A Daily Devotion
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The Great Hymn to Mahalakshmi
O Mahalakshmi I salute Thee,
Thou art Mahamaya and Sripitha,
Worshipped art thou by angels
Holder of conch, disc and mace,
O Mahalakshmi I salute Thee.
A Daily Devotion
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O Mahalakshmi I salute Thee,
Thou art Mahamaya and Sripitha,
Worshipped art thou by angels
Holder of conch, disc and mace,
O Mahalakshmi I salute Thee.
O Mahalakshmi I salute thee,
Mounted art thou on the back of Garuda,
Thou art a terror most formidable to Asura Kola,
Thou removest all sins,
O Dea, Mahalakshmi, obeisance to Thee,
Mahalakshmi, thou knowest all.
Giver of boons art thou to all,
Formidable destroyer of all evil,
Remover of all pain and sorrow,
Mahalakshmi, salutation to Thee.
O Dea, Mahalakshmi,
Thou Art the Giver of Intelligence and success
And of both worldly enjoyment and liberation
Thou Art the self of mantra,
O Mahalakshmi, obeisance to Thee.
Thou Art without beginning or end,
O supreme Dea, Mahalakshmi,
Thou Art the primaeval Power and art born of yoga
Mahalakshmi, salutation to Thee.
Thou Art both gross and subtle,
Thou Art terrible and a great power,
Thou removest all great sins,
O Mahalakshmi obeisance to Thee.
O Dea enthroned on the lotus,
Thou Art the supreme Brahman,
The ever-pervading Atman,
Thou Art the great Raya and Mother of the world,
O Dea, salutation to Thee.
O Dea, clad in white raiment,
Adorned with varied gems,
Mother and Upholder of the world Art Thou,
Mahalakshmi, obeisance to Thee.
With the exception of a few minor changes (such as Dea for devi) this is the Avalon translation made very early in the 20th century. The hymn itself is of great antiquity, probably long predating its first written form in the Padma (Lotus) Purana, which Western scholarship (which tends to err considerably toward late datings owing to certain prejudices inherent in its methods) places between 400 and 1000 A.D.
Certain benefits are traditionally associated with this hymn:
Whoever with devotion reads this hymn to Mahalakshmi composed in eight stanzas, attains all success through the Grace of Mahalakshmi.
Whoever reads this hymn at least once a day will have all their sins destroyed.
Those who recite it twice will be blessed with wealth and prosperity.
Those who recite this three times in a day will have all obstacles destroyed* and be free from all enmity and harm. They will be always be blessed by Dea Mahalakshmi.
Let Great Lakshmi manifest in us with all Her beautiful and nourishing qualities.
* Sometimes rendered as “the Great Enemy (ego) will be destroyed”. The two readings are not opposed, as the phrase has both a material and a spiritual sense.
O Mahalakshmi I salute Thee,
Thou art Mahamaya and Sripitha,
Worshipped art thou by angels
Holder of conch, disc and mace,
O Mahalakshmi I salute Thee.
Sri Mahalakshmi is both Mahamaya — the creatrix of all material and non-material manifestation and Sripitha, the sacred abode, the dwelling at the very heart of being, the Realm of God that is “within you”. Thus Sri Mahalakshmi, as the manifestation of Dea Herself, represents both the infinitely great and extended, and the infinitely small and central.
Following our usual practice, we translate “Devas” here as Angels, this being the most accurate rendering in Western terminology.
Conch, Disc and Mace are the attributes held in three of Her four hands (the fourth would normally hold a lotus). In other iconography She is depicted as holding lotuses in her two upper hands, and pouring a shower of gold from one of the lower ones while extending the fourth in a gesture of blessing.
The Conch is the fountain that produces the five elements: first aethyr and from that the four material elements: air, fire, water and earth in that order. The conch is associated with the Primordial Sound from which all manifestation proceeds. It should be noted here that the primordial element of aethyr is associated with sound and, in the human microcosm, with the sense of hearing.
The Conch is held in Her lower right hand which represents the revolving or creative tendency. We may note here the very fundamental Indo-European root *wert which means both turning and becoming and gives rise to all our ver “turning” words (reverse transverse, vertigo, vortex etc.) as well as German werdens=becoming, also weird (=fate), worthy (=well-become, or “becoming”) and the Aristasian word Werde, which means “fate” in the sense of karma (using that word in the modern Western, rather than the fuller Indian understanding of the term*).
The full study of this word-group would provide a fascinating insight into the metaphysical bases of our language, which itself derives from the Primordial Sound (“verse” is also part of this group, and “word” — from the Indo-European root *werdh a word, from *wer, to speak, which also gives rise to Latin verbum and “word” words in most Indo-European languages — while not directly related is closely connected in symbolic linguistics). All these conceptions are inherent in the Conch held in Sri Lakshmi’s lower right hand.
