Tattva-viveka
Some thoughts on performing sandhyavandanam
Nanda-tanuja Dasa - September 2, 2005 7:04 pm
I was reading some books and articles on when is the correct time to chant Gayatri. According to what I found it has to be done during three sandhyas (junction times) of the day. First one -- Pratha Sandhya is junction between night and day (sunrise), second -- Madhyani Sandhya is noon (sun is in zenith), third -- Sayam Sandhya is junction between day and night (sunset). It is said that sandhyavandanam is best to be performed before event occurs and concluded during the event, so for example meditation during Pratha Sandhya should be started before sunrise and concluded at sunrise. The question arises as to how much before the event sandhyavandanam should start? Traditionally each sandhya is for a period of 5 ghatikas or 2.5 muhurtas which is roughly 2 hours. The event occurs in the middle of the sandhya, for example for Pratha Sandhya one hour before sunrise and one hour after. So, if sandhyavandanam has to be completed at the time of the event, then it should start no more then one hour before the event. Is this correct? Bhrigu, any thought on that?
Syamasundara - September 2, 2005 7:49 pm
Wow one hour to chant gayatri? I thought I was slow with my good ten minutes...
Anyway I am glad you ask these questions. I got silenced or dismissed so many times, even while in ISKCON, that I gave up on them; but I guess it was for the good, as it prepared me to join Sridhara Maharaja's camp of "form breaking", and now I won't leave it for nothing in the world.
Nanda-tanuja Dasa - September 2, 2005 7:59 pm
Gayatri chanting is only a part of sandhyavandanam. You do acamana, etc. The point was to define a correct time period which is auspicious for such practices.
Bhrigu - September 3, 2005 6:38 am
It is difficult to give exact timings when living far away from the equator, so that the lenght of the day will vary. The dharmasastras mention that the best time for the first sandhyavandana is to start when the stars are still visible in the sky and end after the sun has risen. Since traditionally sandhyavandana includes sankalpa, acamana, pranyama, devatarpana etc, it takes at least half an hour to complete.
Now, in Gaudiya Vaishnavism, we seldom see people doing this kind of sandhyavandana. I've seen it done, but that is usually by people born in brahminical families and attached to it since before becoming Gaudiyas. Usually, Gaudiyas will just do acamana, sometimes a simple nyasa, and then japa of the diksamantras. Timings vary a lot, some will try to do the first before mangala-arati, others (and this is much more common, at least in the Gaudiya Matha) will take bath after mangala-arati and then do sandhyavandana.
Setting strict times here in Finland is difficult, since the sun will rise, depending on the season, between 3 and 10 am, and set at similarly different times. You have to use some common sense in such situations. Guru Maharaja makes the point that the basic thing is morning, midday and evening, i.e. in the beginning, middle and end of the day, so that our life is centered around our bhajana, not the other way around. At Audarya, the system of integrating the gayatri-japa into the temple services is excellent (with the midday arati missing at the moment, there is of course the risk of missing the midday gayatri, but I understand that this is just a temporary change), since then you don't have to worry about timings at all. Chanting in the presence of Guru Maharaja is also, in my experience, very powerful.
Personally, I think that it is best to set fixed times that you yourself will follow, Nandatanuja, if possible following the course of the sun. I don't think you have to worry about being that exact with timings. And as Guru Maharaja said at your initiation, if your work hinders you from doing the midday sandhyavandana, better do two in the morning than two in the evening.
