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Astha
Lakshmi Stotra
Lakshmi, the consort of Lord Vishnu,
is the most sought after Goddess as she is the
Goddess of wealth. What most people forget is that wealth is not just money.
Wealth is of eight kinds and this Asthalakshmi Stotra is the worship of
Lakshmi as the
Goddess of the eight kinds of Wealth.
Gayatri Mantra
Om Mahadevyaicha Vidhmahe
Vishnu Pathniyaicha Dheemahe
Tanno lakshmi Prachodayaath !
Almighty Lord Sri Narayana or Mahavishnu is known for looking after the
welfare and well being of the phenomenal world or the creation. The power or
energy of Sri Narayana is Sri Lakshmi. Mother Lakshmi is always identified
with the Lord, and hence they are known as Sri Lakshmi Narayana. Mother
Lakshmi is a mother of prosperity, peace and illumination. Without Her grace
one can“t have inner peace or perennial joy.
Lakshmi is commonly known as Goddess of wealth. Wealth is not only the
money. Tradition and values of life is also wealth. Our family and progress
is also wealth. Our belongings such as land, properties, animals, grains,
etc as well as virtues like patience, persistence, purity etc in the form of
a character are nothing but our wealth and so also glory or victory. Thus
this eightfold Sri Lakshmi is known as Sri Ashta Lakshmi.
Mother Lakshmi is the source and provider of the following enumerated
well-known sixteen types of wealth and many more. (1) Fame (2) Knowledge (3)
Courage and Strength (4) Victory (5) Good Children (6) Valour (7) Gold and
other gross properties (8) Grains in abundance (9) Happiness (10) Bliss (11)
Intelligence (12) Beauty (13) Higher Aim, High Thinking and Higher
Meditation too (14) Morality and Ethics (15) Good Health (16) Long Life. Let
us glance upon the glory of mother Ashta Lakshmi“s individual nature and
forms.
Adi Lakshmi: Mother Lakshmi resides with Lord Narayana in the
Vaikuntha, the abode of Lord Narayana. She is known as Ramaa, means bringing
happiness to the mankind. She is also known as Indira (who holds lotus or
purity in the hands or heart.) Divine Mother“s this form is normally seen
serving Sri Narayana. Lord Narayana is omnipresent. Adi Lakshmi or Ramaa
Lakshmi serves Sri Narayana is symbolic of her serving the whole creation.
Though Sri Narayana is attended by innumerable devotees, still she
personally loves to serve the Lord. Actually mother Adi Lakshmi and Narayana
are not two different entities but one only. Many a place we see her form
sitting in the lap of Sri Narayana.
Dhanya Lakshmi: Dhanya means grains. This includes all kind of
purified food containing all essential vitamins, minerals, protein, calcium,
carbohytrade and so on. With the grace of mother Dhanya Lakshmi one gets all
essential nutrients grains, fruits, vegetables and other foods.
Dhairya Lakshmi: This form of mother Lakshmi grants the boon of
infinite courage and strength. Those, who are in tune with infinite inner
power, are always bound to have victory. Those who worship mother Dhairya
Lakshmi they live and lead a life with tremendous patience and inner
stability.
Gaja Lakshmi: In the holy book of Srimad Bhagavata the story of the
churning of the ocean by Gods and demons is explained in detail. Author, the
Sage Vyasa writes that Lakshmi came out of the ocean during the churning of
the ocean (Samudra Manthan). So she is known as a daughter of the ocean. She
came out of the ocean sitting on a full-bloomed lotus and also having lotus
flowers in both hands with two elephants by her sides, holding a beautiful
vessels filled with milk and pouring it over Sri Lakshmi. Many a time we see
Sri Lakshmi standing in the lotus and elephants are pouring nectar over her.
During the festival of the lamps or the Deepavali along with Sri Lakshmi the
Ganapati or the Elephant God also gets worshipped; that signifies the
protection from evils as well as abundant grace and blessings for additional
prosperities!
Santan Lakshmi: In the family life, the children are the greatest
treasure. Those who worship this particular form of Sri Lakshmi, known as a
Santan Lakshmi, are bestowed with the grace of mother Lakshmi and have
wealth in the form of desirable children with good health & long life.
Vijay Lakshmi: Vijay is victory. Vijay is to get success in all
undertakings and all different facets of life. Some are strong physically
but weak mentally while others are economically rich but poor in their
attitude and cannot exert any influence. Vijay is to have all encompassing
victory. Vijay is to rejoice glory of our real nature - Vijay is to conquer
the lower nature. Vijay is the victory in external and internal wars and of
course eternal wars! Hence those, with grace of mother Vijay Lakshmi, have
victory everywhere, at all time, in all conditions. Victory to Vijay Lakshmi
!!
Dhana Lakshmi: Dhana is wealth. But as per Rigved“s Purush Shukta
Dhana is not only a wealth in coins and currency. Even Sun and moon, fire
and stars, rains and nature, oceans and mountains, rivers and streams, all
these are our wealth, so are the progeny, our inner will power, our
character and our virtues. With the grace of mother Dhana Lakshmi we will
get all these in abundance.
Vidya Lakshmi: Vidya is education. Education is not mere studies to
receive the degrees and diplomas certificates from the educational
institutes or universities. Rev. Sri Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj says:
Serenity, Regularity, Absence of Vanity, Sincerity, Simplicity, Veracity,
Equanimity, Fixity, Non-irritability, Adaptability Humility, Tenacity,
Integrity, Nobility, Magnanimity, Charity, Generosity and Purity are the
eighteen "itis" that only can give immortality.
Education, which cannot give peace to the soul or cannot give the knowledge
of the Self and the inner satisfaction, is not education. Education, which
cannot wipe the tears of others, known or unknown, is not education.
Education is the understanding the situation and silence or art of living
and leading the life that can make the life, the Life Divine, where the
ultimate Goal of the life is the God-Realisation.
Such Education can come only through discrimination and dispassion. One can
have abundant amount of money, but if he does not know how to make good use
of it, it will work to his disadvantage. If an alcoholic or a drug addict
gets a big sum of money, it will only hasten his downward journey to
destruction. Vidya Lakshmi is the understanding and the knowledge to mold
the ordinary life into the Divine Life. A life of Service, a life of feeling
for a fellow being, a life of charity and generosity, a life of purity, a
life for seeking a soul within the soul and a life with an ultimate aim of
the realisation of the ABSOLUTE is the only real education, which can come
only with the grace of Vidya Lakshmi.
Thus all these eightfold Sri Lakshmi is ultimately one single power only.
That is Adishakti.
The perennial and unchangeable, ever lasting, eternal truth or the absolute
is this Supreme blessedness, the mother Adishakti. She is the origin. She is
the light. She is the power, the wisdom and the strength. She is the Supreme
Joy, peace, bliss and illumination.
Year after year We have seen the lamps being lit for Diwali, the birth day
and the wedding day of Goddess Lakshmi. In the dark night the glowing flames
herald the advent of longer nights-the early days of an Indian winter.
The essence of this light is Shri Lakshmi-arising, at the beginning of time,
out of the waters at the churning of the Milky Ocean by gods and demons for
a thousand years. Regarded as the goddess of love, beauty and prosperity,
Lakshmi, Kamla or Padma (Sanskrit words for lotus), the beloved consort of
Vishnu, along with the dearly loved pot-bellied, elephant headed, auspicious
god of the Hindu theogony, Siri Ganesha, is a presiding deity of the
festival of lights. They are worshipped in every household so that the year
may be full of prosperity. Throughout the night a lamp is kept burning
before her image so that she may continue to dwell in the house and bestow
upon it the wealth of life. |
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