Sri Suktam Lecture 01 on 11 January 2024

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

By God's grace, we have completed the Devi Suktam. Devi here means divine mother. Anyone who realizes the supreme reality, they become one with that reality. So there was a daughter of a Rishi called Ambruni. And she had realized, I am the Parabrahman. And she has to express her experience. And that experience can be expressed only when there is a dualistic mood. So assuming the form of Saguna Brahma, Ishwara, she had expressed in eight beautiful mantras, I am everything. What is the essence of this Devi Suktam? Sarva Mangala Mangalye, Shive Sarvartha Sadhike, Sharanye Triyambake Gauri Narayani Namostu Thee. Srishti Sthiti Vinashanam, Shetty Bhute Sanatani, Gunasraye Gunamayee, Narayani Namostu Thee. Sharanagata Deenarta Paritrana Parayane, Sarvasya Aarti Hare Devi, Narayani Namostu Thee. I am the Irguna Brahma. I am the Saguna Brahma. I create this universe. In fact, I manifest myself as this universe. I not only create, I manifest, I sustain. And in the end, I go back into myself. When I dream of this world, it is called Leela. And when I am out of Leela, I am called Nitya. If we can understand this much, we have understood not only Devi Suktam, whether it be Narayana Suktam, Purusha Suktam, every Suktam. And this introduction can be in total applied to, as I said, every Suktam but Sri Suktam. There are many people who are extraordinarily devoted to the chanting, the Japam of Sri Suktam. In fact, I myself am one of the devotees of Sri Suktam and Narayana Suktam. Every day, I do this chanting. Why? Usually, people have very narrow ideas about Sri. Sri means Lakshmi. Lakshmi means wealth. Wealth means mostly the meaning is confined to money. People do not understand. They do not have the brains, the intelligence to understand. But one cannot eat money. One can have money. One can possess money. But one can also be dispossessed of money. But there is something which nobody can take away from us. What is that? Knowledge. Knowledge means what? There are Aparavidya and Paravidya, supreme knowledge, worldly knowledge, spiritual knowledge, respectively called Shreyas and Prayas. And Sri Suktam means that includes both Shreyas as well as Prayas. We have to put emphasis on unbroken happiness, whatever be the conditions. I may be poor, I may be illiterate, I may be unhealthy, I may not have or may not possess many things that people say. But if I am content, What is the greatest wealth a person can possess? Our Upanishads explicitly express. What are they? As Patanjali Rishi puts it, Yama and Niyama. And that is the greatest wealth. How do you say it is the greatest wealth? Because in the Niyamas are included that I am pure. Shoucha means purity. Santosha, contentment. Look at a baby. I always give the example of the baby. Until the baby is taught how to develop peculiar persistent habits, the baby, every baby, everywhere, just first only starts feeding pure milk. And really the milk will be like Amul's condensed milk. No, they are just very sustaining, very health-giving, very bacteria-fighting, just most suitable type of milk, mother's milk. There is no substitute for mother's milk. It may not be tasty. Who calls, I want tasty things, not babies. Babies are satisfied, they are hungry, they want to get rid of the hunger, and they go on drinking, or even later on, what is called boiled rice, boiled dal, and slowly boiled vegetables, etc. So that gives supreme satisfaction. That is called Santosha. Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, Shraddhiram, Chandramani Devi are the greatest exemplars. Ramana Maharshi. They are all the greatest exemplars of Santosha. Ramana Maharshi used to go out for Bhiksha in his earlier days. And he had decided, I will visit only three houses, or maybe five houses. This is one kind of Sannyasin's rule. Ramana Maharshi had never formally taken Sannyasa, but we cannot find any greater Paramahamsa than Ramana Maharshi. He used to wear only a Kopina. Why? Not because he felt, I am a male, I have to protect my shame. No. It is to make free other people from embarrassment. Otherwise, he was quite happy. He was a great Paramahamsa. He did not practice Paramahamsa Giri. It just came to him with Self-realization. And he was always happy. Whatever comes is very happy. And I will be spicing these talks now and then with some incidents. Once some robbers came and at the point of a stick, not a gun, but in those days stick was sufficient. So they ordered Ramana Maharshi and others. They took whatever they could, usually some utensils, etc. And while going