Swami Says of Maha Lakshmi

Wherever He is [Maha Narasimhadev] Maha Lakshmi is present with Him.  I know you love money very much, more than you love God, but if you show a little bit that you love Him, you will see that Maha Lakshmi will run to you, also. You see, Maha Lakshmi does not represent only wealth. The Hindu Tradition says that Lakshmi, because She is showing that money is coming out from Her hands, is the Goddess of wealth, but wealth for the spiritual people, also means spiritual wealth, which is the best wealth.  That’s what Christ said, “Don’t make your bank here on Earth, but put it in Heaven with lots of good karma. Then when you take the next life, you will have a very beautiful life. Otherwise, in your next life you will be miserable. You will be even more miserable! How many people realize that?

You think that you have only one life. You don’t have only one life, you have many lives.  (Taken from “Just Love 2” [pages 288-289] –Sri Swami Vishwananda speaking at a Puja to Narasimhadev, South Africa, January 2010)

Maha Lakshmi’s Prasad

The woman, in despair,
Laid her head down on the table.
The red rose of springtime had long lost its bloom.
Snows of winter hung on the windowsill
In cold testimony of Old Man Winter
Wrinkling his frosty brow.
Children played on sleds and toboggans
On the hill outside the woman’s window…
And some just watched.

The shoes were placed just outside the door
On December 6 for St. Nicholas to fill…
As was Germany’s tradition
Since...well...long, long ago.
Where will come the means to fill
The children’s shoes the mother worried…
In deep and sorrowful despair.

She fed her children a meager meal
Of porridge and bread and put them to bed.
All through the night she prayed for help from above
That some kind soul would
See the empty shoes and place a little
Something in her children's St. Nicholas shoes.

As dawn came, the mother peeped into the room
Of her children ever so peacefully sleeping there.
Then she dried her eyes and went to the door
To bring the children's shoes inside to slip into them
All that she had…
One penny each for the candy store.

The woman opened the door
And in amazement and bewilderment
She wonderingly beheld. . .
Her children’s shoes overflowing...
With candy and toys and fruit and all good things.
Each shoe was filled to the brim
And spilling onto the floor.

The woman’s tears welled up again and she prayed:
“Dear Heavenly Father,
Who art in Heaven,
Hollowed be thy name…
From whence your bounty came
I shall never be certain.
Oh Heavenly Divine Mother Lakshmi,
She who gives spiritual wealth
As well as the material needs of
Her children on Earth,
Thank you from a mother’s heart
That we have learned from our
Beloved SatGuru, Sri Swami Vishwananda…
You are bound only by love.”

-Swamini Vishwalakshmianandama

Note from Swamini Vishwalakshmianandama: Here on Earth we tend to think of miracles as great and small. Surely, truthfully, they are The Lord showing us Love and Love cannot be measured. As I finished this post and was ready to "preview" it and post it, a miracle occurred, which many would call small, and I say it is Maha Lakshmi's Love for all of us, her children on Earth, that this blessing came.

I had placed a video entitled, "Scarlet Ribbons" (red ribbons) at the end of this blog entry, and I wondered if it would be nice to place the title of my poem, "Maha Lakshmi's Prasad," in red, like the scarlet ribbons of the video. I did not have my hands on the computer, as I was simply reading the entry. Suddenly the title of the poem, "Mahalakshmi's Prasad," before my eyes, changed from black to red !

Scarlet Ribbons