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Rajasooya Yajna 2006
Part Two
 This
is not just true of today; even in vedic times this was the demand. All
the vedic prayers and invocations to divine beings were for good crops,
timely rains, healthy cattle, abundant grains. They sought the help of
divine gods and goddesses for this purpose. Yajnas were conducted to propitiate
different deities who seemed to arrive there just as today a minister
or important dignitary arrives to grace the occasion and confer their
blessings and fulfil the wishes of those present, whether it is the sanction
of a gas cylinder, a petrol pump, or a prime piece of land! The hot favourites
of today which everyone has their sights set upon.
That is precisely how and why yajnas became so popular right from ancient
vedic times. They had the inherent power and potential to fulfil the demands
of the masses. The rites and rituals, or karma kanda, along with the invocation
of mantras, united the collective consciousness to create a suitable ambience
for the descent of the divine beings. The arrival and presence of divinity
surcharged the atmosphere with electric energy, which uplifted each and
everyone to streamline their own thoughts and energies in a positive and
auspicious direction for the fulfilment of their aims and objects in life.
 Yajnas
confer peace, plenty and prosperity through the medium of the divine energy
that is invoked by mantras and rituals. Divine intervention is sought
for the removal of obstacles, difficulties and kleshas, or afflictions,
and these divine powers miraculously render it possible for those deepest
desires and wishes to be fulfilled. Thus through an esoteric act, exoteric
desires are accomplished.
This is not asana or pranayama or dhyana or any form of yoga. You do
not have to strike a pose, stand on your head or inhale deeply and close
your nostrils, nor do you have to close your eyes and concentrate to dive
deep within. This is yajna, purely a non-intellectual affair where the
mind, intellect and intelligence have no role to play and are on hold
for the time being. In this situation childlike innocence and spontaneity
pay higher dividends.
 In
a yajna you have to tune into the present moment with the natural ease
of a child. Just as the awareness of a child does not attach any great
importance to the past or future, but simply lives from moment to moment,
in the same way your awareness, too, has to attune with the environment
of the ceremony because you are in the proximity of a higher power. In
Sanskrit, it is known as samipya, to be near the divine.
Ultimately, it is the aim of every seeker to experience the divine. Knowing
and understanding is simply not enough if it is not enriched by experience.
We want a touch of divinity in our lives, even if it is just to fulfil
our desires. Is there anyone free from desire? No, not at all. Even those
who have supposedly renounced everything live in a world of paradox because
the desire for liberation is still strong.
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