We have recently completed a comprehensive program of Shiva Yagyas culminating on Shivaratri. Now we shift our focus to honor the various forms of the Divine Mother during the Vasant (spring) Navaratri festival. Navaratri honors the Divine Mother in the form of Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati, who represent Power, Abundance and Wisdom in their most auspicious and charming forms.

We begin with a full day Ganesha yagya in order to remove obstacles to our progress towards enlightenment and material success. We follow that with nine days which focus on the Divine Mother in order to maximize the comfort and success that we enjoy in daily life. Twenty days of Shiva Yagyas have created a spiritual space which these yagyas will fill with the blessings of the goddesses.

Durga/Chandi is the goddess that gives us power. Saraswati is the goddess who gives us the wisdom to use our power wisely. Lakshmi gives us various blessings that are symbolized by her eight forms:

• Dhana Lakshmi - wealth
• Dhanya Lakshmi - food
• Gaja Lakshmi - the power of royalty
• Santana Lakshmi - family
• Veera Lakshmi - courage
• Jaya Lakshmi - victory and success
• Vidya Lakshmi - knowledge

Each morning our priests will perform an traditional goddess yagya including the vedic fire ritual (havan) from 8 AM to 1 PM, followed by 2 hours of evening pujas when the Chandi Path Goddess Mantra text is recited along with the 1008 names (Sahasranam) of Lalitha; the most beautiful form of the goddess.

On Friday, April 12th we will have a celebratory Lakshmi yagya performed by 25 priests from the major temples in Kanchipuram followed by a Two Day 50 Priest Lakshmi Yagya (in Pune) on Thurs/Fri April 18th and 19th.

These rituals generate a lot of shakti (power) which we use in our lives to create the sorts of life experiences that we desire. It can be spiritual or material and most likely a combination of both. Some people experience a feeling of lightness, some experience inner happiness, some experience more contentment with their lives, and some experience greater success and even income. The blessings of the goddesses bring us closer to whatever we want our lives to be.