Sri Suktam Lecture 02 on 18 January 2024

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We have entered into the study of this Shri Suktam. This Shri Suktam is found at the end of the Rig Veda called Parishishta. And it is found to be in the Khila Sukta. Khila means some extra riks or mantras to be found which are added in English language. We call them addenda towards the end of the book. Something if the author has remembered, he will try to put it there. In this context, in our last class, we have been speaking. This Suktam means a mantra. Mantra means by devotional recitation with Shraddha brings on the grace of God. There are hundreds of Suktas are there in the Rig Veda. In fact, thousands of Suktas are there. But of them, a few of them have become very popular. Like Narayana Sukta, Purusha Sukta, Devi Sukta, Agni Sukta, Durga Sukta, etc. Now this Shri Suktam is one of the most popular so far as I know, at least in South India. Why? Because everybody wants Shri. Shri means Lakshmi. Lakshmi means usually associated with wealth. But as I mentioned in my last class that there are varieties of forms of Lakshmi. That is to say, Lakshmi is the grace of God to fulfil any particular desire any individual may cherish. Someone may want money. Someone may want health. Somebody may want name and fame. Somebody wants power and position. Somebody wants good wife, good spouse, good husband, good children, good cows. In fact, in the olden days, most people, their wealth is called Godhana. Because there were no banks and people were accustomed to live a very simple living. Simple living and noble thinking. That was their Vedic way of life. Many of the Rishis, householders, they were endowed with tremendous faith. So, Lakshmi means not only wealth, mainly it means that our self-improvement. Each soul is potentially divine. Here divinity includes even worldly prosperity. A scientist wants scientific knowledge. A musician wants musical knowledge. A sculptor wants artistic knowledge. So, another person, maybe our mothers, they want to be the best cooks in this world for the sake of their own children. So, whatever desire is there, that particular devotee will be visualizing that divine grace. Shri means grace, actually. We have a concept of God, but for ordinary people to understand, this highest manifestation of truth is called Brahman. That concept is beyond the imagination of anybody. So, we posit what we call a Saguna Brahma. And this Saguna Brahma, because we are tremendously influenced not by the Vedas, but by Tantras and by Puranas. Therefore, in the Puranas, we get the Saguna Brahma in the form of three activities. Every activity is given a particular name, as I explained earlier. Same person, when he drives, he is a driver. When he is in the office, he is the officer. And if he is in the hospital as a doctor, he is a doctor. It is not that there are so many people, but one person discharging different activities and so called by different names. So, when that Saguna Brahma is creating, he is called Brahma. And the same Saguna Brahma is imagined as protecting, sustaining, nourishing. He is called Vishnu. And when the same being, when we are tired, the activity of taking into the lap of God and giving us a rest or if the dress is worn out, giving a new dress. Or the circumstances are not favorable, then giving new circumstances. Any type of desire. So, these three, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva or Maheshwara, these names, one being performing three different functions. This is our idea of God. And if we observe closely, what do we see? Three powers, Saraswati, Lakshmi and Kali. Three powers and Saguna Brahma. That is why he is called Saguna. Guna means Prakruti. Prakruti means that Shakti, power. For Brahma, wisdom in order to be able to create. For Vishnu, it is the Lakshmi so that he can reward or he can punish and he can look after his own children. Like our father going to office, earning money and bringing it and giving it to our mother. In this case, Purusha is the main character. But Shakti is one which distributes. This is the idea. Grace of God means God being available to all of us in the form of whatever the children of God desire. So, in that context, I have discussed. In South India, Astralakshmi are very famous. But the Divine Mother, Lakshmi means not specifically the consort of Vishnu, but any form of Divine Mother. She can be called Parvati. Parvati or Kali can be called Narayani. We see in the Sarvamangala Stotram. This Stotram is meant for the Shakti, Divine Mother, Kali or Chandi or Parvati. But all these three shlokas end how? Narayani, Namostu Te. There is no separate Gods and Goddesses. It is one Shakti manifesting according to the necessity of her otari, devotee, aspirant, Bhakta. So, we discussed Adilakshmi. Adilakshmi means the original Lakshmi. Lakshmi means the grace of God and grace of God. How it comes? Supposing we are babies and the mother, when we are hungry, our mother becomes a cook and feeder. When we want to play, she becomes a playmate. When we are sick, she becomes a nurse. When we want to go to sleep, she will be the bed storyteller. So, one mother