Letters from Shanti Ashram, India

24. Yagna in Visakhapatnam

Yagna in Visakhapatnam

December 18, 1995

Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh

Dear Parents,

Divya conveys her namaskars.

I am writing this in the ashram branch by the sea, in Visakhapatnam. I will stay here for a couple of days more then return to Shanti Ashram on 20 December.

I came to Visakhapatnam on 4 December, with one other devotee. Jeeyar Swami had sent personal invitations begging all to come on the 4th, for seva work - but in the usual Indian way no one paid attention but me, and some came late, on the 5th or 6th, while others drifted in on later days.

The Yagna was from 6-15 December, and run along the lines of the last Yagna in Kakinada (last summer). The day was full of pujas (smoke) and mantras (squeaky mikes) and people (stomp! stomp!). Daily schedule for devotees:

4:30-7:30 AM: Pujas

7:30 – 9 AM: Arathi & breakfast prasad

9 – 11 AM: All doing pujas conducted by Jeeyar Swami

11 AM – 1 PM: Arathi & lunch prasad

1 – 3 PM: Pujas

3 – 4 PM: Recitation of mantras by all together

4 – 5 PM: Music or yoga demonstration

5 – 7:30 PM: Discourses

7:30 – 9 PM: Arathi and distribution of dinner prasad

As with the other yagna, breakfast was a lump of daal-rice, lunch was a lump of the same thing; and dinner a big spoonful of yellow rice.

However, this time my diet was supplemented as I discovered that an ashram cook (someone known to me from Shanti Ashram) was in charge of the milk and yogurt section. So I went there and got nice, big glasses of sweet milk and thick curds - amounts not available in Shanti Ashram where milk is scarce!

Anyway, onto the yagna! My duty was in reception; unfortunately we were enclosed beside the entrance and could not see anything of the pujas or other functions. It was a strain to have a constant surge of eager devotees at our table, begging for puja entry cards, Ram Nam writing booklets, puja books, photos and yagna information. Jeeyar Swami did not want anything sold so once most of the free books were distributed, we had to deal with demanding crowds doing everything in their power to convince us to give them any remaining books “kept safely”. In India, of course, “last” is never the last and “no” can always be changed to “yes” in any situation.

I, of course, immediately gave away anything that came into my grasp, which irritated the others no end. They tried to teach me about giving to the “right” person at the right time. For instance, they would not give to some person who would come begging for a puja pass ten times a day, but to someone giving a large donation they would ask, “Do you want a puja pass? Here, take one!” We were about five or six in reception and I think all the others must have made a resolution never to work with me again! Anyway, it all went off in a good-natured way, with laughing combined with screaming (the wonderful Indian affection!).

I developed the routine of going at 6 AM, working until 2 PM then going to rest and returning about 3:30 PM. Again I’d sit in reception, but by that time the evening shift would be there (a few young college boys) so by 5 PM I would leave and sit for the discourses, and see arathi. About 8 PM I would again be in reception, waiting for the volunteers meeting which Jeeyar Swami held nearly every night. About 100 of us core sevaks would meet and only by 10:30 or 11 PM we would arrive in our smug rooms.

Jeeyar Swami arranged several nice, big apartment flats to house those volunteers who were well known to him. Unfortunately the initial 6-7 people he put in the flat, brought their friends and it became a very loud place with 15 or 16 Indians talking loudly into the night, up to midnight or 1 am! I began to retreat to the roof to sleep, which upset the close-knit Indian mentality a lot. (Remember it is chilly winter now, although here is not as freezing as Shanti Ashram). They reported to Jeeyar Swami who squealed, “Why are you sleeping in the frost?!” and told me to immediately go to another house. This was after about 6 days in the flat. The new place was about double the size, with only six people, and quiet at night. I made a rat hole in the unused kitchen as my home. :-)

14 December was the day when 5,000 people lighted 25 puja lamps each, about 125,000 lights in one area. It was a very beautiful and crowded event. This was the event that all were begging “puja pass” cards for (as only 5,000 people could get place inside the compound). The Lakshmi-Narayana traditional puja was guided by Jeeyar Swami, each person offering various items to their own puja photo. It lasted three hours, through the organization and cleanup included took 12 noon till midnight. I had the relatively easy seva of sitting by the ‘Hundi” (covered pot intended for monetary offerings), guarding it.

On the last day, the 15th, Jeeyar Swami ended everything early (by 4 PM) including giving mementos (I got a 6-inch Lakshmi laminated photo, very nice) and left to another town to begin a program of one month pujas. Next big Yaga is planned for February, nine days of 108 fire ceremonies going on at once, costing about Rs 5,000,000. In Puttaparthi you saw one fire pit - can you imagine the smoke coming from 108! I plan to miss that grand upcoming event.

I came to the ashram (still in Visakhapatnam) and immediately the cough & sore throat I had suffered throughout the yagna, turned into a bad cold. I lay bedridden for three days. Now, the fourth day, I am sitting up, weak and full of mucus, the world seen through a misty veil, all signs of a cold. This too will pass! Tomorrow we will leave for Shanti Ashram.

Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu.

Love,

Divya