Must-know syllable in Sanskrit

Sarannavara:tri uthsavam is the celebration of a new night in autumn. What makes a night ‘new night’?

When one ignites a special light in the night, the night becomes new. This special light clears layers of ignorance piled up in one’s buddhi and enables one to see everything as it is.

I am NOT ignorant, I am wise. I see things as they are. What ignorance are you talking about?

If you can see the above image, we can understand that even on a physical level, we are limited by our intellect. We are talking about knowledge that encompasses physical dimension and beyond too. It is the knowledge of who we are. What is life? Who are we? Is there a destination that the soul must reach to regain its blissful natural state? Who can support it to get there? What are the blockers? What is God’s role in this process? Lack of such knowledge is the root of all ignorance and cause of all miseries.

Okay, I am ignorant of such knowledge. What is that ‘special light’ that can help me?

The special light is the knowledge of a ‘beautiful’ special soul…

whose name is a one syllable sanskrit word
who is revered by all sages as the most compassionate soul
who is so dear to God that He looks at this soul’s ‘signature’ on His work

Can you name this soul?

The beautiful special soul is named Sri:hi. It is the first name given to our universal mother, Mahalakshmi by the sa:sthra. Her beauty comes from the utmost compassion she has for all the souls.

Pu:rva:cha:ryas say,
sri:rithye:vacha na:ma the: bhagavathi! bru:mah kattham thva:m vayam
-Ka:ntha: chathusslo:ki by Ya:munacha:rya

The single-syllable word Sri:hi in Sanskrit encapsulates 6 main meanings. The special soul gets Her name Sri:hi because She is the one who…

What’s the way to worship Her?

Sri Prasna Samhitha is the text in a:gama containing dialogue between God and Her where She asks Him the process of worshiping a deity, consecration of deities, rituals in temples etc and God provides detailed answers.

[In the context of worshiping deity, several philosophies oppose ‘idol worship’. If you are unsure about deity worship, ask yourself one simple question. When Universal supreme power God can exist anywhere and everywhere, why can’t He exist in a deity? What stops Him from doing that for a seeker who wants to see Him in a form? Omnipresence and deity worship do not contradict each other.

They compliment and complete the understanding of God’s grace in various forms for the purpose of enlightening us through a ‘mortal’ form too. In fact, it shows us how accessible He becomes to a seeker]

Chapter 30 of Sri Prasna Samhitha contains details of the process of worshiping mother Lakshmi during sarannavara:tri uthsavam. This is what every temple follows. This is how we can also worship Her in our mandir at home.

It says that on Day 01, mother can be realized in Her original form as Mahalakshmi. The next 8 days, She gives darshan in different forms.

On Day 10 in the evening, one worships mother Lakshmi in the form of Sami tree and heads to the path of victory in life.

What blessings do you want from the Mother?

Do you want to be blessed with valor from Veeralakshmi? Or wealth from Dhanalakshmi? Or children from Santhanalakshmi? Or victory from Jayalakshmi? Or education from Vidyalakshmi? Or daily nutritional food from Dhanyalakshmi? Or courage from Dhairyalakshmi? Or control over land and people from Rajyalakshmi?

Can you think of one blessing that will give you everything?

Example an a lighter note, it seems there was a clever boy who asked for one wish. “I want to feed my great grandson crunchy snacks as I eat the same, sitting on a golden swing on the 7th floor of a home made of gold.”
With this one wish, the clever boy asked for health, family, wealth, prosperity, longlife all in one shot!

So, make one sincere wish and ask the universal mother Sri . Her krupa, grace. That’s all. That’s the one blessing which encompasses all other blessings. The must-know syllable in Sanskrit representing the universal mother is Sri:hi .