The Chaturveda Yajna reached its successful completion on 10 February with the full chanting of all four Veda and numerous powerful ceremonies. Check back soon for Swamiji’s concluding remarks given on 10 February.
Chariot Songs Now Available
As the Rath Yatra (chariot) moves throughout the state of Odisha to promote the upcoming Chaturveda Yajna, it plays a constant soundtrack of beautiful and infectious devotional bhajans with lyrics arranged by Swamiji and a revered Odisha pundit, with help from local musicians. Crowds greet the chariot in every town, as this audio nectar flowing through its loudspeakers sparks singing and dancing in everyone within hearing distance. Sample tracks can be heard below; the full CD is available for download from Satyachetana Publications.
[Posted by Vishnudash]
Message for 2017
The Time Has Come
Process of the Chaturveda Yajna
The basic concept as per the Vedas is that whatever man needs, everything is already provided by prakriti. Man only has to perform his duties and responsibilities. Duties are ordained by his own nature, whereas responsibilities are allotted by society. If these are fulfilled there will be harmony everywhere.
The problem comes when man does not discharge his duties and responsibilities. Since this is a situation that man has faced in every age, solutions are provided in the Vedas. From the Vedic viewpoint, this entire creation came out of Veda, so for any difficulty that mankind may face, the answer is there in the Veda.
Man’s necessities are usually taken care of in three ways: tantra, yantra and mantra. Tantra is known as occult power. Yantra is machine power, or using equipment. Science is both yantra and tantra. Veda is mantric power. These methods are totally different, and confusion comes when, due to ignorance, people try to compare them with each other. This is like comparing the method of cooking on a wood fire versus cooking with a gas stove. They’re completely different.
Mantra is the best way of solving human problems. In yantric and tantric solutions man needs ingredients from the gross world but with a mantric solution man needs only to create the vibration in the subtle plane. By using the mantras, the yajna creates the necessary vibration that activates the supernatural beings, those who dwell in different planes of existence.
Yajna is a mantric solution to the problems faced by mankind, but yajna is to be differentiated from homa. Homa refers to offering oblations in a small fire pit to invoke the grace of certain supernatural beings called gods, to satisfy the individual need. A priest comes, and chants mantras using certain ingredients. These homas aim at an individual result but yajna has nothing to do with the individual.
Yajna is universal in nature. It aims at solving the individual problem not by catering to the individual needs but by restoring the balance in the universal plane. That is the basic difference. If the elemental balance is restored in the universal, the individual problem will not be there. So one is solving the problem individually; the other is not allowing the problems to occur. Not allowing the problems to occur is yajna. But when the problem has already happened and you are solving it, that is homa.
The yajna we are doing is for restoring the balance of the whole universe in the natural cycle. The object is not that rain may come somewhere, or that there should be enough food for Africa. The yajna has no specific aim. The aim is that the ether and air elements must remain in a vibrated state. If this is happening the problems will not occur.
With the Chaturveda Yajna, change happens in the elemental sphere, and will impact everything on earth— not only the gross life of man but also the subtle thought process of mankind because at the same time we are activating the ether, air, water, fire and earth elements, and these control not only the gross sensory experiences but also the subtle thought process, the chit, of every human being.
The yajna must be performed by the right person, using the right procedure, in the right proportions. Person, procedure, and proportion or precision. Yajnas are performed by rishis, or seers, those who are established in truth consciousness, and we don’t find these people in Kali Yuga. So we may not have the perfect people, and even if the procedure and proportion are not perfect, at least we are doing something.
Since the whole process is already lost to mankind, we are trying to revive it, then next time someone else will do it better, and again someone will improve upon that, and it will keep improving until the original purity gets restored.
Due to impact of time this procedure became diluted, and now it is only done in a mechanical way, but anything done mechanically or ritualistically is not approved by Veda. The mechanical way of doing things means not understanding, not getting involved at heart, and not following the guidelines. Can we guarantee 100% that the result will come from the Chaturveda Yajna? We cannot, because neither we have the right persons, nor we are able to follow the right procedure, nor we can ensure the right precision. Then the question comes, why then we are doing it? Because that’s the only way.
Just as a scientist continues conducting experiments, and even after 10 experiments when the expected result has not come, he keeps trying an 11th and 12th and 13th time, we don’t consider that as a wasted effort, similarly if we are doing something in the Vedic way and the result is not immediately coming, to call that a waste is complete ignorance. Only by making this attempt can we restore the precision, revive the procedure and make the imperfect person a right person.
