Today is Akshaya Tritiya

Akshaya Tritiya, also known as Akha Teej is a Hindu and Jain holy day, that falls on the third Tithi (Lunar day) of Bright Half (Shukla Paksha) of the pan-Indian month of Vaishakha. It is an auspicious day of the birthday of Lord Parasurama who is the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. On this day Veda Vyasand Lord Ganesha began to write Mahabharata. The meaning of the word Akshaya is infinite that which never recede.

Today is Akshaya Tritiya i.e. on April 24, 2012.  Akshaya Tritiya is recently associated with buying of Gold. But few of us understand the significance of this auspicious day.

 Celestial Blessing:
Akshaya Tritiya has a very rare celestial combination, because of which a “sacred energy field of a higher dimension and power” gets created.  Akshaya Tritiya falls on the third day of the bright half of Vaishakhi month (April-May), when the Sun and Moon are simultaneously at their peak of brightness, which happens only once every year.

This rare celestial combination has a great impact on all of us. We are at the peak of our potential. Our vibrations are higher than ever before. We get thoughts which are full of potential which we need to be aware of. This is like the whole Universe blessing us with Divine Downloads, which if implemented in action will lead us to great success. Stars, Planets and Celestial objects form a rare combination on their own, and we need to use it to get the best out of us.

Influence of Sun and the Moon Energies:

The Sun represents the Male energy and the Moon represents the female energy. Let us see just one example of the many of both energies impact on us. When you are in “Thinking Mood” there is influence of Moon energy and when you take any “Action” you are being influenced by the Sun energy.  It is great to have a combination of both energies for Growth and Success.

Never Diminishing or Ever Growing Power:

Akshaya Tritiya is a day which generates Never Diminishing Power. Whatever you think keeps Expanding. It is called as a Seed Principle. A single seed has the potential of the infinity. The seed has a program which is invisible, the whole existence acts on this small seed and pulls out the hidden potential.

Like the seed, we all have thoughts. On Auspicious occasions the whole Universe acts on these Thoughts which are invisible, and brings out the materialization which creates a new reality.

One of the examples is the famous “Akshaya Patram”, as mentioned in the Puranas, a vessel that keeps producing in Food as demanded in an unlimited way. On Akshaya Tritiya the whole existence is the “Akshaya Patram”, manifesting abundance and the Unlimited.

Stories from the Past:
There are mainly four significant legends associated with Akshaya Tritiya. They are as follows-
1. This day is observed as the birthday of Lord Parashurama, the sixth incarnation of Vishnu.
2. According to another legend, during the time of the Mahabharata when the Pandavas were in exile, Lord Krishna, on this day, presented them an ‘Akshaya Patra’ a vessel which would produce an unlimited supply of food on demand.
3. This day marks the beginning of “Satayug - the Golden age” as mentioned in the Vedas.
4. The last is the popular legend of Krishna and his childhood friend Sudama who visits him to ask him for financial help. As the story goes, Sudama offers Krishna a handful of beaten rice “Poha”. When Sudama reaches home he is astonished that his poor hut has been transformed into a Palace. Without asking, Krishna showers his family with unlimited riches.

Birth of Great Souls:

People born under this auspicious period are destined to be great souls. They would be spiritually blessed and attain great fame. They would shine very powerfully and create great impact for the world. Some great souls born are:  Adi Shankara, Ramaujacharya, and Lord Buddha.

How to get the best out of this Akshaya Tritiya:
Start a new venture-
Akshaya means never ending or that which never diminishes. The whole day is auspicious and you can choose to start any good venture or project. The amazing wave of consciousness and the celestial alignments will bless you with Success. Think in a 360 degree perspective about your project or any venture which you wish to start but surely take the First Action (it may be small and symbolic also) on  this auspicious day April 24 for success. Start any good venture or any project that you might have in mind on this day. The Whole Existence blesses it well.

Meditate and expand your consciousness-
Meditate and exhibit a quality of yours which you want to multiply and expand. Spend some 20 minutes during the whole of April 24 on the key strengths that you may possess. Think of success stories which you have had. Be in a high vibration state and enable all of this to expand effortlessly.

Shop for things for your home or office-
You may choose to buy any Material Objects that you want to last long. It is an auspicious day to purchase some things that you desire. Whenever things are bought in a happy state they last long, give joy and become productive. So choose this day to do Happy Shopping.
Purchase Gold, Silver or Precious Ornaments-

The purchasing of Gold is associated with this festival. Gold, Silver or any other ornaments represent the ultimate in wealth and prosperity. Gold is also a great investment these days especially because of turbulent financial conditions all over the world.  From times immemorial Gold has been considered as a very auspicious metal. The best is to buy Gold Coins available with certification through any bank or reputed jeweler. If you have never invested into Gold, Akshaya Tritiya is the best day to begin. Make it a wise investment habit to purchase Gold each month in whatever quantity you may decide.  Gold and Silver bought and worn on this day signify never diminishing good fortune in your life.

