Tantric Prayogs at the Chaukhat for the Kul Pitr, the Kuldevi and a House under Abhichaar

The speaker says that through the Chaukhat the protection of the house and the satisfaction of the kul devatas and kul Pitr can certainly be achieved; tantra has many vidhans in which the powers of the kula have been made very sharp and strong through the chaukhat alone. He recalls what an earlier talk made very clear: the dehri or chaukhat of the main door of the house is held to be the place and the asana of Bhagavan Narasimha. On that dehri, he says, the kul pitr and the kula's protective powers are always, at all times, present. And at the twilight time between day and night which is called Godhuli BelaThe evening twilight period around dusk, traditionally favoured for Akarshana (attraction) rites. — Narasimha's own hour — the tattva of Bhagavan Narasimha is certainly present at that spot, so every prayog done there at that time gives a very special effect.

The speaker says that those whose house has no dehri, no Chaukhat, cannot do these prayogs; there is no alternative for them. Only if there is a chaukhat can they be done. He anticipates the question whether one may do them without a chaukhat, and answers that there is no benefit in that at all. His advice is simply to have a chaukhat fitted. If it is one's own house, one can fit it. In a rented house too one can fit a chaukhat, he says, because one is paying for that house; if one does not intend to leave it for now, doing this carries no Dosha. He repeats the point later: if there is no chaukhat, get one fitted — it is for one's own sake, for one's own welfare, and for the protection of one's house and family.

The first subject, the speaker says, is when the kul Pitr of the house are displeased with you and you are coming to know it. How pitr dosha attaches — not so quickly, but how, when, sometimes at once and sometimes over time — has been discussed fully in earlier talks; we think the ill effect came very fast, but there are many reasons behind it. So when it becomes clear, especially, that our kul pitr are unsatisfied and displeased, are not being satisfied, and that Pitru Dosha or a shrap is somehow present in our kundali or our life, then this prayog should be done. For those who are afflicted by some kind of upari shaktis or Vayavya Baadha, he says, and especially if pitr dosha is present, this is the first prayog.

The speaker says that, in the ordinary course, whoever has a Chaukhat in their house should have the Kula VadhuThe family's daughter-in-law or lady of the house — traditionally responsible for keeping the main door threshold (Chaukhat) clean and daily decorated, with her head covered as a mark of respect. bathe that chaukhat every day — wash it, make it fragrant, and show DhoopIncense offered during worship; its smoke is treated as an offering in its own right within the sequence of upacharas. and a lamp there. This much, he says, must certainly happen. The special prayog for angry kul pitr comes on top of this daily minimum, for those who are actually afflicted.

In this prayog, the speaker says, there will be two parts, morning and evening. The morning part may be done by any man of the house, or by any Kula VadhuThe family's daughter-in-law or lady of the house — traditionally responsible for keeping the main door threshold (Chaukhat) clean and daily decorated, with her head covered as a mark of respect.. But one should take care that the unmarried daughter of the house will not do this prayog. The sons of that house may do it, the daughter-in-law of that house may do it, whichever married women are there may do it — but the daughter of the house will not.

In the morning, the speaker says, the first thing is that the prayog is done after one has bathed. One may do the sweeping and mopping of the house and everything else first, but the prayog must come after the bath. Whatever puja one does at one's puja place may be done either after or before this, but doing the prayog first is better. Prepare the puja place fully, but do not sit down for puja — only light the Karma Sakshi lamp that stands at the puja place, and then come to the Chaukhat. First wash the chaukhat well, top and bottom. After washing, apply ittar: ChandanSandalwood paste, offered and applied in worship for its cooling, purifying quality. ittar is to be applied; if one has any allergy, rose water and agaru may be used. After washing, wipe it with a good cloth — the chaukhat becomes fragrant and very divine. Then KushaThe sacred grass used for seats, rings and purificatory sprinkling; treated as spiritually insulating.: cut it and make small kusha seats like an asana, with just two blades of kusha each, and place one on each side. Then place a one-wick ghee lamp of clay or brass on each side. Light those lamps while saying: may the kul Pitr of our house be pleased, show grace, protect our house, and forgive whatever known or unknown dosha has attached through us, whatever offence we have committed. Saying this, light the lamps. This prayog, he says, should be done within one hour of sunrise.

After lighting the lamps, the speaker says, take some vessel — but leaving aside the copper vessel: women will not do this from a copper vessel, men may. If one is a woman, one may use brass, or even a steel vessel without any Dosha; otherwise the small leaf-made cup that is available, a dona, may also be used for this prayog.

