Start of the Bretagne Pilgrimage

Yesterday morning in Paris the Pilgrimage group met Swami Vishwananda and from there they went together by bus towards Bretagne.

After some stops at different churches the group visited the Castle of William the Conquerer in Caen. 

New Bhakti-Shop is online!

Our "Media Team" has been working on a new online store for some time.

Now it's done!

Please find below the link to the "the Bhakti Shop":

www.bhaktishop.com

We are happy that we can now finally offer you a well-functioning online store, and we hope you will find many attractive offerings in it!

Payment is now possible with credit card, via direct debit and immediate transfer.

AnantAnanda is overseeing the online shop, Meela will be taking the photos and Urmilaavati will provide the products online, and together with Manorama they will be 
responsible for the clients (from right to left).
P.S.: Countries outside Europe (for example Brazil, USA, Russia, South Africa): our system currently supports only transactions and shipments inside Europe, we are looking into expanding the range, and ask you for your patience meanwhile. If you are from a country outside Europe and are interested in purchasing from our Bhakti Shop, please write us an email to order@bhaktishop.de, so we get a feel for how big the need is for servicing you all. Many thanks. 

Lexus on Auction

With a heavy heart we have to say goodbye to the car in which Swamiji has made many of his trips during the past years.

Pritala (Swami Vijaya) had bought the Lexus CS 430 in the year 2001, and since that time Swamiji has traveled over 250.000 km in it through France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, England and Austria. Often he has also driven the car himself.

Swamiji read, slept, ate and drank, phoned, grumbled, laughed, prayed for you, and meditated in this car. Divine Mother Mary appeared to him in it and we do not know whom else he met there - he spoke about that, if at all, to Pritala, but he actually mostly keeps it for himself.

Now the car has served its purpose, has over 380,000 km on it and has to make room for another car (Skoda). To finance the new (used) car the idea came up to sell the Lexus as a historical object to the highest bidder.

Specifications: Lexus 430 xls, mileage: 387.614 km (including at least 250,000 with Swamiji), 8 tires (winter and summer), lots of extras like heated leather seats with massage, navigation and all the extras you can think of.

The car is registered, is ready to go, but should not be used as an everyday commodity. Perhaps as a meditation area or for other special moments / trips.

The auction will begin promptly at 4.000 € and last till 31/12/2013 at 24:00. Please send your bid to:

lexus@bhaktimarga.org 

(The email goes to Sw VishwaKuru and Drishti and will be answered by one of them)

The current bid can be viewed on the Bhakti Marga front page.

Here Swamiji looks whether he has forgotten some personal belongings in the glove compartment.

 

Prasad during Navaratri

Navaratri is the biggest event wich we celebrate here at Shree Peetha Nilaya. This is the home of the Divine Mother and the festival lasts for 9 (10) days! We had a lot of guests - every day, about 250 at the beginning till 350 on the last weekend! 

There is a tremendous feat - and many of you support us and help with doing Seva! Many thanks to all of you for this! Without Swamiji's blessing and your help this would not be possible!

One of the most impressive Seva Teams is a group of Russians which support Bhyageshree in the kitchen - they are a trained team for years to come on all the big festivals. You heardly see them down in the tent - they are almost always in the kitchen.

They make true art-works on prasadplates for the Divine Mother:

Pictures from the 9th night

This last night of Navaratri was full of different impressions: first the little girls in the 9 different forms of the divine Mother, than Yagna and Abishekam and last but not least the fight of the divine mother against the evil.

In the end of the night everybody who leaves and is not there on the next day for Dussera got the opportunity to go to Swamiji to say good by and get his blessings. 

9th night Navaratri: Siddhidatri Devi

Swami Vishwananda told us 2009: "Durga's ninth mold is the form of "Siddhidatri". She delivers success. According to "Markendeo Puran" there are eight types of success, such as "Anima", "Laghima", "Prapti", "Prakashya", "Mahima", "Ishhattya", "Bashittya", "Sarvakaam bashayita" and "Sarvagyata". But in the "Sri Krishna Janmakhanda" of the "Brahmavaivarta Puran", there are another ten types of success such as "Doorsravan", "Parakayaprabeshan", "Baksiddhi", "Kalpavrikshattwa", "Srishti", "Samharkaransamartha", "Amarattwa", "Sarvanaykattwa", "Bhavna" and "Siddhi". Thus there are eighteen types of successes. Mother Siddhidatri is capable of rendering all these forms of successes to her devotees. According to the Purans, Lord Shiva achieved salvation by the grace of this deity. The deity is seen sometimes sitting on a lotus and sometimes mounted on a lion. She is four armed. The lower right hand of the Goddess holds a disc and the upper right hand holds a club. The lower left hand holds a conch shell and the upper hand holds a lotus. She is worshipped on the ninth day of the Durga puja. She is the ultimate form of the Goddess among the Navadurga. After having performed the worship of the other forms of the Goddess according to the rituals mentioned in the Sashtra, the devotee can then start the worship of this deity. Those who worship the Goddess with full devotion are bestowed with all the success. She has been unified with the forces of sustenance and salvation of the great Lord Vishnu".