out, one of the robbers gave a big blow to Ramana Maharshi and went away. Of course, the devotees did not mind much the robbing of other things, but they very much minded their beloved Maharshi being given a blow. So they wanted to complain to police. So after the robbers went away, they came inside. They were thinking of complaining to the police. Then Ramana Maharshi uttered something extraordinary. He said, you people bring to me as gifts so many fruits and sweets. Do I go to the police to complain? Here, this man had gifted me a blow. So if I can accept your gifts, I can as well accept other man's gift also. But you know, devotees will not listen to it. So they kept quiet because Maharshi forbade them to do anything. But I am just illustrating our psychology, poor psychology. Next day, police caught the same thieves in some other robbery case. And then these people came to know and the devotees were very, very happy. Now, after hearing this incident, put yourself this question. Was Ramana Maharshi happier after hearing that they were caught by the police? No, he was a Nirvikara. So there was a French novel. Just now I forgot its name. I think it is Les Miserables, probably. There was a pious bishop and his silver candles were stolen by a thief. And the next day, the police caught hold of him, the thief. And they identified, they came to this bishop and said, Sir, did this person steal from you? The bishop said, No, no, I gifted them to him. It is not stealing. And that brought about a tremendous change in that person. And immediately, he renounced the world and became one of the greatest Christian bhaktas. Similarly, there was a person called Pavahari Baba. And one day, a thief entered into his ashram and bundled all the utensils at night. And meanwhile, Pavahari Baba awoke. The thief got frightened. So he already bundled the utensils. But in his fright, he had just thrown them on the floor and started running. Being a yogi, Pavahari Baba was faster than Milkasi. Along with the bundle, he went and caught hold of the thief. He laid the bundle at his feet and said, Lord, forgive me for interrupting your job. Unconsciously, I have made some sounds, so you got frightened. I should never have done that. And that brought a tremendous life-changing transformation. And the thief became one of the greatest sannyasins. So I don't want to tell aloud, if you have any tendencies to steal, rob, try to rob some sannyasin's products, maybe you might become a great sannyasin. If not in this life, in the next life, definitely you are going to become. Anyway, coming back, people have the idea, Lakshmi means only money. And money is equated with wealth. No. Here we have to recollect, Durga Suktam, one of the hymns, Ya Devi Sarva Bhooteshu, Vidya, Lakshmi, Vritti, and so many others, Yashaha, wherever you see, Matru Roopena, Daya Roopena, Kshama Roopena, Vidya Roopena, Chetanetya Vidiyate, that means every guna that we see in our life, is nothing but the manifestation of the Divine Mother. That is the exact same thing we have to substitute here. Wealth means, this is real wealth. What is real wealth? Knowledge is real wealth. What is real wealth? Santosha is real wealth. Saucha is real wealth. Tapaha, that is, happily forbear everything. That is called Tapaha. Swadhyaya, Swa-Adhyaya, continuously dwell, meditate upon oneself, your own Self, true Self. And then ultimately, Ishwara Pranidhana, Tadviddhi Pariprashnena Pranidhanena Prashnaya, Pranidhana means Sharanagati. Sharanagati, in other words, means completely becoming one with the Upasya Devata. So every Jeeva must, by whatever means, he must become one with God. Aham Brahmasmi. Then what happens? Sarvam Brahmamaya. Then what happens? Wherever there is any splendor manifest more than in others. We have to remember, it is God manifesting in that particular quality. Very interestingly, if you study the 10th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, which is very aptly called Vibhuti Yoga. Vibhuti means splendor, glory. Wherever you see an extraordinary glory, know for certain that is nothing but my manifestation. But even within us, I am speaking, that is the splendor, glory of Divine Mother, Sharada Devi, Saraswati. Sharada means Sarada. Sharada, Sarada. What is Sarada? Sara means essence. What is essence? Aham Brahmasmi is the very essence. So whatever we see here, there is only one reality that is called Brahman. Call Him God. Call Him Father in Heaven. Call Him Paradise or Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever name, Supreme Reality is one. Truth is one. Ekam Sat Viprah Bahudhavadanti So what am I talking