour towards us. What does inculcation of the attribute of ‘hugeness’ of space mean? As long as we are in a body, we have to act. Only if we are able to do our karmas or actions without any sort of worldly expectations from them, they, that is, such karmas act as means to free us from the bondage of births and deaths. When we move on the Earth or in water or in sky by any mean like bus, boat, airoplane et cetra, we leave some mark behind our movements, howsoever small or short-lived that mark may be. But, when we move in space, then we leave no mark. Here, leaving of marks is like expectation of some worldly gains. Our karmas should be such that they do not leave any mark. Till our karmas do not reach such a stage, we cannot think of attaining ‘mukti’ or salvation.
All the learned fellows and non-living things of the world like celestial bodies, vegetation, clouds et cetra are continuously doing welfare of others, that is, they are, all the time, doing ‘यज्ञ’, which is highest type of karam. On this earth, on which gods (both living and non-living) do ‘यज्ञ’, we place physical fire, which, too, does ‘यज्ञ’ by breaking the things put into it into very minute elements for the benefit of the things of the universe. All these inspire us to direct our karmas for welfare of others. Beings lower than humans cannot inculcate the attributes of the Earth and that of space in their souls. We must prove the importance of being humans by inculcating the attributes of the Earth like patience, perseverance, tolerance and stability and the attribute of ‘hugeness’ of space in our souls.
In the world, we see that if a child misuses the means, available to him then, his father takes away or seizes the means from the child. In the similar way, if man misuses his means or does not use them for the welfare of his soul (actually, man by doing karmas for the welfare of others does his own welfare), then God seizes the means, made available to him. As such, this mantra inspires man to raise himself beyond this body and realize the ultimate goal, that is, God.
As physical fire breaks the things put into it into very minute elements and increases their power, in the same way, our actions, too, should be aimed at increasing the potentials of others and should be for the benefit of others.
It should not be considered as worship of the physical fire. Instead, the main purpose of this rite is spiritual development by inculcating the qualities of fire in our life. This mantra shows us the path of development of our souls. Alongwith placing the fire in the havan-kund, we need to kindle the fire in our souls. Generally, people concentrate on kindling the physical fire and do not pay any attention towards kindling fire in their souls. Unless we burn the fire in our souls, we cannot move on the path of light or on the path of God-realisation or on the path of obtaining the bliss of God.
मन्त्र
ओम् उद्बुध्यस्वाग्ने प्रतिजागृहि to यजमानश्च सीदत ॥
-Yajurved 15//54
Meaning-O physical fire! Arise, gain strength and awake the mind of yajmaan, that is, doer of havan and give strength to his will power so that yajmaan is able to do his non-worldly and worldly karmas, which are beneficial to others. In यज्ञशाला, that is, place, where havan is done, yajmaan and all other learned fellows may be seated respectfully.
Explanation- In the previous mantra, one has been advised to inculcate the attributes of the Earth like patience, perseverance, tolerance and stability and the attribute of ‘hugeness’ of space in our souls for realisation of God. In this mantra, base of inculcating these attributes has been talked of. The base of inculcating these attributes is a burning-desire to obtain a thing. We cannot move an inch towards a specific direction, without the willingness. For falling or moving in the downward direction, only willingness is sufficient but for moving in the upward direction, with willingness, physical or mental effort too is needed. This mantra inspires us to bring ardent-ness in our wills.
On seeing fire, we should have a feeling that as flames of fire move upwards, we, too, should advance in the upward direction and as the flames of fire, in no condition, can be made to go downwards, in the same way, we, irrespective of the hurdles, should go on advancing on the path of righteousness.
Second thing we must learn from fire is-we must be able to emit the light of knowledge.
Third thing we must learn from the fire is-like fire, we must be able to bring out and enhance the potentials of others for the welfare of humanity. Also, we should develop our physical, mental and social strengths and distribute the same for betterment of the people around us.
On seeing fire we must realise that the fire, which is visible is present around us in invisible state also. Like this, there should be oneness in all our thoughts and actions, that is, in our visible states and invisible states.
Like all other worldly things, fire, too, has been created by someone and that creator is called God. Before greatness of the things of the universe created by God, our creations are negligible. As such, we should never feel the haughtiness of our creations.
In which direction, should our ardent desires or wills be channelised? This mantra inspires us to do two types of karmas or actions with the strong wills. First type of karmas refer to the actions performed with the direct aim of realisation of God. Second type of karmas refer to the actions performed for the immediate benefit of the society like construction of wells, construction of inns et cetra.
This body is meaningful, only if, we perform karmas for development of our souls. As such, it is very essential that with utmost carefulness, we perform all the karmas of our lives like a यज्ञ. On the path of righteousness, we will meet many hurdles, many lustful offers and many types of worldly attractions but we have to cross all these so that our lives do not prove to be wastes.
There are three types of people. Lowest category of people are those, who, for the fear of anticipatory hurdles, do not start the work. Medium category of people are those, who, start the work but on coming of hurdles, quit the job in hand. Highest category of people are those, who, beat the coming hurdles, never quit the work and finish it.
