View source for Sri Suktam Lecture 03 on 25 January 2024

== Full Transcript (Not Corrected) ==
We are studying Shri Suktam. Suktam means Sushtu Uktam. Rightly said, truthfully said, whatever is beneficial, that is said. As we discussed earlier, Shri Suktam is found at the end of the Rig Veda. Called Parishishta or we call sometimes Appendix. Under the head, Kila Sukta. Kila means remain portions. Now, while defining what is Shri, most people, they only identify Shri with Lakshmi. And these people identify Lakshmi with money. As if money is separate, Saraswati is separate, victory is separate, and removal of obstacles, that is separate. No, our Rishis can never talk about anything else other than Brahman. So, there are two aspects of Brahman. Nirguna Brahma, that is our goal to know that I am that eternal Brahman. Aham Brahmasmi. But how to attain to that? So, that is where this Shri Suktam, Lakshmi, this is also called Lakshmi Suktam. Shri means whatever is beneficial, whatever is good, whatever gives us happiness, whatever destroys all the obstacles. For example, if we pray, O Mother Lakshmi or Shri, O Mother, please come to me. In what form? A baby doesn't command or suggest to his mother, I would like this. Whatever mother gives, happily the baby eats or drinks. Our attitude should be like that because she is the Divine Mother. What Sairam Krishna used to call Shakti is here as Shri. The word Shri, Shubha, Mangala, Vijaya, all these meanings are involved in this Shri. So, in my last class, I have said that usually Lakshmi Devi is thought of in eight different forms called Astralakshmi. In fact, in some places, quite a number of places, there are temples dedicated to Astralakshmi. What are the Astralakshmis? Adi, Dhana, Dhanya, Gaja, Santana, Veriya, Vijaya, Aishwarya. But there is also Satyalakshmi, then Varalakshmi, Dhairyalakshmi, but finally Mokshalakshmi and Shantalakshmi. So, Brahmavit Aapnoti Param. Invaira Brahman attains. Then what does he gain? Paramaham Shantim Aapnoti. He attains to the highest bliss, highest year indicated as peace. And this is not a peace. After two people quarrel, they become peaceful. When a person is in deep sleep, he is peaceful. When a person is suffering in hospital, he becomes what is called peaceful. That is not the peace of the graveyard. This is the highest bliss which can never be compared to any bliss that we can get. So, the very beginning of this Sri Suktam, there is something marvellous that happens. We are praying not to Mother Lakshmi directly, but the Rishi advises us to pray to Agni. Agni is called Jata Veda. If you remember properly, in the Kena Upanishad, there was a divine being and Indra was frightened. So, he sent first of all Agni and Agni went there. He wanted to question that being, but he was questioned by that being because Agni lost all his power. Then that being asked Agni, what can you do? Oh, I can burn anything. Suppose that strange being called Yaksha asked Agni, can you burn me? No, because in Vedanta, this is what is called the power cannot do anything to the power. For example, fire cannot burn fire. Fire can burn anything else. And the power of burning in the Agni Devata, Agni Devata was a limited being through whom this power of burning is manifesting as Adhishtatru Devata, as the presiding deity of speech and of Tejas, of light, etc. In fact, there is also Agni Sukta, where the greatness of Agni was being discussed. But he is called Jata Veda. That is, anything that is created, he knows. And who knows everything about what is created? We will have to tell. It is only that which is the creator. The creator knows everything about what is created. So that is most important for all of us to understand. Brahman created everything. So who knows everything about the creation, the past, present, and future? For example, a person has written a drama and he knows where it starts, the first scene itself. And he also knows the last scene. He knows the beginning of the story. He knows the end of the story, the middle of the story. He knows every character that is depicted in that particular drama. And he can change it. So that is only the power of the creator. And the creator is none other than Brahman. And Agni's name is Jata Veda. Jata means that which is born. Veda means knowledge of everything that is created. In that sense, Agni is equated with Ishwara, Srishti Karta. And who can give us all this Dhana, Dhania, animals, Santana, Arya, Vara, Aishwarya, Sathya, Dhairya, Moksha, Shanti? Only He who created us. He has all these powers. Who created all these powers? Only Brahman. Or to be more, that Brahman himself or itself is being manifested in the form of all manifesting in the form of various of these names. That is why when we are studying what is called Durga Saptashati or Chandi or Devi Mahatmya consisting of a little more than 700 shlokas. Like Bhagavad Gita, there is a hymn, Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu. And then comes a catalogue of qualities. And if you study properly, with attention, you will see, Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Vidya Roopena Samsthita. She who is manifest in the form of knowledge. Only knowledge. Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Brahnte Roopena Samsthita. In the form of Brahnte also. Why is this so? We have discussed this point. The nature of this world is that if we have to have knowledge of something, it must be the knowledge of both sides. Because this world consists of what is called Dwandwa. For example, if we do not know what is called fire or heat, we will never know what is called cold. If we do not know what is day, we would not know what is night. If we do not know what is male, we would not know what is female. So one goes with the other. It is only in contrast that we have this knowledge of any limited being in this world. So if there is Vidya, there would be a Vidya. Sri Ramakrishna beautifully illustrates this. Once Rama and Lakshmana seem to have met Vasishta. And what happened? The hundred sons of Vasishta were killed by Vishwamitra or whatever it is. It is only for our edification. Then Vasishta was shedding tears. Then Lakshmana was surprised because Lakshmana's idea was that Vasishta was a Brahma Jnani. Then he asked, brother, why do we find Vasishta weeping? After all, he is supposed to be a Jnani. And Rama smiled and said, where you find Jnana, there you find Ajnana. Where you find happiness, there you find unhappiness. In fact, if you say, I am very happy, just moments before that, you are not happy at all. How did you know you are happy? Because you are contrasting. Earlier, it was depressed mind. Now, elated mind. And how do you know what is unhappiness? Same way. So Srishti Karta creates. Creation means reality. And we go through this. Janma means Mrityu. Jaya means Apajaya. Honor or Mana. Avamana, Apamana. We have to keep this in our mind. If we are very happy, there will come, there must come. There is no way to avoid it. We will also become unhappy. Now, what are we discussing? These are all qualities of the Ishwara, who is beyond Sukha and Dukha. Because one limits the other. Where one is present, the other is absent. At the same time, both cannot be present. But at different times, they can be present in the same person also. But both these realities can be present in different objects at the same time. But not in the same object. So this Agni is not what we think is fire. Agni is equated to Brahman Himself. This is the speciality of Hinduism. If somebody is, let us say, Krishna Bhakta or Ramakrishna Bhakta. These are fundamental ideas. That is why I am discussing them. And again and again, I will discuss. Until it enters into every blood cell of ours. So, if we are devotees of Krishna, Krishnastu Bhagavan Svayam. That very statement is a fanatical statement. So what about Rama? Only for Rama Bhaktas, Rama is the Supreme Brahman. For Krishna Bhaktas, Krishna is the Supreme Brahman. For Sri Bhaktas, I think many of you are aware that in South India especially, and some people in North India, but rarely. And I will tell you also why. In South India, there is an Upasana called Sri Vidya. This Sri is what Sri Ramakrishna used to call Shakti, the Divine Mother. Or in Vedanta, it is called Saguna Brahma. So Sri Vidya Upasana. And there is a beautiful Mandala created. It is a beautiful figure with tremendous meanings. And every triangle, it is all in the form of triangles, circles, lotuses, etc. Everything is interpreted by those who are initiated. That is the Gurus teach them. And they have to dwell upon each one of those Mandalas. And it takes a long time. And this is called Upasana. And Upasana, merely just doing something without thinking, is not possible. That is why Patanjali Rishi, he defines very well. What is Japah? Japah Tat Artha Bhavana. Thinking of the real meaning, not merely repetition, but remembering the meaning of the mantra is called real Japah. Otherwise, it is a mechanical repetition of Japah. So Sri Vidya. If you ask the devotee of Sri Vidya, Who is your Sri? And unhesitatingly, without thinking, the person will reply, Sri is none other than Para Brahma. Whom you call Brahman, I call Sri Vidya. Sri. And why am I talking? Because we have got very limited ideas. Sri means Lakshmi. Lakshmi means the wife of Vishnu or Narayana. And she is subservient to Him. No. The idea goes much, much beyond. Narayana is the Chaitanyam. And Lakshmi is the Shakti. Where these two are there in this world, that is called Srishti. These two are possible only there. Only then some successful action can be manifest. So if a person wants to become successful, some people have knowledge, but they do not have Shakti or skill. Some people have skill, but they do not have knowledge. And such people are called factory workers. So many, many people, they have got the skills, they can fix anything, but they do not have the thinking