Should You Offer Arghya During Your Menstruation?

Arghya offering to Sun is a very popular ritual amongst people. It is done as a remedy for various ills of life. This is a compulsory ritual that is to be followed during Sandhya vandan.

There are a plethora of benefits surrounding this simple ritual. Any one, of any gender or age can offer Arghya to Sun. It accrues manifold benefits.

Water is also known to be naturally pure and hence offering water to Sun rids us of the problems that we have. There is a particular time slot for offering arghya and a little after sunrise is the best time to offer arghya.

When arghya is all about purity and prayers, will the concept of menstruation fit in anywhere here? Are we allowed to give arghya to Sun when we are menstruating? Should we or should we not?

Menstrual period is the time when we are barred from attending or doing worship. In ancient times, they could not come out of a room allotted for them, spread a mat on the floor to sleep on it, keep a steel basin for drinking water all of which they should not share with other members of the family

One should not touch any body or give or anything to other family members plainly because we were considered to be impure. Templ visits used to be a far cry at this point in time.

Since worship and arghya all fall under the spiritual category we need to examine this concept bearing in mind the spiritual concepts associated with it otherwise we will not be able to get an impartial view of it.

Our spiritual tenets say that any spiritual activity that you do should uplift you and the flow of your energies upwards in the body. This is the goal.

This upward movement of energy obstructs the downward e process of menstruation causes the energy flow All spiritual activities aim to uplift the flow of energies in the body. This upward thrust of energy leaves the downward flowing menstrual elimination process disturbed.

The menstrual energies are Tamasic and Rajasic and are not compatible with the sattvic energy vibrations and hence may fall prey to the lingering negativities around.

There is a colossal volume of energy flowing in our systems. This should not be seen from scientific point of view as this is a totally spiritual concept that can be tested by the scientific parameters. We usually have two vital energies flows for conducting processes inside the body.

They are also called Vayus. Prana, vyana vayu that operate from the heart area, the vyana that operates throughout the body. It coordinates energy throughout the body system. Other vayus are samana, udana, apana, Apana Vayu. Each vayu governs an area in the body.

If any of these vayus is thrown off balance, then it affects the whole body. The energy moves downwards when a woman is in menses. Any divine energy should go upward in movement. When we pray or give arghya, during menses, the prana vayu starts moving upwards.

When we connect with anything of the divine, then the energy moves upwards. The same vayu is responsible for the uterine lining to shed blood wherein the aura of women will be at their weakest. In temples the puja experience kindles the kundalini in the human body.

The energy flows clash so that the apana and prana vayu reverse their movements to meet at the point of kundalini. This reversal in flow of energies affects a woman's body in various ways. We are not just bodies but we have a mind over our matter.

Hence mental processes also affect our body system. The clashes in energy flows may lead to Amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea and irregular menstrual cycles as a result of such continuous exposure to this conflicting situation. Menstrual cycles may get irregular.

The best thing to do would be to mentally chant, or prostrate before God from a distance. The Learned say that that the punya accrued from this act of Namaskar equals the punya of ten different rituals done during normal days.