Havan is only symbolic of the actions done as ‘यज्ञ’. Root of the word ‘यज्ञ’ means to adore gods, to socialize and to donate money et cetra. Every act, which can be named as यज्ञ includes in it, the feelings associated with the meanings of the root of the word ‘यज्ञ’. Being a symbol of the actions called ‘यज्ञ’, havan, too, includes inherent qualities of यज्ञ. Living gods in a home are parents et cetra. As such, havan inspires us to take good care of their physical and mental needs. With the decline in doing this rite, love, oneness, attitude of service and compassion among the family members have evaporated and man’s attitude has become very materialistic. Giving priority to material gains automatically destroys theism. This rite should not be done by a person alone. But he, that is, doer of havan should understand that this rite cannot be completed without family members, friends, members of the society and learned fellows. This rite should be finished by offering some material things to the society. Today, if man desires all affluence with peace, then he should include this rite in his daily routine and should perform this rite keeping its spirit intact since only company of God and gods can save him from going on the wrong path. Company of God and gods is essential also for avoiding decline in the ‘fire of our wills’.
मन्त्र
ओम् अयं त इध्म to इदं न मम॥
-Ashav grihsutra 1//10//12
Meaning-O all-present fire, you ignite well with clarified butter or ghee and wood, which are means of your combustibility. Also, you brighten the others too, in their paths of development. God! Our souls may ignite with your love. God! Bestow us with good prajaa, that is, children, means of worldly development, knowledge and food.
Explanation- In this mantra, there are five prayers. In the first prayer, doer of the prayer calls for God’s grace to enable his soul to become firewood for ignition of the fire of God in him. There is a great achievement in making the soul the firewood. The persons, who succeed in igniting their souls with the fire of God become possessors of such strong will-powers that nothing can drop them down from the path of righteousness and justice. One can become generous and be free from the worldly bondage, only if one ignites the fire of God in his soul. Here, ignition of the fire of God in soul has been talked of, as soul’s journey is endless, that is, beyond births and deaths. Doer of the prayer does not seek his own development but prays for development of others too, just like physical fire, which gives light to the others also.
In the second prayer, good prajaa or children has been prayed for. Firstly, for a soul, his body and sense organs are his prajaa. Accordingly, it has been desired that our body remains healthy, our thoughts are good and we are able to choose the right direction. Secondly, our children, too, are our prajaa. Our children, too, like our senses and mind, should comprise of healthy body, good thoughts and right direction. Thirdly, our neighbours, too, are our prajaa. As our thoughts and actions play a crucial role for the development of others, similarly, thoughts and actions of others, too, are necessary for our own happiness and peace. The term ‘prajaa’ has different connotations—for a parent, his children are his prajaa, for a teacher, his students are his prajaa, for a king or bureaucrat, aggrieved people are his prajaa, for a servant, his master is his prajaa and for a learned fellow, whole of mankind is his prajaa.
Third prayer shows the desire of well-being of beneficial animals. There is a great contribution of animals towards proper movement of the world. Some of them help directly or indirectly in our agriculture et cetra and some others like pigs, crows, vultures et cetra act as scavengers of our environment. Our happiness depends a lot on the well-being of animals and this prayer is in recognition of this fact.
Fourthly, knowledge has been prayed for. Human-life becomes meaningful only because of knowledge. Development of knowledge is possible only in humans. As such, following of specific duties in given conditions is the basic criterian for judging a person. All the other races are for enjoyment of fruits of actions done in earlier human lives. In the races other than humans, there is a complete absence of development of knowledge, which in turn make earning of fruits impossible, These races pass on their lives with limited knowledge given to them by God. They cannot enhance this knowledge. But, unlike this, humans have been provided with a potential of gaining unlimited knowledge. In this prayer, God has been asked to bestow maximum of the knowledge on the souls, according to their respective capacities.
Fifth prayer is for food and all other necessities in proportion to the requirement for sustenance of body. Food is must for maintenance of physical body and existence of physical body is must for soul to perform its various duties. In other words, we can say that food is only a mean for maintenance of physical body and thus for enabling of soul to perform its various duties. Today, greatest hurdle in the path of development of soul is considering body to be the final goal. It is because of giving greatest importance to body that man concentrates all his actions for piling up the things, necessary for body. The mentality of piling up the worldly things, much more than the requirements for sustenance of body blocks the development of soul. The right coarse is- ability to enjoy the worldly things remains but the desire to enjoy the worldly things vanishes. This is possible only by igniting the fire of God in soul.
After, citing this mantra, fire is fed with the first piece of firewood (not too big and not too small). Let’s feel the beauty of sequence of these mantras. First, fire is ignited by citing the ‘ओम् भूर्भुवः स्वः’ mantra, then by citing the ‘ओम् उद्बुध्यस्वाग्ने’ mantra, the fire is made to bloom, symbolising the rising of will-power, necessary for performing worldly and non-worldly good deeds, then the fire is fed with the firewood, after citing this mantra, symbolising the ignition of fire of God, that is, knowledge in one’s soul. This sequence gives importance to knowledge in fulfillment of all worldly and non-worldly desires.
This mantra gives the message that the one, who ignores knowledge is an atheist.
Next, after citing following two mantras, the fire is fed with the second firewood.
First mantra–ओम् समिधाग्निं दुवस्यत to इदं न मम॥
-Yajurved 3//1
Second mantra–ओम् सुसमिद्धाय शोचिषे to इदं न मम॥
-Yajurved 3//2
Meaning of the first mantra-O saviour God! With your grace, we, doers of havan may feed this fire with firewood and clarified butter in the manner we respect the preachers of truth, whose coming and going are not pre-decided. After making it bloom, we may put the things giving out fragrance, things good for our health and things of medicinal properties in it. O destroyer of evils! I surrender all these offerings to you. These are not at all mine.
