When people ask me if the yagyas “work” it is always very difficult to know what to say. In the largest sense it is like asking how you can measure spirituality. I am not sure there really is a way, at least objectively. One is always limited to either a subjective judgment (I feel better) or a vague statement (my life is going more smoothly). Neither of which will really satisfy a skeptic.
But lately I have a new tactic. I show them this photo. It is a picture of my seat in Kanchipuram. There is absolutely nothing special about it. It is about 6 inches high and maybe 20 inches deep, made out of mango wood, I think. But here’s the thing, I travel all the way to the other side of the world to very very happily sit on this seat from 8 AM to 2 PM every day, with less than 45 minutes of break during that time. While seated here I am listening to the Vedas for roughly 5 hours a day for an average trip of two weeks. And nothing I have ever done makes me feel so at peace, so happy, and much like my life is absolutely on-track.
I can’t watch TV without a clicker, I can’t chill. I have to be productive, focused, and active almost all of the time. But I can sit in that seat like a pro. Listening to the Vedas being chanted, watching the pujas, and being in that atmosphere is real. Difficult to describe and quantify, but there is that unmistakable <something> that is very real. And, to mangle an old phrase, the proof is in the sitting!