Thursday, March 16, 2006

Ganesha 2006 - First Yagya

Shivaratri is always such a big project that it seems like the New Year to me. And so, because Ganesha is the Lord of Beginnings, it only seems right to have the first temple yagya be focused on him...to remove all obstacles to the blessings of Shivaratri reaching us throughout the year.

This is our second visit to the temple. We were here last year as well. It is typical of the huge numbers of small temples in South India. Here you can see the beautiful sculptural carvings on the temple, nicely painted. On the left you see Shiva sitting with Parvati (his wife). Note Nandi, Shiva's bull below them. I'm not sure why Parvati has green skin though.



And here you see Ganesha and his vahana (mount) Mushika the mouse, to the right.



The Ganesha temple after preparations for the abishekam are complete. The stone Ganesha is made of is a south indian green granite. But with the application of sesame oil, it turns a dark black.



As always we bring all the traditional ingredients and it takes some time to prepare them before the abishekam begins.



Lots and lots of fresh flower malas. The white flowers are jasmine and smell absolutely divine. Note the intricacy of the work to make the malas round. The green bands are leaves from the carnations.



The pouring of milk....



and scented sandal paste...



After each offering Ganesha's eyes are wiped clear, a flower mala is placed over his shoulders and a brief puja with offerings of light (camphor) and fruit, coconut, and incense is made. Here you see white vibhuti coating him.



Finally, he is dried off, dressed, and decorated. In addition to the malas here you see his silver kavacha or armor.



At the same temple there is a fine small lingam so we do abishekam there too, complete with new dhoti, decorations, and flower malas.



As a part of the monthly series, we offer the Satyanarayana Yagya, which is for a specific form of Vishnu who brings prosperity and harmony to families.



In addition to the usual Satyanarayana pujas, we include a full abishekam...



...and small homam



....and a very fine decoration with flowers.



Its a nice yagya that really adds to an individual's experience of peacefulness and satisfaction in family matters.

And that is all for March! See you in April for Akshaya Trittia; the day of balance and harmony.

Shivaratri 2006 - Final Report #5

The priests travel to a very nice and rather old Shiva temple in a small village outside Kanchipuram.



We supply all the traditional ingredients and so there is a lot of preperation work!



One of the great enjoyments of India is the abundance of fresh flowers. Here you see a beautiful fresh carnation mala, 10-12 feet long, ready for the final decoration of the Shiva lingam. Obviously the mala is hand-made, and requires hundreds of flowers tightly packed together.



The abishekam takes several hours during which various vedic hymns are chanted, and always Rudram from Yajur Veda. Here you see the offering of milk. It is interesting to note that this lingam is a little unusual because rather than having smooth sides, it has a series of almost flat faces, so the milk runs down in little rivulets.



There are 11 ingredients in a traditional rudra abishekam, and afterwards the lingam is coated in vibhuti; the sacred ash that is a favorite of Shiva. Afterwards the vibhuti is collected and given to all who visit the temple during Shivaratri.



Then the lingam is dressed and decorated in a new dhoti, flower malas, bilva leaves, sandalwood and kumkum, and of course rudraksha beads.



This temple is small and the area is not wealthy, so our contribution is really important to the surrounding area. In addition, we arranged for a free meal to be served at the temple throughout the day and night, and served a total of 350 people.



Certainly none of this would be possible without your kind participation. May Shiva's blessings surround you throughout the coming year!

Shivaratri 2006 - Report #4

The Shivaratri yagyas series was a great success and concluded with a full scale homam (fire yagya) in Kanchipuram followed by Rudra Abishekam in village temple outside Kanchipuram. Not only did we provide a full scale Shivaratri celebration for this temple, but we also fed a full meal to over 350 people who visited that temple during Shivaratri. So it turned out to be a very fine end to a very fine yagya series!

The day began with the final 11 repetitions of Rudra Abishekam, each time with the offering of a different liquid; milk, water, sandal, honey, ghee, yogurt, turmeric, fruit mixture, etc. Here you see Seetharam's topaz lingam with milk being poured over it.



And here yogurt:



And this looks like sandal paste:



And Seetharam looking very stern. Not at all characteristic of him! But after 11 days all the priests are very focused.



After decorating the lingam it is ready for final pujas.



Then all the priests perform the homam with offerings of ghee and other items, puffed rice, coconut, herbs, seeds, leaves, special kinds of wood, etc.



At the end of the yagya, the final offering of ghee is made using a long wooden spoon whcih has a groove cut into it. Ghee is poured in at the top and it runs down into the fire in an unbroken stream while the final chanting of Chamakam takes place. Chamakam is a series of verses to Shiva asking him to bless the participants with everything a human could possibly want; material and spiritual. The wooden device is called a vasodara.



We have evolved a nice tradition of giving the priests a gift of a new dhoti...



...and a silver puja item each year. This year the item is a silver bowl.



Next it is off to the Shiva temple for the full scale abishekam!