Pin drop silence for 30 seconds before I heard wake up call. Luckily I could recall my dream as well as last night’s post-dinner talk with friends which I generally consider responsible for causing relevant dreams.

That day at office, during tea time:

“I think you should invest in silver. It has worked well as Return of investment for me.”

“No, I think you should invest in gold. Demand will rise with increasing middle class.”

“Forget shares, silver and gold. You must invest in land. More tangible, larger than your imagination & need of the bleak future. You have got many options. Buy the land, stir up its need and sell it in double price. Again buy some more land, sell. Buy. Sell. Buy, sell. Bombshell of wealth. Unlimited wealth transactions!”

“Aha…that seems convincing. Ok done deal. I am going to invest in land.”

That day in evening, I tried to decipher dream and what I interpreted was self-realization. That furious woman was no one but my mother!

Hmmm…”How dare you using me, your mother, as commodity? Where is your love for mother? Where is that song you wrote about me in your college days? Those endless talks about loyalty and love for me? Do I miss anything here? Despite giving you so many ways to earn with my full support and self-sacrifice, I feel utterly disgusting when you, my children start using me as commodity.

Wasn’t crop cultivated by me enough to satisfy your hunger? Wasn’t gold and silver that you extracted from me enough to satisfy your desires? Wasn’t it enough that I gave you shelter and saved from adversaries of nature? Am I mere piece of land for you who can be bought and sold in market like any other mineral, metal & man (slaves)? Why do you want to exploit those who are in need (farmers, middle class in search of dream home) by increasing my imaginary value just by sentiments and earn/invest black money?” – That’s what Mother Earth spoke to me when I tried to correlate my talk with friends and furious  lady in dream.

I realized my mistake and recalled prayer taught by mother about mother earth 20 years back:

समुद्रवसने देवी

पर्वतस्तनमण्डले ।

विष्णुपत्नि नमस्तुभ्यं

पादस्पर्श क्षमस्वमे ।।

Forgive me Mother Earth for touching you with my feet. O Mother, my salutations to you, who is covered by the oceans and mountains, and who is the wife of Bhagawan Vishnu (i.e. Goddess Lakshmi).

I am sorry Mother Earth.

PS: This was my lowly imagination in uncontrolled dream. Mother Earth cannot be furious. She loves everyone of us without any prejudice. Don’t worry. Continue with selfish exploitation of motherly love.

Shlok 8

I shall, by their grace, destroy that distressing poverty which is first born in the form of hunger and thirst, (i.e., which prevents the advent of prosperity). Dispel�every form of want and insufficiency�from my house.

Poverty, trust and charity

Poverty:

Something I was thinking about yesterday, at home, is how God is never outdone in generosity, whether material or social or spiritual. Because of the economic unease we�re all facing, I was frankly thinking of the material – hanging on to jobs, my friend finding a job, how we�ll pay for home heating oil this winter, affording college for my sister – and I remembered that my wife and I have always believed it and found it to be true: when we give from our own need, it never goes unrewarded. Well, someone from you argue that how it will be rewarded. That�s where Sri Suktam is needed.

You cannot become�rich if you acquire wealth; you also need to work on removing anomalies and insufficiency of life. Otherwise, there are strong chances that acquired wealth gets vanished in no time. In short, by saying “Dispel every form want and�insufficiency from my house”, Rushi wanted to convey message that, one should also work on improving life by all means. Money or materialistic wealth is not everything a person needs to be wealthy as their value can decrease at any time e.g., stock exchange. What we need to acquire is permanent wealth in the form of blissful life, morals and principles, generosity when needed so that we can get help when we need.

Trust:

We forget, sometimes, that if we trust – really, just trust (that�s harder to do, and less simple, than it sounds) we will receive �what we need.� We may not get a penny more than that. But we will see our needs met, and perhaps part of what we �need� is to learn how to manage ourselves on less, how to cultivate thrift, how to resist the urge for immediate gratification. How to save, and to work toward goals? How to be patient? We are not very patient, anymore. We don�t like to

wait for what we want. Our society has been very spoiled and �me� oriented for a while, now. Everyone buys themselves whatever they want, when they want it, and – because of the easy credit (which helped get us into this mess) and our addiction to it – we have forgotten how to wait, how to practice that �old-fashioned� virtue of self-denial.

