July 2007 - Sapta Rishi Yagyas

During our Guru Poornima yagya series our Varanasi priests performed a series of special yagyas to the rishis who were the original seers of the Vedas. These rishis are known as the saptarishi (sapta=seven). As the mythology goes, they are the mind-borne sons of Brahma the creator. In addition we performed a yagya for Vyasa; the rishi who organized the Vedas into four "books"; Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva. So these individuals are in some ways the originators of the vedic tradition that we are all gaining so much benefit from. So it seems fitting to honor them at this time of year.



As is traditional each rishi is represented by his own kalasha pot, nicely decorated and arranged on the yantra that represents strength and power.



Special pujas are done for each rishi to bring their blessings and knowledge into our lives.



At the conclusion of the pujas, the kalashas look really nice!



The homa kund all ready for the fire yagya to begin.



The final offerings of ghee into the yagya fire.

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Vyasa divided the Vedas into the 4 parts that we know today. He was also the author of many Puranas, and the Mahaabharata which includes the Bhagavad Gita. He is one of the eight individuals (Chiranjeevin) who have immortality and are supposedly still around somewhere even today...in any case, he is certainly a great rishi!



He received a nice abishekam.



And pujas with final aarti (offering of light) as shown here.



The temple where the Vyasa abishekam took place included a wonderful Shiva temple with a huge lingam! Since Shiva, as Dakshinamurti is the original guru, he was honored as well.



An abishekam is like taking a nice cooling shower. With a lingam of this size it take a lot of water and two priests!



Afterwards the lingam is dressed in a fresh dhoti and beautiful flower garlands.



Looking down on the homa kund nicely decorated with colored rice flour.



The fire yagya underway with 7 priests chanting.



The yagya fire always seems to build to a fine conclusion. Notice the spectators in the background. Yagyas are always fun to watch and our priests tend to do them more elaborately than what is usually seen in a temple, so they tend to attract attention.



After the yagya fire is completed, they take the water that has been purified in the kalasha pots and offer it over the lingam using these special objects that were originally made from a cow's horn.



In this case it is made from brass and is being used to offer milk.



Note the way the tip has been shaped to look like a bull with curved horns; Shiva's vahana (mount) is the bull named Nandi.



The final aarti is offered along with the chanting of mantras.



The lovely deep greeen colors of the nearby rice paddys make for a peaceful setting!

July 2007 - Guru Poornima

July is always the month for Guru Poornima, the day when teachers in all forms are honored. In Kanchipuram, our priests traveled to a patasala (vedic school) a short distance outside of town. This school and temple were a favorite of the famous Shankaracharya. The temple is for Dakshinamurti, the form of Shiva as teacher.



Rain is a good omen on yagya day.



The abishekam begins with offerings of water.



Then turmeric is mixed with water and poured over the murti.



The contrast of the white milk looks nice against the black stone.



After the abishekam, the murti is decorated with beautiful malas and offerings of fresh fruit and coconuts.



Then the final offering of burning camphor is made...



...while everyone watches.

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There is another form of the divine teacher called Dattatreya. Our Varanasi priests performed an yagya in a beautiful old temple.



Recitation at the beginning of the yagya...



A beautiful mandala made with colored rice flour.



Beautiful aarti...



And after the pujas, the yagya fire is constructed on the top of the mandala.



Note the temple priest observing the yagya proceedings as the fire gets larger.

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Our mrytunjaya yagyas are very popular and there are lots of different temples in Varanasi to choose from.



Note the large copper lingam in the center as well as the traditional stone lingam with milk being home over it.



Very nice decorations (alankaram in Sanskrit).



The offering of light is also nice when it is a small ghee lamp.



Note the unusual triangle shaped homa kund!



The setting of a yagya on the banks of the Ganges is very beautiful especially under a tree which offers some shade and coolness.

June 2007 - Varanasi Yagyas

During June we sponsored a variety of yagyas in Varanasi. Here are a few photos from each...



The first series was for the different fierce forms of Shiva called the Bhairavas. Certainly in red, the fierceness is easy to see! When the murti is over 7 feet tall, that just adds to the effect.



After the abishekam and pujas, the priests moved out side to the courtyard where they performed homam (fire yagya).



In the shade of these beautiful trees it must have been a peaceful experience.

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This is another form of Bhairava, the most active form of Shiva, although much smaller than the first one.



We decorate the temple with beautiful fresh garlands.



The homa kund (yagya fire pit) was extra large and beautifully decorated.



Final aarti; an offering of light to Agni; the yagya fire.

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We also held a yagya for Durga who looks both beautiful and powerful in this temple.



Aarti after the pujas are completed.



And as always, after the yagyas, our priests performed homam; the fire yagya.



As the flames dance some people think you can see the goddess herself.

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Of course we have to have Rudra Abishekam in one of the many temples in Varanasi with all the colorful traditional ingredients.



