Makar Sankranti
Every question on the site tagged Makar Sankranti, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
Computed for New Delhi. Sunrise decides which tithi a day belongs to, so these can differ elsewhere.
The sun's passage into Capricorn, from which the uttarayana begins and many anushthans are timed.
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Start days, length, daily count, seat and direction for the Shani Maha Mala Mantra anushthan
The speaker says the anushthan is best begun on Makar Sankranti, and can also start on a Saturday of the Krishna Paksha, on Shanishchari Amavasya or on Shani Jayanti. It runs at least 7 and at most 21 days, with the mala mantra recited at least 27 and at most 108 times a day, seated on a Kusha Asana. Grihasthas face west for this vidhan (though tantra usually faces south); if west is not possible, east will do.
Must the Kumbh bath be taken on a parva day?
The question is whether one should bathe at the Kumbh on a parva, or whether one may bathe at Haridwar at Makar Sankranti, or bathe at Prayagraj on any date. He answers: at a tirtha kshetra, whenever you get the time and the opportunity comes to you, you should bathe. In that, those who live nearby have more options as regards the parva-kaal — that is, brother, we bathed on Makar Sankranti; but for those who live far away, jump in as soon as you get the chance.
When may the dev diksha vidhan of Bhagwan Datta be done?
If it is to be done in that manner, you may do it, he says. Take it that you may do it now at Makar Sankranti. You may do it at Basant Panchami, in the Gupt Navratri of the Maa. Just now the Gupt Navratri is not running; the Gupt Navratri will come now in Magh.
What is the order between the Mahabhairav mantra and the Batuk Bhairav Hriday?
The speaker says the hriday, the hriday stotra of Batuk Bhairav, should certainly be made siddh. First do the mool mantra, which is the Mahabhairav mantra and contains all the Bhairavs; after that come forward and do the hriday of Batuk Bhairav. He says he is giving the vidhi for making the hriday siddh from the time of Makar Sankranti.
Makar Sankranti remedy for a dosha-struck mantra: 108 black-til laddus japped over
The speaker says that when a dosha has got into your mantras or your sadhana there is a simple, exact vidhan that is specifically for Makar Sankranti and can be done on any year's Sankranti, in the morning of the day the Sun enters Makar (14 or 15 January; check which). Bring or make 108 small, clean laddus of black til only, sprinkled with Gangajal if bought outside. After your bath and your usual guru, Ganpati and ishta puja, take a Sankalpa to free the mantra of its dosha, then jap the dosha-struck mantra 108 times, placing one laddu per japa on a black cloth sprinkled with gangajal (for a long mantra, 27 japa with four laddus in hand each time). Tie all 108 into a potli.
Three ways of giving away the laddu potli: to a sattvik Brahmin, to Surya in a cow-dung fire, or into a havan purnahuti
The speaker gives three vidhis for the potli of 108 japped laddus. First: the same day, give the whole potli with a pandit-style Sankalpa and some Dakshina to a pure, sattvik Brahmin — one who does not eat meat, which you must know. Second: at a river bank, smear the ground with raw cow dung, make a small rangoli of abir-gulal, light cow-dung cakes with camphor, offer the whole potli into that fire to Surya Narayan with a spoken prayer to free the mantra of its dosha, and give what you can to the poor there. Third: near a Shakti Peeth, tirtha or riverside temple where a Sankranti Havan with a large kund is going on, drop the potli into the kund at the Purnahuti and give dakshina to the organisers and brahmins for the yajna.
Fallback when the laddu potli cannot be given away on Sankranti day: a Brahmin's home within seven days
The speaker says that if for any reason none of the three ways can be done — temples closed nearby, because of corona or anything else — deliver the whole lot of laddus, with Dakshina, to a Brahmin's home within a week, within seven days. Because this is a kind of burden, keep adding some dakshina each day, ₹10 a day, or set aside ₹100 separately over the seven days, and give that dakshina to a good Brahmin. Done this way, he says, the mantra becomes free of its dosha.
Short anushthan after mantra dosha shuddhi, before the mantra is used again
The speaker says that after the mantra has been freed of its dosha, you should do a fresh, ordinary Anushthana of it — five or seven days, eleven days or twenty-one — and only then take the mantra fully back into use. He adds that this vidhan is to be done in full on Makar Sankranti day only; for other days he will tell a different prayog.
What does Makar Sankranti signify in this family reading?
When Surya Narayan enters Makar rashi from Dhanu we celebrate Makar Sankranti — a father going to his son's house, the speaker says. It is the turn from Dakshinayan towards Uttarayan and is kept as a parva kaal: shraadh of the pitrs and pujan of the devas are done on a large scale that day, and daan-punya has great importance.
Makar Sankranti is approaching, and tantrokta Surya sadhanas are to follow on the channel.
He says he is telling this because Makar Sankranti is coming, and at that time certain special tantrokta sadhanas connected with Bhagavan Surya will certainly be on the channel — so that for those who feel the sadhanas and mantras they have been doing are not bearing fruit, or are giving it only slowly, Surya's grace is the best thing for that.
A puja vidhan already done before may be taken up again, or Bhagavati Shakambhari worshipped.
Asked whether there is some puja vidhan for the coming Navratra from 30 December, the speaker says yes — the puja vidhan you have already done before, which he keeps repeating, you can begin again at that time. Any sadhana of Bhagavati or any sadhana of Bhairav ji that you have done in the past you can do in the Shakambhari Navratra, or you can also do the upasana of Bhagavati Shakambhari. For Makar Sankranti he will give something separately, and will state a single-day sadhana.
What is the first step for someone who wants to do Mahakali sadhana for life?
Choose the Guru method first — Bhagavan Dattatreya, the Navnath, a renowned Guru-form of your own region, or one of the three Shaktis. Then perform the Dev Deeksha Vidhan on a proper muhurta; the speaker offers the coming 26 December, or Makar Sankranti on 15 January.
What japa should be begun after the dev diksha on that day?
If it is possible for you on that day, the speaker says, then once you have done the dev diksha vidhan, begin the japa of the ekakshari mantra from that day and carry it for forty-one days, or take it up to the Purnima of Magh; complete it up to the Purnima of Paush. At the least, complete it up to the Amavasya of Magh, or up to Makar Sankranti — that will be very excellent. And keep no doubt in it.
What restriction does Kharmas place on this navratra?
The special point, he says, is that the time of Kharmas is running at present. It is said of the Kharmas period that in it we are not to begin any new sadhana — no new sadhanas of any kind are to be done. The Paush month will sometimes fall inside Kharmas and sometimes after it; the Poornima especially falls inside Kharmas, though sometimes later, as in 2022 when it fell on the seventeenth of January, after Makar Sankranti, whereas this time it falls on the sixth of January.
When should a Navdurga sadhana be taken up?
To someone who wishes to perform the Navdurga sadhana, he says to do it especially only after Makar Sankranti.
A Dattatreya sadhana missed at Makar Sankranti may run Pratipada to Poornima of the Gupt Navratra
Asked by Anil Sonara ji, who could not begin the Dattatreya sadhana on Makar Sankranti because of Covid, whether it can be started on Pratipada, he answers yes, absolutely — do it from the Gupt Navratra up to Poornima; do the sadhana from Pratipada up to Poornima.
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