Vinayak Dosha: Signs and Solution

We know about Navagrahas and their malefic effects. But in some stotras and mantras, we also read about vinayak graha, skanda graha,etc. Today I will talk about vinayak peeda, the signs, and its solution.

To know this, you have to first know who are Vinayakas. We believe that Vinayaka is one of the names of Lord Ganesh. But that is not fully true. The story is that in one of the kalpas, Vinayakas were rakshasas born from the sweat of Lord Shiva. They were fierce, extremely powerful, unstoppable and cause a lot of upheaval. Lord Shiva made Ganesha the lord of these vinayakas.

The dosha is controlled and sustained by Lord Ganesha via these vinayak grahas.

What are the signs and symptoms of Vinayaka Dosha or Vinayak Pida?

In dreams he sees: 

- The person sees water bodies like lakes, oceans,etc. that seem to be bottomless. Or he sees himself swimming in water bodies.  Or, he sees that he is losing control and drowning in these bottomless waterbodies.

- He sees men without beard and moustache wearing brown clothes.

- He sees himself sitting on backs of carnivorous animals and birds especially tigers and vultures.

- He sees himself sitting in a place surrounded by donkeys, cremation ground caretakers, and camels.

While awake he experiences the following:

- Even if he goes anywhere he feels as if his enemy or someone suspicious is following him.

- He is always anxious and irritable.

- The work that he starts always fails. In some cases we see that the person always fails in the first attempt and only gets success in the 2nd or 3rd attempt.

- He remains sad for no reason at all or for very futile reasons. Or, his mind remains disturbed for some or the other reason.

- A woman troubled by Vinayaka doesnt get married, and the married woman doesn't bear a child.

- The brahmin fails in becoming an acharya.

- Students are unable to research and gain knowledge.

- Business owners dont have profits in their business and farmers are unable to grow crops.

Some people are born with these symptoms. In the kundli, Ketu and Budha control Vinayak pida. Malefic position of these planets indicate Vinayak pida. The reason a person gets vinayak pida is because of not giving due respect to Lord Ganesha where needed.

The remedy for this, in puranas is to do Vinayak Snaan. I am sharing here a simpler remedy here, which can be followed by any one. The remedy is to chant Ganesh Atharvashirsha 1000 times. During sadhana, you must meditate as if you are being showered by a holy water that is purifying and giving every inch of your body a calm, golden shine.

After you're done with 1000 recitations, you need to recite this atharvashirsha 1 time before doing your nitya paath, before reading your books, before beginning a trip be it religious or non-religious, and before any other important task.

A Happy Rama Navami to everyone@

Getting a Diksha without a Guru: Dakshinamurti Prayog

 One of the biggest problems we face in Kaliyug is lack of gurus or gurus that are not money-driven. That is why, I am sharing a special prayog to get diksha.

The prayog is dedicated to Lord Dakshinamurti. And it is said that the power of the diksha received through this method is even greater than getting a diksha from a human guru.

1. Do this prayog on a Shukla paksha Trayodashi at Nishakaal.

2. Sit on a red velvet aasan or a kushasan.

3. Light a diya and chant 1 mala of ganesh naam mantra.

4.Do namaskar of Lord Shiva in the shivling you have at home.

5. Write the mantra that you desire to get diksha of, on a bhojpatra or a piece of paper. The mantra should be written with yellow ink. At the store, you will get lekhani and ashtagandha. By adding a few drops of water you will be able to create yellow ink. If you dont get a large enough bhojpatra, tear a piece of an A4 paper. Ruled notebook page is not allowed because it has lines.

6. After this, chant 1 mala of Dakshinamurti gayatri and 1 mala gayatri mantra of the god you want a diksha of. Then, staring at the mantra itself while simultaneously meditating on Lord Dakshinamurti in the shivalinga, chant the mantra written on the bhojpatra for 108 times.

7. Then go to sleep. In your sleep if you see auspicious dreams, then it means that you have received the diksha. If you do not see any dreams or if you see inauspicious dreams then you wont get that mantra's diksha.

8. For sleeping, your head should be east side and you should sleep by turning on the right side. i.e. your eyes will be towards north direction.

That is it. Hope that using this one of a kind prayog, people get diksha of their desired mantra.

