Goddess Annapurna is the Goddess of food and nourishment and is considered as the sustainer of prosperity. In Sanskrit language the word Anna means food and grains and Purna means full or complete. By worshipping Her, one will never be out of food anytime in life. Mata Sri Annapurneshwari Devi is the Goddess for the fourth day of Durga Navrathri.She is a form of the Goddess Parvati, the consort of Lord Shiva. Annapurna is the Goddess of Nourishment, She who is full, complete, and perfect with food and grains.
Mother Goddess Annapurneswari is the presiding deity at Banaras or Varanasi. She is the Mother who graces food to everybody. The Godess of Varanasi also fed King Harishchandra's children. There are many Annapoorni temples in India where food is freely served every day to every one i.e. Dharmasthala in Karnataka. The ever bountiful figure of Annapurna (Lakshmi in her form as the giver of food) giving food shows only one aspect of the process that of giving.
Annapurna Devi is Goddess of Food.Devotees offer several different kinds of culinary delicacies to Mother Annapurna and pray for Her blessings of wisdom, renunciation, and completeness.
She is a form of the Goddess Parvati, the consort of Lord Shiva. She is depicted with a jeweled vessel containing food in one hand and a spoon in the other to distribute the food to her devotees.
Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati used to play the game of dice. Once the game became so interesting that they started betting Parvati kept her jewels and Shiva his trident. Shiva lost the game and lost his trident.
To get back his trident, Shiva betted serpent and this time too he lost the game. Finally, when the game ended, Shiva lost all that he had including his begging bowl. A humiliated Shiva left for the Deodar forest. Lord Vishnu approached Shiva and asked him to play again to win back all that he had lost. Taking advice from Vishnu, Shiva played again and won all that he had lost in the previous game.
Goddess Parvati grew suspicious about Shiva's sudden turn of fortunes and called him a cheat. This led to a verbal duel between the couple. Finally, Lord Vishnu intervened and revealed that the dice moved as per His wish and they were under the illusion that they were playing.Symbolically, life is like a game of dice - unpredictable and beyond control. Verbal duel soon turned to philosophical discussion and Lord Shiva said that possessions are temporary everything is Maya (illusion) even the food we eat is Maya.
Goddess Parvati did not agree that food is illusion. She argued that if food is illusion I am also an illusion. She wanted to know how the world would survive without food and disappeared.Her disappearance meant Nature came to a stand still. There were no seasonal changes. Everything remained barren. There was regeneration or birth. Soon there was severe drought and shortage of food.Shiva soon realized that he is incomplete without Shakti. Gods, humans and demons all kept praying for food. Goddess Parvati could not see her children perishing out hunger and appeared in Kashi ( Varanasi ) and started distributing food. Shiva appeared before her with a begging bowl and Goddess Parvati fed Shiva. Shiva said that food cannot be dismissed as mere illusion as it is required to nourish the body in which resides the Atma. Since then Goddess Parvati is worshipped as the Goddess of food Annapoorna Devi.
Mantras of Goddess Annapurna
Given below are Annapurneshwari Mata Mantras.
Om Annapurnayai Namaha
Om Sadapurnayai Namaha
'Om Hrim Namo Bhagavati Maheswari Annapurne Swaha
Om Hreem Shreem Kleem Namo Bhagwatye Maheshwari Annapurne Swaha
Design: Made in heavy shining brass.
Brass is well known for its grasping capacity. It grasps the divine spirit upto 30%, when compared to other metals. The spiritual vibrations are attracted towards these shining idols easily.
Dimensions: 5.25 inches (H) x 3.25 inches (W) x 2.5 inches (depth) (12.5 x 7 x 6 cms approx)
Weight: 840 gms approx
Importance of Idol worship: Idols are not the idle fancies of sculptors, but shining channels through which the heart of the devotee is attracted to and flows towards God. Though the image is worshipped, the devotee feels the presence of the Lord in it and pours out his devotion unto it. Regular worship, Puja and other modes of demonstrating our inner feeling of recognition of Divinity in the idol unveils the Divinity latent in it. This is truly a wonder and a miracle. The picture comes to life. The idol speaks. It will answer your questions and solve your problems. The God in you has the power to awaken the latent Divinity in the idol. The lives of Mirabai, Sant Tukaram, Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Shri Yogananda are a few instances to prove the point. They proved beyond doubt that idol worship has its own brighter side and through simple faith and intense devotion one can realize God through it.
Idols are the "finite representation of the Infinite". As per Vishnu Samhita (ch 29, v 55-7), persuasively endorses the use of imagery (idols) and puts it:"Without a form how can God be mediated upon? If (He is) without any form, where will the mind fix itself? When there is nothing for the mind to attach itself to, it will slip away from meditation or will glide into a state of slumber. Therefore the wise will meditate on some form, remembering, however, that the form is a superimposition and not a reality."