Science behind Lord Krishna's Aarti

The ritual of lighting a lamp

Ideally, ritualistic worship should be done with the flame in the soul. However, since most of us do not even experience this inner light, let alone perform worship with it, the ritual of waving lit lamps is performed with a physical lamp. One should light a lamp using ghee (clarified butter) because when burned, frequencies emanating from it are more subtle than those emitted by burning oil or wax. Ghee can attract sattvik (pure) frequencies from as far as heaven while oil can attract frequencies from a distance of only one-meter.

Today in this scientific age one might ridicule lighting of lamps as one can have the wonderful benefits of electricity. We must remember that our ancestors have attributed great importance to this after in-depth study. They also did it with the spiritual emotion of gratitude. Let us now compare electrical and ghee lamps.

	Electric lamp	Ghee lamp
1. Kind of light emitted	Blinding	Mild, it reminds one of the flame of the soul.
2. Effects on man	Makes man extroverted and the atmosphere chaotic.	Makes man introverted.
3. Ability to light another lamp.	Absent	It can light a thousand more lamps.

The ghee lamp symbolizes the spiritual emotion, ‘I will be (spiritually) enlightened and (spiritually) enlighten others as well’. The ghee lamp burns to spread light. One can pray for kindling the light (spiritual yearning) within us and for the ability to spread the light (Spirituality) to others.

The spiritual meaning of things used in aarti for God, and the method and science of waving around the aarti

A small plate (Tabak):

It represents the five-vital airs (panchpran) of our body. One should have such spiritual emotion when performing aarti that ‘I am waving around aarti for God with my five vital airs.’
A metal lamp-dish (Niranjan):

The flame of ghee’s niranjan represents our ‘Atmajyot’ (internal light). The spiritual emotion one should have is ‘with my five vital airs this atmajyot is alive, and with such flame I am waving around God.’ The five niches (mouths) in a niranjan indicate the relationship between five vital airs and atmajyot. Panchaarti is the one done with five vital airs.
Cotton wicks (Vaat/baati):

Cotton represents detachment. Such a wick is to connect the five vital airs (pranvayu) with the inner light (atmajyot).

The image above is a depiction of the science behind this ritual performed with five lamps (five wicks in niranjan). When the ‘tabak’ is waved around in a circular motion, the pure (sattvik) frequencies emitted from the flame of niranjan spread out in a circular fashion. Hence, these sattvik frequencies gradually convert to raja frequencies. These frequencies are like a ripple effect in water. A subtle armor is created, which is known as ‘ripple armor’, around the one who sings the aarti. The duration of this ripple armor is proportionate to the spiritual emotion one has while singing the aarti (the more is one’s spiritual emotion, the longer it stays). Hence, due to increase in inner purity, one can absorb more divine frequencies in the Universe. As one’s spiritual emotion increases, one will begin to see the reflection of the center point (atmabindu) and will feel that the raja frequencies actually originate from this center point.

- The Guru Principle, through Mrs. Anjali Gadgil.

Why is aarti done in a clockwise motion - how many times and what significance does it have?

Aarti is done clockwise in a circular movement from our left side. That simulates our Chandra (Ida) nadi. It is a soothing effect. Usually five circles are made during aarti, which represents the five pranas, or vital airs.

What is the significance of offering lotus flowers, tulsi leaves, and sheera or kheer as prasad (holy sacrament)?

Flowers have different colors. Those colors are able to attract Pavitrakas (subtle particles) of different deities. In this case, Lord Krishna being an incarnation of Lord Vishnu is attracted most by white lotuses and Tulsi (holy basil, occimum sanctum) leaves.

Prasad (holy sacrament) contains the pure particles (pavitrakas) of a particular deity. In the case of Lord Krishna, Kheer (a sweet dish made from milk, sugar and rice/vermicelli) or sheera (a sweet dish made from semolina, ghee and sugar) are offered.

* If one is not currently doing any spiritual practice, one can begin with the simple, but powerful spiritual practice of chanting or constantly remembering God's Name according to one's religion.

Seekers in the initial stages of spiritual practice (less than one year) can repeat The Name of the Lord as per their religion (refer to Issue 3 Clarification of Doubts section for details).
Those seekers who have been doing regular spiritual practice for over a year or so can determine the appropriate chant for them from the experiment given in Issue 124, Message to Seekers section.

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