Mahalakshmi - An interpretation!
Hello all,
Namaste! Hope all of you are doing well and had a great weekend. Today let us analyze another Goddess (I am a huge advocate of the Goddesses and feel in this material world, the divine feminine has not been given as much credit as the divine masculine. Hope she gets her recognition and be an equally awesome archetype as the divine masculine :-) ) Mahalakshmi and what is the wisdom she asks us to bring to our life. We have discussed Mahalakshmi before in a few posts as part of another write-ups. But let us dedicate this post fully to her and ask her to guide us to reach the best goal we can attain in our life. Remember the previous sentence, it will become clear later.
Mythology: Before analyzing anything let us recapitulate again how Mahalakshmi first appears in Mythology. Remember the post on 'Samudra Mathanam' where the churning of the milky ocean is happening? We also discussed previously the metaphorical meaning of the churning of the milky ocean, it is the churning of our mindscape between the virtuous and vicious qualities and there may not be really a literal milky ocean or there may not be churning of the ocean on both sides by Devas and Asuras. (But then who knows really? If we go behind a fact-finding or a proof searching mission, we may be wasting our time with Mythology and Philosophy.)
The Devas and the Asuras were churning the milky ocean (Sudha Sagara) using Vasuki, the serpent king as the rope and Mount Mandara as the churning rod for the appearance of Amrit or the celestial nectar. As the churning progressed many celestial and divine materials started coming up from the ocean including, Moon, divine horse, divine cow and divine elephant. After that, a very beautiful maiden showed up from the ocean. She was bedecked with jewels, had all the rich ornaments and was golden hue in color. She had four hands of which two holding lotuses and one showering gold coins.
Now all the Devas and Gods wanted to make her theirs and started requesting her to marry them. In those days the will of the lady was given importance and she decided she will choose her own consort. She chose Mahavishnu, our perpetual strategist as her husband because he was the best dressed among the lot with yellow silk, jewels and conch and Sudarsana Chakra as well as shining with divine wisdom and a leadership attitude. Remember, he was the one guiding the Devas and Asuras with the huge project of Samudra Mathana. (Maybe he was the first one to take a certification in Project Management. Lol!)
This is how Mahalakshmi first appears in Mythology. One thing to take note of here is Mahalakshmi chose Mahavishnu. Mahavishnu didn't choose her. So this lady is a damsel with an attitude and knows what and whom she wants. She is not a lady who gives her free will to another person to choose for her. Good for her! The same Mahalakshmi chooses whom to bless and which devotee needs her help and who puts out the effort to bring out the best for their life.
Interpretation 1: (Word Root): As per Wikipedia, the root of the word Lakshmi is 'Laksh' (लक्ष ). Laksh means goal or objective and Lakshya means to work towards a goal. Can we now get a clue on what Mahalakshmi is asking us to do? Before that what does Mahalakshmi means? Maha means great, Lakshmi means the Goddess who shows us the path to our goal or objective which can lead us to our fortune, splendor or glory. Lakshmi also means splendor, glory, and fortune. So here we need to realize it is not just enough to ask for the splendor, glory or fortune, but we need to start working towards our goal or objective or Lakshya. But instead, what do we do? We go to the nearby Mahalakshmi temple and ask her to give us the fortune, but forgetting our Lakshya or goal towards our life. Should we assume she will bless us without putting our effort?
Interpretation 2: Remember when according to Mythology Mahalakshmi first appeared? It is at the time of Samudra Mathana. We have already discussed what Samudra Mathana metaphorically means. It is the churning of the mindscape between good and evil thoughts. When we are mired in good as well as evil thoughts or emotions, will we get a clear focus on how to work on our goal? No! We will be so confused due to our emotions and thoughts, the inner divine Wisdom or soul has no way of guiding us to our true path. The inner wisdom is not confused mind you, it is us who are confused due to a perplexed mind and due to this constant confusion we don't hear the small promptings we get from our inner voice or we immerse it in our constant chatter of inner materialistic self-talk.
So what is Mahalakshmi asking us to do? To quiet our mind, remove all the churning emotions and thoughts, listen to our inner guide, listen to the inner promptings, become clear about our goal or objective, find a way to take action towards it and put that action into practice. Once we start that process, the churning continues and who appears in our life? Mahalakshmi in the form of splendor, glory, fame and finally wealth. Remember, Goddess Lakshmi is depicted with the right lower hand showering the coins and gems and all the riches. This interpretation is towards leading a life of richness in this material realm. Why don't we do another interpretation which goes one step further?