Meaning of second mantra-O saviour God! With your grace, we, doers of havan may feed fire, which consists of flames, which are pure and is present in all the things with all the good things like clarified butter or ghee et cetra. These offerings are surrendered to God, who is destroyer of all evils. All these things are not mine.
Explanation- There could not have been any problem in understanding the physical meaning of these mantras, but we must understand what has been written between the lines of these mantras. Here, we must repeat that whole of this rite is for development of soul. These mantras indicate about a great step towards development of soul, which is the ultimate objective of life.
The offering of first firewood in fire symbolizes development of knowledge in us and second firewood is fed in the fire with the prayer that we are able to act in the given conditions in the best possible way. The best action is the action, which aims at welfare of others. Knowledge without appropriate actions is useless. The path of altruism is embedded with hurdles and the thought of not allowing slowing down of the charitable actions is strengthened through putting second firewood.
As we respect preachers of truth, whose coming and going are not pre-decided with devotion, in the same way, we must follow the principles of the great men with complete devotion and knowledge or in other words, we can say that doer of havan should make the objective of his life to serve others wholeheartedly and without any self-interest like respected preachers.
Like rising flames, doer of havan should develop nice attributes in his soul. Following are the four essentials for developer of soul.
1 To try incessantly to remove the evils of the inner-self
2 To prevent the coming of new evils
3 To see that the good qualities of the inner-self do not go away
4 To develop new good attributes or qualities.
Since, future is uncertain, there should be a feeling of quickness in doing actions for the welfare of others. Words of king Bhartrihari are very inspiring in this context. He says that when body is healthy and free from all sorts of diseases, when old-age is far, when power of the senses is not diminished, knowledgeable person should exert to his maximum for the upliftment of his soul during this period as there would be no use of digging a well on breaking of fire.
One, who has developed his spirit, acts with all his earnings in the form of money, knowledge and power for the welfare of others.
Since, Knowledge purifies actions and inner self, first firewood is for knowledge and the second is for doing the actions rightly.
The third piece of firewood is put in the fire after citing the following mantra.
मन्त्र
ओम् तन्त्वा समिद्भिरंगिरो to इदं न मम॥
-Yajurveda 3//3
Meaning –O omnipresent God! With your grace, we burn the fire, which is very powerful in the sense of combining and separating things and which gives light, ablaze it by feeding firewoods and ghee to it. This offering is for God, who destroys all evils and who is embodiment of light. There is nothing mine in this offering.
Explanation-Physical meaning of this mantra is very simple. Its spiritual meaning will be as follows:
That God is the base of the sun, the earth, electricity, fire and other celestial bodies and is the reason of their vitalities. If we wish for vitality in our life, we must earn His grace. His grace can be earned by working for the welfare of others. As such, we pray that God may be generous to us or in other words, we may not do anything to disown His grace.
Physical progress is taken as the measuring rod of meaningfulness of life. Physical progress only, has given us impatience, un-satisfaction, intolerance and selfishness. This is the result of ignoring development of soul. Development of soul is possible when each of our actions is aimed at welfare of others or in others words, when we do all our karmas or actions as ‘यज्ञ’.
By obtaining a little knowledge, power and money, we become egoistic and forget God because of whose grace, we could obtain knowledge, power and money. Ego and bliss cannot remain at the same place. Development of ego in our life obviates the enjoyment of bliss. It is really strange that we forget the entity, who has created our bodies and who is our controller. We have fully devoted ourselves to the worldly relations, worldly glory, money et cetra. We have forgotten the pleasure or beauty of enjoying bliss of God. This mantra inspires us to move towards enjoying His bliss by igniting the fire of God in our souls through strengthening our will power. Man becomes successful in all his works through strong will power and the divine emotions are the food for strong will power. The biggest divine emotion is the acceptance that God is the owner of everything of this world and we use only the things made by God.
One, who is spiritually strong never fears from death and hurdles. For a spiritual person, his own desires or wishes mean nothing. He always remains ready for fulfilling the wishes of the almighty even at the cost of his death for he knows that this world and this body is perishable. His own entity is, though, eternal but is very small as compared to the entity of God. He realises that he can increase the greatness of his soul through meditating over entity of God, who is all powerful, very great and controller of all living and non-living things of the world. Such feelings should arise in the heart of doer of havan.
Now, a question is raised by some people that why there is offering of three firewoods only. Three numbers are very much used in vedic texts. For instance, whole of the universe consists of three steps-the earth, atmosphere and space, there are three eternal entities-nature, souls and God, there are three means of attaining ‘moksh’ or salvation-dharam, that is, righteousness, arth, that is, prosperity and kaam, that is, desire, there are three doors of hell-lust, anger and selfishness et cetra. Offering of three firewoods is symbolic of such facts. After offering three firewoods in the fire, five offerings of ghee are given, each after citing the following mantra:
मन्त्र
ओम् अयं त इध्म to इदं न मम॥
-Aashav grihsutra 1//10//12
The same mantra was cited before offering first firewood to the fire. Meaning and Explanation has already been given at that place. Five offerings of ghee are given to the fire after each citation of this mantra for the reason that five prayers have been done in this mantra. Below mentioned reasons, too, can be thought of while giving five offerings of ghee in the fire:
-We have five knowledge senses- eyes, ears, tongue, nose, skin) and five karam senses -hands, feet, tongue, genital organ, anus. With these five offerings, we strengthen our will power to receive good things and do good actions through knowledge senses and karam senses.
