Member, Road Arya Samaj
Holding a copy of Pandit Yashwantlall Chooromonay’s book entitled SANDHYA and HAWAN, I glanced through it to have an idea of what it contains. After going through a few pages, I could not control my curiosity from discovering what the 146 pages had to unravel.
The book was launched on Sunday 14th April 2024 by H.E. the President of the Republic of Mauritius , Mr. Prithviraj Singh Roopun, at the seat of the Vedic Vidya Bhawan, Nehru Road, Quatre-Bornes. It covers not only the rituals of SANDHYA and HAWAN but also provides information on other Vedic subjects related to these two great yajnas.
The contents are spread over six sections: Sandhya, Hawan, Special occasions yajna, devotional songs, self-composed bhajans and Amrit Vachan.
All the credit goes to the author, Pandit Yaswantlall Chooromonay for his innovative approach to render this book accessible to the public in general; thus, distinguishing himself from others.
The author made sure that he remained faithful to what has been prescribed by Swami Dayanand Saraswati in his book and did not make changes in the mantras, their sequence and the procedures for reciting them.
As all the Sanskrit mantras are highlighted in red, they easily catch the attention of those performing the yajna. These mantras are transcribed into the Roman Script followed by an English translation. Hence, even those who cannot read the Hindi script can read those mantras effortlessly.
Mostly the rituals are followed by devotional songs (bhajans) involving the participants. Bhajans help to alleviate mental and intellectual stress. The author has compiled some bhajans that span from the 70’s to the 90’s and onwards. Some bhajans, composed by the author himself, have become popular especially among the Arya Samaj community.
Some decades back, after the normal yajna, we would recite the same mantras for any special occasion. The author has compiled appropriate mantras for twelve different occasions -full moon, new moon, wedding anniversaries, birthday anniversaries for different age groups, homage to deceased persons etc. The Sanskrit mantras are transcribed into the Roman script to facilitate reading of the same.
The last section is a compilation of mantras from the Vedas and Upanishads under the subtitle Amrit Vachan. Some specific information about these mantras which I consider to be the pearls of Hinduism, is also provided.
The book is packed with all necessary ingredients one needs to perform the rituals by oneself even in the absence of a priest. This one-stop shop handbook is a useful tool for every Hindu priest and householder to enable them to perform the rituals in the best and most appropriate way. Congratulations to Pandit Y.Chooromonay for his contribution for the promotion of Vedic Religion.
