Deepavali Celebration - 21 Oct '06 - ashram, Bangalore

On 21 Oct 2006, Deepavali the festival of lights was celebrated amidst great joy at the ashram in Bangalore in the presence of Swamiji. Deepavali is celebrated to symbolize slaying of our ignorance and ego and our rebirth as new individuals.

At the ashram, the day started with Guru pooja (obeisance to the primeval Guru) under the sacred banyan tree, followed by blessings and sweets from Swamiji. Crackers were burst late in the evening, followed by Kaali pooja and Chandi homa from 9:30 pm to 4:30 am the next day morning. Chandi homa is a fire ritual that employs a series of 700 mantras that describe in detail, stories of how Mother Kaali slays different types of devils who symbolically represent our ignorance and ego.

108 types of food items were offered as Prasad and served to those gathered upon conclusion of the event.

Swamiji explained the significance of the Kaali pooja and Chandi homa thus:

Mother Kaali is the Cosmic Energy itself. She is the creative energy out of which the whole universe emerged. By worshipping her, by meditating upon her name, by chanting mantras on her, we are connecting to the Cosmic Energy itself.

On this Deepavali day, this energy is fully available to planet Earth. If you sit erect and chant the mantras, from the Swadhishtana chakra (the vital energy center below the navel that is responsible for the fear emotion), vibrations will flow and simply open all the seven 7 vital energy centers in you.

This is a meditation, not just a ritual. If you chant the mantra 'Om aim hreem kleem chaamundaayai vichche swaaha', it will simply awaken the kundalini shakti (the vital energy which lies dormant in the base energy center at the bottom of your spine). It will transform your whole being and raise you to a different frequency of Consciousness.

Mother Kaali holds a sword in her upper left hand and a severed head in her lower left hand.

This symbolically shows that if the ego is cut with the sword of knowledge, with the sword of enlightenment, you are blessed and protected. The other two hands show blessing and protection. While the two left hands show the technology employed for the death of the ego, the other two hands show the benefits of this technology, by showing blessing.

Today is not only Deepavali celebrations but also the day when I fully settled in my body, 9 months after my enlightenment. Today is the day I fully asserted my enlightened Being. An enlightened being can settle in the body only upon Parashakti's (Divine Mother) grace. Only by Her grace can the enlightenment start expressing or moving through the body.

So on this day, let us offer our humble gratitude to Her and request Her to accept all of us and work through us to experience Nithyananda - Eternal bliss. Let us all enter into this grand meditation and experience Nithyananda! She is the one who can take us beyond all our desires to the state of Nithyananda - Eternal bliss!

Following are pictures from this event. Stay tuned for more pictures: