The Somayajnya is located 10km north-west of Pondicherry (also called Puducherry) in south-east India. Interestingly in Vaastu Shastra the South-East corner is the fire corner so it is quite apt that we are doing a large fire in the fire corner.

Google Map of Somayajnya location looking East off the coast of India.

Google Map of Somayajnya location. Note how India is shaped as a pyramid itself. Pyramids represent 2 (duality) becoming 1 (totality) so it is very apt to be performing such practices in the pyramid shaped India. Relative to that pyramid we are doing it on the south-east portion.

ARRIVING BY TRAIN

If traveling from within India the best way to come is surely by train (most co-logical and economical as well as supporting the employment of more than 1.6 million people in India).

There are some direct trains to Pondicherry (PDY) from:

Bhubaneshwar in Orrisa
Mangalore in Karnataka (via Kerala)
Bangalore in Karnataka

View all the trains to PDY or book your train online.

If you’re new to Indian Railways (this probably means you’ve not been in India before) then you can read a lot of wonderful information about the railways here.

If you’re not on one of the three lines above then theres a good chance wherever you are in India will have a train to Villapuram (VM) which is just 40-50 minutes from the Somayagya by car. See below to arrange shared cars to pick you up at Villapuram and bring you to Auroville.

A good first step will be to check all the trains coming to Villapuram.

For all railway information, this site is generally the easiest to use before doing your actual booking.

If you do not have a direct train to Villapuram then the next choice is Chennai which surely will have a train from 95% of locations in India as it is the capital of Tamil Nadu where the yagya will be located. The only down side is it’s almost 2 1/2 hours to the North of where you need to be. Once you get to Chennai you can try a taxi share below or use the regular bus service to Pondicherry. You can stay in Pondicherry if you wish as there is ample accommodation there or if you wish to be closer to the action then hop on an auto-rickshaw to Auroville.

If you wish our helpers to help you with a railway booking please contact us and we’ll be glad to help.

ARRIVING BY ROAD

Buses

Buses come from most parts of South India to Auroville. Red Bus is good for online bus bookings. We much prefer you come by train but if you have to you can come by car or bus.

Cars

For cars Auroville has a lot of it’s own transport companies. They are safe and reliable.

• Auroville Transport
• Unity Transport
• Yoga Travels

We highly recommend the Auroville Taxi Share. This helps co-ordinate people coming on the same route it is run by Unity transport and saves pollution and is better for the planet.

If you must come by car and pollute then consider planting trees to offset the harm done.

If you wish our helpers to help you with a taxi share or car booking please contact us and we’ll be glad to help.

ARRIVING BY FLIGHT

If coming from abroad chances are you took a plane. In which case you will arrive in Anna International Air pot which is in Chennai. For a pickup/taxi share you can see the road transport section above.

If your international flight arrives elsewhere in India you can book a connecting flight here (thought we recommend train if you can).

CLIMATE

Even though it is hid-summer we are expecting it to rain so bring light clothing (though even if you bring less you can get wonderful organic cotton clothing in Auroville).

Generally it will be warm in the day and slightly cooler in the evenings. Auroville is cooler than the surrounding areas mostly due to the abundant forest.

ONWARD TRAVEL

If you prefer to use a travel agent, is that we highly recommend Inside India. If you wish to combine your inner purification at the Somayajna with some other activities – travels or pilgrimages then kindly contact Reema from Auroville’s magnificent travel agency called Inside India.

They can arrange elephants, mountains, backwaters, jungles, palaces, forts, temple, beaches just let them know your requirements and they will take away the stress of organizing your travel.

Inside India
Auroshilpam
605101 Auroville, India
Tel: +91 – 413 – 2622047 / 2622555
Fax: +91 – 413 – 2622375
E-mail: insideindia@auroville.org.in
http://www.inside-india.com/

We wish you a safe and peaceful journey within and to the Shri Somayajna.

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For the most part the world has lost the art and science of consuming dried grains freshly ground so to speak. When it comes to visa (poison) in this Kali yuuga we are all happy to have it freshly ground perhaps a cup of coffee here or there.

Grains are the cornerstone (excuse the pun!) of vibrant health. But grains must be consumed fresh. Every home should be transformed into an aum sweet aum and have their grains ground fresh. In Indian villages still today there will be a steadfast bullock or now more recently an electric mill to grind the grains. The older generations know the difference in taste and also the illustrious health wonders of fresh grain corns ground.

The wheat kernel is full of chetana (intelligence) and prana (life force). When it is ground it becomes more refined but loses it’s original form. If we leave it in this form too long the prana is less and less each day.

If you have ever tasted a flat bread made from freshly ground grains you will know this wonder for just for the fragrance and flavor you will never go back. In Madanapalas Nighantu, a centuries old text of Ayurvedic living, fresh grains is listed as one of the 5 health giving substances for human life.

Try to find a home stone grain grinder, the one we use at Vedic Society is this one: Fidibus 21

Fresh grain growing in Annapurna Farm

It is an investment in your health and may your prassadam be radiant as the morning light. On that note we leave you with a recipe for freshly ground grain chapatis.

King Madana Chapatis

• Freshly ground organic wheat 1 cup
• Freshly ground oats grain 1/2 cup
• Freshly ground organic barley grain 1/2 cup
• Rock Salt
• 1 tsp warm ghee
• Water as needed to make chapati dough
• Mother’s masala
• Squeeze of fresh lime

Blend all ingredients and make the chapatis on open cast iron pans. Add fresh mint or coriander too if you wish.

