As of 2019, a special homa known as
lekhaprartha havana will be conducted on selected dates at Iraivan Illam, Klang on a quarterly basis. The homa will be preceded by a puja to Lord Rajaganapathy pictured below.
IMPORTANT NOTE: DEVOTEES ATTENDING THE HOMA ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO PREPARE THE WRITTEN PRAYERS BEFORE-HAND AND BRING IT TO THE HOMA. DEVOTEES ARE ALSO ENCOURAGED TO BE VEGETARIAN THE DAY BEFORE & ON THE DAY OF THE HOMA.
To know more about the benefits of this special homa & how to get your prayers answered, please read the excerpt from the Saiva Dharma Shastras below.
Excerpt from the Saiva Dharma Shastras
Lekhaprartha havana is
the ancient sacrificial rite
of burning written prayers in the sacred fire. Written
prayers can be offered at this homa or Havana byHindus
or non-Hindus to God, Gods and devas
of the inner worlds. When burned,
these are released to their astral form in the Devaloka for the devas to read and act
upon. All prayers are burned confidentially and
never
read by the priests. It is traditional that no love offering be included with
prayers.Only after a prayer is answered is an offering traditionally given to
the temple in gratitude along with written appreciation in a subsequent prayer
to the Divine Beings who
performed this selfless service for the devotee.
Prayers
can be written to obtain answers to personal questions,
to request help for specific needs or solutions to
problems. Prayers may also be written on behalf of another
person, for a group of people or to help clear up a situation within a
group or community, even for solutions to national or world problems.
For
easy reading in the Devaloka, each prayer is written or typed in dark ink (on plain white paper).
Each word must be legible. One must not scribble, but write or print clearly.
The devas have no way to let us know if they cannot read the
handwriting except
to try and somehow inspire us by signs to resubmit the prayer.
Do
not assume that the devas will know what
you mean. If they were all mind readers there would be no need for written
prayers. Explain your problem or request thoroughly and clearly, in
as much detail as possible. Also, the devas
appreciate it if you thank them
when a prayer has been answered and let them know the specific outcome
of events. They are as anxious as you are for communication between
the three worlds. They can best help you when directly asked, just as you would
help a friend when personally asked to do so.
Prayers
should only be burned in a sanctified havana
kunda in a place for
which a covenant has been made with the devas to
receive written prayers and fulfill them to the best of their ability. It is
the presiding Guru Mahasannidhanam on the Kailasa Pitham at Kauai
Aadheenam
who makes each covenant as to where prayers
may be safely sent into the Devaloka without asuric
interference. It
is important to reemphasize why it is that havanas
may only be performed in
a strict, traditional, sakahara,location where no meat, fish, fowl, shellfish or eggs are served to humans.
Asuras are attracted to mansahara
(meat-eating) places. No one attending
a havana would want these negative beings collecting up their
prayers
on the astral plane, then working against them by creating havoc and
inharmonious conditions.
The
priest or individual burning the prayer need
only
ring a small bell while the paper is burning. As soon
as
the paper turns to ashes, its pranic-astral duplicate is
released
from its physical counterpart and immediately appears in the
Devaloka.
The paper with the prayer written upon it is snatched out of the
akasa by one of the devas hovering over
the fire, alerted by the ringing of
the
bell that a prayer is on its way. The written prayer is read aloud by the
deva holding it, then
given to one of the Mahadevas or to the deva who can
best fulfill the
request.
Before
taking action on a prayer, the Mahadevas and
devas look very
carefully into the karmas of the devotee.
This
includes prarabdha karmas, the results of past actions
brought
into this birth to be resolved; and kriyamana
karmas, actions and
resultant
merit or demerit currently being made by the individual. Therefore,
it
is always best to write one or more alternatives that you would be
satisfied
with in each prayer rather than insisting on only one solution.
This
is because your initial request may not be possible to fulfill in your
karmic pattern or, without
your knowing, it may actually be the worst
possible
thing that could happen. In this case, a prayer would be answered
with
a nonanswer. Therefore, it is wise to suggest two or more alternatives
when
making a request. It is acceptable to make the same request several
times.
Every prayer received is answered in some way, however mysteriously.
Not
one is neglected, ever. When the devas
receive many prayers at
the
same time about the same subject, written by the same devotee or by
several
different devotees, they are truly alerted that action must be taken.
For more tips on writing prayers, please go
here.
