On March 9, at the Central Khurul of Kalmykia, the monks performed the ritual “Shütänä uhal, hazr-orna uhal” (Tentru yultru).
The ritual of offering ablution to the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and the other objects of Refuge, besides gaining merit through the offering itself, helps to purify karmic defilements — including those connected with the spirits of the locality and other invisible beings — and to cleanse various kinds of defilements of body, speech, and mind. With sufficient power of visualization, the spirits connected to us by a karmic bond receive the offering and are satisfied, and thereby we clear our karmic debts and rid ourselves of illnesses, harmful influences, defilements of mind and body, obstacles created by demons, misfortunes, and so on.
After the purification and removal of obstacles during the ritual, a vajra protection is created, intended to shield the person from such harm in the future. The consecrated water used in the ritual becomes arshan — a purifying and blessed nectar. At the conclusion of the ritual, saffron-colored water is distributed to all the faithful.