-There are five types of miseries namely nescience, attachment, hatred, fear of dying et cetra. To obviate these miseries, we must abide by five ‘yamas’ and five ‘niyamas’.
-Our bodies are store houses of food, ‘praan’, that is, vital air, ‘मन’ or mind not heart, ‘विज्ञान’ or intelligence and ‘aanand’ or bliss. These store houses of our bodies are important in this order only. When we start giving more importance to ‘विज्ञान’ than ‘aanand’, to ‘मन‘ than ‘विज्ञान’, to ‘praan’ than ‘मन’ and to food than ‘praan’, then, we are moving in the direction opposite to development of soul. Today, whole of our activities are concentrated towards pleasures of this gross body and this is the basic reason of our miseries. A yajik (याज्ञिक in Hindi), doer of ‘yaj’ instead tries to develop his soul by igniting the fire of God by making his soul a firewood. Towards this objective, he strengthens his will power by symbolically giving five offerings of ghee in the fire for his advancement into five store-houses of the body in the correct sequence.
-This body, which is made up of five elements namely aakaash, air, fire, water and earth is perishable. The end result of this is to get converted into its basic elements. As such, development of soul is the only rational objective. Doer of havan by giving five offerings of ghee in the fire reminds himself of this fact.
-There are five stages of development of soul.
1 Personal Development-This includes removal of evils and inculcation of good attributes in one’s own self, obtaining knowledge of God and other worldly objects and application of this knowledge towards welfare of others.
2 Development of Family-If a person wants development of his family, he must first of all develop his own physique, intelligence, mind and spirit.
3 Development of Society-He must understand the meaning of the phrase ‘Man is a social animal’ so that fragrance of his behaviour gives pleasure to the members of his society.
4 Development of Nation-He must understand the necessity of nationalism. Only then, he will be able to evaluate his actions by the measuring rod of nationalism.
5 Development of World-One should not act brotherly with specific peoples only, but, with all the persons of the world. This can be achieved by helping the creation to achieve its objective.
In performing ‘havan’, now, comes the rite of pouring water around the ‘havan-kund’ after citing the following mantras:
First mantra-ओम् अदितेsनुमन्यस्व
Second mantra-ओम् अनुमतेsनुमन्यस्व
Third mantra-ओम् सरस्वत्यsनुमन्यस्व
-Gobil-graha sutra 1//3//1//3
Fourth mantra-ओम् देव सवितः to नः स्वदतु
-Yajurved 30//1
Meaning of first mantra-O inseparable and unchangeable God! Please help in making this action of mine, that is, doing of havan successful.
Meaning of second mantra-O God! You are saviour of all. You are capable of bestowing the intellect favouable for this action of mine, that is, doing of havan. May your grace make it successful.
Meaning of third mantra- O saviour God! You are giver of knowledge. With the help of intellect, provided by you, this action of mine, that is, doing of havan may be successful.
Meaning of fourth mantra- O God! You save us in all directions. You are epitome of great attributes. You are creator of this universe. Please spread the spirit of ‘यज्ञ’ in all my actions. Please inspire doer of ‘havan’ to complete this activity in such a way that he becomes eligible for enjoying your bliss. You may instill purity in our intellects and make our speech sweet.
Explanation-Here, God has been addressed to be an unchangeable entity. Greatness of human life lies in following rules. We must see whether there is any rule of our eating, sleeping et cetra. Do we observe rules regarding eating, that is, food should be taken in a sitting posture, maintaining cool of our body, consumption of food should be less than our capacity et cetra, waking, that is, we should wake up one or two hours before sunrise, sleeping, that is, we should sleep by 10 post meridian et cetra? We can progress spiritually, only by adopting discipline. In olden times, special care used to be taken to make the children disciplined. Discipline is needed in every sphere of life whether that be increasing will-power or controlling senses or avoiding attachment, anger and lust in the behaviour.
In these mantras, God has been mentioned to be capable of bestowing the intellect required for welfare of soul. Whenever soul decides to do an act, God generates the feelings of enthusiasm, joy and happiness, if the act is good and that of shame, fear and unpleasantness, if the act is bad. For understanding these feelings generated by God in the beginning of doing an act, purity of the soul is needed. One can avoid doing sinful acts by hearing to warning signals of God.
Meaningfulness of human-life lies in development of knowledge. One, who does not exert for obtaining knowledge, is called an animal without horns and tail. Only a knowledgeable man can act wisely. If he earns money, proper care is taken that money is earned through exertion and not by killing his conscience. A knowledgeable man is able to avoid griefs by not thinking of the results of his actions. All the evils grab that man, who attaches himself with the worldly things with dis-inclination towards knowledge. With the passage of time, these evils destroy one’s intellect, that is, decisive power and memory completely.
In the first three mantras, three means of development of soul have been talked of-following rules, behaving according to one’s soul and exerting for obtaining knowledge.
