Divine trails of Varanasi with Gurulight
August 17, 2023
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Navaratri October 2021 – Ritual Updates – Vindhyachal
Under Mohanji’s guidance, Gurulight performed the sacred Pancha Durga homa (sacred fire ceremony rituals) at the Mohnanji ashram in Bangalore for almost fifty people during Navaratri from 8th to 10th October 2022.
Navaratri (literally the nine nights), a festival dedicated to the Divine Mother, is a very powerful time to effect immense transformation and bring positive change in our lives to give us the strength, composure and conviction to face our struggles headon. The Nava Chandika homa is the ultimate ceremony for the Divine Mother which worships her in her three forms – Mahalakshmi (abundance and prosperity), Mahakali (protection) and Mahasaraswati (knowledge and wisdom). The powerful Vindyachal temple, one of the fifty one Shaktipeeths (power centres of the Divine Mother on the banks of the holy Ganga river, venerates Vindhyavasini who is supposed to have existed since the start of creation. She is referred to in the scriptures as the instant bestower of blessings.
The rituals involve the Chandi Path Parayan (reading) and the homa (sacred fire ceremony). The Chant Path Parayan involves the reading of the Devi Mahatmya (literally the glory of the Divine Mother), the seven hundred verses spread across thirteen chapters of the Markandeya Purana. Nava means nine. The reading of the aforementioned scripture was done nine times from 7th (or from date of registration) until 14th October 2021 followed by a tenth reading in accompaniment with the fire ceremony on 14th October 2021
We were fortunate to have found a space within the temple itself for the priests to do the ritual reading. The readings were conducted individually for each participant at this location. Prayers were also offered at the Vindhyachal temple for all the participants. We were also fortunate to conduct the sacred fire ceremony in the sacred and powerful main agni kund (fire pit) of the temple itself.
We request you to go to the gallery page to check the images and videos of the Nava Chandi homa rituals at Vindhyachal. Due to some technical issues, the videos are not playing on the page. Kindly click on any image, locate and click the View button below the image. This will take you to the SmugMug site where you can view the images and videos.
We apologise for the lower resolution images and videos of the rituals. The temple gets peak visitors during the Navaratri period which is the main festival here. Given the rush and chaos at the temple, we had to rely on the priests to get the media (images and videos).
We thank our participants for their support and consideration and for giving us the opportunity to perform this service on their behalf for their dear departed ones and their ancestors. We sincerely pray and hope that this helps their ancestors in their salvation, lightens their lineage and also helps the participants, their families and their future generations.
Our deepest and heartfelt gratitude to all our supporters and volunteers who managed the rituals selflessly and provided the oversight and monitoring on the ground to ensure that the rituals are conducted with sanctity.