New question to the group from Swamiji

[Guest guest]

Lakshmi Puja is coming. Who is Lakshmi and why do we worship Her?

How

do we worship Her?

[Guest guest]

, "Sarada" <sarada_saraswati>

wrote:

> Lakshmi Puja is coming. Who is Lakshmi and why do we worship Her?

> How

> do we worship Her?

 

 

Please forgive any arrogance in answering this question. Any

knowledge I may have stems from Divine Maa in any case.

 

Lakshmi represents Wealth but true Spiritual Wealth is Peace--both

Inside and Out which is all One anyway.

 

We worship Her because we want to achieve True Peace in our lives.

 

While there are many "techniques" to worshipping Her, there is really

only One Way to worship Her, which is by realizing True Peace,

becoming One with True Peace, Living a Truly Peaceful Life. This is

true Ahimsa and True Wealth.

 

As in all religious/spiritual approaches, two main tenets are always

seen:

 

1. You should Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy

soul and with all thy might.

 

2. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Treat others

as you would like to be treated.

 

When these are truly applied the result has to be True Peace and

Tranquility.

 

Jai Maa,

 

Surya

[Guest guest]

Do a good and thorough cleaning of your house and especially puja

room. Lakshmi enjoys order and beauty and is attracted to such

places. After all, She is order and beauty Herself. Your living

surroundings reflect your inner self.

 

Her elder sister Alakshmi is attracted to dirty places and she

brings bad tidings (See Sri Suktam).

 

So be clean! Be beautiful! Be joyful! Just be!

 

Jai Maa!

 

AUM

 

, "Sarada" <sarada_saraswati>

wrote:

> Lakshmi Puja is coming. Who is Lakshmi and why do we worship Her?

> How

> do we worship Her?

[Guest guest]

Thank you, Rolando!

 

Astraea

 

, "Rolando Santos"

<sivadancer> wrote:

> Do a good and thorough cleaning of your house and especially puja

> room. Lakshmi enjoys order and beauty and is attracted to such

> places. After all, She is order and beauty Herself. Your living

> surroundings reflect your inner self.

>

> Her elder sister Alakshmi is attracted to dirty places and she

> brings bad tidings (See Sri Suktam).

>

> So be clean! Be beautiful! Be joyful! Just be!

>

> Jai Maa!

>

> AUM

>

> , "Sarada"

<sarada_saraswati>

> wrote:

> > Lakshmi Puja is coming. Who is Lakshmi and why do we worship Her?

> > How

> > do we worship Her?

[Guest guest]

Pranams Dear Swamiji,

 

Lakshya is Goal and Lakshmi is the Goddess who defines and refines

our goals - I have this from you.

 

My prayers to her to give me her blessings to work towards the goal

that I have committed myself to.

 

 

Love

Latha

 

 

, "Sarada" <sarada_saraswati>

wrote:

> Lakshmi Puja is coming. Who is Lakshmi and why do we worship Her?

> How

> do we worship Her?

[Guest guest]

Very beautifully stated. Thank you.

ChrisLatha Nanda <lathananda > wrote:

Pranams Dear Swamiji,Lakshya is Goal and Lakshmi is the Goddess who

defines and refines our goals - I have this from you.My prayers to

her to give me her blessings to work towards the goal that I have

committed myself to.LoveLatha,

"Sarada" <sarada_saraswati> wrote:> Lakshmi Puja is coming. Who

is Lakshmi and why do we worship Her? > How > do we worship Her?To

from this group, send an email

to:Your use of

is subject to the

 

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[Guest guest]

namaste swamiji,

 

each morning when i rise, after my morning shower, i enter my temple and offer

her flame and scent. she is so beautiful, sitting there upon her padma, she

smiles at me with that loving smile of hers, and offers me wealth of all kinds!

i might be poor of bank, but i am rich of spirit thanks to her.

 

this will be my first offical lakshmi pooja, so i am still doing "research" but

i bought a new yellow punjabi for the occasion. i'm awaiting the 25th.

 

she is important to me as the goddess of wealth, i have always thought wealth

came in many forms. i consider myself wealthy in many ways and i thank her each

day.

 

om shanti

chandra mani

[Guest guest]

i new the time was comming to clean my temple, but i will for sure do it before

the 25th.

thanks for reminding me.

chandra mani

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

It was very beautiful to hear Shree Maa's voice singing, in a lullaby

tone full of intimate reverie, her praise to Lakshmi Devi.

Having chanted the Mahalakshmi Ashtakam three times a day for six

months last year, hearing Maa sing it brought back a lot of memories.

I had just gotten laid off after three years with WebTone

Technologies, and I was really hoping that doing a mantra offering to

Lakshmi every day would bring me prosperity.

This was the first time I did an extended mantra offering to Lakshmi,

and I had no real understanding of Her. Nor did I realize that She

was actually a central goddess in my life.

The first thing I recall in the sadhana, was that I memorized the

Mahalakshmi Ashtakam. This took some time, but as I started

remembering the verses, I realized I was putting the mantric

vibrations directly into my cells, into my energy field.... into my

tattvas.

As I moved into the first few weeks of the offering, gradually I

realized that my request for prosperity for myself was insufficient.

I reflected on the inner meaning of Her Presence... as the Mother of

All, and understood that if I wanted to experience Her Presence, I

needed to revise my request... and in effect, to take on Her

Attribute of loving compassionate blessing, granting prosperity to

all Her Children -- first. In effect, purifying my limited desire

with Her Desire.

Gradually, I felt Lakshmi come into the energy field of my mantra

offering. Her golden light penetrated my heart chakra, and radiated

out from there, upon all Her Children, wishing them Prosperity.

