The first night of Diwali falls on amavasya, or the new moon night. The night begins with a simple pooja to Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. We pray that her blessing stay with us all year-long, and she stays to help us achieve what we righteously deserve. This is a lamp I received as a gift from my…
Category: Festivities
Lights Galore
Finally the Festival of lights is here! Diwali holds a lot of importance across various religious communities in India for a number of reasons. While the festivities run into 4-days for some communities, for us it’s just for a day. The night before Lakshmi Pooja is the nigh before the new moon. That is the day…
Deception Point?
Look at the picture closely. What do you see? Can you tell me what the lamps are made of and how they have been illuminated?
Praying for Knowlegde and Enlightenment
Considering that I work for a magazine, and that my mother is a professor of economics, Saraswati Pooja holds special importance both at work and home. While I couldn’t conduct the festivities at home this year, the Goddess decided to come as close the bay next to me. This is what the set up before…
May Her Blessings Be With You Always!
The Goddess makes her presences in our locality, where she blesses us with all her might, during the nine day Navratri festivities. As we gear up to rejoice the praises of Goddess Saraswati, its time for new lessons to be learnt in life, and share the knowledge you have acquired all this while. May her…
Pleasing the Goddess
As I mentioned in my posts a few weeks back, the festival season is on in full swing in India. Yesterday marked the first day of the nine-day feast called Navratri. Each of these nine night we sing praises of one form of the Goddess Durga. This is a very important festival for us, as we follow the…
And The King Goes Back Home…
After 10 days of festivities on Anantha Chaturdashi the King, or Lord Ganesha undertakes his journey back home, through the sea, as devotees take part in the immersion festivities with a lot of pomp and fanfare. While we thank god for his kindness, generosity and his blessing, and urge him to come back soon the following year….
Bringing the Sanctity Home
While we don’t bring home an Idol of Lord Ganesha, being Brahmans, we do have Ganapati pooja at home. While we don’t use the idols of the temple at home, we make a statue out of turmeric and chant mantras to the make shift idol. A day after the pooja, we dissolve the heap of…
He Comes Home
I have lost patience with the stories I guess, so instead of mythology, let me tell you about the Elephant-Head God that paid a visit to my building. Like most other housing societies in Mumbai, mine too brings an idol of the God with a lot of pomp and fanfare. However, the joy is short-lived…
Lessons from life
Kubera is considered the God of Wealth as per Hindu mythology. Known to be excessively proud of his immense fortunes, the god once decided to throw a lavish meal to his godly guests Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvati. The couple politely denied the request, instead offered to send their son young Ganesha instead, to which Kubera…
Snapshots of my World 