This upcoming Chaturveda Yajna is the first attempt in 5000 years and we are not actually carrying this out. It is prakriti who is doing it, using us as the instruments. This is the right attitude: “I am not doing, it is getting done.” Prakriti has chosen us, and we are simply doing because she is using us as collaborators.
Even if we ignore prakriti’s call still it will be done because its time has come. To think or say, “I am doing” is the height of ignorance. To say, “It is being done through us” is the sign of wisdom. We are responding to prakriti’s will. The time has come and we are sincerely putting effort with involvement from heart.
Strong First Week for Chariot
The Ratha Yatra (chariot) is nearing completion of the first week of its 50-day journey through the state of Odisha, India, to promote the upcoming Chaturveda Yajna. In each city the momentum continues to grow, with crowds of devotees greeting the chariot at the outskirts of each destination and escorting it through the streets, dancing and singing and chanting.
The chariot remains in each place for less than 24 hours, arriving to great fanfare in late afternoon or evening, often followed by a talk by Swamiji and leaders from the local spiritual organizations. The chariot team is usually provided with guest lodging, and otherwise sleeps in tents.
The morning schedule continues to be fine-tuned as the team adjusts to life on the road. By 6 am the chanting of the Sri Vishnu Sahasranam and Bhagavad Gita has begun, followed by mini Veda yajna lasting about one hour.
After breakfast, the chariot winds through the streets led by cymbal-playing devotees announcing 
the opportunity to contribute to the Chaturveda Yajna. Prasad (blessed food) is distributed to all, whether or not they put any money into the offering boxes that are carried from door to door on both sides of the street. The momentum of this material support also keeps expanding, with each day’s collections consistently higher than the day before.
National television and state newspapers covered the launch of the chariot, and local media continue to provide daily coverage.
Follow the chariot online at Instagram.com/Satyachetana
[Posted by Vishnudash]
Chariot Launched; Countdown Begins
OM Namo Bhagavate
The Chaturveda Yajna chariot launched on 4 December to promote the Yajna throughout the state of Odisha. For updates, visit: instagram.com/satyachetana.
Please Help the Chaturveda Yajna
OM Namo Bhagavate
[Click here for details about the Chaturveda Yajna to be held in February 2017.]
Now a time has come when I really need you and your talents to manifest the mission. This yajna is not yours or mine. It belongs to the whole humanity. I am 100% sure this yajna is going to open immense possibilities for mankind and restore the much-needed equilibrium on earth. This is a massive spiritual intervention in the elemental sphere of our universe and its purpose is to restore the equilibrium of the elemental cycle.
This is truly God’s work and we are collaborators. Some of us are His devotees, some are His companions, some are friends and some are His trusted instruments. Many are like you and they are just waiting to hear the call. Give that call. Let God speak through you. Be the channel to manifest God’s light. If each one of us can send the message through our Facebook, Twitter and websites, we can reach millions.
I need your help for this great spiritual task. Please assist in any way that you can think of to involve millions in this rarest work of God. No words of praise or gratitude will be enough to convey our collective blessings and love to you or anyone who will support this rare divine action.
Always we have prayed to God for help. This is the only occasion when God is asking us to assist in His work. Let us join, let us show to God that yes, we are Thine, we are ready. Lead us, guide us and use us for Thy mission.
Through you I send this appeal to whole mankind. Please publicize it widely and forward it to anyone you know. Please play a proactive role. Time is running out.
Blessings and Love.
Swami Sri Atmananda
Guru Purnima Message
OM Namo Bhagavate
Jai Gurudev
Blessed Yogis, Devotees and Collaborators of Divine,
On the occasion of Guru Purnima I am glad to be with you all and share with you what I feel on this auspicious day.
We are celebrating Guru Purnima because it is the birthday of Vyasadev, one who gave to mankind the scriptures: the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas, the Brahmasutra, and the Vedanta darshan. One who gave the jnana to mankind in a very systematic format that the mind can understand and the intellect can comprehend, it is the day of his advent. We don’t call it the birthday of Vyasadev, we call it Vyasa Purnima. That is the manifestation of Vyasadev. There is no mention anywhere in any scripture when Vyasadev was born, because the Vyasadev who is considered the guru of mankind is not a form, it is the manifestation of the force of wisdom, and that manifested today.
