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LEAD FEATURE: Continued from page 15: Culture of Consciousness Part One; In the Presence of the Gods (Main
Text; Side Boxes: Yagyas for a New Age?; Quotes: Einstein; Taittiriya Upanishad No. 1; Taittiriya Upanishad No. 2;
Pictures: The patrons; Picture caption; Mandala) | Further Reading Guide | Go To Contents | On To Next Page (17)
Continued from page 15Co
THE
NEW AGE?
READ THIS STORY IN
PRINTABLE PLAIN TEXT
OF THE GODS
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PRINTABLE PLAIN TEXT
ccording to Vedic astro-logers the 29th April
(1998) could have been
the official start of the
New Age. Akshaya Tritiya is
one of the most important
days of the Vedic Calendar.
On that day the sun, Surya,
and the moon, Chandra, are
simultaneously at their
peak of brightness. This year,
Akshaya Tritiya fell on a day
when Chandra occupied a
particularly rare position in
the astrological equation. It
was, according to the Vedic
texts, on this day and with
this astrological aspect that
the ancient Rishis performed
the first yagya in the history
of mankind. This yagya also
marked the start of a time
regarded as the Golden Age
of Indian culture, when man
began to live life totally in
accord with Cosmic Law.
CoCould it be that the yagyas
performed in India on
Akshaya Tritiya this year, for
world peace and collective and
individual evolution, had a
deeper significance?
TOP OF PAGE
celestial regions and the various psychological states between
mundane consciousness and full enlightenment.
ThAround the fire sit about 20 Vedic priests, each wearing a
white dhoti or lungi (the Indian sarong). They are bare-chested
with the sacred thread, signifying their status as Brahmins, fall-
ing over their chest from the left shoulder. Many wear their hair
in the south Indian temple style: the front of the head close
shaven, the black coconut-oiled hair hanging long at the back or
piled up in a small bun. Various categories of priest are involved
here: those who chant the various scriptures and mantras, those
who light and tend the fires, those who make the offerings.
ThVarious objects lie aroundthe fires — clay pots and vessels of
bamboo to hold the sacred liquids, long wooden ladles, a mortar
and pestle to grind, cloth and polythene bags
containing the
offerings and boards
and knives to chop
them. Other ritual
objects are also
involved, such as gold,
silver and sacred herbs
and grasses. There are
long pipes to blow on
the flames without
contaminating them with
human breath and a
black antelope horn with
which the priests can
scratch themselves if
they need to, without
polluting the hands that
are ministering to the
deities.
ThThe offerings are of
several kinds. This
yagya, which is being performed for world peace, utilises many wholesome substances including ghee
(clarified butter), milk, curds, rice cakes, barley, wheat, sesame seeds, dry and fresh fruits, honey, sugar and so on.
ThAt one point a sacred cow appears. A priest takes some ghee
in a ladle and puts a piece of gold, covered in sacred grass, into
mundane consciousness and full enlightenment.
ThAround the fire sit about 20 Vedic priests, each wearing a
white dhoti or lungi (the Indian sarong). They are bare-chested
with the sacred thread, signifying their status as Brahmins, fall-
ing over their chest from the left shoulder. Many wear their hair
in the south Indian temple style: the front of the head close
shaven, the black coconut-oiled hair hanging long at the back or
piled up in a small bun. Various categories of priest are involved
here: those who chant the various scriptures and mantras, those
who light and tend the fires, those who make the offerings.
ThVarious objects lie aroundthe fires — clay pots and vessels of
bamboo to hold the sacred liquids, long wooden ladles, a mortar
and pestle to grind, cloth and polythene bags
containing theofferings and boards
and knives to chop
them. Other ritual
objects are also
involved, such as gold,
silver and sacred herbs
and grasses. There are
long pipes to blow on
the flames without
contaminating them with
human breath and a
black antelope horn with
which the priests can
scratch themselves if
they need to, without
polluting the hands that
are ministering to the
deities.
ThThe offerings are of
several kinds. This
yagya, which is being performed for world peace, utilises many wholesome substances including ghee
(clarified butter), milk, curds, rice cakes, barley, wheat, sesame seeds, dry and fresh fruits, honey, sugar and so on.
ThAt one point a sacred cow appears. A priest takes some ghee
in a ladle and puts a piece of gold, covered in sacred grass, into
PICTURE CAPTION
Sitting on a sacred
anelope skin, the patron
of the yagya and his
wife look on. His head
is fully shaven and in
his hand he holds some
sacred kushta grass.
Photo: Blisspix
TOP OF PAGE
The most beautiful emotion
we can experience is the
mystical. It is the sower
of all true art and
science. He to whom
that emotion is a
stranger is as good
as dead.
Albert Einstein
TOP OF PAGE
the gold into his hand, and meditates intently for some minutes.
Then he, the patron and his wife, follow the cow for six paces
and he scoops up some of the earth on which she has trodden.
After sprinkling it with holy water, this is offered to the flames.
ThFor days and nights the rituals and the chanting continue until,
at last, the Gods have returned to the heavenly realm.
ThTo witness a Vedic yagya is to participate in an event of great
beauty and grandeur. The sonorous chanting, which can
escalate in an electrifying blend of cross-rhythms, the measured
and graceful gestures of the priests, the eloquent crackling of the
atmosphere that is solemn yet relaxed, and charged with sacred
power and bliss. The rituals are so ancient they are timeless, yet
at the same time they constitute the archetypal performance art,
a sacrificial act of self-transcendence, where music, drama and
religion have not yet been divided into their separate spheres,
and movement is itself a ritual of concentrated attention, taking
place in surroundings where the Divine is truly made manifest
and the Gods come down to earth.
ThUntil not long ago, the tradition of Vedic yagyas was dying,
preserved only by a few family groups in different parts of the
interest in the last few years both on the part of Indian spiritual
teachers and western academics.
ThAlthough yagyas are an intimate and intrinsic part of the
ancient Vedic culture that continues to be a living tradition in
Hindu India, their meaning and power as enshrined in the
timeless words of Vedic literature are lost to those who are
without the level of consciousness to understand the celestial
planes on which the yagyas operate. However, as a reflection of
a society based entirely on higher consciousness, perhaps the
meaning of the yagyas will be revealed to us all as we come of
age in Gracelands.
......From the pen of Mr Bliss....... ..................TOP OF PAGE
'Out of bliss these things are born. In bliss they are sustained. And to bliss they go and merge again.'
Taittiriya Upanishad 3.6.1
TOP OF PAGE
Our Personal Recommendations
in association with Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
IN THE PRESENCE OF THE GODS
Getting to the bottom of the complicated. almost alien, nuances of Hinduism and the Vedic
knowledge that underwrites it is hard. And there are few books that dispel the clouds of confusion.
SCIENCE OFBEING AND
ART OF LIVING
By
Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi
Few people have been as influential in bridging the gap between east and west as the diminutive monk who brought the technique of Transcendental Meditation to the west in 1958. Ever concerned to make his sacred knowledge acceptable within western societies, he was one of the great populisers of eastern thought. His message was and is revolutionary -- that meditation is as relevant for those involved in the world as for those who have opted out of it. This is the book that defines his philosophy. It offers up a rationale that is both intensely spiritual and pretty practical. TM is great; we've practised it for over 30 years and it does everything the Maharishi promises in this historic book.
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Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on THE BHAGAVADGITA Chapters 1 to 6
If you are looking for a rendering of the Bhagavad Gita into English this is not the book for you. It's concern is not with the story of Arjuna's battle but with the explanations of consciousness that Lord Krishna gives him as he prepares for the drama ahead. It is the Maharishi's contention that the secrets of consciousness are contained in the first five chapters of the epic myth. And, just to demonstrates it, he takes every verse apart word by word in a series of commentaries that are both beautiful to read and extremely profound. There are some wonderful quotations that really sing and -- as an appendix in my edition, anyway -- there is an excellent explanation of the 'six systems of Indian philosophy'.
THE HINDUVISION
By
Alistair
Shearer
Mr Shearer is another great populiser in the eastern knowledge field. It is a great shame his masterpiece, 'Effortless Being', is out of print because it is full of insights and explanations of the nature of higher consciousness written in an elegant and graceful manner. 'The Hindu Vision' is rather less profound but it is, after all, mainly a picture book. Despite that Shearer crams some very informative stuff into his captions and the introduction is, of course, a joy to read. Full of rich images drawn from the Hindu pantheon and laced with allusions to the earlier Vedic civilisation, this is a very informative and easy to look at book. It is worth buying for the beautiful cover picture of Lord Ganesha alone.
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BUDDHA:THE
INTELLIGENT
HEART
By
Alistair Shearer
This is another lovely book by Alistair Shearer. Sharing the same format and form as 'The Hindu Vision', this one is full of the most beautiful pictures of Lord Buddha. Again the picture captions are extremely erudite and informative and the introduction is a gloriously clear exposition of the history and philosophical content of buddhism. Mr Shearer's credentials as one of the world's leading experts on eastern antiquities, a seasoned traveller and an expert in spiritual literature are well applied in the selection of the photographs and the carefully written text that accompanies them.
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INTRODUCT-ION TO
SANSKRIT
Part 1
By
Thomas Egenes
Learning a dead language is not something we would dream of doing. Having said that we do own this book so we must have considered doing so at some stage. Or maybe we bought it because it contains some of the greatest quotes from Vedic literature. A few of the quotes appear within the 'In the Presence of the Gods' article but there are a lot more here. All the greatest hits of the Vedic Rishis are to be found in this volume -- 'knowledge is structured in consciousness', 'be free of the three gunas' and. my fave, 'yogasta kuru kamani', 'established in yoga perform action.'
UK READERS CLICK HERE
US READERS CLICK HERE
AUTOBIO-GRAPHY OF
A YOGI
By
Paramhansa
Yogananda
Here's a great read that, like me, many people will know and love. Yogananda writes beautifully and the book is rich with tales of saints and masters as well as containing very penetrating explanations of aspects of Indian philosophy. Although Yogananda had his own system of yoga to plug there is very little hype in this charming, elevated and very readable volume. And, of course, the book was another one of those that bridged the gap between east and west in the aftermath of the 1960s. If you haven't read it, you really should. It is a book that we couldn't live without.
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