about? I am talking about Sri Suktam. Sri means Lakshmi. Lakshmi means people identify Her only with money. But we have to understand, money is the root cause of all problems, including our Samsara Bandhana. So our body is wealth. A beautiful body is bondage. A strong body is a bondage. A body with various diseases is a bondage. Our mind is the greatest bondage. We have been studying, I hope, in this Amruta Bindu Upanishad, Manayeva Manushyanaam Karanam Bandhamoksha Yo So Sri means wealth. What wealth? Yama, Niyama, or 16th chapter of the Gita, Daivey Sampath, Ahimsa, Sathya, etc. So all these things we have to remember. A person, ultimately what does he want? He wants to be happy. And happiness is the real, real Sri. So even though, as I was mentioning, Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, Sri Ramakrishna's father, Kshatriya Ram, people used to flock to his house, even though he had very little to give in the form of physical something. But why were they coming? The moment they enter into his presence or even into his house, their minds used to be filled with Shanti. That is why Holy Mother used to attract people. That is why in Pramana Maharshi, people go, Sir, I came running to you, because you alone, not consciously, by their very presence, unconsciously, everybody will get Shanti. That is real Sri. So first misnomer we have to get rid of is Sri means that which makes my life very blessed and I become whatever be the circumstances, that means whatever be the body, whatever be the mind, whatever be the Jagat, let Mother fill me with Asatoma, Tamasoma, Mrutyorma, that continuous prayer is answered if we are endowed with Shraddha and Bhakti. As I mentioned, there are so many Sukthams. In fact, the whole Rig Veda is nothing but Suktham. What is Suktham? Su-uktham. Su means rightly said, truthfully said, very well said, beautifully said. Uktham means said. Now that which leads to our ultimate welfare, that is called Suktham. And there are so many Sukthas. We already dealt with Medha Suktham, Narayana Suktham, Purusha Suktham. So we have to understand this beautiful concept, Suktham. The whole Vedas tell nothing but Jiva, Jivatma, Paramatma, Aikyam. That is the meaning of Suktham. Why? Because Bhagawan is Sachidananda and we want to become Sachidananda. And through the devout chanting of these Sukthas, we are trying to surrender ourselves. These Sukthas endow our mind with purity and all spiritual qualities as mentioned in the Upanishads, as mentioned in the Bhakti Shastras. Viveka, Vimoka, Abhyasa, Kriya, Kalyana, Anudharsha, Anavasada or Viveka, Vairagya, Shamadhamadhi, Shatkasampatti and Mumukshottam. Because these alone give us, whatever be the circumstances, a happy person will be happy even if he goes to hell. In this connection, I remember a beautiful study of the Bhagavatam, the story of Bali Chakravarti. I am not going to narrate the whole thing. Bhagawan Vishnu came to bestow His grace. He Himself came as a beggar. He came in the form of a very dwarf Brahmachari. It is a symbolic story. Some other time, I will perhaps go into that. All our Puranic stories, stories from the Puranas are symbolic only. That is why don't try to study straight forward. You will have a lot of problems. Why Prahlad was tortured? Almost every devotee is tortured in Puranas. We are talking about Pandavas. We are talking about Sri Rama. We are talking about all the devotees, Ambarisha, etc. Prahlad, everybody's life is filled with misery. Is it so? Is it true? But that very misery is the very cause of Bhagawan's divine grace. Some other time, but what is important is this dwarf came and Shukracharya, the Guru who was very wise, by the way, you know, Brihaspati is the Deva Guru and Shukracharya is the Rakshasa Guru, Asuris Guru. This Shukracharya, he recognized this is Vishnu coming in the form of this survey. Whenever Vishnu comes, it will be ruined. That was called Shukrabuddhi. What a horrible type of understanding. When Bhagawan Himself comes, will He bring misery? Satchitananda comes. What are you telling? A happy person comes bringing unhappiness. Is it not a contradiction in terms? So Bhagawan who is Sat and Chit and Anandaswaroopa or Satyam, Jnanam, Anantam, Brahma, when He comes, this much of buddhi Shukracharya did not have. He warned his disciple that do not give anything to this person because if you give one small hair of yours, He will pull the whole of you and ruin you. But Bali Chakravarti is very name, is a symbolic name. Bali means sacrifice. He was inflated with joy and said what? Everybody including me approach God for things but here God Himself is