A Yagya is a sacred fire ceremony and, as such, demands a certain amount of respect. However, sometimes we can get too serious rigid in the ways in which we approach our spiritual practices.<\/p>\n
Some years ago, I was asked to prepare a document for westerners attending Yagyas in the West, which I did. However, I also decide to write a more light hearted version, which I am sharing here. After all, Enlightenment means to lighten up!<\/p>\n
Please arrive on time. Even though this is an Indian ceremony, you are not in India.<\/p>\n
Even if it\u2019s not your usual day, please bathe before coming.<\/p>\n
Do not eat or drink before coming to ensure you are light-headed enough to have a mysti-cal experience and your growling tummy reminds you of the eternal OM.<\/p>\n
Please wash your feet before entering the yagya area but don\u2019t dry them by pointing them at the fire.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t point your feet at any holy person. Remember they are enlightened and can see your souls without you showing them.<\/p>\n
All clothes should be ironed at least 3 times by a team of women dressed in white. This is known as SAFA (seva), meaning it\u2019s safer to do this than to arrive looking as if you slept in your clothes.<\/p>\n
Ladies will wear SORRYS (saris) to indicate that they have finally forgiven their moth-ers.<\/p>\n
Men will wear DOUBTYS (dhotis) indicating that their wives made them come and they really don\u2019t know why they are here.<\/p>\n
Knees and shoulders should be covered, preferably with clothing rather than tattoos.<\/p>\n
To avoid making offerings with the wrong hand, all left hands will be tied behind the back with a red and gold string, which must remain in place until it falls off naturally. This is known as WREKI (raki) as it wrecks any chance of normal physical relationships.<\/p>\n
Everyone will have three white stripes and a red dot painted on their forehead. This is to frighten the gas-station attendant or grocery store clerk, when you stop on the way home.<\/p>\n
The ceremony will be conducted by a PUNGENT (pundit), so called because of his strong smell of curry.<\/p>\n
Please open your mouth fully during chanting but vegetarians should take care not to swallow flying insects. Do not chant loudly if the neighbors are listening.<\/p>\n
Children are not allowed to attend unless they are fluent in Sanskrit and are having clear cognitions of the Vedas.<\/p>\n
If you wish to pranam (bow down) during darshan, please wipe the sweat off your fore-head. Bald people should wipe their whole head. Do not pranam if the neighbors are looking.<\/p>\n
Everyone should smile and look as if they understand what is going on and are having a good time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Yagya is a sacred fire ceremony and, as such, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-well-being-and-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rogergabriel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rogergabriel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rogergabriel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rogergabriel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rogergabriel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1662"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rogergabriel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1663,"href":"https:\/\/rogergabriel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1662\/revisions\/1663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rogergabriel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rogergabriel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rogergabriel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}