The Disc (or Chakra) has six spokes. It represents the limitless mistresship of the six directions of space. It is held in the upper right hand, which represents the cohesive tendency. The Disc, shining like a child-sun represents the mind. It is also a formidable weapon which decapitates the demons and thus belongs secondarily to the Vikhelic and protective nature of Dea.
The Mace represents the elemental force from which all physical and mental powers are derived. It is held in the lower left hand which represents the idea of individual existence. It is also representative of cosmic Intellect or knowledge. A further association of the mace is with time and thus also with Kali, the power of time.
* The western usage of the term karma, which is influenced by pop-Buddhism, is a valid concept, but not an accurate interpretation of the word in most traditional contexts. Aristasian werde thus supplies a useful term to our language.
O Mahalakshmi I salute thee,
Mounted art thou on the back of Garuda,
Thou art a terror most formidable to Asura Kola,
Thou removest all sins,
O Dea Mahalakshmi, obeisance to Thee,
Mahalakshmi, thou knowest all.
Garuda is the great Bird (depicted sometimes as an eagle, sometimes as an owl) Sri Lakshmi’s seat thereon indicates her transcendence of the material world and is also seen as the vantage-point from which She rescues Her devotees from the turbulent ocean of Samsara. Garuda is also a warlike creature thus emphasising again the Vikhelic nature.
Sri Lakshmi is the destroyer of the demon (asura) Kola, who is the symbol of ignorance. Thus her defeat of the demon, while mythologically represented as a single event is in fact a continuing reality. Ignorance here is especially that ignorance (avidya) which keeps us ensnared in the illusion of Samsara. We must understand that Vikhelic, or warlike, symbology, while it may have literal protective qualities against the actual dark forces of the cosmos, also refers to the struggle against what is imperfect in ourselves.
Giver of boons art thou to all,
Formidable destroyer of all evil,
Remover of all pain and sorrow,
Mahalakshmi, salutation to Thee.
Giver of boons art thou to all … Remover of all pain and sorrow: Mahalakshmi, who combines the qualities of Sai Thamë (the Great benefic and ruler of the Golden Order) and Sai Sushuri (the embodiment of Divine Love), grants boons to Her devotees and removes pain and sorrow, freeing them from the bonds of sin.
Formidable destroyer of all evil: Nonetheless, the Vikhelic quality, symbolised by Her disc is never forgotten in the Indian tradition, where the resurgence of the worship of Dea in the Kali Yuga (or Age of Iron) centred initially about her warrior-forms and the epic battles in which She single-handedly destroyed the great demons that the “gods” could not defeat.
This is because of the Vikhelic quality of the Iron Age, in which the true nature of Supreme Dea is easily eclipsed by patriarchal forms. If Dea is to be worshipped as the sole and supreme Deity, as She was in the beginning, without attributing some of Her Qualities to masculine forms, then She must manifest Her warrior Qualities to defend Her devotees from the dark forces rampant in an Age of Iron.
O Dea, Mahalakshmi,
Thou Art the Giver of Intelligence and success
And of both worldly enjoyment and liberation
Thou at the self of mantra,
O Mahalakshmi, obeisance to Thee.
The parallelism of the second and third lines could be lost upon a modern reader, who would be inclined to read intelligence success and worldly enjoyment as three broadly material goods and liberation as the only spiritual one. Actually they are two matched pairs, for Intelligence, in traditional thought does not mean mere worldly reason, but that transcendent faculty by which we grasp the fundamental Realities behind worldly existence (and which is thus the necessary precursor to reason). Reason is the lunar reflection of the Solar Intelligence. Thus we have an example of what is called chiastic (or X-shaped) parallelism:
Intelligence and liberation (from worldly attachments) belong together, as do success and worldly enjoyment. The importance of this verse is its indication of the balance between worldly and spiritual goods offered by Mahalakshmi. Worldly people pursue only the things of this world. Spiritual ascetics preach a complete abstinence from the world. Worshipping our bounteous Lady, we may combine the two — innocent worldly pleasure and spiritual advancement.
The statement Thou Art the self of mantra must be understood in the light of the doctrine that a mantra, being a representation of one of the cardinal modifications of the Primordial Sound, embodies the Deity Herself.
Thou Art without beginning or end,
O supreme Dea, Mahalakshmi,
Thou Art the primaeval Power and art born of yoga
Mahalakshmi, salutation to Thee.
Thou Art without beginning or end makes it clear that Dea predates the Universe and time itself. She is the causeless Cause, “the unoriginated Origin of being”. All things that are must have a beginning and an end; and ultimately, all things begin in Dea and end in Her. Only She is without beginning and without end.