Interpretation 3: As the scenario above we are doing all the process. To repeat the same, still, our mind, disconnect ourselves from all the churning emotions and thoughts, listen to our inner voice, become clear about our goals and objectives and start working towards it. After Mahalakshmi shows up in our life if we continue the churning of the mindscape who appears with what later? The next God appears in our mindscape, the God Dhanvantari with the pot of eternal nectar or Amrit in his hands. This is the eternal Wisdom of realizing the fact that 'we are not the body, but the eternal soul that a body has taken to go through a physical experience'. But are we ready to go through this difficult and very tiresome churning of our mental scape? This also is represented in the picture of Lakshmi. Recall the two lotuses Mahalakshmi holds in her upper two hands. Lotus as we previously discussed depicts this eternal Wisdom, which each of us can avail of if we choose to.
Another interesting hint or idea that just bubbled up in my mind, truly while writing this post (The ways of the divine are miraculous ;-) ) is that the two lotuses Mahalakshmi holds in her hand are drawn at a higher level compared to the hand that is showering the coins. So when we access the hand that showers coins, we as souls are at still a lower level compared to the two hands which hold the lotuses. When we access the lotuses we are asked to come up to a much higher level as a soul showing our place is near the head of the Goddess and not near the feet of the Goddess when we try to access just the material wealth she represents, with her lower two hands. In some pictures, she is depicted as standing or sitting in a lotus. This also symbolizes to become Self-realized through the symbol of Lotus and work towards our Lakshya or goals.
The sad part is nowadays in this material world, Mahalakshmi is only worshipped for the material matters she represents, but not for the divine wisdom she also imparts. She is the Goddess who is worshipped on Diwali day to give material prosperity.Go to any Mahalakshmi temple on a Diwali day, we will not have space to even drop a needle. But go on another day and most probably we will find the temple empty and we can get a nice 'Darshan' of Devi.
So finally what does Mahalakshmi asks us to bring into our lives? If we want splendor, glory, prosperity or fortune in our life, don't go and be in the temple four times a day, instead know oneself who we are, remove all our emotional and lower energy baggage, think what are our talents and passions, be clear about our goal (Lakshya), focus on it, bring out our true intentions to go behind our talents and passion, work on it tirelessly by taking the action tailored to our true intentions. Then we don't have to run behind the material wealth. The material wealth, prosperity, fame and finally the infinite wisdom will come chasing after us.
Isn't that a great way to live our lives where material wealth, fame, prosperity and the infinite wisdom chase behind us? Wishing that every one of us is being chased by these attributes in our life and may
the Goddess Mahalakshmi bless us with spiritual as well as material wealth!
I wish you a good weekend and I'll see you next Friday! 😉
Next week: Shiva or Rudra -The divine masculine!
Note: Images made by Swaroopa and from the Wikimedia Commons.
Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance ; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried".
All rights reserved to the author (SwaroopaStargazer) and SwaroopaBlog.
To my Blog readers: As all of you know, the European Union has passed laws regarding the collection of user data. This is just to inform all my EU blog readers, I use Google Analytics, which Google provides, to look at from where readers are reading my blogs. I also use Specific feeds for their service for subscription. I don't collect or intend to collect user data to sell or provide to third-party applications. Regards,
SwaroopaBlog.
Disclaimer: This is a personal blog. The opinions and viewpoints shared here are that of the author/owner only. Even though the author/owner will try to research well before posting the information, the author/owner of this blog does not make any portrayal of the accuracy or correctness of the content on this blog or the links provided. The author/owner will not be liable for any omissions or inaccuracies occurred. The author/owner will not be liable for any damages or losses due to the use or display of this blog. These terms and conditions can change at any time. This blog is purely for informational purposes only.
©SwaroopaStargazer and Swaroopa, 2017- Eternity.
