Hindus Light Flames, Offer Prayers in Purification Ritual

To help mark the Hindu festival of Chaitra Navrati--nine days during which followers of the religion worldwide celebrate the arrival of spring--more than 800 of the faithful gathered at the Valley Hindu Temple on Sunday morning to light ritualistic fires.

The fire purification ceremony--overseen by members of a sect who believe the smoke delivers prayers directly to the sun goddess, Mother Gayatri--took place under a large tent adjacent to the temple on Roscoe Boulevard.

“The combination of fire, smoke and prayer invites the Mother Gayatri into this place,” said Kevin Borad, president of the Chatsworth-based chapter of the Gayatri Pariwar Assn., the sect that began holding the public fire ceremonies in 1950.

“The prayers go to the sun, circle it and return the highest level of pran, or bio-energy, to the person who is reciting the prayer.”

For temple member Bhavna Shodhan of Canoga Park, the ceremony brought together her deeply held Hindu beliefs and desire to pass her faith on to her children.

“This ceremony is special because we are praying to God for our lives to be more peaceful, prosperous and for our intellect to be guided in the right direction,” said Shodhan, who was dressed in a flowing gold-and-crimson sari. “I want to teach my children, who were born here, our culture, so that when they grow up they will be able to pass on their heritage.”

During the three-hour event, participants sat shoeless on cushions and chanted a mantra while lighting sandalwood sticks and placing them in square copper bowls. They then gently pinched ground herbs, flower petals and grains of rice between their ring fingers and thumbs of their right hands and put the items in the bowls. They also dripped water and oil from ladles into the fires.

The mantra, spoken in Sanskrit, translates in part as: “O creator of the universe, may we receive thy supreme sin-destroying light, may thou guide our intellect in the right direction.”

After the fires were started, children entered the temple to hear a lecture on Hinduism. The day ended with a group prayer followed by lunch.

The fire-lighting practice was developed by Randit Sri Ram Sharma, founder of the Gayatri Pariwar. His followers say that between 1926 and 1950, he perfected the ritual by practicing it seven hours every day.