Greetings and salutations my fellow brothers and sisters from across the ocean. I pray that the Gods will bless you today and that you may be uplifted by the auspicious time of the year in which we currently find ourselves. Coming up in the next day or two we have the arrival of the new moon which brings with it the annual Festival known as Diwali or Dipavali.
We find ourselves now halfway through the lunar month called kartika. This month began at the full moon just two weeks ago and now at the halfway point around the new moon which is imminent, we have a particularly festive event of the perhaps most dearly loved occasion in the Year called Diwali. This is a very auspicious time for us all where we can harness the potential to make further progress on our spiritual journey back to godhead.
Diwali is a glorious occasion. I'm sure you know more about it than I do. Nevertheless at this time we can purchase for ourselves some new garments to wear signifying the start of the news cycle. This is also the occasion of the worship of goddess Lakshmi Devi.
Lakshmi Devi is the consort of Vishnu the chief god of the entire Pantheon so to speak. Lakshmi can be worshipped around this new Moon occasion which is upon us. Of course, if we understand that Lakshmi is the consort or partner of Vishnu also known as Narayana, then we will understand that Lakshmi actually belongs to Vishnu. The most appropriate way to show respect for goddess Lakshmi is to offer worship to her as the partner of Vishnu in the Divine couple.
This is how the supreme personality of godhead is seeing and has been worshipped throughout the ages. The godhead is worshipped as a divine couple. The male and female counterparts are both present in the godhead who are worshipped with great devotion and love. In this way we do not simply pray to Goddess Lakshmi to bestow on us Good Fortune and wealth for our mundane selfish sense gratification. Rather we pray to Goddess Lakshmi to be of service to her and her Lord Vishnu. We meditate rather on being of service to the Divine couple.
Ultimately Vishnu aka Krishna is the master of the universe and Lakshmi aka Radha is also adored as the supreme goddess. In other words Good Fortune or material prosperity which originally comes by the mercy of Lakshmi is best used in the service of the original owner of Lakshmi, namely Vishnu.
This is how we can channel the Good Fortune that we may be blessed with by Vishnu and Lakshmi. A life of service to the Divine couple, even if lived in a very frugal way with humble means, is by far superior to a life of luxury and opulence, if it is a mere indulgence of the senses which lead sometimes to forgetfulness of the real goal of life, as well as the actual priorities for the eternal spirit soul as we journey in this world lifetime after lifetime in the cycle of repeated death and birth.
So I pray that on this glorious occasion we may all be blessed by the mercy of Lakshmi Devi and her consort Vishnu the supreme personality of godhead.