Homa

Homa

होम, homa

"Homa", "havan" literally translates as fire sacrifice or sacrificial gifts offered to fire (ahavaniya), most often a libation of clarified butter.

Havan (हवन्) literally means burning or calling (invoking the Deity into fire).

Homa or havan is one of the most ancient rituals in India and is therefore considered the most powerful. Homa purifies the organs of action and perception (indriyas), where nadis (energy channels) flow. During homa, Deity is invited into the fire (avahana), the “birth” of the Deity takes place in the fire, then His (Her) worship is carried out with mantra and various offerings (samagri), and at the end of the homa, the energy of the Deity is absorbed by yogi (visarjana). At the end of the ritual, part of the prasad is sacrificed to the Deity in the fire, as well as a coconut, which symbolizes the human body or ego. Turning the coconut into ashes symbolizes the destruction of ego. Usually, at the end of homa, everyone takes part of the prasad, thus making an offering to their five pranas (bhutagni). 

Fire is the representative of God on Earth. Agni purifies everything it comes into contact with, without becoming polluted. Therefore, it is believed that in the age of Kali Yuga, worship of the Deity in the fire is most effective. Usually, homa is carried out in a specially prepared recess made in the ground, which is smeared with clay. Such a sacred place is called dhuni or havan kund. Depending on traditions, it can have different shapes. The Nathas have a round-shaped dhuni, symbolizing purnata (the fullness of the Absolute) and yoni, which creates the entire universe, all the Gods at once, as well as the body of a man and the Universe. In almost all homas, we worship the earth in which havana-kunda is dug, as the place of “asana” for fire.

Avahana and Visarjana

In Mantra-Mahodadhih it is said that avahana, the formation of fire, its naming, occurs in the same way as a living being is born and goes through the main sanskaras throughout his life. The ritual represents the universal processes of srishti, sthiti, and pralaya.

Avahana and visarjana involve the lower dvadashanta, which is associated with the space from the tip of the nose. In "Hatha-yoga pradipika", in "Viveka-martanda", and other texts it is said that Kundalini Shakti is placed in the heart. The "Hamsopanishad" describes hridaya-chakra as having eight petals, these are eight matrikas, eight elements, eight coils of Kundalini, etc. When avahana is performed, the flower is taken in the palms in avahana-mudra and brought to the heart, then prana is exhaled from the right nostril into the flower. At the end of the ritual with visarjana-mudra, the flower is brought to the left nostril, prana is inhaled, and then the flower is brought to the heart and crown of the head to absorb the power from the ritual.

Homa in mantra-yoga

According to "Mantra-yoga samhita" and other authoritative texts on the practice of mantras, to acquire “mantra-siddhi” (the power of a mantra), a mantra must be recited a certain number of times. This process is called purascharana or siddhikarana. Each syllable of mantra needs to be recited one hundred thousand repetitions (one lakh). Further, tantras recommend to perform havan and a tenth of the reading, i.e. recite ten thousand times, to worship Deity in Agni. Homa plays the most important role in the realization of mantra-siddhi, but not in all sadhanas the mantra must be recited for each 100,000 syllables, it all depends on what Guru says to do. Homa can also be an entirely independent practice.

The inner homa in yoga

External tantric rituals are yogic processes deployed outwardly. Pranagnihotra is based on the identification of fires and pranas. Upacharas are symbols of the five elements, which are associated with the senses. The ultimate goal of all rituals is the vision of the divine in everything. In external ritual, it is the material that is sacrificed, because there are attachments to the material. Homas and other external rituals are needed when karma-indriyas and jnana-indriyas are not pure enough. When they are pure, homa can take on a simpler version, up to yogic forms. Without effective pratyahara, using exclusively yogic techniques may yield poor results. During internal homa, Kundalini Shakti awakens. Kundalini is a deity and also fire, only inside the body. Kundalini is the many-sided Shakti, the power of consciousness and life. In essence, yoga is an internal yajna, antaryajna.

Homa can not be found in some Upanishads for the simple reason that the Upanishads were composed for munis (maunis), i.e. those who followed "silence" (मौन, mauna), and therefore a path close to what Gorakshanath called "amanaska", "laya" or "unmani". The munis practiced "silence of the mind", and therefore they hardly devoted their time to any recitation of mantras, except perhaps ajapa-japa or manasika, and, therefore, karma-kanda was not for them. But as for the internal yajna, everything is different here, moreover, even among the brahmans, out of five forms of yajna, the main one was Brahma-yajna, that is, the study of the shastras and directing attention to Brahman as lakshya to comprehend Him. This is essentially a yogic version, which later received the most unique forms in Tantra and among the Nathas. Thus, for example, Abhinavagupta, speaking about homa in Shakta Upaya, means internal agnihotra as the revelation of the light of consciousness. In "Gheranda samhita" it is equal to jyotir-dhyana. In fact, many sadhanas of Vedantic sannyasins in their most classical form, as a rule, imply internal yajna and non-contact with “external fire” as an attribute of grihasthas.

In Tantrism we find richer explanations of both external and internal homa, the same way was explained by Gorakshanath, for the simple reason that Gorakshanath integrated vaidika, tantrika, and many other sadhanas in different religions. Therefore, Nathas, of course, have karma-kanda, but it’s not the same as in many forms of tantra.

"Bhavana Upanishad" on the correspondence between external and internal:

saccitsukhaparipūrṇatāsmaraṇaṃ gandhaḥ |
samastaviṣayāṇāṃ manasaḥ sthairyeṇānusaṃdhānaṃ kusumam |
teṣāmeva sarvadā svīkaraṇaṃ dhūpaḥ |
pavanāvacchinnotdhvajvalanasaccidulkākāśadehodīpaḥ |
samastayātāyātavarjyaṃ naivedyam |
avasthātrayāṇāmekīkaraṇaṃ tāmbūlam |
mūlādhārādābrahmarandhraparyantaṃ brahmarandhrādāmūlādhāraparyantaṃ
gatāgatarūpeṇa prādakṣiṇyam | turyāvasthā namaskāraḥ |
dehaśūnyapramātṛtānimajjanaṃ baliharaṇam |
satyamasti lartavyamakartavyamaudāsīnyanityātmavilāpanaṃ homaḥ |
svayaṃ tatpādukānimajjanaṃ paripūrṇadhyānam |

Complete clear mindfulness is incense (gandha).
Examination of all objects with a calm, steady mind is a flower (pushpa).
Constant identification with them is incense smoking (dhupa).
Like the split flame of fire, Being and Consciousness are firebrands.
The space of the body is a lamp (deepa).
Complete negation of what comes and goes is food (naivedya).
Uniting in three states (sleep, dreaming, and wakefulness) - betel (tambula).
Staying in motion from muladhara to sahasrara and from sahasrara to muladhara is circumambulation (pradakshina).
Staying in the fourth state of consciousness (turya) is bowing (namaskara).
Immersion in the comprehended emptiness of the body is slaughtering a sacrifice.
“Existence acts and does not act.”
Constant indifference to one's own complaints is homa.
Immersing oneself in these words is full contemplation.