Fwd: [Nityakalyan] Fwd: Tale to Understand the Importance of Performing Yagnas/Homams& the types of Yagnas to Perform!

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respected brothers and sisters I got this mail and found interesting information which i never know i thought i will share this u saraswathi Note: forwarded message attached.

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Note: forwarded message attached.

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THE STORY OF ORIGIN OF YAGNAS/HOMAMS

 

When Lord Brahma began his creation he appointed the

various devatas or cosmic deities to devise a plan for

the human beings who were caught in the vicious grip

of Moha or infatuation.

 

These devatas were incharge of the entire programming

of the jeeva and his journey of life -where he will be

born, to whom he will be born and what kind of life he

would have and what would happen to him depending on

his past karmas and also to observe his present

actions(good and bad) to subract/add from the sanchita

karma (stored bank balance of karmas from various past

births) and yield results to him accordingly.

 

While performing this Herculean task, they got tired

and hungry and they approached Lord Brahma to satisfy

their hunger.

 

Lord Brahma, in turn, took Lord Vishnu's help to pray

to the Divine Mother - " O! Divine Mother, have mercy

on the gods and bless Agni with the power of burning,

which you have in abundance. Then Agni will burn the

offerings given by human beings and will transform

them into a suitable form so that the gods may consume

them " .

 

Mother Goddess replied - " Brahma, if I give my power

of burning to Agni, even I may have to remain

subordinate to him. I have decided to undertake Tapas.

For this, I need to be independent. Therefore, I

cannot part with that power " . But Brahma and Vishnu

continued to beg Her to accede to their request.

 

Finally, Mother Goddess took out a part of her energy,

gave it a feminine form and named it as 'Swaahaa'. She

then got Swaahaa Devi married to Agni. The couple

begot three male children - Garhapatyagni,

Ahavaneeyaagni and Dakshinaagni. They are collectively

called as 'Tretagni'(three fires). Mother Goddess

ordained that the offerings made by reciting the name

- 'Swaahaa' at the end of the mantra should go to the

Devatas.

 

But after some time, another problem came up. The

Pitru Devatas (our deceased ancestors who have assumed

the form of gods) complained that they were not

getting any offerings.

 

This time, Lord Brahma created a female deity, named

her as 'Swadhaa' and got her married to Agni. He also

ordained that the offerings made by reciting the name

- 'Swadhaa' at the end of the mantra should go to the

Pitru Devatas.

 

In this way, Mother Goddess devised a plan by which

human beings could appease Gods as well as Pitru

Devatas.

 

Because Mother Goddess was instrumental in ensuring

that the gods got their share of food, She is called

Annapoorna (goddess of food). By virtue of her

tendency to bestow prosperity on Her devotees, She is

called as Lakshmi. She is also called as Saraswati

because she is responsible for knowledge. Because she

destroyed the demons, she is called as Raja

Rajeshwari!!

 

And till this date, we perform yagnas and homams to

please the devatas and our pitrus (ancestors) through

Agni as the medium of transportation of our offerings

to the other worlds!!

 

SPIRITUAL COMMENTARY

 

It is the nature of the gods or devatas to constantly

watch the behaviour of human beings and other

creations. These devatas help those who want to ascend

to divinity by showing them the steps they need to

climb. It is our duty to keep these devatas constantly

pleased and satisified so that their effects on us and

our lives and near and dear ones be positive and

happy.

 

Normally, homams are performed to appease them by

offering different ingredients into Agni and while

making an offering, the word 'Swaahaa' is recited.

(For example, when Indraaya Swahaa is chanted while

making the offering into Agni, it will reach Lord

Indra.)By this way, it is possible to give our

offerings to any godhead.

 

Several spiritual activities like satsanghs,chanting,

pooja, rituals,homams, bhajans etc. help us to earn

merit and positive energy by which our journey of life

becomes smoother and orderly and to lessen the harmful

effects of the devatas who may not be pleased due to

some of our actions in the past births or this birth.

 

REASON FOR YAGNA TO BE PERFORMED ACCORDING TO THE

VEDAS

 

However careful and thoughtful a man may be and

however much he may want to lead a faultless life,

five faults always stick to him in spite of his care

i.e -While breathing air, while walking on the ground

and while making domestic fire and while drinking

water, we do cause great harm to Jivas

(miro-organisms, insects etc) and sometimes we may

even have to exterminate several Jivas. Because of

these five actions of ours where we use our working

organs, we kill and destroy various Jivas and the

Vedas have prescribed Yagnas to recompense for the

faults that we commit in these actions of ours.

