Jyotish-Yagya

Mother Divine is Durga, a combination of the three female aspects of creation, maintenance, and destruction. Durga is the union of Saraswati, Luxmi, and Parvati. Knowledge, Finance, and Physical presence all rolled into one. Impressive.

Think about how anything gets done in this world. Imagine different departments of our governments. The world of the Divines is like that. There is a Cosmic Department of Finance, of Creation, and of Destruction. Each of these Forces of Nature are embodied in each  of us. Some of us manifest them more strongly than others. Some of us barely manifest them at all. The point is that there are areas of function that gather around these three purposes.

Durga is worshipped at this time of year to bring her energy to all our endeavors. Wealth and Prosperity is a constant theme here because money really does make the world go around. Want to do some public works, improve a city’s infrastructure, build a bridge? You’ve got to get the money first. Does your country need better defense? How about some jets from Israel, or infantry arms from China? You’ve got to appropriate the funds, first. From Durga, all things can flow.

This is how She looked this morning after our first day puja.

Durga on the first day of Nine Days of Mother Divine

The puja is used to begin the yagya. It attracts Her attention to the individual yajmans (yagya clients). During the puja, the names of each of the yajmans and the pandits are announced. Then the pandits go to their places and begin to chant for the yajmans.

I got set up for the first of the Nine Days by going shopping with my friend, Manju. We went shopping! She is Pandit Dixit’s daughter, an expert adminstrator and Sanskrit scholar. I do not know Sanskrit. I am going on the word of her nephew who was bragging about the perfection of her pronunciation at lunch yesterday. I do know her administrative abilities as Annette and I have worked with her via the internet for the last 10 years.

Here she is with that Mona Lisa smile:

Manju

The second day of the Nine promises to be very busy.

I’ll enjoy the morning puja, the go visit Lucknow for a few hours. My great great great grandfather was stationed there in 1857 with the British Royal Engineers. I wonder how his DNA will color my seeing tomorrow.

I’ll find time to blog about the meaning of each day of the Nine Days of Mother Divine.

Mother Divine oversees wealth and prosperity. When She is present, like now, is one of the best times of the year to start new ventures. You can see Pandit Dixit’s yagya recommendations for this time of year on our website.

Traditionally, these yagyas are done for those who wish to improve their wealth, prosperity, health and overall attunement with the laws of Nature.

Since I am in India right now, Pandit Dixit has agreed to accept reservations for the Nine Days of Mother Divine yagyas until March 18th (March 18th at noon, India time, is March 18th at 2:30 am, eastern US time). The atmosphere is so auspicious right now that the Pandits can chant extra for you and ‘catch up’ the yagya. Please order your yagyas now.

Everything here is Blessed.

I came into the office as usual this morning. The Pandit who comes by and does the daily puja let me in. He was just over at the house I am staying at. What a delight to get to hear two pujas, in one morning, in person.

Let me back up a little. Devesh Dixit, Pandit Dixit’s son, generously allows me to stay in their upstairs guest bedroom when I’m here (The guest house at the Ashram is almost finished). Next door to this bedroom is an Altar Room. Daily puja (ceremonial Vedic prayers) is performed there. As I was finishing my morning meditation program, I heard someone come in next door. There were some rustling, wiping, dusting sounds as the Pandit cleaned up  and arranged the altar, then chanting! I got to enjoy the puja in my very relaxed state of mind. What a marvelous way to start the day.

Back to the office where I’d just enjoyed my second puja of the day:

When the Pandit finished his puja, he came over to me with something in his hand. I held out mine to receive the offering. It was a juicy golden raisin that tasted of incense! It had been in the bag with the flowers and prasadam with which he adorned the office altar.

A minute later, Bauuva, the office helper, came in with a bag of fresh rose flowers. He decorated the office altar also. Then he came over to me. He handed me a ruby red rose. It’s aroma was overwhelmingly sweet! It smelled just like the roses my Grandmother grew in Kansas. Sweet, warm, rich.

Funny how the rose reminded me of one of the manifestations of Mother Divine that I’d met when I was very young. I’ve been lucky. She has been with me all the way in this lifetime. Little did I know that I would be connecting her as a living example of a Divine energy. This is one of the side effects of being involved with the Nine Days of Mother Divine celebrations.  We get constantly reminded of the reality of a Divine Mother that helps us along this life path.

I know that you would like to join us in this contact with the Divine. Please visit the yagya ordering page now to order your yagya.

Office Altar with Maha Lukshmi on the left and Ganesha on the right

Can you smell the sweet smell of the rose petals?