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.

     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

Om is one of the most chanted sound symbols in India. It has a profound effect on the body and mind of the one who chants and also on the surroundings. Most mantras and vedic prayers start with Om.

All auspicious actions begin with Om. It is even used as a greeting – Om, Hari Om etc. It is repeated as a mantra or meditated upon. Its form is worshipped, contemplated upon or used as an auspicious sign.

Om is the universal name of the Lord. It is made up of the letters A (phonetically as in “around”), U (phonetically as in “put”) and M (phonetically as in “mum”). The sound emerging from the vocal chords starts from the base of the throat as “A”. With the coming together of the lips, “U” is formed and when the lips are closed, all sounds end in “M”.

The three letters symbolize the three states (waking, dream and deep sleep), the three deities (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva), the three Vedas (Rig, Yajur and Sama) the three worlds (Bhuh, Bhuvah, Suvah) etc. The Lord is all these and beyond.

The formless, attributeless Lord (Brahman) is represented by the silence between two Om Chants. Om is also called pranava that means, “that (symbol or sound) by which the Lord is praised”. The entire essence of the Vedas is enshrined in the word Om. It is said that the Lord started creating the world after chanting Om and atha. Hence its sound is considered to create an auspicious beginning for any task that we undertake. The Om chant should have the resounding sound of a bell (aaooommm).

Om is written in different ways in different places. The most common form symbolizes Lord Ganesha’s. The upper curve is the head; the lower large one, the stomach; the side one, the trunk; and the semi-circular mark with the dot, the sweetmeat ball (modaka) in Lord Ganesha’s hand. Thus Om symbolizes everything – the means and the goal of life, the world and the Truth behind it, the material and the Sacred, all form and the Formless.

(Photo courtesy: profile.myspace.com)