kanaka dhAra — the shower of wealth
An ode on the goddess of wealth
Wealth attracts everyone in one form or the other; All the individuals are working for the wealth. Bhagavan Adi Sankara makes his first poem on goddess lakshmi for the sake of showering wealth on a poor lady which is not just a prayer but filled with philosophy of highest prosperity.
Bowing down at bright red sindhura faced, who brings cheer to the goddess, ever celebrated happily, remover of obstacles, I start this effort.
Dwelling in the limbs of supreme lord hari as a tinge of joy like the bees around the cinnamon tree, granter of all the allowed enjoyments by a sideway glance; oh! goddess of auspiciousness! let your vision bring auspiciousness on us.
Thy glance filled with love and modesty ever moves around the lotus face of lord murAri just like the bee comes and goes off from the large blue lotus; such glance may show us prosperity, Oh daughter of the milky ocean!
Lord mukunda’s eyes are ever closed due to ecstasy; thy eyes are ever open by fixing them on the lord with love, the side glance of thee produce prosperity to us, Oh the lady of the lord sleeping on the snake.
Thy glance along the dark gemstone necklace of the lord who conquered madhu is capable of fulfilling the inward and outward desires of the lord himself. Let that the same glance direct us towards auspiciousness Oh the goddess seated in the lotus!
Oh, mother of all worlds! staying on the chest of the killer of daemon kaiTabha appearing as if like lightening on the dark clouds, Oh daughter of bhArgava! may thou protect us by directing us right.
The god of love got a prominent place with the lord who killed daemon madhu only due to your favorable glance; please direct a small portion of such a glance even for a short duration towards us, Oh! the daughter of the ocean filled with makaras!
Thy glance can grant or remove any powerful position in the universe of mortals and immortal gods; the glance is the cause of joy even to the lord who is enemy of mura, Oh goddess indira, one born along with the blue lotus of the same luster!
By thy compassionate glance alone can bestow the power of lordship over three worlds; such a glance nourishes us by right desires Oh! the mother, goddess of nourishment!
Let thy dark clouds of thy eyes, shower merciful looks of wealth, on the helpless child bird which is saddened and unable to cope up with the heat of past wicked deeds, by removing that heat far away, Oh! the lover of lord nArAyaNa, by the flow of grace through thy eyes!
People call you as the goddess of knowledge, people call you as the lady of the lord having garuda on his dhwaja, people call you as the goddess of vegetation, people call you as the consort of the lord holding crescent moon on his head; Oh the lady of the guru of three worlds! you are playing along with the game of creation, maintenance, absorption; established in all aspects!
Bow down to you in the form of Shruti i.e., scripture, ordaining the results of virtuous deeds; Bow down to you the form of rati i.e., enjoyer, having beautifully great qualities; Bow down to you Sakti i.e, the source of energy of hundreds of distinctions i.e., patras; Bow down to you the nourisher, the consort of the purushOttama — the supreme soul.
I prostrate before you: of lotus faced, born in the milky ocean, sister of moon and nectar, the wife of nArAyaNa; seated on the golden shrine, the leader of this earth, compassionate towards the gods, the wife of lord holding the weapon named sArnga; the daughter of bhrgu, ever established on the heart of supreme lord, established on a lotus, the wife of dAmOdara; lady of lotus glance, mother of worlds, worshiped by gods, wife of the son of nanda;
The prostrations to thee are capable of giving all the enjoyments for all the senses, can bestow the lordship over territories, capable of removing the ill effects of sins, may we be interested always in the worship of thee, that confers limitless happiness.
I serve thee with three instruments of body, speech and mind aligned, that grants all the results by your side glance of kaTAksha to the devotee, Oh! the dearest of murAri.
Oh divinity, wife of hari, established on the lotus of lords heart, only known through the pure mind, producer of all three worlds, be pleased with me.
I adore you in the morning Oh! the house maker of the supreme lord, with overflowing divine waters abhisheka from the golden pots carried by the eight directional elephants.
I am the first of most deserving of your devotees for your non-artificial compassionate glance Oh! goddess kamala, the wife of the lotus-eyed supreme lord.
Goddess, be pleased, the controller of all the worlds, mother of all the worlds, the giver of auspiciousness, lotus-eyed, the giver of life; with the fear of non-fulfillment I am taking refuge in you, please look at me every day with the compassionate side glance.
Whoever adores thee with this poem, the form of three vedas, the mother of three worlds, goddess governing enjoyment i.e., rama, will be praised by the best intellectuals and bestowed with all great qualities.
Where is the philosophy in this?
The real wealth is wisdom. Wisdom of nature of supreme lord. The goddess Lakshmi gives wisdom as a shower. Goddess born of lotus. the lotus symbolizes the heart lotus of the supreme lord → that means the consciousness. The consciousness of the lord is called the goddess of wealth. In the consciousness alone all these three worlds, all these qualities, all that what is seen. She is the mother, she is the controller, she is the goddess of knowledge, she is the goddess of wealth, she is the goddess of nourishment, she is the goddess of all energy of thousands of distinctions. As all creation ever established in the supreme consciousness, never there is a distinction between the goddess and the individual consciousness. There is no difference between the goddess and the supreme lord.
The unborn, eternal self alone is the goddess of auspiciousness. The divine mother. Let the side glance of the goddess be on one and all. That is the philosophy of nonduality established in here!
