The Ceremony for entering a New House Commences

Priest and the participants:

[The couple that owns the house makes the Aachaman – the lustration – purifying gesture – sipping water from the right palm. With utterance of three names of God, they make three sippings. After uttering the fourth name, they take water in the right palm and let it pass to the plate (Tamhan).]

   Om, we bow before God Keshava.
   Om, we bow before God Narayana
   Om, we bow before God Madhava
   Om, we bow before God Govinda

Priest: hri. _________________________________Shrimati. ______________________ and their family are entering this new house on this auspicious day. God manifests Himself in many forms. He protects us in the form of the Vastupurusha and keeps the evil spirits away. Today we worship God in the form of Varuna – the God water, and Vastupurusha- the protector of the house.

Here we declare the purpose of today’s sacrament.

Priest and the Participants:

On this earth, on _____________ continent, in country called _______________, in the city / town, village called ____________, in the year called ____________, in the month of __________, in the _____________part of the lunar month, on ____________ (date), on ________ day, under the _____________ constellation of stars,

we perform the purification rites for the new house, worship God Varuna at this place and offer sacrifices to the sacred fire.

Priest – In the beginning of any auspicious sacrament, God Ganapati is remembered and prayed. Let us pray to him.

Priest and the Participants:

Priest – O Ganapati, you are the leader of heroes. You are learned among the learned. You shine with divine glory. You are the protector of our Mantras. Please come with your protective powers and reside in this house.

Priest – Let us lustrate ourselves, the materials of worship and this place. Sprinkle water on all, in all directions and say—

Priest and the Participants –

Priest – A person may be impure, pure or in whatever state, if he remembers God he is chaste in the mind and body.

Priest and the Participants –

Priest – O celestial beings, we have brought these offerings for your pious and radiant selves. We install this sacred fire for your sake. You touch the water and it becomes holy. The great men attain noble goals by noble means.
(Sprinkling water on the offerings)

Now for the purification of the place let us say –

Priest and the participants:

Priest – May the evil spirits hovering around in this place go away. Those spirits that cause trouble to human beings may vanish at the command of Lord Shiva.

Priest and the Participants –

Priest – O earth, you carry the peoples in your lap. Vishnu held you on his head. Now you bear us and make our house a noble place to live in.
(To the couple)
Please make a small rice-heap on the wooden seat. Install the image of the Vastupurusha – the protector of the house – on it, Now we worship the Almighty that is manifest in the image of the Vastupurusha.

Priest and the participants-

Priest – O Brahman, you are the controller of the universe. May our prayers reach you. Please inspire us and our friends for good work. God fortune comes to those who are protected by you. So all of us together sing your prayers.

Those who reside in this place should lead a fruitful, radiant life. So we pray to God.

Priest and the Participants –

O God, lead us
 From the unreal to the real,
 From darkness to light,
 From death to immortality.

(An urn filled with water is kept on a small heap of rice grains. Sandalwood paste, flowers, rice grains, camphor, a betel nut and a coin are put in the water. A few mango / ashok or other available leaves and coconut is kept on the mouth of the urn. This is the symbol of Varuna, the water god. A heap of rice grains is kept before the urn. The image of the Vastupurusha is installed on it.
The couple worships the Vastupurusha.)

Priest and the Participants –

We bow before Varuna to reside in this urn and Vastupurusha to reside in this image with all their family deities, prowess and weapons.

Priest and the Participants –

We worship Varuna and Vastupurusha, and offer sandalwood paste to them.

We bow before Varuna and Vastupurusha, and worship them with flowers.

We bow before Varuna and Vastupurusha, and offer sweet incense to them.

We bow before Varuna and Vastupurusha, and light an oil lamp before them.

We bow before Varuna and Vastupururusha and offer the sacrificial food to them.

Priest: Now we install the sacred fire and give oblations to these two deities. Heat ghee and melt it.

Priest and the Participants:

Priest: I install this sacred fire called Varada i.e. one who bestows grace on the worshipper. I meditate upon Him.

Priest and the Participants:

Priest: O sacred fire, Gods conveys their messages to us through you. You reach our sacrifices to gods and bring peace to us.

Priest and the Participants:

Priest: O holy fire, your vehicle is Aries. You govern the East. Grace me. (Fire is enkindled. Liquid ghee is offered to it in oblations. Every time the ghee is offered to the fire with spoon, the following mantras are to be chanted.)

Priest and the Participants:

I offer this to the earth.
This now belongs to the holy fire, not to me.

I offer this to space.
This now belongs to the God of wind, not to me.

I offer this to the sun.
This now belongs to the sun, not to me.

I offer this to the earth, the space and the sun.
This now belongs to the brahmman, not to me.

O Varuna, listen to my prayer.
Grace me, make my life happy.

(The couple offers four oblations.)

Priest: I offer this to Varuna. This now belongs to Varuna, not to me. Master of the house, inspire our intellect. May we lead a healthy life in this lovely house. Fulfill all our needs. May the human beings and the other beings in this house proceed on the path of divinity.
This belongs to the Vastupurusha, not to me.

