From the 20 priest Lakshmi yagya
April 29, 2008
This month we tried a group private Lakshmi yagya with 20 priests, as seen above. All the participants reported great meditation experiences and one experienced a rather dramatic and largely unexpected influx of money in the days after the event. The facility seen above is on the grounds of a beautiful temple at the Benares Hindu University.
The ways of karma…
April 29, 2008
Over the past few days I have engaged in an email conversation with an individual who has been listening to the podcasts for the past two years. He related a story about him and his son which I want to paraphrase here because it is a wonderful example of what Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita; “the ways of karma are unfathomable”.
Usually we think of this as meaning that our vast personal karmas are so bad and complicated that attempting to understand them is a fruitless waste of time. But this story illustrates what I think is another dimension to this thought. Some times, the little things that we do can have unexpectedly positive effects in the world.
“I have been listening to them [the podcasts] for about eighteen months…maybe closer to two years. Last August I took a long drive with my son to the Florida Keys as a going away ritual as he was about to leave for the Navy. We listened to many of the podcasts while driving (along with his music choices) and also some bhajans. Well, three weeks later he goes to boot camp and volunteers to be the “Chaplin” for his boot camp company. He was pretty aware of the New Testament and his Christian heritage…but he also asked me to send him something else…he asked me to send him the Gayatri Mantra in transliterated Sanskrit. He introduced it as a prayer for wisdom and getting closer to God and added it routinely to the prayers he lead every evening.”
Divine protection
April 24, 2008
Yagyas are wonderfully mystical events that do not readily lend themselves to the sorts of scientific logic and analysis that we usually live with in our modern age. I mean, just try and come up with a scientific explanation for mantras and you’ll see what I mean. Yet we all know that they work and in the end, the lack of an intellectually rigorous explanation really shouldn’t hinder our appreciation of them…and it certainly doesn’t hinder their effectiveness.
Over the years there have been many different events reported by the yagya participants and I take them pretty much at surface value although one who is more skeptical and scientific in their outlook would probably be very doubtful.
Earlier today. I received an email from a long time yagya participant which I thought I would reproduce here. Since it is my opinion that the main effect of yagyas is to “burn up karma” and therefore change the experiences that come to us in life, I thought this was a wonderful example of how that might be experienced.
“My friend R. had a great experience the night/early morning after the most recent yagyas 4/20. She had a vision of herself and my daughter in a car together, heading towards a collision with another vehicle, when, just before the impending collision the 2nd car transformed into sparkles of gold light, averting the collision.
Both she and my daughter are in mangal antar-dasha and averting accidents was one intended purpose to have the yagyas.
Bells in India
April 24, 2008
This is one of those images that makes me realize that throughout India, I have very rarely seen bells at the temples. This bell is from a goddess temple in Varanasi and is very elaborate and, I would guess, fairly new. Pujas and yagyas always include bell ringing, but they are small hand held bells, but nothing big like in the churches of Europe. I wonder what the cultural reason for this might be.
Ferrari in India
April 23, 2008
Right now, there are two 12 cylinder Ferraris (seen above) making a complete lap around India starting in Delhi going to Kolkata, all the way down south, then up to Mumbai and back to Delhi. Check out the map below.
In the announcement they mentioned that they increased the ride height and added a lot of metal underneath. Having been on a lot of the roads they will be driving on, I can attest that their modifications are going to be needed.! What I don’t think they anticipate is that India is largely a 35 mph country. Rarely have I ever been more than 50 mph on any road there. So this may be the first long term journey in a Ferrari that is done entirely in first gear…maybe second on a good day.
The purpose of the post is to mention an email that I received in which the author said that what ever happens to us in life, we are bound by our karma. Our efforts can only take us so far and if a certain destiny is not indicated in the birth chart, then it can’t manifest in our life. I agree and the example that I always give is that, I think that a Ferrari is a work of art. The sound of the exhaust is a form of music and the special Ferrari red color and the elegant lines of each model are exceptional.
But…alas in my birth chart the ruler of my 4th house which represents vehicles is in the 8th, a weak house. I would say that my destiny doesn’t seem to include a nice red Ferrari, in spite of all the years of yagyas and spiritual service that I have performed.
Does this mean that the yagyas “haven’t worked”?
When I imagine actually having a Ferrari, I suspect that it would amount to a huge distraction that would keep me from things that are more important to my evolution. So it isn’t a matter of deprevation, although I always stand and watch when one goes by.
The thing about the puja.net yagyas is that we can absolutely guarantee that they are performed properly and to the highest traditional standards. But ultimately the effects of the yagyas are not up to us. As Krishna says in the Gita; “You have control over action alone. The results are up to me.” Philosophically, we can say that whatever happens as the result of a yagya will be that which is most beneficial to us from the long term perspective of our journey to enlightenment.
By performing yagyas we eliminate bad karmas and desirable qualities like health, wealth, family, knowledge, etc are enhanced and flow into our lives more readily. We are, as they say in the traditional texts, “earning merit” to ensure that we have an auspicious future in this life and the next. The specifics of what happens is difficult to control because what we think would be best for us (a new 12 cylinder Ferrari), may in the long run, not be most beneficial (a jail term for excessive speeding). So it is not we who decide….a higher power who is not succeptible to the lure of 600 hp, rich handmade seats, F1 style paddle shifters….that’s who decides.