In the vessel, the speaker says, take tal MishriCrystallised sugar, offered as naivedya. — mix tal mishri in water, that is, prepare sweet water — and put a little black TilSesame, black til in particular, central to pitr karma and to many ahutis. into it, five or ten grains or a pinch. With that, give ArghaThe base and water-channel surrounding a Shivling, through which abhishekam offerings drain away. on both sides for the kul Pitr: on both sides of the door, both sides of the Chaukhat, a little each, where the lit lamps have been placed. There is nothing special about mantra in this, he says; it is a vidhan that gives its effect through the primacy of bhava. If one wishes to say a mantra, one may give the argha saying "कुल पितृभ्यो नमः" — kul pitribhyo namah — and Pranav and the like are not to be added to it.

After the kul pitr argha, the speaker says, give arghya to Surya Narayana with plain water — nothing is to be mixed into it, ordinary water — while doing japa of Bhagavan Surya's mantras, or his namavali of twelve names, or, if one holds the adhikar for it, japa or paath of the Gayatri. If one performs SandhyaThe twice- or thrice-daily prayer rite performed at dawn and dusk — Vedic Sandhya requires eligibility under Varnashrama, while those without it may instead undergo Tantrik initiation and perform Tantrik Sandhya. upasana and has a sandhya vidhi, then one gives the arghya to him according to that sandhya.

After the Surya arghya, the speaker says, give arghya to Bhagavati Tulsi. Arghya is not to be given to Tulsi on the day of Ekadashi, and not on Sunday. If in one's own place it is also the custom not to give it on Tuesday, then do not give it; and if there is no vidhan of giving it on Dwadashi, then do not. Look at this according to one's own tradition: Sunday and Ekadashi are not given, and for the remaining days follow whatever the custom is on one's side. On the other days it is to be given. That, he says, completes the morning part.

In the evening, the speaker says, either the Chaukhat is washed again, or else a clean white cloth is soaked, rose water or ittar is taken up well in it, and the whole chaukhat is made fragrant with that. After that, apply white and yellow ChandanSandalwood paste, offered and applied in worship for its cooling, purifying quality. on both sides — chandan is applied in the morning too. At both corners of the chaukhat, first apply white chandan below and then yellow chandan over it. Then make a Chaumukh DeepakA four-faced oil lamp with four wicks, used in pairs or in multiples across a house during application rituals for Bhairava and similarly potent deities. of wheat flour — the lamps that are made from atta, very small ones. Lay the KushaThe sacred grass used for seats, rings and purificatory sprinkling; treated as spiritually insulating. seats on both sides just as in the morning, two blades of kusha on each side. Place one atta lamp on each side and fill it with mustard oil. Having put in the mustard oil, light the lamps for the kul Pitr, saying: be pleased with us, and forgive whatever offence is ours. That, he says, is the morning-and-evening chaukhat pujan vidhi for the pitr.

This prayog, the speaker says, is to be done for one paksha at the least: in the Krishna paksha, from PratipadaThe first tithi of a fortnight, on which navaratra anushthans begin. up to and including Amavasya. Later, when introducing the third prayog, he sums up that the two prayogs run fifteen days each up to Purnima — fifteen for the pitr, fifteen for the Kuldevi — and that one may do both, or only one of them.

Every day in the morning, the speaker says, once you have lit the lamps and the Chaukhat pujan is done, arghya has been given to Surya Narayana and one has done one's own daily puja, then feed a cow, or a dog, a crow, ants, some human being, or any of these five. Give as much as one can according to one's capacity — whether a single biscuit or a single roti, or whatever one's means and wish allow — and only then should food enter one's own mouth.

Besides the daily seva, the speaker says, if one gets time at midday, recite the seventh chapter of the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita — in Hindi is fine — and while reciting, keep a lota of water in front with KushaThe sacred grass used for seats, rings and purificatory sprinkling; treated as spiritually insulating. put into it, and be sure to sprinkle that water in the house and on the Chaukhat. One may do this at midday, or in the morning as part of one's own puja-paath. It becomes, he says, a most divine prayog for the pleasure and peace of the kul Pitr and for release from their wrath and anger.

The speaker asks the listener to keep in mind that this is temporary; it is not a permanent remedy. If the Pitr's affliction has fallen on you in its fullest, most forceful form, they will become calm at once — their wrath will subside, they will stop giving trouble, and if they are troubling you a great deal in dreams or in ordinary life, that will certainly become calm. But the full solution, he says, is this: when they are fully appeased, then afterwards, for their sake and for their gati, Narayana Bali, Tripindi and the like should be done, and a Bhagwat should be done, so that they are completely given their onward passage. They are not to be kept held back. As for Narayana Bali and when it is done, he says all of that will be covered separately.

