In Vedic tradition, whenever there would be any auspicious occasion, such as entering a new home, inauguration of a temple, marriage or birth of a child, it would be accompanied by the melodious chanting of ancient Vedic hymn known as Śrī Sūkta, “a hymn to Goddess Śrī”, Divine Mother with golden splendour seated in a fully blossomed lotus flower. At first glance, it may look like a prayer for material prosperity. But if you look deeper into it, you will find profound spiritual truths hidden into it.
Who is Śrī?
Śrī means “divine opulence”. Goddess Śrī therefore stands for that, which is most beautiful, most precious, purest and highest in every object and every being.
Goddesses Śrī, Bhu and Nīla are three śaktis of Lord Narayana, who creates and sustains the universe with His single glance. In Lakṣmī Tantra, Goddess Lakṣmī Herself explains that Śrī-devī, Bhū-devī and Nīla-devī represent three guṇas or three modes of material nature: sattva (Śrī), rajas (Bhu) and tamas (Nīla). Śri represents guṇa of purity itself. This is why She is often represented as seated on a lotus flower, padma-stithā. She is also often compared to a lotus flower. Lotuses, even though born in the muddy waters, when they pierce the surface, they blossom as most beautiful of all flowers – and not even a single drop of water stays as a dew on their leafs. Similarly, when a soul is evolving and progressing on a spiritual path, growing above the mud of mundane reality, it slowly unfolds its potential and frees itself from worldly impurities, to finally blossom into a liberated, perfected being, who even though dwells in the world, is not touched by the world.
Śri Kṛṣṇa also uses a metaphor of a lotus flower in Bhagavad Gītā:
One who acts without attachment, surrendering one’s actions to the Lord, is not tainted by sinful actions, just as a lotus leaf is unaffected by water.
This is also why the eyes of Lord Viṣṇu are so often compared to lotus flower petals, too - they reflect the Divine purity, sattva guṇa and detachment, with which Lord Viṣṇu creates and looks at His creation, without any desire and with unconditional love – reminding us the we should cultivate a similar purity, while looking at anything, remembering about the Divine Observer within us.
Each of the three śaktis of Lord Viṣṇu are described as emanations of Goddess Lakṣmī in Lakṣmī Tantra. Yet, Goddess Śrī, presiding deity of sattva guṇa is described as being so similar in Her form and appearance to Goddess Lakṣmī Herself, that in later scriptures the two of them have been identified as one deity.
Śrī as Goddess Lakṣmī
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says that Mother Lakṣmī appeared from the ocean of milk (representing the vast ocean of our consciousness) during the process of its churning, when devas tried to obtain its essence: amṛta or nectar of immortality. Because She emerged from the ocean, She is often addressed as ārdra or “moist one”, as well as frequently depicted with two elephants on Her sides, bathing Her. This represents both Her purity, as well as “moisture” of Her compassion.
Goddess Lakṣmī herself, in the scripture known as Lakṣmī Tantra, a dialogue between her and Indra, explains that her appearance from the ocean of milk should be understood as a metaphor of the purest, the most sublime and the most innocent state of consciousness, which emerges as the first entity separated from God during the time of creation:
The Great Goddess remains unmanifested during the time of Brahman’s non-manifestation and, enfolding the universe within herself, remains in Brahman. The first evidence of Brahman’s expansion, like the moon rising out of the ocean, is my own self.
Mother Lakṣmī represents, thus, the purest, sattvic state of consciousness, which elevates the soul to the feet of the Lord and to His heavenly abode. And what is this state of consciousness? Śri Kṛṣṇa explains in Bhagavad Gītā:
That action which is regulated and which is performed without attachment, without passion or repulsion towards it, and without desire for its fruits, is said to be sattvic. (...) One who performs his duty without attachment, in liberated state of mind, without false ego, with patience, determination and enthusiasm, and without wavering in success or failure is said to be established in guṇa of sattva.
