Lakshmi Shobane -Part 4

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Hare Srinivasa! Please find the previous postings at http://www.aarshavani.org/mainpage/bhajansmainlakshmishobane.html Lakshmi Shobane Part 4 After decribing the enternal relationship between the Lord and Mahalakshmi and the Lord and other souls , Sri Vadirajaru continues to describe the brimming compassion of mother Lakshmi and her relationship with the souls . He says ," She gives abhayam with one hand , and gives boons with the other hand." The description of abhaya mudra is the right hand open with the fingers facing upward , and for vara mudra the left hand is open and facing the bhakta and the fingers are pointing downwards towards the bhakta for free flow of boons to those she wants

to grace. oMdu karadiMda abhayavanIvaLe mattoMdu kaiyiMda varagaLa kuMdillaladAnaMdasaMdoha uNisuva iMdire namma salahali ||5|| People in the world are miserable and the root cause of thier misery is some form of fear. Fear of death Fear of old age and diseases Fear of losing the wealth, position and relations in the world Fear of not living upto the

expectations of near and dear ones Fear of not being able to secure what one desires. The list is endless but the main ones lead to the others. One way or the other all our miseries are caused by worry which is the direct result of fear. In order to gain any kind of knowledge we need to have presence of mind and be concentrated in the moment. But if we are pre-occupied with worries and are not able to be present in the moment ,acquisition of knowledge is not possible . SriMahalakshmi out of her immense compassion to her devotees removes this hindrance first . How? The mind is agitated by the six dieseases - kAma , krOdha, lObha, mOha, mada, matsarya. They are caused due to the influence of the trigunas on the mind. All these result in causing worry to the mind. 1.kAma is desire to acquire something and the mind continuously worries about if the desire will be accomplished or not and if it is accomplished then the worry about losing it in future. 2.krOdha - If the desire is not accomplished then anger results. Anger is directed at the cause of the unfullfillment of desire and arises to quell the

worry of losing one's position in the eye's of others. 3.lObha - the greed for more is because of the fear that sometime in the future we may need it and may not have enough. 4. mOha - extreme attachment of near and dear ones , wealth which causes a fear of losing them. The situation of lack of wealth is dreaded by most wealthy people. 5. mada - The feeling of accomplishment and the self-importance that one feels upon fullfulling a desire causes fear of losing the acquired thing, position because one is

aware that this self-importance will die as soon as the acquired thing is lost. 6.mAtsarya - The worry that another may become more powerful, more wealthy etc causes this feeling of mAtsarya towards the more successful person. In the HKAS Sri Jagannatha DAsaru says "triguNamANi mahAlakumi sataisalanudinavu" 'She is the triguNa abhimAni which causes the

mind/buddhi to fluctuate under the influence of the three guNas -satwa , rajas and tamas which are the essential components of creation and movement in the world. If the mindis able to traverse and reach a level above the triguNas then that mind can be placed steadily in contemplating the auspicous attributes of the Lord. In the BG Lord Krishna says , guNAnetAnatItya trindEhi dehasamudbhavAn janmamrityujarAdukhairvimuktOamrithmashnutE ||14.20 || " When the embodied jiva masters the triples qualities that manifest themselves in the bodies then the jiva becomes free of birth, death , old age,disease and any kind of grief and from there the jiva moves on to the eternal state of bliss." So when we say that Lakshmi is giving abhaya with one hand we can understand that in effect she is granting her devotees the necessary tools for overcoming the influence of the triguNas which cause the turbulent waves of fear and worry along with other experiences of life. matOMdu kaiyiMda varagala - then she gives boons with her other hand. Foremost among the devotees who are dear to her are those who seek knowledge and she graces them by giving what they seek freely without any constraint. The downward position of the hand indicates that she is very abundant in giving the boons to deserving devotees. She is called 'varamahAlakshmi' . She is the one who feeds the jiva with the bliss that has no end and is full to the brim. The question of 'Can I have more?" will never arise when She feeds one with the bliss that is moksha. And to reach the eligibility to be fed by Sri Mahalakshmi one needs to acquire the knowledge which can destroy one's ignorance and make one as an eligible candidate for Her grace. Whenever one mentions about the grace of Mahalakshmi being the granter of knowledge, moksha etc one should also have the anusandhana that the Lord is behind that Grace too. As said by SrimadAcharya in his Shree stuthi as part of Dwadasha stotra ..... All the things which Shree is doing with just a side glance if her eyes is possible because of the powerful strengh of Lord Hari propelling Her and I bow down to that Lord Ajitha . .........shree yatkaTAksha balavathi

