Method

The ancient custom, still observed in the village parts, especially of the South, is to repeat each name of the Sahasranama, offering Tulasi petals or any available flowers of the season before the idol of Vishnu in his various

incarnations of Rama, Krishna, Dashavataras etc. This is done for the fulfilment of one’s desires, or to gain strength to deal with the undesirable influence of planets. Many merely repeat the whole book sitting before the idol with Chandan or Bhasma in a plate which is afterwards distributed among the village people. Sometimes some in the thread or initiation ceremony of their son, people feed one thousand virtuous Brahmins repeating each nama before a Brahmin. If one wants to perform Purushcharana in order to attain perfection, one should repeat it a lakh times within a fixed period during his lifetime and perform Homa in fire with ghee or payasana (milk-rice porridge).