Devi Appears in Maha Chandi Homam Jan 2016

 Please read text below PRIOR to watching video.

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It is with great humility that this post is written. With the weather in Connecticut in January 2016 being with very little snow, there developed a deep desire to perform a Maha Chandi Homam on our back deck. As you may know from a previous post that a flimsy tent had been put up in October 2015 to keep the rain away; it is an ardous task to bring it down since it had started sagging from the weight of the little snow which had become ice. Amazingly, the tent itself came down and landed gently on the deck, so all that had to be done was to "sawz-all" the aluminum frames and dispose them off. This was perceived as a big encouragement from Chandika Devi Herself to proceed with the plans.

Prayed to Kanchi Maha Periyava, Dr. Krishna Kumar and all the Gods and Goddesses to help with the Homam and ensure that there are no obstacles and the offering of love happens to Their level of satisfaction. There has always been a sense of nervousness in the performance of any homam, especially a Maha Chandi Homam, because of the duration of the ritual and so the body stamina and all the other variables need to co-operate – this time was no different. The day was January 2, 2016. Outside temperature started low, but climbed slowly to 37 degrees F by the end. Upper body temperature was fine, but the legs were freezing in spite of two socks and sneakers, because the homam was being conducted in the open in the back deck.

While there was an interest to have my daughter take a short video clip, nervousness caused to wait until the tail end of the homam. The Ganapathi Homam, Poorva bhagam comprising of Kavacham, Argala Stotram, Keelakam, Devi Stuthi, etc had been completed; the Madhya bhagam with the 13 chapters of Durga Saptha Shathi was completed and the Uttara bhagam was in progress. A short video clip when Vaikruthikam Rahasyam was in progress was taken and that is what is presented at the top of this post.

Devi Appears:

We are all told that when a Homam is performed, the invoked Gods and Goddesses ARE present in Agni. They are present in a subtle form. But for those of us that are not enlightened souls, we seem to STILL trust our senses, even though all the scriptural texts and the Gyanis have told us not to do so. So we tend to look for physical signs.

The Homam was performed facing east. So north is to the left. If you focus inside the Homa Kundam on the North East corner in the video, you can see clearly an image of Devi covering the full height of the Homa Kundam wall corner in a calm, peaceful posture with a nice tilakam that comprises a red mark and on a white background (almost like a naamam), with Her eyes closed, enjoying the mantras and the offering of love in the Homam.

Because of the poor quality of the transfer of the video taken on a cell phone to You Tube,  mobile devices miss details. This is best viewed in HD setting of minimum 720 pixels or higher in a full screen mode on a laptop or computer. To do this on You Tube, once video has loaded, hit the pause key and click the gear icon, click on 720 pixels or higher, then hit the play button. The image lasts throughout the video, but gets clearer at and after the 2:00 minute mark. Note that there were no marks or images drawn on the inside of the Homa Kundam to start off – It was simply lined with silvery reflective Reynolds aluminum foil to protect the underlying copper.

Now, one could say that it is the mind that is playing tricks and that one simply imagines whatever. That is precisely the key to bliss – in spirituality it is intention that matters all the way. If you intend to see the Divine in an idol made of stone, you will see the Divine; if not, you will simply see the stone. We are all Divine beings and everything around us is Divine; realizing that is the key to spiritual progress.

Seeing Devi being present at the tiny offering of love made by this lost and wandering soul that has knowingly and unknowingly committed God knows how many sins, has filled the mind with a sense of humility and a sense of gratitude; it has also instilled a sense to try to perform any act of worship with greater devotion and bhakthi. Whether one agrees that Devi WAS present that day or not is secondary; if SHE was not present and it is just an imagination, then it means bhakthi and devotion were lacking; if SHE was present then it means that we have one more reason why we need to be grateful to the Goddess !

It was nothing but bliss! Thank YOU Maha Periyava! Thank YOU Adi Para Shakthi! Thank YOU Lord Shiva! Thank you Dr. Krishna Kumar !

Om Namaschandikaayai !