God as Mother - Lakshmi: The Supreme Sustainer

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shriadishakti , " jagbir singh "

<adishakti_org> wrote:

> CONTENTS

>

> Publishers' Note

> Prayer to Mother

> The Indian Concept of the Divine Mother

> The Worship of the Divine Mother

> The Power Of The Transcendent Reality

> The Destroyer Of Destructive Forces

> Destruction: The Springboard To Construction

> Lakshmi: The Supreme Sustainer

> The Path Of Prosperity

> Goddess Of Auspiciousness At Home And At Heart

> Creation: The Music Of Mother's Veena

> The Goddess Of Success

> The Path To Final Liberation

> The Great Goal And Its Attainment

>

>

>

 

FOURTH NIGHT

Lakshmi: The Supreme Sustainer

 

s:v:üm:ög:l:m:aög:ly:ð eS:v:ð s:v:a

üT:üs:aeD:kñ .

S:rNy:ð*y:öb:kñ dðev: n:aray:eN: n:m::ð|st:Ø t:ð

sarvamaügalamàügalye ÷ive sarvàrthasàdhike |

÷araõyetryaübake devi nàràyaõi namo.astu te ||

 

SALUTATIONS to the blessed Source, destination of all! Salutations

to the Supreme power of the Almighty Being manifest as Saraswati!

Salutations to the Power manifest as Mahalakshmi and that Primal

Power manifest as Durga! Today is the fourth day of the worship of

the Godhead conceived as the Mother of all creation. From today we

enter into the next phase of this deeply significant adoration of

the Mother, in Her aspect of the nourishing and sustaining function

of the Supreme Shakti. From today for three days all over India the

Mother will be adored as Mahalakshmi. The last three days will be

Her worship in Her aspect of Mahasaraswati, culminating on the tenth

day, the Vijaya Dasami.

 

Involution of Spirit in Matter

 

When we take up the consideration of this peculiar arrangement of

the Navaratra Puja, the worship of the Mother in the three aspects,

in this particular order of Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati, we are

confronted with a very significant truth. It is in itself the

revelation of a certain actual law. We know when the transcendent

power which is unmanifest and beyond all names and forms becomes

manifest as the visible universes, as phenomena and takes on the

appearance of Nama-Rupa, there commences a process of involution, of

the transcendent becoming relative, of the nameless and formless

entering into forms and we see in it a process of the supreme,

subtlest of the subtle, the original cause and source becoming

progressively grosser and grosser until it reaches the ultimate

grossest manifestation in its termination as inert

matter. This process of involution is the order of the projection of

phenomena. It is the order of one becoming the many, the unmanifest

becoming the manifest, the cause appearing as the various effects.

Correspondingly, when from this movement into matter the seeker

strives to rise back into the original state of transcendence,

through a reverse process of an inner movement from matter back into

the spirit, we find that the manifestation of this divine power or

Shakti starts operating in exactly the contrary and opposite way.

When involution starts, it is first the creativity of Brahma that

begins to operate. The creative power functions and names and forms

stream forth from the great Prakriti. From the state of being

beyond, when the names and forms stream forth in the realm of Maya,

these names and forms come under the sway of time, under the

threefold aspect of the past, the present and the future. As they

have to retain their names and forms and exist in threefold time,

there arises the function of the preservative, the sustaining, the

nourishing and the protecting factor. Mahashakti then operates as

the dynamic counterpart of Vishnu the Preserver, He who sustains and

keeps up the world-process. She is Maha-Lakshmi. Change has to take

place and names and forms are in their very nature perishable and

passing because they come under the operation of time or Kala. This

process of breaking up the names and forms is performed by Rudra who

presides over Laya or dissolution. Thus these functions operate—

starting with creativity, then sustenance and then dissolution. This

is the descent into matter.

