God as Mother - The Path Of Prosperity

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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

>

>

>

 

 

FIFTH NIGHT

The Path Of Prosperity

 

s:àeÄsT:et:ev:n:aS:an:aö S:eVt:B:Üt:ð s:n:at:en: .

g:ØN:aÂ:y:ð g:ØN:m:y:ð n:aray:eN: n:m::ð|st:Ø

t:ð ..

sçùñisthativinà÷ànàü ÷aktibhåte sanàtani |

guõà÷raye guõamaye nàràyaõi namo.astu te ||

 

SALUTATIONS to the blessed Divine Mother, the life of our lives, the

sole support of our existence, the very essence of our being, the

inmost core of our consciousness, the goal and ultimate destination

of our life, the glorious fruition of our Yoga Sadhana, the Pure

Existence - Knowledge and Bliss. We bow to Her again and again as

Mother Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. May Her Grace be upon us all.

 

Mother in Her aspect as Lakshmi is the one great Power upon earth

that makes life possible and bearable here. Were it not for blessed

Mother Lakshmi, life upon earth would be a journey of sorrows and

pain. It will be a vale of tears; for due to the transient nature of

things and due to the all-pervasive aspect of Mother Durga,

destruction is ever haunting the footsteps of the Jiva from

the moment it sees the light of day upon earth until it reaches the

grave. Verily, life on earth is a life of pain and death.

 

It is the shining, radiant and joy-giving aspect of Lakshmi Devi

that makes life bearable by balancing the pain and destruction that

pervades this earthly existence with the sweet elements of light,

love, rejoicing, prosperity and happiness in all its various forms.

Mother pervades all aspects of human life as auspiciousness. She is

Kalyani. She is Mangalam. She is Saubhagyavati. Both in the wider

sphere of national life as well as in the intimate sphere of a

being's domestic circle, Mother manifests Herself in all Her

radiance and good cheer so that life is sustained through Her light,

through Her charm, and Her Grace. Thus, Mother Durga and Mother

Lakshmi keep up the balance in this Samsaric life and make it

possible for the Jiva to forget the harsh realities of this

transitory passing existence and to partake of the good things of

life with some extent of joy.

 

Signs of National Glory

 

It is a very interesting and very useful task to try to be aware of

the Divine Mother as Lakshmi in both these spheres so that we shall

be in a position consciously to work towards the maintenance of the

presence of Mother Lakshmi in these spheres by doing which we shall

be able to fill this terrestrial life with happiness and prosperity.

In the wider sphere of man's social and national life, Mother

appears as those modes which counteract and counter-balance the

terrible modes of the divine Shakti in its aspects as Durga Devi. We

have seen how in order to sustain the very life upon earth Durga

manifests Herself in aspects of very necessary destructivity and

annihilation, how but for Her benign breaking down process life upon

earth would end in absolute chaos and ruin, catastrophe and

calamity. Thus in Her terrible aspects as war, epidemics, famine,

natural catastrophes like flood, fire, earthquake, Mother Durga

destroys in order to save, in order to see that life continues.

Lakshmi Devi manifests in this life as modes which counterbalance

and counteract this activity of Her own aspect as Durga, by

appearing as peace instead of war,—when Lakshmi is propitious

there is peace in the universe, peace amongst nations and mankind,

and there is freedom from all civil strife—as plenty, fertility,

abundant harvest and, as the counterpart of disease and epidemics,

Lakshmi graces society in the form of health, well-being, welfare of

the children and of the women, and of a good standard of the

nation's health. In Her aspects as the preservative forces like

the medical profession, hospitals, the fire brigade, police, etc,

the power of Vishnu-Shakti, Divine Mother Lakshmi, appears to

counteract the calamities of nature and to protect the life and

welfare of men and their properties. Therefore, to the politician,

to the administrator, to the leaders of society, these aspects are

the signs of Lakshmi being present in the social structure.

 

Where these things are neglected, we find that the happiness of the

people is destroyed. Their progress is arrested; and prosperity

leaves that nation and that society. Therefore, the ancient law-

givers laid down that every true administrator must have in mind

these aspects of the Mother and he should always diligently try to

see that he does what all he can in order to increase these factors

in society, through which Mother Lakshmi manifests Herself and in

which this benign progressive aspect of Vishnu-Shakti dwells.

