Friday, August 29, 2008

PVR's answers on Guru

Namaste Jitender,

> too much strenghth is given on Guru
> somebody please tell me what one should do
> he doesn;t have a Guru


Just wait. ;-)

* * *

Changdev maharaj waited for more than 1,000 years for his guru. Then he got what needed from his guru in just a few days. Getting the right guru can change one's spiritual trajectory for ever.

Some people say, "whoever is your guru, just follow that guru blindly and you will achieve". That is partly true. But, a moth that clings on to a rock and does not leave it can be crushed when the rock falls from the mountain. However, one who has blind faith in guru and follows guru completely is atleast pushing the ownership of several karmas to guru and keeping own
account clean. That surrender is a smart (but difficult) thing and actually the first step towards an unconditional surrender to god.

It is good to surrender to a guru and follow with blind faith. But the reward for that attitude is maximized if guru is a capable one instead of a fake one.

Good gurus first test the sishyas and push them to the breakage point and test the limits. Good gurus are rare these days.

Just as a guru tests sishya, a sishya can also test guru until one is fully satisfied. But, once one accepts a person as one's guru, one should be faithful and obedient. People like Vivekananda and some fellow disciples of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa tested their guru for an extended period of time. Vivekananda tested his guru almost till the end. But then, those are special
plays of special souls. But, a good guru should not be angry or upset if an intelligent sishya questions or tests.

* * *

Though many people go searching for a guru, it is not necessary. A good guru will find the sishyas he/she is supposed to guide and approach them. Or atleast a good guru should know how to make the sishya come to him/her.

* * *

For some people, a guru may have already entered their life and started influencing them and yet they may not know it! Guru does not necessarily mean one who sits on a high pedestal with you sitting at his feet and teaching you things. Guru does not mean one with certain robes or certain hair etc. Guru does not mean one with a "Swami" prefix in the name. Guru does not mean one who has a certain age or a certain look. Guru is one who removes darkness within you. A person you have never met consciously may have decided to influence your thinking and slowly remove your darkness from a distance. You may never meet and the person may have transformed.

A guru who is unable to transform you is worthless. A guru's job is to transform a person. Similarly, a sadhana you are doing that is unable to transform you in some way or the other is useless. The goal of all sadhana is to transform yourself.

* * *

On a *personal note*, I did not realize it when I was approached by my spiritual guru. I was actually quite put off by him. I thought he was a wacko - a crazy man - talking about useless and impure things. He would talk about tantra, aghora, Kaali, Taaraa, shakti chalana, kundalini, darshana of devatas and stuff like that. He sent me a rudraksha mala he specially made
for me and asked me to use it to meditate on Gayatri mantra 216 times a day. The only rules were to stay as still as I could, with an erect back and closed eyes and not let any strange experiences or visions distract me and keep the focus on the mantra. The other rule was brahmacharya. I did nothing about it for a long time. He would patiently call me now and then and chat about various things related to spirituality. Though I did not like him at first, I slowly started realizing his purity and simplicity. He never put any pressure and let things take their course.

About one year from the time he contacted me first, on a Vaisakha Pournima day, after my monthly Full Moon Satya Narayana vratam, I suddenly got the inspiration that I should follow his advice. He may be a tantrika, a Kaali worshipper, a corrupt soul and what not (yes, that is how I thought then!), but all he asked me to do was Gayatri mantra, a veda mantra, with a
Rudraksha maalaa and keep brahmacharya. What he asked me seemed "saattwik enough". So I decided in an impulse and started. Some things happened. After 18 days, something dramatic happened that changed my thinking and life completely. Abstract concepts and bookish knowledge are one thing and direct experience is another. It is ok to harp on the transientness of the so-called "concrete" reality that our senses keep perceiving and hypothesize that there is a far higher reality that one can merge one's consciousness in, but one's conviction - especially that of a highly logical person like me - will not be complete until one actually sees it. In fact, one's conviction will be quite shaky until then.

Even after this, my ego was still there. I was a young achiever. I had BA degrees in Sanskrit at the age of 10 and wrote metred poetry in Sanskrit like ancients, at 11. I was a highly intelligent young achiever with a lot of pride over my intelligence and scholarship. Thus, accepting one who was 6 months younger and one whose Sanskrit knowledge and Sanskrit pronunciation
seemed quite inferior to mine as my guru was too much. As if sensing it, the first thing he told me when we met face to face a few months later was: "I am not your guru. Never be under the illusion that I am your guru. We are sishyas of the same guru and our guru is not here now. I started first in this life and hence I am guiding you. I will do whatever I can for you, but
I am not your guru". I was "relieved".

