20 Year Anniversary of Round-the-Clock Yajnya at Tapovan

Bruce Johnson
Tapovan, India

(March 25, 2021 marked the 20th anniversary of the continuous Om Tryambakam Yajnya at Tapovan Homa Farm in India. This incredible achievement is of incalculable service to the whole planet.  Especially in the last few years the Tapovan team faced many setbacks. However, in spite of the challenges, with the hard work and devotion of the Tapovan team, this Sacred Fire has been kept alive all these years.

We pray for Love, Light and blessings to  all who have served in this amazing work, and for the future maintenance of this special Homa.

The following is Bruce Johnson’s speech on this momentous occasion.–Ed.)   

Today we celebrate the completion of 20 years of continuous 24 hour round-the-clock Om Tryambakam Yajnya. It is a great achievement. As far as we know it is the only one of its kind on the planet today. In several countries we have seen this type of continuous Yajnya over the last 30 or 40 years in USA, Germany, Chile, and Australia. In the USA on the farm where Shree Vasant stayed for many years on the outskirts of Baltimore, they maintained continuous Yajnya for 16 years. But this is the longest running Yajnya of its kind that any group of people have managed to do till now. First, I would like to thank everyone who has participated over the years in keeping the Fire alive. The blessings which come from participating in such a work are phenomenal. So it is congratulations to all of us who have helped to maintain this Fire for so many years.

Now we are living in a very special time. This is the time of the change of age. The change of age is a very rare occurrence and during this transition period another Great One has come to help us through this change from Kali Yuga to Satya Yuga. In western terms it may be expressed something like from the Dark Age to the Golden Age of Light. The Great One Who has come is known in India as Parama Sadguru Shree Gajanan Maharaj of Akkalkot and universally as ‘Shree.’ He is also known as the Kalki Avatar and also as the Son of Man. He took birth on May 17th 1918, stayed many years in Akkalkot in the south of our state, Maharashtra. He wrote no books. He wrote a few letters to close people wherein He described His work. He never left India. And in the year 1944 He took the supreme vow at the feet of His Master, Lord Parshuram, the eternal Avatar, ‘I WILL RESUSCITATE THE VEDAS.’ Some time later He blessed the planet with the knowledge of Agnihotra, the small Ayurvedic copper pyramid healing Fire, which we also practice here.

In 1958 the Great Disciple of Parama Sadguru Shree arrived in Akkalkot for the first darshan of His Master. That Great Dsiciple was Shree Vasant Paranjpe and He was destined to do a stupendous work covering all the continents of the world. In 1972 He received the command from His Master, ‘Carry My blissful words to all the people of the world.’ This meant the message of Agnihotra and the Fivefold Path.  Soon after that Shree Vasant left India to travel to the USA to begin this mission.

Fivefold Path is nothing new. It is the same set of guidelines for happy life which have been handed down for thousands of years and of which all the Great Ones remind us.
1 Yajnya
2 Daan
3 Tapa
4 Karma
5 Swadhyaya

All Great Ones Who grace us with Their presence give this same message, but They stress different aspects of the message according to the times in which they take birth. In this particular time stress is laid more on Yajnya, and for the common man this means Agnihotra.

Shree Vasant started His mission in the US. Soon after that He started visiting countries in Europe and South America. So many countries He visited over a period of 35 years, traveling the world spreading Parama Sadguru Shree’s message of Agnihotra and the Fivefold Path.

He also visited Australia. In fact, He came to stay in my house in Sydney. My wife, Anne, and I had started Agnihotra only a few months before His first visit in April 1988. On the second day of His visit He called us all together (there was just a small group of people in those days who were interested in Agnihotra) for an introductory talk. He said, “Now, here in Australia we need three things. (I assume this was the same talk which He gave in every country He visited.)

1. A not-for-profit NGO which can do the legal work of interacting with government authorities.
2. A Homa farm (Tapovan is also a Homa farm, but in 1988 this was a very new concept).
3. 24 hour round-the-clock continuous Om Tryambakam Yajnya.

Soon after starting the practice of Agnihotra, Anne and I were taught Om Tryambakam Yajnya by our friend Jarek Bizberg who also taught us Agnihotra.  We used to practice it with Jarek and a few other dedicated people for one complete 24 hour cycle twice a month on new moon and full moon days.

But what Shree Vasant was suggesting was much more. This was not just twice a month on new moon and full moon days. This was every single day of each and every month, night and day, without stopping. Anne and I had never heard of such a thing. This was an unbelievable thing to say, that this is what we need to do now in Australia.

After Shree Vasant had finished talking, Anne approached Him and said simply, “I will do it.” (More details of how she arrived at this earth-shattering decision are contained in her new book, soon to be released).

Then she was faced with the difficult job of convincing me that this was a perfectly reasonable and sane decision and that it was entirely achievable. I was a hard nut to crack, with so many doubts, apprehensions and objections, but Anne is very persuasive and eventually I came around to her view that we could do this.

And so it came to pass that in a short period of time after this life-changing meeting with Shree Vasant, we did establish a not-for-profit organization, we did purchase a farm where we could practice the principles of Homa farming and, with the help of a few like-minded people, we did start 24 hour round-the-clock continuous Om Tryambakam Yajnya which continued in Sydney for more than one year.

