Lakshmi Shobane - Part 5

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Hare Srinivasa ! sriI vAdriaja guruvantargata srI bhArati ramaNa mukhyaprAnAntargata srI hayagreevaya namaha | Please find the

previous posts at http://www.aarshavani.org/mainpage/bhajansmainlakshmishobane.html Sri Vadiraja Theertharu goes on describing Sri Mahalakshmi as she appeared out of the ocean . In the Srimad Bhagavatham it is described in all glory. She was welcomed by all the devas ,daityas and humans alike and was offered a golden throne by Indra to sit on. Her exquisite beauty, her bodily features, her youth, complexion, radiance and

unsurpassed glory agitated the minds of most of the demi gods, the demons and humans present. The reason for this is that she is the source of all opulence and all those who favour opulence,wealth and importance with even a fraction of thier mental faculties succumbed to the desire for more. All those who percieved her as the consort of the Lord were spared as they were not after the material wealth and power but were intent on pleasing the Lord only. Knowing that her mind was always tuned towards the Lord as mentioned in the Bhagavatha sloka 8.8.8 ensured that these high level devotees like Brahma and Vayu did not fall into the trap of hankering after material enjoyments of which she is the symbol being the goddess of fortune. tataH chAvirbhUt sAkshAtsrI ramA bhagavat parAH raMjayaMti kAMtyA vidyut soudhAmanI yathA ||8.8.8|| "There manifested Sri RamA devi who is always engaged in the service of the Lord, she herself manifested there in the ksheerasAgara and her lustre illuminated all directions just as a lightening streak illuminates a building which shines as if it were made of shining marble on a dark night. " Here the word 'bhagavat parA' is extremely important as it shows that Sri RamA devi had appeared there for the purpose of serving the Lord and no other. She is always engaged in the seva of the Lord and this too is one such seva of the Lord. rannada molegaTTu chinnadAbharaNagaLa chenne mahalakShumi dharisidaLe chenne mahalakShumi dharisidaLAdevi tanna maneya vadhU-varara salahali ||7|| kuMbhakuMchada mele iMbiTTa hAragaLu tuMbiguruLa mukhakamala tuMbiguruLa mukhakamalada mahalakShumi jaga daMbe vadhU-varara salahali

||8|| She has beautiful costumes made of fine silk for her upper garments. She is the giver of nourishment to the entire hordes of living beings. An infant or child which has total faith in the mother and is totally dependent on the mother ,finds bliss, comfort and enduring happiness in the bossom of the mother. In a similar way, a devotee who accepts the supremacy of the Lord and becomes His dasa willingly, is considered as her child by the mother Lakshmi. She then takes those deovtees into her fold and nourishes them with the required knowledge to make them ready to be bestowed eternal bliss according to their eligibility. She is the triguna abimAni and oversees the combinations of the guNas which cause the creation and destruction of matter . She is thus the source of energy for the growth of food which is a combination of the earth,water and heat. She who looks bewitchingly beautiful and is dressed in fine silken robes and adorn's exquisite jewellery . She wears golden jewellery. Here gold is specifically referring to purity. It is a unique, rare and radiant metal which can be moulded to form different adornments. Similarly knowledge is the purest among the purest that can exist in the minds of a jiva and is very subtle unlike gold.

SrimahAlakshmi wears the jewels of the knowledge about the Lord's roopas and guNas which are very rare to discern. JAgannatha dasaru says in HKAS 1.2 jagadudarana ativimalaguNagalanAlOchanadi bharata nigamatatigalatikramisi kriyA vishEshagala bagebageya nUtanava kAnuta mige harushadim pogali higguva triguNamANi mahAlakumi saMtaisalanudinavu|| " She thinks and contemplates and becomes aware of some of the Lord's exquisite forms and attributes, those that cannot be discerned by other people from any of the agAmas like bhArata etc and these are the golden jewels that decorate her. One may ask why should we think of jewels as the knowledge about God? For this in the next line Vadirajaru refers to Mahalakshmi as "chenne" . cha denotes

purity/chasity. And there is nothing more pure than the knowledge about God as already told by Sri Krishna in the BG. "na hi jNANena sadrisham pavitram iha vidyate...." She is descirbed as "satiM" ( extremely chaste and entirely devoted to her consort) in the Bhagavatham verse 8.8.14 . So we see that she who is described as 'satiM' is pure and purity implies knowledge of God. Sri Vadirajaru says, "May SrimahAlakshmi the purest of the pure who is decked with ornaments and silken robes, bless the wedded couple and bestow peace on them." tumbi - flower of a gourd or bee, honey ,gurulu -

