We all know the meaning of Prosperity to a certain degree. To understand the complete meaning, let’s look at what the dictionary says and how our scriptures define and elaborate the word. After all, we all want to be prosperous right? If we know the true and complete meaning of prosperity, then we can check for ourselves how prosperous we are at this moment!
The dictionary meaning of Prosperity is: “Prosperity is the state of flourishing, thriving, good fortune or successful social status. Prosperity often encompasses wealth but also includes other factors which can be independent of wealth to varying degrees, such as happiness and health!”
Scriptures define prosperity, sampada as:
Everything that is good and necessary is called a sampada! Some examples of sampada are shown below…
- Physical well-being
- Mental well-being
- Beauty (definition of beauty is not that appeals to eye and heart – it is whatever form that is naturally given by God)
- Ability of expression
- Ability to share
- Pleasant surroundings
- Amicable friends, family and neighbours
- Devotion to God
- Believing in scriptures
- Understanding the right meaning of scriptures
- Adherence to scriptures in every action
Above enlists prosperity at a broad level, but when you go deep into each of it, there are different depths and levels of variance of that prosperity that one can possess.
One wants to have all this sampada, but it is important to use this sampada in the direction of righteousness as defined in the scriptures. That is when the prosperity can be called dy:vi: sampada, divine prosperity! To possess this kind of divine prosperity, we seek out to the mother of the existence, the source of all these sampada – Lakshmi Devi. (Just like a mother does not really wait for her children to ask for anything, Lakshmi Devi also does not wait to give us sampada that we need. But, it becomes our duty to recognise her as the source. Even if we recognise and realise this fact or not, she continues to bestow us with her divine grace in formats that we may or may not understand through the ultimate protector – God.)
Different forms depict different kinds of prosperity on the first 8 days of Navaratri as Maha Lakshmi, Dhana Lakshmi, Dhanya Lakshmi, Gaja Lakshmi, Santana Lakshmi, Veera Lakshmi, Vijaya Lakshmi, Vidya Lakshmi. On these 8 days, we remind ourselves that all the instruments we have: such as our body, memory, cattle, car, pen, books, etc as pockets of power bestowed by our mother, Lakshmi Devi.
Who is this divine mother anyway? Does she possess a form of woman with limbs, senses and all other parts like any other woman, except with higher power? Is she the one who is a deity in the temples?
When we explain the appearance and power of a tiger to a little one, we can show a cat and tell him that a tiger is like the house cat, except that it is bigger, stronger, wilder, with bolder stripes, and that it does not limit its prey to only rats, may be even clearer descriptions of character and appearance! The reason why we chose cat is because the little boy is familiar with cat in real time.
Similarly, when we want to imagine the divine mother – we choose a form of woman because we are all humans. Mother Lakshmi’s form is not limited to the Deity form. She represents ever-lasting love (cheragani prema), boundless compassion (tharagani daya), eternal flow of warmth and care (aarani krupa-dhaara). It is the presence of her characteristics in the heart of God that make him approachable!
On the 9th day, the Maharnavami – we pray to the strength of the divine mother Lakshmi to bless us with the prosperity in its true and complete form. This completes the Navaratri! Whoever perceive God in the form of Vishnu devote these 9 days to worship Lakshmi Devi with utmost love.
The Vijaya Dasami that follows these 9 days is a different celebration. On the day of Vijaya Dasami, we seek the refuge of that Supreme power who possesses Lakshmi Devi, the source of all prosperity within his heart all the time. That is why we refer to our Supreme power, God as ‘Lakshmi Na:tha or Sriyah Pathi’!
– From the discourse of Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji, 17th October, Vijaya Kiladri Hills, Vijayawada
Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji graciously presided over the Navaratri celebrations on the beautiful hills of Vijaya Kiladri where the divine mother is seen as Vijaya Valli Thayar. Sriman Samudrala Rangaramanujacharya, Sri Krishnamacharya have beautifully explained the terms as per scriptures, and process of worship as per Pancharatra agamas!
Sriman Manthena Satyanarayana Garu, a renowned healer of health issues through natural processes, paid obeisances to Swamiji.
