Akshaya Trityai (09-May-2016) - Rare Mahalakshmi Stotram/Kavcham from Brahma Vaivarta Puranam

courtesy:sri.K.Muralidharan Iyengar

Dear All,

Greetings and Namaste. Akshaya Trityai falls on 09-May-2016 (Monday) and in that connection I am delighted to share two stutis on Goddesss Mahalakshmi taken from Brahma Vaivarta Purana, Ganapati Khanda, Chapter 22. This chapter contains Kavacham, Mantram and Stuti in that order but I have given in the reverse order excluding the Mantra as Mantras always need initiation by people who have authority over the Mantra.

Although the stutis are short, their sacredness can be understood by the brief Phalashruti. In the hymn by Lord Narayana, He mentions that even He can't effectively pray to Goddess Lakshmi. Need to say anything more? In the Kavacham, it is mentioned that unless this is recited, even chanting Mahalakshmi Mantra a crore times will not bring any fruits. Both the hymns mention that one who recites these will get immutable wealth in all his/her births.

Thanks to the marketing gimmicks of Jewellers, Akshaya Trityai has become a mad rush for gold accumulation in the hope that the wealth will have multiplier effect! This has never been prescribed anywhere (prescribed only by jewelers :)). But the material wealth alone is useless for one's physical life and utterly useless for the spiritual life. So, all of us have no choice but to reflect on what wealth means to us and whether our assumptions are valid at some point in our lives.

Recently, I read a very interesting article http://swarajyamag.com/world/forget-kohinoor-the-british-looted-greater-treasures-from-india as a sequel to the ongoing debate of whether or not India should claim the Kohinoor diamond from the British. The article illustrates the amount of wealth plundered from India over two centuries by British. The article also illustrates that the amount of wealth plundered in the previous 600+ years would have been much more but the psychological damage inflicted by British on the Indian and Hindu society is immeasurable. How many of us know that India dominated World Economy with 30% of share for 1700 of the last 2000 years and when we got independence it was less than 2%. The biggest wealth we lost was self-esteem of the Hindu society - all other wealth are irrelevant against self-esteem.

The last line in the article is golden in my opinion "The Kohinoor should remind Indians that they became enslaved because they were divided. And they should say: "Never again." It would be wrong to blame the foreign occupiers for a willful self-destruction - we paid for our disunity. Self-Esteem and Unity are the greatest wealth India needs now. Money will come and go, though important.

It is time all Indians said "Never again"!. May Goddes Lakshmi bestow the Indian/Hindu society with self-esteem, deep appreciation/practice for our traditions, pursuit of dharma, and harmony. May She bestow us the power to move away from the dreary dead sand of dead habits! May She impel us to resolve to dump our poverty of childish intra-group rivalries! May Akshaya Tritya make every one sarva shreshtha.

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