Temples, schools, playgrounds, parks, flower- gardens, tanks—all

these factors in human society are so many manifestations of the

Vishnu-Shakti. They are all Mother Lakshmi being visible through

these symbols. Therefore, we find that in this land of Dharma,

Bharatavarsha, there will be no place without a temple. It may be

the most insignificant village, a mere hamlet, with a handful of

houses; yet without even the dignity of a pucca structure, at least

under the shade of some tree there will be a village deity that is

worshipped by that community. Where there is a village without place

of worship, there no religious man will set foot. They will

say: " This place has no Lakshmi therein. " They will avoid

such a place. Where there is no good provision for water, for people

and cattle to drink, there people will say that Lakshmi does not

dwell; and holy men will turn away from such a place. All Dharmic

people, people of wealth, ever tried to utilise their God-given

wealth for setting up these visible expressions of Lakshmi

throughout the land. To plant trees, to dig wells and tanks, to

donate gardens and playgrounds, to build new temples where there are

none and to renovate old temples which had fallen into disrepair,

and to start choultries where travellers may come and rest

themselves, to have feeding houses where weary pilgrims, holy men,

men of God, mendicants and the religious students may get

food—all these were considered and even now they are considered

to be works of Dharma, of great merit, which will bless the giver

with happiness here and hereafter. Education also was a visible

expression of Lakshmi in Her aspect as Vidya-Lakshmi which is one of

the eight aspects of Ashta-Lakshmi. Thus the expression of Mother

Lakshmi in all these forms was regarded by our law-givers as

something which every man, every citizen should try to increase in

the country and in the society so that a state of prosperity may

always prevail in the land.

 

The Foremost Duty of National Leaders

 

It will do well for all the leaders of men in whichever country or

nation they may be and to all social leaders and administrators, to

bear in mind that the increase and the preservation of these aspects

of Lakshmi in society is not only one of the primary concerns and

duties, but also to preserve and increase all these factors

contained in it the seeds of enduring welfare and happiness of all

people. Thus, as long as man was still conscious of the reality of

this world, as long as he felt the reality of these external things,

it was his duty to see that he did not neglect any of these factors.

A false assimilation of the Hindu religion, and wrong conception of

man's duty or rather an indigestion of the Vedantic food from the

Upanishads, had led to an unfortunate neglect of this factor of

realism in the Hindu race in centuries gone by so that having half-

assimilated notions of Vairagya, of God-realisation and of the

unreality of the world, the Indians as a whole became apathetic

towards the preservation of these aspects of Mahalakshmi, thinking

that all these things were only in the realm of Maya and they were

not worthwhile giving one's attention to; and to turn away from

them in a sort of so-called lofty otherworldliness was the acme of

philosophic life of wisdom. The Hindu nation had to pay a terrible

price for having this sort of apathy towards Mother in Her aspects

of Lakshmi in this external world and the price was losing Her in

some of Her most precious aspects, viz., freedom, prosperity and

national self-respect. Thus, Lakshmi left the Hindu nation when

their mistaken notions of philosophy made the majority of people

neglect Her and discard Her worship in the form of a robust realism

and in the form of a practical idealism in this external life.

Therefore, education was neglected and all these social works were

neglected as something belonging to the realm of ignorance which it

was not worthwhile to pursue; and even while man was firmly bound up

in body-consciousness upon the gross plane, he shut his eyes to the

realities of this physical world and tried to dispense with all

these things with the declaration that they were all only transitory

and evanescent. Thus, a state of Tamas supervened which was opposed

to Lakshmi and therefore two centuries of slavery was the result—

slavery to those who were better worshippers of Lakshmi in the real

sense of the term in the external world.