Charity:

Charity is a great form of dispelling unwanted wealth (which ultimately brings sickness and poverty) and helping those who are in need. By that way, you will have blissful life and also your wants will be limited. I�m going to remind them of what I remembered: God is never outdone in generosity, but you need to be generous yourself, if you want Him to outdo you. Even in these frightening times – perhaps especially in frightening, vulnerable-feeling economic times – it is important to be generous to others � families, especially extended families in need.

My learnings:

1) Expel unwanted need which can create poverty in future

2) Charity is the best to dispel our unwanted needs to get credit which can be used in future with interest rate.

-Taral Sharma

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Shri Suktam Series:

Article 1:�Linking broken links � Economics, Life and Happppppppppiness!

http://vediclearnings.com/2008/11/17/shri-suktam-new-learning-series/

Article 2:�Connect the dots�to enlighten!

http://vediclearnings.com/2008/11/24/shri-suktam-new-learning-series-2/

Article 3: Respect, Thankfulness and Glorious life

http://vediclearnings.com/2008/12/01/shri-suktam-shlok-1/

Article 4: Unlimited wealth, unfailing objective and universal mother

http://vediclearnings.com/2008/12/08/shri-sukta-shlok-2/

Article 5: Strength, bravery and�Sprightliness

http://vediclearnings.com/2008/12/15/shri-suktam-shlok-3-certificate-of-wealth-acquisition/

Article 6: Bliss, content, lotus and Balanced life

http://vediclearnings.com/2008/12/22/shri-suktam-shlok-4-bliss-content-lotus-balanced-life/

Article 7: Protection by Magnanimous & Blazing Wealth!

http://vediclearnings.com/2008/12/29/protection-by-magnanimous-blazing-wealth/

Article 8: Unconditioned & unlimited nature

http://vediclearnings.com/2009/01/05/unconditioned-unlimited-nature/

Article 9: National Spirit

http://vediclearnings.com/2009/01/12/shri-suktam-shlok-7-national-spirit/

Tamaavaha jatavedo
Lakshmimananpagaminim
Yasyaam hiranyam vindeyam
Gamasvam purushanaham

Translation:

O, Agni, the great fire-god, with the blessings of Mahalakshmi, wealth and prosperity, gold and cattle, horses and useful animals, family and children and every type of prosperity will come to me. By the arrival of Goddess Lakshmi in my home, the prosperity will be imperishable. Health, friends, knowledge, everlasting peace and finally freedom — all these types of wealth will be mine by the arrival of the Universal Mother, Lakshmi, into my home.

Unlimited Wealth, Unfailing objective & Universal mother

Unlimited wealth (Indian ‘gold’):
I think we all read about golden hisotry of India. Still, I am 100% sure that nobody knows the fact that i am about to justify. Archeologists studying history of India concluded that India might have been inhabited around at least the Middle Pleistocene era, somewhere between 200,000 to 500,000 years ago. Prehistoric era of India existed from Stone age, Bronze age, Iron age, Vedic period, Mahajanapadas, Persian and Greek invasions, The Maghadas, Early middle kingdoms – ‘The golden age’, Late middle kingdom -’The classic age’, The Islamic sultanate, The Mughal era, Post Mughal regional kingdoms, Colonial era and the Indian independence movement up to Independence & partition. Out of that, whole world had seen stone age, bronze age and iron age, but only India had seen the Vedic period and its extension in the form of Mahajanapadas, Persian and Greek invasions, the Maghadas and Early middle kingdoms – ‘The golden age’. This was the time of our cultural and intellectual enlightenment. At the same time, Nalanda University was founded and Sanskrit was the language of communication. After Golden age, people started invading India for all purposes. The reason of invasion was prosperity. The golden age does not mean we were having ‘Gold’ everywhere. But, this means our intellectuality was like gold; pure and precious. Yes, there are possibilities that with those values and intellectuality we would have gained prosperity and this wealth have been used as �Gold� collectively. Again, Wealth does not mean money but it is different facets of happiness. If at all money is the wealth, than UAE (with precious oil) and South Africa (with gold mines) are the wealthiest countries of the world. But, recent research shows that USA (who owes more than any country) is the wealthiest country of the world.

