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March 19 - March 26

Chaitra Navaratri 2007

Navaratri literally means Nine (Nava) Nights (Ratri) – Night Nights of worship of Divine Mother. Traditionally, Navaratri is celebrated four times a year – Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Shree Maa said that in spring time the stars and planets shine very brightly and so whoever does tapasya (spiritual austerities) in this Navaratri will be similarly endowed with brightness. We began celebration of Spring Navaratri in Devi Mandir from Monday, March 19.

On Sunday, everybody partook of their last full meal which consisted of boiled rice with lentils and vegetables. Some vowed to fast on milk and fruits, some on liquids, some on water and others chose to abstain from all grains. Swamiji said that each of us according to our circumstances, capacities and desires can take a sankalpa for fasting.

At 4:00 a.m. on the first day of Navaratri, we did “avahan” to Divine Mother – invited Her to come and bless us. We invited Her with songs. Our voices rose in unison as we called Mother to come and arise within us – Jago Tumi Jago, Jago Durga (Arise Mother Durga). Shortly thereafter, Shree Maa sang the Chandi Path and the temple was filled with sounds of mantras from Swamiji’s beautiful cosmic puja. Each day this was the morning program and web cam viewers from 47 countries peeped in to share the bhava!

Shree Maa had suggested that we take a group sankalpa to chant 100,000 Navarna mantras at the Homa and throughout the week, the temple resounded with “Om Aim Hrim Klim Chamundayai Vicce” from time to time.

In the evenings, Swamiji taught us how to chant the Sundara Kanda with pranayam and samputs. We asked questions both on the Sundara Kanda and chanting as well as on sadhana and other general topics. Viewers from Holland, India and different parts of the USA asked Swamiji live questions via the internet. It felt like we are one family, celebrating our love for God together!

Saturday, saptami (seventh day of Navaratri) was the day of Kumaari Puja. Kumaari literally means a young girl and this puja or worship teaches us to see Divine Mother in a little girl - and all of creation. A young girl called Radhika who is around 7 years of age came to the temple at 5 pm in the evening and many ladies joined together to dress her up as a little Goddess! You can see her picture here. Radhika sat on a little throne in front of the Cosmic Altar and smiled joyously at everyone present! Swamiji voiced our thoughts when He said to her, “You look just like all the Goddesses standing in the altar.” Swamiji did puja to this little girl and she blessed us all with peace, pure love and wisdom. We learned to see the Divine in her and she learned to look at us with divine eyes! As the little girl was blessing everybody, Shree Maa led us in singing magical songs to Divine Mother.

On ashtami day (the eight day of Navaratri) we chanted the Chandi as a group by the Homa in the morning. In the afternoon, it is traditional to break the Navaratri fast after doing Annapurna Puja and Homa. We chanted the sublime thousand names of Mother Annapurna and Shree Maa blessed us all with charanamrit from Her own hands and we broke our Navartri fast.

Monday the ninth day of the Chaitra Navaratri is the birthday of Sri Ram. What better way to celebrate it than to sing the Sundara Kanda? We chanted and sang this beautiful epic in the evening of Ram Navami. In the day time, Vishnu puja was performed at the Ram altar and special sweets were offered to Sri Ram. Swamiji blessed us by saying “Happy Birthday! May Sri Ram take birth in you today!”

Jai Sri Ram! Jai Maa!

February 26 - March 11

Holi 2007

In early spring each year, the festival of Holi is celebrated in many parts of India. It is a called the festival of colors and people greet each other by smearing different color powders on each other and also pouring water and bursting balloons. It is a day when differences of wealth, station, age are all forgotten and everybody plays together with colors and water. As with all Indian festivals, many sweets are offered as prasad to God and shared together.

What is Holi? Why do we celebrate it? We all wondered and Swamiji explained it to us in a special class. Swamiji read the story of Hiranyakashipu, Prahalad, and Vishnu from the Swami Purana book. He answered questions sent to us by viewers around the world to mandirclass@yahoo.com. Knowing the stories from the Puranas and understanding the spiritual principles made the celebration meaningful and more applicable to our lives in the present time.

Swamiji explained to us that Prahalad, a devotee of Vishnu who was saved time and again from many dangers by His devotion to the Lord. Shree Maa sang songs to awaken that same devotion in our hearts. On Saturday night satsang, a week before Holi, Shree Maa sang songs to Lord Krishna and we all joined joyously in anticipation and devotion. Shree Maa sang a new song that She had just composed and viewers on the web cam across the world wrote in to say how inspired and moved they were by the sublime music!

