Introspection

Today was the 11th Friday of Lakshmi puja. I started the puja in April and have been religiously performing it on Fridays except during the time of emergencies. Today was the culmination of the 11days' prayers. Interestingly enough it's been exactly a month since me and Ram got married :). It was quite exciting for me and I was looking forward to perfromign the vrath.

Well, this is not the first time that I have done something like this. Since my childhood, it was necessary for us to visit temple, learn some slokas and perform puja. We always found peace and solace in praying, following certain rituals and chanting the hymns.

There was something magical about the whole experience. There were times when I used to read "The Bhagavad-Gita" at least thrice a week. It surely made me feel so calm from within and taught me to be more dedicated to my work, detached and also about inner strength. I am still not certain whether it is psychological or whether there really exists an eternal power that keeps rescuing us whenever needed. But most often, and many instances in my life have reinforced my beliefs in the eternal power, some supernatural force which helps you when you cry out for help.

Anyways, I digress! Coming to the puja, I was really happy the way I did it. As usual, I got up in the morning but was very reluctant to take a bath. I was glued to my laptop for some time and then started cleaning up some stuff. I started cooking at 2:00pm. I had already decided to make 5 dishes for prasadam. I made Pramannam (jaggery rice), Daddojanam (yogurt rice), Pulihora (tamarind rice), Kheer (with vermicelli) and Fruit salad. I finished cooking by 5:30pm, had a bath again and went to do some last minute shopping. I got some yogurt, bananas and honey for "panchamrutham".

Panchamrutham is a mixture of honey, bananas, yogurt, milk and sugar all mixed to do abhishekam (holy bath). My mother-in-law had presented me with a Lakshmi idol and I decided to perform abhishekam to Goddess Lakshmi's idol. It took me around 45 minutes to arrange everything. I spread a cloth and then spread a red cloth on it. On the red cloth I spread some rice, placed a copper container with water. On it, I placed a small bowl with my gold earrings. I had the photo of Goddess Lakshmi. I cleaned it and decorated with sandalwood and vermilion dots. After lighting the diya with ghee and sesame oil, I went ahead and performed abhishekam. In between I had to stop cos my itunes started playing filmi songs instead of the slokas. II had to reset it and got back to my ritual. I was disturbed by a couple of phone calls from my friends but after that I had no problem performing the puja.

First you have to pray to Lakshmi and then her different avtaars. After that you need to chant her 108 names called ashtotharam. While chanting the names, it is good to sprinkle rice or vermilion or kumkum as Indians call it. As soon as you are done chanting her names, we have to recite her sthotram or hymns. Later we read a story from the book about her miracles and then do the arthi.

I had very few visitors but was happy for the ones who came. After the puja I broke the fast by eating the offerings to the Goddess called prasadam. I was so happy that everything turned out so good. In fact it was really yummy.

Overall everything went well. I recommend this puja to everyone who has some unwanted wishes to be fulfilled.