Frequently
asked
questions
at
jyotish-yagya

Q. What is a 'yagya'?
A. It is the chanting of specific Vedic mantras (sounds) by professionally trained and dedicated Vedic Pandits. The Pandits also may make offerings of flowers, ghee, incense, camphor or other oblations, depending on the yagya.

Q. Do I send the $275 deposit every time I want recommendations for yagyas?
A. No. Just the first time.

Q. Will my $275 deposit be refunded?
A. No. It pays the cost of the first A level planetary yagya which you commission.

Q. How often does one need to do the plantetary yagya? Is it only when you feel things not going your way or whenever you feel out of alignment?
A. We can use yagyas as often as we feel we may need them. When a planet changes its position in the zodiac, like when it moves from one 'sign' to another is a good time to do one. When a new Dasha or planetary period is entered is also a good time to do a yagya.

Sometimes a planet is in a difficult placement in the chart. These planets are usually given a yagya twice a year, about 6 months apart. If you have only been studying jyotish for a few years, it is best to allow Pandit Dixit to make planetary yagya recommendations for you. You may request special intention yagyas at any time.
It is a good idea to do a yagya when starting something - a new business, a big trip, a new business deal. It's like insurance.

Q. Can one do the special intention yagya without the recommended planetary yagya? Must it be planetary first, then special intention?
A. One may do a special intention yagya without doing the planetary recommendations. Try it and see how it works for you. Some people have a lot of success, I suspect because they have cleared out a lot of their old karma and are ready to move forward.
Planetary yagyas help to resolve old karma and are highly suggested before special intention yagyas. In some cases, doing a Mahamrityunjaya, Gayatri, or Rudrabhishek yagya at A level will be an adequate substitute for planetary yagyas.

Q. Are there other names for yagyas?
A. Yagyas are also called yagnas, yajnas. Yagya is a northern Indian term, yajna, a southern Indian term.

Q. Does Pandit Dixit chant the yagyas himself?
A. Pandit Dixit organizes a large group of pandits in Kanpur, India. He examines kundali (birth charts) and makes yagya recommendations. He leaves the chanting to younger men. His current short term goal is to employ 251 pandits at the Ashram, year round. Nearly 6000 clients from around the world have used the VLF's services. The United States, Europe, Austrailia, South America, Russia, India, China and Japan all send their yagya orders to the VLF. You are invited to come to Kanpur and visit the Vedic Life Foundation. Please arrange your trip through Chuck and Annette Hunner.

Q. How long do yagyas last?
A.Planetary yagyas may be performed at two levels. At 'A' level, the mantra is repeated 110,000 times and 'B' level, the mantra is repeated 55,000 times.
One pandit can, at the most, repeat the planetary mantra 10,000 times each day. Our pandits usually repeat a planetary mantra 7,000 times each day so that the yagya may progress smoothly and evenly.

Q. When will I get an answer to my email?
A. I answer email in the morning and evening, Eastern US time. Sometimes Panditji or I are traveling so our schedule gets off a bit. If you've not received an answer within 36 hours, please resend your email to me.

Q. How do I request a yagya?
A. Send your deposit of $275 to us. We accept Paypal payments through our account there. Panditji will look at your chart and recommend yagyas according to the chart and your desires.

Q. What if I know what yagya I want?
A. We still need your birth information to make the chart. The pandit who chants your yagya will use the chart to connect with you. In the Puja that begins the yagya each day the Pandit mentions your name, rising sign, nakshatra, and the current gochar(current transiting planetary positions).

Q. I sent you all this money and I've not seen any results. What gives?
A. Sometimes the results of yagyas are not obvious. I've even been told by one pandit that one must sometimes wait life times to see the results of yagyas!

The fact is that yagyas help to pay off karmic debt. Some debts are huge. Doing yagyas is like making installment payments on a debt so that the balloon payment at the end is not so big. So we may not see results from the first few payments, but then one day, we get an accounting of the debt and are surprised that it has become so much smaller.