On the day of Holi, all the Gods were greeted by red holi color in the morning! Holi falls on the full moon day in the month of Phalgun, and in the evening we all performed the Satya Narayana Vrat Homa. We read the story and renewed our promise to God to live in truth. After reading the story and doing arati to God, Shree Maa led us all in devotional singing. Once again, we felt we were with Krishna and the Gopis in Vrindavan, dancing with God and playing with colors together! At the end of the evening, Shree Maa and Swamiji blessed us with Holi colors and we prayed that we could be colorful flowers at the Feet of Divine Mother and be steadfast in our devotion like Prahlad.

February 19 - February 25

Shivaratri 2007

Early in the morning of Shivaratri, we saw our beloved Swamiji sitting in asan by the sacred fire and chanting many, many scriptures – the Chandi, Rudri, Shiva Sahasranama. For 24 hours, the fire was blazing with the offering of various mantras, especially “Om Namah Sivaya”. The temple was decorated and Maa adorned Lord Shiva with new cloth, flowers and decorations. Everybody was busy preparing for the evening – making prasad, arranging flowers, setting up puja. In the bustle of activity was the sweet feeling of love, fellowship, devotion and anticipation.

At 6 in the evening, Maa and Swamiji arrived at the Temple and we all sang “Jai Shiva Omkara”, arati to Lord Shiva. We began the worship by doing a group Shiva puja led by Maa and Swamiji. Then devotees went up to the Shiva lingam, one by one, as Swamiji guided them with mantras to offer milk, chandan (sandalwood), ganga jal (Ganges water) and flowers to Lord Shiva. Swamiji says we should build a personal relationship with God and through this guided puja, He taught us how to do it!!! It was thrilling, exciting and enlightening at the same time.

Everybody offered milk to the Shiva Lingams in the temple and then walked up to Napeswar to make offerings. As we walked to Napeswar, we burnt frankincense and rang bells and blew conches and sang together “Om Namah Sivaya”. It felt like we were in the Himalayas going to see Lord Shiva in Kailash!

There were four pujas conducted through out the night. In the first puja we offered milk, followed by yogurt in the second puja, and ghee and honey in the last two pujas. In addition to this, various prasad items such as kitchuri, vegetables, moong daal, sweet pudding etc were offered following scriptural guidelines.

As devotees were doing puja, Maa sang to Lord Shiva. Her voice resounded within the temple and across the word via the web cam. In fact, viewers from twenty-nine countries watched the festival and communicated by email and chat. As Maa sang “Shiva Shiva Shiva Shambo”, devotees danced around the room waving white flags. We prayed we could be ambassadors of peace and love and carry these magical moments in our hearts and into our lives.

As the evening slipped into night, Swamiji led us in a powerful group chanting of the Rudri. From time to time, Swamiji welcomed our online viewers from different parts of the world. He said “Welcome to viewers from Czechoslovakia”. A little later He said “Welcome to our family in India, where it is morning now. Thanks for joining us!” It felt like we are all one family, praying together and lighting the lamp of purity in every heart’s temple all over the world.

After the four pujas were over, Swamiji blessed us with Holy Ash and Maa fed everybody with “Paaran,” a drink made of milk, cashews, raisins and powdered rice, traditionally taken to break the Shivaratri fast.

The next day, Shree Maa and Swamiji led us at Devi Mandir and all across the globe in a Nava Graha homa. We offered flowers, mantras and various grains to each of the 9 planets and prayed for world peace.

Later in the week, on the first day of the next lunar month, the Shiva sankalpa was completed. The over 3,000 Shiva lingams that Shree Maa had made during the preceding month were taken to the flowing water of the Devi Mandir creek and dissolved. Some devotees carried the Shiva lingams in baskets on their heads and others accompanied the procession playing drums, conches, bells and everybody sang “Om Namah Sivaya”.

Swamiji led us in reciting the appropriate mantras to dissolve the Shiva lingams. We did arati and danced back to the temple with God’s name on our lips. On the way, we saw a line of peacocks watching the entire procession intently. It felt like all of nature was joining us in our prayers to Lord Shiva to bring peace and love to all creation!

Om Namah Sivaya!