Anyone coming to havan for the first time may be mystified by the many elements of this ritual. Why are we gathering around a fire? What is it we are offering to the fire and why? Swami Satayananda provides us with some explanations. Havan is a form of yajna, or ritual sacrifice, he tells us. When we perform havan, the fire represents Agni, "the divine spark within the human being, the spirit or soul." The sacrificial food, or samagri
(a mixture of seeds, herbs, resins, grains, etc.) that is offered into the fire represents the physical body as well as the "worldly samskaras such as attachment, greed, and violence that bind us to our lower nature and trap us in egocentric thoughts and desires. We offer the seeds of all future actions into this fire of self-knowledge to be completely consumed....Symbolically, we are offering our very lives into the fire of purification and sacrifice."
-----from Yajna, Sivananda Math, Munger, 2006, 2007
Read more about the symbolism of havan next month. Join us for havan this Sunday at 4 p.m.
(a mixture of seeds, herbs, resins, grains, etc.) that is offered into the fire represents the physical body as well as the "worldly samskaras such as attachment, greed, and violence that bind us to our lower nature and trap us in egocentric thoughts and desires. We offer the seeds of all future actions into this fire of self-knowledge to be completely consumed....Symbolically, we are offering our very lives into the fire of purification and sacrifice."
-----from Yajna, Sivananda Math, Munger, 2006, 2007
Read more about the symbolism of havan next month. Join us for havan this Sunday at 4 p.m.
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