July 24th, being the first day of the Sri Yagam, Swamiji’s Perumal was brought to the yagasala. All the rithwiks got ready in their yellow deeksha clothes. The sevakalam was completed and HH gave permission to the rithwiks to do the agni madhanam – churning the wood to produce fire in a natural and vedic manner using a special wood as ordained in the Agama Sasthra. Wood from the peepal tree that grows on the top of a Sami tree is taken. Sami wood becomes the base and the peepal wood is used to make the top pole. When it is churned with force, the agni that lies latent in the wood emerges as smoke which in turn ignites the wood. Today in less than two minutes the fire god showed up to the amazement of the devotees who invited him, applauding Jai Srimannarayana. Swamiji said the purity of the hearts of devotees and their devotion pleased the Lord.
Garuda dhwajaarohanam (hoisting the picture of Garuda Alwar after worshipping him) was performed by Swamiji later on. HH explained the importance of rice balls that were offered to Garuda and said that women who have no children consume the prasadam for kids. Then HH inaugurated the Akhanda Hare Rama Nama Sankeerthanam and blessed the batch of devotees. It will continue 24/7 for the ten days of the Sri Yagam. By then the holy fire was installed in the main kunda and then was transferred to the other 32 kundas. In the Ishtisala, HH gave permission to Sriman Srinivasacharyaswami to commence the Sudarsaneshti and spoke on the importance of worshipping Sudarsana Bhagavan. Sudarsana represents our mind. He cleanses and energizes our mind and shows us the right path. Swamiji initiated all the devotees with the Sudarsana Moola Manthra. Rithwiks offered oblations while the devotees chanted the manthram in between the
slokas.
In the pravachanamandapa, during the mass Sri Krishna Puja, HH spoke on how to earn wealth correctly. “Whatever we do, we must do it in a perfect, righteous, and recommended way. Even earning wealth, whatever kind of wealth it might be – money, knowledge, family and spirituality – must be done in a proper manner. This helps us enjoy the peace. Here, in order to obtain the blessings of the Lord, we must perform the rituals of the yagam according to the guidelines provided in the Vedic and Agamic scriptures. Agni Madhanam was performed for this reason. The Agni that was slowly built up by the ruthwiks was distributed around the Ya:ga Sa:la, with the initial small fire spreading around to all 33 kundas and magnifying. On the ninth and final day of the Sri Yagam, all the fires in the 33 kundas once again return to the main kundam that they came from. The power, the energy, is then transferred from the kundam to the mandalam, and then to the kumbham. Whether it is Rama, or Venkateswara Swami, Lakshmi, or Sri receives our prayers for the Lord. For example, a simple and natural thing like fire, starts out in a small area, with all the power in one location. The power spreads for the nine days to all 33 kundas, with the power spreading and magnifying, and eventually, all the power is brought back to one place. This is what we are doing in our Yagam. We surrender ourselves in this way. A:radhana will be done to the fire every morning, afternoon, and evening. A:radhana means pleasing. How do you please your mother or your father? We have to do some activity that pleases them. We have to do what they expect us to do.
Our parents won’t be satisfied when we do something that only pleases us particularly. This is how we please our Mother and Father. We please them in the way the Vedic and Agamic scriptures advise us. Here in this Yagam, we worship the Lord in five different forms – fire, water, earth, air and space. The fire is worshiped in the altar, the water is worshipped in the Kumbham near the Lord. The earth is worshipped through our perumal that we can all see here, the moorthis – that are made of metal, which comes directly from the earth. Space, we worship in the Murthi Chakrabhuja mandalam. Manthra is the fifth way. The air that the rutwiks breathe in and out while reciting the Manthras is the last form of worship. Agni madhanam, or fire churning, is metaphoric to churning our own hearts. The more you churn the fire, the stronger it becomes. Fire is knowledge. Even though this fire, the knowledge, starts out minutely it will grow with the addition of proper things in a recommended manner. And in the end, we contract our love, faith, and our knowledge into ourselves to reach God. We must churn our thought process during these nine days. The more we churn them, the more elated, the more spiritual we become. We get closer to God. Krishna says that he is the Indweller. He advises us to dedicate ourselves to Him, with the promise that He will take care of us. “ Later HH came to the yagasala for purnahuthi. In the Ishtisala purnahuti was done in the presence of Acharya. He did prokshana on the devotees and personally presented the yajamanis with clothes. In the Sri Yagam, oblations were offered while the four Vedas and Astakshari Manthra were chanted at all the kundas. It was an amazing sight watching the offering of dravyams of purnahuthi at the same time in
all the 33 kundas.
Devotees had prasadam and had some rest. In the evening, they assembled in the discourse hall for the Vishnusahasranama parayana and to listen to the enlightening words of HH. Four senior priests were honored and they shared their experiences with the audience while the evening homam continued in the yagasala. Today being the first day of Sri Yagam, the First Mass Prayer was done by all the participants collectively under HH’s guidance. A cultural program was presented by the kids. Then Purappattu ( procession) for Mother Mahalakshmi was enjoyed by one and all. In the presence of Mother Mahalakshmi, the splendor of the final purnahuti was witnessed by all the blessed devotees. The purnahuti prasadam was distributed to everyone as the day’s program came to a close.
Tomorrow the Vainatheya Ishti will be conducted in the Ishti sala. Tomorrow, July 25th, is also Guru Purnima and the second mass prayer will be chanted at exactly 6:00 P.M.