Slowly, the change triggered earlier started accelerating. My mind became clearer about what is what. When I saw myself as a completely transformed person with much clearer vision and realized that the change was brought by Manish, I told him that I now thought of him as my guru. He said fine. Basically, he had accepted me as a sishya long back and waited till I accepted him as my guru (though he kept playing that role even without my acceptance). Basically, the names used for the relationship did not matter to him and he did what thought he needed to do. Simple.

Later, the homam movement started. I started doing homam everyday. I experimented with many and settled down on daily Chandi homam. Once I looked at Manish with suspicion because he was a Kaali worshipper. Now, I was doing Chandi homam myself! I saw my prejudices for what they were. I became very clear in my mind about so many things. Many things that seemed conflicting and contradictory fell in place smoothly now. Some of that clarity of knowledge translates into my writings, but some of it is difficult to translate into the physical plane.

What a good guru does is precisely this - to transform you from something to something else, preferably something better!

* * *
If you want to find the right guru who can make this human life worthwhile, you should not be in a hurry at all. Be patient and keep praying. While you wait, you can use whatever knowledge, teachings and tools are available to purify and transform yourself and remove some of the darkness yourself. In the process, you may end up finding your guru!

Best regards,
Narasimha

Namaste,

I am cc'ing the reply to the lists, maintaining your privacy.

> Is the criteria for accepting somebody as our Guru that the person
> must give us a mantra/or ask us to chant some specific mantra?
> What if we are already chanting some mantra?


Let me give a simple analogy. Suppose one is digging with a spade to find water. Spade is a tool and represents a mantra or a maalaa or an idol etc. Digging represents sadhana and search for god. Finding water is finding god. A guru is one who helps one in the process of digging and enables one to find water. If one is using a bad spade, he may give a good spade. If one is digging inefficiently, he may teach a better and smarter way to dig. If one is digging in a wrong place, he may show where to dig (which god to worship) for faster results. So, a guru should simply help one in finding god. Exactly what help is needed depends on the situation. It is neither necessary nor sufficient to give a mantra.

Some gurus give mantras or other objects such as idols or maalas etc and transfer some of their sadhana through that medium. In my experience that I mentioned, my guru sent me a rudraksha maalaa he specially made for me and he tranferred some of his sadhana and acquired purity to me through that medium and that made some things possible for me.

When Narendranath (Swami Vivekananda) went to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, he touched Narendranath's chest with his foot and Narendranath went into samadhi. Ramana Maharshi just glanced at Ganapathi Muni silently and all oflatter's questions were answered. There are different gurus, different sishyas, different karmas, different rinas and different relationships.

> Or is it that since it is from a book, I cannot call him as my Guru and I
> dont have a guru yet? Should I think that a guru is yet to come for me?


:-) Two things. Books and emails such as this one are not just words. They consist of words at the gross level and thoughts at a subtler level. Depending on the energy (purity) level of the person composing those books or emails, some energy is placed in the words and the thoughts behind them. Depending on your own capacity to receive and your own rinas with the author, you may grasp some of that energy, get the right thoughts from the words and benefit from them. The words themselves are just useless. It is the thoughts and energy behind them that may actually benefit someone and help in internal purification.

Secondly, one can have many gurus, though one ideally wants one guru who takes care of it all. Dattatreya had many gurus.

> Is it necessary that a Guru should be alive and should directly speak
> to us and give a mantra to consider him as out Guru?


Let me deviate a bit. I was once meditating in the garbhalaya of a temple, sitting directly in front of a yogi. We were both meditating on Savitri Gayatri mantra. After half hour or so, I lost normal awareness of my body and I felt like I was some all-pervading orange light. I saw that there was a person at the center of that light, who was emiting that light. When I looked closer, it was that yogi (who was sitting in front of me and meditating). After a little time, he suddenly changed into another person that I could recognize. This was a very famous spiritual giant from the past and he was not alive then. I wondered "why did X change into Y". That disturbed my focus and my regular self-awareness returned and I became aware that I was Narasimha meditating in that garbhalaya and X was sitting in front of me. I opened my eyes. At the same time, that yogi also opened his eyes. Without my saying anything, he asked "you saw me, no?" I was surprised
that he knew it. However, what baffled me the most was why he transformed into Y. I stuttered, "but...". Without my finishing it, he remarked, "you see Narasimha, the blessings of my guru of last life are still with me. That is why you saw him in me!" He not only knew what I saw, but explained it succintly. This yogi attributes a lot of progress he made in this life to his past life guru (in addition to current life guru of course). His gratitude to his past life guru is immense. Existence of such people convinces me fully that when a spiritual giant comes and goes, his thoughts and his energy linger on earth for a long time and those who are sufficiently pure and receptive can actually receive from them. The body in which the soul lived may decay, but Maharshi Vasishtha teaches that thoughts of the person never die and stay in space for ever and may guide many.