Some important points to consider:

• Sadhaks, you will always only get diksha of mantras that god knows you're capable of doing a sadhana of.
• Getting a diksha from a devta like Dakshinamurti doesn't relieve you of following procedures and rules necessary for your mantra.
• The easiest mantras to get diksha of, are of navagrahas. At the same time, they are the ones who give the fastest results, the most stable results while getting pleased with the least amount of puja.
• Only seek dikshas of mantra whose method you're capable of following.

Some recommended mantras for first time diksha:

1. Gayatri Mantra - A mantra whose diksha is given to everyone in Sanatana Dharma in other yugas. It is a siddha mantra that gives 360' benefits. If you havent received Gayatri diksha yet, this is the 1st mantra you should ask for.
2. Vishnu Ashtakshari Mantra - It is not a siddha mantra. The siddhi is achieved on 32 lakh chants. But it is a necessary sadhana for all vaishnavas.
3. Shiva Panchakshari Mantra - Like the above, a compulsory mantra for Shaivas capable of fulfilling all desires. Siddhi is achieved on 24 lakh chants. 
4. Navgraha Beej Mantras - They are the easiest to get a diksha of and you have the highest probability of getting a diksha of it. An energised yantra and panchopchar puja are mandatory without which the japa will not show results.
5. Kuber Mantra - For copious money, prosperity and all other material forms of wealth.

Gayatri Mantras: The center-point of all gods

Every Sanatani knows about mool gayatri and how there is a gayatri of other gods. This article is going to talk about why there are so many gayatris, why each god has a different gayatri, and what is their purpose.

Gayatri mantra is among the first mantras that one gets a diksha of. Without mool gayatri, there is no road and there are no steps. Not just for vaidik sadhaks, but even for vamachari, kulachari, chinachari sadhaks - gayatri is irreplaceable. 

For each achar there are methods of worshipping gayatri, with minor differences. Mool gayatri is a mantra who sadhana is mandatory for every sadhak before he starts a purascharan of any god. First the sadhak has to do atleast 1 lakh japa of mool gayatri. Then, he has to keep on worshipping her for 3 months atleast and let her be the protector and nourisher of his/her life. 

Only when the sadhak has done this, does he get the permission from his guru to do purascharya of other gods. The significance of mool gayatri doesnt end here. It doesnt matter which god/goddess you are worshipping, you still need to do 10,000 japa of mool gayatri before starting the purascharan of any god. Keep in mind that in this phase, you need to do mool gayatri and that specific god's gayatri. 

This rule of 10,000 Mool gayatri japa is necessary even for yakshini/apsara sadhanas. Now imagine how important would it be for the main devtas. 

Now lets talk about what role Mool gayatri and the isht devta's gayatri play. Here, I am not going to talk about benefits but rather the effects they have.

Mool Gayatri Mantra benefits:

1. Prana Shakti jagaran

2. Kriya Shakti jagaran

3. Iccha Shakti jagaran

4. Indriya nigrah

5. Dharma nishtha-taa

Mool gayatri japa makes your praan, kriya and iccha shakti strong. Praan, Iccha & Kriya shakti are the 3 forms of energies in our bodies. 

Praan shakti refers to physical strength. Mool gayatri removes your diseases, physical pain, lethargy and gives you a calm mind, strong physique and a stable body. When praan shakti is absent, you become fidgety, anxious, lethargic. Your mind keeps on wandering and is not able to focus. Mool Gayatri helps you bring yourself back and rebuild these energies in you.

Iccha shakti is the sankalp shakti. This refers to will power and determination. When iccha shakti is absent, doubts creep in your mind about the mantra/stotra you're going to chant. You cave in and disrupt your sadhana because of even the smallest obstacles or disturbances. You start a lot of sadhanas but end them midway, which in turn incurs you durbhagya(bad luck). When the iccha shakti is strong, your faith in the mantra/stotra becomes deep and unshakeable. You believe in yourself, you believe in god, you feel worthy of getting whatever it is that you've asked for and you see yourself completing the sadhana as it is supposed to be.

