Chandika Devālaya
House of Goddess Chandi
(a Lalita Chandika Temple)
Week One Challenge, January 4, 2021
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Decide What You Want
Welcome to Week 1 of the Align with the Divine Challenge!
This week we’re going to be talking about what you REALLY want and how to get there.
Ready?
Reflection:
I’m going to say something that’s going to sound a little bit crazy, but I will say it anyway.
You can have WHATEVER you want!
Do you want a spiritual awakening or spiritual evolution? It can be done.
Do you want to be wealthy? No problem.
Do you want a healthier body? Sure.
Do you want extraordinary relationships? Ok.
You can really accomplish anything you want and take your life to the next level. This may sound like infomercial mumbo jumbo, but it’s not.
It just takes clarity toward your objective, alignment of your energy toward that goal, following through on your objectives, and ultimately, blessings from the Goddess.
But let's now worry about the HOW just yet. In week one let's just focus on the WHAT. What is it that you REALLY want.
To help you along in this endeavor, I have offered below a framework, or structure, on how to think through your life passion and goals and narrow down what you really want out of life.
The "Align with the Divine" Framework:
Maha Lakshmi is the Goddess of Wealth. She represents ALL wealth, not just financial wealth and comes in eight forms which help us dissect the different aspects of our life. The Align with the Divine framework is derived from Mahalakshmi's eight forms.
Below are the eight forms of Maha Lakshmi along with an explanation and the key benefits (in bold) that She can bring into your life.
These benefits can be used as a foundation of discovering your passion and what you truly want out of life.
Adi Lakshmi: continuous flow of wealth and prosperity (no beginning, no end) which can support spiritual endeavors, quiets the mind, and embeds a sense of peace and happiness in your life; She brings stability such as financial stability and emotional stability
Dhana Lakshmi: wealth of money, income, land, property; She blesses you with inner strength, willpower, courage, determination, talent and perseverance to attain wealth; She brings financial wealth, spiritual virtues
Dhanya Lakshmi: wealth of grain and health, and also the ability to enjoy the pleasures in life without guilt; She provides for the necessities of the physical body
Dhairya (Veera) Lakshmi: wealth of patience, strength, courage bravery, and valor in all of life's challenges; She blesses you to overcome difficulties; She fosters in us spiritual virtues, spiritual wisdom
Gaja Lakshmi: wealth of animals, the power to rule over your own life situation, and royalty resulting from dharmic character (dignity, honor, and righteousness); She bless you with a meaningful life of contribution (to others, society) and to a sense of independence/freedom
Santan Lakshmi: wealth of children, a desirable family, good social connections including friends and well-wishers. It also can signify your legacy. She is the social aspect of your life and grants you harmonious relationships/emotional intelligence
Vijay Lakshmi: wealth of victory in all areas of life and the inner strength and attitude to win by overcoming all hurdles on the path; She molds your character to be victorious; She blesses you with the achievement of your life mission (work/career/objectives) and activates spiritual virtue and spiritual wisdom
Vidya Lakshmi: wealth of wisdom, knowledge, arts, sciences; She grants spiritual wisdom
Summarizing all of the blessings from the eight forms of Lakshmi into the illustration below, gives you an easy way to think about your life, your passions, and develop your purposes accordingly.
The list below starts with the most essential basic needs (stability, physical) and moves to those aspects of life that aren't essential, but rather exceptional or extraordinary (spiritual growth, freedom, contribution to society).
Action:
This first challenge is designed to find your passion in life and helps to narrow down what you really want.
Do this challenge throughout the week, spending a little time on it every day by thinking it through and ultimately by the end of the week, craft some ideas on what you REALLY want. You will need a journal to write in, or you may use your computer.
Write down all of the things that you love in your life. Just write it down in your journal as quickly as you can. List maybe three to 10 things.
Now, write down what you like doing - what you are REALLY passionate about doing, about learning, about becoming, about being. Again, try to list at least three to 10 things.
Now take both lists from (1. and 2.), and assign them to one of the eight categories above (stability, physical body..... independence, contribution). This gives you an idea of where your focus has been and where your past efforts have impacted the eight areas of life. It also shows you the gaps.
By the end of the week, write down what you REALLY want. Try to list at least three things. Do you want what you already have? Or are there gaps that you would like to fill in? Think of things that would truly make a difference in your life. Things that if you had, or if you accomplished, it would create a new destiny for you.
Go ahead! Go for it! That's the Week One challenge! Start today and stay in a committed state throughout the week. Join the WhatsApp group to share and stay inspired. See you tonight at 7:00 PM PST on Zoom (link below).