Prayashchitta
Every question on the site tagged Prayashchitta, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
Ritual atonement performed to offset the karmic burden of a weighty act, such as a Shatkarma that results in an enemy's death.
20 notes from our sourcesNotes from our sources
How does bringing a daughter back after she leaves the lineage tradition cause ancestral impurity, and what purification is prescribed first?
If a daughter from a Sanatana family observing Dakshinachara or Vaishnava rites leaves that tradition — for instance marrying outside it — and is brought back purely out of sympathy, the ancestors become wrathful, since her spiritually defiled aura carries impurity across the threshold onto the household's children and future descendants; the prescribed remedy is to send her first to a Ganga pilgrimage site such as Haridwar or Rudraprayag for at least a month and a quarter of guided Prayashchitta before she re-enters the home.
What happens to a person who commits a fault at the Kumbh?
It is magnified in the same proportion as the merit. The speaker singles out those who chew paan or gutka and spit on the banks or on the exposed ground between the rivers, asking where they will bear the consequence.
Can a person who cannot travel bathe mentally at the Triveni?
Yes — the Mahatmya states that one who bathes even mentally at the confluence is freed from every kind of sin and merges in the eternal Brahman. Consecrate water with the stotras of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati and mix it into the bathing water.
What is destroyed only at the Kumbh Kona and nowhere else?
Sin committed at a holy place. Sin committed elsewhere is destroyed at pilgrimage sites, Shakti Peeths and Jyotirlinga regions — but sin committed at those places themselves is destroyed only where the nectar fell.
What atonement should be performed before leaving home?
Beginning three days before departure: bathing, Argha to Surya, and 27 recitations of one's chosen deity's Sahasranama at nine a day, with sleeping on the ground if the body permits, and Panchabali each day.
What should be carried from home to Prayag?
Gold for donation if affordable, silver otherwise — a piece worth a thousand or two thousand rupees, or a silver sheet — and Akshat from one's own house, gathered the day before departure.
Where should the mind be during the three dips?
Entirely on one's chosen deity — for a worshipper of Narayana, wholly at his lotus feet. The moment the head is fully submerged and the breath held is described as the most divine instant, burning every kind of sin.
When during the stay should the atoning donation be made?
Immediately after the first bath, on the first day — so that the practitioner performs the remainder of their sadhana already free of sin. A one-day visitor necessarily does it that same day.
How is the merit surrendered before leaving?
By addressing Prayagraj, Jagadamba and Veni Madhav and offering the whole of the merit earned there at their feet, asking only that they do whatever brings the practitioner's welfare — rather than carrying the merit home unsurrendered.
What happens to a practitioner who has given offence to a deity?
They are driven off (Uchchatan) the moment they attempt mantra siddhi at a Pitha — a quarrel arises, the mind turns and they leave. Where Vinayaka is displeased the obstruction is bodily: gas and pain to the navel, an inability to sit, and disturbance at the Muladhara.
What do the three dips at the Triveni accomplish?
Bodily sin in the first, spoken in the second, mental in the third. The practitioner holds the breath, remembers their chosen deity beneath the water, and that instant of remembrance is described as the moment sin is burnt away.
What should be done after crossing a boundary during the sadhana?
Ask forgiveness at the time, then offer an extra vessel of Argha to Suryanarayana the next day as Prayashchitta — two vessels instead of one — stating that circumstances compelled the journey and that this is offered in atonement.
What does the speaker offer to anyone who completes 32,000 without result?
To fund a Navchandi at Vindhyachal at his own expense. He asks anyone who genuinely completes 32,000 and experiences nothing to tell him, and says he will bear it as his own atonement for having stated the claim.
Should a Prayaschitta be performed before beginning a sadhana?
Yes — one day's Prayashchitta should certainly be performed, on the assumption that known and unknown offences have occurred. It may consist of Argha to the Sun, donation, japa, circumambulation, or fasting and vows.
What should be done if the mala breaks during a Sankalpa?
Restring it, perform its consecration, and then as Prayashchitta perform at minimum eleven malas of japa together with a Havan before continuing.
What should be expected while performing this remedy?
Considerable disturbance. The speaker warns the spirit may create uproar so the reading cannot be completed, or provoke quarrels in the household, and instructs that all of it be ignored for the full sixteen days.
Does repentance alone destroy accumulated sin?
No — repentance must be accompanied by right action, or new sin simply accrues alongside. Even then only the accumulated interest is destroyed; the principal must still be borne, though the blessing of served creatures eases it.
What does the speaker say when asked whether namaz destroys sin?
He declines the question on grounds of not knowing the practice, then argues from the conduct of those who perform it that it does not appear to destroy sin, and refers the questioner to authorities within their own tradition.
What should be done if the Akhand Jyot goes out during Navratri?
Relight it the moment it is noticed, then at the next sitting recite one mala of "या देवी सर्वभूतेषु क्षमा रूपेण संस्थिता नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः" as Prayashchitta — whatever the cause of the lapse.
What should be done if a family's Sacred Thread Ceremony wasn't performed for generations?
If the Yajnopavita hasn't been performed for three to four generations, a learned Vedic Brahmin should perform Prayashchitta at a pilgrimage site like Kashi or Vindhya for as many generations as known, followed by the Sacred Thread Ceremony — this can't be done alone.
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