Just prior to starting the round-the-clock Yajnya in 1989, Shree Vasant made his third visit to our house in Sydney. At the end of that visit He told us, ‘Now my work in Australia is finished. I will not return here.’ So after that, in order to take Shree Vasant’s darshan. we had to come to India.

On one particular visit to India in 1993, on the occasion of the crowning ceremony of the newly constructed Shivadham temple, Shree Vasant insisted that Anne and I needed to get married. (At that point of time we were still unmarried, despite having been together for some 17 years). And so we were married that same day in the presence of Shree Vasant in a simple Vedic ceremony.

On another visit to India in 1995, Shree Vasant suggested to Anne and me that we could be caretakers of the newly established Tapovan, which was intended as the guest house for westerners who wished to visit the Shivadham temple. We could continue our work of disseminating information about Agnihotra here in India, and be responsible for ensuring that Agnihotra and other Homas were maintained here in Tapovan.  Anne and I discussed Shree Vasant’s offer briefly and we both agreed that we would do it.

And so in 1997 I came here to Tapovan on a longer term visa to begin a semi-permanent stay. Anne stayed in Australia operating our small business and after 3 years she had restructured the business in such a way that she could also leave Australia and come to India. At the end of 2000 Anne joined me here on a semi-permanent basis. Almost immediately upon her arrival Anne started talking about the possibility of starting a 24 hour round-the-clock continuous Om Tryambakam Yajnya here in Tapovan. Again I was very surprised, reluctant, and doubtful about whether it was possible. Shree Vasant once said, ‘Do you know how many people are required to maintain 24 hour round-the-clock continuous Yajnya?’ 10, 20, 30, maybe 40? He said, ‘No. For round-the-clock continuous Yajnya you need only one person, one person who has absolute faith and belief that this can happen and will happen.’ In our case we do have such a person, my lovely wife, Anne. She has unfailing faith that if the Guru asks us to do such a thing, then surely He will give us the strength and courage to make it happen. And so, just a few months after Anne joined me here in Tapovan, we started this 24 hour round-the-clock continuous Yajnya on March 25th, 2001.

Fortunately, Abhay Paranjpe immediately offered to take care of the ghee which would be needed to maintain this Yajnya. It is difficult to overstate the importance of this. Without his generous support over all these years, we could not have continued with this Yajnya. 365 days a year, for 20 years, 1kg every day. You can do the math. I honour Abhay for that. One more person I have to mention is Sanjay Patil, our Tapovan Manager who has done the difficult work of coordinating the people for the Yajnya over the whole 20 year period.

Now, I would like to ask just one question. Why? Why do we do this? Why did Shree Vasant emphasize so much this idea of 24 hour round-the-clock continuous Yajnya in so many countries? Throughout the years, Shree Vasant has occasionally written something about the continuous Yajnya which has been recorded in the Satsang journal.

First, there is something about the importance of Tapovan. In 1993 Shree Vasant wrote:

‘While in the physical body Parama Sadguru Shree Gajanan Maharaj, Kalki Avatar once visited Ratnapimpri, the place where Shivadham and Tapovan are located. He removed the green shawl He was wearing and put it on the body of one poor devotee from a shepherd family called Vanaraj, embraced him and said, “Look what is in front of you. All this land is a great land of TAPA (penance). Several great seers have done penance here. From this place the greatest work will be done in future.”

‘After leaving the body, a few years passed, then the Avatar appeared before Vanaraj in a vision and said, “We had told you that greatest work is going to be done from this place. That time is now near. When things become difficult, when the planets collide, when it will be time of deluge, this place (Shivadham and Tapovan) will be the shelter.”’ (Satsang Vol 21, Nos 14 & 15)

And again in 1990 on the occasion of the 12th anniversary of round-the-clock Yajnya in Baltimore, USA Shree Vasant told us:

‘Only through FIRE can the planet be healed. Through intense practice of YAJNYA a reverse trend can take place. IT IS A RACE AGAINST THE CLOCK. For this people need to have some discipline, some structure in their lives.

‘People will have to do Agnihotra. When they perform Agnihotra they will get ash. They take the ash and spread it in the soil and water. This neutralizes the toxins. Then and only then things will grow and give nutrition.

‘To the West. To the East. To the North. To the South. In every direction there will be FIRE, healing FIRE of old.

‘NOW IS THAT TIME.

‘Man, driven by greed, in his crazy race for power, knowledge and domination, has drilled the atmosphere and its subtle levels of Pranic energy. This is done with his aerial machines that pollute and put disorder in the subatomic particles of the subtle energy of “Life.” Unconsciously man has knitted a net over the planet that distorts and disturbs the essential reception of the energies that emanate from other planets of the solar system and the Universe.

‘It is therefore necessary to create a communication channel to receive the Sound Current that will be sent to save the planet from total destruction. Through continuous performance of some Homas and Mantras such a channel could be built.

‘It is Divine Will to repair the atmosphere and heal it and therefore man will be stopped in his mad race.

‘Several points on the planet are chosen for special Fires. Agnihotra will now become a global practice on mass scale. Families will be united in LOVE. The indiscriminate acoustic pollution thrust into the atmosphere will be eliminated. The SOUND CURRENT will enter the channel through systems of HOMA.’ (Satsang Vol 18, Nos 8 & 9)