Sri Suktam Abhishekam of Ma Lakshmi in Sadhana App

An implausible milestone!

I had performed only Sri Suktam (4 min) Abhishekam of Ma Lakshmi in Sadhana App in which water, milk, yogurt, red garland, dhoop, handheld bell and handheld lamp were used while anointing Ma with 16 verses of Sri Suktam. According to Dr. T. S. Narayana Swamy, "Sri Suktam is a grand hymn extolling a great deity. It is verily a gift of god to the mortals." I did it just to give it a try. Surprisingly, I neither felt any spiritual experience nor devotional peace.  It was a ritual that I performed just by tapping the buttons one after the other. I did not feel any special divine feelings for Ma Lakshmi while doing it. But Ma is MA. She is the Universal Mother. She takes care of us like her own children. It did not matter whether we did pooja with devotion or without devotion. 

Later, same day, my employee called me to seek permission to do an important pending work in my prime property. I told him that it was not feasible as I had already tried hard for fifteen years. No success due to expected or unexpected hurdles. He explained his strategy to work on it. I was happy yet a bit tense.  Being knowledgeable about Vastushastra, I knew that the task when completed would be forthbringer of monetary gains. 

After three days, my employee called me to share the good news that the work was done without any hindrance. He had accomplished the task very smoothly. I was elated.  

I felt an immense surge of emotions to express gratitude to Ma. I hurriedly clicked the buttons of my gadget. I entered Golden Palace in Sadhana App and opted for Abhishekam with Lakshmi Sahasranama (35 min). The following virtual ingredients were used water (jal), Gangajal,  milk (doodh), honey (madhu), yogurt (dahi), mango juice (aamra ras), white sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, pomegranate juice, sugar, turmeric, kumkum (sindoor), rice (akshata), vermillion, fragrant oil, small pot, gold, red cloth, red garland, sacred thread, betel nuts, paan, flowers, saffron, rice pudding (kheer), sweetmeats (ladoo), cloves, red sandalwood, kusha grass, green grass, dry fruits, incense, bananas, camphor, dhoop, handheld bell, ghee lamp and handheld lamp. It was a divine experience to hear Ma Lakshmi’s sahasranama (1000 names). I was overjoyed to hear my name as one of Ma's names. I offered all the ingredients with immense love and devotion to Her. With each offering, I thanked Her from the depths of my heart. The more I thanked Her the more I wanted to express my gratitude.

Ma is the epitome of compassion. She is eternally the bestower of happiness, wealth and prosperity.

You can read the previous parts of this post here, here and here.

Pic : Lakshmi Sahasranama Abhishekam in Sadhana App

Vastu Tips to Remove Financial Crisis

This post is the sequel of a day before yesterday post and yesterday post.

Almost a decade back, I visited a house for Vastushastra consultancy. I suggested them that they should change the position of the double bed and the almirah in which they keep valuables so that their financial problems can be solved. After a week when I visited them again, the owner of the house excitedly told me that when they shifted the furniture, in the dust bunny behind the bed they found a golden ring which they had lost a couple of years back. I still wonder about it!

The following points are not based on one success story but hundreds and thousands of my clients who have been benefited over the period of nearly two decades. These tips are so simple to follow however they give surprising results sooner or later.

1.      The altar or the prayer room should be in the North, East, North-East corner of the house.

2.      Make the North, East and North-East area of your house (marked as tick in the figure) junk free and as light as possible. Keep this part of your house as spacious as possible. Declutter it. (Maybe you also find some lost golden ring(s)!) Remove steel almirahs and heavy furniture from this area and place them in the South, West or South-West direction of your house (marked as cross in the figure). 

3.      Try to keep the doors and windows in the North, East and North-East direction of your house open for the maximum possible time so that the beneficial rays enter your house in abundance.

4.      Place big planters with creepers and heavy plants in the South, West, South- West area of the house so that the positive rays stay in your house. This will help you grow monetarily.