 

They, the British people, were able to propitiate Her and thus all

that was best in Bharatavarsha, all the prosperity-giving elements

went over to the West where, though they were materialists yet they

worshipped Lakshmi. When saints and great thinkers of modern India

realised that it was the neglect of Lakshmi through a succumbing to

Tamas that was at the root of the Indian problem, they at once gave

a dynamic social philosophy to the Hindu nation. The clarion call

for the Hindu nation to wake up from its slumber of Tamo-Guna and to

plunge into selfless service and to vigorously take life with a

realistic attitude and point of view was sounded by these great

modern saviours of India. Thus a revival came about and the half-

assimilated and wrong notions of philosophy were driven out from the

heads of the people and they were taught how one has to be a dynamic

worshipper as long as his body is still a very real thing to him and

as long as he has not risen to that state of consciousness, of

spiritual evolution, when he would be able to actually

feel within the heart of hearts that the world is but a passing

dream and that the unmanifest alone is the actual reality. This is a

mistake which it is very easy to fall into, to think that one has

risen very high upon the spiritual plane and to neglect the things

which ought not to be neglected in the beginning stages of one's

evolution. In the beginning these things which may later on have to

be renounced and given up, themselves form the first stepping-stones

upon which one has to rise higher and higher. Thus the apathy due to

Tamas which was mistakenly considered to be a sort of philosophy and

resignation was pointed out and ended and now we are experiencing an

era of practical Rajo-Guna where the nation and the Hindu society is

being shaken up into wakefulness, into a state of vigorous activity

for the good of one and all. This is very happy sign and if this is

understood and persisted in the right spirit without allowing the

Avidya-Maya of Lakshmi to overshadow our perception and

intelligence, it will certainly lead on to the ultimate spiritual

evolution which is the real goal of the Hindu nation.

 

A Stern Warning

 

Similarly, in the individual's spiritual life, however much it

may be true in the ultimate reaches of realisation that he is not

this physical body, he is Pure Atman which is beyond body and mind,

yet we find that if the aspirant is foolish enough to start with

this basis in his life of practical spiritual Sadhana he will come

to grief very soon. For the law of this physical world is very

exacting and a transgression in this law will at once claim its

price. Thus, if one flies away into a Vedantic attitude and neglects

his physical body and does not care to maintain its health and give

it proper rest or nourishment and thinks he has already attained the

consciousness of Atma, he will wake up too late to find out his

mistake and he will find that the one superlative instrument of all

Yoga Sadhana, viz., this physical body through which one has to do

selfless service in order to attain the much-desired purity of heart

and character, becomes damaged beyond repair and his progress in

Yoga Sadhana becomes severely hampered. In such a case it is only

the Grace of the Lord that will have to save him and somehow he will

have to make amends for his mistake.

 

Just as in the individual a neglect of this aspect of the physical

factor which may later on have to be transcended brings very

undesirable results, even so, in the national life it was necessary

to have realised this and to have avoided this degeneracy into

Tamas. By the bitter way the Indian society has learnt the lesson

and now the very welcome trend of this robust activism, activity

based upon Dharma, upon selflessness, motiveless activity, as is now

being exemplified by all great leaders, social leaders, political

leaders, as well as spiritual leaders like our Gurudev, has now

created a new constructive wave in the society and this nation,

which augurs well for our ultimate rising up into the realm of

Saraswati, where through this activity a state of peace, prosperity,

national health and well-being, national literacy and higher

education of all people will come into existence and through this a

national spiritual regeneration will be made possible. For, without

the widespread manifestation of Lakshmi in the society and the

nation there can be no hope of the manifestation of the Goddess

Saraswati in Her aspect of higher spiritual knowledge coming into

existence, because as they have said, religion cannot be preached to

hungry stomachs and bare backs.

 

Therefore, we have first of all to have a realistic approach to this

problem of national and social life. We must give to the nation and

to people those aspects of Lakshmi by which alone they will live a

life of health, of well-being, and in such a state of all-round

prosperity, literacy and health, higher aspirations will begin to

sprout up, These aspirations are there; but they are all dormant and

due to the absence of Lakshmi in the land and in the society the

aspirations are given no chance to manifest themselves in the heart

of man; for, poverty stultifies all higher aspirations and when

hunger pinches man's stomach there can be no thought of higher

idealism. Therefore, this very great and significant importance of

the visible manifestation of Lakshmi or Vishnu-Shakti in the life of

every race and nation has to be recognised upon its own merits, with

discrimination and Vairagya, and through Lakshmi one must approach

Saraswati which is the ultimate aim of the Bharatiya Samskriti.