power. And there are thinking people who do not have the power to do anything. This dichotomy is what is making the whole world today enter into this disastrous state. What do I mean? Science has divided itself into two categories. Science and technology. What is science? That is discovering or improving whatever knowledge we have so far, that is expanded more and more, deeper and deeper, and wider and wider. That is the business of scientists. They are called scientists. But how to turn that scientific knowledge into practical, usable, life-helping gadgets or instruments? This is the business of technicians, whether it is in medicine, or in telephone, or television, or cars, or aeroplanes, anything like that. So scientists and technicians. But unfortunately, there is another category of human beings, neither scientists nor technicians, but practically very, very evil people. They use it for the sake of dominating. These are called politicians. So nowadays all the problems, they are able to fight this terrific, harrowing type of wars, where so many people can be killed just sitting at a distance. Neither scientists are doing, nor technicians are doing, but it is the politicians. They just train some people how to do it. Now, what are we talking about? Creation requires both knowledge as well as power. Power means how to convert that knowledge. That is why Brahma and Saraswati. Brahma is the Chaitanya. Saraswati is how to turn Shakti, how to turn it into practicality. These are very important concepts. Suppose somebody wants to be a musician, or a scientist, or a doctor, then first of all, there must be alertness, concentration. And then there must be that intense desire, what Ramakrishna used to call Vyakulata. And that is called Chaitanyam. The more concentrated, the more Chaitanyam or awareness is manifest. Without this Chaitanyam, it is just not focused on one thought, but on many thoughts. It is a very distracting, failure-producing technology. So, what is meditation? More and more and even more manifestation of Chaitanyam or awareness. And we want to be completely aware and become aware, united with awareness. That is called meditation. And a lower form of it is called concentration. Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. Complete oneness with that awareness is called Samadhi. So, here Lakshmi is the Shakti of Ishwara. Ishwara is the knowledge, Sri is the Lakshmi. That is why Sri is manifest in all these forms. So, finally, the word Sri means what? Whatever is Mangalakara, whatever is Shubhakara, whatever benefits a person in every field of life. How many fields do we have? At least we have five fields. So, we have got this gross body field that is called physical, then we have got intellectual field, nowadays people are talking nothing but AI, Artificial Intelligence. And very interesting for me because is Artificial Intelligence consciousness? What is the question they are asking? Can Artificial Intelligence be real intelligence? And that is not possible because artificial will be artificial only. So, this Medha Shakti, intellectual level. Then there is an aesthetic level. How to look upon anything in a most beautiful way? By the way, this aesthetic talent is not changing something but looking at something. For example, when a mother looks at her baby, even the ugliest mother and ugliest mother is likely only to give birth to ugliest babies. When the mother looks, what does she see? She sees the most beautiful, lovable, adorable, cuddable baby. And that beauty, where from it has come? Because of her love. If we love something, that assumes all these forms. So, that is called aesthetic level. Of course, there is a science and harmony is the very heart of beauty in anything, whether it is food, whether it is sculpture, painting, poetry, or singing, anything. And then there is the level of morality, where the person expands his narrow self into many-ness. I am you, I am he, I am she, I am it, I am everything. And then finally comes what is called spirituality. I am not a manifestation, I am the pure Brahman. And who can take us to that level? Or who can give us the positive side of all these five levels? That is called Lakshmi. Somebody is having Lakshmi. So, you see a person, beautiful person. And then you say, this person looks so beautiful. Lakshmi is manifesting. The person is very, very wealthy. Lakshmi is manifesting. But sometimes, as I said, mistakenly, a person doesn't have any of these things, but very happy. We don't say that person is manifesting the greatest manifestation of Lakshmi. That is Ananda, Soucha, Santosha. No, we do not say that. So, whether a person is talented or not, these are all manifestations. Manifestations means only Shakti. That is why, perhaps, one day we might study Saundarya Lahari. Lahari means wave. There, Shankaracharya starts his very first verse in this. If they are not united, that is to say, a pure Chaitanyam is not united with Shakti, nor