Q. What is the reason the Pandit ties a red thread around our wrist when a yagya is performed for us?
A. A red or an orange thread is tied around the wrist of a man by the Pandit because traditionally it is protective of all negative influences. It is tied on the left wrist of women for their protection as well as that of their husbands. Women wear the thread around their left and men around their right hand.
The thread is optional. The Pandit tied a bunch of threads on my wrist when I went to have my yagyas done at the VLF Ashram in Brahmavarta Bhithoor just outside of Kanpur, India. I liked having the threads on my wrist to remind me that I was having a yagya. In India it is a sign of devotion to wear the red threads.

Q. Why don't you offer 'B' level special intention yagyas.
A. We found that many who requested this lesser level of yagya could not perceive the results. These clients tended to not follow Panditji's recommendations for planetary yagyas. More is better. Less is not.

Q. As my recommended date is 30 May to do the yagyas, when must I confirm this with payment? Can it be 24 hours before 30 May?
A. I prefer to give them 48 hours notice. We get a lot of requests for last minute yagyas. Sometimes the pandits are able to accomodate these requests, other times, a different auspicious start time must be determined.

Q. Will a yagya help me win the Lottery?
A. We don't know. No one has told us that a yagya has done this, though several clients have expressed a wish to win the lottery. My understanding of the Lottery is that it is a tax on people bad at math. The odds against winning are astronomically high. It takes Very Unusual luck to win the Lottery. If it is your karma to win it, you will.

One of our friends read the above comment about the lottery. He wrote:

It is my understanding that studies have found that many lottery winners do not experience improvement in their lives, but the opposite. Of course, this could be simply due to the fact that the money allows the winner to shirk his previous discipline (getting up every day to go to work, etc.), and the new lack of discipline may lead to a dissolute life style. Don't the scriptures say that appropriate constructive work is necessary for mental development ?

I also have the memory of being told that, because of the law of karma, when you win the lottery you not only win the money, but you also collect the disappointment of the other bettors who lost. Thus, it is not clear that you obtain a net gain.

If either of these concepts are correct, perhaps you may wish to mention them in your FAQ's. GW

Whether the concepts are in fact true does not really matter as winning the lottery, as mentioned, usually leads to more problems than the person had before they "won".

Q. Could you explain to me why the Kanaka Dhara yagya is done for the wealthy, as you say on your website: "Kanaka Dhara - This great yagya causes massive wealth to come. It is done for people who are already wealthy." The client quoted another website, I'm not sure which one: "In Kanchipuram, Shankara went to the home of an old lady who had nothing but 2 fruit to give him for food. In response to her devotion Shankara composed a Stotram, and Lakshmi upon hearing it rained down golden fruit for the woman. The woman was very poor." Kanaka means gold coin, I believe. The client then asked: "Why would this be a yagya for the wealthy instead a yagya for the poor?”
A. From the story of Shankara and the old lady, I surmise that wealth is relative. The old lady was very poor and obviously had trouble affording much food. For her, a rain of golden fruit was a great blessing of wealth. Maha Luxmi blessed her with a rain of exactly the sort of wealth the lady needed.
Our western society is focused (obsessed) with money. We already have a wealth of food. So we usually equate wealth with money.
When we ask for blessings from Laxmi, she will bless us with what she feels appropriate to our karma. If we're already favorites of hers, she'll bless us with more abundance, more wealth. If we are not so blessed or close to her, she'll bless us with what we need, not necessarily money. But she won't bless us with a burden. If a person is not already familiar with wealth and suddenly receives a great deal of money, they often lose it right away. Lottery winners who were poor and won the lottery are often poor again after a few years. Laxmi will not hurt those who pay her respect.

Q. How are pandits chosen to join your group?
A. A panel of our most experienced pandits give the applicants an extensive interview. There happens to be a large number of pandits trained by a popular meditation Movement available to chant. Panditji maintains a waiting list of some of these highly qualified pandits. They are hired as the need arises. Over 90% of his pandits were trained by the Movement. They are chosen over most of the other pandits who apply because of their high quality education.

Q. What is a 'major period?'
A. Planetary periods are based on the longitude of the Moon in your chart. Panditji might wrote, "Venus is the planet whose current period is exerting the most influence in your life now. He mentioned that Venus rules the areas of relationship and career in your life. Relationship and career are likely to be of real importance to you now.

Contact us with your specific questions.