The Dhuni is a fire ritual

Ritual

A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....

 that Meher Baba

Meher Baba

Meher Baba , , born Merwan Sheriar Irani, was an Indian mystic and spiritual master who declared publicly in 1954 that he was the Avatar of the age....

 coopted from other religious traditions and made his own. Thus his use of the word and modification of its performance is not precisely analogous to its traditional form as found in Hinduism

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

.

Overview

Meher Baba's Dhuni was first lit on November 10, 1925, when some villagers approached Meher Baba about a severe drought that threatened their crops. Baba told them to return home and ordered his mandali

Mandali

Mandali from the Sanskrit mandala meaning circle, connection, community, is a term that Meher Baba used for his closest disciples.-Inner circle:...

 to build a Dhuni. Within minutes of its lighting, rain began to fall. In later years, Meher Baba invited His followers to throw attachments, symbolized by sandalwood sticks, into the fire. By Meher Baba’s order, the Dhuni continues to be lit on the 12th of each month at sunset at Lower Meherabad

Meherabad

Meherabad was originally an ashram established by Meher Baba near Arangaon Village, India in 1923 about south of Ahmednagar. It is now the site of Meher Baba's samadhi as well as facilities and accommodations for pilgrims...

, Ahmednagar, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. Baba instructed one of his close disciples to ensure that this Dhuni be lit on the twelfth of every month. According to The Master's Glossary, the Dhuni fire symbolizes the purifying inner fire of Divine Love.

The modified Dhuni fire ritual observed by Meher Baba was nearly the only, if not only, bona fide religious ritual that Meher Baba performed during his lifetime. It is still performed on the 12th of each month, in accordance with conventions established by Baba, near the Meher Pilgrim Center

Meher Pilgrim Center

Meher Pilgrim Center is a central administrative facility for the Meher Baba pilgrim retreat in Meherabad near Ahmednagar, India. From June 19, 1980 until March 15, 2006 it housed short-term accommodations for pilgrims visiting Meher Baba's samadhi in Meherabad and his final home in Meherazad...

 in Lower Meherabad, and is one of the important focal points of the Amartithi

Amartithi

Amartithi is the day which commemorates Meher Baba's death on January 31, 1969.The word "Amartithi" appears to have been coined by Meher Baba and means "deathless day"...

 celebration in January of each year which attracts up to 30,000 pilgrims

Pilgrimage

A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...

 annually in India. Because he generally discouraged placing what he often perceived to be undue emphasis on rituals for their own sake, Meher Baba's Dhuni ritual has attained a unique status among activities at his centers in India and around the world.

Ritual performance

After the Dhuni fire is lit and prayer

Prayer

Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...

s, bhajan

Bhajan

A Bhajan is any type of Indian devotional song. It has no fixed form: it may be as simple as a mantra or kirtan or as sophisticated as the dhrupad or kriti with music based on classical ragas and talas. It is normally lyrical, expressing love for the Divine...

s, and devotional song

Devotional song

A devotional song is a hymn which accompanies religious observances and rituals.Each major religion has its own tradition with devotional hymns. In the West, the devotional has been a part of the liturgy in Roman Catholicism, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church, and others, since...

s are sung, people line up and take a piece of sandalwood

Sandalwood

Sandalwood is the name of a class of fragrant woods from trees in the genus Santalum. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and unlike many other aromatic woods they retain their fragrance for decades. As well as using the harvested and cut wood in-situ, essential oils are also extracted...

. In turn they dip the sandalwood stick into ghee

Ghee

Ghee is a class of clarified butter that originated in South Asia and is commonly used in South Asian cuisine....

 (clarified butter) and toss it into the fire, intending the offering to represent the relinquishing of some attachment or psychological limitation that they wish to be consumed by the fire. The ritual thus symbolizes surrendering and giving up desires and limitations to God

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

.

Comparison with other forms of the ritual

Unlike the Hindu ritual, in Meher Baba's Dhuni the cleft in the ground (in Baba's case a Dhuni-urn) does not symbolize the female vulva and no special importance is given to any of the physical objects, but rather emphasis is given to the consumptive symbolism of the fire itself. This is arguably more in keeping with Meher Baba's Zoroastrian

Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...

 lineage in which fire is considered a sacred symbol. Also, like the Dhuni observed by Sai Baba of Shirdi

Sai Baba of Shirdi

Sai Baba of Shirdi , also known as Shirdi Sai Baba , was an Indian guru, yogi, and fakir who is regarded by his Hindu and Muslim devotees as a saint....

, whom Meher Baba contacted in his youth, Meher Baba's Dhuni is not considered to be sectarian, but religiously universal and accessible to those of all religions and sects and also to those with no formal religious affiliations at all. Meher Baba's Dhuni is also unique among fire rituals in that it is performed on the 12th of each month as per Meher Baba's instructions.

External links

• Meher Baba's Dhuni (Includes photo of Meher Baba performing his Dhuni in 1954)
• Meher Baba's Dhuni Prayer
• Video of the 2004 Dhuni festival in Meherabad
• Baba Words; The Master's Glossary