[Advaita-l] Sandhyavandana procedure doubt

[V Subrahmanian]

On Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 11:19 PM, Sunil Bhattacharjya <
sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Namaste,
>
> I think eka-vastram is the practice when one takes bath in a river and
> performs the pratah-sandhya in the river itself. At other times two
> clothes are required for all religious functions. Even in the pitri-karya
> the second cloth is kept on the knee during the performance of the
> Pitri-karya and it is not put on the body as it may come in the way of
> making alternate savya and apasavya positioning of the Yajnopavita. However
> if the climatic conditions, such as high humidity and high ambient
> temperature, make the wearing of the upper cloth uncomfortable, then one
> need not wear the upper cloth but can keep that handy. When we go to our
> guru we should have the upper cloth with us so that we can accept what the
> Guru may give us, by spreading that cloth on hands. It is customary not to
> accept hand to hand from the guru. That may be in order to show respect to
> the guru.  However I am open to correction.
>
> Regards,
> Sunil KB
>

I have observed this practice of both men and women, while receiving the
phala/mantrAkShata prasad from the Guru, spreading their upper cloth.  Even
while receiving thirtha prasad people keep the cloth below their palms.
Recently a man while receiving the coconut and other prasad from the
sannyasi Guru, though in his upper cloth, dropped them as they were heavy
since he had not held the cloth tightly.  So, it is tricky and needs some
practice, care and tact.

subrahmanian.v

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