Kriya Shakti is the shakti of action. A person with kriya shakti follows the rules and principles set for a particular mantra or stotra. He doesn't act lazy. He doesn't look for cheat codes. Pujas, havan,etc. dont seem laborious to him. And even if they are laborious, he does them with excitement of the blessings he's going to receive at the end of the sadhana.

Mool Gayatri blesses you with calm and controlled senses. It makes you follow the procedures mentioned for your acharan with stability, discipline.

Now, the god's gayatri:

As we know each god has its own gayatri. If mool gayatri is to be chanted 10,000 times before any sadhana, what role does the specific god's gayatri play? The answer is that it is for bhakti and mantra veerya.

The Mool Gayatri - be it chatushpaad, tripada or sri vidya gayatri - they all are to be chanted before because the give us the beforementioned benefits.

The isht gayatri on the other hand gives 2 very specific benefits - a)It gives devotion towards that god b)it makes the ishta mantra more potent. The isht gayatri only needs to be chanted 1 mala during the purascharya days at the end of the main mantra japa.

Sadhaks, it is my personal experience that there is a day and night difference between chanting just mantra, vs. chanting the mantra + 1 mala of isht gayatri. I recommend everyone doing mantra sadhana to incorporate chanting 1 mala of isht devta's gayatri to see more potent benefits.

For a paid jyotish consultation, you can reach out to me at hanumanshriramaconsciousness@gmail.com

Daan: Its Significance & Types

In an article I shared some time ago, I talked about the power of daan. Today I will talk about the same in detail and how you can benefit from it.

The greatest dharma in various yugas was/is as follows:

Satyuga(also called as krit yuga) - Tapasya

Treta yuga - Gyaan i.e. wisdom (not the same as knowledge)

Dwapar yuga - Yagya

Kali yuga - Daan or Donation

In Kali-yuga, Daan is the most powerful and quickest in showing results. That is why one should donate every day. 

Kali-yuga is the yuga of karma. Anything did by you, positive or negative quickly shows its effects on your life in this age. Many say that there are people in powerful positions who are doing crimes or awful deeds yet nothing is happening to them. However, in reality, they definitely pay for their deeds very soon after doing it. But it won't necessarily be visible to the world. 

Whenever you will try to go away from a truthful and honest way of living - either by trying to cause loss to others or by sacrificing your own self - you will have pain. This is what bad karma really is. To do good karma is to say, do and think what is true & honest - nothing more than the truth, nothing less than the truth. If you say/do/think more than what things really are by exaggerating it - it will cause pain to others and in turn, you will feel the effects of this. If you compromise with the truth and say/do less than the truth - you will betray your own self and get hurt in life. Life is about balance. Anything in excess - including love, power, strength, money, food, medicine - are all bad. 

This way sadhaks, every person suffers from their karmas. It is my experience, that no matter how many angles the outside world may look at, it is always someone's wrong actions that lead him to pain. Wrong actions don't mean just criminal actions, but anything that is opposite to the laws of nature and wellbeing of the people influenced due to that action - and this includes you yourself. 

It is mentioned in purans that at any given moment, we are carrying sins of not just few births, but of billions and billions of Kalpa. One kalpa is equal to 4.32 billion years. So, how many years in crores of kalpas? And what would be total number of sins? Uncountable. Yet, there is one good aspect of sins. That the moment a person accepts his deeds, he is quickly forgiven. But, since the number of sins are practically uncountable, even if one simply goes on and on asking for forgiveness, his entire life will be not suffice.

By chanting mantras, you can speedily remove all your sins. Yet, they are still not that fast to burn sins of crores of kalpas and need decades of continuously chanting that one mantra alone. Havan is more powerful than japa, yet, doing havan with thousands of aahuti every day for even a few days is not feasible. Vrats are way more powerful than mantras for burning sins. Yet, even they require you to fast on every specified tithi for atleast one decade for complete freedom from sins.

However, daan is the most powerful out of them all. When you give away even simple things like just 1kg of rice or other similar grains, you burn every single sin of dozens to hundreds of births instantly. Those who donate with belief in the power of God, will physically experience like a weight has been lifted off your head, and instantly feel relaxed.

Donation doesn't just burn sins, it increases punya, increases sukh, makes you attractive, creates saubhagya, gives courage and victory. That is why sadhaks, do daan. Donate as much as you can. 