coming. I am not going to lose this only chance. Whatever He wants, I will give. Then He came and then Bali Chakravarti said, Sir, you are my revered guest. Whatever you want, I will give you. And they said, I only want a piece of land which will cover only three of my steps. Done. And then one foot covered the whole earth. Another foot covered the whole heaven. Where do I put my... Where is that third foot of space you promised? Bali had no other way. Put it on my head. And that is what the God had said. And then because Bali Chakravarti had, according to the Puranic story, conquered the Devas and the Devas, they went there, Mummy, please help us. Until that time, these fellows, they forgot God. They were reveling in selfish enjoyments. But as soon as trouble comes, they had enough buddhi to run to Lord Vishnu. So this Bhagawan pushed him to what is called the lowest of the place. And then the Bhagavatam tells beautifully that Bhagawan Himself said, do not worry that wherever you live, that place becomes more than Svargaloka. Why? Because I certified you. I put a stamp of my foot just as I put on Kaliya and on Girish Chandra Ghosh's head. So I also put my stamp. That means you are my certified devotee. Bhagawan Himself certified. And not only that, He said, I will be your Dwarapalaka. You surrender yourself to me. Sharanagata Deenartha Paritrana Parayane I am eager to protect you because you are my child. You have become mine because you have sacrificed your very name has become Krithartha. That is the supreme sacrifice. What is the sacrifice? That your body you offered to me which is represented by Bhuloka. Your mind you gave to me you represented that represents Svargaloka which you are enjoying right now. That is called Svargaloka, Bhuvarloka. But we have three bodies Kharana Sharira Unless we subdue it and offer it to God Mukti will not come. So Lord says it is very difficult for you but I myself have begged you and you have given me from now onwards your Sthula Sharira, Swapna Sharira, Kharana Sharira do not belong to you they belong to me in fact they belong to me all the while but you did not understand it. Now I gave you that knowledge you will be with me I will be with you nobody can separate us and that is the state which nobody can describe and this is the symbolism Bali Chakravarthy really has given and incidentally you know I will be spicing it not for entertainment but for our education. It's a beautiful song I think of Surdas or Tulsi Das Mirabai was in trouble and at that time Tulsi Das was a very famous devotee and he was very wise and he was senior to Mirabai she was in a dilemma whether I should be with my husband or leave everything because the husband was troubling or brother-in-law was troubling historical facts are not very clear I want to dedicate my life only to Bhagawan Krishna I cannot live without Krishna he cannot live without me what shall I do this was the question she has written a letter to Tulsi Das and Tulsi Das replied in the form of a beautiful bhajan not very famous but some people sing it jaa ke priyana rama vaidehi so chhaadiye koti vairi sama jaa ke priya rama vaidehi na na priya paruhom rama and sita are not dear they are not devotees of Sita and Rama that means God Radha and Krishna or Lakshmi and Narayana what should we do such people when we once we come to know that they are not devotees of Lakshmi, Sita and Rama say so chhaadiye koti vairi sama like virulent poison like a billion enemies deadly enemies like poison give it up then he gives these examples bali guru tadjiyo kanta braja bani tani Bali had disobeyed his own gurus usually he doesn't but in this case for the sake of God one can give up one's own guru if the guru is not able to or standing as an obstacle on my way to God bali guru tadjiyo kanta braja bani tani braja kantas gopikas what did they do kanta means kanta kanta means husbands husbands means husbands family members children brothers sisters relatives all the samsara sagra they wanted to prevent gopikas don't go to Krishna he is parapurusha who is a parapurusha in this world everybody is a parapurusha excepting Krishna so they could not stop him and then he gives the examples many many other examples Vibheshana had disobeyed his own eldest brother for the sake of Rama so this is what we are trying that Bali had really sacrificed for the sake of truth so if the guru says you follow untruth do not listen to him but only a person with tremendous guru bhakti can really do that so what are we talking about that which ultimately leads us to Bhagawan our atma swaroopa and any teachings that help us to move forward to