Divali, October 19th
Varanasi and Pune, India

We begin October with Divali on the 19th with the annual festival of lights in honor of Lakshmi, the goddess of abundance in all forms. The festival celebrates the victory of light over darkness and offers a reminder of the importance of maintaining hope that knowledge will always prevail over ignorance.

Our night time events will take place in Varanasi at our yagya shala near the sacred Ganges River, and in Pune where we perform the monthly 50 priest Lakshmi Yagya.

Pancha Bhoota - Five ElementsYagyas
October 20-29
Temple Yagyas in Chidambaram, Kalahasthi, Thiruvannamalai, Thiruvanaikaval, and Kanchipuram

From the Vedic perspective, all of creation is made up of the combination of five elements; earth (prithivi), air (vayu), fire (agni), water (appu), and space (akasha). Ayurveda seeks to maintain a balance between these elements in our body. Jyotish (astrology) shows the balance of these elements that we are born with because each sign belongs to one of these categories.

With all the movement of the planets this fall (and the major eclipse) it is safe to say that life can seem pretty far out of balance at the present time. This month, our chief priest Seetharama Sastry, will travel to each of the five element temples as you see below, in order to perform special yagyas for us. Each temple is dedicated to a specific element and yagyas these yagyas will help to restore and maintain balance in our lives.

The final days of the yagya series will include a 50 priest Rudra Abishekam inside the famous Ekambeshwara Temple in Kanchipuram, home of the earth element.