Honouring women pleases the Gods
THE Hindu festival of Vara-Luxmi, which will be observed on Friday, is significant against the backdrop of treatment towards women in the world.
Today in this modern world, science and technology, apart from its material gains, has generated immense social problems that play a major role towards the collapse of a civilisation.
The modern economic life by virtue of its supreme powers has systematically drained the spiritual life of the individual resulting in an imbalanced personality.
This imbalance is the result of the marginalisation of the inherent role of the Divine in our daily lives due to material prosperity on the one hand and spiritual poverty on the other.
In spite of the challenges of our modern lifestyle, Hindus generally are said to have an intuitive relationship with the Divine and on this auspicious day, she manifests as Mother Luxmi.
Mother is the epitome of many kinds of energy for human welfare. As women play a pivotal role in family life, the motherhood of God is regularly expressed in the Hindu scriptures.
The worship of Mother in her three primary forms as Sarasvathie (creator), Luxmi (sustainer) and Durga (transformer) is a revelation of a certain cosmic and universal cyclical law of nature that is imperceptible to the human mind.
On this important day it is often stated that where Mother Luxmi resides there prosperity reigns in abundance, manifested in numerous forms such as spiritual, strength, learning and wealth.
Often prosperity and adversity are antagonistic to one another, which results in the emergence of Goddess AvaLuxmi. Ava-Luxmi is considered the “elder sister” of Vara-Luxmi.
Therefore, in essence it implies that prosperity precedes adversity and a simple analogy to demonstrate this point is to ponder that if a person has not experienced intense heat out in the open field would not appreciate the pleasure of a cool shady tree.
Similarly, one will not appreciate the joys of prosperity without the experience of hardship and poverty.
Hence Ava-Luxmi (adversity) represents the elder sister of Vara-Luxmi (prosperity). In her general appearance, Mother Luxmi is a symbol of Divine heritage with pomp and power and flagged by two elephants.
Adorned in a red sari and seated in a full-bloom lotus flower, the Mother represents fullness in all aspects of human life.
On this auspicious Friday, dedicated to Mother Vara-Luxmi, may we reminiscence on the injunction enunciated in the Bhagavad Gita:
“Where women are honoured there the Gods are pleased. Where women are dishonoured there no sacred rites will yield any rewards.”
In this month of August, which is propitiously identified as Women’s Month, the president and his cabinet of the South African Hindu Maha Sabha wish you and your family a blessed Vara-Luxmi Day.
May Mother Luxmi be an inspiration to realise your Divine heritage.