Sita Kalyanam - Sat Chandi Mahayajna
Part Two

Yajna is not just ritual. Just to light a fire and chant some mantras is not yajna. It is much more than that. To make a yajna efficacious and derive all of its benefits, one has to pour the heart and soul into it. This is why yajnas performed by rishis, munis and enlightened saints are very dynamic and powerful. Because they alone can accomplish the total projection of oneself that a yajna demands. It is as if life is poured into the yajna by their very presence.

In this the 21st century, when global order has been replaced by global disorder, performing yajnas becomes an act of greater importance in order to restore harmony. This is not religion. It is the knowledge of life and how to live. This is not a religious observance to invoke some gods and goddesses. It is the process through which you can know yourself and converse with your inner being. It is a chance to fulfil the aim of human life, which is to realize one's own Self.

Performance of a yajna is an act of universal love and compassion. Universal because it is not limited. It reaches out to all that is animate and inanimate, the manifest as well as the unmanifest. It is an act of love because it expresses our remembrance of that which gave us life and gratitude for the chance to live. It is an act of repaying a debt to Nature for feeding and nurturing us on this beautiful earth. And an unspoken thanks for all that we have received from it. This is true compassion, to give back what you have received. This heightened remembrance in return re-nourishes us and gives us the ability to achieve our objectives and goals with ease and splendour. Thus our relationship with existence grows deeper and deeper and the bonds strengthen more and more.

There are three aspects to a yajna. If one of these three aspects is missing the yajna is incomplete. The first is the ritual itself, which consists of adorning the area of the yajna, invocation of higher forces through the chanting of mantras, kindling of the fire and offering of oblations into it. The second is satsang or association with sadhus and saints. To listen to the Truth is satsang. To be in the presence of Truth is satsang. To be able to withstand Truth is satsang. This is a vital part of the yajna. The third is daan. Daan means to give away what belongs to you. A yajna without daan is like a newly wedded bride without ornaments. The act of daan glorifies a yajna. It is the cream on top of the pudding. Offerings at a yajna earn thousand-fold merits in this life and hereafter.

Daan does not mean charity and alms alone. When you offer a gift or present to someone who is not in need, that too is daan. To give something to someone in need is charity. To give to one who is not in need is a gift. Kings and emperors too received daan in abundance from rishis during yajnas. Not just the poor but each and every person at a yajna is eligible for daan. It is the prasad of the yajna.

The act of yajna is so attractive because it is pure and simple. It is in harmony with Nature and its creation. Purity and simplicity are essential ingredients of a yajna. In order to maintain the purity and simplicity yajnas evolved into a highly technical science. Just as modern day scientists evolved matter to create highly technical missiles and satellites, in the same way the sophisticated and refined science of yajna also creates a laser guided missile which does not just remain restricted to this realm but travels far beyond. The only difference is that the yajna missile is composed of love and compassion and not of hatred and destruction. It is a benevolent missile and not a malevolent one. This missile creates not destroys. It rejuvenates not extinguishes.

Yajna is an act of bhakti or pure devotion. That uncontaminated power which is known to perform miracles, alter events, nullify calamities, make the blind see, deaf hear, lame walk and mute speak. In bhakti there is no room for doubt. How hard it is to have bhakti for something you have never seen. Bhakti rests on faith. Faith that what you have not seen is there close beside you taking care of you with each breath.

The yajna being held here is dedicated to the Cosmic Mother, Devi Chandi. She who has been epitomized by Adi Guru Shankaracharya in a poem dedicated to beauty known as Saundarya Lahari. Whose gracious glance even Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh crave for. As Kula Kundalini she resides in each one of us. It is She who will be invoked as the chief guest of Sita Kalyanam to shower her blessings on all during the marriage ceremony of Sita and Rama.

The yajna will culminate on the 19th, which is the day of Vivah Panchami. That very day when Sita and Lord Rama were united in wedlock aeons ago. It is said that when they were married even Time stood still to stand and watch that spell-binding event. This timeless event will be re-enacted here at the Alakh Bara so that we can all benefit from that moment of union.

You are all invited so be sure to come. It is one's good fortune to be present at such an event. It can easily be called a chance of a lifetime. Precious moments which can help us sail through life and carry us safely to the other shore.

I will meet all of you during Sita Kalyanam.

Namo Narayan
Swami Satyananda

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