Karmkand refers to ritual services
proferred by swamis or religious
Brahmins
in exchange for bhiksha.
Dharma
The term
Dharma (is
an
Indian spiritual and religious term that means one's righteous
duty, or any virtuous path. A
Hindu's dharma is affected by a person's age, class, occupation, and gender.
In
Indian languages it can be equivalent simply to religion, depending
on context.
Karma
Karma
act, action, performance"Pali:
kamma) in
Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that
which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain,
Sikh and Buddhist philosophies.
Yajna
In Hinduism,
Yajña is a ritual of sacrifice "worship, prayer, praise; offering, oblation, sacrifice")
derived from the practice of Vedic times. It is performed to please the
gods or to attain certain wishes. An essential element is the sacrificial
fire - the divine Agni - into which oblations are poured, as everything that is
offered into the fire is believed to reach the gods. As the name of the service,
the term Yagna is linguistically.
Yajñas
in the Vedas
There are 400 yajñas described in the Vedas. Of these, 21 are theoretically compulsory
for the Twice-Born. The rest of the yajñas are optional, which are performed kamyakarma
Aupasana
This is
the basic simple fire sacrifice that is to be performed at home twice daily. The
Aupasana agni is lit at the time of the groom's wedding from his father's fire
The various sacred Agnis
The Aupasana
Agni lit at the time of the grooms wedding is then divided into two in a sacrifice
called Agnyadhana. One part becomes the Grhyagni the other becomes the Srautagni.
These two fires are to be preserved throughout the individual's life. The son's
fire is lit from the father's fire at the time of his wedding
Pancha
Mahayajnas

-
Devayajna- consists of offering ahutis to devas
-
Pitryajna- consists of offering libations to ancestors or pitrs
-
Bhutayajna- consists of offering bali or food to all (departed) creatures
-
Manushyayajna- consists of feeding guests
-
Brahmayajna- consists of reciting of bráhman, i.e. the stanzas of the
Vedas, namely
Rigveda,
Yajurveda,
Samaveda and
Atharvaveda
Other
Yajnas
Agnistoma
This is form of Somayagam has been continued by the Nambudiri Brahmins in Kerala but has become extinct in other parts of
India
. The grand Yagam was performed for the first time since 1787, in
Aluva
Jyotistoma
This yajna is meant for the elevation of the yajamana to heaven, the lokas of the gods
Pitrloka
Yajna
Panchagni
Yajna
|