Sacred Homa in Canada

Written by Neha and Nilesh Parekh
A Homa is a sacred fire ceremony which is performed for various religious reasons such as celebrating a marriage, a new home, or holy days. The purpose of the homa is to offer our gratitude to the Divine and receive their blessings. Canada was graced when Mohanji accepted our request to perform a Homa ceremony in Toronto during His visit in August 2015. Mohanji does not perform such Homas frequently as it is very taxing for his body. The last one he performed was during the retreat at Haridwar in November 2014.
This Homa was performed by Mohanji Himself.

He had explained the nature of Homas to us previously and how the sacred fire could expand beyond our imagination. Thus, the search for a venue where the facilities would meet such requirements was in full swing. It was very hard to find such a location in the given span of time due to the wedding season and religious holy month of Shravan. When our last hope did not work out, I gave up, surrendered the thought at Mohanji’s Lotus Feet and said “May what you wish happen, we have tried everything but in vain”. Suddenly, within a couple of hours I received a suggestion from a devotee to try the Vaishnodevi temple in a suburb of Toronto. Without wasting a moment, Nilesh and I drove to the temple and took a look at the hall designed especially for Homas. It was just perfect. How Mohanji works is amazing. The minute I dropped down with full surrender………He took over. The amazing thing too was that, even though it was a busy month, we were able to reserve for the desired day and time. Thank You Mohanji for this

The Homa room was beautifully designed, surrounded by glass doors, bathed in sunlight and with Mother Nature all around. Under Mohanji’s guidance the preparations were taken care of soon after the booking was complete. The response from devotees for participating in the Homa was positive. In two weeks, all was set up and ready to go. For the Homa we were to prepare packets as offerings to the sacred fire for each participant. In all there were about 28 participants, however Mohanji asked us to prepare 60 packets. Though we were surprised, we followed Mohanji’s Instructions. Ultimately, all packets were 100% used  How accurate of Guruji. He is always right! 
On Sunday the 16th of August, the Homa started with Mohanji giving a description of the ceremony. He explained in detail that the purpose of the Homa we were about to experience was to ward off negativities collected by us from four sources.
Negativities form Lineage – related to our ancestors
Negativities from our past births
Negativities from society
Negativities acquired by self
This was something totally new and unheard of for us. We only had a general awareness of the Homas that priests perform in the normal course of a wedding or when worshipping a particular Deity. We were blank slates and could not fathom what we were about to witness. Each participant was given a packet containing dry coconut, incense sticks, camphor tablets and rose water.
The Homa started with praying, chanting and inviting each Deity to attend the Homa and bless us all by their presence.

As soon as Mohanji lit the fire, we noticed a white flame in it. That white flame was the fire element offered by Mohanji himself.
Soon Mohanji started chanting the Ganesh Mantra followed by each Deity’s Mantra. Shiva and Shakti were present all the time. Shiva’s Trishula was apparent at all times. How Graceful is Mohanji and how graceful are the Deities that we were able to feel their presence and high energy instantly. Each one of us was very fortunate and blessed to see how one form of God (Mohanji) invites, and how other forms of God (Shiva, Vishnu and other forms) leave their abode and descend on earth to bless us.
People offered the Homa Samagri in the Fire with great devotion and love.

There were amazing vibrations all around. Some couldn’t stop crying, some were experiencing pure bliss and some were teleported to a different plane altogether. Mohanji, with HIS firm and strong stature stayed in front of the fire with great Intensity at all times. He was in a different state.

I noticed it was as though HE were in constant communion with all the Deities present in the Homa. His sight was mesmerizing, so intense and so solid! He was physically sitting there, but communicating with all the unknown Divines with a glance. All the devotees were experiencing this very unusual Homa with utmost grace showering constantly, unlike a regular Homa which is quite methodological. During this Homa we experienced that each one was a part of this divine ceremony.
After obtaining the Deities’ blessing, Mohanji instructed everyone to hold their coconut with two hands close to the heart chakra, and start transferring all the negativities accumulated and acquired from the four sources. All were asked to do this with great devotion and faith, and to let go of it all.
The more we let go, the more negativity would be burned said Mohanji. It was now all in the devotees’ hands to fully surrender at Mohanji’s lotus feet, and let go of all the negativities. One by one each person came and offered their coconut into the fire. To our amazement, soon after the first coconut was offered, everyone felt that the air in the room started to change. It was getting heavier and claustrophobic. After a few more offerings the room was totally and distinctly black.
The bright room of a few hours ago had now been turned into black fog. The smoke was becoming denser with each offering, and though the ventilation was excellent and the exhaust huge, the room looked totally black. All were moving here and there to deal with the sudden gusts of black smoke, however Mohanji did not move.