Shastras have mentioned various daan according to a person's wishes. Whatever you want, you should donate it first, then it will come to you. This is the rule. For wishes where donating something first is not possible, shastras have mentioned what should be donated instead. Today I will be mentioning them all. Only certain things can be donated for burning sins. All others are for specific wish fulfilment. Sadhaks, whatever we donate in this life is what we receive when we die. I won't mention this benefit in the paragraphs ahead and should be understood for each item. Also, burning sins doesn't automatically increase your punya. So you should be specific about what you want.

1. Grains & Water - The most powerful daan among all is the daan of grains and water. Grains should always be donated with water. Donating grains and water removes our sins of hundreds of births, increases punya, gives strength and radiance, gives saubhagya and fulfils all material wishes.

2. Salt - Donating salt increases appetite and gives good health. When a person on death bed is not dying and unnecessarily suffering, then salt should be donated for him. That will give him swarga or moksha very soon.

3. Jaggery - Donating jaggery gives vigour and sweet foods in life.

4. Ghee - Donating ghee gives physical strength, improves the wellbeing of your entire kul and gives sadgati to pitrus.

5. Black sesame - Donating black sesame gives strength and removes the fear of death. It burns the sins of thousands of births. It pleases all the navagrahas and brings their blessings.

6. Money - Donating money will attract more money. 

7. Clothes - Donating clothes give beauty and saubhagya.

8. Bells - Donating bells remove laziness, dumbness and build intelligence, sharpness and understanding.

9. Khadga - Donating the weapon khadga gives victory and success. Especially, it brings the blessings of Rahu.

10. Books - Donating religious books increase punya, gyaan and devbhakti. Donating educational books increase punya, knowledge, fame, patience and remove addictions.

11. Gold - Donating gold increases Shri & aishwarya.

12. Silver - Donating silver gives beauty and increases sperm count.

13. Rudraksha - By donating Ekadash mukhi Rudraksha to the right person, he/she for sure achieves moksha after death.

14. Bed - Donating bed gives love/marriage. 

15. Medicines - Donating medicines gives good health and ensures that your family will never face any big health issue.

16. Kanya daan - Kanya daan is done only during marriages. Kanya daan burns away sins of crores and crores of births and gives great punya. Now, shastras say that one should not do kanya daan again. But, in case the husband dies or they both divorce, then kanya daan should be done again. Shastras say kanya daan shouldn't be done at many people i.e. she shouldn't be marrying multiple men at the same time. But it doesn't mean she can't marry again if the ex-husband dies or gets divorced.

 17. Bhumi - Donating land has the power to burn sins of crores of kalpas. In that, if a person donates a fertile land then even better. The person who donates land to the needy will never go to narak. But a barren land should never be donated.

18. Cow - Donating cow is one the only daan which has the power to wipe out almost all your sins of crores and crores of kalpas. The moment of donating a cow should be considered as a moment of reincarnation of the sadhak. The person who donates a cow wipes out all his sins, gets the punya of feeding thousands of brahmins. After death he surely goes to swarga or gets moksha. Also, after death, the cow donated by him comes as a vehicle for crossing the vaitarini nadi, and instead of taking him to narak the cow takes him to vaikunth.

In this, if the sadhak donates a cow with his calf, then its punya is infinite. It will same as doing pran pratishtha of hundreds of shivling, donating hundreds of acres of land, feeding millions of brahmins and donating lacs of kanya daan. The person who has donated a cow with a calf has truly freed himself all the chains and shall live happily thereafter.

19. Diya - One of the easiest things to donate are diyas. Deep daan cures diseases, increases eyesight and radiance, attracts Lakshmi maa, and gives victory over enemies. Use ghee when you want to attract wealth. Use sesame oil when you want to cure diseases, increase eyesight & radiance, getting victory over enemies.

Other than this, whatever you want, you should donate it and it will come to you. Do this and you will see the magic happening. But don't doing by being attached to the outcome. Donate it with gratitude. Thank god that even though your condition is bad, it is not bad as the person you are donating it to. And donate so that the needy person gets support. By doing this, God will support you. Sadhaks, I have seen huge miracles through donations. Things that could take months to happen, happened in just a few weeks when people started donating.

