हवन विधि · Hawan Vidhi

This is a procedure for a general household hawan. Long Vedic recitations such as the swastivachan and the shodashopachar are usually recited by the priest; only the short mantras that a yajaman can recite themselves are given here.

Before beginning the hawan, gather everything you'll need: a packet of hawan samagri, pure ghee, sesame seeds, barley, rice, sugar or bura, panchmeva (five dried fruits and nuts), camphor, samidha (sacred firewood) from a mango, peepal, or dhak tree, a coconut, betel nut, betel leaves, flowers, akshat (unbroken rice), roli, kalava (sacred red thread), durva grass, kusha grass, mango leaves, Ganga water, a kalash, a lamp, and incense sticks. To prepare the hawan mixture, combine half a kilo of rice, one and a half kilos of barley, one kilo of ghee, two hundred fifty grams of sugar, and two hundred grams of panchmeva.

Arrange the seating like this: the yajaman, the person performing the hawan, sits facing east, and if a priest is conducting it, he sits facing north. If you are performing the hawan yourself, sit on a seat of kusha grass or a blanket, and have the rest of the family sit facing east as well. Before beginning, sprinkle Ganga water over all the materials.

Now perform achaman, the purification rite. Take water in your right palm and sip it three times, reciting one name below with each sip, then wash your hand afterward.

Next, take a little water in your hand, sprinkle it over yourself, and recite the mantra below.

Now light the lamp and the incense sticks. Offer flowers and rice to the lamp and bow to it, then wear a pavitri, a small ring made of kusha grass, on the ring finger of each hand.

Swastivachan follows next. Give everyone present flowers, rice, and durva grass to hold. The priest recites the swastivachan mantra, which begins 'Om svasti na indro vṛddhaśravāḥ' — since this is a long Vedic mantra, it is usually the priest who recites it. While it is recited, hold the intention that all the gods arrive to bless this yagya and see it completed without hindrance. When the mantra ends, offer the flowers and rice from your hand to Ganesh ji.

Now take the sankalp, the ritual vow. Hold water, flowers, rice, durva grass, and a little money in your hand, and state your name, gotra, location, the month and date, and the purpose of the hawan — such as the family's long life, good health, remedying a planetary affliction, or general well-being and prosperity. If you are performing the hawan yourself, end the sankalp with the word 'karishye'; if a priest is performing it on your behalf, end with 'karishyami.' Then let everything in your hand fall into a vessel.

Now apply a tilak of roli or sandalwood paste to the priest and everyone present.

Next, tie kalava around the right wrist while reciting the mantra below.

Now perform the Ganesh-Gauri puja. Take flowers and rice in your hand and bow to Ganesh ji, Lakshmi-Narayan, Uma-Maheshwar, your family's kul devata, the village deity, and all the gods and goddesses.

Then invoke Ganesh ji.

Then, in this order, offer a seat, water (for the feet, hands, and sipping), a bath of milk, curd, ghee, honey, and sugar followed by plain water, clothing, the sacred thread, sandalwood paste, roli, sindoor, akshat, flowers, durva grass, incense, a lamp, naivedya (sweets), fruit, betel leaf and nut, and a monetary offering, and conclude with aarti. Recite the mantra below with each offering.

At the end of the puja, offer this prayer.

Now set up the kalash. Place rice or unhusked paddy on a low platform and set the kalash on it. Into the kalash, add, in order, water, sandalwood paste, durva grass, betel nut, a few coins or a little money, and panchratna (the five sacred gems). Place five mango leaves around the rim of the kalash and tie kalava around its neck. Fill the lid, the purna-patra, with rice, and place a coconut wrapped in red cloth on top of it.

Invoke Varun Dev into the kalash while reciting this mantra.

Then offer the akshat in your hand to the kalash.

Now establish the fire. Arrange the wood in the hawan kund and light it with camphor, reciting this mantra.

Take flowers and rice in your hand and meditate on Agni Dev, then, reciting the mantra below, worship the fire with roli, flowers, incense, a lamp, and naivedya.

Now offer three ahutis of ghee with a spoon or sruva, reciting one of the three mantras below with each.

Now begin offering the hawan samagri. Take about three grams of the mixture with your thumb and middle two fingers, offer it into the fire on the word 'svaha' in each mantra, and follow it with 'idam ... na mama.' The mantras below are recited in this order.

Next, offer ahutis to the nine grahas (navagraha), saying 'idam ... na mama' after each name.

After the navagrahas, offer these four ahutis as well.

After all of these, offer this final ahuti.

After this, you may offer as many further ahutis as you wish — eleven, twenty-one, or a hundred and eight — in the name of your chosen deity, or with the Gayatri mantra.

Now perform the purnahuti, the final, complete offering. Place the remaining hawan samagri, a betel nut, or a coconut on a betel leaf, and have everyone present together offer it into the fire while reciting this mantra.

Then pour a thin, unbroken stream of ghee into the fire — this is called vasordhara — while reciting this mantra.

Apply the hawan's bhasma, its sacred ash, to your forehead, holding the thought that it grants physical, mental, and material strength. Then give everyone flowers for a pushpanjali offering, and perform the aarti.

Finally, take akshat in your hand for the visarjan, the closing send-off, and recite this mantra.

After this, distribute the prasad and give the priest dakshina according to your means.

Keep a few things in mind. If the hawan is being performed to pacify a particular planet, take an eight-finger-length piece of that planet's samidha, dip it in ghee, and offer it into the fire — aak wood is used for the Sun, palash for the Moon, khair for Mars, chirchita for Mercury, peepal for Jupiter, gular for Venus, shami for Saturn, durva grass for Rahu, and kusha grass for Ketu. Also, always offer the ahuti onto the burning part of the fire, never onto a part that has gone out.