Imagine a simple black table draped with an ochre silk cloth, laden with flowers in pink, orange, yellow and peach. Pink-crimson peaches, golden yellow mangoes, ripe bananas, dark dark plums, bright oranges – side by side with Ganeshas in different sizes and colours. Ganesha in wood, dark and lustrous, Ganesha in marble, smooth and clear and yet another one in dark-coloured stone. Shri Krishna, Guruvayoorappan, Guruji, Hanuman, Balaji – all gracing the occasion. Bowls filled with almonds, raisins, sugar candy, dates, cashewnuts. Glasses filled with milk-honey-juice-yogurt, more bowls filled with turmeric and kumkum poweder, smell of incense and camphor pervading the house, the fire surging mightily at the sandalwood powder, sand, cashewnuts, almonds and coconuts.
All ends well. The Ganapati Homam, Navagraha Shanti and Vaastu Pooja was completed this morning along with Shanti Homam. The priest was extremely nice and knowledgable. He gave the home his stamp of approval and said that as per the rules of Vaastushastra, our home was quite ideally placed. He blessed us after the Pooja and said that this would be the year when all our debts would be redeemed and we would start life anew. I am not exactly sure what *debts* he meant but it is good news anyway! The altar arrangement was such pure delight to the senses. The sounds, the scents, the sights – so beautiful. I was in two minds: whether to take pictures or not. Ultimately, I decided that some moments are to be enjoyed, to be experienced, to be completely immersed in, chuck the camera!
Some weeks later, when all Art of Living folks get back from the Guru Poornima celebrations in San Mateo, we’ll organize a Satsang and then our homecoming will be complete.
Update 1: Something I forgot to mention: Yesterday was a wonderful day as per the Hindu calendar. It was Ekadashi of the Ashadh month and the Nakshatra was Swati. The significance of the day is not quite clear to me but the priest mentioned that all festivals start off from this day and the doors of Vaikunth open…:-) The explanation suffices! I wore a saree yesterday – actually draped it myself and that’s a first time for me! It was not difficult at all and Pinch was quite impressed by the way I handled it all through. Running up and down the staircase, rising and sitting down multiple times during the Pooja – it was a breeze…:-) And again, Pinch and I were unknowingly colour coordinated with him in a flame coloured silk kurti and me in an orangish-yellow saree!
Update 2: Also forgot to mention the paal-paayasam that I made the night before last. Of course, the milk started burning and sticking, it being whole milk laden with cream. After a lot of clumsy handling of the burnt cream, it finally started looking better and oh man, it tasted divine! Of course, I had dunked a cup of raw cane sugar in it and the end result was this creamy, soft brown-coloured, rich, sweet paayasam that got the ‘Wow!’ from some other more *experienced* cooks…:-) I made a meal of it after the Pooja! And the fruits that were offered during the Pooja… wow! For some reason, divine maybe (!), they tasted WONDERFUL. The peaches had ripened to the right point, the plums were juicy and delicious and the mangoes, I bet, will taste great as well. I think that’s what my today’s lunch will comprise of: peaches, plums, bananas, oranges and mangoes! What luxury…
dunefield says:
Congrats!
Now that all that is done, you can take an architect’s advice. Check out your air-condiitoning system (if you have any, i say that because most Bay-Area places don’t have one) and find out it’s HSPF, COP etc. This should tell you the efficiency of your system. The higher the HSPF, the better, 12 and above would give you a good energy efficiency.I don’t know what kind of air-conditioning system you have, if it’s a heat pump then the efficiency factor would be in HSPF.Energy Star appliances are good to have.
Next check your windows and doors, make sure that they are double pane low-e glass at the minimum. Do a smoke test, take an agarbatti near the edges of the window/door frame and check how air-tight your windows/doors are.If they let out too much smoke then think of a sealant. These should reduce your energy costs.
Those are the two most important steps to maximum advantage and minimum energy use of your cooling/heating system. It’s possible that this is redundant information and you might have done that already.
Best of Luck!
July 7, 2006 — 1:41 am
arunshanbhag says:
let me know when you will be in the boston area, you can test my house too 😉
don’t worry, I will provide the agarbatti!
heeee heeeee!
July 7, 2006 — 3:38 am
dunefield says:
sure will do that! no probs.
if u actually tell me ur house/apt size and what it looks like with correct dimensions, i can actually tell u what your energy bill is and what it could be if ur place wa splanned correctly and the specs were good.
July 7, 2006 — 4:14 am
Lakshmi says:
Thanks, A. We had a qualified person come and take a look at all these factors before closing. Nevertheless, I’ll ask Pinch to confirm on these.