The benefits I mentioned above are the list of benefits. Donating, say foodgrains, is not going to automatically give you all of the listed benefits. Depending upon your wish, you should take the sankalp and do a donation for that specific wish/es.

Why the mantras or stotras are not showing you results

One of the biggest dilemmas new sadhaks have is, how to get results from mantras or stotras. 

Today, I will mention all the possible reasons that stop people from getting results from mantras and what to do instead. 

1. Diksha & Mantra Siddhi/Asiddhi - The first, biggest, and foremost reason why the mantra is not showing results is diksha. If you do not have diksha of the mantra, it will not give you results no matter how much you try. 

There is no reason in the world that will ever allow you to chant mantras without diksha - no matter what kind of difficulty you think you are in. For stotras, if they are common, like Hanuman Chalisa, Gajendra Moksha, Mahalakshmi Ashtak, Shiva Mahimna Stotra, Rudra Ashtak, etc. you can chant them without diksha. But you cannot chant advanced stotras; or stotras of advanced gods like Tara, Dhumavati, Kali, Bhairav,Kamala, Lalita,etc. without diksha. 

First-time sadhaks should start with stotras of easy-to-please gods first, such as Hanuman Chalisa, Lakshmi Ashtak, Saraswati Ashtak, Shiva Panchakshar Stotra, etc. Then, you will start getting mantras or stotras in dreams, or, you will find a guru. 

When you enter the sadhana world for the first time, you should chant the stotra of the god towards whom you feel the most inclination. If you don't feel inclined towards any god, look at the lord of your 9th house and worship the lord of the house, its adhi devta, or its pratyadhi devta. Then, you should choose any easy stotra of that god and chant it for the next 6,12, or 24 months as per your wish. In the initial days, you should only chant the stotra 9,11,12,21 times per day. You can increase the chant after a few months. Now, diksha is of 2 types - one given by a guru and one gotten in dreams. 

Diksha gotten in dreams - It can be chanted whenever you want. For them, you don't even have to look at shad-chakra or the 6 chakras to check the siddhi/asiddhi of the mantra. 

Diksha from guru - Normally it doesn't happen, but if your guru accidentally gives diksha of an ari-mantra or adev-mantra i.e. mantra that is not favorable or of someone who's not god, you can do visarjan of the mantra. You can do so by energizing a lota full of water mixed with yellow chandan and rice, energizing it with the ari mantra 108 times, and then pouring the water in a river or at a tree. 

Om, Shreem & Other Beej mantras, Gayatri Mantra - These mantras cannot be chanted by women and shudras. Women cannot chant Shreem because beej and Gayatri mantras because both of these mantras enhance the energy of that god within us. They are chanted by humans to attract the god or goddess' energy within them whereas women already have goddess lakshmi/gayatri residing within them. Chanting shreem will be like worshipping yourself. Om is not allowed for women because stri dharma is living the worldly life with their husband, whereas Om mantra creates vairagya and makes you detached. That is why, women as well as men who follow grihast dharma, cannot chant Om. You can still perform prayogs related to it, but you can't do purascharan of it. 

The reason why these 3 mantras cannot be chanted by shudras is that these mantras require lot of purity, cleanliness and discipline. In the older yugas, when people followed their own varna, the work of shudras included cleaning houses, washing dirty clothes, carrying people in paalkhi,etc. They also used to work as servants of kings and queens. All of this meant that they couldn't maintain the cleanliness, hygiene, and discipline necessary for these mantras. In today's yuga, shudra includes anybody who does cleanliness related work. If you are one of those, and if you can follow strict cleanliness, do trikaal sandhya, etc. you can still chant these mantras. 

Except when doing a certain prayog, Om shouldn't be chanted by any man or woman living a worldly life.

2. Lack of devotion and belief in oneself - The 2nd most important thing is faith in god. Many people, even after having a mantra in front of their eyes, doubt it. They look for other mantras for the same purpose and then sit and wonder about which mantra to chant. They make a feature list that how many wishes each of these mantras can fulfill, and try to find which one is the most powerful. 

Even though, it is normal for a person to look for mantras for a particular wish, comparing different mantras is wrong. Out of the 2,3 or 5 mantras in front of you, always choose the mantra of god you have the most belief or devotion in. Don't choose a mantra just because it sounds more powerful. 