Namaste! Hope all of you are doing well and had a great weekend. Today let us analyze another Goddess (I am a huge advocate of the Goddesses and feel in this material world, the divine feminine has not been given as much credit as the divine masculine. Hope she gets her recognition and be an equally awesome archetype as the divine masculine :-) ) Mahalakshmi and what is the wisdom she asks us to bring to our life. We have discussed Mahalakshmi before in a few posts as part of another write-ups. But let us dedicate this post fully to her and ask her to guide us to reach the best goal we can attain in our life. Remember the previous sentence, it will become clear later.
Mythology: Before analyzing anything let us recapitulate again how Mahalakshmi first appears in Mythology. Remember the post on 'Samudra Mathanam' where the churning of the milky ocean is happening? We also discussed previously the metaphorical meaning of the churning of the milky ocean, it is the churning of our mindscape between the virtuous and vicious qualities and there may not be really a literal milky ocean or there may not be churning of the ocean on both sides by Devas and Asuras. (But then who knows really? If we go behind a fact-finding or a proof searching mission, we may be wasting our time with Mythology and Philosophy.)
The Devas and the Asuras were churning the milky ocean (Sudha Sagara) using Vasuki, the serpent king as the rope and Mount Mandara as the churning rod for the appearance of Amrit or the celestial nectar. As the churning progressed many celestial and divine materials started coming up from the ocean including, Moon, divine horse, divine cow and divine elephant. After that, a very beautiful maiden showed up from the ocean. She was bedecked with jewels, had all the rich ornaments and was golden hue in color. She had four hands of which two holding lotuses and one showering gold coins.
 |
| Mahalakshmi in a sitting posture with lotus in the upper two hands |
Now all the Devas and Gods wanted to make her theirs and started requesting her to marry them. In those days the will of the lady was given importance and she decided she will choose her own consort. She chose Mahavishnu, our perpetual strategist as her husband because he was the best dressed among the lot with yellow silk, jewels and conch and Sudarsana Chakra as well as shining with divine wisdom and a leadership attitude. Remember, he was the one guiding the Devas and Asuras with the huge project of Samudra Mathana. (Maybe he was the first one to take a certification in Project Management. Lol!)
This is how Mahalakshmi first appears in Mythology. One thing to take note of here is Mahalakshmi chose Mahavishnu. Mahavishnu didn't choose her. So this lady is a damsel with an attitude and knows what and whom she wants. She is not a lady who gives her free will to another person to choose for her. Good for her! The same Mahalakshmi chooses whom to bless and which devotee needs her help and who puts out the effort to bring out the best for their life.
Interpretation 1: (Word Root): As per Wikipedia, the root of the word Lakshmi is 'Laksh' (लक्ष ). Laksh means goal or objective and Lakshya means to work towards a goal. Can we now get a clue on what Mahalakshmi is asking us to do? Before that what does Mahalakshmi means? Maha means great, Lakshmi means the Goddess who shows us the path to our goal or objective which can lead us to our fortune, splendor or glory. Lakshmi also means splendor, glory, and fortune. So here we need to realize it is not just enough to ask for the splendor, glory or fortune, but we need to start working towards our goal or objective or Lakshya. But instead, what do we do? We go to the nearby Mahalakshmi temple and ask her to give us the fortune, but forgetting our Lakshya or goal towards our life. Should we assume she will bless us without putting our effort?
Interpretation 2: Remember when according to Mythology Mahalakshmi first appeared? It is at the time of Samudra Mathana. We have already discussed what Samudra Mathana metaphorically means. It is the churning of the mindscape between good and evil thoughts. When we are mired in good as well as evil thoughts or emotions, will we get a clear focus on how to work on our goal? No! We will be so confused due to our emotions and thoughts, the inner divine Wisdom or soul has no way of guiding us to our true path. The inner wisdom is not confused mind you, it is us who are confused due to a perplexed mind and due to this constant confusion we don't hear the small promptings we get from our inner voice or we immerse it in our constant chatter of inner materialistic self-talk.
