6am: Ceremonies began with a cow and horse blessings. Then the kumbhas from the temple were paraded into the main tent to begin the homa ceremonies which will go on for the next 11 days. There are at least twice as many people here at 6am compared to last night. Hundreds more are expected to arrive.
The Holstein cow is massive but extremely gentle and is loving the blessing. The cow is on loan from a neighbor I was told. Apparently the farmer had a small herd at one time and after loaning a cow for the first time to the temple many years ago, his herd grew to about 1200 now. The farmer feels that it happened with the blessings of the temple and has now loaned this cow to the temple as a gift plus he's supplying milk to the temple for free each day during the Kumbhabhishekam for the bathing of the main deities.
The beautiful white horse looks gorgeous with a silk shawl over him and a carnation garland around his neck. Janahan on the right is in charge of the horse. Janahan is the priest that performed the Mahasamadhi rites for my guru, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, in November of 2001.
Janahan with Gurudeva Sivaya Subramuniyaswami in Lancaster, California in April 2000
After the cow and horse blessing, the parade to the main tent takes place to begin the homa ceremonies.
