Lakshmi

Wisdom Teachings
Sublime Beings

In creation, spirit and matter are inseparably linked. In the higher planes more spirit appears and less matter; in the lower planes, spirit is more hidden in matter. Both are born at the same time from the Absolute God of whom naught can be said. He has no name. It is not right to call him He or She; we have to say IT or THAT. The Vedas speak of TAT.

God in creation is presented as male-female, as Father and Mother. In India, this unity is known as Vishnu and Lakshmi. In its male aspect it is also called Mahadeva and in its female form Sri. Mahadeva is the origin of the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Sri is the threefold Mother, Devi, which expresses as Parvati (force and power), Lakshmi (love and splendour) and Sarasvati (wisdom).

Lakshmi means symbol. The Mother is a symbolic representation of the Presence of the One. Any form is only a representation of the divine idea. The symbol is essentially the Mother. The Lord is present as the Mother, and she shows as the symbol. The form is the Mother; the content of the form is the Father. The eastern Scriptures say that the Father can be only reached through the Mother. The expression Lakshmi hints at this. Lakshmi is the Nature in its splendour and its beauty, the divine side of the form. There are many beautiful forms; nowhere, however, is beauty caught in a form but it expresses through the forms.

We are enclosed by envelopes of flesh and blood, and a magnetic, radiant light expresses through us - Lakshmi. The beauty of the inner is vibrant. Contemplating upon the beauty creates magnetism in our aura and restores the original order. In the East, the form of God is therefore worshipped with incredible beauty. The expression of beauty, however, should not be excessively expensive: real beauty is simple and pure.

Lakshmi stands for purity on all planes. On the subtle planes the light radiates stronger and the colours shine brighter. When we want to invoke the Light and to connect with the Divine, we should have cleaned ourselves physically, emotionally and mentally. Our surroundings and the things we use should also be pure and beautiful. Through beauty, truth gets expressed.

Lakshmi is the cosmic Venus energy of splendour and glory which is reflected in the sign of Taurus. A mantram related to Lakshmi and Venus is OM SRÎM AMALAYAI NAMAH. AMALA means purity. The mantram wards off the spiritually difficult aspects of Venus in the chart; it guides and lifts the seeker up through beauty. The sound SRI RAM also helps for a speedy transformation. RAM stands for the cosmic fire which burns up all impurities; SRI stands for the splendour of the Divine Nature. The sound invokes wealth, not in terms of property and bank balance but as fulfilment. “I” (pronounced like “see”) is the sound of the Divine Mother. We therefore say Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Parvati. All mantric sounds ending with “im” have to do with the Light of the Mother. In the fire ritual there are the sounds AIM, KLÎM, SRÎM, HRÎM, in this order. AIM is the light of the divine Word; KLÎM is the light of joy; the fire of the Ajna centre is called SRÎM; the fire of golden light is HRÎM.

The light of the sunrays and the splendour of gold are described as the glory of Lakshmi. In India, the symbols of her worship are abundantly decorated with gold ornaments and with golden colour turmeric powder. A meditation on this colour called Suvarna in Sanskrit creates good habits and generates a conducive environment. Golden yellow maintains the psyche in balance, dispels negative thoughts and moods and uplifts our consciousness to the Buddhic plane.

The golden colour of Lakshmi relates to the colour of the pure etheric body. Her diamond crown stands for the “glorious white robe” of the refined causal body. Lakshmi is represented with four arms: The two upper arms hold two unfolding brilliant white lotuses; they symbolise the unfoldment into the subjective and objective light. The lower right hand shows the posture or mudra of blessing and protection while the left hand is in the mudra of showering benediction. Modern painters depict Lakshmi with a right hand directed downwards and money coming out of it. Below there is a pot in which the coins are collected. In our visualisation, we should not follow such pictures. The right side stands for the subtle, the left side for the dense physical. Where the right side is emphasised, the accent is on the esoteric side; the left side stresses the material. In all rituals only the right hand is used because it belongs to the subjective side of existence. The left hand can support the right hand, just like matter can support the subjective side.

