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!