Thou art born of yoga clearly does not mean that Dea originates in any human practice, for it is already been stated that she has no beginning and no end; while yoga itself (meaning literally “union”) is only the joining of the human soul to Dea. A less poetic translation puts these lines thus: “She is the divine fire (Cosmic will) of the all yogas and she dawns in the minds of yogis”. In other words, it is through the yoga of devotion (bhakti yoga) and other spiritual practices that we may experience Her actual presence.
Thou art both gross and subtle,
Thou art terrible and a great power,
[Great-wombed art Thou]
Thou removest all great sins,
O Mahalakshmi obeisance to Thee.
Both gross and subtle indicates that Dea manifests herself in both “gross” (bodily) form and in Her subtle (formless) state. She rules both the material world and all the subtle degrees of manifestation.
The word terrible (perhaps confusing because of its colloquial usage) is also applied to the Christian vision of Deity. It indicates the “holy terror” felt by lesser beings when confronted with the awesome majesty of supreme Deity. The Devi Gita describes the awe and terror felt by the angels when faced with Dea in Her unmodified majesty; whereupon She graciously showed Herself in Her beautiful feminine form in order to reassure and comfort them.
[Great-wombed art Thou] is bracketed because, although it appears in the Avalon translation, most texts do not appear to support it. It may well represent an earlier strand of the text, and have seemed a little too “gross” to later redactors. It is interesting because it probably constitutes a late remnant of that very early spirituality which is often mistaken for “fertility religion” (and is discussed in depth in our Earth Mother essay). We see here how this concept is entirely compatible with a transcendental understanding of religion, and, far from being “earthy” and “primitive” in the way that patriarchs “cultural evolutionists” and feminists would like to see it, it belongs to a purer phase of earthly existence, in which bodily functions were perceived in a sacral light.
Since that phase of human civilisation is now long passed, and, to the Western mind especially, is often close to incomprehensible (in feminist circles particularly, easily giving rise to perverse and materialistic interpretations) we suggest that the devotee may include or exclude this line as seems to her most fitting.
O Dea enthroned on the lotus,
Thou Art the supreme Brahman,
The ever-pervading Atman,
Thou Art the great Lord and Mother of the world,
O Dea, salutation to Thee.
The Lotus (which is also the fourth Attribute, with Conch, Disc and Mace) represents the flowering of manifestation, unfolding upon the waters of the prima materia or unformed matter. Dea, either standing in the form of the Vertical ray, or seated in meditation, represents the Essence which gives form to substance or materia and allows the lotus of manifestation to blossom into all its multifoliate variety.
Thou art the supreme Brahman/The ever-pervading Atman. She is both Transcendent Deity and Immanent Deity. Supreme Brahman is the highest expression of Deity, while Atman means both “breath” and “Spirit” — as does Latin Spiritus (cf. “respiration”), Greek pneuma and Hebrew ruach — it is the Divine Breath that breathes in every creature, it is the true Self of all beings, which is not other than Dea Herself.
Great lord and mother of the world represents a difficult translation problem. Such words as Ishwari and Jaganmaadhaah mean Lord in the feminine. There is no English equivalent. In Aristasia, the word Raya means “Lady in the Lord Sense” and would undoubtedly be the best translation if one were not adhering to “standard” English. Thus the line should read:
Thou art the great Ray’ and Mother of the world
The second “a” of Raya is elided because it is followed by a vowel, and the word is pronounced to rhyme to “sky”.
O Dea, clothed in white raiment,
Adorned with varied gems,
Mother and Upholder of the world Art Thou,
Mahalakshmi, obeisance to Thee.
Clothed in white raiment represents the pure, undifferentiated Deity beyond form, while “adorned with varied gems” represents all the various and beautiful forms of Her creation.
Once again the balance between worldly fecundity and variety on the one hand and spiritual purity and oneness on the other is expressed; but here the gems, adorning Dea Herself represent manifest variety in its purest form: the Celestial Archetypes as they proceed directly from Dea, represented as precious stones, pure points of unsullied colour; just as the colours of the rainbow are the primary differentiations of the original pure white light. An Aristasian would see the first forms of these gems or pure colours as the seven Great Janyati.
Mother and upholder of the world art Thou: Just as Dea has created the world, so she sustains it in every moment of its existence, else it would instantly cease to be.
Thus the hymn ends with a paean to Dea as the supporter of life and creation, balancing Her undifferentiated Transcendent nature and Her creative Beauty in its highest and purest aspect — which is that aspect closest to Her.
In this last stanza, the devotee is symbolically caught up in the arms of Dea, or rather, is invited to realise that she has never left Her arms, upon whose support she depends for her very existence. Only let us realise the true nature of that endless maternal embrace, and our lives shall become blissful.