Veera Pandya, 2 1/2, dances to some songs and chants during Chinmaya Mission's Diwali celebration. She is wearing a bright choli outfit. Photos by Louis Medina

Members of Chinmaya Mission present offerings to the Mother Goddess Lakshmi, believed to be the goddess of wisdom, knowledge and wealth – both spiritual and material.

Youths from Chinmaya Mission's chanting class made their parents proud as they recite from memory from the Bhagavad Gita.

Father and daughter Bahvin and Arya Pandya are all dressed up for Diwali. Dad is wearing a kurti, a tunic-like shirt, and 8-month-old Arya looks all grown up in her festive choli.

By Louis Medina

Happy New Year 2066 – in the Vikram Samwat Indian calendar. It is the year ushered in this past weekend by Diwali, the Hindu, Jain and Sikh festival of lights.

Kern’s growing Indian and Pakistani communities celebrated all weekend long in temples, restaurants and ethnic supermarkets with special decorations, sales, and even free meals to which the general public was invited.

On Bakersfield’s west side, Chinmaya Mission observed the victory of the light of goodness and reason over evil and spiritual darkness at midday on Sunday, Oct. 18, in full devotion to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi.

“We bow down to the mother of all creation,” was one of 108 recitations containing as many names for the Mother Goddess, according to congregation member and yoga teacher Dhaval Buch, a local physical therapist. “We bow down to the goddess of abundant wisdom, divine knowledge and material wealth…We bow down to the embodiment of compassion…We bow down to the highest eternal truth.”

Two women led the congregation of about 250 in the chanting. After the mention of each of Lakshmi’s names, worshippers, who sat in rows on the floor, deposited a rose petal on an offering plate. Once the 108 names had been recited, one of the two prayer leaders rang a bell as she presented offerings of incense, light from an oil lamp and food before an image of the goddess.

“We worship Mother Goddess Lakshmi as the giver of wealth,” local Chinmaya Mission president Dr. Anil Mehta told the faithful. But he stressed that people should not focus on material wealth only. “Pray for inner spiritual wealth and peace,” he encouraged them.

Youths from Chinmaya Mission’s chanting class chanted from memory a passage from the Bhagavad Gita, a holy Hindu text, drawing hearty ahs and applause from the crowd.

Four teenaged girls wearing vibrantly colorful outfits from the north, south, east and west of India, explained the variations of Diwali celebrations in those different regions.

They highlighted such diverse traditions as the setting off of fireworks in the north; the polishing of coins so that money is auspiciously “purified,” leading toward monetary wealth in the new year in the business-minded west; and worshipping the goddess of time and change, Kali, instead of Lakshmi, as the main deity associated with Diwali in the east.

Bhavin Pandya, a local physician of obstetrics and gynecology, was one of Sunday’s celebrants. He was there with his wife, Dipali, and daughters Veera, 2 1/2, and Arya, 8 months. The cuteness of the little girls turned heads in their traditional outfits called choli.

Pandya said he appreciates that Chinmaya Mission takes a didactic approach to worship. “I like that they just don’t do the puja (a ceremony of gratitude expressed through offerings),” he said. “They explain it. They believe in education, not just following tradition.”

After the worship, good will continued to overcome evil thanks to a succulent communal meal of fragrant basmati rice, assorted vegetables in curry sauce, yogurt, chutneys, dumplings and sweets enjoyed amid smiles in the grassy area behind the mission.