manifesting in so many other forms. So, that is how we understand grace. Mother is one. She is called Adilakshmi. But the mother can manifest as a nourisher, as an entertainer, as a lullaby singer or when we are sick, she will be the nurse, etc., etc. That is the concept. So, one Adilakshmi, that is the original Lakshmi. Adi means original. But she manifests. Some people want food. She manifests in the form of Dhanalakshmi. And some people want to grow crops. She becomes Dhanyalakshmi. Some people want animals. Especially, do we want animals now? There are what is called wise takers. They do not understand. No, no, we have nothing to do with animals. What are you eating, sir? You want chicken. You want goat. You want sheep. You want beef. You want pork. All these animals are necessary. Without them, we cannot live. And there are people who suffer from terrible loneliness. And there are people who suffer from faithlessness. Some people get so many shocks of being betrayed by one's own family members, children, brothers or sisters, even parents. Or not to speak of children. Then they take to what we call pet life. Especially in many foreign countries, when people start suffering from loneliness. Why? Because it has become a custom. The children, as soon as they find, they grow up a little like birds, young ones of the birds. So they get out of their nests of their parents and try to stand on their own feet. And these family members, as they grow old, they become lonelier and lonelier. So what do they need? They want some animals, a dog or a cat or a bird or even some people. They grow some snakes or some rats. So many varieties are there. And you know what is astonishing? These pets love their owners and they never betray them. And then these animals, even millions of stories are there, that they even protect their owners at the cost of even their own lives. So many stories which are real stories are there. So we want Gajalakshmi. Gaja means elephant. Kings, when they want to fight or when they want to go in a recession or even today, every Hindu temple must have an elephant for praying. This is called Gajalakshmi. But in general, it represents animals. Then Santanalakshmi. So many people, they long for children. They want to, whatever love they received from their parents, they want to bestow it. Like they say, when a mother is full of milk, she will suffer terribly if there is nobody for her to suckle. So this is called Santanalakshmi. People spend millions of dollars just to be able to bring up their own children. Santanalakshmi. Then many times in life, we have to encounter dire situations where tremendous grit, tremendous mental power, mind power, willpower, tremendous to swim against the opposing currents. We may have to fight with somebody. It may be wars or it is internal war, mental war, or it may be that situations arise where even if we are not getting any prop, any support from anybody, we have to continue our life not only with a grim face, but with a cheerful face, etc. This is called Viryalakshmi. Lakshmi, as I said, is not that female goddess. It is the grace of God. Then everybody wants to be successful in life. Whatever activity they are doing, a good cook wants to be a very wonderful cook. A mother wants to be a wonderful, loving mother. A brother, a sister, a spouse, an office worker. Everybody wants to succeed, to be able to be praised by other people. That is called Jayalakshmi or Vijayalakshmi. Then there are people who want to be absolutely cheerful. Their household is brimming with smiling, laughing, loving, encouraging families. Rare families are there. You see, not only Aishwarya doesn't mean wealth. There are so many wealthy families with castor oil faces, obegan faces, very unhappy people. I have myself seen one of the richest persons in Bangalore. Every time there is a disaster, either a son had committed suicide, or the daughter has got some terrible sickness, or there is a business loss, always unhappy news are coming. So we don't want like that. We want cheerful, this one. So Sriram Krishna used to talk about Balaram's family. He said, everybody is manifesting Lakshmi. What Lakshmi? Not only Dhanalakshmi, but Bhakti Lakshmi. Everybody from the head of the family to the servant, everybody is brimming with Bhakti, devotion. Sriram Krishna, that means God himself certified. You know, God also certifies. If you can think over these things, you will get wonderful examples. For example, Bhagavan stamped his grace upon the head of Bali Chakravarti. But Bali Chakravarti had only one head, and he put his foot and said, you are my certified Bhakta, Same Bhakta, Priyo Bhakta. He has got such and such and such quality. He is Same Priya Bhakta. And then we get the instance of Kaliya. Especially Bali, Bali means sacrifice. He sacrificed his entire self. He offered his own self at the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu. Vishnu here stands for God, not Hindu God, but G-O-D with capital G. So there is only one God. But this Kaliya, he has got multiple heads. And Krishna, he danced upon each one of the head. And then he put his footprints. Because there is an interesting explanation. When