Understanding the Roots of Scarcity
Lakshmi is most well-known as the Goddess of Wealth and Money. That’s great, but the truth is, She is so much more than that. And when one delves deeper into Her spiritual teachings, Her tantra, one will be amazed by the depth — and potential for transformation — She brings. Lakshmi is, after all, Maha Prakriti, the primordial essence of all creation, the Mother of the very fabric of existence as we know it.
Today, however, we will be talking about Her sister, Alakshmi.
Alakshmi, the ‘shadow sister’ who is said to follow Lakshmi wherever she goes, is the embodiment of poverty, misfortune, strife, and suspicion. Lakshmi, the Goddess of Life and Abundance, represents the opposite. Our understanding of wealth and prosperity can only be complete when we understand the two. Even Indra, king of the devas, had to learn the hard way that wherever Lakshmi abides, sister Alakshmi is never far…
The word ‘poverty’ can be defined as the insufficiency or a lack of certain desired conditions, often categorized as monetary means to meet one’s basic needs. This physical aspect is the most commonly known face of poverty. The teachings of the Goddess (Lakshmi Tantra) informs us that there are five ‘poverties’ (insufficiencies of life) that deplete the life juices of fullness, and have plagued humanity since the beginning to time.
They are: Hunger, Thirst, Impurities, Aging (deterioration with time), and Perpetual Emptiness.
Hunger is not merely the hunger for food at the physical level, but also the hunger for external pleasures, worldly desires and gratifications, hunger for power and control, and hoarding of resources. More and more is always needed. Hunger never ceases on its own.
This particular face of Alakshmi stems from humanity’s (or the individual’s) inability to properly assimilate and fully digest their life experiences, emotions, and thoughts. Today’s bombardment of information, noise, and sensory overstimulation further exacerbates Hunger on all the subtle levels. This in turn, manifests as all the abovemnetioned troubles — physical hunger, starvation, and abused resources are the collective energetic outcome of this spiritual hunger.
Hunger is the first poverty we need to learn to confront within ourselves. How can we better ‘digest and absorb’ the meaning of our lives? To do so we first have to learn to slow down. In a world that demands busy-ness and glorifies backbreaking productivity, this might prove challenging.
More today have become aware of the importance of some form of meditation and/or journalling at the end of the day. This is a crucial practice in allowing our thoughts and experiences to catch up with us, so that we may sit and absorb — and reflect upon the events of the day. Just as we consume food and water, our subtle senses are also consuming interactions, experiences, and energetic input at all times.
Working with the spiritual energy and mantric teachings of the Goddess Lakshmi is so much more than ‘praying for money’, or ‘finding eternal love’.
It is truly aspiring to eradicate the underlying karma of poverty itself, inherent in all human beings of this world. Without awareness one continues to loop in a vicious cycle of hunger and desperation. Lakshmi in Her glorious manifestation of Hiranyavarnam reminds us that all things are conceived from the golden womb of life, and therefore beauty and abundance is part of our inherent nature… it is our samskaras, egoic patterns of ignorance, that make us forget.
On this new moon day, with Jupiter easing into Taurus for the coming 12 months, may we rediscover our innate connection with life, and avail ourselves to the wonderful blessings of Lakshmi, the Mother of Life.
Om Shrim Lakshmiyai Namah!
S.
7/5/2024
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