HOW TO PERFORM ACAMANAM?

Acamana vidhi contains a lot of niyamas to be followed. Some important aspects are covered below:

gokarNAkruti hastena mAshamagnam jalam pibet !
tannUnam adhikam pItvA surApAna samam bhavet !!

The inner right hand to be folded like cow ear and water to be consumed which is of the size of "MAsha" . If it is more or less, it is equivalent to consuming surApAnam .

apsu prAptAsu hrudayam brAhmaNaS SuddhimApnuyAt !
rAjamyah kaNThatAlU ca vaiSyaSSUdras tathA Striyah!!

The water consumed should reach hridayam for brAhmaNas ( in order to get purified), neck for kshatriyas, palate for vaiSyas, SUdras and women.

samhatAngulinA toyam grihItvA pAninA dvijah !
muktvAngushtha kanishthye tu SishtasyAcamanam caret !!

Use five fingers together while taking tIrtham. Then separate the thumb finger and little finger. Whatever water remains in the hand is to be used for Acamanam. { This is also interpreted as MAshamagnam tIrtham}

---- and so on ----

Asanam :
kukkutAsanam

Direction:
East ot North


PAtram:

While doing anushtAnam, a separate vessel is preferable for Acamanam as Acamana tIrtham is not be used for other purposes like prokshaNam.

Procedure:

(1) Consume water three times saying Om acutAya namah, Om anantAya namah and Om govinDAya namah

(2) Use thumb finger to cleanse the closed mouth

(3) Cleanse the thumb finger with water

(4) Touch the twelve parts chanting the DvAdaSa namas starting with Om KeSavAya namah (each one at a time) and ending with Om dAmodarAya namah

Number of times

(1) Two times before homa, japa and one time at the end
(2) Two times before and after food



SrotrAcamanam

tasmAt AcamanAsambhave nAsikA karNa Sparsah kAryah !

If Acamanam cannot be done with water, by touching the tip of the nose and right ear, one gets the benefit of doing the Acamanam. It is known as SrotrAcamanam.

Brahma Yajna Acamanam

While doing brahma Yajnam one Acamanam is done in a different format without mantra.

AcamanIyam during devatArAdhanam

When arghya, PAdya and AcamanIyam are offered to BhagavAn, as part of devatArAdhana, it has to be shown with reverence. One should not consume the water so offered as AcamanIyam because the same is offered to BhagaVan with the bhAva that it is consumed by Him.


As regards a simple thing like Acamanam, there are subtler aspects, different interpretations and varied practices . Hence it would be advisable for those interested in karmAnushthAna to know these things personally in a traditional guru -sishya format.