But hope springs eternal. Maybe in some distant future my soul will need to be rich and to go really really fast in an Italian work-of-art automobile. I’d even be willing to drive around India in 1st gear! We’ll see, but somehow I doubt it. I’ll bet I’d end up with a bumper sticker that says “I’d rather be meditating”.
Young priests on Shivaratri
April 23, 2008
On Shivaratri night, we went to the country side temple for until about 12:30 AM for abishekams and to feed the local village a great meal. On the way back in to Kanchipuram we stopped at a series of neighborhood temples which were fantastic! Each one had a different story and each was special in its own right.
There were two at which women were serving as priests which was the first time that I saw that anywhere in India. The temples were festive and crowded and everyone was in a great mood.
These photos are from one of the temples that we went to where it was owned by a family and the sons were doing pujas all night. They were great.
More on Rahu and Ketu
April 22, 2008
This is the Rahu/Ketu area in the temple in Kanchipuram. When you see it close up (as below) you’ll notice that there are all sorts of strings draped around the tree as well as little beds made of wood. There is a cultural recognition that having children is a very karmic thing and that in Jyotish (Hindu astrology) the planets Rahu and Ketu are the planets of karma. So when a couple wants a child and there is some obstacle, they pay a lot of attention to Rahu and Ketu and often hang these small beds on the trees.
Interestingly, this is not uncommon and I would say that something like this would be found in virtually all Shiva temples. Not so much in a Vishnu temple because they do not usually have an area for the Navagraha (9 planets).
In the photo below, the young priest is pouring turmeric over one of the murtis. It is a part of the cleansing ritual called Abishekam.
Rahu and Ketu Yagyas
April 21, 2008
As you probably know, we sponsored a number of different Rahu and Ketu yagyas this month and this image is from the temple in Kanchipuram where the first ones took place. Snakes, not being a part of our usual western experience, make this seem very exotic and unusual. Look closely and see how elegantly the snakes are carved. If you look closely you can see a human form Shiva in the large one in the rear and Shiva lingams in the front ones.
Churning the Ocean of Milk
April 18, 2008
I was corresponding with someone this week about how it is possible to practice meditation for many years and to sponsor yagyas and still feel like the outer world just never gets “fixed”. Certainly if you read the whole of the Mahabharata or the Ramayana, no one’s life every seemed to get fully “fixed“. Certainly there were times of relative peace and calm, but they were not permanent. So perhaps, one of the lessons of these great epics is that outer life is always going to be fully of chaos and trouble. It is the inner life that needs to be developed so that we have some independence from the turmoil of the outer world. I suspect that the enlightenment of the rishis is all inner and the outer life becomes largely irrelevant, at least as far as satisfaction and happiness are concerned.
The story of the churning of the ocean of milk really is a great myth for this. The gods wanted to become immortal and so they churned the ocean (consciousness) and what comes out first? Poison! Not love and bliss and happiness….poison! But in the end everything they wanted, and more was given to them.
What happened to the poison? Shiva held it in his throat neither swallowing it nor spitting it out. So in the same way we have to accept the crap that comes out of our own churning…our own efforts at living and growing and evolving. You can’t reject it because it is the product of our own karma. And you can’t swallow it. And by that I think that the myth means that you can’t take it all too seriously. You can’t swallow it and let it become a part of you. It is just karma and you can develop some distance from it, or as you point out, develop a sense of dispassion. It is admittedly a fine line distinction. I suppose the old zen saying holds true, that everything is important, but nothing matters.
It is possible through meditation, and yagyas, and conscious effort to begin to recognize the push and pull of the different planets in your psyche. And having done so, when you get reactive about a particular situation, you can say to yourself…oh…that’s my Saturn acting up again. I’m letting myself get depressed. Maybe I’m being too serious. Maybe I’m being too pessimistic. I think I’ll let it go…and see what happens.” In an odd sort of way Saturn challenges us to let go and trust the universe more than we are readily capable of, or think we can.
There is no question that crappy things happen in life and sometimes we are helpless. The bad stuff we endure has to be chalked up to paying back past bad karma. In the rest of life we can find balance and see the planets the way they are just pulling and pushing us.
There is no evidence in the vedic tradition that our karma ends and suddenly we are transported into the garden of eden. I think that we develop an independence from all the ups and downs and they don’t affect us as they used to. We are less reactive, and our fulfillment is less tied to the outcome of events because what we “want”…the satisfaction is built into our awareness and it enhances the outer experiences…rather than comes from them.
From the Rahu/Ketu Yagya
April 18, 2008
This image is from the yagya that was performed in Kanchipuram a few weeks ago and it shows just a few of the many murtis that are present under the pipal tree on the temple grounds. Our priests cleaned and decorated each of the more than 300 murtis and the effect was incredible.
Oddly enough, a service like this is fairly rare and so this had a wonderfully positive influence in the temple and for all who visit it.