make us understand and to inspire us and to move us forward that is that is called suktam so there it is medha suktam so many suktams are there every word is a suktam there every mantra is a suktam there really speaking only some of them had become very popular so this sri suktam is very popular because a people's partial belief that it brings money wealth but i'm going to discuss very shortly ya devi sarva bhuteshu vidya roopena samsthita esho roopena samsthita jnana roopena samsthita chaitanya roopena samsthita so in so many forms that is why lakshmi is called popularly especially in the south india astalakshmi we call it but only eight forms of lakshmi no there are infinite forms of lakshmi so what is lakshmi wealth what is wealth that which helps us to move forward towards god that is called wealth and ordinary people even if they get any type of wealth that is all the manifestation of the divine mother jaganmata that is yad yad vibhuti mat sattvam sri madhur jitameva tattva deva avagacchatvam mama tejo amsa sambhavam so this sri suktam is found in the veda that is why every veda has got its own shanti pathas only yajurveda has got two recensions one is called white yajurveda one is called black yajurveda shukla yajurveda and krishna yajurveda as you know brihadaranya kopanishad there are two recensions both belonging to shukla as well as krishna and the main rishi in the brihadaranya kopanishad is yajnavalkya so this yajnavalkya some other time i will tell i might tell this story he displeased his guru so guru said whatever you learned never use it or you give it back to me so the disciple immediately vomited symbolical that means the guru told that you teach my other people you are the most capable of my students and whatever i have told in easier language you know there are some authors like zold this person can absorb very abstract ideas and put it in a language very simple language where even with a little bit of capacity of intelligence ordinary lay people like us can understand especially philosophical ideas etc he became very popular in the 40s and 50s c-e-m-j-o-a-d dude anyway so this yajnavalkya had given the teaching and that teaching was eagerly taken up by other brother this students in the form of tithiri birds means so the story should be should not be taken literally and then he could not use it because of guru's commandment so he worshipped hayagriva that is surya deva in the form of a horse in south india hayagriva upasana is very popular and as a result surya deva himself who is surya deva jatha veda he knows everything is the author of the vedas so he taught him a special veda called shukla yajur veda and this prahadaranyaka uparshita just by the way i'm supplying you this information so this every veda has its own special shanti patha and for this belongs to Rig Veda in the Rig Veda there is a called khila kanda that is at the end appendix we can say parishishta and there there are some shoktas called khila shokta that assorted shoktas and there this is the eleventh under this khila shokta and there are 29 verses of shri shoktam in the original text of khila shokta and it is a combination of the author but authored by five different rishis who are they ananda kardama sridha chiklita and sriputra some of course only use four it doesn't really matter whenever we study we have to salute the rishi as we were saluting ambruni in the devi shoktam here also we have to salute these people so i will not bring up the names of these people all the time and who authored which mantra we also don't know so sri shoktam is a beautiful approach to the worship of saguna brahman visualized here in the form of sri or mahalakshmi and this vedic language we not to not to speak of vedic ideas vedic language itself has changed a lot now that is why it has become archaic language any any language if you go back to 200 years back how people are what words they were using popularly that is the bad you know i was mentioning the once somebody called me wicked you are very wicked smiling and i was taken aback until someone explained that means you are a very good speaker and then i thought this i learned from america until i recollected recently i was going through the gospel every day i go through the gospel some pages suddenly i saw ram krishna was having a beautiful talk with dr mahendra lal sarkar and sri ram krishna had given beautiful teachings and then during the conversation this dr sarkar became a great fan of Girish chandra gosha and Girish chandra gosha had written this buddha charita etc and i think the dr mahendra lal sarkar happened to watch it and it captivated