In many Varanasi temples the priests sit around the lingam instead of having it in an inner sanctum.



After the abishekam the lingam is beautifully decorated. The coconut is symbolic of the breaking of the hard shell of the ego which separates us from the divine.



The fire yagya takes place outside within sight of the Ganges River.



At the conclusion of the yagya it is natural to bow down and at that moment express your prayer.

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A huge red Ganesha looking very friendly.



An unusual perspective on the fire yagya.



Note the beautiful flowers. It is rare to see blue flowers...presumably because they represent Saturn, although Ganesha is the best antidote to the restrictive effects of Saturn.

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One of our long time participants sponsored a beautiful private yagya for Vishnu and Lakshmi in a wonderful temple with elegant columns.



Final aati, the offering of light at the end of the pujas.



And of course the event ends with a beautiful fire yagya.

June 2007 - Kanchipuram Veda Yagyas

The Kanchipuram yagya series this month was a wonderful experience. Each day we began with a Rudra Abishekam (for Shiva) followed by pujas for the deities is our usual sequence of yagyas. Then there were about 2 hours of Vedic recitations followed by an hour-long homam (fire yagya) which was then followed some more pujas, final mantras, and a little more of the vedas. During this series we were able to listen to all of Sama and Yajur Veda and most of Rig Veda.



In the photo above, our two guests Bruce and Ron assist Seetharam as they perform the Rudra Abishekam. It is difficult to describe how much fun it is to perform pujas with a room full of incredibly qualified pundits. Even though we began at 7:30 AM we were always happy and eager to get started.



Here the priests are performing the pujas and you can see the Shiva lingam under the pile of red flowers next to Seetharam. The blue table against the wall contains all the kalahas; water pots each with a coconut on top. Fresh garlands were placed on top each day. The vedic tradition holds that the water absorbs the purity and power of the pujas.




Here Bruce and Ron enjoy listening to the recitation of Rig Veda.



The Sama Veda pundits worked so hard to complete their recitation in time. Sama Veda is so melodic and complex that it actually takes much longer to recite than Yajur Veda, and almost as long as Rig Veda which over 10,000 verses! They also chanted for a couple of extra hours every afternoon.



I have to say that the Sama Veda pundits sure had a lot of fun, in fact they all did. It is tough for us in the west to remember that this tradition is based in Sat Chit Ananda; Consciousness, Intelligence and Bliss. This wasn't a solemn occasion at all. They clearly enjoyed themselves and we enjoyed listening...and my conclusion is that knowing the Vedas is fun...in addition to being profound.




Kanchipuram is a major center for Yajur Veda so our largest group of pundits were for Yaju Veda and they liked to chant loudly too! You could really hear the power.



One of the great pleasures of doing yagas in India is that you can use the best quality traditional ingredients. In the above photo you can see 9 different kinds of wood used for the Navagraha (Nine Planet) Yagya.



The fire yagya is always enjoyable and with the 1008 repetitions of each mantra, there is a wonderful rythmn to settle into. Above you see the offering of wood.



When cooked rice is offered, it gets very smoky for a while!



But then when it is time to offer ghee...the smoke is replaced with a very nice fire that smells great.



At the very end of the yagya, the last offering consists of a fresh coconut which you can see is in the fire, and then ghee. The fire seems to leap up to accept it and then we all sit and enjoy the silence for a few minutes. In the background you can see the main gopuram (tower) for the Varadaraja Temple; the 2nd largest Vishnu temple in all of India.



At the conclusion of the homam, we go back down to the puja hall for final mantras and puja offerings. The great thing was that we got to repeat this every day for almost two weeks!

June 2007 - Vishnu and Ganesha Yagyas

Our first yagya this month was for Vishnu and it comes at the end of a long 30 day cycle that occurs every four years. The yagya took place in Varanasi in a beautiful old temple.



Vishnu flies around on Garuda the eagle. If you look closely you can see his wings behind the gold flowers.



All yagyas in include the fire ceremony called homam (above) and conclude with the final aarti, an offering of burning camphor.




We recently had a private yagya for Ganesha and the photos were so nice that I wanted to include them as well.



The temple overlooks the Ganges. Because Ganesha is the son of Shiva, you see Shiva's trident by the yagya fire.



The fire looks rather impressive!



And of course, the yagya ends with aarti.

June 2007 - Sanyasi, Ganesha, and Mrytunjaya Yagyas

This is the new Parvati, Shiva's wife waiting to be installed in the Shiva temple complex at the Malibu temple. The actual prana pratishta will take place next weekend...but they have taken out of her shipping crate, given her some preliminary pujas and dressed her nicely.

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As readers of this blog know, we make a point of providing food to others as a part of our monthly yagya program. The Vedas are very clear on the importance of this kind of sharing, and this month we have the unique pleasure of being able to feed a group of sanyasis in Varanasi.



As a part of their vows of sanyas, they are not allowed to touch fire so everything that they eat must be prepared by others.