Sometimes, people are confused between different mantras of the same god. In both the above-mentioned situations, the problem is that you have faith neither in yourself nor in god. You don't find yourself worthy of getting the results or blessings and that is why believe that a mantra will compel God to give you results. There is no devotion here. You're also more focused on results than devotion. 

It also means that instead of being concerned about your actions, you're being concerned about the result of your actions. You are in essence trying to control the direction of your life without having to do the work that will be required to give the right direction to your life. You are also trying to control the effect of the mantra, instead of letting God give the direction he wants to give to your life. In your head, the thoughts of fructification of the mantra are going on, not all-around growth in life. Your sadhana days are filled with anxiousness and constant worry that when will the mantra show results. 

If you want to get more customers, you're not thinking about how you can give the best quality product or service, but more concerned about how much money they'll give you. And laws of karma don't work that way. In order to get something, we must first give. 

Sadhaks, even a simple god can give you lacs of money if you are fair in your duty. This is because mantras only create opportunities. No god will ever come directly in front of you and rain 2000 rupee notes. They will only create yog for you to make that much money. This law applies to everything that is related to the material world - like love, getting a good house, etc. God will only create yog. To seize and sustain them will be dependent on your karmas. 

Devotion means to surrender to him and believing in his power. When you are devoted, you won't feel the need to even look for mantras to become rich like kuber and powerful like Hanuman. Simple, easy-working mantras like Gayatri will be enough for you. Getting blessings of god is of central importance during sadhana days, not the fructification of the wish. When the sun sets, the moon automatically rises. Nobody has to work to make the moon rise every day. Fulfillment of the wish is the byproduct of pleasing god and focus on work in the real world. 

Keep in mind that God listens to his devotees first, not to the person who is chanting the most powerful mantra.  

But what if you are a new sadhak and can't decide which mantra to chant or which god to worship? Or what if your devotion isn't deep-rooted? Here too sadhaks, faith in the power of god is important. Any god, no matter how small you may consider him, is far more powerful, far more capable than any human being or problem in your life. 

Once you properly understand and accept this, focus on any one mantra or stotra that you find easy to chant or if popular for that god. Don't search for multiple mantras and sit to compare. Blessings of God are important. Not mantras. 

Those who are stuck in the cycle of comparing multiple mantras and are not able to chant any mantra with stability for even 30 days, could try this solution: 

• First, stop all mantra chanting for at least 21 days. During these days, only light diya and agarbatti at home. Every day, attend aarti of a local temple which has many gods. If you are going through some problem, do daan. But avoid any kind of mantra/stotra paath or vrat. After aarti, bow in front of every god and accept every god's blessings. 
  
  
• During these days, read about the life stories of the gods. How were they born, what did they do, etc. Then, choose any 2-3 gods whose story inspires you the most and towards whom you feel the most inclination. 
  
  
• Then, read about the significance of worshipping each of those gods. Out of them all, choose any one god you feel the most inclination towards. Choose the one you feel emotionally connected to and not the one you think is the more powerful one.
  
  
• Choose any popular stotra of that god and recite it every day 5-11 times every day for at least 40 days. During these days, visit the temple every day and pray to god daily. Chant only one stotra and don't search for other gods or other mantras. This will remove the downward cycle of constantly comparing one god/mantra with another.
  
  

3. Dharma - The next important rule is following dharma. Now, shastras have mentioned different punishments for different sins. But it is not possible to track every action in the outside world. The only thing we can control in this Kaliyuga is our mind. 

That is why, the best way to be nishpaap or do the least number of sins is by following 5 yam & 5 niyam. 

The 5 yamas: 

• Non-violence - Unnecessary violence, violence to show your power,etc. should be stopped. But non-violence doesn't mean to not stand up for yourself. 
  
  
• Honesty and truthfulness - Honesty means to live an honest life, to live in accordance with the laws of nature. Don't think that you have some special ability to bend the laws of karma to your own accord. Be honest with yourself, be honest for yourself, be honest in your work and duty, be honest in love and with friends, and be honest even when nobody is watching. Give up the illogical belief shared by the previous generations that honesty will destroy you.
  