Priest and the Participants:

(Four oblations.)
Priest: O Master of the house, enhance our strength. May our wealth of good thoughts be ever on the increase. May your grace and love keep us young and robust for a long time. Be a father to us. Bring pleasure to us.
This belongs to the Vastupurusha, not to me.

Priest and the Participants:
(Four oblations)

Priest: May we reside in this beautiful place of yours. May our health remain safe in your custody. Kindly help us to attain more. Bless us and protect us. This belongs to Vastupurusha, not to me.

Priest and Participants:
(Four oblations)

Priest: O Master of the place, if you help us, we will be victorious. May all our powers be enhanced and make our life happy and prosperous.
This belongs to Vastupurusha, not to me.

Priest and Participants:

Priest: God can see from all sides. He has faces on all sides, he acts through all bodies. He inspires all beings. He created the earth and the sky. This belongs to all forms of God. This does not belong to me.

Priest and participants:

Priest: You are the origin of the universe. You created it. We sing Your glory. This sacred fire is a manifestation of yours. You are the one who gives as well as receives oblations. Please accept these sacrifices.

This belongs to the Brahman, not to me.

All stand up, and bow down to the sacred fire.

Priest and Participants:

Priest: O sacred fire, accept our venerations. Be with me so that the enhanced piousness and benefactory prowess of this Yajna come to me. I bow before you again. You have the prowess of all mantras.
Bless us so that we will have keen intellect, radiance, strength, glory and long life. May we ever follow the right path

Priest and the Participants:

Priest: O sacred fire, give us faith, insight, success, creative intellect, knowledge, wealth, strength and health.

If there are any shortcomings in this sacrament, kindly forgive us.

Grace us and grace the ceremony.

(Everybody sits down.)

Priest and the Participants:

Priest: I offer the rest of the ghee to the sacred fire. It belongs to the sacred fire, not to me.

Priest and the Participants:

Priest: O radiant fire, guide us in attaining riches and knowledge. May evil thoughts keep away from us. May we lead a righteous life. We humbly sing your glory.

Priest and the Participants:

Priest: The Ultimate resides in a very luminous place. At that place He is called Aditya. When He moves in space He is called wind. When He comes to your house He is called Atithi – the guest. Man and the Supreme express the same ultimate principle. The same manifests itself in sacred fire, in ether, in water, in sunrays and in mountains. Its another name is Truth. Truth also manifests itself as mind, soul, intellect, spirit, desire, knowledge and energy. Let us bow before that Truth.

Priest and the Participants:

Priest: O omnipresent God, reside in this house till the sun and the moonshine and till there is life on this earth.

(The image of the Vastupurusha is worshipped with honey, milk, yoghurt, sugar and ghee; and placed at its proper place. If it is one’s own house, it is buried in the northeast corner of the main hall.)

Priest and the Participants:

Priest: God has given us sight. God has given prowess to all our organs. With this prowess may we live a happy life of a hundred years. May we listen to noble thoughts for hundred years. May we speak out noble thoughts for hundred years . Why hundred, may we lead a vigorous joyful life even for more than hundred years!

Priest and the Participants:

Priest: Our mind is a current of knowledge. It is dynamic. It is resolute. It is the vitality in all organisms. May the mind from which all actions generate be pure and noble. Now we, who are going to reside in this house, communicate our feelings about it to the Almighty.

Priest and the Participants:

O Almighty God,
this new house of ours
is your creation.
We consecrate it to you.
May healthy vibrations
generating from good thoughts and deeds
be prevalent in this house.
May this house be a shelter for the shelterless.
Guests will be welcome here,
learned will be honored,
artists will be appreciated,
patriots will be respected,
and the saints revered.
May virtuous wealth
stay in this house.
May the members of the family
love one another profoundly.
May the children of the house
be successful in life.
Let them not generate hostility
nor face hostility from any side.
O Father,
may this be the abode
of good thoughts and deeds.
May Your blessings be
always with us.

Priest – We conclude this ceremony by chanting Gayatri Mantra. Gayatri Mantra is one of the most ancient and inspiring mantras of Hindu traditions. While chanting this mantra, we visualize the earth, the space, the planets, our sun, our galaxy, thousands of galaxies that form the universe, and the Brahman- the centre of all the cosmic beings -–the Energy, the Eternal, the Truth itself. We pray that the Truth – the Radiance itself-may inspire our intellect.

Priest and the Participants:
    Om
    Om
    Om

(Meditation for 1 to 2 minutes)

Priest and Participants:

  O Earth
  O Space
  O Sun
  O Millions of suns
  O Galaxy
  O Millions of galaxies
  O Ultimate

We meditate upon the glory of the Ultimate – the Energy.
May it inspire our intellect.

May God be pleased by this ceremony of propitiating the Vastupurusha and of entering the new house.

  Brahma is the only Reality.
  Brahma is the only Reality.
  Brahma is the only Reality.

(The couple takes the urn in hand and sprinkles water in every corner of the house. If the house is named, the name is declared to all. Sweets are distributed and the ceremony ends.)

Articles Used in Indian Ceremonies

You will need to scan pages 15 and 16 from the book

Please note that the ceremonies are verbatim from the books of Jnana Prabodhini.

Long Live Sanatan Dharam