5.      Place a water filled pot for birds in the North, East or North-East corner on the roof or balcony. Daily change the water of the pot. It will bring prosperity for the residents of the house.

6.      Daily feed birds with just a half teaspoon of broken rice on the roof, terrace, balcony or windowsill in your house in the North, East or North-East direction of your house. It is an easy peasy point but blesses one with enormous wealth.

7.      The almirah in which you keep your valuables and money should be in the North or East area of the house. But the almirah should be placed along with the South or West wall of the room.

I charge a decent sum of money from my clients for sharing some of the above points. But I am writing it on my blog for free with a request to the readers to donate generously in the Sadhana App. If you do not have sufficient funds right now then please do not worry, donate whenever you have ample.

For further reading I suggest this, this and this.

Pic : Unsplash

Welcome, Ma Lakshmi!

Your overwhelming response to my post the other day as it was 1000th post on my blog, I am tempted to write this sequel. 

Enter the Golden Palace in Sadhana App to meditate on golden idol of Ma Lakshmi. As you close your eyes you will be able to visualize Her very easily as compared to any other image of Ma Lakshmi. Express your one desire to Her. Remember only ONE, not two and never three. Do not be greedy. You want a decent job, a hike in pay, good profit in business, gold coins, exquisite food, luxurious car, expensive clothes, magnificent mansions, wisdom of righteous thoughts, righteous words and righteous deeds, knowledge of immortality, or liberation from the cycle of birth and death. The choice will always be yours. She is the embodiment of grace. It is Her nature to be eternally merciful to her devotees and bless them in opulence. 

On Diwali 2021, Om Swamiji said, “Good acts are mandatory prerequisites to spiritual activities like chanting, meditation etc. In the absence of these prerequisites, one’s devotion becomes bereft of spiritual grace and strength. It is incomplete and leaves us spiritually weakened. Sri Narayan can be attained with purity and good deeds. Sri Bhagwan and Sri Mata reside in the hearts that are brimming with purity.”

Put a cut on your expenditure and light the lamp in someone else’s life with that saved money. Last Diwali, I did not decorate my house with decorative lights, attractive lamps, glass jar lanterns, colorful candles, creative rangolis, fresh flowers or any other costly decorative items rather I was helping the bubbling students who were interested in upgrading their knowledge with the course ‘Walk the Dragon’ by Om Swamiji so that they could ‘learn and earn’. In future, when they would be financially sound, they could pay this course forward to other needy ones. In this way, we all could take baby steps to make this world a better and a more beautiful place to live. This is my way of welcoming Ma Lakshmi.

One can also opt to eradicate one of the negative emotions like hatred, jealousy, anger, greed, lust etc. or one can develop a good virtue like compassion, love, kindness, forgiveness etc. Swami Tejomayananda said, “The most beautiful thing to do on Diwali is to forgive everyone around us. Once we forgive, the intellect becomes subtle, pure and mature. We will be filled with love and happiness.”

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Pic : Golden Palace in Sadhana App 

Say Goodbye to Your Financial Crunch

“I am helpless, what should I do?”

A young guy who was going through financial crunch, bad health issues and onus of family responsibility asked me a couple of months back.

I suggested, “Do chanting of Mahalakshmi Tantric Mantra ‘Om Shreeng Mahalakshmayai Namah’ in Golden Palace in Sadhana App. When you become comfortable with the chanting also try Sadhana of Mahalakshmi in Sadhana App.”

