|| Shlok 1 ||

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