The second matter, the speaker says, is when one comes to know that along with the kul pitr the kula's shaktis are displeased too, or that one's kul shakti has been turned against one — that also happens. Tantra is a very deep subject and there is a great deal of manipulation in it; the same thing does not happen to everyone, so one should look and identify which case is one's own — it may be a problem only with the kul pitr, or with both. So if in any way the kula's shakti is displeased with you, this can be done for their sake; and even if you have no knowledge of your Kuldevi but are doing some kind of sadhana, you may still do this vidhan. The pleasure of the kuldevi and the Kul Shakti certainly comes from seva of the Chaukhat, he says, because those protective powers are certainly present there. For their pujan, the vidhan should be done in the shukla paksha from PratipadaThe first tithi of a fortnight, on which navaratra anushthans begin. up to Poornima, or in a festival period such as Navratri.

Wash the whole Chaukhat well, the speaker says, or wipe it well with an ittar-scented cloth — the entire chaukhat, top and bottom. A trikut chaukhat has a piece above and pieces on either side but none below; that is no problem. Where there is a chaukhat on all four sides — one that shelters from all four directions — wipe the whole chaukhat area on all four sides, below, above, left and right. Then, above, below, at both ends and on every side, apply tilak with yellow ChandanSandalwood paste, offered and applied in worship for its cooling, purifying quality., white chandan and RoliA red vermilion powder applied to ritual offerings such as the lemons in a sacrificial Bali, before they are circled with water and offered..

After the chandan and roli tilaks, the speaker says, take the orange SindoorVermilion powder, used here to draw the inverted triangle Mandala for a Bhairava offering, in place of the Roli-and-Ashtagandha triangle drawn for a Goddess. — what is called bakra sindoor, the kind used more in villages and at the time of weddings, and in particular the one that is offered on Hanuman ji — and mix that very sindoor into chameli oil. Then, remembering one's Kuldevi — and if one has no knowledge of one's kuldevi and does not know her name, then remembering Bhagavati Durga — apply five tilaks of it on the upper Chaukhat. On the lower chaukhat, he says, apply five tilaks of yellow ChandanSandalwood paste, offered and applied in worship for its cooling, purifying quality..

The speaker says to take care to make it clear to everyone in the house: do not come in or go out placing a foot on the Chaukhat. A foot should not be placed on the chaukhat — a Dosha attaches, a very great dosha attaches. Explain this to everyone in the house again and again, he says; do not make this mistake. And if there is no chaukhat, have one fitted — it is for one's own welfare and for the protection of one's house and family.

When the shringar of the Chaukhat is done — with ittar, chandan, and the sindoor in chameli oil — the speaker says one must take a four-faced lamp. A brass one may be taken and used always; it should be small, not very large. If one uses clay lamps, a new lamp is needed every day. As for how to use it: when you step out of your house, on the side that is your right, light one four-faced mustard-oil lamp — only one lamp goes there. Place that Chaumukh DeepakA four-faced oil lamp with four wicks, used in pairs or in multiples across a house during application rituals for Bhairava and similarly potent deities. on flowers, or on a heap of whole urad that you have piled up, put in the mustard oil and light it. Make sure five LaungClove, used in offering and in small prayogas. and one ElaichiCardamom, offered with laung in small prayogas and in pujan. are placed in that lamp.

On your left, the speaker says, there will be a one-wick lamp, and that will be a ghee lamp. In it there must be two cardamoms, KapoorCamphor, burnt at the close of worship. and two cloves. This lamp is to be set on a heap of flowers or on coloured rice. The rice should not be of a single colour — yellow, red, two colours, white, three colours, any colour except black; black and blue must not be there. Mix red, yellow and white rice, and the grains must be whole, not broken. Colour them with food colour, because with food colour the birds will eat these grains later. Then place the lamp on top and light it.

The speaker says to take care that each time the lamp has burnt and is fully finished, one keeps gathering the urad grains in one place and the rice grains in one place. After fifteen days, a little of the rice is to be kept back; the remaining grains may be thrown to birds. On the day of Poornima, when the pujan takes place, at midday mix more rice into this rice and make KheerRice cooked in milk, offered as naivedya in many vidhis..

The urad grains that were kept back a little at a time, the speaker says, are to be wrapped in a red cloth, tied, and bound above the main Chaukhat — or somewhere on the inner side — for protection. The rest of the urad is mixed with rice and cooked into the bhaat that is made of rice and urad; a little ghee is added to it — only lightly, not much — and it is taken and fed to any animal outside the house. It may also be placed at a crossroads. He calls it a most divine prayog and asks that all these points be kept in mind.