his mind he became a great fan of Girish chandra gosha and one day this dr mahendra lal sarkar and Girish chandra gosha were there in the presence of sri ram krishna and the doctor by looking at Girish chandra gosha he was mentioning you are a wicked man and sri ram krishna did not understand it like myself he asked i don't understand what is this fellow saying and then m had explained that dr sarkar appreciated the drama of Girish chandra gosha so he's paying compliments that means what then i understood sri ram krishna is the root cause or mahendra lal sarkar even at that time if he was using this word you are wicked means you are extraordinarily good i get a lot of consolation if somebody calls you are really bad so that helps me that is okay so it's very difficult to understand these archaic words even now we don't understand many words do you understand what is ai what is artificial general intelligence very few people understand i am one of them we use the words we know it means something great but we don't know exactly what it is so great acharyas were there especially as i have taken the help of shayana acharya so shayana bhashyam is there and another prithvi dhara acharya he also has written it seems i have not seen that one but shayana acharyas i'm familiar with i've also written commentaries on shreyasutra now we have we need to know what is a devata because here sri devata is being addressed this is a stuti and we have an idea about devata indra chandra varuna surya soma prajapati all these are called devatas devatas means adhishtatru devatas adhishtatru devatas means presiding deities i already discussed this point but we have to remind ourselves we what is a devata is he is a devata an individual sitting somewhere like a rich man sitting somewhere he has got lot of money and lot of poor people are coming and he is giving helping donating money to this poor people various poor people the money is different separate the person is separate is a devata like that no a devata is very very important for us to understand a devata represents what we want if we want money for example and most people worship lakshmi devi that is called that's why it is called lakshmi lakshmi is goddess of wealth so somebody wants money and they think lakshmi devi is this super rich lady and she can give any amount of money no that's not the meaning she is the money when we say ganga jala i am drinking ganga jala ganga devi i am drinking ganga devi herself because ganga jala and ganga devata are not two separate entities similarly when we say annapurna annapurna is not a motherly lady sitting there and giving biksha no annapurna is nothing but annam and that annam doesn't mean only physical annam that rice and all and potatoes are vegetarian or non-vegetarian it means whatever any creature requires because every creature is the child of the divine mother and it is mother's duty not only to sustain the baby when the baby is in the womb but this is the our earthly mother she only until birth only and some creatures like birds animals they give milk and they bring food like birds and sustain for some time until they get new children no that's not the idea idea is annapurna is annam agne devata is heat jala devata is water vayu devata is prana vayu and akasha devata is what gives us space to move about and to discharge various activities this is called adhishtatra devata is not separate from what they give lakshmi is wealth saraswati is wisdom that is how we have to understand the concept of devata very important to know that is why in the taittiriya is a beautiful instruction annam na nindeta tad vratam annam bahukurvita tad vratam annam na nindiyat food should never be criticized because even if it is poisonous food for us and that very poisonous food that means decomposed food that means old food smelling food rotten food that is a exactly suited food for many other creatures so in the form of food mother is sustaining us that means we are becoming annapurnas we are becoming ganga nadis we are becoming becoming agni devatas we are becoming vayu devatas we are becoming akasha devatas we are nothing but pure atman all these adhishtatra devatas are none but manifestations of that andrupal devata in this light sri represents wealth and what type of wealth we have got so you it's just as an example i have given first of all sri means very closely identified with lakshmi and is very popular in south india lakshmi is astralakshmi eight fold manifestations of mother lakshmi what are they first of all adilakshmi that is unspecified manifestation of wealth which is the root of all the other seven