Krishna made this Kaliya, subdued him by dancing upon his heads. And then he asked him, your very presence poisons the Yamuna waters here. You please leave this place. He said, Lord, I am ready to leave. But you know, your Garuda, Garuda is the enemy of every serpent, every snake. He is going to kill me, especially me. Then Vishnu laughed and said, don't worry. You just go, my feet are stamped. The moment Garuda, with his long sight, he sees and then he will see, my feet are there. Not only he will not kill you, he will make prostrations to you. Because you are my greatest devotee. And he will beg for your blessings and then he will go away. So this is called Aishwarya. When we enter, rare such families are there. People are very good. They are generous hearted, devoted. Continuous worship is going on in their families. And every member is unselfish and smiling. And goodness is brimming forth from their faces. Not one or two, but entire families. There are a few families like that. Their Aishwarya Lakshmi is fully manifest there. Then there are people, they may not be having wealth etc. But there is one thing there, they never give up truthfulness. They never give up Sadgunas. They always cling with death-like tenacity. Even if they have to die, even if they have to lose everything, they can never tell what is called Asatya or an untruth. Examples, Shudhiram. When the Jamindar came and requested him, you bear false witness. Remember, in the Ten Commandments, God has commanded Moses that one of the commandments is, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbours. Thou shalt not commit anything of thy neighbours. Thou shalt not even look with covetousness at other people's things. Beautiful Ten Commandments, like our Yama and Niyama. So just imagine, Shudhiram knew that his time at his ancestral village Dere with nearly 40 acres of wetland, huge, he must be possessing several houses because to manage such a big Jamindari, servants have to be there, animals have to be there and everything he has to leave because such is the vitriol, sense of that Jamindar, poison. Of course, all by God's will only. It did not happen. Poor Jamindar gets the bad name. God always wants bad name to come to His devotees like Narada but He wants to be scot-free. This is also one Leela of God. So this Jamindar was just a mere instrument. So this Jamindar asked him to bear false witness and the moment he heard, Shudhiram knew, my days have come at Dere to an end because I will not be able, it is impossible for me to tell a lie. What about Sri Ramakrishna? He is an embodiment of truth. What about Sathya Harishchandra? He is an embodiment of truth. Only three? There are so many devotees, they are embodiments of truth only. So that is called Satyalakshmi. They may not be wealthy. They may hardly have anything to eat or to wear but tremendous spiritual power where there is Satya, the person becomes God-realized soul. There will be Shantirajya, a kingdom of peace will be flowing there. So that is called Satyalakshmi. So there is a small story. I have recounted it earlier also but let us enjoy these Sukthams. There was a king who was very truthful and he was endowed with many, many good qualities and so Lakshmi was permanent resident. Astralakshmi was permanent resident. He was well-known. He was generous. He was good-hearted. He was a Kshami and everybody loved him because he was very lovable. So if somebody says, come, come, come, love me, others will run away from that person but when we see a baby, we feel like loving. Why? Because the very innocence of that baby invites us. Here is a lovable, so I love this baby. That is why we call them honey like that. So much bliss will come when we look at children and by imitating the children, perhaps we can develop that quality called Paramahamsattva because as psychologists describe it, an authentic life is led only by the babies. Once they start growing up, they start absorbing from their parents like sponges, not only the accents, the language but even the manners. If somebody's father says be a good boy but behaves badly, so to be good means the baby, the child understands it is to be wicked because we learn mostly by imitation, not merely by other person's instructions. So this king, he out of some weakness, one day he committed some crime. It was not a big deal but anyway nevertheless, he committed, we don't know what he committed. That night he was sleeping, he had a dream, a beautiful lady like goddess appeared and she looked at him and said, I have been with you so long, I just came to bid goodbye because you have committed this crime. And then he frustrated before, Mother, please do not go. And she said, No, you have committed this crime, I have to go. And the next second, she went away. Next second, another lady, much more beautiful than the first lady, appeared. Same thing happened. The king requested. She said, No, I cannot live with you because a person who commits this kind of crime, I will not live with him. So third, Lakshmi, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, each more beautiful than the previous one. And finally came a lady, nobody can describe her divine