Wow sounds amazing!
Happy birthday - hope you have such a wonderful day x
Wow you make it sound delicious 🙂 Hope you have a wonderful time x
Wow it does indeed sound amazing Sunanda and I am very happy for you, I can tell you are happy it shines out of the words you have written!
Enjoy the special festivities for your birthday you deserve it.
Love
Rebecca xx
It's time for me to gather my thoughts and tell you about the day of my puja. I'm in my kitchen, back door open, washing on the line and the sun shining gloriously. Still a little weary from the travelling but sooo content.
On the day of my birthday, last Monday, I had to be in the Temple at 5am to present a new sari to the Goddess. She got forest green this time - she'd wanted yellow but there were no sunny yellow saris to be bought - and the lovely young priest dressed her in it. (How he puts a 5 and a half metre sari on a little stone effigy is beyond me but he does it beautifully.) At 6am the main priest, Jayan, arrived. He's very special: still young, about 30, but with huge presence, devotion and authority. I've known him since 2004 when he was resident priest at the temple. Since then he's gone on to be known throughout Kerala and in Malayali communities in Tamil Nadu, the neighbouring states, and is in demand as a visiting festival priest. He's also a healer and has the ability to knock people out by placing his hand on their heads, just like that Catholic priest in Medugorje in the former Yugoslavia. (I've seen this happen.)
Anyway, the pujas commenced, as they usually do, with a fire ceremony to Ganesh (aka Ganapathi) who is the elephant headed God, son of Shiva, the Lord of new beginnings and opportunities. Different items are placed into the fire, while mantras are chanted. For the first time ever I got to put things into the fire; twigs, fruit, seeds, negativities! At the end I got sent home to have a cup of tea and a rest and was told to come back in half an hour. When I got back, Jayan asked if I had a clean sari with me and I realised that what I'd been told by a friend in England was correct, that they were going to pour the puja water over me! So back I went down the hill to get a change of clothes and as soon as I got back the puja began. To begin with we directed all prayers and mantras towards this decorated pot of water. Eventually I was moved onto a low wooden stool and the water was poured over my head. It was rose water, sweet smelling and delicious, and the sensation was indescribable. After that, I had flower petals (pink lotus petals) showered over my head and a flame waved in front of me. I was worshipped. It was amazing. At the end I was given a platter of fruit (prasad) which I shared with everyone. Then I went to change my wet sari!
After a short wait the birthday lunch arrived. This had been cooked by some local ladies and was delicious. Rice and various curries and pickles, served on the floor on banana leaves. Very traditional. Only problem was that the convention is that as the birthday girl I was supposed to serve everyone before eating myself. This was VERY hard as I hadn't eaten all day and was starving. Also bending down to put dollops of pickle on each leaf or fill water cups was physically challenging and by the time I did get to eat I'd lost my appetite!
Anyway, after this I was able to fall into bed for an afternoon siesta and then was back at the temple for 6pm. This time we worshipped the main deity with flowers, more pink lotus petals and shiny green heart shaped leaves and I was given more fruit at the end. And that was the end of my birthday pujas!
The following day my thoughts about the future all crystallised and the conviction arrived that I should come back for three months in the winter and rent a house. Now this could be problematic as it's a tourist area, high season and expensive. But Kali Ma arranged everything and by sheer 'coincidence' (haha) I 'bumped into' the man I needed to see whose uncle owns the house I rented 12 years ago. To cut a long story short, I met this man and arranged to rent his house for December, January and February. All with no effort on my part! (I had a look at the house and was happy to see a picture of my guru, Amma, there. Either it was one I'd put there in 98 or it had been put there by another devotee who'd stayed in the house after me.)
So everything is totally positive and if you care to take a look in my photo albums I'm about to post a few pix to give you an idea of what it was like.
xxxx
What an amazing time you had Sunanda! It sounded wonderful. The memories you will have from your special 'wise' birthday will last forever. Going to look at your pics now. So pleased you had a lovely birthday. 🙂
Just checked your pics out, beautiful. The happiness shines from you!