Therefore, sattvic state of mind is when it is liberated from all its likes and dislikes, when it is perfectly pure, detached, humble and free. Mother Lakṣmī represents this perfected state of consciousness, as She was born from the churning of the symbolic “ocean of milk”, ocean of our own consciousness.
Lakṣmī, similarly like Lord Viṣṇu, is seated on a lotus flower and represents this perfected state of being. In Her two uppers hands She is holding two lotuses, while Her two lower hands are always open in the gestures of blessing. Through that She is showing us that She is ever free — She never holds onto anything excerpt the purity itself, symbolised by the two lotuses (which are sometimes said to represent two lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu). Even though golden coins fall from Her hands, She doesn’t hold onto them — unlike Kubera, who keeps all the wealth in his pot. Lakṣmī is ever generous. She is the seat of prosperity itself. After all, She has married God Himself — what need does She have to hang onto anything limited, if She has married the Unlimited One? Through that She reminds us that instead of asking God for all those limited, worldly things, it is way wiser to just surrender to Him and ask Him for… Himself. That was Her choice.
Her very name comes from the word lakṣya, which means “the goal”. Therefore, lakṣmī means “the one, who has a clear goal”. It is said that Mother Lakṣmī was born on Phālguna Pūrṇimā, when Sun is dwelling in the sign of Pisces (representing Lord Viṣṇu), while Full Moon is dwelling in the sign of Virgo (representing Divine Mother), in the lunar mansion known as Uttara Phālgunī. The very śakti of Uttara Phālgunī nakshatra is called cayani śakti or “power to make the right choice”. Mother Lakṣmī, right after She emerged from the cosmic ocean, knew which choice to make and whom to choose as Her husband. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam narrates that She looked at all the devas, but failing to find anybody without a flaw, She was not satisfied with any of them and chose the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu as Her eternal husband. This is why She was called Lakṣmī, “the one who knows Her goal” – because right after Her birth She immediately knew what is the highest goal and final destination of every being: to reach the feet of the Supreme Lord and serve Him eternally with love and devotion.
But along with Mother Lakṣmī, there was one more goddess born out of the ocean of milk, representing Her shadow self: Alakṣmī. Alakṣmī literally means “the one without a goal” or “inauspicious one”. She is the anti-thesis of Mother Lakṣmī. In the same way, how Mother Lakṣmī knew from the moment She emerged from the ocean of milk, who is Her husband and seating at His feet eternally became the epitome of ideal wife, so Alakṣmī is the only goddess, who was divorced from her husband. In the same way how Mother Lakṣmī represents purity, sattvic mind, order, and being regulated, pure and dedicated in one’s actions, so Alakṣmī represents chaos, lack of order, lack of purity, laziness, poverty and tamasic state of mind.
A powerful lesson can be learned from this story: when mind is focused on the Supreme Goal, it starts to manifest all the qualities of Mother Lakṣmī: purity, progress, abundance, growth, spiritual development, contentment, prosperity, freedom, wisdom and guṇa of sattva. But the mind, which has no goal and which is divorced from Higher Consciousness, will start to manifest the qualities of Alakṣmī: laziness, chaos, stagnation, impurity, negativity, poverty, dissatisfaction, ignorance and guṇa of tamas.
Connect with Goddess Śrī
Spiritually speaking, Goddess Lakṣmī resides in the lotus of our heart chakra. This is why when we connect with Divine Mother in this most pure form we also start reflecting Her qualities, normally hidden deep in our hearts — and this often has a deep impact on every aspect of our life. The article above comes from my short “Seated on a Lotus” in which you can learn more about Goddess as Śrī or Lakṣmī, the prayer dedicated to Her (known as Śrī Sūkta) and 53 unique mantras or names of Śrī present in it, along with their deeper meanings. Click here to get a hard copy or here to get an ebook.
You can also explore here my guided meditations with Goddess Lakshmi or join me here on a guided 53-days long Journey with Lakshmi during which you will learn how to polish this inner light of Śrī inside of you with the help of guided meditations, mantras and self-analysis excercises.
