Mysuru: Vana Durga Vruksha Shanti Puja and Sahasra Chandi Yaga are being conducted at Avadhoota Datta Peetham – Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Ashram premises on Nanjangud Road in city from June 6 to 15, in the august presence and guidance of Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji, for the benefit of mankind at large.

Teams of Vedic scholars will be guided by Junior Pontiff Sri Datta Vijayananda Teertha Swamiji during the grand 10-day Vedic rituals. Sri Swamiji has made a divine resolve to worship the supreme in multiple forms throughout the course of 10 days for the sake of ecological balance and peace in the world.

Sahasra Chandi Yaga: Chandi Yaga is rooted in the ‘Devi Mahatmyam,’ a sacred scripture from the Markandeya Purana that glorifies Mother Goddess Durga as the supreme power behind creation. It is performed in conjunction with the recitation of the Durga Saptashati, a powerful text of 700 verses narrating the triumphs of Goddess Durga in three titular forms of Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati. As such, Chandi Yaga stands as a holistic spiritual practice that uplifts, protects and empowers. Appeasing Mother Goddess Chandi by performing this yaga a 1000 times as indicated by “Sahasra” Chandi Yaga ensures that the benefits are amplified manifold!

Vruksha Shanti Puja: Sri Swamiji has envisioned the worship of 8,000 bonsai trees, including medicinal, sacred and spiritually significant species, as a means to mitigate impending natural disasters and promote spiritual harmony with nature. The grandeur of prakruti, nature, is extolled as the form of Mother Goddess known as “Aranyaani” (forest-protector) in the Vedas. She is also known as “Vana Durga” who appears with green complexion, symbolising her role as a guardian of the natural world. Long venerated by rural communities with dependence on natural resources, Vana Durga often has open shrines in forests (common in Karnataka, Odisha, and Maharashtra), reinforcing the idea of the Goddess as an integrated  embodiment of nature’s vitality. We especially remember Vana Durga through the historical prayer offered by the Pandavas in the Vana Parva of the Mahabharata.

Commemorating the phenomenon of Goddess Vana Durga, while responding to rampant global urbanisation coupled with deforestation, Sri Swamiji has chosen 8,000 bonsai trees to be added to Datta Peetham. This decision is both practical and cautionary, as it is not only impractical to bring so many full-size sacred trees to one place, but also a reminder to mankind that unless protected, these trees may only be available to future generations in miniature form.

Each set of 1,000 trees is dedicated to one of eight deities: Ganapathy, Vishnu, Lalita, Shiva, Subrahmanya, Dattatreya,  Hanuman, and Surya Deva, with every tree specifically assigned a sacred name from each deity’s Saharanama (1,000 names).

The daily ritual will include the worship of one of the above eight deities along with all 1,000 trees allotted, focusing on one sacred tree most significant to the deity. A special four-foot Pancha-loha (five-metal) bonsai tree with 8,000 leaves, each engraved with a sacred name, will be brought to each of the 1,000 trees amidst sacred Vedic chants. Sri Swamiji has made the gracious sankalpa to include all devotees in these massive Vedic rituals for all-round spiritual and material progress.