Using the ancient technology of Vedic Yagyas
to solve modern day problems.
Navaratri and Mrytunjaya Yagyas -
April 12th to April 21st
Greetings Yagya Friends!

In this email, you'll find photos from the morning portion of the 10 Day Spring Navaratri Yagyas in which we focused on the 10 forms of the Divine Mother (Dasa Mahavidya). Photos of the evening program will follow win our next newsletter.

Even though the COVID pandemic is hitting India very severely, our priests are healthy and isolated. There has been no interruption in the daily or private yagya performances. Should there be any change, we will certainly let you know.

Our May program details will be available next week and I'll be sending out an announcement newsletter shortly. We will be focused on Dhanvantri Yagyas - the form of Vishnu who protects our health and Narasimha/Sudarshana Yagyas - the form of Vishnu who protects families.

Akshaya Tritiya takes place on the 14th and we'll have a special program. It is a unique day when both the Sun and Moon are exalted and that makes it a good time to begin just about anything and the strength of the Sun and Moon lead to prosperity.

A special thanks to everyone for supporting the priests at this very challenging time. Because of your support the priests have not had to look for work outside our rather isolated facilities. That's kept them very safe.

Very best regards,

Ben Collins
The yagya altar gets very crowded when there are kalasha pots for each form of the goddess. They are decorated with fresh flower malas every day. What you see in the photo below is one day's flowers. Only in India would this be affordable!
The first day is devoted to Ganesha - to remove all obstacles to the successful performance of our 10-day yagya series. During the yagya, the day always begins with a full puja for Ganesha.
The priests also use a small Ganesha that is carved from the root of a special tree and is called a Swetharka Ganesha (below).
The offerings for Ganesha always feature his special foods; sweet modaka, sugar cane, bananas, fresh and dried coconut, puffed rice, and jaggery sugar.
Shiva is the husband of the Mahavidyas and so he and the goddesses are honored with a special ritual called abishekam in which the offerings are cooling liquids like milk, sandalwood, turmeric, etc. As the priests say, "Shiva is always hot from being the destroyer, so he really enjoys a cool, refreshing bath."
After the abishekam is completed, the priests spend a couple of hours first invoking all the goddesses and then chanting selections from the Vedas, multiple slokas, and special long-form mantras.
Then the yagya fire is lit and the process starts again. The deities are invoked, and then the priests repeat all the mantras, this time with offerings into the sacred yagya fire.
The final offering is made with fruit, flowers, and a coconut filled with ghee.
After the final mantras are recited, the priests return to the main altar for the final blessings and mantra recitations. Then we've completed the morning half of the day's rituals.
Our next newsletter will contain photos and descriptions of the evening program.