Bottomline: You can consider anybody as your guru. If you are lucky, that person will also consider you as a sishya and have a more active relationship. A more active guru may even take some really blocking karmas from a disciple to speed up purification and progress. Thus, it is beneficial to have such a guru. But, when you are talking about a spiritual giant, even a passive (from his/her side) relationship is immensely beneficial.

Best regards,
Narasimha

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Ayanamsha and Other Software Calculations

> Dear Narasimha,
> >
> > Thank you for your exposition. Currently I am unsure about your
> newly proposed ayanamsa. For example in the chart of Pandit Sanjay
> Rath the Moon sign changes in D9, 12, and 24 (at a quick glance) and
> in other's charts also I have observed that this can be a very
> dramatic change.
> > Nevertheless I wanted to discuss a couple of the Tithi Pravesha rasi
> charts you mentioned that are mostly the same regardless of which
> Lahiri ayanamsa you use.

From: Narasimha P.V.R. Rao <pvr@charter.net>
Date: 2008/8/13


Namaste,
Of course, it can be a "dramatic change" when a planet is on a border. With Lahiri ayanamsa, Sanjay ji's Moon is just below 20 deg in Aq, i.e. just at the end of Satabhishak.
If ayanamsa is reduced by merely 1 arc-min, it takes Moon above 20 deg and changes his nakshatra, navamsa, drekkana, dwadasamsa, siddhamsa, shahstyamsa etc.
The issue is not that this ayanamsa changes things "dramatically". It actually changes things only by a few arc-min at the most and that is not "dramatic". The issue is that a planet is on a critical boundary in this chart.
In such a case, whether you accept my proposed fixed-plane ayanamsa or not, the bottomline is that you cannot be confident that the ayanamsa you are using is perfect and not having even 1 arc-min of error. Even if ayanamsa is perfect (how can you be so sure), a change in birthtime by 2 min can change Moon's longitude to above 20 deg. Thus, you cannot be too sure of Moon's nakshatra, navamsa etc.
People often take the calculations of software to be perfect and assume that everything is known perfectly. That is wrong. People should realize that each parameter (birthtime, ayanamsa etc) could have an error and realize the impact on various calculations. When a specific calculation is on a border, one should consider both the cases. We do that kind of analysis all the time in my Boston class.
BTW, I and Sanjay discussed several years ago whether his star is Satabhishak or Poorvabhadra (because it is right on the border). Sanjay wasn't sure then, but said that his grandfather thought his star was Poorvabhadra!
Best regards,
Narasimha
------------------------------------------------------------------
Do a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homam
Do Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpanaFree Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.org

Sri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org
------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday, August 04, 2008

2008 Indian TP

|| Om Gurave Namah ||

Dear Jyotishas,
After the recent temple stampede (refer news) concerned me, I tried to look at this year's Tithi Pravesha for India for an answer. The tithi pravesha is very clear.
For this year India TP note the following,
1) Hora Lord Moon, Moon is 6th lord in exchange with 5th lord Mercury. 6th indicates fights and troubles and 5th is Prajaa or people for a mundane chart. This exchange indicates many troubles to citizens of India. The Hora lord surely amplifies this issue.
2) Kendra do not have any benefices to mitigate the issue. Saturn and Mars combination indicates more trouble. But the Saturn being the Lagna lord is some relief.
3) Venus is Badhakesha and Atmakaaraka in 6th with this combination (Refer VRA/Pr. Sanjay Rath). Indicating that the trouble is Adrushta (Unseen) meaning some diety is displeases. The 12th from Badakesh in Rashi chart indicates the Diety, Here it's the moon! the Devis totally displeased. Venus indicates Eyes. The Naina (Eyes) devi temple is where this trouble occured in Venus Dasa and Moon Antardasa. I request the citizens to worship the mother diety to save us from any further calamity.