 

The Evolution of Man to Godhead

 

But, as it has been said in the Gita: to the man of the spirit

everything operates in exactly the opposite direction as it does to

the man of the world who is immersed in matter. That which is day to

the man of the world is night to the man of the spirit and to those

things to which the man of the world is awake as it were in his

perception the man of the spirit is asleep and does not recognise

them. To those things to which the man of the world is asleep in his

perception to all those higher things of the spirit, the man of God

is fully awake. What the worldly man perceives the Yogi turns away

from and does not perceive; what the worldly man fails to perceive

the Yogi perceives in his state of spiritual awakening. In

accordance with this law, when the self-same divine power begins to

act in the inner realm of the spiritual ascent in the realm of

evolution as opposed to involution, the seeker adores the power in a

contrary way. He first invokes the Mother in Her destructive aspect

so that She has to destroy the whole of matter which is upon the

Jiva having involved into grossness, having involved into matter,

having become immersed in nescience; therefore, the first process is

to break free from the grip of matter, to shatter the shackles of

nescience and delusion and to attain victory over that which is

gross and to rise up into the realm of the pure, the subtle and the

spiritual. First Mother in Her aspect of the Power and Force to

destroy the grossness and the influence of the material world is

invoked; and then when one rises up into the path of Yoga and

spiritual life it is Mother as Lakshmi who is invoked next so that

She may bestow upon him all that is necessary to sustain the

spiritual life, whereas in the involution She becomes necessary to

sustain the material life and to protect and preserve the life in

this external physical world of matter. We have to remember that the

Motherhood of God is always conceived of as the twofold Shaktis,

Vidya-Maya and Avidya-Maya. It is in this aspect of Vidya-Maya She

now comes to be adored and invoked by the seeker and therefore

Lakshmi in Her aspect as Vidya-Maya sustains, nourishes, protects

and preserves the seeker's spiritual ascent, his Yoga and his

Sadhana.

 

When he passes on still higher beyond the path of Yoga, he invokes

the great Mother in Her aspect as the first emanation from the

transcendence of Supreme Being, which is nearest to that, and in Her

aspect as Mahasaraswati She is the first emanation and She is the

bestower of Knowledge. She makes the Jiva unite with the Paramatma

or Para Brahman and attain the universal cosmic consciousness, the

consciousness of the Infinite Atma. It is in Her aspect as

Vidya-Maya that the seeker worships the Mother in exactly the

reverse way so that She may achieve for him the return back from

matter into the original state of Pure Spirit.

 

The Eightfold Lakshmi

 

When we come first of all to consider Maha Lakshmi in Her cosmic

aspect as Avidya-Maya who has to preserve the world-process which

has evolved out of the Supreme Being, we find that She is conceived

of as all the various things that are necessary to have a prosperous

and successful life upon this earthplane. We have the conception of

Mahalakshmi in Her eightfold forms and the Hindus refer to Her as

the Ashta-Lakshmi. For the sustenance of life upon this earth the

most important thing is food. All beings live upon this physical

plane through the nourishment derived from physical food and the

chief source of food upon earth is corn that is cultivated. Grain is

Dhaanya. Therefore, Mother is worshipped as Dhaanya-Lakshmi. It is a

common sight to see upon a particular day in the year set apart for

this specific purpose, the cultivator and all the people worshipping

the freshly-cut sheaves of golden corn that has been gathered at

harvest-time. It is a very joyous festival. The first crop of golden

corn which has filled the field is cut, taken up with great

ceremony, with music and rejoicing and it is brought to the house

wherein all the ceremonial worship due to a deity is offered to it.

Thus Mother in Her universal aspect as life-sustaining corn is

regarded as the most important factor and in this form Lakshmi is

manifest in this world of ours. Secondly, for all human dealings, in

society, both intra-national and international, money or wealth is

of paramount importance. Without wealth man cannot live with

happiness, prosperity and success. He cannot undertake any works;

and therefore, Mother is also conceived of as Dhana. It means wealth

in any form—in the form of coins, goods — all valuable

things. Thus wealth also is revered and worshipped in society.

 

The Mother in these various forms is worshipped by different classes

of people in India. The Hindu society is based upon the beautiful

plan of Varnashrama. There is a general division of labour in the

whole society as it is and different aspects of national life are

entrusted to different sections of the community and in Her

eightfold aspects as Dhaanya-Lakshmi, Dhana-Lakshmi,

Dhairya-Lakshmi, Vidya-Lakshmi, Jaya-Lakshmi, Veerya-Lakshmi, Gaja-

Lakshmi and Saubhagya-Lakshmi, Mother is worshipped in the form of

life-giving corn, of wealth, of Apara-Vidya (knowledge of arts and

sciences which is very essential if one must live a civilised and

happy life—all knowledge pertaining to this material universe is

Mother in the form of Vidya), of Dhairya (to utilise wealth and

knowledge one must have enterprise), of Veerya (vitality or

virility), of Gaja (royal power or the power of royalty), of Jaya

(the power of victory over adverse circumstances, obstacles that

stand in the way of a happy, prosperous and successful life) and of

Saubhagya (prosperity in general). In these eight aspects, the power

of the nourisher and sustainer Lakshmi is manifest in the world of

human beings. The Kshatriya worships the Mother in the form of

victory-giving weapons; to him the sword and all the other weapons

are the victory-giving manifestations of Mahalakshmi. To the Vaishya

who belongs to the third social order, who carries on commerce and

business in human society, the great power is the power of money;

