Lakshmi Puja @ Sobha Palladian, 20 Oct 2019.

According to legend, Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and Lord Vishnu's wife, visits her devotees and bestows gifts and blessings upon each of them. 

To welcome the Goddess, devotees clean their houses, decorate them with finery and lights, and prepare sweet treats and delicacies as offerings. Devotees believe the happier Lakshmi is with the visit, the more she blesses the family with health and wealth. (ref. Wiki)

On the day of Lakshmi Pujan, people open their doors and windows to welcome Lakshmi, and place diya lights on their windowsills and balcony ledges to invite her in.. Lakshmi symbolizes wealth and prosperity, and her blessings are invoked for a good year ahead. (Ref Wiki)

Traditionally, on this day, the mothers, who work hard all year, are recognized by the family.

At Sobha Palladian, we performed & celebrated Lakshmi Puja last Sunday 20 Oct 2019.

And we invited all the support staff – the house keeping, the security, maintenance crew and others to this puja and recognized them for their hard work and dedication to their work.

The Puja venue was the association room which bore a festive atmosphere with decorations of balloons and streamers. At one corner a table with pictures of Lord Ganesha and Lakshmi were decorated with flowers and garlands. A tray filled with flowers and fruits along with all essentials items were neatly arranged for ready access during the puja ritual.

Rangaraj Vaadiyaar (the priest from the nearby Venkateshwara temple) came promptly at 11.50 AM for the 12 noon Puja.

   

He started with Gaensha Manthram, the traditional invoking of Lord Ganapathi’s blessings before starting any important  event . 

And with a loud resounding voice with a nasal twang he recited the shlokas in succession.

Guru Prarthana,  Srinivasa (Ishta Devata), Rama & Hanuman Prarthana.

Sankalpam on behalf of all the persons present.

Ganapathi Puja with flowers and akshadai (yellow/red colored  puja rice)

Lakshmi Pujan -  The Lakshmi Ashtothram (the recital of the 108 names of Goddes Lakshmi).

Deepam and Mangalarathi !

He then invited all the SP flat owners to join him and he recited a few Lakshmi Mantra – For our Financial Prosperity, Intelligence and Understanding.

This time the attendance from, the SP residents was low.

And it was understandable.  
The night before, 19^th Oct night, we had the Dandiya & Diwali NIte celebration.

And with a heavy dose of Dandiya dancing and a sumptuous dinner at the food truck and some delicious home made chicken as well and probably some free flowing daru later, most folks did not wake up before 12 noon the next day.

However the turnout from the SP support staff was near 100%. Only Jeet Singh our Security supervisor could not come as he was visiting his hometown.

Venki  and Jayashree addressed the gathering in our clubhouse. Venki (in English) and Jayashree  (Kannada & Hindi) thanked all the SP support staff for their efforts and dedication in keeping Palladian neat & tidy, secure & safe.

And then starting with Mr Shettigar, each resident came forward to handover a gift packet to each of the support staff member.

Coincidentally Ahila (Venki’s wife) handed a gift packet to Akhila!

And Chandralekha (Shettigar’s wife) gifted Chandrkala!!

And we called it a day.

And a BIG thank you and sincere appreciation to all the people who so generously contributed to this Diwali gifting event.

And we plan to keep the ‘Diwali gifting’ WhatsApp group live for any future events as well. So please do not exit from this group. Others are welcome join too

The gifting is purely voluntary. The gift amount is also kept strictly confidential.

Ref. last year's account.  http://sobhapalladianblogworld.blogspot.com/2018/11/lakshmi-puja-sobha-palladian.html

Krish, Venki, Srini.