The 1008 Bilva Leaf Yagya for Lakshmi

Lakshmi is one of the most widely known Vedic deities. She is usually thought of as the goddess of wealth, but is more accurately considered to rule over abundance in all forms.

As you can see there are few areas of life that are not under her protection or control. For our Puja.net group, we have been fortunate to have received contributions from our sponsors around the world to support our vedic pundits for the past 12 months. From the beginning the funds to continue puja.net have always seemed to appear as needed. Because of that, I feel Lakshmi has blessed our efforts and we offer our thanks with a full day of yagyas devoted just to her.

The Bilva tree is a sacred tree in India and is widely known as the favorite of Shiva. It is traditional during Shivaratri to offer bilva leaves because in ayurveda they are cooling and soothing. The bilva tree is closely associated with Shiva and even today in India, the wood is used only in the vedic fire yagya (homam).

Lakshmi, who emerged from the mythical churning of the ocean of milk, is said to have rested on a bilva leaf afterwards. After Lakshmi completed a long yagya to Shiva, he made the fruit of the bilva tree a manifestation of Lakshmi.

So it is appropriate on the day before we begin our Shivaratri Yagya, that we perform the yagya for Lakshmi with bilva leaves and bilva wood. Of course we are hoping that after the Full Moon Satyanarayana Yagya, a 1008 Modaka Ganesha Yagya, and a 1008 bilva leaf yagya for Lakshmi…that Lakshmi will bless us all with every experience of abundance possible. So here’s to a year of blessings and great prosperity for everyone!

The Lakshmi Yagya takes place on Wednesday, Feb 15th in Kanchipuram.

For Lakshmi Yagya Signup please click here.

Ashta Lakshmi
	Aadi Lakshmi (Lakshmi who is with Narayana; Vishnu and is the Divine Mother and hte source of Vishnu's power)
	Santhana Lakshmi (she who protects families and children)
	Gaja Lakshmi (she who is the universal Queen and fulfills prayers)
	Dhana Lakshmi (she who is the giver of wealth)
	Dhaanya Lakshmi (she who feeds the world)
	Dhairya Lakshmi (she who gives courage and strength)
	Vijaya Lakshmi (she who gives victory over obstacles and troubles)
	Vidya Lakshmi (she who gives the fullness of knowledge; material and spiritual)