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Let us begin with the collective chanting of the Gayatri Mantra:

“Om Bhur Buvah Swah, Tatsaviturvareñyam Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi,  Dhiyo Yonah Pracodayat ||”

Sisters and Brothers,

Many of you must have heard of the mythological legend of an elephant and a crocodile. When a huge crocodile caught the leg of an elephant, there was no one around to help him. In that terrifying state he cried and prayed to the Almighty.  Lord Vishnu, the Omnipotent Preserver and Protector, then used His Sudarshan Chakra and rescued this devotee in no time. Indeed, God listens to all our sincere calls!  There are several ways of calling Him. Some devotees offer prayers, sing kirtana (devotional songs), some do mantra-japa or yagya anuSHÚhans1. Poor Elephant, he could do nothing of this sort. He plucked a lotus in his trunk and lifted it up with a huge cry through his heart. It was the pain of his heart that reached the Lord that very moment. God listened to the voice of his heart, the imploring of his soul, which in those moments remembered nothing except God. The Almighty Savior ran to liberate this helpless elephant from the jaws of death.

Mankind is suffering from similar adversity today. Like the elephant in the legend, entire human society is caught by dreaded troubles from all directions, threatening its very existence on earth. Many more calamitous problems are in the offing. You are aware of many of these. I have warned you several times earlier and have also suggested possible modes of protection and defense and I am reminding you again that it’s time to gear up to face the challenges.  You all know the problem of rising pollution in the biospheric environment – toxic wastes, ultraviolet radiations through the depleting ozone layer, chemically synthesized foodstuffs, cold storage, excessive use of pesticides, global warming, and what not! Increasing vehicular traffic, diminishing fuel and food resources coupled with population explosion and ever-increasing weaponries and strategic competitions and conflicts across the globe have further compounded the threats to sustenance of healthy life.  Everybody is tensed; everybody is suffering these in one way or the other.  Unless checked well in time, these risks to biosphere are going to take dangerous proportions.  Adding to these there are specific problems of the present. For example, this particular year has witnessed a trend of steep rise in inflation. Common man is being crushed under the burden of increasing prices of even the day-to-day items.

Apart from these threats invited by manmade follies, there are adverse signals from the Nature too. The disturbance of the ecosystem has annoyed Mother Nature. Her anger is going to manifest in varied forms of calamities. Look at the cycle of rains now! There is a drought in some parts of the world and devastating floods in some other parts.  The level of rivers, dams, in many parts of our country because of delayed monsoon has gone down dangerously. Agricultural production has fallen because of lack of rainwater. Lowering of water levels in rivers is having adverse effects on electrical power production.  Tube wells also are of no use if there is no power. What are the poor farmers going to do? Forget about agricultural produce, people in many villages have to travel several miles everyday even to fetch drinking water. Situation is no better in the cities. Power-cuts and short supply of water are routine at most places. Lesser power supply hinders the functioning of factories and, as a result, restrains industrial growth.

Apart from pollution, inflation, scarcity of water and risks of natural calamities, there is another challenge, which you all are facing these days. The widening gap in the economic strata of the society at large is taking graver proportions because of increasing poverty, unemployment and population. In the days of yore there were chances of starvation only when there was a drought or famine. But the generous charities of those having surplus stocks used to provide necessary succor. However, today the feeling of financial insecurity, pressures of living cost and chances of being cheated by the ‘fake needy’ or beggars, have drastically curtailed such possibilities. So the anguish of those suffering poverty and unemployment and over-ambitions of those greedy for wealth and power often gives rise to crimes. Rising graph of robberies, burglaries, extortions, and bloodshed in property disputes is not hidden from anyone. It is happening everywhere, in all parts of the world. The number of criminals and anti-social elements is inflating every year and so are the hazards to security, peace and progress.

In this age of intellectual revolution and advanced civilization, too, nations and states are fighting with neighbors on border issues; communal clashes are as common as they have been earlier. Religious shrines have become the cause of insane massacres.  And above all the ghostly terrorism! Bomb blasts, shootings, explosions in public places…. Everything is burning.  The world appears to be captured in the dragon’s paws.  Who is going to save it? 

Everyone is scared and is in a state like that of the elephant of the scriptural tale. There have been attempts to minimize the adverse effects — the governments as well as social organizations and forums are planning projects to check pollution, control population growth, generate power and energy through alternate sources, develop new methods of irrigation, rain water harvesting, encourage need-based use and saving of water and electricity, etc. Police and army are fighting crimes and terrorism. Awakened individuals are trying their level best in different ways. But these are all physical modes and therefore have limitations.  Looking at the gravity, complexity and magnitude of the dangers looming over mankind, there is dire need to do what the elephant had done. That is to try spiritual means.

What did the elephant do? It called the Almighty. Our scriptures also describe that whenever there was a fight between the divine and the devils forces and the devil’s side was getting stronger, or whenever there were situations of intractable adversities, the divine beings, the saints and sages went to the Almighty God. In every such situation God provided suitable help — be that in the form of creation of Goddess Durga, divine incarnation of Sita, formation of Indravajra using the bones of Rishi Dhadhichi, etc; there was never any delay in the action of His grace.  Only The Supreme Savior can accomplish such epochal missions. The projects of such immensity and grandeur are beyond the capacity of human potential.

