Deepavali Havan

High up in the mountains at a height of 10,000 feet, today on Deepavali festival day one has planned to do a havan at Tapt kund at night. Day time there is lot of rush of devotees and it is only at night time one can experience some solitude. During the day, one collected the material for night havan. It was freezing cold the previous night, 5 degree Celsius below zero. Today it was sunny during the day and hence night was not so cold as before.

                                                                 Place where havan  was done

At 9.30 pm, one along with panditji went to the tapt kund to sit for havan & jap for the night. Today being Kaalratri, it was an auspicious day. One had planned to sit till 3 am in jap. On reaching there one found 3-4 pipe smoking Baba’s sitting there. One realized, may be it wil not be a good idea to sit there. So one proceeded to Kapalmochan teerth and found a small hut which was built only a day before. Hence one entered in to the hut and arranged the kund and othere materials there. Panditji had brought around two helpers to carry the havan material with 4 blankets to help ward off the cold of the night while doing jap. Pandit ji started the poojan for havan and at that time one thought that procedure followed is not as one desired. So one intervened and did a little modification by drawing a yantra on the floor. Various poojans were done in the yantra. Six deepaks were lighted, one each for Kshetrapaal, 64 Yoginis, Batuk Bhairav, Ganesha, Isht devi in the centre and at the havan kund. Ahwaan of Rishi mandal, Gandharv mandal, Yaksh mandal, Sidh mandal,Yogi mandal, Presiding deity and others devtas in his presence, Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh, Mahakaali, Mahaluxmi, Maha Saraswati, Matrikas, Deity of Week day,Paksh and Month were done. Then agni was invited in the kund and its poojan done. Once the agni was lit, panditji’s helpers left and one started offering ahutis to Gurudev, Ganesha, Baruk Bhairav, Luxmi ji, Vishnu ji, Isht devi and Gayatri. By the time last ahuti was given even the wood collected for havan was also finished, which is a scarcity at this height as there are no tree at such an altitude. During offering of the ahutis, first Kshetrapaal Deepak extinguished followed by Yogini, Batuk, Ganesha and isht devi one in the centre. Kund Deepak extinguished on its own in the last. One interestingly followed this sequence. By 11.15 one finished the havan and then sat for the japa.

                                                              Narad Kund from top

At 12 Pandit ji felt a little uncomfortable and informed that he is going for a little walk and will come in few minutes. One kept on doing one’s japa and watching the kund deepak also slowly extinguishing, coals also loosing there redness. Since one could not leave the havan kund till the fire subsided, one waited for Panditji to come back. But till 3.10 am there was no sign of him. Whole area was totally secluded. One collected all the left over materials, kund, 4 blankets and trudged back to ones dharamshala which was at some distance. By 3.30 am one was back in bed wandering what happened to the other person.

In the morning, around 9 am on meeting with Panditji, one came to know why he did not return at night. On leaving the havan place at 12, he went to splash his face with water at the tapt kund. By chance he looked back over his shoulder and froze there. Coming up from the Narda kund was a tall figure which was huan like but not in stature. It was around 12 feet tall and colour of the lime stone. Shinning both in body and clothes which were of same colour. He immediately realized that he has his darshan about 20 years earlier also and felt himself fortunate. Last time an avdhoot has instructed him not to come in the path of such a being. Remembering that, he did not turn back towards kund but proceeded to his kutiya without informing. As per the Avdhoot, that form was of Gandharva, and whose darshan he also had three times in his life. Thus while the whole world is busy negating the scriptures as mythology only, very few are able to get their proofs. In the olden times also it was the onus of the kings to take care of such people who kept such a science alive. But alas in the modern world of today our ruling classes have forgotten there duty towards preserving their country cultures and encouraging a select few people to go deeper in to it………………..Om!