Last fall in the Sholapur District in the desert plains of Maharashtra, a severe drought persisted for two and a half months at a time when, ordinarily, heavy rains fall. So priests of Shri Yogiraj Ved-Vijnan Ashram were summoned to perform the Vedic Parjanya Yagna, an ancient fire ceremony to help. Ahitagni Nana Kale, an adept householder priest, performed the yagna precisely as prescribed in the 5,000 year old Rig Veda, chanting 10,000 times the ten mantras of Parjanya Sukta. Offering oblations into the sacred fire, he visualized winds blowing evaporated sea water up to form pregnant clouds carrying heavy rains. He inwardly listened for thunder booming and visualized lightning flashing and rain falling. This mystical process attracted the powerful nature devas, called adibhautas – the subtle craftsmen of form. For nine days at sunrise and sunset, this orchestrated effort of Vedic priest, devas and Deity continued and generated a great shakti, a radiant energy which the adibhautas magically tooled into raindrops.
On September 15, 1991, the yagna began, and by the seventh day an impressive total of 2.4 inches of rain had fallen. Ahitagni Nana Kale explains the ceremony's success: "When there is a genuine need of the people, animals, vegetation and the earth for rain, we have the duty to perform yagna. It should be during the season when there is normally rain, but for some reason there is drought. Imbalance of nature due to man's pollution of body, mind, emotions, air, water and earth plus deforestation causes this problem. The agnihotri must visualize the Deity with deep concentration. He can't do his work well if he is not established in dharma in his daily life. When all of these conditions exist, then there is sure to be rain. It depends on the blessings of God which depends on our actions. By God's grace it has worked for us 15 times since 1981. We perform these ancient rites as scientific experiments to show the world the power of putting the Vedas into practice. We also have a gurukulam to train boys to do this priestcraft."
Article copyright Himalayan Academy.