therefore, a day is set apart to specially worship Goddess Lakshmi

in this aspect of money, by them. It is a common sight on Deepavali

and Lakshmi Puja, especially in wealthy cities like Bombay, when

silver coins would be put into a heap and worshipped as any deity

would be worshipped by the devout Hindu, as the visible

manifestation of Divine Mother Lakshmi Herself. The fourth class,

Sudras, worship Lakshmi as grain which they help to produce. By the

Brahmin who is the trustee of knowledge and who is to impart

knowledge to all people Mother is worshipped in the form of Vidya

and as books. Implements of machinery, every sort of Ayudha that

help to keep life going upon earth, are also worshipped on Ayudha

Puja day. The conception of the Motherhood of God in its aspect as

the preserving and life-sustaining form is thus practically

demonstrated in the Hindu society in these various ways.

 

The Sadhak's Attitude to Lakshmi

 

Thus it is that to the devout Hindu the aspect of the Motherhood as

a material power, a power which sustains life upon this physical

world is an important aspect of divinity in so far as his material

life is concerned and here we have to note that the Hindu shows

himself as a sane realist. He realises and accepts the importance

and value of the divine power as it is manifest upon the material

world in the form of these helpful factors that go to sustain and

preserve life for him upon earth in a prosperous and happy state.

While we thus recognise his realistic attitude towards the good

things of this world, here it will be interesting to note that the

Eternal Quest for the Absolute, for the ultimate Being, is also a

part and parcel of the consciousness of every true Hindu. The self-

same Hindu who devoutly worships the Mother in the form of wealth

and all the good things of the world simultaneously admits the fact

that once his aspiration for the divine realisation has begun to

manifest within himself, this very aspect of Lakshmi which is most

important in this work-a-day world of ours has to be resolutely

brushed aside, and renounced.

 

Thus he turns his face away from the material things of this world,

gives up wealth and takes to the path of renunciation; because he

admits that as long as one is deeply concerned with desire and its

fulfilment, he has to accept the all-powerful nature of Mother in

Her aspect of the things of this world. But the moment he has had

enough of these things and he has realised their temporariness,

their transience and their perishable nature, and the

moment his heart is set upon the eternal thing, he bids adieu to

this aspect of the Mother and he invokes the other aspect, viz., the

Vidya-Maya. He prays to the Mother that She may release him from the

lure and the attraction of Her own deluding power in the form of

wealth, prosperity, domestic happiness and all the good things of

the world; and thus he makes a deliberate departure from Mother

Lakshmi in Her aspect of Avidya. Herein lies the main difference

between the man of the world and the seeker. Herein lies the inner

significance of the worship for these two people, of the self-same

deity. The man of the world worships the Mother; and at the same

time the seeker who has renounced the world also worships Lakshmi.

To the surface-observer it would seem that both are carrying on the

self-same worship; but once this conception of Lakshmi both in Her

Avidya and Vidya aspects is known, then one would see underneath the

surface and go beneath the apparent worship, and he will find that

for one and the same worship of the self-same deity, Mother Lakshmi,

there is a total difference of view or point of approach and the

total difference of Bhava or mental attitude between the

materialist, a man of desires, and spiritual seeker or the man who

has turned away from desire, who has commenced to aspire for the

Eternal.

 

Yet the figure is the same, Mother is the same; and because She is

the prosperity-giver and the preserver, the form of Lakshmi is

always full of auspiciousness. She is gorgeously dressed. She has

got golden ornaments. There is always that symbol of power and pomp,

the elephant, which is by Her side. She lives upon a lotus and She

holds two lotuses—and these flowers are in full bloom. The

significance of these will become apparent when we reflect upon what

they stand for. Full-blown lotus represents the fullness in all

aspects. Even so, the elephant represents two things: the highest

state of prosperity, regal splendour, royal pomp; and at the same

time the highest knowledge—elephant represents the fullness of

wisdom.