Ceremony of Honor & Remembrance

The Aradhana for Baba Hari Dass

Babaji smiling looking up off to the left

Beginnings:

As you prepare to read this article, perhaps take a moment to sit quietly in reflection:
Call forth memories of an ancestor…
perhaps a grandparent, a spiritual teacher or guide, a lineage holder…
someone who came before and is available to lead onward…
a loving and protective presence…
be with this image, this feeling, this supportive ancestor…
feel their support for your growth…
offer gratitude to them…
and to that presence that pervades all…

Introduction:

The indigenous people of this area are in distress because the graves of their ancestors have been disrupted. They are working to bring their ancestors to a sacred ritual of reburial.

On this continent, in Mexico and in Central and South America, people observe an annual celebration of the Day of the Dead, with altars, food, and music to satisfy their ancestors and be in their presence by visiting their graves and making offerings in places of worship.People of Asia regularly offer food, light, and incense to their ancestors at shrines and temples and call on them for divination and protection.

People in the Judaic tradition light candles on the day of the ancestor’s passing. The entire community says a prayer that is only spoken at death and on this one day of the year for all of the ancestors in the community. Whenever an ancestor’s name is spoken, it is always followed by the words, “May their memory be for a blessing.”

And in the Vedic tradition, Mount Madonna’s lineage of practice, there are various rituals to honor ancestors. Just as the Old Testament is the source text, or sacred scripture, for the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths, so too are the Vedas and other texts from Southeast Asia the source wisdom for Yoga, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

Babaji sitting with long hair

Aradhana:

According to the Vedas, throughout the year ancestors are remembered during pilgrimage to sacred places and in the home. And there is a special time of the year, a time on the lunar calendar that we are approaching now, that is set aside for ritual remembrance of ancestors.

When the ancestor is a saint, a lineage holder, a human being who has greatly and positively affected the lives of the greater community, that ritual of remembrance is performed each year by the community and for the community. The marking of the passing of that inspiring person is the Aradhana, the honoring by worship.

In 2025, this way of honoring Baba Hari Dass, Babaji, will take place on Monday, September 9. The ceremony is open to all, to attend in full or in part. It will be held on the site that Babaji chose for formal Vedic ritual practices, and it includes a puja, meaning “ceremony of worship,” and fire yajna, meaning “ceremony of offering.”

Babaji with his head bowed and hands posed

If you come before the ceremony starts, you’ll see a yantra on the kund or vedi, the place where the fire is built. Yantra is a visual and symbolic representation of the path to peace, showing both the involution from the creation to the True Self and the evolution from the True Self to the creation. They are primarily drawn from Tantra Yoga. A specific yantra is chosen for each yajna. The yantra is made by hand, and it is a skill, an art, a devotional practice. The “fire of offering” is built on top of this disciplined effort.

The puja is the first part of the ceremony. It is worshiping, offering, sacrificing to all of creation: from the divine aspects to the demonic; from the elements to human activity; from the natural earthly world to the planets and heavens, and everything in between. The ceremony honors the interrelationship of all aspects of creation and offers so that each and all may be satisfied.

The offerings are performed with mantra, sacred sounds uttered in Sanskrit that carry potent energy through their vibration, and with mudra, sacred movements with the hands and body that purify the mind and prepare it for deep concentration.

After the puja comes the yajna, or fire ceremony, where some of us will offer for all of us. We offer a seed mixture that symbolizes the seeds of actions, desires, negativities, samskaras, or prints—patterns of behavior. They are also offered with mantra. Those that make the offering in form have performed some austerity by fasting, and everyone present can recite the mantra. Like the yantra, each ceremony has a specific mantra that is most auspicious for it.

Honoring Baba Hari Dass:

We participate in this way, concentrating deeply and focusing on offering of ourselves, to accelerate our self-development and spiritual realization. In the case of the Aradhana, we offer out of respect for our lineage holder and guru dev, or “beloved teacher,” Babaji.

Babaji is the source of Mount Madonna. He taught us the practices and inspired the people that built Mount Madonna. Now he is an ancestor of lineage. While in his body he worked with us to create a haven for spiritual seekers. He once said that his only purpose in life was to bring people to sadhana, or spiritual practice. He did that by teaching, by sharing himself, by guiding, by playing, by living his own practice with discipline and devotion.

And he showed the human capacity for a realized life—both in his realization of his True Self through his loving presence, his compassion, his clarity of perception, and keen discrimination, and in the expression of his talents as an author, artist, dramatist, educator, athlete, friend, companion, and caregiver. Honoring Baba Hari Dass with Vedic ritual as a community, a ritual he gave, taught, practiced, and participated in, is an appropriate annual community offering. It is within his tradition, and ours.

Some of us met Babaji when he was in his physical body, but all of us are living with his spiritual presence. So many comment, feeling some mysterious quality when entering through the gate of Mount Madonna. Something we can’t put into words, but we try, saying “peace,” “sanctity,” “stillness,” “silent presence.” Words are a sound-form that convey meaning, yet no form can adequately convey the formless reality that pervades creation.

Babaji's smiling face

Babaji and this sacred land shared forty years together in physical form. But their joining came before and continues now in that subtle joining of nature and spirit that is at the heart of Yoga wisdom. It is a presence that is uninterrupted and can be felt and then cultivated through the lineage practices that Babaji gifted, taught, and exemplified.

Babaji taught that the human mind craves form and that the mind more easily concentrates on form. Though the True Self—or consciousness, or awake awareness, or spirit, or whatever word rings true for you—is formless, worshipping and concentrating on form is an easier ladder for the seeker of peace to step on and climb. So, with the Aradhana we will honor our ancestor of place and lineage, Baba Hari Dass, with a form of worship. And we may take comfort in the form of his words as well:

The Author

Sarada Diffenbaugh

Sarada Judith Diffenbaugh, Ph. D., Education, Stanford University, Stanford, CA; E-RYT 500, RCYT Sarada teaches Yoga Sutra, Samkhya Philosophy, Bhagavad Gita, Eight Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Yoga for Children, ethics and meditation. Sarada is the founder of Mount Madonna School where the ancient system of Yoga has been translated into contemporary American education. She is one of the founders of Mount Madonna Center, serves as President of Sri Ram Foundation, which publishes Baba Hari Dass’ writings, and is an Advisor Trustee of Sri Ram Orphanage.