Prabhavati. Brahma cannot create, Vishnu cannot protect, sustain, or Shiva cannot do anything like that. This is the Shakti Aradhana. And that is what Sri Ramakrishna has come to advocate. My children take refuge at the feet of the Divine Mother. Why not Divine Father? Because, it is said, sometimes Father is hard of hearing. So, the Mother is ever awake to the pleadings of the baby. That is why, as I mentioned earlier, whether it is Meenakshi or is it Kamakshi or is it Vishalakshi, Mother with a billion, billion eyes, unblinking eyes. She is watching every one of our babies, including mosquito babies, living, non-living, everything. So, anything that looks beautiful and attractive and brings peace and happiness to the mind, we say, that is manifesting Lakshmi. So, Yad Yad Vibhuti Mat Sattva. Wherever you say anything great, that is Vibhuti. Another name for Lakshmi is that Vibhuti. So, any good is Lakshmi, but what about that which is not good? Well, even suffering also. When a surgeon, when a patient enrolls himself in the hospital and the surgeon finds a big problem and the patient has to be operated and sometimes it will take months to recoup and a lot of medications have to be given. One example that comes to my mind, suppose a person is detected having cancerous cells and they start this chemotherapy and it is very painful, so many adverse effects are seen and it is nothing but pure suffering. I am just feeling like making a little bit of fun and if you see a person who is going through chemotherapy, a person looks almost like a sanyasi with a shaved head and having nothing practically. Eats very little and just a mass of a little bit of flesh and bones and there is not a single hair on the head. This is the perfect ideal of a sanyasi. But this suffering, is it Lakshmi? Yes, because by God's grace this chemotherapy can suppress and the medical science is advancing in course of time it is possible that cancer can be cured then humanity will heave a sigh of relief. Aha! For centuries millenniums this disease has killed billions and billions of creatures and now we have found a cure. Then what happens? A super cancer will come. If any human being thinks that if we can cure this particular disease it is not going to come back that person is the most foolish person in the whole world because by another name, whatever other names we give you find out a cure after lot of suffering and then as Swami Vivekananda used to say, if somebody has got rheumatism in the shoulders drive it away by medication it will go to the legs or knees and drive it away it comes to the head and drive it away it goes back to the shoulders. So sorrow and suffering is a part of what is called dual ideal in this world. Sukha, Dukha, Roga, Narogya so all these things go together. You cannot eliminate one side of it so long as we are in this world but people are not realizing they are focusing immediate what seems to be the greatest immediate threat. Anyway, so whatever brings us ultimately either immediately or in course of time or in future and usually in the future because if we want to obtain something great we have to undergo lot of suffering and that is Lakshmi and Lakshmi will come and we do not, this suffering we do not call it Lakshmi in fact we call it Alakshmi no, Tapasya when we call the grace of Lakshmi so what Sairam Krishna used to call Shakti that is what we call Sri here that is called Sri Vidya so now what is the ultimate purpose I said Moksha Lakshmi is the ultimate purpose but for that we require a life which is a little bit less turbulent so that we can sit, think properly come to a firm conclusion and then put it into practice that is how evolve, this is called evolution so we have to just pray to her, Oh Mother grant me Saraswati is Sri, Lakshmi is Sri, Parvati is Sri, Brahma Vishnu, Shiva are manifestations of Sri in this created world that is what Sri means so in this Sri Suktam Sri Devi that is the Divine Mother is the Devata of this Suktam and every set of Suktams associated with the Rishi and I said there are different versions so in three versions, three different traditions, some only mention three Rishis, some mention four Rishis and some mention five Rishis so here only three are mentioned Ananda, Kardama, Chiklita and then what is the purpose? In Sanskrit this is called Vinayoga Vinayoga means for what purpose we are chanting or usually you know what people do whenever they chant Sri Suktam and it is very interesting they are supposed to chant first mantra on the first Tithi, second mantra first and second on the second Tithi, first, second and third on the third Tithi and at the end of the completion 15, one Paksha, then they are supposed to do Yaga or what is called Homa Sri Yagna or Sri Homa and the details are there but some people can chant every day and can do the Homa and why Homa should be done? Where is it mentioned? Because some people interpreted especially Shayanacharya that Agni Jatavedoma Avaha here the word Agni comes indicating indirectly that one has to perform Homa but Homa is of two types, one is external, another is internal if we surrender ourselves to the Divine Mother, some people call Divine Mother as Saraswati, some people as Kali, some people as Parvati, doesn't matter whatever way and some people as Holy Mother Sharada Devi, Sarva Deva Devi Rupini it doesn't matter so as I was mentioning earlier for Rama Bhaktas Rama is Parabrahma and that is why Ram Nama starts like that Shuddha Brahma Paratpara Ram always we have to repeat that one, similarly if it is the Divine Mother also Sarvamangala Mangal Yeshive Sarvartha Sadhike Sarvartha means what? Artha, four fruits what are they? Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha all these are in the hands that is why Holy Mother says that Mukti even though I am appearing to be completely caught up in the wheel, in the net of Maya but my son Mukti, liberation is in my fist whenever I want I can give it to anybody and this idea is beautifully brought out in the Lalita Sahasranama Mithya Jagad Atishta Tri Muktida Mukti Rupini so what is the Vinayoga what do I want so do I want money do I want name and fame do I want power and position instead of saying all this let us be like a baby a baby simply my mother is there she knows everything that word she knows everything that is called Vinayoga here so what is the Vinayoga Sri Lakshmi Prasada Siddhyarthe Jape Homeja Va Vinayogaha so I want the Prasadam, that is why here the word Prasadam is used Lakshmi Prasadam means grace of the Divine Mother when we offer some food material we call it Prasadam we should call it the grace of Sri Ramakrishna the grace of Rama, the grace of Krishna the grace of the Divine Mother Prasada Siddhi that means it must be real Prasadam let mother take over and let her give because she knows my past, present and future so this is called Vinayoga the application is to obtain to acquire the grace of Goddess Lakshmi or Sri better word is Sri and one of the commentators beautifully puts it all human beings mainly aspire for four things in life let there be any human being in the past, at present and in future all of them what do you want? money, what do you want? a car, what do you want? a beautiful house, what do you want? a better position, what do you want? power, but analyze them, they all fall under four categories Dharma, Ardha, Kama and Moksha so we have every human being, whatever aspirations, desires, lacks everything can be categorized under this four so if Divine Mother is pleased with her children, she will grant some people are not Dharmic so she will give Dharma some people lack Ardha she will give Ardha some people lack what is called Kama what does it mean? means some rich person is there but he cannot digest even boiled water so the Divine Mother, if she is pleased she will remove all that problem and he can eat like Bhima Sena that is why Bhima Sena is called Urkodaraha so he has got the stomach of a wolf, wolf can wolf down anything and in very short time it is completely digested so we pray for the grace of the blessings of Goddess Sri to be conferred upon all of us in full measure this grace is not only in the form of real estate or money but Dharma, Ardha, Kama and Moksha with this introduction let us now go deep, at least the first mantra Hiranyavarnam Harinim Suvarna Rajatasrajam Chandram Hiranmayim Lakshmim Jatavedo Ma Avaha O Agnidevata you who know everything Jatavedaha that is the Agni's name Jataveda as we discussed earlier is the Srishtikarta not merely minor deity called Agni not one of the Pancha Bhutas called Agnidevata Akasha Vayu Agni no, he is Ishwara himself and why he is called Ishwara we will come to that meaning very shortly so without your grace please bring me the grace of the one and who is that one Lakshmim and bring that Lakshmim and what type of Lakshmim you know Agni is often compared to a postman so whenever we do any Homa or Yagna so we invoke the fire, we lit the fire when the fire sticks are blazing then we pour with a vrithi Om Indrayasvaha so I offer this Indra so that is the address because Agni is the Mukha Agni is the carrier, whatever we offer we give it Agnidevata, please carry it to this particular address and unlike Indian postman or anywhere he will take it to the right person because he knows every address he knows everybody the whole encyclopedia of yellow books of every country and not only this Loka but Paraloka also everything he knows so Agnidevata please bring me the grace of the one and the description follows with golden complexion who is capable of destroying my sins who appears with gold and silver necklaces who resembles like the full moon and whose very nature is gold so here first of all Lord Agni is invoked and he is requested to bring in her grace this is called Guru whenever we are talking about Guru what does Guru do he takes our devotion to him that is why Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu one way of interpretation is we instead of offering our praises to Brahma we offer the praises to the Guru you are Brahma you are Vishnu what does he do he says ok you have given me all these things and I will take these things to the persons whom you are really addressing and he goes to Brahma he goes to Vishnu he goes to Shiva or he goes to Parabrahma see here are the this devotee of yours this child of yours has given you offered through me I am here now what do you want how do you want to reply because in the olden days you know the postman used to act not only as bringers of letters but also writers of replies and bring them back so Agni is called Purohitaha beautiful word Puraha means in front Hithaha means absolutely he doesn't want any commission so you will have to just trust him and say you take to this Devata Indraya means only to Indra and then if you say Somaya go to Soma and then Vishnavesvaha he takes it to Vishnu Somaya Svaha to Shiva so O Agni Devata you are a Jataveda that means you know you know what not only about me not only about all creatures you also know all the Devatas Deva Devatas all the Gods and Goddesses because you are the essence of every Devata therefore you know everybody and how do you do it you don't need to go anywhere Agni need not Agni is all pervading and then immediately he will connect us with our Ishta Devata and then that is what happens you know it is a very beautiful concept not really given elsewhere but just a thought flashed what is meditation it is called churning the mind like when we churn the milk ocean first Visha comes then Amruta comes Visha and Amruta both come we have to be prepared but offer we should offer both Visha was offered to only to Shiva and Amruta is offered to whom so Amruta belongs to God only that is why ultimately even the Asuras were forced to hand over in the form of of course Mohini otherwise they would not hand over and they gave it to Lord Vishnu and Vishnu knows like a mother knows which babies they can digest this and which babies it creates indigestion not that God is inimical we have to get rid of that stupidest ideas that Vishnu cheated all the Rakshasas even though they worked very hard these are all stories have to be understood in their proper meanings Rakshasas are also my children but they are not ready to receive Amruta that is why there is a saying in Sanskrit language if you feed a poisonous snake with what is called Amul thickened milk then it produces more poison than it was capable of before so one has to be very careful for Bhagwan there is no enemy Asuras they are the children of Diti, Daityas and Gods are the children of Adityas so all are children of God only but if you give strength to a wicked person and he will only do more mischief so Agni you know all these people now I want the grace of the Divine Mother so I am specifically interpreting it following a certain line of thought which includes everything as I mentioned in my last talk spirituality includes everything Moksha includes Dharma Artha, Kama not that when you attain Moksha so you will be regretting I did not have money, I did not have good tasty things to eat no you will get the eternal unbroken bliss the purpose of experiencing any object is to get only this Ananda for the sake of Ananda so you bring what is the description of this Divine Mother interesting connections can be made Hiranyavarnam Hiranya means usually it is called what is called gold, golden colored that means a most beautiful attractive yellow pink mix when we look at the skin color of some people some people are white but very pale, some people are black some people are yellowish some people have that bright color combination which is most attractive usually we find it in babies full to the full extent some of the babies now what are you talking this is a golden the Goddess with the golden color Hiranyavarnam, varna means color and gold is the representation of sattva guna anywhere in any person any object in any place if sattva guna is present that is called golden aspect for example Ram Krishna when he visited Kashi for the first few days his mind was so pure that he was able to see golden Kashi what do we see we don't we see only old Kashi not gold Kashi so what does golden Kashi mean spiritual Kashi spirituality is always the manifestation of sattva and all the sattvic qualities what is called Daivi Sampath comes only through this so Hiranyavarnam the details we have to go little further today we will cover a little bit of introduction Harinim so Hari the female counterpart of Hari is called Harini so Harinim what is Harini there are many meanings given here Hari means one who takes away, who destroys your personality and makes you himself like fire burns everything and Atmasat that is fire makes anything into himself fire so you put some fuel it becomes fire so if any object is put that will become fire or it purifies here Hari