We live in a rational time. To many young people from India and those who have grown up with Western mentality, Vedic ceremonies make little sense. This is no fault of those people. Though the knowledge is eternal, the manner in which it is taught must change eternally to relate to the mentality of the people of that time.
It is widely accepted, even among scientists, that there is a Unified Field underlying all of nature. This Unified Field births the quantum mechanical realm, referred to in ancient India as “the Veda.” It provides a structure that bubbles up through all levels of existence, permeating, upholding and ruling even the most superficial – the physical level of existence. Likewise, principles contained within the structure of the Veda emerge on the surface of life.
Incredibly, even the structure of the fundamental operators (gods) within the Veda, emerge on the surface of life. In other words, their forms are not arbitrary. They are woven into the very fabric underlying all of existence and show themselves on all levels of existence, even on the very surface. Said briefly, when fully understood with all superstition cast aside, spirituality and science seamlessly merge.
Vedic Pandits
The self-interacting dynamic of pure Consciousness, the Veda, is eternally pulsating at the depth of existence. In ancient times, when the atmosphere was pure, Rishis refined their physiology to the extent that they could tap into this deep level of life. Those Rishis were capable of allowing the pulsations of Veda to well up through their physiology all the way to the physical level. This cognition process began from deep within the Rishis and went out through their vocal cords into the air as sound. That sound then entered from outside the listener and went into the depth of the listener’s being.
Schools were created to train pandits, people who memorize what was chanted by those Rishis. The pandits passed down these chants orally from generation to generation, preserving the cognitions of the Rishis for people to hear throughout the ages. When pandits chant the Veda, the vibrations reawaken deeper levels within the listener, enlivening the listener’s innate source of wholeness and fulfillment. Therefore, when pujas and havans are performed with precise adherence to Vedic tradition, they become a powerful tool to facilitate the health and evolution of the listener.
The Mechanics of Vedic Ceremonies
There is a principle in mathematics called “mapping.” The healing modality of reflexology offers a simple example: the foot maps onto the body, the big toe maps onto the head, the arch maps onto the spine, etc. Remarkably, any part of the body can be addressed by treating its corresponding location on the foot. Applying the principle of mapping to the topic of Vedic ceremony, the physical murthis (images of the gods) correlate with (map onto) the operators (gods) contained within the Unified Field. The materials (flowers, camphor, etc.) used in the ceremonies map onto different principles or values contained within the Veda. Nothing is arbitrary. It is a technology based upon mapping, every bit as precise and well-defined as the technologies of modern science.
The human psyche innately knows such principles exist, even though modern scientific thought has only comprehended the most superficial and simplistic mappings. Superstitions emerge when people reach for such mappings but do not have the clarity of mind and soul necessary to fathom such mappings. Imagine a life when these mappings are spontaneously understood and honored.
Why Perform a Vedic Ceremony?
Life has two aspects: the heart and the mind, the subjective and the objective. Vedic technology embraces both, whereas Western technology is based solely upon the objective.
Vedic ceremony procedures embrace and uphold the subjective aspect on all levels of existence. Just as the cells and material comprising your body have a personified correlate, you; the laws of nature have a personified correlate, the gods. This personified aspect of life is the domain of the subjective. You, of course, identify with your personified aspect, not the protons, neutrons, and electrons that make up your body. You are a subjective being; that is who you are.
Mother Nature has a psyche all her own. All the laws of nature have their own unique psychological makeup. Your nature is one with Mother Nature. All the laws of nature, all the gods, dwell within you. By performing these ceremonies as prescribed in the Shastras, your psyche is purified and attuned to the psyche of the Divine.
You may ask, “How could this be? Where did such knowledge come from?” The answer is: Vedic cognition. To explain briefly, the human physiology has evolved to a level that, when sufficiently refined and purified, the very impulses of the Veda can reverberate up through a person’s physiology and be expressed through the senses. It is as if the voice is used as a loudspeaker, revealing what lies at the depth of all existence. Vedic knowledge, including the knowledge of these ceremonies, was cognized thousands of years ago and painstakingly passed down from generation to generation.
This page is for those of you who want a rational explanation of temple ceremonies. Please give it time. Just as the postulates of calculus appear unfathomable at first, by virtue of dedication and hard work, they can be embraced and recognized as truth. I invite you to take the time to apply your powers of discernment to the subtle matter of Vedic ceremony, with at least the same level of humility with which you would study math or science.