Nalanda University

Goddess Lakshmi who shines like gold, yellow in hue, gold & silver garlands and moon, which shows the description of having wealth and becoming wealthy. And, health, friends, knowledge, everlasting peace, freedom, gold, silver, wealth, prosperity, horses, other useful animals, family, children and every type of prosperity – are examples of wealth which can be gained by arrival of Lakshmi at our homes which is portrayed in this description of second shlok ( Check above). Wealth is subjective and having wealth in your preference makes you happy and contented. It is also observed that both the ends of economic pendulum are unhappy. Maslow’s hierarchy principle ( Click here for more about hierarchy principle )shows importance of materialistic life to people across every aspects of economic scale and confirms the ideas of Sri Suktam. Research had also shown that poor and middle class people are emotionally salient and mentally stable compared to rich people. At last, Becoming rich without understanding wealth is like inviting uninvited problems.

Unfailing objective:
Lakshmi in Sanskrit is derived from its elemental form “LakS,” meaning to perceive or observe. This is synonymous with “LakSya,” meaning aim or objective. Lakshmi is thus goddess of the means to achieving objectives, including prosperity in the lives of mankind. So, Lakshmi means achievement or objective whic is unfailing. It reminds me of Arjuna and its manner of looking only at the eye of fish.

Universal mother:
We call Lakshmi a universal mother as mother is the one whom we can ask anything anytime and who is always ready. Also notice that, ‘Shall’ is used in shlok translation instead of ‘will’ because we think ‘we have to’ or ‘we will’ get everything we want. Significance of it is because of the presence of unfailing objective (Lakshmi) and its consideration as all types of wealth which includes but not limited to useful animals, family and good men. So now it can be read as, ‘I shall win every form of wealth including cattle horses due to unfailing goddess of wealth.’

When unfailing objective (Lakshmi) is on our side than which financial market can dare to scare us. Again, we all know that being poor and filthy rich are bad but being indecisive regarding the required wealth is the worst. Think twice friends; don�t repent for what we had already lost. Remember, �Life always gives us second chance but it�s mostly the last chance�.

Stay tuned for the Shlok-3 next week.

Om, Hiranya varnam harinim
Suvarna rajatasrajam
Chandraam hiranmayim
Lakshmim jatavedo ma avaha

Translation

O all-knowing fire-god (Agni), would you kindly propitiate Mahalakshmi, the Goddess of prosperity, one whose body has the golden color; one who is decked with gold and silver garlands; one whose sari is yellow colored and one Whose face is like the full moon and whose eyes bless humanity with soothing grace. O Jata Veda, the fire-god, kindly tell Her of our supplications.

Respect, Thankfulness and Glorious life

It is foremost to understand that why Shri Suktam starts by invoking Agni (God representing fire) before we try to understand economics of life. Not only in Shri Suktam but every ritual that I read or observed, it is very common to invoke God Agni (Fire) first. Here is the humble effort to understand Shlok 1 on the basis of science of evolution and psychology.