Fourth mantra inspires us to inculcate in our spirits to their capacities all the divine attributes of God like purity, knowledge et cetra. For instance, He creates the universe for the welfare of others, that is, souls, in the same way, we should make things, which are beneficial to mankind. For becoming eligible to enjoy bliss, we need to possess correct knowledge, decisiveness to opt for correct actions and sweet speech. Like pouring water in all the directions of havan-kund, we may, with His grace, have all round development of our souls.
Doer of havan, that is, yajmaan sits around the havan-kund in the west side. A lamp or दीपक is placed on north-eastern corner of the havan-kund as a symbol of the sun. Water is poured in all the directions of the havan-kund ending with the side in which lamp has been placed. After citation of first mantra, water is poured on the eastern side of the havan-kund ending on the corner on which lamp is placed. Thereafter, water-utensil is passed on to yajmaan, who pours water in the western side of the havan-kund starting from the corner nearest to the corner from which water was poured previously towards lamp after citation of the second mantra. Thereafter, water is poured on the northern side of the havan-kund by the person sitting in that direction towards the lamp after citation of the third mantra. That is, every time water is poured towards the lamp signifying that direction of our every action should be towards knowledge. After citation of the fourth mantra, water is poured around the havan-kund starting from the lamp-point and finally ending on the lamp-point from the other side, that is, east to south, south to west, west to north and north to east. Pouring of water in the artificially built canal around the havan-kund is against the purpose behind it. Water should be poured by taking it in the palm. When done so, water vapours made by the fire, arising out of burning ghee have the capability to destroy air-pollution and are very good for the respiratory system. These water vapours also contribute towards making of better clouds, which cause better rainfall, which, further, causes better qualitative effects on vegetation. As these water vapours pour back on the earth through rainfall, our lives, too, should contribute towards welfare of others.
A good thing can be poured only in a clean and correct container, which, for instance, should be without holes. As such, utensil filled with water inspires us to be good containers capable of receiving God’s grace. Further, after receiving God’s grace in the form of knowledge et cetra, the same should be spread among others for their welfare. In other words, all these rites should inspire us to direct all our actions for the welfare of others.
OFFERINGS OF GHEE
ओम् अग्नये स्वाहा। इदमग्नये-इदं न मम।
Meaning – O saviour God! This offering is for obtaining knowledge, which is paramount for progress. This offering is for all-knowing God. There is nothing mine in it.
After citing this mantra, offering of ghee is put in the fire towards north of the havan-kund, that is, towards left of the ‘यजमान’ in such a way that ghee is poured in the fire in a continuous flow from यजमान to lamp.
Explanation- This rite is symbolic of moving towards the direction of knowledge. Here, in this rite, ghee is poured in the fire in a continuous flow. This symbolises continuous and un-interupted desire for knowledge as well as spirit of ‘Tap’ (bearing pains smilingly) for obtaining knowledge. One knows about the right direction of moving in the world on ignition of the fire of knowledge in one’s soul. Also, on obtaining knowledge, one realises the reality, that is, non-eternity of this world, this body, relations and physical means and the ways of doing the nishkaam karmas, which is the only path to move out of this bondage of births and deaths. Knowledge enables us to consider and use all worldly things as means of attaining salvation.
मन्त्र
ओम् सोमाय स्वाहा। इदं सोमाय-इदं न मम।
-Yajurved 22//27
Meaning – O saviour God! This offering is for obtaining peace and bringing coolness in our behaviour. This offering is for cool God. There is nothing mine in this offering.
After citing this mantra, second offering of ghee is put in the fire towards south of the havan-kund, that is, towards right of the ‘yajmaan’ in such a way that ghee is poured in the fire in a continuous flow from yajmaan to his opposite side.
Explanation- This offering is for bringing softness, coolness, calmness and peace in life by controlling lust, anger, greed and attachment. Knowledge can be helpful for the welfare of others only after it gets combined with the coolness.
मन्त्र
ओम् प्रजापतये स्वाहा। इदं प्रजापतये-इदं न मम।
-Yajurved 22//32
Meaning – O saviour God! This offering is with a wish to make all my actions for the welfare of others. This offering is for God, who sustains all. There is nothing mine in it.
After citing this mantra, third offering of ghee is put in the middle of the fire.
मन्त्र
ओम् इन्द्राय स्वाहा। इदमिन्द्राय-इदं न मम।
-Yajurved 22//27
Meaning – O saviour God! This offering is for achieving the highest state, that is, enjoyment of bliss. This offering is for blissful God. There is nothing mine in it.
After citing this mantra, fourth offering of ghee is also put in the middle of the fire.
Explanation- First three offerings are meant as means for achievement of the ultimate goal whereas the fourth offering refers to the acquisition of the ultimate goal. God cannot be realized merely by obtaining knowledge. Knowledge should be combined with coolness and then, this knowledge combined with coolness should be used for the welfare of others. Here, in the word ‘others’, all the family members, neighbourers, friends, members of the society, nation and world should be included. Only that person can realize God, who uses all his earnings in the form of health, knowledge and worldly means for the welfare of others. The extreme of abandoning the acts themselves should not be followed. The offerings in the middle refer to the importance of the middle path in life. This idea can be better understood by thinking of the lives of the great men of the world. Great men are remembered by people because every small act of them was towards welfare of their fellow-beings.
