Varalakshmi Pooja Wishes
Varalaxmi Vratha or Mahalakshmi Vrata is a sacred day in Hinduism. The ceremony is performed by married Hindu ladies on the Friday before the full moon in the month of Sravana in the Hindu calendar (corresponding to July/August in the western calendar). Those who cannot perform it on that day, can do it on any other Friday in that month. This is an important Vratha, meaning a vowed religious observance in Sanskrit. Varamahalakshmi Vratha is performed more commonly in the southern India.
Puja is performed by married Hindu women to seek the blessings of the goddess Mahalakshmi, wife of Lord Vishnu, who is considered to be the abode of wealth and prosperity. There is a legend that says that this vratam was recommended by Lord Shiva to his wife Parvati to gain wealth and prosperity.
On the day of Varalakshmi vratam, women clean their homes and decorate their front yards with rangolis (colorful designs traced on the floor). Later, they take a bath and deck themselves with beautiful clothes and jewellery. They invite neighboring laides to their homes and offer them tamboolam, an offering consisting of betel leaves, fruits, betel nuts, vermilion, turmeric and dakshina (money). Hence this festival is observed largely by women, invoking the blessings of Lakshmi on them, their husbands and their children.
God bless all of us.
- Srilaja Kanth
