To Devanath about Dakshina is the wife of Yajya.

[Guest guest]

Dear Devanath ~ thank you so much for sharing this knowledge of

Dakshina. For me it adds to the richness of the experience of the

yajna (assuming, of course, that I ever get to experience one again).

I also loved reading your personal account of helping your guru by

building the temple and then wandering the countryside, singing and

doing yajnas, and how the people would be so grateful they would

contribute something of what they had to you and then you, out of

your gratitude, woul d take that back to your guru. I really wish we

had a tradition like that here in America. The only other holy person

who comes to America that performs homas is Karunamayi.

Oh when will Maa and Swamij grace us with their presence again. My

heart is filled with longing. Yet in the spirit of the tradition you

have shared, this longing feels like a good thing, a wonderful thing.

By their presence, Shree Maa and Swamiji have filled me with this

longing, so I want to complete the circle and express my gratitude. I

want to cry, and I want to laugh. I want to shout Shree Maa, Shree

Maa, Swamiji, Swamiji all around my neighborhood (of course it would

confirm the neighbors beliefs that I am truly a nutcase and might

distress the horses). So I will do what I can when I am able. Thank

you so much for sharing this rich experience. Jai Maa , Jai Swamiji ~

Linda

Devanath wrote:

>> When thinking what can we do to help -- here a great stoy about the

meaning of dakshina >> that is on the Devi Mandir website.>> Dakshina

is the wife of Yajya.>> She was created to complete yajya. Without

Dakshina,>> yajna is not complete. Yajya comes from the root Yuj>>

which means to unite. The union is not complete without>> Dakshina.

Because, if you really go into union, when you come>> out you just

want to express your love, and your joy,>> and your appreciation, and

your sense of privilege, to>> have been able to enjoy that experience

of being in>> union. Dakshina is that expression.>> ...In my own

experience, in my own development,>> I built my Guru an ashram. It

was 40 feet wide, and>> 60 feet long, with a straw roof, and a havan

kund,,>> and that was the ashram. With Sushil and Subod, I>> actually

built the ashram...We put a>> havan kund in the center, Guruji sat

down and chanted>> the Chandi 9 times each day for 3 years.>> Sushil,

Subod and I would travel around in an oxcart>> from village to

village, and we would sit down in>> every farm house, and I would

play harmonium, Sushil>> would play finger cymbals, and we'd sing

Hare Krishna>> and All You Need Is Love, we would take whatever

they>> would give us...we walked 100 miles in a week, all around

>> the interior of Bengal and Bihar...We'd sit down at every

>> farmhouse, every courtyard and we'd sing, and not say a word.

>> Well, we'd say, "there's a Yagya going on" or "whatever you>> want

to put in the yagya" and people would come out>> with a bag of rice,

clean dal, and we'd fill up the>> gunny sacks, and we'd go back to

the ashram and Guruji>> would be chanting the Chandi all day long.>>

In doing what I did to support my guru in his sadhana,>> I got the

privilege to learn the Chandi, to see India,>> to learn six Indian

languages, and to get the Bhava,>> the flavor and the desire to do it

myself. And so I>> was able to sit for 1000 days on four different>>

occasions. That's how the Chandi became part of my>> life. As a

privilege, I gave Dakshina to my guru.