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Rishis gave Raagas for each time of the day, for each season and for much more. The idea behind Raagas for a particular time was very simple. Each time of the day has a different quality. For example midday is a time of agni or fire where the sun is at it’s zenith (in the 10th house in Jyotish) and in most latitudes this is the hot time of the day. Even if there is not physical heat due to the season, the relative fire principal is strongest at this time due to the predominance of direct solar radiation. So the Raaga that would be played at this time would be soothing and cooling and thus it would be an apt balance to the natural condition. Ayurveda is about balance, in the foundation teachings it’s very essence is to use opposites to bring harmony into balance. When onces system be it a body or a country is too hot, one uses cooling herbs such as sandalwood or rose to nourish and cool it and thus harmony is restored in body and mind. This harmony is called samadhi, it is a state of no thought velocity, the silence of the Self (the aatmaa) is subsequently heard so to speak and there is just beingness and connection and natural and spontaneous surrender to the Creator.

Quite soon we will be launching our online Radio Gandharva which is a smart radio that will work out where you are listening from and play you the right Raaga for the right time. Till then explore some Raagas and enjoy

Morning Raaga (aprox 7am – 10am)
Noon Raaga (aprox 10am – 1m)
Early Afternoon Raaga (aprox 1pm – 4pm)
Early Evening Raaga (aprox 4pm – 7pm)
Night Raaga (aprox 7pm – 10pm)

For those enlightened souls or otherwise those not wishing to or not able to sleep (the late night Raagas will help for sure!) here are the midnight oil Raagas and more:

Midnight Raaga (aprox 10pm – 1am)
Deep Night Raaga (aprox 1am – 4am)
Brahmamuhuurta Raaga (aprox 1am – 4am)

In a very short while we will have the automated Radio Gandharva ready so hold onto your seats!

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Yesterday we did Agnihotra for the first time on the Somayajnya land where we will be performing this Mahayajnya in April 2010 for the benefit of the entire mother earth. As I entered the land two dogs were barking in a slightly unfriendly way and they continued to bark until just before Agnihotra time (yesterday the exact astronomical time of sunset, which is the time Agnihotra is performed at, was at 18:02). Fascinatingly the dogs went silent at exactly 18:01 and kept quite evermore until I had to leave. This demonstrates how even this tiny Yajnya done for just a few moments can send healing waves of peace upon the surrounding atmosphere.

We had two special guests who came to watch who are presently staying on the land and caring for it.

Nature responded in a beautiful way to say thank you.

And the horses came out to see what was happening.

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We are working day and night on the new Vedic Society web site. This is an offering to all that there may be more light in each corner of our world. The soul is pure light and it is only the mind that gets clouded with wrong understanding of life that prevents this light or sattva from shining forth. We are born into a world that is upside down as wrong living, wrong thinking and wrong action predominate our daily existence. Vedic wisdom is there to set things straight. From very simple and practical day to day things to the entire concept of human life and how we are here to totally offer our lives to the Divine. This is Vedic wisdom. Our beautiful team are working on the new site so bear with us if you find links going into nowhere or unedited words. We are sculpting it live.

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Ayurvedic Texts (ayurvedic shastra) teach about jaggery (guda) and elaborately mention it’s health benefits and nutritive properties. Jaggery is sugar cane juice that has been concentrated by means of cooking it to reduce the water content. Rishis taught that as jaggery is kept to mature for some time, it becomes even more benifical for health. It is a sweetner that if taken in moderation is a great elexir to health but sadly a nearly forgotton food worldwide save it’s use in a few delicacies and special recipes in Indian cuisine. If one visits almost any Indian sweet shop one will find 99% of the sweets are preared with white sugar which is sugar can that has been refined to it’s chemical base sweetner of sucrose. All the chetana (pranic intelligence) and prana (life force) has been removed from this substance. Along with that in the “modern” process of “refining” the sugar, chemicals are used to extract and bleach and these chemical residues are highly toxic so all in all white sure is “pure”, “white” and “deadly”. It is a slow poison and as it gives an incredible high (and then a low some hours later), people are for the most highly adicted to white sugar. Consumption of white sugar has increased manifold in this century, and so has disease. Ayurvedic texts mention methods of refining sugar but these are all natural and near forgotten processes like open pan sugar (khandasari) refining and also distillation of sugar to prepare rock sugar. These preparations are still sometimes used by some Vaidyas. We will try to feature the production of both in our blog shortly.

So of course people are re-learning what sages have taught that jaggery is a great boon for health, but if you are taking jaggery it must absolutely be organic as the non-organic production of jaggery firstly is laden with chemicals from seed to the harvest (sugar cane is one of the most pesticided, herbiceded and fertilised crops in the world, being a “cash crop”). Secondly during the production of jaggery a number of chemicals are added to the jaggery all for different effects. We recently visited a cottage jaggery production (producing some 30,000 kgs per day so quite a large industry!), in Karnatake not far from Mysore. As the jaggery was cooked an unknown white chemical was being thrown into the jaggery. All the workers said was that it was a sulphur compound and that it helped the jaggery harden. There is no control of the chemical levels or the safety of the substance.

So whatever you do avoid non-organic jaggery. You will also notice that the non-organic jaggery often has a stranger almost chemical taste and smell and the colour can be quite off what it is meant to be (golden dark brown).

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