Surprisingly, I was perspiring profusely.

In Delhi NCR, it was not a sweltering summer morning rather a cold morning when the outside temperature was 18° Celsius and inside room temperature was around 23° Celsius. I was neither doing any aggressive workout nor doing any exertive physical work. I was just sitting in the padmasana and clicking the buttons of my iPhone. Fully absorbed in doing the virtual yagna with Om Swamiji on Day 2 of Sri Suktam Sadhana in Sadhana App, I felt this spiritual experience. In between tapping on the ingredient’s icons in the yagna while chanting the mantras, immense love and devotion for God transformed into tear drops and loud cries.

‘yãjno vai vishñuhiti srùteh’

Bhagwan Vishnu is Yagna himself. The Vedas, the Shruti Shastra says that the Yagna is one kind of manifestation of Sri Vishnu. Something performed for the pleasure of the supreme Lord Vishnu, the way He desires. The word Yagna is composed of two letters, ‘ya’ and ‘gna’. ‘Ya’ means ‘For whose’ and ‘gna’ means ‘acknowledgement’. Therefore, yagna means the performance of something to get acknowledged by the Supreme Being.”

Fire is the symbol of spirit; it represents the soul. Fire always burns upwards motivating me to rise above lower afflictions of my mind. When I meditated on outer fire it helped me in igniting the inner fire. Inner fire consumes all thoughts except the thought about Bhagwan.

Earlier whenever I had performed a yagna with firewood and real material, the intense heat of fire flames made me uneasy. Sitting close to the havan kund would sometimes become a tedious task especially in the sweltery summers. Perspiring heavily was quite common at such times.

Today morning, just before finishing the virtual yagna in Sadhana App, I was feeling as uncomfortable as I had always experienced while doing a real yagna in the hot humid summer. My attire was drenched with sweat because of excessive perspiration. I was perspiring profusely as if I was performing a real yagna. Virtual and real experience coincides! 

A verse from Chandogya Upanisad (7.26.2)

āhāra- suddhau sattva- suddhih sattva suddhau druva smritih smrti- lambhe sarva- granthīnām vipramoksah.

(Performing yagnas would purify one’s food, eating that meal would sanctify one’s body. When one’s body is purified, one attains a stable memory, and when the memory is stable one becomes free from all bondages, leading one on the path to liberation.)

Dear readers, after reading this post, is your enthusiasm fired up to do a virtual yagna with Om Swamiji in Sadhana App?

For further reading, my posts are here, here and here.

Pic : A screenshot just before commencing of the virtual yagna in Sadhana App.