Our attitude towards our actions is of utmost importance. Generally, there are three types of attitudes. First attitude is that of ‘complaining’. Persons, who have this type of attitude find complaints in all their acts. Second type of attitude is that of indifference and sorrowfulness. Persons, who spend their lives having this type of attitude find indifference and sorrowfulness in all their acts. Third type of attitude is that of delightfulness. Persons with this type of attitude find delight or pleasure in all their acts. Certainly, third type of attitude is liked by everyone. Prime condition to have this sort of attitude is to have a right or correct way of life. One should understand the difference between means and end. Only after understanding the goal, one can know how to use the worldly things for the attainment of the end. Non-perception of the purpose of life makes intellect busy in worldly pleasures and such an intellect gets debarred from realization of God, that is, enjoyment of divine bliss. Man, who remains busy in worldly pleasures spends all his time in piling up and protection of worldly things. Obtaining worldly pleasures become the main criterion of his friendship with other fellow-beings.
These four mantras can also be taken to reflect the importance of four aashramas or parts of life, that is, brahamcharya, grihisth, vaanprasth and sanyaas. Main duty of brahamcharya aashram is to gain knowledge. Coolness in knowledge is brought or earned in grihisth aashram. In vanprasth aashram, one attains the final stage of control over senses and finally in the sanyaas aashram, where all the acts are for welfare of others, one achieves the goal of life.
As a sword can be used both for taking and saving life of a person, in the same way, a person, if knowledgeable, can achieve salvation and if he is not having any knowledge can enforce his self to remain in bondage.
The concept of realization of God has been beautifully elaborated through an example. A magician by his tricks, for example, making four pennies out of one penny et cetra astonishes everyone but in the end, collects all his belongings and starts begging. We, like a magician, should not spend whole of our lives showing the tricks of money, bungalow, property et cetra and end up this life empty-handed but instead may bring detachment towards money et cetra and earn virtues by doing all our actions through the mentality of ‘yaj’. These virtues will remain with us even after death. Havan is done for development of mentality of ‘yaj’ by understanding the hidden meanings of the mantras cited therein.
Different mantras of havan aim at inculcating the right spirit of performing an act. Doer of havan should strengthen his knowledge regarding attachment and detachment of worldly things and use of the worldly things for obtaining goal of his life through repetition of the mantras. One is not at all benefitted merely by paying offerings after loud pronunciation of the mantras without understanding their meanings. To derive the required benefits from these mantras, not only their meanings need be understood but also their spirit need be practiced in day-to-day life.
Mantras of making offerings in havan in the morning
मन्त्र
ओम् सूर्यो ज्योतिर्ज्योतिः सूर्यः स्वाहा
-Yajurved 3//9
Meaning – The entity, which is the soul of all living and non-living things and which is the illuminator of all the illumined celestial bodies like the sun is God. We make offerings in havan for obeying Him.
मन्त्र
ओम् सूर्यो वर्चो ज्योतिर्वर्चः स्वाहा
-Yajurved 3//9
Meaning – With kindness of God, who is giver of all the knowledge and who spreads the same among souls, we are able to do havan.
मन्त्र
ओम् ज्योतिः सूर्यः सूर्यो ज्योतिः स्वाहा
-Yajurved 3//9
Meaning – We make offerings in havan for obtaining graciousness of God, who is Himself illumined and is illuminator of all living and non-living things of the world.
मन्त्र
ओम् सजूर्देवेन सवित्रा सजूरुषसेन्द्रवत्या जुषाणः सूर्यो वेतु स्वाहा
-Yajurved 3//10
Meaning – O saviour God! You are illuminator of the whole universe and are doing things for welfare of souls. You are very kind and love all beings. You are worthy of communion and penetrate the dawn. You are soul of all living and non-living things of the universe. May we realize you. This offering is for you.
Explanation – The word ‘Surya’ used in these mantras was used to mean physical Sun only. This led to the worship of physical Sun in the name of God. Swami Dayanand was the first person, who rightly meant God from this word. The radiance present in the gods like the sun owes its existence to God, which is the only worshipable entity in accordance with the vedic literature. Similarly, the word ‘jyoti appearing in these mantras, too, has been used to mean God (instead of prevalent meaning of physical light) in the vedic literature.
The lessons which can be learnt from the physical sun are given below:
- The sun is very radiant. Its radiance is not only, to spread physical light but also, for welfare of souls. In the same way, doer of havan should bring radiance in his own life. His radiance refers to physical power, power of money and power of knowledge. He should see that his physical power is not used to do injustice, his power of money is not used for exhibition and towards his egoistic ends and his power of knowledge is not used for unwanted and meaningless discussions.
- The life of the sun is very disciplined. It rises and sets in accordance with fixed rules. Doer of havan should analyse his own self to see how disciplined he is.
- The light of the sun is same in the conditions of its rising and setting. Likewise, we, too, should be in the same condition while in grief and in pleasure. If good time has come to an end, then time of grief, too, will come to an end.
- The sun attracts water through its rays but instead of keeping the same with itself, it returns the water to earth through rainfall. Likewise, we should earn knowledge, money and physical power and give the same to the world for welfare of other souls.
- The sun-rays kill the foul smell of the things. Likewise, we should have a will to free the world from ills of injustice, ills of wrong practices et cetra.