Of course that doesn't mean that they are starving. In fact, they appear to healthy and happy and really seemed to enjoy having lunch together!






Some of them really look just what a sanyasi should look like; clear, sharp, and maybe just a little bit intimidating!

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We held a big Ganesha Yagya at our yagya stala on the banks of the Ganga River. Here you see the Ganesha seated in the center. Not the beautiful mandala made from rice grains, turmeric powder, and flowers.



Ready to begin...



There are lots of ingredients in a yagya! The round balls are called modaka; traditionally a favorite food of Ganesha. Note also the puffed rice on the right, and the bunches of green grass. All specific to a Ganesha yagya.



As the puja progresses, the offerings are piled in front of the murti.



And by the end of the puja...it gets difficult to even see the Ganesha!

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May 2007 Saturn, Chandi, Shiva, Ganga, and Food Yagyas

May was a month of great expansion in our yagya activities. We began with a Saturn yagya in Varanasi and continued that theme with a 3 day Saturn yagya in Kanchipuram. We also had a beautiful Chandi (Kali) and Shiva/Mrytunjaya yagyas in Varanasi which concluded with a food yagya on the ghats by the Ganges river. We ended the month with a special week long Ganga yagya specific to this time of year.

As always the priests worked very hard and the photos show the beauty of these yagya performances.




The yagyas began with a saturn yagya because Saturn is returning to strength and will be moving into the sign of Simha (Leo) later this summer. The best time for yagyas is just before the change takes place, so we scheduled two yagyas, one in Varanasi and one in one of the oldest temples in Kanchipuram.



All of the Navagraha temples are also Shiva temples and any where you find Shiva there will also be Nandi, his bull who sits and watches him.



In the older temples, the doorways are always quite low and the floor is made of massive blocks of granite which support single piece rough hewn pillars made of the same granite.



The interior of some of these old temples is certainly not fancy and there are often few funds available for the upkeep. So your participation in the yagyas is a benefit to the temple itself. Here the temple priests sit in front of the Ganesha (right). You can see the opening of the Shiva temple on the left (blue grate).



Seated just outside the Shiva temple is the Saturn murti. Following the yagya he is beautifully decorated with flower malas, and a fresh cotton dhoti.





Chandi Yagya

We also had a Chandi yagya performed in the beautiful Ma Kali temple in Varanasi. It is located high on the bank overlooking the Ganges.





Varanasi is the city of both Shiva and Parvati who appears in 10 different forms (the dasa mahavidhya), one of which is Chandi or Kali. In this photo you can see her in her traditional pose standing on Shiva looking very wild!



The temple is a very unique example of a Shiva temple because of the huge collection of lingams inside. Usually a Shiva temple will have only one lingam but look at all these!





The Rudra abishekam was performed on the largest lingam and Sri Rudram and Chamakam from the Yajur Veda were chanted.



You can see here the final offerings of flowers are being made as the abishekam is concluded. Note all the fresh flower malas!



After the abishekam the priests moved into the courtyard to perform the homam (fire yagya) in the shade of a tree.



Final offerings of different kinds of grain are poured into the yagya fire.




Mrytunjaya Yagya


Each month we always have a series of mrytunjaya yagyas in Malibu, Kanchipuram, and Varanasi. This particular yagya was performed in Varanasi in a beautiful Shiva temple which featured a unique lingam surrounded by white marble.



Even the temple itself is shaped like a lingam!




Such a beautiful interior!



Offering milk...



This is powdered saffron mixed with water; an expensive, traditional ingredient renowned for its qualities of purification.



And turmeric...



Ending with water...



And then the lingam is dried and decorated before final pujas are performed.





After the Abishekam, the priests perform the homam with offerings of ghee and various grains mixed with puffed rice.






Ganga Dussera




This month is a special time for Ganga yagyas. Ganga is one of the forms of the Goddess that promote the development of purity in a gentle and soothing way. We see her in the form of the river, but the vedic describes her as a particularly gentle form of the divine feminine. May is a particularly appropriate time to combine this yagya with the Saturn yagyas.



The yagya begins at dawn with Vedc hymns.







And the yagyas, as always include the homam, performed on the steps leading down to the Ganga river.



At the conclusion of the yagya the kalasa pots which contain the water, now purfied by the chanting and offerings of the yagya, is poured back into the Ganges.






Anadanam (food yagya)

Varanasi is well known as the home of Shiva and in particular the form of Parvati called Annapurni who feeds the world. This yagya is particularly appropriate in that there are many people who come from remote villages to Varanasi at the end of their life in order to pass away in this sacred city. This is often a family occasion and can strain the family finances rather severely.

So the donation of food is a yagya itself and also consistent with our goal of supporting and preserving the vedic tradition.



We feed about 250 people...









Late in the evening a special and dramatic looking puja is offered to the Ganga.





Many many thanks to all who supported and participated in this great month of yagyas.