type of lakshmis but don't think lakshmi is only manifesting in eight forms she is manifesting in infinite number of forms understand that for example if a person is very very healthy arogyalakshmi a person is super intelligent like that infinite form so what is it wealth whatever a person requires in order to complete oneself that is called his lakshmi that is what he wants for example when you are hungry then you want annalakshmi when you are thirsty you want to jalalakshmi when you are tired you want to be shanti lakshmi and god is divine mother is manifesting in all these forms so as for our requirement whatever comes to us to fulfill and to make us happy happiness means removing fulfilling removing all the desires from our mind that state is called happiness and all are the manifestations of sri so astralakshmi adilakshmi dhanalakshmi dhanyalakshmi gajalakshmi santanalakshmi viryalakshmi vijayalakshmi aishwarya lakshmi is that all then dhairyalakshmi viryalakshmi santanalakshmi then satyalakshmi varalakshmi jaya or vijayalakshmi is there any basis for thinking like this yes remember the last shloka in the bhagavad-gita where there is god and through sadhana a sadhaka becomes eternal companion of bhagwan in that yoga state so there a few are mentioned there so sri lakshmi vijayalakshmi neetilakshmi so any lakshmi any special quality that shines in excess noticeably manifest in anybody that is called manifestation of the lakshmi so very briefly i will go through them so adilakshmi means original lakshmi original lakshmi means includes everybody what is the first thing what is the first requirement sustenance therefore it is called dhanalakshmi for the sake of bartering we need money health that is called dhanalakshmi then we cannot eat only what is called wealth even if you have got so many notes stacked up accepting income tax officials might or thieves can or children can or ultimately after our death only government or our children or somebody takes away what are you going to do so that is why dhana is not enough it must transform itself into dhanyalakshmi dhanya means food any type of food that is suitable to any creature is called dhanyalakshmi food lakshmi then gajalakshmi this whole world cosmos is interdependent that is why there is a beautiful brahmana in vajadharani kokushat called madhu brahmana madhu means that everything is a honey to everybody else human being is a honey for the mosquitoes for the tigers for hyenas for wolves for anything that can eat a human being so milk is a food for human beings vegetarian non-vegetarian so any type of food is represented because what are the first requirements sustenance food clothing shelter these are the primary requirements for living life for anybody any creature then gajalakshmi gaja means elephant what are you talking about do we want elephants no gaja represents the majesty of any animal it could be cows it could be buffalos it could be goats it could be chickens it could be pigeons it could be any animal that helps sustain ourselves that is called animals without animals can we live impossible without mice can we live impossible so gaja represents every animal parasparambhavayantaha we help each other that is why for hindus worship of the cow golakshmi cow is called a lakshmi really she is lakshmi every product of the cow is used in the worship of god pancha gaviya we call it gaviya means things that come from a cow curds ghee milk then butter then the urine the stool cow dung everything is useful even the skin of the cow is also useful gajalakshmi represents all animals then every person requires santana guru requires disciples and father's parents require santana so she is earnestly requested santana lakshmi then there are situations which we have to face in life there is no other way if we do not have the courage have the grit to overcome these obstacles the same events repeat themselves until we can get over them it's a beautiful concept which i will talk in my next class so we require viriyalakshmi or dhairyalakshmi then every being humans non-humans they require vijayalakshmi conquering we are meant to every step forward is overcoming every backward step that is called vijayalakshmi jayalakshmi and vijayalakshmi then aishwarya lakshmi these are included in the astralakshmi concept but as i said there is satyalakshmi there is yesholakshmi there is santana lakshmi so many things are there we will talk about it in our next class om jananim sharadam devim ramakrishnam jagadgurum pada padme tayo sritva pranamami mohur moho may ramakrishna holy mother and swami vekaranda bless us all with bhakti jay ramakrishna