Guru as you all know is the gunatit rupavarjit force. Gunatit means that which is beyond the gunas, beyond the modes of prakriti and beyond the power of prakriti. Purnima is the full moon. This is symbolically the entire process of sadhana. Sadhana begins from the zone of darkness, as the movement of the moon begins on the non-moon day, the dark night, and with the passage of each day the moon moves one degree so that on the night of the full moon the moon is complete. In the same way, the sadhana of a seeker begins at a time when the mind cannot register. None of you can exactly tell in which year, on what day or at what time your sadhana began, because the journey for light begins in the zone of darkness and moves forward and enters into the sphere of light.
Each day, as the moon expands its light, an awakened seeker expands his awareness. The fifteenth day of the moon is considered the full moon, but full moon always refers to the night. Today as per the Vedic calendar is chaturdashi, the fourteenth day of the moon, but when the night comes it will be the fifteenth night for the moon. We all know that as we move from day to night, we move away from light to enter the zone of darkness. But as we move from day to night on the full moon, we enter into a night full of light, the light without heat, the light that is soothing. That is the symbolism behind Guru Purnima.
The seeker constantly marches forward. As the moon continually enters more and more into the zone of light, the seeker enters into the zone of pure light, that is pure awareness, more and more, and a day comes when the awareness is complete. That is when the seeker transcends the barrier of seeking and becomes light, knowledge and wisdom, and transcends the triple identification of the veil of maya. At that point he feels, knows, experiences and is convinced that he is Brahman, he is the Absolute, All-pervading. That is the gunatit state, the guru state. The seeker withers away and what is manifested is the seer.
On this Guru Purnima day I bless you all to reach that state of seerhood. I strongly aspire and sincerely believe that if you are keeping your aspiration strong and intact, you will definitely reach that state of fullness, that state of completeness when you the Sat will be eternally present along with you the chit. That is the state of the guru. The guru is not a statue, not a stoic individual, it is not a mere witness, it is not someone who is indifferent to what is happening to you in the zone of chit or what is happening to you in the zone of awareness. The guru who is gunatit force in a form always plays its role, and activates the force within so that the power will fully manifest. Sometimes through his descent, sometimes through his ascent, sometimes with you the jivatma fully involved and sometime with you the jivatma fully delinked. It is a very delicate role and the guru shakti through the form called guru always plays its part only if we are able to keep our link intact.
On this Guru Purnima day I bless you all so that each one of you can reach that gunatit state and remain active in the zone of chit to manifest pure love, true knowledge and absolute truth on earth consciousness. This is our mission. For this mission to manifest we all are called and chosen. There is absolutely no difference between you and me, there is only a gap, whereby I have reached the state of fullness and am in full moon, but maybe you are in the fourth moon or eighth moon or tenth moon or twelfth moon. But this gap between you and I is constantly getting reduced. The day is not far off when many of you will wither away in Me the all-pervading, and I the all-pervading will manifest fully in you and wither away.
This is the beautiful relationship we have. You wither away in me and in doing so you manifest the supreme delight. And I wither away in you and through that I simply manifest me as you. This is the mission for you and me and this is the role I am playing for you to make you I in that form.
Guru Purnima day we celebrate by remembering our link with the guru, recollecting our memories with the guru and evaluating our relationship and finding out where and when we were ahead and the guru was behind, and when and where the guru was ahead and we were running behind him. This is the beautiful relationship between an awakened seeker and a conscious seer. The guru-disciple relationship is not a one-way journey, it is not a game where the guru always wins and disciple always loses. No. The disciple many a time wins and the seer frequently loses in the relative plane. This is the reason the seeker gathers more and more strength to proceed towards the goal. Had it been otherwise the seeker would not be able to retain his enthusiasm to reach the goal. This is the reason enlightened masters often consciously behave and react as if they are ordinary human beings, because that is the only way that a seeker can transcend the limitations imposed on him or her by prakriti.
On this day I feel great joy, not because it is the day when you all are remembering me and celebrating my life with you, but because I clearly feel that many of you are very near the goal. Gone are the days of my sadness and worries about whether I will be able to see at least five in the gunatit state before I drop the body. I am now convinced that many of you will reach the state where I am today and that will come much before I leave this human body.
On Guru Purnima day every awakened seeker aspires to attain the gunatit state and every loving seer gives the blessing for them to reach it. Today is not the day to calculate how much you have lost. Today is that day to find out how much you have really gained in your inner journey and what needs to be done for the next year to make sustained progress.
Have faith on my words and march with confidence. Reach the goal before the lamp goes out, because you are in the zone of darkness. The degree of light is still not hundred percent.
Blessings and Love.
All Glory to Gurudev.
[From 19 July 2016, Satyachetana Ashram, Tiruvannamalai.]