Jai Ma Lakshmi!

* Jai Ma Lakshmi! *

“Lakshmi is a popular deity in India. If the coins streaming from her hands represent money, the fact that she’s a deity reminds people that money is not just something to be enjoyed; it should also be honored. Affluence should be respected because it’s a shakti, a powerful stream of energy that can quickly reshape your reality in either positive or negative ways, depending on how you use it.

Creating substantial wealth takes exceptional focus and ability. That’s why the yogis say you need the nidhis (which include clarity, desire, and willpower) to make your financial dreams manifest. But you also need punya. In yoga, punya means merit earned in previous lives. Even today, if you spend time with orthodox Hindu families you’ll find the concept of karmic merit very much alive.

Although individuals can generate their own merit, karma is also seen as a collective force. A whole family creates good karma through their combined spiritual practices and altruistic deeds. Some parents and grandparents do hundreds of thousands of mantra repetitions, or fast, or go on pilgrimage, not for their own sake, but for the sake of their children and grandchildren. They believe that exceptional souls, such as saints or multimillionaires, don’t incarnate in a particular family out of the blue. That family has probably been doing japa (chanting mantras) for generations in order to purify their karma and invite a spiritually advanced or materially fortunate soul into their home.

It is also traditional for wealthy families in India to sponsor large public works, such as digging wells and bathing tanks for villagers, or making generous contributions to the local temple. They are consciously working with karmic principles which dictate that if you want prosperity to continue flowing toward you, you need to keep it flowing out toward others. This keeps the stream of karmic merit running. Unfortunately, as Western norms increasingly penetrate Indian culture, some children of wealthy parents have turned away from the traditional concept of building merit across generations, and are squandering both the money and merit they’ve inherited on self-indulgent lifestyles. Then the flow of punya stops, “luck” dries up, and the family goes financially and morally bankrupt.

How to Prosper “Yoga-Style”

Most of the powerful techniques of Padmini Vidya remain concealed, passed on like advanced yoga practices only to carefully screened disciples. This keeps the knowledge from falling into the hands of unprepared students who might abuse its powers. However, there are a number of methods commonly used throughout India to enhance punya, or as we’d put it in the West, to build prosperity consciousness. These work with the shakti or “divine energy” of prosperity personified as a goddess, to make the practice more vivid and personal. Let’s take a look at the practices India’s householder yogis perform to invoke material abundance, and how you can emulate them.

Practice #1

Many devotees chant the Lakshmi Sahasra Naman, “The Thousand Names of Lakshmi,” every day at dawn. This beautiful practice includes chanting phrases like, “I bow to Lakshmi who is the very essence of beauty, who is the exquisite form of the unthinkable vastness of the universe, who brims with loving tenderness, who is supremely generous to everyone without fail.”

What you can do: Every morning, as part of your yoga practice, honor the blessing force of abundance throughout the universe with the words above. By focusing intently on Lakshmi’s qualities, you are invoking the very beauty, prosperity, and generosity she represents.

Practice #2

Some traditional Indians perform a daily puja (ritual) before a statue or painting of Lakshmi or her yantra (geometric form), which involves waving lit candles and offering gifts such as incense, fruit, flowers, and purified water to the image. This symbolizes their loving respect for the divine forces that create health, abundance, and success.

What you can do: Place a picture, poster, or statue of Lakshmi (or another sacred image representing prosperity) in a special place in your home, such as a meditation altar. Mentally honor that image every time you look at it. This simple ritual can align your subconscious mind with the powers of prosperity and awaken your latent ability to manifest abundance in your life.

Practice #3

Because Lakshmi also represents beauty, devotees spend time each day cleaning and beautifying both their own bodies and their surrounding environment. They aim to keep their homes and their own frame of minds in such a state that if Lakshmi walked in the door at any moment, she would feel pleased and comfortable.

What you can do: Keep your home and work place beautiful and clean, decorating with attractive colors and fragrant flowers, and purifying the atmosphere with soft, uplifting music. And to keep your body and mind pure, bathe regularly, wear fresh, clean clothes, and practice regular yoga and meditation. By maintaining a clean, clear environment—both internally and externally—you invite the blessings of Lakshmi into your life.

Practice #4

The Lakshmi Tantra suggests that if we wish to never suffer from a lack of resources, we should respect the living energy of the earth, which is the concrete form of Lakshmi herself. In India, the earth goddess is often visualized as a nurturing cow. Just as a cow provides us with milk, butter, ghee, and yogurt, the earth selflessly provides for all our needs. Honoring the earth means never taking anything from it without giving something back.

What you can do: If you use wood to build a home, plant new trees. If you grow flowers or vegetables in your garden, add compost or organic fertilizers to keep the soil rich. You can also celebrate the earth’s bounty by supporting CSAs (community supported agriculture) and farmers’ markets; lobbying for environmentally friendly legislation; and reducing your ecological footprint by following the tips at websites like Al Gore’s climatecrisis.net. As Rumi said, “There are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”

Practice #5

It’s said that the goddess of prosperity feels most at home in a generous and compassionate heart. Those who eagerly watch for opportunities to help others and make liberal contributions to charity, without expecting anything in return, are sure to receive the benefits of Lakshmi’s grace.

What you can do: Sign up for karma yoga at your local yoga center; volunteer at a homeless shelter; donate money to a charity or humanitarian project that truly makes a difference in the world. By selflessly and cheerfully using your energy—and your earnings—to support good causes, you transform the mundane act of making a living into a valuable spiri-tual practice.

The Yogic Perspective

There are many different yogic lineages. Some of them are deeply ascetic. But the earliest surviving yoga text, the Rig Veda, was meant for householders, not renunciates, and is filled not only with prayers for spiritual illumination but also with requests for ample food, physical safety, longevity, success, and healthy children. Yoga students should never feel they’re not good yogis if they pray for—and work for—things they genuinely need to survive and thrive in today’s expensive, demanding world.

At the same time, the Lakshmi Tantra reminds us that the goddess of prosperity has much greater gifts to offer than a beautiful home or a hefty savings account. After all, death won’t let us take these things with us into the next world. The text explains that Lakshmi is not just the energy of abundance; ultimately she is pure consciousness itself. “This goddess, whose beautiful face radiates grace, fulfills every desire. She gives wealth, success, and love to those who ask for them sincerely. But to those who ask for enlightenment, she grants Self-realization.”

It is a wonderful blessing to be a humanitarian, a philanthropist, an activist, a karma yogi, or a spiritual leader. If we keep the first three aims of life—fulfilling work, pleasure, and wealth—in the context of the fourth—spiritual growth—then we don’t shortchange our souls. The gifts of the spirit are the ones that travel with us from life to life, and they are by far our most valuable asset.”