I started crying uncontrollably.
As soon as I heard ‘Om Shri Ramaye Swaha’ in Om Swamiji’s magical voice while performing Elaborate Yajna (16 minutes) of Lord Ram in Sadhana App, I began to cry loudly. The tears of devotion flowed down, wetting my soft cheeks. Swami Tejomayanada said, “The world will make you cry so it is better that you cry for God.” ‘Om Shri Ramaye Namahe’ is the first mantra of Lord Ram’s hundred names. It means that I bow down to Lord Ram who is the giver of happiness.
Yajna is a ritual of self-dedication by which one can unite with the Supreme Power by cultivating cosmic love. It facilitates kindness and compassion by connecting all human beings together just like all the different colors of beads in a mala. It helps in eradicating the feeling of separateness which one experience due to false ego. According to Swami Krishnananda, “It is a sacrifice of all those factors which tend to tether the soul to the bodily tabernacle into the fire of knowledge of the Absolute.”
Thousands of yajna I have performed solely as well as with my family members. Therefore, I was quite familiar with the opening mantras of the yajna. Although, a few mantras were new to me which I was hearing for the first time, I thoroughly enjoyed offering ingredients with the Sanskrit arduous mantras. The material used to do fire offerings were ghee, firewood, havan samagri, paddy, guggal, sugar, camphor, dry fruits, cloves, rice, red sandalwood, white sandalwood, black sesame seeds, white sesame seeds, fox nuts, satavari, cardamom, dry coconut and rice pudding. I was well known with all the items except satavari. I had never seen or heard about it. I asked Google Baba and I came to know that it is a deep-rooted medicinal plant grown in the Himalayas. Its roots are used in fire offerings.
While performing this yajna I became familiar with the Gayatri of Lord Ram – Om Dasarathaye Vidmahe Sitavallabhaya Dheemahi, Tanno Ramah Prachodayat. It connected me with my Lord Ram as if we are not two but one. Purnahuti was made with dry coconut which was followed by melodious Stuti ‘Shri Ramchandra Kripalu Bhaju Mana’ a soul uplifting bhajan written by Tulsidas.
In the book, ‘Am I a Hindu?’ Ed Viswanathan said, “Yajna is usually done for material human welfare. Of course, by performing yajnas, a devotee is indirectly brought closer to God, for he fully understands the power of God in his day-to-day affairs. Physical health, mental discipline, expansion and purification of the heart are only some of the benefits. Whatever desire a person has while doing the havan, that desire is fulfilled.” The auspicious time to do yajna of Lord Ram to fulfil one’s desire is mentioned on the right-side bar under the heading 'Auspicious Date'.
Swami Sivananda said, “Life is a yajna, a holy sacrifice, and the world, which is the field of righteous action, is the altar at which the individual offers himself to God.”
So, make hay while the sun shines!
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Pic : An Elaborate Yajna of Lord Ram in Sadhana App