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HOME WORSHIP. (part 2).



DRESSING AS A VAISNAVA:

While worshiping the deity one should wear appropriate Vaisnava dress. Vaisnava dress helps us to identify ourselves as a servant of Krsna.

Unclean and Improper Cloth: A devotee should not wear dirty cloth, especially when cooking or worshiping the deity. Used cloth that has not been washed and dried again is considered unclean. Cloth worn while sleeping, passing urine or stool, or having sex is unclean.

Cloth that touches anything impure, such as wine, meat, blood, a dead body, or a woman in her menstrual period, is also contaminated. Cloth washed by a public laundry service and cloth that, though washed, has become stale are also unclean and therefore unfit to wear during deity worship.

While worshiping the deity, you should not wear the following types of cloth: brightly-colored cloth (for men), damp cloth, cloth that is too long or too short to be worn properly, stitched or sewn cloth (for men), torn cloth, oil or dirt stained cloth, soiled cloth, burnt cloth, or cloth chewed by animals or insects.

However, you may wear silk many times before washing it, provided it has not contacted anything impure or been worn in impure places.

Unbleached, raw matka (ahimsa) silk is the best for puja. Sheep’s wool is said to be always pure, but still, you should not wear ordinary woolen cloth when worshiping the deity, because wool particles may fall on the deity’s paraphernalia.

However, you may wear wool cloth if it is very fine, “nonshedding” wool, in which case you should reserve these items only for puja. Synthetic cloth should not be worn when worshiping the deity.

Marking the Body With Tilaka and Other Symbols. You should also describe how one should paint one’s body in twelve places with urdhva-pundra [tilaka].

Place some water in the palm of the left hand, then taking a piece of gopicandana (tilaka) in the right hand rub it in the water in the left hand until a smooth paste has been formed.

The following prayer from the Hari-bhakti-vilasa, quoted in the Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, 20.202, lists the forms of the Lord to meditate on while applying tilaka.

(om) lalate kesavam dhyayen narayanam athodare
vaksa-sthale madhavam tu govindam kantha-kupake

visnum ca daksine kuksau bahau ca madhusudanam
trivikramam kandhare tu vamanam vama-parsvake

sridharam vama-bahau tu hrsikesam tu kandhare
prsthe tu padmanabham ca katyam damodaram nyaset

tat praksalana toyam tu vasudeveti murdhani

When one marks the forehead with tilaka, he must remember Kesava. When one marks the lower abdomen, he must remember Narayana. For the chest, one should remember Madhava, and when marking the hollow of the neck one should remember Govinda.

Lord Visnu should be remembered while marking the right side of the belly, and Madhusudana should be remembered when marking the right arm. Trivikrama should be remembered when marking the right shoulder, and Vamana should be remembered when marking the left side of the belly.

Sridhara should be remembered while marking the left arm, and Hrsikesa should be remembered when marking the left shoulder. Padmanabha and Damodara should be remembered when marking the back.

While chanting the following mantras and meditating on the Lord, apply tilaka to the forehead and upper body with the ring finger of your right hand.

om kesavaya namah – forehead
om narayanaya namah – navel
om madhavaya namah – chest
om govindaya namah – hollow of the neck
om visnave namah – right abdomen
om madhusudanaya namah – right arm
om trivikramaya namah – right shoulder
om vamanaya namah – left abdomen
om sridharaya namah – left arm
om hrsikesaya namah – left shoulder
om padmanabhaya namah – upper back
om damodaraya namah – lower back

Wash the excess tilaka from your hands with water, and then wipe your sikha with the palm of your right hand while chanting:

om vasudevaya namah - sikha

Applying tilaka is a spiritual activity and therefore tilaka should be applied in a sitting position after have sipped acamana.

Marking the Body With Other Symbols and the Names of the Lord. Sometimes devotees also like to decorate their bodies with the names of the Lord or pictures of the Lord’s feet. For this metal stamps that are purchased in India are used, as well as how one should stamp one’s body with the holy names of the Lord or the symbols of the Lord, such as the disc and club.

After this, you should describe how one should decorate his body with gopicandana,
Sipping Water for Purification (acamana)Acamana, or sipping water, is a means of purification.

As immersing the body in water brings about physical and subtle cleansing, so taking water infused with mantras into the body by sipping performs a similar function. Thus where purification is required but it is inconvenient to bathe, acamana is prescribed.
The general process of acamana is as follows:

While looking into water cupped in your right hand, chant a mantra directed into that water and then sip the water.

A devotee should perform acamana to achieve physical and mental purity before performing spiritual activities such as applying tilaka, chanting Gayatri and japa, performing puja and homa, observing a vrata, taking prasada, reading or reciting sastra or mantras, and meditating.

The place where a devotee performs acamana should be pure – i.e., free from hair, bones, ash, or any other impure item.

The water should be cool, fresh, without bubbles or foul odor or taste, and untouched by fingernails, hair, or any impure item. Rainwater, being in the mode of passion, should not be used.

Out of respect for a spiritual activity, do not perform acamana with your head or throat covered; without having your kaupina or cloth tucked in at the back; without first cleaning your hands and feet; with shoes on; while standing; or while sitting on shoes or sitting with your knees or feet showing.

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