 

5 TYPES OF YAGNAS

 

The Yagna relating to the Devas, the Yagna relating to

the ancestors, the Yagna relating to the Rishis, the

Yagna relating to the lives of various Jivas around us

and the Yagna relating to the guests are the five

different Yagnas prescribed by the Vedas. If we

perform these Yagnas it will be possible for us to

remove the sin of the faults that we may have

knowingly or not knowingly committed in these five

different actions.

 

1.DEVA YAGNA - The Deva Yagna or the Yagna relating to

the Devas consists of our reciting the Vedic Mantras,

the Upanishads and involving ourselves in various

ceremonies associated with Agni and our reading the

Bhagavata and other sacred texts. All these actions

constitute the Deva Yagna. All work and all actions

which relate to God - thinking of God and turning over

the aspects of God in your mind - will constitute the

Deva Yagna.

 

2.PITRU YAGNA -The Pitru Yagna relates to the

ancestors, in particular it deals with the task of

gaining the goodwill of our father and mother, to look

after their welfare and seeing that no harm comes to

them.

 

3.RISHI YAGNA - Rishi Yagna stands for our

understanding the aspect of Dhyana which was the

normal action of the Rishis. The process of Sravana,

Manana and Nididhyasana of the various things which

the Rishis have handed over to us constitutes the

Rishi Yagna. To be able to participate in Japa or

Kirtana which have been handed over to us by the

ancestors would also be a part of Rishi Yagna.

 

4.BHUTA YAGNA - Bhuta Yagna relates to our attention

and our service to living things. For example in one's

own house, there may be cattle living, there may be

pet birds, there may be pet cats and the process of

attending to them and feeding them will be called

Bhuta Yagna. There may be people in the hospital who

need our help and to do such things which will relieve

the sorrow of living beings will be called Bhuta

Yagna.

 

Thus Bhuta Yagna consists of serving and satisfying

all living things. They may be suffering form various

kinds of sorrow and to relieve their sorrow and make

them happy will be an aspect of Bhuta Yagna. Since it

is not possible to spend all our time in this kind of

service, it has become the tradition in our country

that once or twice a year we either feed poor people

who are in need of food or we distribute clothes to

the poor. It has become the tradition to distribute

such clothes or give such service occasionally. It is

in this context that they have said 'There is no gift

greater than giving food to a hungry man'.

 

5.ADITI YAGNA - This relates to the Yagna in the form

of service and hospitality we offer to our guests.In

our Hindu tradition, a guest is to be treated equal to

God Himself - Aditi Devo Bhava!! Either to the

relations who come to our house or to the hungry

people who knock at our door and ask for food, it is

mandatory to offer them whatever we can offer and

relieve their hunger. But we need to do it only within

our capacity and strength. A portion of whatever

resources we have must be set apart with a view to do

some service and give satisfaction to other needy

Jivas. It is not right to go and incur a debt when we

do not have our own resources to do such service. Not

only is it wrong to incur a debt to do service to the

living things, it is also wrong to incur a debt to

undertake even a pilgrimage. Instead of going on

pilgrimage with borrowed money, it is much better to

avoid sin and make our own heart sacred and pure.

 

Thus the Vedas has been giving the commandments as to

what we have to do with regard to our daily life and

also given a code of conduct in matters which are

apart from our daily life such as Dharma and Moksha.

 

By following the path of Yajna, mankind can achieve

prosperity, ensure timely rains and gain knowledge.

By performing Yajna, the entire region stands to gain.

This is the speciality of Yaagas.

 

If Yajnas are performed according to the instructions

and under the supervision of our elders and our

Sadguru, the entire world will be benefited.

 

Therefore, Yajnas performed with the blessings of a

Sadguru are not only more powerful, but are also more

beneficial at the personal level. This is because the

Guru acts like a 'shock absorber'.

 

Just as the gods were responsible for the human beings

to be blessed with the right steps for ascending to

divinity, Sadgurus too show the right path for

spiritual progress. So by constantly associating

ourselves with a Sadguru or an evolved soul and

getting their blessings, we slowly move on to the

Higher and eventually drop all our lower tendencies or

vasanas in life!

 

Also wherever there are yagnas and activities

performed which are conducive to true spiritual

progress of mankind, we must realise that Mother

Goddess’s power is there!

 

MAY WE LIVE WITH A TRUE SPIRIT OF YAGNA IN THIS TAMIL

NEW YEAR AND MAY GODDESS RAJA RAJESHWARI BLESS US

ALWAYS WITH ALL THE HAPPINESS, PEACE,

PROSPERITY,SUCCESS,GOOD HEALTH,WEALTH AND WISDOM IN

ALL THE DAYS TO COME!

 

WISH YOU ALL A WONDERFUL SARVAJITH TAMIL NEW YEAR AND

A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS VISHU!

 

MAY LORD GURUVAYOORAPPAN BLESS US ALWAYS!