Jai Ambe!
Warm Regards
Sanjay P



Naina Devi Legend: http://www.nainadevi.com/legend%20detail.htm


India

Annual TP

Date: July 30, 2008
Time: 21:20:19
Time Zone: 5:30:00 (East of GMT)
Place: 77 E 12' 00", 28 N 36' 00"
New Delhi, India
Altitude: 0.00 meters

Lunar Yr-Mo: Sarva-dhari - Ashadha
Tithi: Krishna Chaturdasi (Ve) (99.07% left)
Vedic Weekday: Wednesday (Me)
Nakshatra: Aardra (Ra) (0.17% left)
Yoga: Harshana (Su) (21.19% left)
Karana: Vishti (Sa) (98.14% left)
Hora Lord: Moon (5 min sign: Cp)
Mahakala Hora: Mercury (5 min sign: Ta)
Kaala Lord: Mars (Mahakala: Mars)

Sunrise: 5:45:40
Sunset: 19:09:13
Janma Ghatis: 38.9437

Ayanamsa: 23-58-37.04
Sidereal Time: 17:33:45

Body Longitude Nakshatra Pada Rasi Navamsa

Lagna 26 Aq 40' 35.24" PBha 3 Aq Ge
Sun - PK 13 Cn 51' 54.44" Push 4 Cn Sc
Moon - MK 19 Ge 58' 36.39" Ardr 4 Ge Pi
Mars - AmK 23 Le 38' 02.66" PPha 4 Le Sc
Mercury - PiK 14 Cn 51' 03.35" Push 4 Cn Sc
Jupiter (R) - BK 20 Sg 53' 53.19" PSha 3 Sg Li
Venus - AK 28 Cn 02' 39.60" Asre 4 Cn Pi
Saturn - GK 13 Le 38' 03.58" PPha 1 Le Le
Rahu - DK 25 Cp 09' 04.72" Dhan 1 Cp Le
Ketu 25 Cn 09' 04.72" Asre 3 Cn Aq
Maandi 18 Ge 32' 16.74" Ardr 4 Ge Pi
Gulika 9 Ge 40' 21.51" Ardr 1 Ge Sg
Bhava Lagna 6 Pi 54' 23.86" UBha 2 Pi Vi
Hora Lagna 0 Sc 34' 07.80" Visa 4 Sc Cn
Ghati Lagna 11 Li 33' 19.60" Swat 2 Li Cp
Vighati Lagna 6 Cn 29' 18.63" Push 1 Cn Le
Varnada Lagna 26 Vi 40' 35.24" Chit 2 Vi Vi
Sree Lagna 26 Aq 02' 57.66" PBha 2 Aq Ta
Pranapada Lagna 7 Cn 06' 33.14" Push 2 Cn Vi
Indu Lagna 19 Ge 58' 36.39" Ardr 4 Ge Pi
Dhooma 27 Sc 11' 54.44" Jye 4 Sc Pi
Vyatipata 2 Le 48' 05.56" Magh 1 Le Ar
Parivesha 2 Aq 48' 05.56" Dhan 3 Aq Li
Indra Chapa 27 Ta 11' 54.44" Mrig 2 Ta Vi
Upaketu 13 Ge 51' 54.44" Ardr 3 Ge Aq
Kaala 25 Cp 50' 08.15" Dhan 1 Cp Le
Mrityu 20 Pi 52' 41.40" Reva 2 Pi Cp
Artha Prahara 17 Ar 26' 31.92" Bhar 2 Ar Vi
Yama Ghantaka 10 Ta 29' 32.12" Rohi 1 Ta Ar
Prana Sphuta 23 Sg 03' 17.74" PSha 3 Sg Li
Deha Sphuta 19 Pi 29' 12.60" Reva 1 Pi Sg
Mrityu Sphuta 21 Sc 34' 25.03" Jye 2 Sc Cp
Sookshma TriSphuta 4 Le 06' 55.36" Magh 2 Le Ta
TriSphuta 26 Cn 19' 33.14" Asre 3 Cn Aq
ChatusSphuta 10 Sc 11' 27.58" Anu 3 Sc Li
PanchaSphuta 5 Vi 20' 32.30" UPha 3 Vi Aq
V2 26 Le 40' 35.24" UPha 1 Le Sg
V3 26 Ta 40' 35.24" Mrig 2 Ta Ta
V4 26 Ar 40' 35.24" Krit 1 Ar Ar
V5 26 Ta 40' 35.24" Mrig 2 Ta Ta
V6 26 Le 40' 35.24" UPha 1 Le Sg
V7 26 Vi 40' 35.24" Chit 2 Vi Vi
V8 26 Sg 40' 35.24" USha 1 Sg Le
V9 26 Ta 40' 35.24" Mrig 2 Ta Cp
V10 26 Ar 40' 35.24" Krit 1 Ar Ar
V11 26 Ta 40' 35.24" Mrig 2 Ta Cp
V12 26 Sg 40' 35.24" USha 1 Sg Le
Kunda 0 Li 47' 34.82" Chit 3 Li Li

