Worship Goddess Kamadhenu on Fridays and Goddess Lakshmi will bless you with Abundance

In India, cows have been treated as sacred and as a personification of Goddess Kamadhenu. Vedas say that Goddess Kamadhenu is a cosmos where all the Gods, Goddess, Devas including the Trinity (Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma along with their Consorts) reside. It is also stated in the myths that offering prayers to Goddess Kamadhenu is equivalent to worshipping our ancestors and hence it is considered to be auspicious to feed the cows on a New Moon Day. The cow is worshipped every day and has a very major significance in family rituals. The cow is called as Kamadhenu, the wish-fulfilling sacred cow.

Gho Pooja means worshipping Goddess Kamadhenu. Puranas say that Mother Kamadhenu ("Gho Matha") emanated from the milky ocean while the Devas and Asuras were churning the ocean and she was taken into possession by Devas. As Kamadhenu fulfilled the wishes of all, the Devas flourished with her divine grace.

Once Kamadhenu left the Devas and reached the Ashram of Sage Vasishta. The Brahma Rishi started Kamadhenu Pooja (worshipping of the sacred cow). Legend goes that King Dileepa was blessed with a child with the divine grace of Kamadhenu and he performed Kamadhenu Pooja as per the instructions of the Brahma Rishi. It is said that Vasishtar was an inspiration for all to understand the importance of "Gho Pooja" and the benefits that could be accrued through this worship.

Performance of Homa for Goddess Lakshmi along with Gho Pooja is the most appropriate way of propitiating Goddess Lakshmi that too on a Friday that falls during the Tamil month of Thai (mid Jan to Mid Feb). To perform this Gho Pooja and Lakshmi Homa on a Friday is more auspicious because Venus rules Friday and the Overlord of Venus is Goddess Lakshmi. Worshipping Goddess Lakshmi on a Friday also helps you in gaining the blessings of Venus who bestows you with pleasures and comforts in life.

The performance of Gho pooja along with Lakshmi Homa is significantly important as many benefits are accrued through this ritual. This ritual helps you in gaining the blessings and grace of Goddess Lakshmi. Worshipping mother Kamadhenu helps in alleviating the sins committed by our Ancestors and also in wiping out the ancestral curse. Losses in business can be overcome by the performance of this worship. Debts can be easily resolved. Problems created by enemies would easily vanish.

Significance of Gho Pooja: (Courtesy Agnisiksha.org)

The word "Gho" means cow in Sanskrit. Thus "Gho Pooja" means worship of the cow. The Siddhas instruct us that Gho Pooja is an important daily worship procedure. They point out that a cow is so spiritually pure that millions and millions of deities take residence in and around a cow. Thus the very space occupied by a cow is holy ground. Only very pure souls can take birth as cows. Humankind should realize the spiritual significance of cows and learn how these docile animals can contribute to our spiritual upliftment.

A human's bodily waste can only cause harm, whereas a cow's bodily waste can heal! A cow's bodily waste in the form of urine and dung are used in Siddha and Ayurveda medicinal systems to create drugs. Cow dung is used in havan, homas and other ceremonies. Thus a cow's bodily waste can contribute to the spiritual upliftment of humans! A cow's bodily waste helps us get rid of the impurities in our minds! This is something that humans should think about. This is an "atma vichar" point; we should think about it for extended periods of time and realize the spiritual significance of cows. This is the advice of the Siddhas.

In today’s world it has become an order of the day that many people live their lives with unfulfilled desires and ambitions. Everyone is not able to experience the divine grace of Goddess Lakshmi. People suffer due to many problems – lack of proper sleep, stress, insufficient financial status, lack of harmony in the family, strained relationships, children’s education, their growth and so on.

Our ancestors have devised various rituals to be performed to get the grace and blessings to Goddess Lakshmi. One of the very easiest and simplest ritual is performing a Gho Pooja on a Friday every month. By regularly performing the Gho pooja, you can overcome your karma, dissolve your sins, yours problems will be resolved and most importantly Goddess Lakshmi will shower her blessings and grace.

Even in very powerful temples like Thiruvannamalai, Thiruvannaika and other important temples, every day before the temple rituals begin, they perform the Gho Pooja.

Gho Poojas are regularly performed in temples. One such powerful temple is the Arulmigu Thaiyal Nayaki Amman and Vaithyanatha Swami temple in Poovirunthavalli.

Poovirunthavalli is situated 25 km away from Chennai on the western side. It is said that many Kings and saints offered prayers here. As per mythology Kalaimagal (Goddess Saraswati) and Thirumagal (Goddess Mahalakshmi) performed Poojas here sitting on the white lotus and red lotus respectively. This temple is almost 1,600 years old. Lord Shiva is in the form of Lord Vaidyanatha, who cures all types of ailments and diseases. Offering worships in this temple will help in overcoming health problems.

This temple is unique because Kalaimagal (Goddess Saraswathi), Thirumagal (Goddess Lakshmi) and Malaimagal (Goddess Parvati (in the form of Thaiyalnayaki)) bless the devotees and fulfill their wishes.

The Rajagopuram (the main tower of the temple or the prime tower) faces the north, which is the direction of Lord Kubera. Hence if one performs special poojas in this temple, they will be blessed with wealth. As per the legends Lord Brahma, Vishnu, "Dharmaputhiran, Gundotharan and Karkodayan" offered prayers to the presiding deities of this temple.