Beloved Family,

This week we will be celebrating Kartik Purnima on Thursday, November 22nd in California, and on Friday, the 23rd in India.

Why Kartik Purnima is celebrated?

Kartik Purnima marks the birth celebrations for Kartikeya, whose other names include Skanda, and Subramaniam; it is also the birthday of Tulasi, and the birthday of Ganga.

It is also the date of the Ras Lila for Shiva and Parvati. We use this day to demonstrate our love for many of the forms of God.

Swamiji will be performing Kartik Purnima Pujas on Saturday and Sunday in Kolkata.

If you are near the Kolkata Area, please send me an email, so I can tell you where and when we will be sharing.

Kartik Purnima also marks the date when I have traditionally come down from the mountains to the warmer climates of the plains.

In a day or two we will be leaving the Himalayas, and going to visit some of my favorite people and villages in the interior of Bengal for a few weeks.

We will do sadhana in each location, before proceeding towards Mumbai and Nasik.

If you like to join me, and learn about how to do the sadhana along with us, please let me know your arrival dates, and I will try to give directions to where we are.

If you cannot come in person, please make sure to take a look at our Travelogue Blog of what we have been doing.

As we are coming down from the mountains, most likely for the rest of the winter, we are closing the blog of stories from our Himalayan sojourn.

Next week we will begin a new link to our experiences in the plains.

We send you our love and blessings and a very happy Thanksgiving.

Love Shree Maa and Swamiji, and the Devi Mandir Family