+-----------------------------------------------+
| | | |Mo Md |
| | | |Gk |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|-----------+-----------------------+-----------|
|As | |Su Me |
| | |Ve Ke |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
|-----------| Rasi |-----------|
|Ra | |Ma Sa |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
|-----------+-----------------------+-----------|
|JuR |HL AL |GL | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
+-----------------------------------------------+

Tithi Ashtottari Dasa of Janma tithi (useful especially in Tithi Pravesha charts):

Ven Sun 2008-07-30 Moon 2008-08-02 Mars 2008-08-12
Merc 2008-08-18 Sat 2008-08-28 Jup 2008-09-03
Rah 2008-09-16 Ven 2008-09-23
Sun Moon 2008-10-07 Mars 2008-10-10 Merc 2008-10-11
Sat 2008-10-14 Jup 2008-10-16 Rah 2008-10-19
Ven 2008-10-21 Sun 2008-10-25
Moon Mars 2008-10-26 Merc 2008-10-30 Sat 2008-11-07
Jup 2008-11-12 Rah 2008-11-19 Ven 2008-11-25
Sun 2008-12-06 Moon 2008-12-08
Mars Merc 2008-12-14 Sat 2008-12-18 Jup 2008-12-21
Rah 2008-12-26 Ven 2008-12-29 Sun 2009-01-04
Moon 2009-01-05 Mars 2009-01-08
Merc Sat 2009-01-10 Jup 2009-01-15 Rah 2009-01-25
Ven 2009-02-01 Sun 2009-02-11 Moon 2009-02-14
Mars 2009-02-22 Merc 2009-02-27
Sat Jup 2009-03-07 Rah 2009-03-12 Ven 2009-03-16
Sun 2009-03-23 Moon 2009-03-25 Mars 2009-03-29
Merc 2009-04-01 Sat 2009-04-06
Jup Rah 2009-04-08 Ven 2009-04-16 Sun 2009-04-28
Moon 2009-05-01 Mars 2009-05-10 Merc 2009-05-15
Sat 2009-05-25 Jup 2009-05-30
Rah Ven 2009-06-10 Sun 2009-06-18 Moon 2009-06-20
Mars 2009-06-25 Merc 2009-06-28 Sat 2009-07-04
Jup 2009-07-08 Rah 2009-07-16
Ven Sun 2009-07-20 Moon 2009-07-23 Mars 2009-08-01
Merc 2009-08-07 Sat 2009-08-18 Jup 2009-08-23
Rah 2009-09-05 Ven 2009-09-13

Vimsottari Dasa (started from Moon):

Rah Rah 2008-06-07 Jup 2008-06-15 Sat 2008-06-23
Merc 2008-07-01 Ket 2008-07-08 Ven 2008-07-11
Sun 2008-07-21 Moon 2008-07-24 Mars 2008-07-28
Jup Jup 2008-07-30 Sat 2008-08-05 Merc 2008-08-14
Ket 2008-08-20 Ven 2008-08-23 Sun 2008-08-30
Moon 2008-09-02 Mars 2008-09-06 Rah 2008-09-09
Sat Sat 2008-09-16 Merc 2008-09-24 Ket 2008-10-02
Ven 2008-10-06 Sun 2008-10-15 Moon 2008-10-18
Mars 2008-10-22 Rah 2008-10-26 Jup 2008-11-04
Merc Merc 2008-11-11 Ket 2008-11-18 Ven 2008-11-20
Sun 2008-11-29 Moon 2008-12-02 Mars 2008-12-07
Rah 2008-12-09 Jup 2008-12-16 Sat 2008-12-23
Ket Ket 2009-01-01 Ven 2009-01-02 Sun 2009-01-05
Moon 2009-01-06 Mars 2009-01-08 Rah 2009-01-09
Jup 2009-01-12 Sat 2009-01-14 Merc 2009-01-17
Ven Ven 2009-01-21 Sun 2009-01-31 Moon 2009-02-03
Mars 2009-02-08 Rah 2009-02-11 Jup 2009-02-20
Sat 2009-02-28 Merc 2009-03-09 Ket 2009-03-17
Sun Sun 2009-03-21 Moon 2009-03-22 Mars 2009-03-24
Rah 2009-03-25 Jup 2009-03-28 Sat 2009-03-30
Merc 2009-04-01 Ket 2009-04-04 Ven 2009-04-05
Moon Moon 2009-04-08 Mars 2009-04-10 Rah 2009-04-12
Jup 2009-04-17 Sat 2009-04-21 Merc 2009-04-25
Ket 2009-04-29 Ven 2009-05-01 Sun 2009-05-05
Mars Mars 2009-05-07 Rah 2009-05-08 Jup 2009-05-12
Sat 2009-05-15 Merc 2009-05-18 Ket 2009-05-21
Ven 2009-05-22 Sun 2009-05-25 Moon 2009-05-26