Nanda-tanuja Dasa - September 3, 2005 3:51 pm
I feel that I’m being misunderstood. I don't have "attraction to the externals while forgetting the substance" syndrome. Knowing me I need to be strict, detailed, punctual and disciplined to maintain my practice otherwise everything falls apart. To set exact times based on shastra forces me to pay more attention, understand seriousness of what I'm doing. It's my way to control my urges and senses. I'm asking those questions because we are part of a tradition which didn't just appear out nowhere in the desert, but was flourishing in the lush forest of other Vedic traditions and thoughts which include rather large ceremonial section, so I need to have deeper understanding. You might say that arcana is vaidhi-bhakti and we are raganugas, but trust me, I'm so far away from raga-marga that I need all rules, codes and regulations I can get to stay on the path. I'm not trying to replace faith with religion, but religion keeps me focused on my faith. For example, currently I rise daily at 5:00 AM to do my practice. Why? Because it's practical -- I need to take shower, do gayatri and japa. I have to do it before everyone (two kids and wife) are awake and all hell breaks loose because you cannot meditate in that environment. So you might say "yes, it’s practical", but it's nice to know that I'm actually following recommendation of rising during brahma muhurta -- it gives this more weight and quickly forces you out of the bed. Similarly during the rest of the day, you have to stop at particular time and do your practice. If you don’t have a set time you can say "O well, I’ll do it in an hour, 'cose I need to wash dishes" or something like that. Think of it as of breaking Ekadasi fast -- you have exact time. That's how I take it. So, my original question was about calculation of the time, that's all. I just wanted to know if this is correct. I understand that in Finland following this might not be feasible because of the geographical position, but in California it is, so I would like to try and hopefully get some benefit from it. I think Guru Maharaja's position is "I want to make it easier on you, so you don't burn fast, but if you can do more and if it gives you inspiration to practice and doesn't hinder your progress, please do so."
Bhrigu - September 3, 2005 6:23 pm
Don't worry, Nandatanuja, at least we two are in the same club 
! Ok, these are the ideal times, according to the dharmasastras:
1) Morning sandhyavandana: begin when the stars are still visible in the sky, finish when the sun has arisen
2) Midday sandhyavandana: When the sun has reached its highest position in the sky
3 Evening sandhyavandana: Begin while the sun is setting, end when the stars are visible in the sky
Is this more like what you were looking for?
Nanda-tanuja Dasa - September 4, 2005 4:01 am
I have a problem with "stars are visible in the sky" concept. The visibility of stars is quite subjective and depends on a lot of factors such as meteorological conditions, light pollution (urban vs. suburban), geographical location, the observer's experience and his perception skills, etc. I was looking for something more reliable. Is method based on sandhya being for a period of 5 ghatikas or 2.5 muhurtas correct?
Bhrigu - September 4, 2005 7:50 am
Nandatanujaji, if you want traditional sandhyavandana timings, you can't get around the fact that they do depend on external circumstances -- that's what I've been trying to say all along. They had no alarmwatches that would beep at a fixed time daily to alert them. But all right, if you cannot see the stars, then modify that to "starting before sunrise and end after sunrise", if that is easier.
Is method based on sandhya being for a period of 5 ghatikas or 2.5 muhurtas correct?
I don't know, I don't remember reading/ hearing about that. But the question remains, 5 ghatikas counted from what? All of this is based on a world where the sun rises and sets more or less at 6 am and pm every day of the year. When it doesn't, it throws the whole system of muhurtas out of synch.
As I see it, there is two main alternatives for when to do sandhyavandana:
1) 6 am, noon and 6pm regardless of when the sun actually rises and sets in your locale, in the mind imagining yourself sitting on the banks of the Yamuna
2) Sunrise, noon and sunset as they occur in your local area
If you cannot follow either, follow as closely as possible. Also, better too early than too late. According to Kane, all ancient authorities agree that the best time for the morning sandhyavandana is before sunrise, but a secondary time up to three ghatikas (1 hour 12 minutes) after sunrise is also allowed in some texts. The HBV places the morning sandhyavandana during this time, since the other morning rituals will take so much time.
Nanda-tanuja Dasa - September 4, 2005 2:05 pm
Perfect answer, thanks!
Nanda-tanuja Dasa - September 15, 2005 5:08 pm
So, my friend and I put together this application to calculate Brahma-muhurtha, Sunrise, Sun at Zenith and Sunset for any particular location in the world. It’s very easy to use and it can run on IE 6.0.2900, FireFox 1.0.6, Opera 8.02 and Netscape 8.0.3. I hope it will be useful to some people. Gauravani, can you upload it to our file repository, please?
Gauravani Dasa - September 15, 2005 8:01 pm
Done 
http://swami.org/downloads/
Any suggestions on how to better organize the page? I didn't anticipate so many additions but I expect it will continue to grow.