Before going into sandhyAvandhana bhAshyam, there are few daily activities one need to perform before sandhyAvandhanam. Let us see those first.
1.1. ahas
ahas means daytime, in general. But, also means Sunrise to next day Sunrise. Now let us see the activities which need to be performed during ahas one by one.
1.2. brahma muhUrtham
One need to wake up during brahma muhUrtham. brahma muhUrtham is the last portion of fourth yAmam of the night. That is, 1.5 hrs before Sunrise. One needs to wake up during this time and think of Sri vishNu bhagavAn in mind.
It is also mentioned by AndAL nAchchiyAr in her thiruppAvai as,
“veLLaththaravil thuyil amarndha viththinai
uLLaththuk kONdu munivargaLum yOgigaLum
meLLa ezhundhu ari enRa pEr aravam
uLLam pugundhu kuLirndhElOr empAvAi”
1.3. bahirvihAra:
This is the process of cleansing our body by removing the waste accumulated. This needs to be done in the south side direction outside the house. Distance of the place to do this activity should be an arrow throw distance from house. brAhmaNan should put his sacred thread as mAlA and put around his right ear and should do this activity in a clean place. Next soucham, that is cleaning by water and sand post this activity.
1.4. gaNdUsham
Next is gargling with water. As devathAs always reside in the right side of a brAhmaNan, he needs to gargle and split only to his left side.
1.5. dhantha dhAvanam
This is brushing the teeth.
“Ayur balam yaSO varcha: prajA paSuvaSOni cha |
brahmapragyAm cha medhAm cha thvam nO dhEhi vanaspathE”
This is requesting the vruksharAjan (king of trees) to give us strength, long life and to thank him for giving the tree branch for brushing. As mentioned by mArkaNdEyar, after saying the above manthra, we have to take a small stick from the trees which has bitter taste, sour taste, scent trees or which releases milk when cut.
In the next post, we will see about SnAnam.
adiyen madhusUdhana rAmAnuja dhAsan
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