The Puranic scriptures describe the births of Lakshmi. One birth happened during the churning of the Milky Ocean through the Devas of Light and the Devas of Darkness, a poetic description of the formation of the subtle worlds: From out of the ocean emanated the Divine Lotus and from its midst Lakshmi appeared. She carried two lotuses in her hands and was surrounded by radiant sheen. Elephants bathed her with the pure waters and decorated her. Then Lakshmi, as the Mother of Love, took her abode in the heart of Lord Vishnu. From there she looked upon the rows of the Devas, and the Devas were filled with bliss. Some Devas looked at Lakshmi so intensively that they forgot the presence of the Lord. The Goddess withdrew her blessing from these Devas, and subsequently they experienced a fall: those who let themselves be blinded by richness and thus forgets the Lord experiences a fall. When we see the Divine, we realise the unity, and the diversity of creation appears in splendour and beauty. If, however, we forget the unity we encounter problems everywhere.

While entering the body we forget our identity. This forgetting belongs to the divine illusion; it enables the creation and allows us to make our experiences in it. By recollecting that all these experiences are created by the veils of the Mother and are part of the divine play, we come to know the Mother. Through her light we learn to live in the world without being affected by it and the veil slowly withdraws.

On the path of Bhakti the worshipper aspires to merge with the Divine through devotion. To merge in the divine Love is an experience of the highest bliss which can be experienced through the heart centre. It cannot be understood by reason, and reading about it does not convey the experience. Those who turn their minds inward and act with full devotion can live the splendour and beauty. The outer should not be neglected; from out of the connection with the Divine we should do everything with loving attention.

A symbol for the expression of purest love is the description that Lakshmi is the consort of Lord Vishnu and always lives in his heart. From time to time, Vishnu comes down as an avatar and each time Lakshmi accompanies him. When he takes to a Deva form, she appears in a Deva body. When he comes as a human being, she takes to a human form. During his incarnation as Rama she came as Sita. When he was born as Krishna, she was Rukmini, the first of the eight wives of Krishna, and she is considered the highest. She was the only one equivalent to him in all aspects and she gave herself to him with total devotion.

The story of Rukmini in the Puranas is a great tale of the devotion of a soul to the universal soul this way merging with it. The personality or the ego, however, – represented here by Rukmini’s brother Rukmi – first obstructed this union:

When Rukmini had heard of the qualities of Krishna, she decided to marry him. But her brother Rukmi wanted to get her married to a king and made preparations for her wedding. Since they expected that Krishna would come to take away the princess, a great army with 100 kings were prepared to fight with him.

Through Agnijyothana, a Brahmin, Rukmini sent a message to Krishna where she informed him: “Since I am totally devoted to you I cannot accept another man. Please come and save me from this marriage. There are many kings who want to marry me.” Krishna sent her the message through Agnijyothana that he would come at the right moment and take her along. The hundred kings who wanted to marry the princess came to know that Krishna was planning to take away the princess. Since they suspected that he might Rukmini away while she was going to the temple, the kings formed a semi-circle around the princess. As they had suspected, Krishna came. He was all alone, without weapons and without army. Not even a charioteer accompanied him, he steered the chariot himself. All the kings saw him. He looked at all of them and smiled, and they smiled back. Right under their nose, he went to Rukmini, took her left hand into his right hand, looked at each of the kings and led the princess to the chariot. He saw that she sat comfortably, turned the chariot around, and waved goodbye as he drove away. The kings and the entire army took ten to fifteen minutes to realise that he had taken the princess away. His smile came from the pure source; it magnetised the entire surrounding and led the beings into trance and bliss.

Sources: K.P. Kumar: Mantrams / Sri Suktam / notes from seminars. E. Krishnamacharya: Vishnu Purana. The World Teacher Trust - Dhanishta, Visakhapatnam, India.