From Asuras and Alakshmī to Wealth and Prosperity
It is through our awareness mechanisms that we perceive the universe. The computer also has the capacity to process sensory information but is unable to perceive for it is not conscious.
The brain is needed for awareness just like the phone is needed to see images and hear sounds. If there is injury to the brain the capacity for processing information and the nature of awareness gets altered quite the same way as a damaged phone may be unable to show images or relay sounds.
A new mathematical theorem confirms the central Vedantic idea that the source of consciousness lies beyond the brain.
Consciousness is normally focused outside the body and this makes us comfortable with the notion that we are just the body. This leads to pain and suffering since sense gratification does not fill the void within about who we are.
This brings us to the notion of the Asura, an idea that goes back to the Vedas. Those who believe that body is all are the Asuras, and those who see body as complementary to consciousness are the Devas.
The Asuras are in opposition to the Devas. Whereas the Devas represent order, light, and cosmic harmony, the Asuras are associated with chaos, darkness, and obsession with power.
In the physical world, power emanates from the embodied self, so the term Asura as “one having authority” is sometimes used as a metaphor for the might of Devas like Varuṇa, Mitra, Indra, Rudra, and Agni.
Mitra and Varuṇa represent the cosmic order (ṛta), justice, and sovereignty: Mitra is linked to friendship, contracts, and harmony; Varuṇa oversees the moral and natural laws. Indra, Agni, and Rudra are different powers of consciousness.
Daitya, Dānava, and Rākshas
The Daityas are the children of Diti (meaning “finitude” for body) whereas the Ādityas are the children of Aditi (meaning “infinity” for “consciousness”). The Ādityas include Vishnu, Indra, and Varuṇa and they represent the divine order.
The Dānavas are the children of Danu (meaning “flow”), which is being part of the process of life without deeper knowledge.
The Irish call themselves “Tuatha Dé Danann,” which translated from Old Irish is “the people of the goddess Danu.” Those who see a diffusion of these ideas westward from India, the etymology of Slavic rivers Danube and Dnieper ties up with this notion of the river goddess.
To the east of India, the Balinese worship Dewi Danu as a water goddess.
A Rakshas is one who is avaricious to such an extreme that he can abduct or kill others wantonly. The Rākshasas have taken the body-centrism of the Dānavas and the Daityas to the extreme level. They hate Vedic rituals and they are malign forces in epics like the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata.
The categories of Daitya, Dānava, and Rākshas applies not only to the individual but also to society and geopolitics. One can use them to analyze contemporary society. There are some cultures that are primarily body-centric and some others that are Rākshasic.
Lakshmī
A poet has said: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty” that echoes the Sanskrit phrase Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram meaning that truth is auspicious and beautiful. Even in science, one measure of the correctness of a theory is that it be beautiful.
Lakshmī is from the root lakṣ (लक्ष्) meaning “to observe, know, understand” and lakṣa (लक्ष) is ‘goal, objective’. Lakshmi is the creative power that helps one know and understand one’s goal, which is essential to obtain wealth, prosperity, and splendor.
Lakshmi is the goddess of material and spiritual abundance and the divine consort of Lord Vishnu, who upholds the moral order of the universe. Lakshmi is worshipped for her ability to bestow blessings of success, well-being, and auspiciousness, making her a central figure in both household and temple rituals, especially during festivals like Diwali when devotees seek her favor for prosperity in the coming year.
Alakshmi
If the sacred is about the beautiful and the eternal, why should there be a goddess who represents the opposite of beauty — and this is Alakshmī (Alakṣmī), the goddess of misfortune?
Both Lakshmi and Alakshmi emerge out of the primal churning of the Samudra Manthana. The Uttara Khaṇḍa of the Padma Purāṇa says that Alakṣmī emerged first and she is the elder sister (Jyeṣṭhā) of Lakshmi, who apparently was called Nirṛti in the earliest Vedic texts. But how can the goddess of misfortune be the elder sister to Lakshmi, the consort to Vishnu, the Goddess of wisdom and fame?
To understand this, think about Samudra Manthana. There are several deep ideas involved.
1. The outer universe and the mind are connected. [This makes it possible for the mind to understand the universe; in science, this is the idea of “self-similarity”.]
2. What happens at the cosmic level also happens at the individual level.
3. Our mind is like the cosmic sea, and it needs to be churned for various gifts to emerge. The churning requires practice and effort.
The Samudra Manthana story is saying that chaos and meaninglessness emerge first. But the attendant pain and suffering can motivate the individual to seek Lakshmi within.
Jyeṣṭhā emerges with the poison Halāhala, while Lakshmi appears later with the elixir, symbolizing their opposing natures.
In the Padma Purāṇa, Alakṣmī gets married to the great sage Uddālaka.
When she arrives at his hermitage, echoing with the recital of the Vedas, and rich with the fragrance of sacrificial fire, she is unhappy. She says: “These Vedic sounds do not agree with me. I cannot live here. Take me somewhere else. Do not delay.”
She further says, “I shall not stay where there is recital of the Vedas, where guests are honored, and sacrifices are performed. I shall not stay where lovers live, and where the dead ancestors are honored. I love places where people are engaged in gambling and stealing, and where adulterers live. I would like to live in a place where people eat cows are drink alcohol and sages are killed.”
Uddālaka was confused. He finally said, “O Alakṣmī, stay for a moment at the root of this Aśvattha tree till I return after finding a place for (our) stay.”
And then he just went away and did not return.
The Śrī Sūktam
One of the most beautiful hymns from the Rigvedic khilani, the Śrī Sūktam, praises Śrī or Lakshmi as glorious, ornamented, royal, lustrous as gold, and radiant as fire, moon, and the sun. She is addressed as the bestower of fame, bounty and abundance in the form of gold, cattle, horses and food.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vd6xbQDTYs
क्षुत्पिपासामलां ज्येष्ठामलक्ष्मीं नाशयाम्यहम् ।
अभूतिमसमृद्धिं च सर्वां निर्णुद मे गृहात् ॥८॥
(O Jataveda, invoke for me that Lakshmi) whose presence will destroy hunger, thirst and impurity associated with her elder sister Alakshmī,
And drive away the wretchedness and ill-fortune from my house.
In spite of her nature, Alakshmī can offer boons.
Subtle understanding has paradoxical aspects. In Tantra, where one is journeying within one’s causal body and deconstructing one’s ego, the inauspicious and the impermanent becomes the teacher. Dhūmavatī is one of the ten Tantric goddesses (Mahāvidyās) who is depicted as an old woman, embodying poverty, misfortune, and solitude. Her name is from the Sanskrit “dhūma,” meaning “smoke,” symbolizing her association with solitude and desolation. Many traditions consider Dhūmavatī and Jyeṣṭhā (Alakshmī) to be the same.
One of the great temples to Jyestha Devi is in Srinagar where it is called Zeathyar.
