Varuna
Every question on the site tagged Varuna, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
The deity of water — disrespecting a sacred river or water body (spitting, rinsing, urinating near it) invites His wrath, alongside that of the local guardian Yakshas.
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What are the rules upon arriving at a pilgrimage site and approaching sacred waters?
On entering, first bow to Lord Ganesha and then the region's chief deity; approach holy rivers with reverence — touching the water to your forehead before entering, never jumping in carelessly, splashing disruptively, or committing unhygienic acts near the water.
One bucket and mug for the toilet, another kept pristine for the bath; and after bathing in sacred water, no towel rubbing and no second tap-water bath
Using the same bucket or mug for personal hygiene and ceremonial bathing lets cross-contamination corrupt the practitioner's subtle body; and drying forcefully or immediately re-bathing with tap water after sacred-water bathing strips away the subtle energetic film it imparted.
Which deities must never be given sindoor?
All the devagana — Indra, Varuna, Yama, Kuber — to all of these the tilak is done with roli. Sindoor is not offered to them. He puts it as a remark of Devraj Indra himself: you are offering sindoor even to me; take it, brother, you have offered me sindoor, what shall I do with sindoor. To them it is not to be offered.
The sample sankalp runs from kalp and manvantar down to the tithi, the gotra, and the purpose of accepting Dattatreya as Sadguru.
The speaker pronounces a sample sankalp: Hari Om Vishnu Vishnu Vishnu, remembering Shrimad Bhagwan Mahapurush, in the Shri Shwetavara kalp, Vaivasvat manvantar, the 28th, in the first charan of Kaliyug, in Bhulok, Jambu Dweep, within Bharatvarsha, the state named Sikkim, the place named Guwahati, near the Kamarup Kamakhya peeth, at his own home, in the auspicious month of Margashirsha, on the Shukla Paksha Panchami tithi, in the morning — born in the Vishwanath gotra, Rudranshu — taking the sankalp to complete the pujan paath and the dev diksha vidhan for accepting Bhagwan Dattatreya in the form of Sadguru.
The kalash is filled with water while the rivers are remembered, marked with a swastika and mauli, and given durva, supari and a coin.
For the puja of Varuna Devta the kalash is decorated and filled with water, and placing the hand upon it all the rivers are remembered with the mantra: Ganga cha Yamuna cha yo Godavari Saraswati Narmada Sindhu Krishna Kaveri jalasnidhyam kuru — or else the names of all these rivers are spoken. A swastika is drawn on it and mauli thread is wound at its neck. Into it are put durva, then supari, and some dravya dakshina — a copper coin here, though any coin may be used.
The coconut is set on the rice with its jata side upward and turned toward the worshipper.
A little flower and durva are placed on the rice, and then the coconut is placed — the coconut being the purna phal. Keep in mind, the speaker says, that this part of the coconut, the part with the jata, should be facing upward, and turned toward you. In this way the coconut is established over the kalash, and here the Varuna Devta kalash sthapana vidhi is complete. A panchopachar pujan of them is then done.
Karma sakshi deep, sankalp, Ganesh Ambika, then the kalash sthapana — and all the devas are invoked into the kalash itself.
The speaker recapitulates: first the karma sakshi deep was kindled, then the sankalp was taken, after that the pujan of Ganesh Ambika was done, and after the Ganesh Ambika pujan the kalash sthapana was done for Varuna Devta. Now the pujan of the Varuna Devta kalash will take place. In the kalash itself the avahan of all the gods and goddesses will be made, and upon it the pujan of the other devas will be done.
Varuna is invoked with a flower, with his family and ayudhas, and given water four times.
Taking a flower in the hand you will say: O Varuna Devta, I make your avahan; be present here with your whole family and with all your ayudhas, be seated in the kalash and accept my pujan. After that water is given for washing his feet, then for rinsing the mouth, then for achman, and then for snan — water is poured there four times in this way.
Mauli serves as vastra and upavastra with water three times after each; the yagyopavit may be wound on the coconut, or a rakta sutra given in its place.
Vastra is offered in the form of mauli thread, the kalava, after which water is poured three times; then for the upavastra another thread is offered and water is poured three times again. The yagyopavit may be wound on the coconut, or kept, or in its place a rakta vastra or rakta sutra may be offered in the same way. In the demonstration it is already wound on the coconut and so is not offered separately, but the speaker says you may offer it.
Ashtagandha and kumkum are offered on a flower, then a flower garland is placed over the kalash.
Ashtagandha is offered for the tilak, applied on a flower; then kumkum is offered in the same way, applied on a flower. After that a mala is to be offered on the kalash of Shri Varuna Devta — a flower garland is placed over the kalash so that he is made to wear it.
On the paan leaf, supari with two laung and an elaichi are offered along with the bhog.
After the flower garland, bhog is offered. The speaker says you should certainly also offer, on the paan leaf, two laung, one elaichi and supari — it was left out here, and he is saying it in the video so that all of you will certainly offer it. He then repeats the list in a differing form: paan patta, one supari, two elaichi, two laung, one elaichi.
Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh, all the rivers and oceans, Indra, Varuna, Yama and Kuber are held present in the kalash when the dhoop is shown.
After the naivedya the deep is shown, and after the deep the dhoop is shown over the whole kalash. Because all the gods and goddesses come and are present in the kalash, the speaker says — Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh, all the rivers, all the oceans, the presence of all of them is there, Indra, Varuna, Yama, Kuber — remembering them, the dhoop is shown in the kalash. There is a mantra for it, he notes, but here it is being done plainly.
Camphor aarti three, five or seven times, water sprinkled thrice around it, then dakshina to Varuna.
After that the aarti is to be done, kindling camphor. The aarti should be taken round three times, five times or seven times; remembering Varuna Devta, the aarti of the kalash is taken. Then water is to be sprinkled three times all around the aarti — this, the speaker says, is an ordinary vidhi of karmakand. Then dakshina is offered to Varuna Devta according to capacity, symbolically here, with water offered three times.
What does cloth-strained water give?
He who bathes the Shivling with water strained through cloth — that is, having purified the water — has all his kamanas fulfilled and attains the Varuna loka.
How does the thirty-four Yantra procedure actually work?
None of those hundred and eight goes into the taveez. Write it a hundred and eight times on Bhojpatra, pack the Yantras into wheat flour as a hundred and eight pellets and put them into a flowing river or a pond so they reach the fish — a water-element matter, accomplished by Varuna's blessing. Then make a fresh Yantra to wear.
Indra, Varuna, Yama and Kuber are Vedokta devatas, not story characters
Indra, Varuna, Yama, Kuber — all these are Vedokta devatas. And you drag them, just like that, into stories of one kind and another.
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