After several months I began having visions and dreams in which

Anandamayi Ma, Muktananda, Nityananda, and Gurumayi came to me, and

gave me teachings and blessings. Then one night I had a dream of my

Guru, Karunamayi. The was wandering around in the dreamspace,

blessing different people with different ailments. She came to me and

said, "You have to chant the mantra," and then she went to someone

else. After blessing them, she came back to my side, looked at me

gravely, and said, "You have to chant the mantra... If you don't, all

the karmas will remain. And you know, the karmas are there... just

waiting for you."

So I woke up and ran to my bookshelf by my altar. "What mantra, Amma?"

I thought. Then it occurred to me, that previously when Amma was in

Atlanta, she gave us the Samputita Sri Suktam to chant, and said to

chant it every day. That Suktam contains the Rig Vedic prayer to

Lakshmi - the Sri Suktam, and sandwiches its verses between mool

mantras to Lakshmi and Durga.

At that moment, I changed my offering. Entering into a powerful phase

of karma burning, by the memorization and daily recitation of the

Samputita Sri Suktam.

This prayer has a very different tone than the Mahalakshmi Ashtakam.

It is very specifically a request for our Earthly goals to be "linked

up" with the Presence of Lakshmi. The prayer actually asks Lakshmi

Devi to allow the chanter to join Her Family... to join "my karmic

lineage back into Your Spiritual Family Line." And Lakshmi has a

great Family Line, including Ganesh, Jyeshtha Lakshmi, Chiklita, and

many other Divine and Semi-Divine beings.

This prayer has begun to purify my family karma, including all the way

from my parents, to my niece. It also makes one's home, Her Home. And,

for the Kundalini practitioners, there is a great set of verses

regarding the Muladhara chakra, and Gaja Lakshmi with Ida and

Pingala, or Chandra and Surya light spraying nectar on Her Radiant,

Glistening Body.

Today, Sharad Purnima, the day of the full moon, Sri, the Goddess

Lakshmi, will radiate Her Light of Blessing upon us all, and grand

our deepest longings and needs.

Blessings,

Jesse Arana (Kailash)

www.meditationinfocus.com

Sarada

[sarada_saraswati ] Wednesday, October 08, 2003

2:47 PMSubject: New

question to the group from SwamijiLakshmi Puja is coming. Who is

Lakshmi and why do we worship Her? How do we worship Her?To

from this group, send an email

to:Your use of

is subject to the

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

Thankyou for the recent invitation to join this wonderful

group...it's a most interesting satsang. I want to respond, perhaps a

little late, to this question earlier posed by Swamiji. I was

recently reading Vedanta, Voice of Freedom by our great Swami

Vivekananda and I want to repeat what the Swami says regarding a

question from a disciple...it goes as follows:

 

Disciple: Now, sir, please tell me about the utility of raja yoga and

bhakti yoga.

 

Swamiji: Striving in these paths also,some attain the realization of

Brahman. The path of bhakti, or devotion to God, is a slow process,

but is easy to practice. In the path of yoga there are many

obstacles. Perhaps the mind runs after psychic powers and thus draws

you away from attaining your real nature. Only the path of jnana is

of quick fruiton and the rationale of all other creeds. Hence it is

equally esteemed in all countries and all ages. But even in the path

of discrimination there is the chance that the mind will get stuck in

the interminable net of vain argumentation. Therefore, along with it,

meditation should be practiced. By means of discrimination and

meditation, the goal, or Brahman, has to be reached. One is sure to

reach the goal by practicing in this way. This, in my opinion, is the

easy path, ensuring quick success.

 

Sw. Vivekananda wrote extensively and eloquently about all 4 yogas.

He was also a great bhakti and a great karma yogi. Yet, it seems he

had a special feeling for these two.

 

Lisa

 

, "Sarada" <sarada_saraswati>

wrote:

> Of the four types of yoga, dhyan - meditation, jnana - wisdom,

> bhakti -

> devotion, and karma - activity, which is the most important to

> practice

> and why?

[Guest guest]

Of the four, devotion (bhakti) is the most important in this age. With

pure love and devotion we will be able to focus for dhyan, will

associate with the wise in satsang and be motivated to study, and will

naturally live a karma yoga path.

 

If She, Devi Durga or Shree Maa, is the focus of pure love and

devotion (bhakti)then our thoughts, actions and contemplations will

naturally be the most efficient and perfect.

 

Jai Maa

 

 

, "Sarada" <sarada_saraswati wrote:

>

> Of the four types of yoga, dhyan - meditation, jnana - wisdom,

> bhakti -

> devotion, and karma - activity, which is the most important to

> practice

> and why?

>

[Guest guest]

Wow, Sadhu Maa, you must've hit the "first" button on the "list

messages" page! Now that's a blast from the past!

 

Sarada was the first moderator here, before Nanda (Latha) got tagged

to do it. Lots of folks still with us, and not a few gone away, too...

 

Hope you don't feel embarrassed; it was a good question then, and it's

still a good one.

 

Good answer, too! May we all intensify and purify our loving focus on

the object of our devotion.

 

Jai Maa!

Chris

 

 

, "Sadhu Maa" <sadumaa wrote:

>

> Of the four, devotion (bhakti) is the most important in this age. With

> pure love and devotion we will be able to focus for dhyan, will

> associate with the wise in satsang and be motivated to study, and will

> naturally live a karma yoga path.

>

> If She, Devi Durga or Shree Maa, is the focus of pure love and

> devotion (bhakti)then our thoughts, actions and contemplations will

> naturally be the most efficient and perfect.

>

> Jai Maa

>

>

> , "Sarada" <sarada_saraswati@> wrote:

> >

> > Of the four types of yoga, dhyan - meditation, jnana - wisdom,

> > bhakti -

> > devotion, and karma - activity, which is the most important to

> > practice

> > and why?

> >

>