So what is Mahalakshmi asking us to do? To quiet our mind, remove all the churning emotions and thoughts, listen to our inner guide, listen to the inner promptings, become clear about our goal or objective, find a way to take action towards it and put that action into practice. Once we start that process, the churning continues and who appears in our life? Mahalakshmi in the form of splendor, glory, fame and finally wealth. Remember, Goddess Lakshmi is depicted with the right lower hand showering the coins and gems and all the riches. This interpretation is towards leading a life of richness in this material realm. Why don't we do another interpretation which goes one step further?
 |
| Mahalakshmi standing on a lotus Raja Ravi Varma [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
Interpretation 3: As the scenario above we are doing all the process. To repeat the same, still, our mind, disconnect ourselves from all the churning emotions and thoughts, listen to our inner voice, become clear about our goals and objectives and start working towards it. After Mahalakshmi shows up in our life if we continue the churning of the mindscape who appears with what later? The next God appears in our mindscape, the God Dhanvantari with the pot of eternal nectar or Amrit in his hands. This is the eternal Wisdom of realizing the fact that 'we are not the body, but the eternal soul that a body has taken to go through a physical experience'. But are we ready to go through this difficult and very tiresome churning of our mental scape? This also is represented in the picture of Lakshmi. Recall the two lotuses Mahalakshmi holds in her upper two hands. Lotus as we previously discussed depicts this eternal Wisdom, which each of us can avail of if we choose to.
Another interesting hint or idea that just bubbled up in my mind, truly while writing this post (The ways of the divine are miraculous ;-) ) is that the two lotuses Mahalakshmi holds in her hand are drawn at a higher level compared to the hand that is showering the coins. So when we access the hand that showers coins, we as souls are at still a lower level compared to the two hands which hold the lotuses. When we access the lotuses we are asked to come up to a much higher level as a soul showing our place is near the head of the Goddess and not near the feet of the Goddess when we try to access just the material wealth she represents, with her lower two hands. In some pictures, she is depicted as standing or sitting in a lotus. This also symbolizes to become Self-realized through the symbol of Lotus and work towards our Lakshya or goals.
The sad part is nowadays in this material world, Mahalakshmi is only worshipped for the material matters she represents, but not for the divine wisdom she also imparts. She is the Goddess who is worshipped on Diwali day to give material prosperity.Go to any Mahalakshmi temple on a Diwali day, we will not have space to even drop a needle. But go on another day and most probably we will find the temple empty and we can get a nice 'Darshan' of Devi.
So finally what does Mahalakshmi asks us to bring into our lives? If we want splendor, glory, prosperity or fortune in our life, don't go and be in the temple four times a day, instead know oneself who we are, remove all our emotional and lower energy baggage, think what are our talents and passions, be clear about our goal (Lakshya), focus on it, bring out our true intentions to go behind our talents and passion, work on it tirelessly by taking the action tailored to our true intentions. Then we don't have to run behind the material wealth. The material wealth, prosperity, fame and finally the infinite wisdom will come chasing after us.
Isn't that a great way to live our lives where material wealth, fame, prosperity and the infinite wisdom chase behind us? Wishing that every one of us is being chased by these attributes in our life and may
the Goddess Mahalakshmi bless us with spiritual as well as material wealth!
I wish you a good weekend and I'll see you next Friday! 😉
Next week: Shiva or Rudra -The divine masculine!
Note: Images made by Swaroopa and from the Wikimedia Commons.
Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance ; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried".
All rights reserved to the author (SwaroopaStargazer) and SwaroopaBlog.
To my Blog readers: As all of you know, the European Union has passed laws regarding the collection of user data. This is just to inform all my EU blog readers, I use Google Analytics, which Google provides, to look at from where readers are reading my blogs. I also use Specific feeds for their service for subscription. I don't collect or intend to collect user data to sell or provide to third-party applications. Regards,
SwaroopaBlog.
Disclaimer: This is a personal blog. The opinions and viewpoints shared here are that of the author/owner only. Even though the author/owner will try to research well before posting the information, the author/owner of this blog does not make any portrayal of the accuracy or correctness of the content on this blog or the links provided. The author/owner will not be liable for any omissions or inaccuracies occurred. The author/owner will not be liable for any damages or losses due to the use or display of this blog. These terms and conditions can change at any time. This blog is purely for informational purposes only.
©SwaroopaStargazer and Swaroopa, 2017- Eternity.
Excellent interpretation. I keep rereading the post . Mahavishnu as PM ��
ReplyDeleteKeep it up !
Hello Beautiful Life, Thank you for your comment. All divine guidance. I think I didn't reply, why Mahavishnu I commented as Project manager. In 'Samudra Mathana', the churning of the ocean itself happened under the auspices of Vishnu. So it was huge project he managed. Hence the comment.
ReplyDelete