splendor. She was the most beautiful woman in this whole world as if she is the divine mother herself. And she came and said, I want to bid goodbye to you because you are a good person. He asked, Who are you? He asked others. I forgot to tell you. So I am Dairyalakshmi, I am Esholakshmi, I am Dhanyalakshmi, I am Viryalakshmi, I am Jayalakshmi, I am Vidyalakshmi, etc., etc. So this last goddess, he asked, Mother, who are you? And she replied, I am Satyalakshmi. Satya manifests, Lakshmi manifests in the form of Satyam, truthfulness. The king caught hold of her feet and said, Mother, let all the other Lakshmis go. I don't care, but I cannot live without you. I have committed a crime because of some weakness, but I have never deviated from truthfulness. You cannot leave me like that. She looked at him and said, All right, it is true. You have never told a lie or you never deviated from truthfulness. I will be with you. And she entered into himself. And then suddenly all the other seven have returned one by one because we cannot live without Satyalakshmi. So Satya, Satyameva Jayate. And those who observe truthfulness, they become, they attain to Satyam. This is Sri Ramakrishna's own words. Those who observe truthfulness, they will realize the truth. So this is called Satyalakshmi. Then only that one, Varalakshmi, like we are like children. At different times, we have different desires. Even the most advanced person has different desires. Fun, fun, a little bit of fun. I want to make fun with Sri Ramakrishna. He was after all this Samikalpa Samadhi, Nirvikalpa Samadhi, practice of all religions, he has become old. And one day his mother Chandramani Devi was still living. He went to her and said, you know, when I was a child, you used to prepare that curry with five spices, panchphoran, they call it. So it is a long time. So my mouth is longing for that. Indirectly meaning, Holy Mother's food was not suitable for it. It is wonderful, suitable, very healthy, but not tasty. He wanted a little bit of taste. Please cook for me. Of course, his mother was very, very happy. It is also when somebody is valued, used to cook so nicely. If the child says, and then the mother's heart will be filled with tremendous, indescribable joy. So she cooked and must have fed. Now the point is, why does this man want all this panchphoran and all those things? After all, you are a Brahmagnani. Why do you want? No, it is still human body. Human play will be there. Not only that, another incident was there. Sairam Krishna was suffering from severe cancer. It was proclaimed and it was also said it is incurable. And then one day he was staying at Kasipur and one day his disciples were cooking because Sairam Krishna used to keep all his devotees and disciples, disciples means monastic disciples, very, very happy. In fact, they rarely used to remember he was mortally sick, terminal illness. That he completely made them forget. He used to joke, when he used to tell, when Sairam Krishna used to tell jokes, then everybody used to roll on the earth and hold their stomachs and say, Sir, Sir, please don't tell anymore. We will die laughing. Of course, that is a great boon to be able to be laughing and dying. So at that time, one day these disciples decided to cook a spicy curry and then Sairam Krishna came to know about it. Children go and cook and add so much of spice that even by the wind, that smell of the spice should come floating into my nostrils on the upstairs of Kasipur building. That is why Sairam Krishna is said to be a Rasika Raja, an emperor of fun, entertainment and joy. So anyway, what are we talking about? That Varalakshmi, we may have different desires at different times. But if we obtain the grace of God, every desire will be fulfilled. After all, if somebody can give Moksha, why not this also? That aspect of divine grace which fulfills every individual's individual desire is called Varalakshmi. Then Dhairyalakshmi. Tremendous amount of grit is necessary to succeed in any field of life. That is called Dhairya. Then we also want Shantalakshmi, Shantilakshmi. Many times our minds are terribly restless. We do not have Shanti. Externally, person may have many things. But internally, he doesn't have Shanti, peace. Many, many people complain like that. And who is responsible? The people themselves are responsible. Such a person, when he begs Divine Mother, Please grant me. So that is called Shanta or Shantilakshmi. And then finally, there is one Lakshmi which we are all longing for. She is, what is she called? Mokshalakshmi. Moksha. You know, every Hindu wants Moksha. Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. About which I am going to tell a little bit more very soon. Are these the only forms? No. So many, what is called, desires. And any time, Whatever may be my desire, In the Durga Saptashruthi, there is a hymn. And then there, it must be created by a man. She must never rebel against me. She must not utter a bad word towards me. But she must be Manorama. She must be hypnotizing, mesmerizing my mind. Grant me such a wife, not only beautiful, but who understands my mind and fulfills all my desires. Because people mistake that if I marry a beautiful person, I will be happy. Stupidity can go no further than that. If a person wants to marry, they almost, the spouse must have saintly qualities to put up with people like each other. With each other, of course. Husband with wife, wife with husband. Both must be having Daivi Sampath. And not only Daivi Sampath, sometimes Asuri Sampath also is very necessary to protect the family, etc. So, Bhariya Manorama Amdehi. Whatever desire. An AI scientist, what do you think he will pray? Oh mother, show me how I can bring consciousness into this robotics. How it can understand my mind. So another person will be praying. So how can I cure all the diseases that are there? In fact, many companies are now trying to use AI by feeding all the information available about all the diseases. And these machines with powerful chips are capable of absorbing them, digesting them, classifying them. And then they are suggesting many, many new things will be discovered. The cures for Alzheimer's disease, for cancer, for blindness, for deafness. So many things are there. But don't go on floating in clouds of joy that one day will come when everything will be Svargaloka. So Bhuloka and Guloka, not Goloka, Guloka, they always go together. Where there is wealth, there is also where there is happiness, there is also unhappiness. Where there is health, there is also illness. Where there is good, there will be also evil. These are not absolutes as Swami Vivekananda said. They always go in pairs like husband and wife. Sometimes wife will win, sometimes husband will win. So this Brahma Chakra, what goes up goes down, what is down will go up. What am I telling? Finally, all desires of any human being in the past, present and future have been subdivided by Hindu Rishis into four. Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. I will come to that very soon. So this hymn, what is this hymn? Sri Suktam, which appears in the Rig Veda, praises the glory of Ishwara, that means Bhagawan. Don't say Lakshmi, female goddess. Ishwara in a particular aspect called Sri, meaning wealth, beauty, prosperity, happiness and everything else that we have discussed earlier, just now. So Sri or Lakshmi happens to be in the feminine gender. That's why it's called Sri. And then there are 15 rigs are there. Generally 15 rigs. Somewhere there are also 29 rigs are mentioned, but they are not important. And a few more are added, really speaking. For example, in the Rig Veda, nowhere it comes. Sri Ranga Dhameshwari, that is the wife of Ranganatha. That is, in South India, there is a temple called Ranganatha temple and his consort, who is also called Andalamma. So she is considered Sri Ranga Dhameshwari and Lakshmi is identified with her. And this cannot come in the Rig Veda because the very temple of Ranganatha is absolutely only a few centuries back. It did not exist earlier than that. So Ranganatha was not there, much less his spouse. So this is what we have to understand. And then we also have to understand these 15 hymns of Sri Sukta being a part of the Rig Veda. They are metrical. Sukta means metrical. That means in the form of almost like poetical. And poetry can be composed in a particular rules, regulations are there. They are called meters or chandas. So here, these 15, the first three rigs, first three mantras, they are in Anushtup. And then again, eight rigs from 7th to 14th are in a chandas called Anushtup. Anushtup, you are familiar. Most of the Gita shlokas are in Anushtup chandas. That is, there will be two lines. Two lines are subdivided into two parts. That means four parts. And each part must have eight letters, eight syllables. That is called Anushtup. Whereas Gayathri must have 24. So every meter has got some description is there. So the 1, 2, 3, then 7th to 14th are again in the Anushtup. And then the 5th and 6th are in Trishtup. First is Anushtup, another is Trishtup. There will be only three lines will be there. And then the other rigs, the 15th is called Prasthara Pankthi. Prasthara Pankthi. Now who is the Devata? The main manifestation of Bhagawan's grace, Shri Devi is the Devata of this Sukta. And these Suktas are composed as a result of their inner realizations by Rishis. Now who composed this Shri Sukta? For that really there are differences of opinion. Some people say three. Some people say four. Some people say five. But we don't know. We don't need to worry. Probably three. Why? Because each Rishi must have composed it in a particular. So Anushtup, Trishtup and then Prasthara Pankthi. Therefore we might claim. But it might be that other Rishis also might have composed in either Anushtup or Trishtup etc. It doesn't really matter. So there is a Parampara there. Whenever we want to chant this one. And usually Lakshmi Suktam is recited in the evening or at night. Usually. So who are the seers? So the seers here are these three seers. Ananda, Kardama and Chikleta. And then what is the purpose? Because Sri Suktam is like our Guru given mantra. There is a purpose. Why do we take initiation? We want to progress in spiritual life. But in Tantric lore, initiation doesn't mean only a person is longing for God realization. So it could be Vasi Karana or Vichatana or obtainment of some special desires. So many people they want to control what is called higher beings. And obtain through them special Siddhis. So it doesn't mean everybody is longing only for God realization. In fact most people. So what is the Vinayoga? Vinayoga means purpose. Prayojana. What is the purpose for which a person really wants to chant? The purpose can be only. Sri Lakshmi Prasada Siddhyarthe Japhe Homeva Vinayoga. So Sri Suktam has to be repeated and especially it is said. There is a reason. I will come to it in future. That is if we want to obtain, we have to obtain through Japa, through Homa. Especially Homa. And 15 Tithis. 