How to do the Karwa Chauth puja at home

In the brahma muhurta, while the stars are still out: the bath, the sankalp and the sargi. From sunrise, nothing — not even water — until the moon.

1. Before dawn

   The bath, before dawn

   1. Rise in the brahma muhurta, while the stars are still out.
   2. Bathe. If you wash your hair, wash it now: it is not washed again today.
   3. Put on clean clothes, and sit where the sargi has been laid out on a thali.
   

2. Before dawn

   Achaman

   1. With the spoon, pour a little water from the lota into your right palm.
   2. Sip it once as you say each of the first three names — three sips in all.
   3. With the fourth name, pour a little water over your right hand to wash it.
   4. At the verse, dip a flower in the water and sprinkle a few drops over yourself and the thali.

   Achaman and pavitrikaran · 6 lines

   ॐ केशवाय नमः।oṁ keśavāya namaḥ.Om, salutations to Keshava. (First sip.)

   ॐ नारायणाय नमः।oṁ nārāyaṇāya namaḥ.Om, salutations to Narayana. (Second sip.)

   ॐ माधवाय नमः।oṁ mādhavāya namaḥ.Om, salutations to Madhava. (Third sip.)

   ॐ हृषीकेशाय नमः।oṁ hr̥ṣīkeśāya namaḥ.Om, salutations to Hrishikesha. (Wash the right hand.)

   ॐ अपवित्रः पवित्रो वा सर्वावस्थां गतोऽपि वा।oṁ apavitraḥ pavitro vā sarvāvasthāṁ gato'pi vā.Whether pure or impure, in whatever state one may be,

   यः स्मरेत् पुण्डरीकाक्षं स बाह्याभ्यन्तरः शुचिः॥yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ sa bāhyābhyantaraḥ śuciḥ.whoever remembers the lotus-eyed Vishnu is made pure, without and within.
   

3. Before dawn

   The sankalp

   The sankalp says who keeps the vrat, on what day, and for what.

   1. With the sargi before you, take a little water, a few grains of akshat and a flower in your right palm.
   2. Remember Shiv ji, Parvati Maa and Chandra Dev.
   3. Say the words; where they ask, say your gotra and your name.
   4. At the last word, release the water, the akshat and the flower onto a plate.

   The sankalp is taken once, in the morning, and it holds for the whole day: from sunrise nothing is eaten or drunk until the moon has had its arghya.

   Sankalp · 5 lines

   ॐ विष्णुर्विष्णुर्विष्णुः। ॐ तत्सत्।oṁ viṣṇurviṣṇurviṣṇuḥ. oṁ tatsat.Om. Vishnu, Vishnu, Vishnu. Om tat sat.

   अद्य ब्रह्मणो द्वितीयपरार्धे श्वेतवाराहकल्पे वैवस्वतमन्वन्तरे अष्टाविंशतितमे कलियुगे कलिप्रथमचरणे,adya brahmaṇo dvitīyaparārdhe śvetavārāhakalpe vaivasvatamanvantare aṣṭāviṁśatitame kaliyuge kaliprathamacaraṇe,Today, in the second half of Brahma's life, in the Shveta-Varaha kalpa, in the manvantara of Vaivasvata, in the first quarter of the twenty-eighth Kali Yuga,

   जम्बूद्वीपे भरतखण्डे कार्तिकमासे कृष्णपक्षे चतुर्थ्यां तिथौ,jambūdvīpe bharatakhaṇḍe kārtikamāse kr̥ṣṇapakṣe caturthyāṁ tithau,in Jambudvipa, in the land of Bharata, in the month of Kartik, in the dark fortnight, on Chaturthi,

   अमुकगोत्रा अमुकनाम्नी अहंamukagotrā amukanāmnī ahaṁI — say your gotra and your name here —

   मम सुखसौभाग्य पुत्रपौत्रादि सुस्थिर श्री प्राप्तये करक चतुर्थी व्रतमहं करिष्ये।mama sukhasaubhāgya putrapautrādi susthira śrī prāptaye karaka caturthī vratamahaṁ kariṣye.for my happiness and good fortune, for sons and grandsons, and for prosperity that stays, I shall keep the Karak Chaturthi vrat.
   
5. 4. The sargi
   5. Through the day

   These 2 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

At sandhya, after sunset: Gauri Maa and the karwa, the Shiv parivar, Veeravati's katha, the aarti, the karwas passed among the women, and the bayna for your saas.

1. 1. Shringar
   2. Gauri Maa, and the Shiv parivar
   3. The karwa
   4. The diya
   5. Ganesh ji first
   6. Avahan: inviting Gauri Maa
   7. A seat, and water
   8. Snan: Gauri Maa's bath
   9. The chunri and the shringar
   10. Chandan and akshat
   11. Flowers
   12. Gauri Maa's verse
   13. Dhoop and diya
   14. Shiv ji, Kartikeya ji and Ganesh ji
   15. Naivedya
   16. Paan, fruit and dakshina
   17. Veeravati's katha
   18. Ganesh ji's kahani
   19. Karwa Maiya's aarti
   20. Kshama prarthana
   21. The karwas, passed seven times
   22. The karwa given
   23. The bayna for your saas

   These 23 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

At moonrise: water from the karwa for the moon, the moon and then your husband through the sieve, and the first sip from his hand.

1. 1. Waiting for the moon
   2. Arghya to the moon
   3. Through the sieve
   4. The first sip
   5. The elders, and the meal

   These 5 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app