  The entire world, irrespective of religion, works on laws of karma. What you give out into the world, you will get it back. Like attracts like. If you start deceiving and manipulating people or even just think of manipulating people who are honest with you, within 2-3 months your life will be flipped and you will be surrounded by people who are just like you - dishonest and manipulative. Laws of Karma don't allow a person's bad actions to affect an honest person. If you are dishonest, god will bring you to people who are like you so that you both cancel out each other's bad karmas. But, there will be no peace of mind with these kinds of people. Truthfulness means to say the truth in every situation. But truthfulness can only be practiced by those who are living an honest life.
  
  
• No stealing - materially or mentally - Don't steal or think of stealing something that is not yours. 
  
  
• Brahmacharya - Following celibacy doesn't mean life-long celibacy. If celibacy was this important, God wouldn't have allowed grihastha dharma. But what it means is giving up on the habit of too much sex and uncontrolled sex. Celibacy will radically transform your health, intelligence, and strength. It revitalizes the aging organs; removes laziness, fear and gives intelligence, youthfulness, and courage.
  
  
• Non-greed - Not having greed for money doesn't mean you shouldn't work to become rich, wealthy, or abundant. That is stupidity. But it means that you shouldn't hoard it or think that I will have all the money in the world and not let single rupee go out of my pocket. The money that has come from somewhere will go somewhere - this is the nature of money. You can't change it. 
  
  

5 Niyam:

• Cleanliness - Live clean physically and mentally. In Hinduism, sins done even in dreams are recorded by god. The reason is that our dreams are a representation of the thoughts in our subconscious mind. Even thoughts manifest in our life. If you think that you'll do so-and-so bad towards someone, the results of the wrong actions will manifest as if you had actually done those wrong actions. Physical cleanliness is also important. Lack of cleanliness creates lethargy, negative thoughts, and increases anger, lust, ego, etc. 
• Santosh or Contentment - Don't build expectations. Expectations and attachment to outcome is the root of all suffering. When have attachment and expect people and events to behave or turn out a certain way, your whole life will fill with anguish, frustration, sorrow, anger, and sleepless nights. 
• Tapa - Do penance - in work and in the spiritual world. Tapa is what will break the downward spiral, or stagnation in your life. Simply reacting to what is happening in life and implementing a temporary solution may remove the problem, but it will not stop the stagnation. To grow means to flourish completely and in a way that the old problems don't come back. For this, you need to do tapa. Sacrifice is necessary in the sadhana world and for growth in life. That is why, you have to sacrifice everything that is acting as an obstacle to your growth, including bad habits, impulsive behaviors, constantly complaining people, jealous people, laziness, etc. 
  
  
• Study - Study good literature - spiritual as well as worldly. So that you become an overall good and skilled person for sadhana world as well as the material world. This will help you realize your values, morals, and give direction to your life purpose.
  
  
• Ishwar Pranidhan - Surrender to the will of God. Accept the obstacles and difficulties as opportunities to learn. Accept that certain things had to happen the way it happened - so that you could learn from the pain. Don't be stubborn, that things should happen only in so-and-so way. Pray to God and let God lead you.
  
  

In my experience, all the sins, sorrow, difficulties, depression, poverty, diseases in the world come from not following these 5 yamas & niyams. Following them brings health, peace, abundance, prosperity, courage, and success in all tasks. 

4. Aasan - The next important thing is aasan. You can sit on either kush aasan or red velvet aasan. They are accepted by every god. However, when you do purascharan sadhanas, you should aasan of the color loved by the god. Like yellow for Narayan and Lakshmi, white for Shiva, etc. If you are a sadhak, you should do siddhi over your aasan so that you can sit for a long time. Click here to see the aasan siddhi sadhana vidhi. 

Yoga asana - You can sit in sukhasan, siddhasana or padmasan. If you are a beginner, start with sukhasana, then go for siddhasana and later padmasana. Padmasan is an advanced aasan so do not attempt it forcefully if you're unable to sit that way. Practice it first. 

5. Mudra - The next important thing is keeping mudras. For each god, there are certain mudras. Click here to download a book which has mudras of all the gods. 