- The sun enlightens the whole world and gives the message of awakening. Likewise, we should awaken the world from the slumber of ignorance.
- The sun throws its light on water and mud alike. Likewise, we should enlarge our hearts and treat whole of the world like our family without any discrimination between own and outsiders.
- The sun moves without any company. Likewise, we should move on the path of righteousness even if our friends & relatives do not come in our support.
Mantras of making offerings in havan in the evening
First mantra-ओम् अग्निर्ज्योतिर्ज्योतिरग्निः स्वाहा
-Yajurved 3//9
Second mantra-ओम् अग्निर्वर्चो ज्योतिर्वर्चः स्वाहा
-Yajurved 3//9
Third mantra-ओम् अग्निर्ज्योतिर्ज्योतिरग्निः स्वाहा
-Yajurved 3//9
Fourth mantra-ओम् सजूर्देवेन सवित्रा सजू रात्र्येन्द्रवत्या जुषाणो अग्निर्वेतु स्वाहा
-Yajurved 3//10
These mantras are similar to the mantras spoken in the morning except the difference of two words-‘Agni’ and ‘Raatr’. The word ‘Agni’, too, means God and the second word-‘Raatr’ means night. In the fourth mantra, night-period should be understood as against the ‘dawn’ in the morning-mantras. Here, in these mantras, God’s attribute of destroying the evils has been mentioned or highlighted. Since, third mantra is same as the first one, it is cited in the heart only and thereafter offering is made.
If spiritual meanings of these mantras is not meditated upon, then the offerings made after citing these mantras will yield worldly benefits only. Only physical development is not the right goal of life. In the absence of development of soul, human life is similar to that of animals. As such, in the fourth mantra, inspiration of God for achievement of purpose of life has been prayed for.
First mantra-ओम् भूरग्नये प्राणाय स्वाहा। इदमग्नये प्राणाय इदं न मम
Second mantra-ओम् भुवर्वायवेsपानाय स्वाहा। इदं वायवेsपानाय इदं न मम
Third mantra-ओम् स्वरादित्याय व्यानाय स्वाहा। इदमादित्याय व्यानाय इदं न मम
Fourth mantra-ओम् भूर्भुवः स्वऱग्निवायवादित्येभ्यः प्राणापानव्यानेभ्यः स्वाहा। इदमग्निवायवादित्येभ्यः प्राणापानव्यानेभ्यः इदं न मम
-Tettriya Arnayak 10//2
Meaning of first mantra- O God! You are saviour of all, creator of this whole universe & base of everything. This offering is for you. There is nothing mine in it.
Meaning of second mantra- O God! You are saviour of all, remover of all pains & evils and omnipresent. This offering is for you. There is nothing mine in it.
Meaning of third mantra- O God! You are saviour of all, giver of pleasure, eternal, final truth and controller of this universe. This offering is for you. There is nothing mine in it.
Meaning of fourth mantra- O God! You are base of all, creator of this whole universe, remover of all pains and evils, giver of pleasure, illumined, omnipresent and master of the whole universe. This offering is for you, who possess all these attributes. There is nothing mine in it.
Explanation of the last four mantras –Now, we look at spiritual meaning of these mantras. We are bestowed with four types of properties. Our first property is our body embedded with senses of knowledge, that is, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin and senses of action, that is, hands, feet, tongue, anus, genital organ. Our second property is our mind (मन), which controls our feelings, cognition and will-power necessary for doing. Our third property is our intellect, which gives the final decisions on the matters placed before it. In this way, man is able to direct his will-power in the right direction. We can move out of the bondage of births and deaths through intellect only. Pure knowledge can be had through pure intellect only. We cannot think of salvation without knowledge. Nescience is said to be the basic reason of all our pains. Our fourth property is our soul without which our body, mind and intellect become a waste. The first three properties are the means of strengthening our fourth property, that is, soul, which is eternal. Body, mind and intellect are non-living but soul is living. Only a living object is responsible for good use or misuse of a mean, for example, a bullet cannot be held responsible for killing a person, instead, the person, who used that bullet to kill a person is responsible. In the same way, only soul, who is the master of body, mind and intellect is responsible for their acts. First offering is for strengthening and development of body and its various parts. Second offering is to purify mind through removal of ill feelings. Third offering is to channelise intellectual powers towards fulfillment of the purpose of creation. Fourth offering is for development of soul and making soul eligible to enjoy divine bliss through proper coordination between body, mind and intellect.
Today, we consider means as goals. Presently, the increase of selfishness in man is because of giving too much importance to non-living objects. As a result, love for the nation and the society, one lives in and respect for the parents and teachers has diminished a lot. Craze for physical things has given birth to love for luxuriousness, which in turn has given rise to inertness. Development or increase of only physical things blocks the path of spiritual development. Since, attachment to the worldly things do not help in any way in enjoyment of divine bliss, worldly properties are rightly rejected.
