Monthly Archives: November 2011

The fire ritual

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The fire ritual (homa)  is one of the important elements in the practice of mantra-yoga, when one tenth of the number of the recited mantra you repeat during the fire ritual, then perform tarpana (abhisheka), marjana and brahmana-bhojana (or kanya-bhojana, if it is shakti-upasana). A homa may include a lot of parts required for realization of a mantra (mantra-siddhis), such as abhisheka and etc., present in the ritual. Here are some photos taken at the ashram of Shri Svamiji Shankarananda, when I performed a havan:

 

Faith in Service for Peace

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The Congress of all religions (Faith in Service for Peace) passed in Melbourne two weeks ago. There were representatives of different faiths. I met with one outstanding person – John Dupuche, who wrote comments on 29th part of Tantraloka. His book is called “Kaula ritual.” It was very nice to meet this person, so positive and well qualified in the field of the Kashmirian Shaivism.

My visit to Guru Shri Shankarananda’s Ashram

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A few days ago I was in Melbourne, where visited the Shiva Yoga Ashram founded by the Guru Shankarananda   http://shivayoga.org/html/swamishankarananda.html
I am happy that there are students of Svami Muktananda from Ganeshpuri (about whom I’ve heard a lot), Kashmir Shaivism practitioners in Australia.
Svamiji Shankarananda and Devi Ma were very hospitable, and all their students as well.
I was very touched by the traditional welcoming ceremony, which is not usual for Western culture.

Together with my students I attended the ceremony of Baba Nityananda Arati, satsang of Svamiji Shankarananda, where he introduced us to everyone. Then I performed agnihotra dedicated to Goddess Durga. The ritual was liked by all participants and we agreed to organize my mini-workshop on the theme of Agnihotra. Actually the very light and pure atmosphere reigns in this Ashram. Below you can see the photos of my visit to the Shiva Ashram: