The Havan of Purification

Gayatri Mantr:

"Om bhoor bwaha swaha
tat savitur varaynyum bhar go day vasya
dhee mahee dhee yo
yo naha amaram madhuram prachordayat"

Swa means 'Self'. That from which you came is Self.   Swa does not refer to material space or the space of individual consciousness. It is that which is neither thought nor non-thought. It is beyond the realm of imagination. It is from where sounds come. It is from where forms come.
      Humans beings know Swa as form when form comes into existence. At that time, the individual consciousness says that forms are paramount. At the moment when individual consciousness arises, the perception that forms exist arises, possession arises, the sense of raag arises, and the sense of dwaysh or othernesss appears.
      But you are Swa. From where do you come?  Space. You come from the absolute through sky, clouds, raindrops, crops, food, from the womb of your mother. And to where do you go? Space. To that fire which is Brahm, the Source.The havan: a device to know Oneness

      Human beings don't know Oneness, so they have to invent a device to explain what it means. (Points to the havan flame.) All that material - the forms of the wood and the saamagree - go to fire and then to smoke, and the smoke spreads and permeates throughout the whole sky. When you offer to the fire, you pray that we remain healthy, joyful and happy.
      You offer the saamagree to that ultimate Swa, that ultimate Being. One drop of the saamagree reaches to the infinite and the devotees are delighted. It is an offering from the absolute to the absolute, through you. This is offering. This is giving.
      Wonderful existence! Wonderful family! Wonderful world!
     It is offering up all that which creates pain and suffering. Pain and suffering are on the level of the mind, but when mind is dissolved, it is all amaram. It is all madhuram.
     It is essential for a human being to know this.
      The human being, with sankalp (desire), is divided. So the coconut goes into the fire and the division is burnt. At a havan we all come together. But we are always here together, because Oneness is not forms, it is Oneness. It is absolute bliss. Swa and bliss are one and the same. Aanand (bliss) is without beginning and without end. You know that. And during the havan you no longer cling to the understanding that this - that these forms - are real.
      It is not a ritual or a religious ceremony. It is a lesson. All of you are the Space. But you think that forms are the Space. Only a super-fine intelligence can understand. So remain aware that you are free being, all permeating, and you will know that there is no difference between matter and consciousness, between Brahm and Swa. Give me the thought that you and me and the universe are not separate. 

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