July 7, 2006 — 11:11 am
kookygoblin says:
Congratulations! May your new home bring you happiness and joy.
July 7, 2006 — 1:54 am
Lakshmi says:
Thanks, Aditi!
July 7, 2006 — 11:11 am
arunshanbhag says:
Congratulations on the Griha Pravesha! What a joyous occasion!
what? you don’t have a mortgage? prolly thats the debt the priest was referring to.
and pl do take pics during the satsang.
July 7, 2006 — 3:40 am
Lakshmi says:
🙂 Aisi kismat kahaan ke we don’t have mortgage. Sure we do! Maybe he was referring to something other than monetery debts.
Will take pics during Satsang, for sure.
July 7, 2006 — 11:12 am
bhuvi says:
Good Luck 🙂
July 7, 2006 — 4:21 am
Lakshmi says:
Thanks, Bhavya.
July 7, 2006 — 11:12 am
chandrahasa says:
Congrats 🙂 Hope your new home bring you tons of happiness.
July 7, 2006 — 5:29 am
Lakshmi says:
Thanks very much.
July 7, 2006 — 11:17 am
jonquille_s says:
Congrats to u and Pinch!!
July 7, 2006 — 10:42 am
Lakshmi says:
Thanks, R!
July 7, 2006 — 11:17 am
jonquille_s says:
Hey post some pics of ur payasam…
I made one too for the first time for my son’s first b’day and it came out very well with a light pink colour(acc to inlaws)…but i dont have much of a sweet tooth to appreciate it
July 7, 2006 — 11:57 am
Lakshmi says:
Paayasam does not look that great now since it’s nearly over!
July 7, 2006 — 5:25 pm
shri says:
Thank you, for evoking the images with your words. It must have been a beautiful pooja. 🙂
Yesterday was a wonderful day as per the Hindu calendar. It was Ekadashi of the Ashadh month and the Nakshatra was Swati.
I am puzzled by this statement, since, here, in India, today, the 7th July, 2006, it is Ekadashi of the Ashadh month. I know this for a fact and also because I keep a fast on this particular day.
July 7, 2006 — 3:37 pm
Lakshmi says:
Yes, it was a lovely Pooja. About the Ekadashi, I am not sure.. there must be some explanation to it depending on the place in question…?
July 7, 2006 — 5:26 pm
sat_chit_anand says:
Muhurata and Tithi is the same at all the places in the world at a given time (from whatever little I know about Panchang). So 7th July in India (or in Eastern Hemisphere) will mean 6th July in USA (Western Hemisphere) but they are at the same time (meaning same instance) although the local date/time differ.
July 7, 2006 — 6:37 pm
Lakshmi says:
Yes, that was what I had guessed as well.
July 7, 2006 — 7:20 pm
shri says:
Hi!
Thanks, for clearing that up. 🙂
July 8, 2006 — 3:42 pm
nithya says:
wow.. the menu definitely did sound good…
the mention of the homam actually triggered that familiar smell of ghee poured into fire alon with the strong fragrance of turmeric filling up the whole house…
the smell of fresh flowers mixed with that .. i can still smell it everytime i think of it..
you guys have a wonderful time babe…
July 7, 2006 — 4:52 pm
Lakshmi says:
Stronger than turmeric was the smell of camphor… lovely! Pinch suggested that we light it daily. What with the carpets and living in a wood house, that does not make sense..:-)
July 7, 2006 — 5:27 pm
nithya says:
oh i totally dig the smell of camphor…
in fact i used to powder a little bit into coconut oil before applying it onto my hair…. just to cool my head…
carpets wood house.. just done leave it while you arent at home.. otherwise i think its perfectly safe.. i used to light saamraani everyday..
fills the house with a nice divine smell
July 7, 2006 — 5:35 pm
goofy_duck2004 says:
What an auspicious occassion! Your description of the pooja could easily be visualized with the words you used 🙂 Lovely.
I love the smell of Camphor…. any kind of dhoop.
July 7, 2006 — 6:17 pm
Lakshmi says:
Thanks, Manju. I partly wish that I had taken pictures, but never mind..:-)
July 7, 2006 — 7:19 pm
Lakshmi says:
I have started to love the smell of Karpoor myself.
July 7, 2006 — 7:20 pm
deelight says:
Hey. where are the pics…C’mon.
July 10, 2006 — 7:46 am
Lakshmi says:
No pics for this one.
July 10, 2006 — 8:34 pm