Devi Mandir

Temple of Divine Mother

Maa rings the bells


Photo of the week – Nov 30 – Dec 6, 2007
(Picture taken October 2007 at Devi Mandir, Napa, CA)

May Divine Mother ring the bells that purify our souls

Story of Horse Sacrifice

~~OM~~

Ashwamedh means the use of wisdom for the benefit of society. It’s the horse sacrifice. The use of the wisdom of uccishrava, the horse of wisdom, which symbolized the dominion of the kingdom.

In the old Ashwamedha Yagya, a horse was set free, well adorned and decorated, followed by a great army. And wherever the horse roamed into the neighboring kingdoms, those kings would come out and they would either challenge and stop the horse which meant that they would do battle with the army; or they would accept the horse as an emblem of wisdom and they would surrender and unify the kingdoms into an empire.

And that way they reduced the amount of conflict in all the neighboring states by creating a unity in wisdom.

Story of Tantrik sadhak

~~OM~~ There was once a sadhak, a tapasyak, a tantrik sadhak. He was doing this tremendous Smashan Shav Kriya, where you sit in the cremation grounds upon a corpse and […]

Blessings All Around!


Photo of the week – Nov 9 – Nov 15, 2007
(Picture taken October 2007 at Devi Mandir, Napa, CA)

Take Diwali blessings to all.

MahaLakshmi in all Her glory!

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Photo of Lakshmi Puja on October 25, 2007

At the end of the puja, Mahalakshmi was showered with flowers by all the devotees present!

Story of Lomash Muni and Kaka Bhushundi

~~OM~~ Let me tell you a story, if you don’t mind. Lomash Muni was a great devotee of Shiva. And he had one disciple who was so disrespectful, never did […]

How Kamadeva became Ananga

~~OM~~ Parvati took birth in Himalaya’s home, and She grew up to be a beautiful young lady, and all She could think about was Shiva. And She started performing tapasya, […]

Celebrating our ancestors


Photo of the week – Oct 12 – Oct 18 2007
(Picture taken October 10, 2007)

On October 10th we celebrated Mahalaya, the great Dissolution, and honored our ancestors thanking them for leading us here.
We performed puja with special ladhus that we offered at the altar, at the fire and then to nature.

Pranams to all the great souls that preceded us and brought us to the Devi Mandir!

Offerings for Navaratri

Question:
I would like to know what we can do at home for Navaratri, especially if there are offerings we can make to Shree Maa.
Swamiji says:
The following link gives the special offerings to the Goddess –
http://shreemaa.org/drupal/node/300 . You can offer all that you do to Shree Maa. Especially the food that you cook with mantra, offer with mantra. The other functions you perform can be accompanied by mantra. Picture her image in your mind, and conceive that you are doing for her.
Question:
Does the link http://shreemaa.org/drupal/node/300 mean that we make 3 offerings – one for the month, one of the lunar day and one for the day of the week ?
Swamiji says:
Yes, this does mean 3 separate offerings.

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