Hari means to steal away that is why one of the names of Vishnu is Hari and the Shakti of that Hari is called Harinim what does this mother do she will take away all the obstructions in the five areas I mentioned somebody is sick and she will grant Arogya, what is Arogya Arogya is our true nature but something comes in between and when that is taken away either through treatment or medicine or whatever then we go back to what we were that is called health so this she who brings us to our original nature that is on the bodily level what is the mind we have wrong notions wrong knowledge, she takes away all the wrong knowledge destroys, gives us right knowledge Dhiyo Yonaha Chodayat she who is adored and contemplated as Gayatri and that is none other than Sri Devi herself that is why she is called Sri Vidya then on the aesthetic level to look upon everything as beautiful because wherever God is manifest and that God is very beautiful this is so beautifully illustrated in the life of Bhagwan Sri Krishna he is everything and I think one of the greatest Acharyas I think Vallabhacharya he has composed Adharam, Madhuram, Vadanam, Madhuram that is your lips are beautiful and your face is beautiful your eyes are, what is not beautiful Madhuradipate, Akhilam, Madhuram everything is sweet when love arises and then whatever be the beloved object it becomes absolutely adorable beautiful so on the aesthetic level anything can be beautiful, a dry piece of wood, very beautiful a dry piece of leaf very beautiful that is why sometimes you know when we see something beautiful plant we just take a leaf and bring it, put it in between some pages and of course it will be reduced to an irreducible type very flimsy type of dry leaf but whenever we look at it we are reminded how beautiful in fact when it becomes dry we see the intricate design that is there inside that morality is the most happy giving and then at the highest level it is the spiritual bliss called Ananda so Ananda includes every type of Sukha, even Dukha becomes Ananda does Dukha ever become Ananda yes, Vaishnavas found it out, that is why their songs are composed of two sets, what is that Viraha and Milana Viraha is intense agony of separation and represented here between Radha and Krishna but after Viraha that tremendous joy when Radha and Krishna that is the aspiring soul is united with the aspired for Bhagawan Ananda is immeasurable so that is why Raja Maharaj once says, if I want I can give you Moksha but you will not enjoy it if you struggle and do Tapasya, then the type of happiness you can really experience is immeasurable indescribable this is the meaning of Harini, there are other meanings Suvarna, Rajata, Sraja for our contemplation we need gross manifestation Suvarna means gold Rajata means silver Sraja means a golden ornament or it is made up of a combination of both gold and silver, Sraja has two meanings, one is an ornament another is what we call garland, she always comes the garland of made up of Suvarna and Rajata it can also mean that some flowers which are most beautiful some are yellowish and some are white and especially if you see some of the Gods and even more Goddesses, they are adored especially in South Indian temples, they are specialized in making these garlands even the tiny teeny weeny garlands huge, thick nearly 3 inches circumference how they make them, that is an art, so this Divine Mother comes with that and then Chandra she is called Chandra what happens, Chandra means moon when we look at the moon we see how joyous we become our minds become extremely happy when a baby looks at the face of its mother after some absence and then how much happiness, so everybody has experienced this and the Divine Mother or Sri here Chandra, she gives that happiness, but not only happiness Chandra is the presiding deity of all the Ushadis, that is why Ushadis, Sarvaha in the 15th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita Somobhutva Prasatmakaha and then again Hiranyamayim, she is shining like gold, her very form is like that gold, not only she is looking gold, she is gold herself, that means she is spiritual herself and Lakshmi Lakshmi means here all that is that conduces to our good and we want that Divine Mother who is looking like this, O Agni Devata please out of your infinite grace bring that or in other words you yourself are Ishwara you come to me not in the form of merely Agni come to me in the form of this Divine Mother with all these qualities and when a baby looks at its mother with all this just bubbling with joy bubbling the baby's face blooms and that anybody who beholds that face of the baby when the baby after a bit of absence from its mother is united with the mother perhaps a little bit of understanding can come there are many meanings are given but we will take the most important meanings and we will do this in our next class May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna.
[[Category:Sri Suktam]]