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Sacred traditions · Rishikesh

Vedic Rituals in Rishikesh

Havan, puja and offerings at the Ganga belong to the living tradition that surrounds yoga in Rishikesh. Here is what each ritual is, what it is for, and how it sits beside the practice of the breath.

अग्निमीळे पुरोहितं यज्ञस्य देवमृत्विजम्

agnim īḷe purohitaṃ yajñasya devam ṛtvijam

I praise Agni, the household priest, the divine minister of the offering.
Ṛg Veda 1.1.1
People sit around a small havan fire on the floor of a yoga hall, one placing an offering into the flames, hills through the windows
Havan · offering into the fire

Yajña

What a ritual is for

In the Vedic tradition a ritual, yajña, is an offering made with full attention: to fire, to water, to light. It is not a performance. The care with which the offering is prepared, the mantra spoken and the gesture made is itself the practice.

Practitioners use ritual to steady the mind, to mark an intention, and to give thanks. The same qualities, attention and steadiness, are what pranayama trains through the breath.

अयं यज्ञो भुवनस्य नाभिः

ayaṃ yajño bhuvanasya nābhiḥ

This offering is the navel of the world.
Ṛg Veda 1.164.35
A puja set out on the floor: a marigold-covered altar, a lit oil lamp and bowls of offerings
Puja · the altar

Sacred offerings

Four rituals you will meet in Rishikesh

  • Havan (fire offering)

    A Vedic fire ritual. Ghee, grains and herbs are offered into a consecrated fire, Agni, while mantras are chanted.

  • Ganga aarti

    An evening offering of light to the river Ganga: priests circle large flaming lamps while bells ring and the crowd sings. In Rishikesh it is held at Triveni Ghat and at Parmarth Niketan.

  • Kirtan and bhajan

    Call-and-response chanting of divine names and devotional songs, sung together.

  • Puja (worship)

    Worship with flowers, incense, light and food, offered before a deity or a sacred image.

Woman in white offers Ganga water from cupped hands toward the sun in Rishikesh, Trimbakeshwar temple behind

Arghya · the water offering

Offerings at the Ganga

Water is lifted from the river in cupped hands and offered back, facing the sun. In Rishikesh it is made from the ghats and the riverbank.

Water offering (arghya) on the banks of the Ganga, Rishikesh

In photographs

Havan, puja and the Ganga

An offering at the Ganga ghat, a puja, and the evening Ganga aarti.
A man in an orange kurta and a woman stand facing each other on the Ganga ghat steps in Rishikesh, a plate of flowers and fruit beside them
Ganga · offering at the ghat
Four people sit on the floor around a puja altar decorated with marigolds and oil lamps in a yellow-walled room
Puja · marigolds and oil lamps
Priests raise flaming lamps at an evening Ganga aarti while a crowd watches and films
Evening Ganga aarti

More in the gallery.

Vedic wisdom

Ancient chants

ॐ असतो मा सद्गमय । तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय । मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ।

oṃ asato mā sad gamaya | tamaso mā jyotir gamaya | mṛtyor mā amṛtaṃ gamaya |

Lead me from the unreal to the real. Lead me from darkness to light. Lead me from death to immortality.
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 1.3.28

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते ।

oṃ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate |

That is full; this is full. From fullness, fullness comes.
Śānti mantra of the Īśa Upaniṣad

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