What is a Lakshmi Puja?
(to be held on Friday, August 4th)
CPC will be holding a Lakshmi Puja during the Gathering, at the Dance Pavilion on Friday evening. The following explanation of Lakshmi and puja was provided by Black Lotus, who discuss Lakshmi and other members of the Indian pantheon as a featured guest of this year's Summer Gathering. --Thoron Woodling, Gathering Registrar
Lakshmi
The Hindu Goddess of Multiplicity and Abundance, Lakshmi is seen as Consort of Vishnu the Preserver. As Vishnu's Shakti, she makes accessible all the things in the material world that make life worth living. Portrayed as a beautiful, shy woman dressed in red or pink, with four arms holding two lotuses, perhaps a khumba or treasure vase, and making the gestures of removing fear and of granting boons. She also stands or sits on a lotus (the lotus flower is one of her pre-eminent symbols), often she is accompanied by white elephants who pour purifying water over her with their trunks. She is fond of ornamentation and jewelry, especially necklaces; she is portrayed as rising out of the sea; she is a Mother Goddess, and bore the love-god, Kama! She has obvious analogues with the Greek Aphrodite, with Norse Freyja, with Yoruba Oshun, and Egyptian Hathor.
Lakshmi is invoked for matters of love and financial blessing. Actually, she has eight major aspects, invoked in the quarters and cross-quarters, for wealth of:
PUJA
A puja is a Hindu offering ritual, in which the spirit of the deity is brought into a statue or image, and treated like an honored guest. Nighttime pujas involve five major offerings (incense, water, lamps, flowers, and chanting; representing the five elements). Participants may throw flower petals over the image, make a small prayer, and receive consecrated (lacto-vegetarian) food and flowers to eat or take home.