Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Guru Poornima - Kanchipuram, July 2006

Our Guru Poornima temple event took place in a very nice, and very ancient Shiva temple just outside Kanchipuram.



The temple grounds are quite large and feature this huge pipal tree.



Our priests are very careful to use all the traditional ingredients as seen below. There are colorful packets of milk (upper left), bags of yogurt (upper right), dates, many different kinds of fruit, fresh and dried coconuts, honey, rosewater, turmeric, sugar, ghee, vibhuti (sacred ash), and many ingredients that I don't recognize.



And of course, beautiful handmade fresh flower malas. The white flowers are jasmine and have a wonderful fresh sweet smell.



Dakshinamurti is the form of Shiva honored as the prototypical teacher(guru). The results of this yagya are to enhance and strengthen our own spiritual side, to smooth our path to enlightenment, and to balance the planet Jupiter's effect in our chart.

Shiva is often seen as the "Destroyer" and in this case he is the destroyer of ignorance.



The Abishekam consists of pouring the various ingredients over the murti either directly as seen here with milk, or when mixed in water as with turmeric. It may seem odd, but the effect of the abishekam is to purify the temple and to cool and invigorate the murti.



The scented sandalwood is very pretty when poured over the murti.



Afterwards, the murti is dried, dressed in a new dhoti, and draped with the fresh flower malas. They will last for several days to delight and inspire all who visit the temple.

Vedic Recitation - July 2006

In July we assembled a small group of experts in Vedic Recitation to chant the entire Samhita text of the Rig, Yajur, and Sama Vedas. Over a 5 day period the priests chanted for 4-5 hours in the morning and 2-3 hours each evening. All the mantras were recited in the precise traditional style.



On the left, in the photo above, our Rig Veda expert reaches the last page in the Rig Veda text. On the right is Sri Sampath Giri, the supervising priest for our facility and a widely recognized expert in Yajur Veda.



In appreciation for their hard work, we have given each priest a new dhoti (a traditional gift) and an envelope with dakshina (payment offering). They were delighted to have this opportunity, and honored by our interest and enthusiasm for the preservation of their vedic traditions.