Agni-Fire

When I was in school, I was taught that �Fire� is one of those basic discoveries by which Humans had changed living remarkably. Imagine their wonder when they first saw Fire spark! The first ever fire in the history of human life!I think, it was godly feeling for them who never experienced Fire before, power which is beyond their imagination. Certainly, over the period of time, with new learnings, they came across many such superpowers, externally (Wind-Pavan, Air-Vayu, Surya-Sun) as well as internally (Knowledge � Saraswati, Intellect �Pragna, Vak � Speech); they might have started giving respect to those extraordinary learnings, they gave them human form, they worshiped them to express gratitude and yet they did not forget basics that how fire helped them exploring all these new ways to live life better way. And that might be the reason for fire worship known not only in Vedic culture but in various other cultures across this planet in different times (Evidences found in Jews, Zoroastrians, Hebrew Bible, Graeco-Roman tradition, The Greeks etc.). Agni is considered as messenger for all other known super-natural strengths. So, to even understand Goddess of wealth, Shri Lakshmi, We invoke God Agni first. A highest way to express gratitude by highest intellects!

Lakshmi � motherly figure

Personification of qualities is very essential when we want to convey great qualities to forthcoming generations. And when those qualities are pure and unconditional love, joy, care � to me, it is well understood by feminine figure. In psychology, they have similar concept called �archetype�. An archetype is an original model of person, object, or concept from which similar instances are derived or patterned or emulated. In this sense, motherly figure is described by all above mentioned qualities. And when we are talking about Goddess of wealth, her description in Shri Suktam identifies mother figure with certain additional qualities like Gold, Silver, glory on face, humanity in eyes and soothing grace. Learning starts with behavior of acceptance. So, we need to open ourselves and remove all doubts to learn lessons of life. We will make every effort to provide you brighter vision in this fuzzy atmosphere.

First shlok gives us one sure message that economics of life is about gratitude, blessings, humanity, and glory. Also, last but not the least, Gold and Silver.

My Life Learning – The economics way

• Respect nature, they are our highest wealth.
• When I say God is within me, Fire(Feelings of great warmth and intensity) must prevail in me and my actions. Actions ignited by fire within and my readiness to worship mother Lakshmi will only determine my richness and not laziness or blemish lifestyle.

Are we ready to understand importance of different types of wealth, beyond and above Paper money? Yes is the answer for those who wants to understand economics of happiness.

Stay tuned for shlok 2 next week!

{Images :

1) http://www.askganesha.com/images/Lakshmi.jpg

2) http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragoncito/166536062/}

���� Connect the dots�to enlighten!

���� Wow, �Fear of unknown origin�, sounds like a plan. I think it is a disease or illusion but let me�think as i am surviving another Friday evening. Yes, Its 7:00 PM and I grounded another difficult case. I did what I can do but still there is a fear on back of my mind that did I screwed more than what I think? I don�t know what that is but for now I would like to name it as, �fear of unknown origin.��My internal scorpion�had already started chanting the tunes�of denial in order to increase my level of confidence in this moment of quite. And, to distract myself from this, I started working on my Vedic learning task. I thought of searching online the relevance of Spirituality and economy.�

�������The Network of Spiritual Progressives defines spiritual people as �all those whose deepest values lead them to challenge the ethos of selfishness and materialism that has led people into a frantic search for money and power and away from a life that places love, kindness, generosity, peace, non-violence, social justice, awe and wonder at the grandeur of creation, thanksgiving, humility and joy at the center of our lives.��

���� …Philosophers learned from Kant that ethics is autonomous with respect to religion�

���� �Plato created the figure of king-philosopher, combining power and wisdom as the excellent leader. Spirituality was for Plato an intellectual and emotional search for an inner enlightenment. A physical, mental and spiritual training was needed to reach enlightenment and to become a good leader�

���� Have you felt that sometimes you are so much involved in minute details that you miss the boat? That�s what happening here. We know everything while knowing nothing and vice versa.

���� Well, let�s try to connect the dots, my fear, definition of spiritual people & quotes from Plato and Kant as well as missing the main problem has one motive which inclines me to work more and more on our ancient literature. I am thankful to Nisarg for raising the question to involve Sri Suktam in our Monday learning. We need that enlightenment in the form of our remaining spiritual training so as to become king-philosopher.