8th night Navaratri: Mahagauri Devi

The Mother's eighth form is known as "Mahagauri". She is mounted on an ox and has four hands. Her top right hand is rendering fearlessness and the hand below holds a trident. The top left hand holds a "Damru" and the hand below is in a gesture of giving a boon. To have Shiva as her husband she went through a rigorous penance in the form of "Parvati". As a result of this arduous meditation her complexion turned dark. Lord Shiva, pleased with the devotion of Parvati, bathed her in the holy water of the Ganges. As she bathed in the holy water she turned fair. From then onwards she became known as "Mahagauri". She is worshiped on the eighth day of the Durga puja. The devotee is benefited on all fronts as he worships the deity. Due to the Goddess's grace the devotee attains supernatural salvation, he is relieved from all his pains and fatigue and can set himself free from his previous sins. He is never faced with sorrow and poverty and never commits any sin. The devotee wins pure and endless virtue.

7th night Navaratri: Kaalaratri Devi

Kaalaratri – Mother Goddess's seventh form is "Kaalaratri". Her complexion is as dark as the night. Her cascading hair is let loose and she is seen wearing a garland that radiates light as bright as lightning. She is fearsome with her menacing three eyes, radiating fire. She is mounted on an donkey. She has four hands, of which, the top right hand is in a gesture of rendering boon to all. The other hand on her right is rendering fearlessness. The top left hand is holding an iron dagger and the other hand is holding a sickle. Although she has a menacing appearance, she always delivers favorable results and her devotees need not fear her manifestations. 

She is worshiped on the seventh day of the Durga puja. Devi Kaalratri destroys the evil. If anyone whole-heartedly pleads of saving him from any impending danger, she protects him. As and when the Goddess is called, the evils instantaneously disappear from the place. By the Goddess's grace, the devotees overcome their fear of fire, water, animals and foes.

6th night Navaratri: Katyayani Devi

Katyayani is the sixth form of Devi Durga. Sage Katyaayan was the son of the great sage Kat. Sage Kattayan was born in the "Katya" clan. He was engaged in rigorous penance and worship of "Bhagavati Paramba". His prayer was all about requesting the mother to appear in his house-hold as his daughter. Mother Bhagavati obliged him. After some time, when, the world was terrorized of Mahishasura, Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva with their divine powers gave form to a Goddess to combat asura and destroy him. Katyaayan was the first to worship her and that is why she is known as "Devi Kattayani". It is mentioned in the Shastra that Katyayani was born as the daughter of the sage Kattayan. Taking birth on the fourteenth day of the new moon in "Aashwin" (September-October), she accepted the worship of the sage Kattayan on Saptami, Astami and Navami and ultimately slew Mahishasura on Dashami. The deity‘s complexion is as bright as gold. She has four hands. The top right hand is positioned in a gesture of providing courage and the other hand is positioned in a gesture of rendering a boon. The top left hand is holding a sword and the other holding a lotus. 

The Goddess is mounted on a lion and she is worshiped on the sixth day of the Durga puja. If one worships the deity with a pure soul he attains success in religion, wealth, passion and salvation. Disease, sorrow and fear are eliminated. Worship of this deity helps one to emancipate himself from the sin he may have committed over the cycle of his births and rebirths. We should all devote our prayers to the mother to lead a better life.

5th night Navaratri: Skandamata Devi

The fifth aspect of the Mother Durga is known as ‘Skanda Mata’ - the mother of Skanda or Lord Kartikeya, who was chosen by gods as their commander in chief in the war against the demons. She is worshipped on the fifth day of Navaratri. She is accompanied by the Lord Skanda in his infant form. Skanda Mata has four arms and three eyes, holds the infant Skanda in her right upper arm and a lotus in her right hand which is slightly raised upwards. The left arm is in pose to grant boons with grace and in left lower hand which is raised also holds a lotus. She has a bright complexion and often depicted as seated on a lotus.

Swami Vishwananda said in his speach 2009:

"Skandamata – The fifth form of the mother is known as Skandamata. Kumar Kartik‘s other name is Skanda. As devi Durga is the mother of Kartik, she is referred to as "Skandamata". This form of the deity has four arms. The mother is seen holding her son Skanda with the top right hand and she is holding a lotus in her lower hand. The top left hand is positioned in a blessing gesture and the other hand holds a lotus. The goddess is fair and sits on a lotus. That is why the devi is also known as "Padmasana". Here she is seen mounted on a lion. If anyone worships her whole-heartedly, she fulfills the wish of the devotee."

Pictures from the 4th night

Yesterday 2 of our Rishis, Tulsidasananda and Pramod, performed the puja for Kushmanda Devi:

And always between the pujas, when the curtain was closed, there was a lot of happy stick-dancing together with Swamiji.

Even Ramayotee was dancing as there was no chance to meditate ;-)  

Some of our Swamis did also to a sporty stick dance! 

In the kitchen our russian prasad-team made, extra for Kushmanda Devi, 9 little pumpkins filled with sweet pumpkin cream: