Tapovan News

On 25^th March 2004 in Tapovan we passed the 3 year milestone in our 24 hour round-the-clock Om Tryambakam Yajnya. By Divine Grace we have been able to maintain this unique healing fire. Several countries have hosted such a Yajnya over the past quarter century (Germany, Chile, Australia and notably USA where continuous Yajnya was maintained by a small group of dedicated people for approximately 16 years from September 9, 1978). But as far as we know, this is the only Yajnya of this type on the planet at the present time.

To mark the occasion this year it was decided to conduct another important event. We were approached by one Shri Nana Kale of Shree Yogiraj Veda – Vijnyan Ashram from Kasarwadi, Barsi, District Solapur in south Maharashtra to provide the venue for a Parjanya Yag (also known as Parjanyakmeshti Yajnya) which would be one of 13 to take place simultaneously all over Maharashtra state from 18^th to 23^rd March, 2004. The special importance of the Parjanya Yag is that it is said to induce rainfall. The members of the ashram have been performing these Parjanya Yag and other Maha Yajnyas over the last 22 years and they claim 75% success rate. Now Maharashtra and several other states of India have been experiencing severe drought for the past 2 to 3 years. So despite having had good rains here in our area for last 2 years we decided to accept Shri Kale’s offer to perform this Yajnya as a fitting occasion to mark the beginning of our 4^th year of continuous Yajnya here in Tapovan.

So on March 17^th 9 young Brahmin boys  average about 10years plus their slightly older preceptor arrived at Tapovan to make ready for the beginning of the Parjanya Yag the next day. They were all housed nicely in the 3 new mud and grass huts  which we have recently constructed. These huts, apart from being very cool in the hot climate, also have the distinction of echoing the days of the ancient Rishis when the entire ashram would be accommodated in huts similar to these. In our huts we have made a few concessions to 21^st century comforts and they boast semi-attached bathrooms with hot and cold running water plus electric fans.

On the morning of the 18^th the preliminaries began with Vyahruti Homa in front of Parama Sadguru’s photo in main Bungalow followed by aarti (worship). Then at the Yajnya site to the chant of various Veda Mantras, the conduct of the Yajnya was passed officially from Abhay and Anjali  as owners of the land to the team of young Brahmins who would now carry on the proceedings for the next 5 days. At this time also the fire was started by traditional Vedic friction method  and kept alive till the Parjanya Yag started in the evening.

Everyone gathered for the auspicious official start of the Parjanya Yag at 10pm. As so often happens over here in this rural area we suffered a power cut at that time and so emergency lighting came into play.

The materials used for the Yajnya were the woods of special Yajnya trees, peepal (Ficus religiosa), audumbar (Ficus glomerata), banyan (Ficus bengalensis) plus lavala grass (Cyperus scariosus) plus 100% pure cow’s milk and 100% pure cow’s ghee. A special kund (fire-pit)  had been previously constructed which would contain the fire. Once the Yajnya was started it would continue non-stop for 5 days and 5 nights. The young Brahmin boys were very well-versed in the Veda Mantras as they practise at least 10 hours daily as part of the ashram routine. They were also very well disciplined for such young boys and always took a bath before Yajnya and sat for Yajnya in wet cloth. They worked in teams of 2 each team doing a 2 hour shift before being relieved by the next team . Each Mantra cycle lasted approximately 6 to 8 minutes. It was a wonderful thrill to hear the Veda Mantras of these young boys mingling with the sounds from our own Om Tryambakam Mantra  throughout the days and nights.

On the third day we had a television team come from the National TV channel and took some footage and did some interviews for the local news.

On the morning of the 5^th day we decided to perform a Rudra Yag as well . We started near the Parjanya Yag site straight after sunrise. It was a very sublime feeling knowing that these 3 Yajnyas were continuing simultaneously, Om Trymbakam Yajnya, the Parjanya Yag and the Rudra Yag. The whole area was totally infused with Veda Mantras from these Yajnyas.

In the afternoon, as the last Parjanya Mantra was sung, we all gathered for the “poorna ahuti” (final offering). Again Abhay and Anjali were required for this last segment. The final offerings were made of cow’s ghee using a very large wooden spoon fashioned from the wood of the peepal tree (Ficus religiosa) . And so to the accompaniment of a final set of Mantras the glorious Parjanya Yag came to a close.

As a fitting finale to the whole event lunch was served to the large crowd of more than 3,000 which had gathered for the last day.

After exchanging gifts we bade farewell to the young Brahmins who had greatly endeared themselves to us over the preceding 5 days with a promise that they would come again next year to repeat the whole exercise.

Post script: At the time of writing (8 May 2004) we have just experienced good rains on the last 2 days. This is extremely rare at this time of year, just one month prior to the start of the monsoon. The rains were related to a cyclone in the Arabian Sea off the west coast of India. Could this somehow be connected with the 13 Parjanya Yags in Maharashtra during March 2004?

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Last modified: Friday April 02, 2004.