���� As per economy, ecology & spirituality: Toward a theory and practice of sustainability, there is a growing gap between rich and poor and accelerating environmental and social disintegration which offer powerful testimony to the failure of conventional development practice in countries of both South and North. This failure has given birth to a global effort to build commitment to an alternative citizen’s vision of human progress grounded in commitment to just, inclusive, and sustainable human societies. Most of the times we do things because someone told us, we heard or�read somewhere. That means someone drives your life and not you. Yes, everybody is driving someone else. Countries are landing their products and money to other country for survival. And still we are having falling stock market, rising prices, layoffs and decreasing spirituality?

���� Remember as Richard Saul Wurman well said, �Learning can be defined as the process of remembering what you are interested in.� Sri suktam brings spirituality and materialistic life together as close as anybody can get. So, what now? We need help and nobody is helping us. This situation requires self-learning and enlightenment. We think on materialistic life but forget our self and vice versa. Yes, we are so away from self that even while calling our own number from our own cell phone states , � please check the number and dial again� or � this number is busy please dial after sometime.� We have to call our self from our internal spiritual network as the outer cell phones (materialistic world) don�t connect us to our self before we leave materialistic world (die). Happiness is inside and we had to reveal and cherish that. More inclination towards the outer world causes loss of attachment of self and increasing confusions. And, that�s what the essence of Sri Suktam is.

���� So, let�s gather on the common spiritual background of Vedic learnings and try to understand the maze of life, economy and spirituality with the help of Sri Suktam.�

���� We invite your dear suggestions and warm critics.

~ Taral Sharma

-image courtesy: flickr

Linking broken links � Economics, Life and Happppppppppiness!

�Even if all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion.�

� George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw can utter above statement but I cannot. I cannot because I don�t even know one line definition of economics in present context. But, I do have urge to understand it as I feel that it has keys to resolve human race�s trivial and fundamental issue � Pursuit of Happiness!

Recently, I watched latest Bond movie – Quantum of solace. You might not like this bond movie if you are pre-conceived about typical Bond-type movies and so I also did not like movie without cars, gadgets and high-tech action. But, at the end, it surely gave spark to let me started thinking about present days Oil economy (by comparing it with Water Economy) and so called Economic crisis. Movie talks about mafias in water economy age (Age when now easily available water will have highest market value! And so people around the world do business on water. Futuristic but hope that we don�t observe WW1 � Water War 1).Giants reporting bankruptcy, Stock markets across the world started sinking, following Wall Street way, credit gambling, rising unemployment, slow growth in developing countries, reduced trade volume, income insecurity are few buzz headlines hitting news every day since last six months. These all lead me to start thinking on this front and explore more in details.

Mind you, we are here, not to give any remedy or discuss why it happened and how bleak or bright future will be�.we are here to see world economy with different perspectives. We are here to understand what actually mean by word �Economy� and different segments of economy. We are here to connect broken links between Economics and allied sciences. We are simply here to sing a song of Economics known as �Shri Suktam� and put earnest efforts to design ways to pursue happiness.

Some people say that Adam Smith (1723-90) is father of economics. I respect Adam Smith for his efforts and would say that He is path finder for Modern Economics. Before Smith, Hobbes� Leviathan (1588-1679) was considered as some base for economics which explains power of common wealth. Again, I haven�t read any of them but I would surely believe that it is time to go back, go back and re-search our roots. If we have to go-back then why not start with well known Sanskrit devotional hymn �Shri Suktam� and understand ways towards happy life. Why not to understand true meaning of Goddess Lakshmi and bless our life with rich wealth?

Lakshmi in Sanskrit is derived from its elemental form “lakS,” meaning to perceive or observe.^[2] This is synonymous with “lakSya,” meaning aim or objective. Lakshmi is thus goddess of the means to achieving objectives, including prosperity in the lives of mankind.

By singing �Shri Suktam� along with Vedic Learnings team, I am confident that this musical journey will surely help in exploring economics of life.

~ Nisarg Joshi

Followed to this article, we are committed explore more about economics, life and happiness! Stay Tuned!

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