It started out with the brass "OM" on the bookshelf during my student days. I purchased the Om along with a booklet of Swami Vivekananda's lectures, at a road-side stall in Kanya Kumari. Reading Vivekananda's 1893 lecture to the World Congress of Religions in Chicago, was a pivotal moment in my life. It sparked self-realization and started a life long journey. This "Om" thus graces the top of my home shrine.
As I left home to start my studies, my mother gave me the framed photograph of Shri Ramnath, our family deity in Goa. A tulsi bead rosary is wrapped around the frame. On either side of the frame are antique figurines holding lamps. To the right is a silver 'throne' with two ganapati murthis and a lakshmi. To the left is a baby krishna crawling on both his knees and one hand; the right hand is raised.
On the lower shelf is a sandal wood murthi of Udupi Krishna in a mandap. Three silver medallions with beautifully engraved facsimiles of Venkatesha, Satya Narayana and Sudarshan - memories of the spirituality at the Balaji Temple in Pittsburgh. The round silver ball to the left has a delicately carved peacock on top, and twists open to store vermilion. Silver dabbas on each end contain vibhuti. Hanging off the frame is a Swiss cowbell, with a ring reminiscent of temples bells.
The wood stand is from the Bombay store. The rabbit-motif backdrop was left over from the previous owners and I arranged the shelves accordingly.
Below the stand is a wooden stool on which I light a small oil lamp every morning after I shower. Then I say a small prayer, thanking him 'the knower of all' for all the good that I have been blessed with, recollect the challenges of the day, and ask for her guidance. This is a time to remember my extended family residing all over this planet, and ask blessings for them and to protect them. I pray for wisdom, for us all, so we can carry out our destiny with our heads held high. And then I lower my head to the floor in a namaskar.
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