He sat there firmly, warding off all that was offered into the fire. He was constantly churning and burning the negativities. His eyes were ablaze, intense. With each offering, the Fire God was getting brighter and brighter, and louder and louder, such that it was becoming difficult for us to even sit by it and offer coconuts. Mohanji however was there all the time, and as he said later on, “if He had not been sitting there all the while, then the negativities would have escaped and none would be unburdened”. Such is the grace and compassion of a Master who goes to any extent of pain for his devotee (Baba we love you). Only Mohanji knows how much was moved. Mountains of negativities were released by the devotees, tons of emotions were let go. One can see from the images the negativities in the form of faces and shapes, being burned to ashes.
All saw the change in the room and felt the lightness within. They were all smiles. All felt as light as could be. Mohanji, the mover of negativity, changed so many lives in Toronto. All felt the change in their own acceptance and forgiving power. At the end, Mohanji confirmed that the Fire God had reached all the corners of the Yagyan Kund and burned everything offered, an indication that all the offerings had been accepted and negativities burned.

Why do we collect negativity in any form (greed, envy, jealousy, lust etc.)? As Mohanji answers, it is “because we don’t want to let go of it”. We love to pamper it and let it grow within us, so much so, that it swallows our being and makes us into a person we are not. We are born pure and purity is our being. All these accumulated layers are a big hindrance to our spiritual growth and through these, we affect the community. Mohanji with His love for all beings and non- beings, tries to spread love and peace with harmony. Mohanji moves negativities with a glance, and that has been proved by many. All you need is faith in positive change and compassion for all to make this world a better place to live in. The grace with which Mohanji operates is unimaginable. With our limited minds, we would never be able to judge the compassion with which Mohanji works for the betterment of each person’s spiritual growth, emotional balance or mental peace. Mohanji is a Sadguru who does so much without being asked, and never makes claims about how much He gives us. It is not a simple task to move the negativities we cling so tightly to. Only the grace of a great Master like Mohanji can ward off such blockages and relieve us from our baggage of burdened emotions, setting us free to breathe love. We are love and we feel love. Love is in the air.
To add to this divine experience we were blessed by the presence of Shirdi Sai Baba who appeared through a Sai devotee. After the Homa people were basking in the tranquility of lightness and calmness. The subsequent appearance of Sai Baba further shifted them to a world of pure happiness. The whole bodily structure of the Sai Devotee started to change. He must have been in his 50s, but his body started changing to that of an 80 year old Sai. All his physical expressions were now those of Sai Baba. It took a while for this reality to sink in amongst the people. Seeing Sai, tears of joy and gratitude started to flow. One can never know what divine leela was being orchestrated! Some were still in shock and could not believe their eyes. Was it really Sai? Was it the same Sai that we’d always wished to see in the physical form? Were we even eligible enough to receive this grace?

All the while I was observing that Mohanji was smiling, a smile that I shall never forget, an indication of the ever flowing grace materialized by Mohanji for his devotees’ elevation to the highest. This is Mohanji! All his thoughts, words and actions, his whole existence, is just for his devotees. ‘Thank you’ would be too small a word to express our gratitude to Mohanji for enabling us to have the divine presence of Sai Baba.
Mohanji then sat near Sai and offered him water and fruit which Sai lovingly ate. Sai then gave Shaktipath to Mohanji. Sai told Mohanji that he was very pleased with Mohanji’s work and the Homa that he’d done in Canada, which helped devotees to get rid of negativities. He kept his arm on Mohanji’s chest and shoulder as if he was protecting Mohanji from the negativities that Mohanji had removed from all of us through the Homa. It was such a blissful feeling to see this communion between two divine entities who are one but have descended on this earth just for the love and call of their devotees. What transpired between these two forms of God is beyond our imagination. One can only feel and dive into that moment of their presence.
Everybody received Sai’s grace and blessings based on their eligibility. A devotee received Shaktipath and she went into a trance. Another devotee was blessed with a flower. I fed Sai some fruit and in turn He fed me too and then He blessed me by saying ” MY DEAREST, YOU HAVE FED ME TODAY WITH LOVE, YOU WILL NEVER HAVE DEARTH OF FOOD OR CLOTHING IN YOUR HOME, HAPPINESS WILL BE EVER BESTOWED UPON YOUR HOME . EVER BE SO KIND AND LOVE ALL. YOU ARE CLOSE TO MY HEART AND SERVE YOUR MASTER EVER WITH PURE FAITH AND DEVOTION.” OMG!! JUST THE SAME LINES AS SAI SAT CHARITRA… Mohanji and Sai blessing us all the while was just a glimpse of the shower of Grace that is raining constantly upon us. It is us that need to be available at all times. We move around with so many umbrellas of judgements, concepts and analysis, refusing to bathe in this divine shower of grace and love. Openness and total acceptance is the only way to receive this Divine Grace.
Mohanji we bow down to your lotus feet. Peace be to all.
Love you always,
Neha & Nilesh

Edited by Caroline Moscato