Become Wealth Conscious-
This is a time when you nurture and cultivate the concept of non-declining or non-decreasing wealth. You could instil in your mind, body and soul the consciousness of money and wealth creation.
Stop Postponing and Take Action Now-
Many of us unfortunately keep postponing good decisions that will take us ahead in life. Take small or massive action in areas pertaining to Money and Wealth Creation. A good beginning is more than half the work completed and creates a good end.

Remember all your positive Actions will be rewarded!

Welcome Goddess Mahalakshmi and Kubera home!!

Kubera the custodian of wealth was blessed with Mahalakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Hence Kubera has an inexhaustible supply, his money never decreases. This is a day of celebration for both Godess Mahalakshmi as well as lord Kubera. Welcome them to your home.

Wishing you and your family a very Eventful Akshaya Tritiya

More bright stars than dark spots

Earnings and financial condition of only a few companies influencing sentiment.

Keki Mistry, vice-chairman and chief executive of Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), isn’t perturbed by the gloom and doom theory doing the rounds. There is a strong enough reason for that: India’s largest mortgage lender, which announced its latest earnings on Thursday, saw its loan portfolio grow 21 per cent year-on-year in the first nine months of the financial year. The firm's asset quality also improved for the 28th consecutive quarter in October-December.

 “Everyone has been worried about the slowdown and high interest rates and their impact on our growth. We have not seen any significant impact so far. Perhaps the property market in Mumbai has slowed down, maybe it has slowed down marginally in one or two other places, but overall there is no impact on our growth,” Mistry says.

Corporate India’s numbers show why Mistry is bang-on. It’s only a handful of companies that are influencing the aggregate figures. Consider this: while the aggregate growth in adjusted profit after tax (PAT) of the top 200 companies by sales is just 4.6 per cent, it is strongly influenced by the performance of the three public sector oil marketing companies, which reported a loss of Rs 15,436 crore for the 12 months ended September 2011 as against a Rs 10,660 crore profit in the corresponding year-ago period. Excluding these three companies, the growth in adjusted PAT of the remaining 197 companies is 14.1 per cent.

In the oil and gas space, oil producing and refining companies did quite well.

The story is the same in most sectors. Take automobiles. Just two of the top seven companies have shown a decline in profits in the same period. The aggregate net profit of these companies grew 14.6 per cent. But if one excluded Maruti and Ashok Leyland, the growth would have been 20.8 per cent.

On an aggregate level, only nine of the 200 companies showed a fall of over Rs 1,000 crore each in their adjusted net profits, while 18 showed an increase of over Rs 1,000 crore each. Interestingly, the latter companies represent a larger range of sectors including oil and gas, auto, natural resources, capital goods, power, banking, FMCG and pharmaceuticals.

Industry leaders and bankers thus feel the fear of economic crises eating into India Inc’s earnings growth and the cascading impact on banks’ asset quality has been blown out of proportion. It is more of a crisis of confidence that has led to stock market underperformance, currency depreciation, and declining investment appetite, they say.

“There is a very deep mood of negativity right now. My feeling is only 20-25 per cent investments, that were ought to happen, probably were throttled. The impact on the feel-good sentiment is, however, disproportionate, probably 50-60 per cent,” K V Kamath, chairman of ICICI Bank and Infosys, says.

Market pundits echo a similar view. Deven Choksey, chairman and managing director, K R Choksey Securities, says, “There is a slowdown in growth rates; actual numbers have not come down. It’s certainly not a case of a complete slowdown. It’s a case of slower intake of orders.”

He points to various issues haunting India Inc, including the Land Acquisition Bill, and delays in infra and industry projects, which is why there is a slowdown in sectors like power, mining, construction and industrial projects.

Gaurav Dua, Head Research, Sharekhan, says the market is down for not one reason, but several. Global uncertainty, a tough macroeconomic environment, a lack of policy action (a key reason), and weak financial health of the government are some. Along with these, earnings growth is slowing down, led by monetary tightening and slowing consumer demand.

The worry is many investment-driven and interest rate-sensitive companies are feeling the heat. Choksey says a sector that has clearly seen a slowdown is infrastructure (mainly construction, power and roads). In capital goods, for example, L&T, Bhel and Crompton Greaves are facing pressures on either growth, profitability or order inflow fronts.

Some examples of individual companies faced with high debt and seeking debt restructuring from banks are KS Oil, GTL Infrastructure and GTL.

Beyond the slowdown in growth rates in select pockets, some companies are witnessing huge pressures. Aviation companies are a clear example. The worst is, of course, Kingfisher Airlines.

While the pessimism about a general slowdown appears exaggerated, bankers and industry analysts say certain sectors like aviation, power, real estate, telecom and textiles need to be monitored closely to prevent the crisis of slow economic growth from intensifying.

For power generation companies, the problem is with procurement of coal and other raw materials. A number of state electricity distribution companies in Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Rajasthan are in various stages of discussion with banks to recast their loans.

However, most banks and industry analysts refuse to consider that these sector-specific concerns may affect domestic economic growth and business activity in the long run.

“We are optimistic in the medium term, over the next 18-24 months. We have seen many cycles like this in the past. The positive side is that rural consumption is still good and keeping the economy up. We think calendar year 2013 will be a better year,” says Neeraj Swaroop, regional chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank in India and South-East Asia