1st Tithi, 1st Suktam. 2nd Tithi, 2nd Suktam. Like that there are some rules, regulations. But that is for people with special desires. But if a person is just merely a devotee. Ma, I want to think about you. So I don't have any specific desire. You bestow your grace upon me. You know better than me what your child needs. These are called Bhaktas. No Bhakta ever directly tells to the Divine Mother that I want this and this and this. Because every child, like a baby, totally depends upon the mother. The mother knows what is best for me. There is an incident in the life of Ramachandra Dutta. Ramakrishna bestowed his grace upon Ramachandra Dutta. And Ramachandra Dutta came of a Vaishnava family. And especially he was a devotee of Bhagavan Krishna. Many incidents were there. First, Ramakrishna appeared in a dream to Ramachandra Dutta and then gave him a mantra. And Rama, he was called Ram. He was very happy for a few days. And then he said, this is also a limitation. And after a few days, Ramakrishna and he were alone. And Ramakrishna told him, he entered into an ecstatic state and addressed Ram. He said, whatever mantra I have given you in your dream, give it back to me. Of course, what is the way to give back a mantra? So mentally, Ramachandra Dutta had as if he has taken some object and offering in front of God. So with that bhavana, mental imagination, he offered the mantra. Then he was thinking. So Ramakrishna gave and Ramakrishna also had taken away. What am I left out with? But the next moment, Ramakrishna assumed a very serious posture and asked, you look at me. Whatever you want, you will see in me. And of course, Ramachandra Dutta, he is Ishta Devata. It is not specifically mentioned. Most likely, it must be either Rama or Krishna, most likely Krishna. So he wanted to see his Ishta Devata's form. And what did he see? Sri Ramakrishna disappeared and the Ishta Devata of Ram was manifesting in the place of Sri Ramakrishna. And then he was overwhelmed. And at the end of it, Sri Ramakrishna resumed his old form. Like Krishna resumed his old form in front of Arjuna. And he asked, what do you want? By this time, Ram became speechless. But immediately he made pranams, said, Lord, what do I know? I might ask something which is harmful to me. You know better. You decide what is good for me and you offer it to me. Many bhaktas' attitude should be like this. In the end, when we make considerable spiritual progress, our prayers will be, Mother, you know better than me what is right. So you grant me when you want to grant me, what you want to grant me, how much you want to grant me, at what time, at what quality or quantity, I leave it to you. I don't want to think. I want to be like a child. My mother is there. She is going to look after me. So what should a person ask for that Hindu rishis have given? Don't ask anything special. But all the possible human desires have been divided into four categories. These are called four fruits of life. Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. Dharma, Artha and Kama go by the name of Prayas and Moksha goes by the name of Shrayas. So when Yamadharma Raja was confronted by Nachiketa, Yamadharma Raja asked him, What do you want? So I want to know the secret of death. Whether there is a death or whether there is life after death. And then he decided, instead of giving a direct answer, Yamadharma Raja, the Guru, Brahma with Guru, he says, Every conscious, intelligent human being is confronted with two things. Do you want to pray or do you want to Shrayas? Now the question will come. Do we have a choice? Is it that God will come and say, Do you want me or do you want worldly things? Of course, we know the answer. We want God to grant us everything else other than God. What God can give, what belongs to God, what God possesses. But rarely a person says. When a person says, I specify I want these things, that is called Prayas. But when a person, after obtaining Prayas, after going through the life, understands that what I have desired is not really worth asking for, then there will be only one desire left out, that is called Shrayas, that is called Moksha. And Dharma, Artha and Kama fall under the category of Prayas. So, is Prayas and Shrayas, are they opposite to each other? No, just like everybody, every youth is not born straight from the mother's womb. He is born as a baby, first he will be fetus in the womb, then he becomes a baby, then he becomes a child, he becomes an adolescent, he becomes a youth. Similarly, all Prayas