6. Dhyaan - Dhyaan means to meditate on a certain form of god. Along with mudra, Dhyaan has a lot of importance for getting results from mantras. Without mudra, you will not be successful in dhyaan. Dhyaan portrays a certain form of god depending on the wish that you have. If you wish for money or anything materialistic, you'd meditate on a form of god that is calm. If your wish is the destruction of enemies, you'd meditate an angry form of god. Certain people have the habit of meditating on angry forms of god when their wish is not of that kind. It is wrong and the mantra will not show results. We must only meditate on the form of god that is specified for the mantra or stotra. If you are chanting a common stotra which doesn't have dhyaan, meditate on the most popular form of that god. 

7. Discipline - the next thing important is discipline in chanting all day every day. It means that when you have decided to chant at 7 pm, then chant at the same time every day. Decide a time when you are sure you'll be free and then chant at that time every day. A difference of ±20 minutes is okay, but not more than that. This discipline also applies to other things like aasan, diya, etc. If you were sitting on kush aasan on the first day, use it for all days. Dont use kushaasan on one day and red aasan on the other. Similarly, if you're using oil diya, use oil diya on all the days. Maintain consistency in your method of prayer. It also means to remain stable during japa. Many people complain that they are not able to sit longer than so-and-so minutes. The solution to it is that unless you sit for longer times, you will not be able to sit for longer times. The only reason you feel uncomfortable sitting for longer times is that you don't have the habit of it. When you start feeling uncomfortable, pause the japa and keep the mala aside for a few minutes. Next, keep your palms on your knees and sit with closed eyes. Observe your breath and the sounds around you. Without trying too hard, take deep breaths. Do this for 5-10 minutes and you will feel at ease again. 

8. Energised Yantra or Idol - Idol or yantra is important if you want to get results from your mantras/stotras. For the gods, the idol is significant. For the goddesses, yantra is significant. Still, yantra is supreme for both of them. Also, do not worship both the yantra and idol of a god simultaneously. Worship either one of them. 

9. Panchopchar Puja - The next and one of the most important things is panchopchar puja. For every god that you worship, there has to be some form of bhautik puja. Now some believe that Shiva, Surya, and certain other gods don't need puja. It may be true that they may not need panchopchar puja, yet you are worshipping them in some or the other material way. For Shiva, we do abhishek with water. For Surya, we give arghya. For Hanuman, we give chola. This way, for every god, some or the other material form of puja exists. Unless you are doing sadhanas for getting moksha, bhautik puja is necessary for all gods. For material desires, a panchopchar puja is compulsory. It is not to say that God won't bless if you don't do panchopchar puja, but the results will come after a very long time. 

10. Absence of distraction - After puja, lack of distraction is an important factor that affects the results from mantras. During japa, keep the phone away. Don't browse social media and chant mantras on the other side. Don't sit in a room where there is a lot of noise. If you have the habit of browsing the phone during japa, the best way is to keep the phone far away from reach before you start the japa. This way you won't feel the urge to get your phone when the japa starts. Also, try to do japa with closed eyes. Closed eyes bring far better results and spiritual experiences. 

11. Delayed results - Unless and until you have been a devotee of a god for many years, a mantra/stotra can't show you instant results. That is why patience is very necessary. When we chant the mantra of a god whom we've been worshipping for a long time, their mantras will show results when you reach 50% of the sadhana days. The reason is that each day's chant creates energy. When enough amount of energy is built, that is when it can act against all the negative vibrations within and around us. When you are worshipping a god for the first time, it takes at least 21-30 days to see results. It takes time for a new god's energy to grow within you. 

12. Aarti & Pradakshina - Attending aarti, listening to the sounds of ghanta, doing pradakshina of the god you're worshipping - all these have a lot of power. They burn your sins, clean your heart, and bring you to true devotion. 

13. Daan - The last and the most powerful thing is daan. Donation of any kind accrues an unbelievable amount of punya in Kali-yuga. Daan brings instant, leapfrog changes in life. 

14. Worship of the 9th lord - Worshipping the 9th house lord or the planets sitting in your 9th house helps you get quick and uplifting changes in your life. His worship will guide you towards true bhakti, increase your luck, and make your life auspicious. 

Jay Shri Rama