So we need to pray to God and invoke His divine grace to restore the balance of Nature, save the world from the draconian clutches of calamitous terrors, and give us strength and wisdom to live and work for a brighter tomorrow.  The awakened souls, the spiritually elevated sadhaks are trying their best but the immensity of the circumstances demands collective efforts of the entire world.  I have therefore planned a grand spiritual experiment at grass roots level. More and more people – from all walks of life, should participate in this via millions of yagyas. These will be dipayagyas, which do not require elaborate arrangements and expenses. You may call them “yug-yagyas” (yagyas most suitable for the present era).

These yagya can be completed with minimum resources – simply few, say 24, 5 or only 1, dipakas (small lamp of ghee or oil in which a cotton wick is lighted) are used as fire-pits; no wood is required. In place of offering the herbal preparation (havan samagri) in the fire pit, only agarbattis (fragrant sticks) of havan samagri are kindled in the dipakas with each chanting of the Gayatri Mantra.  The invocation of divine powers and virtuous inspirations, etc[1], are done before the dipayagya, as in the case of the (Vedic) Yagyas that we have been performing earlier; only some steps of the latter are not followed and some other steps are shortened so that the entire procedure could be completed in a shorter time and with minimal expenses that are bearable by even the poorest of the poor. Those of you who know about the importance of grand yagyas, as described in the scriptures, and the science of yagya in purifying the atmospheric environment and maintaining the balance in the cycle of Nature, might wonder whether the dipayagyas will also have similar effects. Not necessarily. The main purpose of dipayagya is different. It is to awaken the masses, to make collective prayers, to prepare to usher in the new era against all challenges of the present adversities.

If you want to conduct grand yagyas you may do those. The mode of organizing these under the aegis of our mission may continue as before. But now you should also start organizing dipayagyas. These can be at as large a scale or as small a scale as you want. You may do it with as many dipakas as you wish and can afford – 5 small or big dipakas, 108 dipakas or even 1008 dipakas, etc. The cost of such yagyas at grand scale will also be nominal as compared to conventional yagyas. 

Some of you might even doubt whether these are proper yagyas (as per the Vedic Norms)?  Yes! In fact, the Vedic scriptures also guide us on these aspects.  For example let us view the discussion between sage Yagyavalkya and king Janak: Once King Janak asked the sage – “Suppose sometimes we don’t have all the requisite things for performing a yagya or some things are not pure up to the mark, then how would we do a yagya”?  Then sage Yagyavalkya explained –  “You must do yagya. Our divine culture has originated from the eternal light of Gayatri and Yagya, we must worship and follow their preeminent philosophy and supramental science. We must also do yagya for air- purification and atmospheric balance. These also help rejuvenation of the ambience.  If necessary, you may reduce some things used in the procedure of yagya, but you must do yagya”.   “What things we may curtail?” the king asked.  “If you don’t have ghee, you may do yagya only with the havan samagri; you can very well do it without ghee. If there is shortage of rainfall or due to some other reason, shortage of plant-medicines/herbs required for havan samagri, you may do yagya only with small dry pieces of wood”. Etc. Thus, it is clear that yagya can be completed with whatever suitable substances and tools are available with us. It is your sense of reverence, the inner feelings with which you do yagya, the mental engrossment and purity with which you chant its mantras, prayers, and carry out the rituals that alone matter. So, though the dipayagyas are miniature and simplified forms of conventional yagyas, if you do dipayagya with deep devotion, faith and sincerity, the blessings bestowed upon you will in no way be lesser than those for doing a grand yagya with elaborate arrangements.  

The best time to do any yagya is early morning.  It should start with sunrise.  You may start it earlier so that it does not disturb the day’s work ahead. This way you may do a small yagya or dipayagya, as per your convenience, every day with your family! Let me guide you more about conducting dipayagyas for joint participation of many people (say your friends or residents of your colony, town) from every stratum of the society.       

Devotional songs – esp. the songs like the Pragya Geets of our mission, which instead of only uttering God’s names, convey inspiring messages to awaken people’s positive thinking, good qualities and inner strength – must be sung in the evening. If the evening time is more suitable to the participants, dipayagyas can also be conducted in the evening (preferably should get over within an hour after sunset). In that case Pragya Geets may be sung before starting the dipayagya to make people aware of the purpose and effects of these new spiritual experiments.  After the yagya, all the participants may sing selected “Pragya Geets”, which will motivate everyone to pledge for constructive follow up.

I am first going to tell about some focused projects that are essential for mass awakening and welfare and which will make you more deserving and dearer devotee of the Almighty whose prayers will not go unattended. You (the organizers of a dipayagya for collective participation of many people) should mention about these in your brief speech at the time of deva dakSHiña.  What? You don’t know what is deva dakSHiña? Is it some kind of ‘giving gifts or money to the priest who initiates and conducts the rituals of yagya? Some of you might have seen in some traditional customs that the priest is offered lavish food, few hundred or thousand rupees, clothes and what not in the name of dakSHiña. But our dakSHiña is quite different. Indeed, deva dakSHiña is means of expressing our gratitude to the divine forces which bless us in so many ways in sustenance of ours lives, in governing the system of Nature, in nurturing and illuminating our minds, in protecting us in hard times.                                             
                              (To be concluded in the next issue)         

Notes: 
1.    Mantra Japa: Rhythmic chanting or mental recitation of specific Vedic Hymns with meditation. Yagya: fire-ritual; AnuSHÚhana: Higher-level spiritual endeavor of 24000 mantra-japa with observance of certain ascetic disciplines.

Additional Readings:
[1]    “Yug Yagya Paddhati” (Hindi book by Vedmurti Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya). Yug Nirman Yojna, Mathura. (20th print), 2002. English Translation: “Dipa Yagyas”. 

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