hair, mukhakamala - the lotus faced , ambe -mother iMbiTTa - occupied the place because imbu means resting place, comfortable place,delight etc, itta -placed Sri Vadirajaru describes the ethereal beauty of mother Lakshmi using his poetic splendour. He says ," The mother who is has a well sculpted female figure, has wonderful garlands made of exotic flowers resting on her chest. She has a lovely hair which is braided down like the flower of a gourd - thick at the top and meanders as it moves downwards. Lest anyone succumbs to any demeaning thoughts about this description of mother Lakshmi, Sri Vadirajaru immediately addresses her as 'jagadambe' - The mother of the entire creation. This puts in motion a series of divine thoughts about the mother who is giver of comfort, who is most noble of the noble, who is revered as the person who should be revered foremost - 'mAtrudEvo bhavah' . He emphasises the word again and entreats mother Lakshmi to take care of the bride and groom. Any physical description of mother Lakshmi is an indication of the special guNa of that part. The softness, roundness of the mother's bossom is to indicate that the weary jiva will be relieved of misery and find lasting bliss when he/she seeks her grace . The description of the garlands are to indicate the special sadhana that Srimahalakshmi does in ennumerating the Lord's guNas timeless and endlessly. The decoration of the mother is to indicate the reverence she has for the Lord as she goes towards Him. It is also a form of devoted surrender to the Lord. One's dress and demeanour indicates the intention and depth of respect that one has for the person one is

meeting. Here Vadirajaru wants to hint that every word can give a different set of thoughts to different people according to their yogyatha. It is just what happened during the samudra matha. All the daityas were eyeing SriMahalakshmi without realising Her position of being the mother of the entire universe and the consort of Sriman Narayana. Such glaring mistakes can occur even with devas is surprising and it is explicitly mentioned in the bhagavatham in order to warn sajjanas of being complacent of them being above this error or that blunder. The root cause of all these blunders is because of 'desire'. When one sees something then one wants to touch it, or smell it or eat it depending on the sense to which it appeals. If the desire is not satisfied then it becomes even more acute and continues to plague the mind increasing in its ability to tune the mind to do something to fulfill it. The mind is advised by the intellect to abandon sinful desires but when the emotional desires take thier hold on the mind through the indriyas , the voice of the intellect becomes feeble and is often not heeded. The mind moves on its way taking the jiva in a downward plunge. Sri Krishna has clearly highlighted this in the Bhagavad Gita 3.42saying , It is said that the senses are superior to the body and its presiding dieties. Higher than the senses is the mind and its presiding diety. Still higher is the intellect and far greater than the intellect are mahat tatva and sritatva and its presiding dieties 'Brahma" and 'Mahalakshmi" but the Supreme Brahman surpasses all of them." Here the main point to be noted that buddhi should be used to overcome the lowly desires which have sprung in the mind. We pray to Srimahalakshmi who is the

abhimani for satwa guNa which influences the intellect and imbibes it with an urge to seek knowledge, to endow us with the thirst for learning more about the Lord and His leelas. We should always remember her extreme compassion on her devotees which is similar to the love that an ordinary mother has for her child but has no limitations like that of the ordinary mother. In the world the mother can provide only what she has and what is within her power of earning or status, but the mother Lakshmi being the mother of the entire universe has unending resources to aid her bhaktas on thier oneward march toward the Lord. All prayer should not be undertaken with just an idea to have an immediate relief from any immediate physical anxiety/misery/fear/pain but

should be undertaken to please the Lord . When the Lord is pleased then what is not possible? (kimalabhyam bhagavati prasAdena shrinikEtane?) Vadirajaru says ,"Let the

mother of all protect the bride and groom of the house." Protection is besseched and prayed for not any other material gain or physical releif. The mother knows what is best and will aid the devotee along that path which is best for the onward march on the long journey to eternal bliss. To be continued ...... by the grace of Lord Sri Hari. srI krishNArpaNa mastu I am not the doer, Lord Hari is the doer Whatever He makes do is His worship by His grace R.Parimala