http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5inevs3P871iJOyHbjb9rSrpzJEIAD92B10G82

Stampede kills 145 at remote Hindu temple in India

By GAVIN RABINOWITZ – 11 hours ago

NEW DELHI (AP) — Thousands of panicked pilgrims stampeded Sunday at a remote mountaintop temple in northern India during celebrations to honor a Hindu goddess, sending dozens of people plummeting to their deaths and trampling scores more. Police said 145 people were killed.

Rumors of a landslide apparently started the panic at the shrine in the foothills of the Himalayas, said C.P. Verma, a senior government official in the Bilaspur district.

Pilgrims already at the Naina Devi Temple began running down the narrow path leading from the peak. There, they collided with devotees winding their way up.


Women doing Homam and Tarpana

Sri Narisimha Rao-
Thank you for sending this out. I am very interested to learn these explanations as I have seen my father do this for years without understanding the exact meaning and purpose.
Is this something women practice or is this practice exclusive to men? Like so many other rituals in Hinduism?


From: Narasimha P.V.R. Rao <pvr@charter.net>
Date: 2008/8/4
Subject: [vedic-wisdom] Re: Fwd: Pitri Tarpana Manuals Available Now

Namaste Madam,
I will be honest and make a bold statement and ask elders to forgive me if they disagree my strong views.
> Is this something women practice or is this practice exclusive
> to men? Like so many other rituals in Hinduism?
This is typically practiced by men only, but I see no reason why women cannot do it. In fact, if you see the explanation I have given for why this should be done and how it works, you will see that it applies to men and women.
There are some differences. Women have only XX chromosomes while men have XY chromosomes. A man is more likely to get the genes from father's side ancestors than mother's side ancestors. In the case of women, the probability calculation is different. In the mantras I gave, father's ancestors are covered first and then come mother's ancestors. Perhaps the order can be switched for women. But for a possible change of order based on probabilities, the procedure and mantras given apply to both men and women.
The bottomloine is that both paternal line and maternal line karmas affect both men and women. The kaarrmik predispositions based on the rina to various ancestors and the blockages created by them are equally important for men and women in order to progress materially and spiritually.
In the old days, men did so much spiritual sadhana, so many rituals and so much tapascharya that women did not need to do anything. Just run the house, get groceries, cook, serve food and your husband builds enough spiritual bank balance for both of you. But things are not the same anymore! Most men today are worldly people and don't do enough spiritual sadhana for themselves, let alone for their wives!
Given this situation, women cannot rely on husbands for spiritual progress. I strongly advocate that women should be allowed to perform rituals like homam, tarpanam etc for their own spiritual evolution. I know some ladies who are performing Mahaganapathi homam using the manual on my website now and enjoying it.
If these rituals are not done during the monthly periods time, that is sufficient.
Just ignore the instructions on the sacred thread changes. In case you are actually wearing a sacred thread, reverse my directions, which are for men.
Even today, there are some groups where women wear a sacred thread, do veda mantras and do yajnas. For example, near Shirdi, a great yogi called Upasani maharaj (contemporary of Sai Baba) advocated this and started a veda pathasala for women and taught them vedic chanting and rituals such as yajnam! He was born as an orthodox Brahmin, mastered four vedas (!) and upanishads and then experienced Brahman. After experiencing, he became open-minded and worked against the prejudices in mainstream orthodox society. Sai Baba once declared "Upasani is God Himself. Today let us do pooja to Upasani"!
I will encourage all interested ladies to do this ritual.
Best regards,
Narasimha
------------------------------------------------------------------
Do a Short Homam Yourself:
http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homam
Do Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpana
Spirituality: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vedic-wisdom
Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.net
Free Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.org
Sri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org


Brihaspati Gayatri, Vishwamitra/Gaathina Rishi Rig Veda 6.62.6