Gobind Sadan
Every year, Gobind Sadan celebrates the nine days of the Goddess with great love and enthusiasm. As before, Puja was carried on daily in Maharaj ji’s World Peace Havan by Hardip Singh and Ranvir Singh Khanna, under the supervision of Pandit Mishra. On the final day, many devotees came for a big havan and various ceremonies, including special honouring of one young girl and then feeding of 9 young girls representing the nine forms of the Goddess and one young boy representing Hanuman.
The night before, Gobind Sadan’s gardeners enthusiastically carried on a 24-hour recitation of the Ramayana at Mataji’s temple on the hillside. When the reading was finished, a special havan was held in the temple and food offerings were made to the deities and then the sangat. The gardeners and other staff members also made lunch for everyone in the community.
In addition, several families prepared special foods to honour the Goddess in their homes by feeding 9 young girls and one young boy. In those homes as in the temple and big havan, the families and children also performed ceremonies including aarti to the Goddess.
As always, Gobind Sadan devotees of many religions—including Sikhs, Muslims, and Christians as well as Hindus—happily joined in celebrating this festival in honour of the divine feminine power.