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.