The mantra contains the universal sound ‘Om’ which is the most powerful sound and can invoke pure vibrations. Swami Vishnudevananda in the book ‘Mediation and Mantras’ explained that ‘Shreeng’ is the Mantra of Maha Lakshmi. ‘Sha’ is Maha Lakshmi, ‘Ra’ means wealth, ‘Ee’ is satisfaction or contentment. Nada is the manifested Brahman, and ‘Bindu’ is the dispeller of sorrow.” Mahalakshmi is the consort of Lord Vishnu and is a bountiful provider. According to V.R. Gowri Shankar, Administrator Sri Sringeri Math, “Sri Mahalakshmi is the bestower of benefits. She is the giver of prosperity, splendor and glory. She represents the emergence of divine qualities in the sadhaka, subduing rugged tendencies. Purity of mind is another form of wealth, also achieved through praying to Lakshmi.” Mahalakshmi not only grants materialistic wealth to devotees but also blesses them with liberation from these repeated cycles of birth and death. ‘Namah’ means that I bow down to the Goddess Lakshmi. According to T. S. Narayana Swamy, “Goddess Lakshmi is manifested in eight forms as a mother of eight different aspects of prosperity. Adi Lakshmi brings happiness to mankind. Dhanya Lakshmi is the goddess of nourishment. Dhana Lakshmi grants wealth. Santana Lakshmi blesses with the children of high intelligence and good character. Gaja Lakshmi is the protector of humanity and promoter of peace and prosperity. Vidya Lakshmi grants value-oriented education to those who worship her. Vijaya Lakshmi bestows one with the victory over anger, lust, greed, jealousy, hatred and evil thoughts. Dhairya Lakshmi blesses with infinite courage, confidence and strength to fight against evil.”

Worshipping MahaLakshmi in Sadhana App by chanting, performing yajna and doing sadhana, the young guy’s problems were solved miraculously. Moreover, he had sufficient funds to take good care of his responsibilities.

The chanting of this mantra must be followed by yajna of Ma Lakshmi. Brief Yajna (4 minutes) which include fire offerings on Tantric Mantra and Gayatri of Mahalakshmi. One can also do Medium Yajna (10 minutes) which contains the offerings on the various names of Ma Lakshmi, Tantric Mantra and Mahalakshmi Gayatri Mantra. One should try to do Elaborate Yajna (15 minutes) to spend more time with the deity in which offerings are made on hundred names of Ma Lakshmi.

The auspicious time to carry out this is mentioned in the right-hand side bar under the heading 'Auspicious Date'. You can make the maximum use of this super auspicious time by choosing chanting and yajna according to your capacity and availability of time. You can also do Lord Ram yajna during this span of time before or after it.

Some points that one should keep in mind while worshipping Ma Lakshmi are as follows: -

1.      Do not touch the screen with your index finger while doing Mahalakshmi pooja in Sadhana App. Index finger brings poverty, ill health and bad luck. Try to touch the screen with the ring finger. You can also use other fingers and thumb as well.

2.      Divide the house in nine equal parts and as shown in figure. Worship Goddess Mahalakshmi while sitting in the North, North-East or East corner of the house. While worshipping Goddess one should face towards North, North-East or East.

Follow all these points sincerely and call Ma with immense devotion. You will be blessed with wealth and prosperity.

‘Khul ja sim sim’ (Open sim sim) as the magnificent doors in the Sadhana App open then one can have the darshan of the amazingly beautiful Mother Divine. The mother is holding golden lotus flowers in Her two hands, in one hand She is holding a pot filled with nectar and with the other hand She is blessing her devotees with name, fame, knowledge, victory, good children, valor, gold, delicious food, happiness, bliss, wisdom, beauty, religious thoughts, good health and liberation. The deity in the App is made up of Gold, showering golden blessings on Her devotees in the form of gold coins and golden knowledge. One is blessed to have Ma’s divine darshan on the screen!

Does the owl wink at you like me? ;)

If you like this piece of my writing then you will also like this, this and this.

Pic : ‘Khul ja sim sim’ in Sadhana App

Yajna of Lord Ram in Sadhana App

I started crying uncontrollably.

As soon as I heard ‘Om Shri Ramaye Swaha’ in Om Swamiji’s magical voice while performing Elaborate Yajna (16 minutes) of Lord Ram in Sadhana App, I began to cry loudly. The tears of devotion flowed down, wetting my soft cheeks. Swami Tejomayanada said, “The world will make you cry so it is better that you cry for God.” ‘Om Shri Ramaye Namahe’ is the first mantra of Lord Ram’s hundred names. It means that I bow down to Lord Ram who is the giver of happiness.

Yajna is a ritual of self-dedication by which one can unite with the Supreme Power by cultivating cosmic love. It facilitates kindness and compassion by connecting all human beings together just like all the different colors of beads in a mala. It helps in eradicating the feeling of separateness which one experience due to false ego. According to Swami Krishnananda, “It is a sacrifice of all those factors which tend to tether the soul to the bodily tabernacle into the fire of knowledge of the Absolute.”

Thousands of yajna I have performed solely as well as with my family members. Therefore, I was quite familiar with the opening mantras of the yajna. Although, a few mantras were new to me which I was hearing for the first time, I thoroughly enjoyed offering ingredients with the Sanskrit arduous mantras. The material used to do fire offerings were ghee, firewood, havan samagri, paddy, guggal, sugar, camphor, dry fruits, cloves, rice, red sandalwood, white sandalwood, black sesame seeds, white sesame seeds, fox nuts, satavari, cardamom, dry coconut and rice pudding. I was well known with all the items except satavari. I had never seen or heard about it. I asked Google Baba and I came to know that it is a deep-rooted medicinal plant grown in the Himalayas. Its roots are used in fire offerings.

While performing this yajna I became familiar with the Gayatri of Lord Ram – Om Dasarathaye Vidmahe Sitavallabhaya Dheemahi, Tanno Ramah Prachodayat. It connected me with my Lord Ram as if we are not two but one. Purnahuti was made with dry coconut which was followed by melodious Stuti ‘Shri Ramchandra Kripalu Bhaju Mana’ a soul uplifting bhajan written by Tulsidas.

In the book, ‘Am I a Hindu?’ Ed Viswanathan said, “Yajna is usually done for material human welfare. Of course, by performing yajnas, a devotee is indirectly brought closer to God, for he fully understands the power of God in his day-to-day affairs. Physical health, mental discipline, expansion and purification of the heart are only some of the benefits. Whatever desire a person has while doing the havan, that desire is fulfilled.” The auspicious time to do yajna of Lord Ram to fulfil one’s desire is mentioned on the right-side bar under the heading 'Auspicious Date'. 

Swami Sivananda said, “Life is a yajna, a holy sacrifice, and the world, which is the field of righteous action, is the altar at which the individual offers himself to God.”

So, make hay while the sun shines!

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Pic : An Elaborate Yajna of Lord Ram in Sadhana App

Do You Want to Practice Tantra?

Everything got blurred in front of my eyes!

On ‘Shravan ke somvar’ (Monday of Shravan month of lunar calendar) I was performing Rudram Abhishekam in Shiva Temple (Kailasha) in Sadhana App. The snow scattered on colossal mountains, the chilly winds stirring divine emotions, beautiful Shivlingam with a copper pot hanging with a thin wire above it, ambience inside the temple, elaborate process, pure ingredients, cleanliness, immense peace and a sense of calmness emanated eternal love. The strong winds blowing through the white mountains extracted all the old painful memories and gloomy experiences. Thus, created vacuum was refilled with divine nectar of bliss. My eyes became misty - Tears of devotion for Lord Shiva.

Earlier I was killing time. A sudden thought that today being ‘Shravan ka somvar’, I should perform abhishekam of Lord Shiva. I clicked on the abhishekam option in Lord Shiva Temple (Kailasha) in Sadhana App. First, I worshiped through Shivashtakama (4 minutes) with ingredients water, milk, yogurt, red garland, dhoop, handheld bell and handheld lamp. It was a normal process in which I just enjoyed clicking buttons like a kindergarten kid. Then I tried Vedsara Strotra (13 minutes) in which ingredients used in worship were water, Gangajal, milk, honey, yogurt, ash, fragrant water, fragrant oil, white cloth, blue garland, bilva fruit, incense, dhoop, ghee lamp, betel nuts, paan, small pot, gemstones, dry fruits, flowers, saffron, handheld bell and handheld lamp. It felt like a routine ritual without invoking any divine sentiments for the deity. Soon after I clicked on Rudram (23 minutes) in which Lord Shiva was offered ingredients like water, Gangajal, milk, honey, yogurt, sugar, ash, turmeric, fragrant water, fragrant oil, white sandalwood, red sandalwood, small pot, white cloth, white garland, sacred thread, betel nuts, paan, flowers, datura flower, saffron, bilva leaves, bilva fruit, rice pudding (kheer), sweetmeats (ladoos), cloves,  black sesame seeds, kusha grass, green grass, bananas, dry fruits, blue garland, incense, camphor, dhoop, ghee lamp, handheld bell and handheld lamp. The lengthy and elaborate process invoked feelings for the deity, and I felt a surge of divine emotions.

