Virtually every ritual in the Vedic Tradition relies on repetition for its effectiveness; the more repetitions, the greater the power. The Ati Rudra Yagya is the ultimate in the very large scale yagyas because it requires a total of 14,641 repetitions of the lengthy Sri Rudra and Chamakam mantras from the Rig and Yajur Vedas. When you consider that each repetition takes about 30 mintues, you can begin to understand the immensity of the task.

This ancient temple is best known for the famous Shiva Nataraj (below). It is a 35 hectare site and is generally considered to have been built around 200 BCE. It was expanded and renovated many times over the years with the last major renovation around the 12th century. The temple is the home of Shivanataraj (below). The Wiki pages are worth a look here.

Why perform this yagya? On a personal level, it is difficult to imagine a more powerful and focused way to dissolve difficult karmas, promote balance in life, protect health, and advance spiritually. In Rudram, there is a line that is repeated several times:

Tesagm sahasrayojane vadhanvani tanmasi
"Please take all my troubles 10,000 miles away"

After Rudram is recited, the priests recite Chamakam. Seetharama Shastry, our Chief Priest in Kanchipuram, explains "This vedic mantra requests Rudra (Shiva) to give us everything and anything that a human could possibly want; every material posession, every form of happiness, family harmony, and leading to complete spiritual enlightenment. "

Fire sacrifices and other good deeds are with me,
The good result of such action is with me,
Freedom from tuberculosis is with me,
Freedom from small fevers are with me,
The medicine for life without sickness is with me,
Long life is with me,
The state of all people being my friends is with me,
Absence of fear is with me,
Good conduct is with me,
Good sleep is with me,
Good mornings are with me,
Good days are with me,
And all these are with me,
Because I worship Rudra.

We perform this yagya to remove obstacles from life by dissolving negative karmas. Since karmas can be intense and deep seated- many repetitions are required and this yagya program provides an unpresedented number of repetitions. In a larger sense, the performance of the yagya brings a powerful influence of peace and prosperity to our nation, the world, and the universe at large. Although our focus is on the individual, the universe benefits at the same time. What could be better? To learn more about this important Vedic ritual and the traditions associated with it, we have provided a general explanation of the
Rudra Yagya (here), text and translation of Sri Rudram (here) and Chamakam (here).

There are also 10 podcasts on Shiva and an MP3 library of over 100 Slokas and hymns to Shiva as well as the full recitation
of Rudram and Chamakam. Please click here.

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