The sequence of the mantras cited in havan show the farsightedness of Swami Dayanand. He knew that in the coming time, humanity was going to be seated in the rear seat and man’s craze for worldly things was going to pollute the environment. Accordingly, he prescribed offerings of ghee, offerings of vegetation of medicinal properties, offerings of vegetations good for health and offerings of vegetations giving fragrance. The mantras aim at spiritual development of man and offerings of ghee along with other beneficial vegetation purify the environment. Some of these mantras have been framed by taking the essence of Tettriya upanishad. It has been very kind of Swami Dayanand to make the common man understand the supremacy of development of soul and to get rid of bodily or sensual pleasures, unnecessary mental desires and intellectual obstacles, like egoism through these mantras. The ultimate goal of man is to enjoy uninterrupted bliss of God and these mantras pave the way for the same. Now, a natural question arises as to what is the nature of God, enjoyment of whose bliss has been talked of as goal of life. This question has been answered in the next mantra.
मन्त्र
ओम् आपो ज्योतीरसोsमृतं ब्रह्म भूर्भुवःस्वरों स्वाहा ।
-Tettriya Arnayak 10//15
Meaning of the mantra- O God! You are saviour of all, omnipresent, illumined, blissful, eternal, free from bondage of births and deaths, reason of existence of all, reliever of all pains or griefs, giver of all pleasures and the greatest of all. This offering is for you.
Explanation-Here, in this mantra, different aspects as to the nature of God have been explained. A common question is- where does God reside? In answer to this question, this mantra says that God is present on the earth as well as in the space or in other words He is present in whole of the universe. Bliss is the attribute of God only. The other two eternal entities are nature and soul. Nature is totally non-living and devoid of bliss. Soul is though living but is also devoid of bliss. We can say that out of the three eternal entities namely, nature, soul and God, only God is blissful. As such, it is wrong to find bliss in the worldly things and relatives, friends et cetra. Bliss resides in God only and one should go to God for obtaining it.
God is not like darkness and is not unknowable. He is illumined and is the source of illumination of the stars or in other words, illumination of the sun and the stars is because of Him and illumination of the stars is negligible before illumination of God. All bright stars are hot. Then, is illumined God hot? This manta says that light of God is devoid of heat and is very cool.
Another question, which is raised is- God’s bliss is said to be pleasure-giving but man receives pleasure from worldly objects such as money et cetra and relatives also. As such, what is the need of God’s bliss? This mantra adds another adjective to pleasure received from God’s bliss. This mantra says that pleasure received from worldly objects and relatives is momentarily and gives only a glimpse of pleasure but God’s bliss yields pleasure for a very long time. Fulfillment of the desires of obtaining worldly objects can never bring peace. Desires increase by every attempt to fulfill them, in the way flames of fire soar by putting combustible material in it. We receive pleasure from worldly objects through our senses and the power of senses go on diminishing. Pleasure of bliss of God is not enjoyed by the body through senses but by the soul itself.
He is free and never comes in the bondage of birth and death and He inspires the beings to attain that stage. He is above all and so the greatest.
When there are innumerable qualities of God, then what is the single feeling by which He can be contemplated? His name is ‘Om’. This name includes all His attributes. He protects us from all sorts of harms. This feeling should be produced in ourselves while contemplating God.
All the havan-mantras end up with the word ‘swaaha’. ‘Swaaha’ means that one delightfully agrees with what has been said and putting an offering after citing the word ‘swaaha’ means that one offers himself also for the well-being of the universe.
मन्त्र
ओम् यां मेधां to कुरु स्वाहा।
-Yujurved 32//14
Meaning of the mantra- O illumined God! You bestow the highest of intellects, capable of receiving and assimilating true knowledge. I pray You to be kind enough to bestow on me the same intellect at the earliest.
Explanation- In the previous mantras, for obtaining the bliss of God, strengthening of will-power has been talked of. For taking this type of resolution, a special kind of intellect, which does not get attracted to the worldly pleasures making the obtaining of bliss of God secondary, is needed. As such, this mantra prays for receiving that special kind of intellect, which in Hindi and Sanskrit is called ‘medhaa budhi’. ‘Medhaa budhi’ refers to the intellect, on obtaining of which one never leaves his resolution based on truth, even on confronting highest of pains. Some people are able to explain highest of truths with remarkable ease but the very next moment, we see that such people get caught hold of anger et cetra and start finding faults with others. Such people can be leaned but are not possessing ‘medhaa budhi’. A possesser of ‘medhaa budhi’ strives to obtain the ultimate truth and never falls a prey to worldly attractions.
We see in the world that great scholars, great logicians and religious preachers are inclined to get popularity, fame, money, property and good disciples. To save himself from all these ills, doer of havan prays to God for obtaining ‘medhaa budhi’. Mere prayer is not sufficient. For fulfillment of the prayer, exertion, too, is needed. Havan is done as a symbol for this exertion.
Next, maharishi has prescribed making of offerings in havan with the first (ओ३म् विश्वानि) and last (ओ३म् अग्ने नय) worship mantras. In the first worship mantra, there is a prayer for removal of all ills and all untoward habits et cetra and receipt of all, which is good for the self. In this way this mantra refers to the primary condition for making the right resolution. In the last worship mantra, there is a prayer that we may adopt the right path for attaining our goal, which is possible only by getting rid of cunning ways. These mantras are cited in the end of havan in order to strengthen the resolution made in the beginning. The detailed explanation of these mantras have been given in the ‘Meaning and explanation of worship mantras’.
Here, we have given meanings of different mantras cited in havan with their explanations. The purpose behind this is that this ritual is not followed blindly, instead the purpose behind this rite is understood so that maximum benefit can be derived from it.
-Thoughts of Arjun Dev Snaatak
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