Sanatana Dharma: Scientific Facts

Two years ago, the Corona pandemic had already taken over all over the world.

It was my son’s birthday. In the morning we used to visit the temple to offer prayers and evening we would celebrate a birthday party. But this time things were different, temples were closed temporarily. People were not allowed to move freely,  children were going through online classes.

Just a  few days ago while watching yoga on youtube Swami Ramdev was encouraging people to do Gayatri Yajna (Fire offerings in obeisance of Vedmata Gayatri) at home, in their spare time. I wanted to experiment with doing yajna ( fire offerings ) by myself. At our home, we do it only with the help of priests on a few occasions. I felt it was the right time to do yajna on my child’s birthday. He may receive divine grace and get introduced to our rich tradition.

On the day of  my son’s birthday, I told him- “Let us do some fire offerings, a new way of celebrating your birthday”

 He understood what I meant. Smart guy.

“What ………….? It will create a lot of smoke, you want to pollute the house? Already our city is so polluted.”- It was his immediate reaction.

“No, it’s not like that my dear, the fire of yajna helps to purify the environment, even if you do it plainly without chanting any mantras. It’s a scientific fact”-  I answered him.

“ Oh, Pleeeeese…….Mama, you know nothing, you are too old now” – He was looking at me as if I was stupid.

“ Then Google it( effects of yajna on the environment), no need to trust me” – My answer was ready.

His gadget-friendly fingers ran swiftly on mobile, he read and re-read and it seemed it was hard for him to believe the fact. ( Yajna reduces air pollution generated by SO2 and NO2 levels along with biological air pollutants such as microorganisms). He was surprised.

 I had already made the preparations and collected the things needed for the yajna(fire offerings). I just wanted to convince him.

I called him  –“ Come on my dear, Mama and son let’s do it together”

Finally, after not doing homework today and gift promises, he agreed joyfully. We sat down together, I had the book “The ancient science of mantras” by Om Swami in my hand. We lit the lamp and kindled the fire. The young one seemed to be afraid of fire in the beginning but it was totally a new thing to do and therefore interesting for him. I tried to make it simple. As we started doing the doing fire offerings inside, it started raining heavily outside. We chanted the Gayatri Mantra and did the offerings. . Thanks to my son’s school where they have taught him the basics of the Sanskrit Language and he is able to chant the Gayatri Mantra on his own. I don’t know how it went, but we did it.

In the evening his Grandmother called him on the phone to wish him a ‘Happy Birthday’

“Were you able to get up and do the prayers in the morning?”- She was asking.

“ Where are my birthday gifts? I did the yajna”- He was excited.

“How did you do that?”-  She asked surprisingly.

“ By putting on the fire and by putting butter into it with a spoon”- He answered confidently

Really, It was a new way of celebrating his birthday. At the end of the day, I felt contented.

At least I was able to kindle the fire.

Photo by David Tomaseti on Unsplash