The best part of doing abhishekam in Sadhana App is that there is no dirt and slipperiness on the floor because of falling water drops and other liquids here and there. In a spick and span area, one can easily focus on Shivalingam and meditate. The clean and serene home environment free from the troubling noises, self-availability of time, no long-standing queues, saving of one's money and time by virtual procurement of various items. The best part is that all things are available and step by step guidance in a computerized sequence. All this makes a delightful experience. Only one need is a heart full of love for Him!

While practicing this Abhishekam, I worshipped a human being as Lord Shiva. It is a tantric practice. On becoming comfortable with this concept, I considered all human beings as divine. This is the mool mantra of all the left-handed tantric practices.

It is highly recommended for those who wish to walk the path of tantra. 13th Feb, 2023 before sunrise is the more auspicious time than ‘Shravan ke Somvar’. The fruits of the abhishekam will get tripled. It is a super auspicious time. Do not miss to do abhishekam in Sadhana App.

For Triple benefit give triple donation. ;)

You can read my experiences in worshiping in Sadhana App here, here and here.

Pic : Shivlingam in Shiva Temple (Kailasha) in Sadhana App.

Tantric Mantra of Ma Brahmacharini in Sadhana App

I sensed an acute pain in my lower abdominal muscles.

In the early hours of the second Navratra, while doing chants of Tantric Mantra of Ma Brahmacharini in NavDurga Sadhana in Sadhana App, I felt an involuntary upward movement of my lower abdominal muscles. It was not the first time I was experiencing this. In deep meditation, I had the same feelings earlier also. But this time with more frequency and repetition, holding time was long. Because of continuous contractions of muscles during the chanting, towards the end of the Sadhana my body demanded rest to ease the pain.

Who is a siddha?

The lower abdominal muscles are the most difficult to control and a yogi who has full control over those muscles is a siddha. This can be done by two ways – voluntary control by doing hatha yoga practices and involuntary control by slipping into deep meditation. For voluntary control a beginner is advised to do naukaasana (boat pose) and shirshasana (head pose). When one becomes adept in doing these asanas then exercises along with the breath control are suggested while holding the pose. On mastering these exercises, advance practices are advised. When one has full control on those muscles then one has to take a final exam in the form of Lata Sadhana or Sahjoli Mudra. Anybody who wants to know more can opt for ‘Hatha Yoga Pradipika’ or any other book on advanced yogic practices.

Those who find it difficult to do it this way, can take the other route in which one has to focus on developing divine virtues like love, kindness and compassion. The biggest obstacle in this practice is that one cannot get angry or feel jealous or have any other negative emotion. One single negative feeling and the whole sandcastle crumble down in seconds. Only patience, disciple and persistence with positive approach can reward success.

I am a simple person like all human beings with mixed emotions -positive and negative. Over the years I cultivated sentiments of goodness like truthfulness and kindness. Even after repeated failures, I keep on trying to shed my negative emotions of anger, hatred and jealousy. And with constant practice and consistency I sometimes slipped into deep meditation to experience this unique upward thrust which will one day make me a siddha. Then fragrance will be emanated not only from my body but also from my sweet words!

Curious to know more about me, you can read more about me here, here and here.

Pic : Ma Brahmacharini in Sadhana App