How else can you dispel darkness except by turning on the light? Even a small flame can brighten the thickest obscurity. This week we celebrate the Vedic “festival of lights” or Diwali. Traditionally, Diwali is the celebration of the day Lord Raam returned to his kingdom, Ayodhya, with his wife Seeta and brother Laxmana, after 14 years of exile. It marks the end of a long period of strife and misfortune, and ushers in all things auspicious. In the spirit of Diwali, we too can re-ignite the light – within us and around us. Choose the beautiful, the right, the good, no matter how small our effort, and stick with it. Initiate the good routine and actions you’ve always wanted to stick with but kept delaying and excusing yourself out of. This is the time. Set up your daily routine and ritual, and go baby-steps. This week we offer you beautiful hand-made pure silver tools to support you in your daily celebration of life and yogic practice. For starters – Vaidya’s favorite mala made from 54 Lotus seeds set in pure silver. Blue Lotus seeds are considered to be highly auspicious for meditation. They are full of Soma and are thus grounding and calming to the mind. Their somagenic property soothes and cools off the mind and heart. These lotus beads have been carefully selected and capped in Sterling Silver to bring you the best possible yogic experience.
Use the Blue Lotus Seed Mala to repeat a mantra or a chant, and step beyond the limiting confines of the mind into the light of your heart. Daily practice – even if just for 5 minutes – will strengthen heart and mind. This will charge up your mala and when you wear it, you carry the vibrational charge. This is an age-old time-tested practice we are fortunate to be able to adopt in our modern days.
Or you may want to usher in more light into your home and life by adding the Kuber Kolam to your sacred space or puja table. Yantras are geometric patterns that invite and hold specific energies and resonances. The Kuber Kolam is a yantra, a vedic geometric diagram in the form of a grid containing the numbers 20-28 arranged in such an order that all lines, whether read horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, add up to 72.
The SVA Kuber Kolam in pure Sterling Silver is an auspicious object that will help you usher in wealth and prosperity when established in the North East corner of your residence. You can recite the Kuber mantra when installing your yantra or play the Kuber mantra – as recited by Vaidya Mishra – in the background, on soft volume. You can keep the mantra playing in that room 24/7 on soft volume.
In Vedic culture, Lord Kuber is recognized as the initiator of wealth and prosperity. He is the celestial treasurer of the riches of the universe. In an ancient story narrating the marriage of Lord Vishnu (as Venkateshwara) to Padmavati, he is said to have advanced all the money needed to pay for the lavish wedding expenses. Lord Vishnu remained in his debt; hence, to this day, devotees go to the Tirupati temple in South India to donate money in Venkateshwara’s Hundi – “donation pot” – is so that he can pay it back to Kuber!
He appears in many ancient Vedic texts with many different epithets: he enjoys the title of “king of the whole world”, “king of kings” (Rajaraja), “Lord of wealth” (Dhanadhipati) and “giver of wealth” (Dhanada). Kubera is also called Guhyadhipa (“Lord of the hidden”). He is also “dikpala” or protector of the North direction although he is also sometimes associated with the East – it is thus good to install his yantra in the North-East corner of your residence. The Atharvaveda calls him the “god of hiding.” In the Manusmriti, he becomes a respectable Loka-pala or “world protector,” and the patron of merchants. In the epic Mahabharata, Kuber is described as the son of Prajapati Pulastya ,and his wife Idavida and the brother of sage Vishrava.The Puranas and the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana grant Kuber unquestioned “godhood” – executer of the laws of Nature that usher in wealth and prosperity. He is also known as Loka-pala – “world protector.” As the treasurer of the riches of the universe, he is known to have Laxmi Devi’s express blessings, and is usually remembered during Diwali, or the Autumn Festival of Lights in India. Installing Kuber’s Kolam is considered to be highly auspicious.
Light a ghee lamp next to your Kuber Kolam. The light from the ghee is considered divine and opens the Heart Lotus. It is also healing for the eyes. You may practice gently gazing at the ghee flame. Our Peacock Silver ghee lamps (or lotus shaped) are made from pure silver and small enough to have just the perfect flame on this celebratory day – or everyday to start your daily routine. They come with a small jar of Mom’s pure ghee and cotton wicks.
Don’t forget: the festivities are a good opportunity to renew your vows for making the right decisions for more health and happiness. You turn a new page. Eating healthy and fresh, and a daily recommended dose of spice to keep your metabolism optimal is recommended. Now you can carry your spice mix or tridoshic Mom’s Masala and sprinkle on your food when you have to eat out in this ornate 100% sterling silver spice box. Plus it lets you go SVA in style! It’s the perfect way to have your SVA masalas (spice mixes) on the table ready to use. You’ll delight in its elegant craftsmanship and it’s sure to be a great conversation starter. This handsome container makes a great gift item too!
PS: A box this beautiful also lends itself to other uses – your imagination is the limst! You may want to get two: One for the dinner table and one to protect and safe keep your SVA Sterling Silver Chain, Locket, or Jhumki Earrings. Explore all the gift items. Don’t forget: whatever it is, it too shall pass, and all that really matters is to be happy, really happy from within, having relinquished the ups and downs of the manifested world.
We are continuing our practicum sesssions virtually online with great shared bliss. Congrats to all the students who are slowly but surely progressing through assessments for each module. Stay tuned for more news always.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us at: info@prana-center.com, or call us: 1.818.709.1005
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