The second part, the speaker says, is done in a large clay vessel, or in a Havan kund if one has one — but not a copper or iron havan kund. Havan fire is not to be invoked in it. Ordinary cow-dung cakes are lit in the ordinary way with ghee or kapoor, and in that, 21 ahutis each are to be given with two mantras: for Bhagavati Kuldevi, and with the first mantra of the Argala Stotra, Jayanti Mangala Kali. At the start one may also give Ahuti for Guru and Ganapati. For the kuldevi, the timestamped transcript records the ahuti words as "श्री कुल दिव्य स्वाहा, श्री कुल दिव्य स्वाहा" (the untimestamped transcript reads the same passage as "श्री कुलदेव्यै स्वाहा"); 21 ahutis are given this way, of GuggulA fragrant resin burnt as dhoop or mixed with ghee for ahutis, used heavily in protective and prosperity rites. alone — nothing else is to be mixed into the kuldevi's ahuti. For the Jayanti Mangala ahutis, a little cardamom is mixed into the guggul — split four or five ElaichiCardamom, offered with laung in small prayogas and in pujan. well and add all their seeds — with a little ghee; dip it in ghee, read the full mantra, "जयंती मंगला काली भद्रकाली कपालिनी ...", ending with svaha as the transcript has it, and release it. If one does not say svaha it is no problem either, he says, since this is a matter of dhuni.

Then the whole smoke that rises is to be shown through the entire house, the speaker says — the work itself is done at the puja place — and, showing the smoke everywhere, the vessel is brought to the Chaukhat and set down on the side where the ghee lamp for the Kuldevi had been placed on the heap of coloured rice. This is done in the morning, and the same thing is repeated in the evening; if for some reason one can do it at only one time, that is no problem.

The third prayog, the speaker says, is for when there is a great abhicharik problem over one's house: something enters the house, presses the throat at night, creates havoc, and the whole night nobody can sleep — great trouble. Then find some Shiva temple that is old — a hundred years old, or at least twelve years; if a 50-to-100-year-old Shiva temple can be found, that is best. There, whenever Ardra Nakshatra falls — take care, it may be either shukla paksha or krishna paksha — go during the Ardra nakshatra, take pure GangajalWater from the Ganges, used to purify and re-consecrate ritual items exposed to impurity. with you, do abhishekaA ceremonial bathing of a deity’s image or symbol, usually with water and other prescribed substances. of Bhagavan Shiva with it, and take up water from beside the arghi. Bring that water back and sprinkle it through the whole house. Make the Chaukhat fragrant in the same way as before, keep that water saved, and each day apply this same water to the chaukhat — above, below, on every side, the whole chaukhat.

And every day, the speaker says, bring the Nirmalya — either from that same temple, or from any very old temple — especially of Bhairava ji, Hanuman ji, Bhagavati Kali, Durga ji, or any temple connected with the Yoginis. It should be taken every morning, and it should be the first nirmalya: the little that is left after the night's shringar — if that very nirmalya can be had in the morning, bring it. Hang it every day on the upper side of the Chaukhat of the main door of the house. The next morning bring fresh nirmalya, immerse the old one, and put up the new one. Keep continuing this work for at least 108 days, for six months, for a whole year. More than half of the tantra running over your house, he says, will stop through this alone.

The speaker gives the reason. Chitraratha the Gandharva — Pushpadanta, who composed the Shiva Mahimna Stotra — had his powers crippled by transgressing Nirmalya. If that could happen to Pushpadanta, whom one should know is called the Gandharva-raj, then what standing do ordinary bhoot, pret and pishach have? So, he says, these powers are stopped at the upper part of your Chaukhat — though not below, because below everyone would step over it. From beneath the nirmalya no power will be able to enter. There remain many other considerations, he adds — how much effect it will give or not give; if some person inside the house is doing it, or the thing already enters within the house, then the matter is different. But even so, the powers will be crippled and the intent will be checked, and to a great extent your house will come under protection.

The speaker urges everyone to do the seva and puja of the Chaukhat without fail, because Bhagavan Narasimha's place is there: the more he is served, the more protected the house will be, and the calmer one's mind will remain — in houses where a great deal of disturbance and quarrelling keeps happening, needless bickering, do this. This is not a prayog, he says, but a matter of nitya krama. Through seva of the chaukhat, many impurities and negative things in the house are removed.