ajitham namAmiIndra means one who destroys the forces of ignorance with knowledge. In one song Vyasavittala Dasaru asks Indira devi - Mahalakshmi to grace him by granting him the sangha of the devotees of Lord Sri Vyasavittala which will then cleanse the mind of ignorance and then make it ready for receiving and retaining knowledge. He describes her greatness as the one worhsipped by all the gods from the jivottama kaksha of Brahma/Vayu . Dasaru names the specific devatas in order to highlight that they all fall at her feet and perform vandana. Indire he jaNaNi indire iNdira dEvi nA ninna pAda poMdide salahabEkenna Aha kaMdarpa indra phaNIndra garuDa nIla kaMdarpa brahmAdi vaMdyale suMdari iMdire hE jaNANi iMdire .............. Ava janmada puNyadi - ninna sEve dorakitu I dinadi bahu pAvannanAde I kshanadi enage abhIShTava koDe dinadi Aha srIVyAsaviTTalanna sEvipa sujanra sahavAsavittu bhAvashuddana mADe "How did I manage to get this opportunity to serve You by speaking of Your glory, it must be because of some punya I did in some previous birth. I have become cleansed by this service and I beg of You to bless me with the association of the devotees of Lord Vyasavittala which is the only means to purify my mind and give me the correct perception of shastric knowledge." Here Dasaru is saying that he has become cleansed first and then again asks for purification of mind. Why does he ask

for purity of mind after saying that he has been cleansed by the service? It is because in order to ask for purification of mind one needs to be cleansed of the dirt of desire which lurks at the surface of everyone's mind and if that is not cleansed then the noble thoughts of asking for the association of the Lord's devotees will not arise. Here Dasaru is asking for grace to acquire abiding devotion in the Lord, which can come only to one whose mind is pure. SriVadirajaru in the above padya asks for grace too- salahali means let her grace us and our bride and groom. Just as a mother will provide the right environment for the complete unfoldment of the child so also Mahalakshmi provides the right environment for the jiva to realise its

true nature. The method of prayer is shown by Sri Vadirajaru as well as Dasaru and that is to understand the extreme compassion of the Lord and His consort on the innumerble jivas and to never ask for anything and expereince everything that is unfolding in one's life as the sweet nectar of the Lord's grace, it may be physical misery or bliss but if it is mentally accepted as the Lord's grAce even the most miserable physical expereince becomes a sadhana by which to please the Lord . And this is the foremost duty of every mukthi yogya soul. poLeva kAMchiya dAma uliva kiMkiNigaLu naliva kAlaMduge ghalakenalu naLanaLisuva muddumukhada cheluve lakShumi salahali namma vadhU-varara ||6|| poleva - shining , kAMchi - golden , dAma- abode naLanaLisuva-gentle,soft naLanaLisuva-radiant,beautiful,elegant,glow,lustrous,pleasing She is the abode of brilliance and a special golden hue emnates and spreads around her. She is the abode of golden light -means she is a store house of knowledge next to the Lord. She is the abimAni of the Vedas which talk of the glory of the Lord and His attributes. The only way to gain knowledge about the Supreme is through the correct interpretation of the scriptures. Srimad Achyara in his Vishnu Tatva vinirnaya has proclaimed this with the following managalachara: sadAgamaikavigNyeyam samtItAkshrAkharam nArayaNam sadA vaMde nirdOshAshEshasadguNam || sadAgamas are the scriptures which can throw the true light about the Lord Narayana who is vault of infinte virtures and who has no defects whatsoever. He is above the one without the perishable body -Mahalakshmi and all those with perishable bodies -Brahma ....... and other devatas down to smallest trina jivas. So if we entreat Mahalakshmi to grace us she will bestow the correct knowledge about the Lord that will lead us towards moksha. muddu is the word which describes innocence which comes with humulity and an unassuming nature. In the world we use this word only for babies. All other people are incapable of this guNa because in one way or the other one becomes aware that one is capable of doing something then

one is aware of the ego that one is doing... which removes this innocence. Mahalakshmi being the mother of all and the source of all wealth and brilliance is the embodiment of humility too. She is gentle, radiant and glowing with knowledge and bliss. Thoughts of her please the devotee and give peace. She is the origin of all beings and beauty is something which proceeds from her. Inspite of all this She serves the Lord with utter humulity and never forgets to contemplate His glory that enables Her to grant all these things to her devotees beginning from Brahma with just a side glance. Sri Purandaradasaru says, Enu

danyalO lakumi yeMta mAnyalO kOTi kOTi brityariralu hATakAmbarana seve sATiyillade mADi pUrNa noTadiMdanOdutihalu "How fortunate is mother Lakshmi ! Inspite of having crores and crores of dasas for her seva itself, she never tires of doing seva to Sri Hari instead the seva that she does has no comparision in all the worlds and she enjoys the bliss of the Lord's darshan all

the time. She is always looking and seeing observing the great attributes of the Lord which cannot be comphrehended by anyone." Sir Vadirajau is asking for the grace of such a great goddess for all of us as well as for the bride and groom. He says 'namma' which can mean for our bride and groom or also 'namma' means for each one of us who sings the glory of the Lord and

His consort with the "Lakshmi Shobane ". Also salahali implores mother Lakshmi to see what each one needs and bestow that on the devotee. She bestows on the true devotee not what he/she aspires for, but also what is in the eternal good for that soul.To be continued by the Lord Sri Hari's grace...Sri KrishnarpanamastuI am not the doer,Lord Hari is the doerWhatever He makes me do is His worship by His graceR.Parimala

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