is meant for one purpose, it is for our growth. And growth means what? Right understanding. And right understanding comes or will not come unless we go through the Prayas. Because we think if I get money, if I get health, if I get loving people, if I marry a beautiful spouse, a healthy spouse, if we get very beautiful and good children, then our life will be fulfilled, a dire disaster will be awaiting for them. Because sooner or later, separation is impossible. Even today, the same truth holds good. Every mother wishes healthy, happy, intelligent children. But some people will get autistic children. Some mothers will get very good children. Same mother may get one intelligent child, another is autistic child. We are not responsible. Responsibility is the autistic child has done something in the past birth, but we have to exhaust their karma, there they have to exhaust our karma, our relationship in this world, whatever be the relationship, parent and child, husband and wife, parents and children and brothers and sisters, friends and enemies, everything has got only one purpose, exhaustion of our Prarabdha Karma in the form of Jati, Aayu and Bhoga. There is nothing else. We do not know when we are going to be born. We don't know when we are going to die. No, not even an expert doctor can predict it. So what is the point we are discussing? That inevitably, we are all children until we grow wisdom teeth by going through all these experiences of Dharma, Artha, Kama. Why Dharma is posited in the beginning? Because having firmly established in Dharma, then only we must ask Artha and Kama. And if we can do that, you know what happens? Most of the time, there will be positive happiness, positive satisfaction, saucha, santosha will come. Suffering will be minimum. Complete absence of suffering is impossible, but less of suffering will be there. So most of us, choicelessly, we have to want. When you are hungry, you don't say, I want Moksha. When you are sick, I don't want to be healthy, but I want only Bhagawan. This is possible only for a person who has already entered into that fourth state, that is called the state of Sannyasa, which is a mentally advanced spiritual state. Until that time, I want to be healthy, I want to be happy, I want many desires to be fulfilled, but everything can be fulfilled. Vedas give us the means, but the very root foundation of every happiness is Dharma. Righteousness and moderation. And then you ask Artha, the instruments of happiness. That is called Artha, instruments. And then Kama, means you earn the instruments in a dharmic way, earn or enjoy everything in a dharmic way. Then everything turns out to be more happy than otherwise. Then through all these experiences, when a person, after many, many, many a life, what is the meaning of this verse in the Bhagavad Gita? That when does Jnana come? At the end of millions and millions and millions of lives only. Then what is the person doing until then? Is making progress in spiritual life. Through what? Through Dharma, Artha and Kama. But a time will come, I have seen all this, I know their essence, I do not need them, not that I do not want them, I do not need them. Because I have seen what they are. I know what they are. And I have experienced them. No more desire is there. Only one desire is there. I want to go home. I want to be with my real father and mother, who is none other than Brahman. So this is the Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha. So Shri Suktam can help us. That is why there are marvellous things the commentators tell us. Where there is Shri, there will be, where there is Dharma, where there is Sathya, there only Shri will be there. What about the thieves and the deceivers? And who are making billions by doing unrighteous actions? You see, they can possess, but they cannot be happy. Their minds are restless. A poor person who is a Dharmic person, what amount of peace and happiness he is experiencing as a result of Dharmic way of life, can never equal by even the most wealthiest person in this world. Not only that, wealth is always changing from time to time. So we want Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. How many? Four. And that is why many times we see the images of Gods and Goddesses having four hands. Why? Because each hand represents the fulfilment of either Artha or Dharma, Artha, Kama or Moksha. But finally, it is the Moksha Lakshmi that we all turn to. For that, we pray for the grace or blessing of Goddess Lakshmi to be conferred upon our homes, our individuals in full measure. This grace is not only in the form of mere what is called worldly prosperity, but good health and good life and above all a spiritual life. Because spirituality includes everything of Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. So this is the essence. From next class onwards, we will actually enter deep into this. Meaning is really very good. But the essence is without God's grace, nobody can live a successful life. That is the essence. So prayer, Sharanagati are the message of this Shri Suktam. We will talk about it in our next class. May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Ramakrishna.