Page 3 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast
Results 21 to 30 of 31

Thread: Which deity to praise to obtain wealth?

  1. #21
    Join Date
    March 2006
    Location
    Italy
    Age
    36
    Posts
    651
    Rep Power
    231
    Quote Originally Posted by Gill Harley
    I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but there are no gods that you can worship to get wealthy.

    The 'gods', so-called by the Greeks, or 'devas' and 'asuras' as they are known on the path of sanathana dharma, are not proud beings who need to have their egos stroked by worshippers upon whom, in their gratitude, they shower good fortune. This is a storybook understanding of the 'gods' that is for children.

    The ancients understood the term 'gods' or 'devas' as aspects of nature in the manifest form of the Supreme Godhead. The purpose of human life is to love the Supreme Godhead with all your heart and all your soul. After that, you will be given whatever it is you need - poverty or riches, fame or infamy, illness or health - whatever it will take for you to burn the seeds of your karma and merge with God.

    You don't need to be wealthy to express your devotion to God. You just need a pure and loving heart. Without that, all the riches in the world won't help you. And with that, you won't even notice whether you're rich or poor.
    Dear Gill,please note that what the hindu scriptures say are not "stories" but history.
    Devas are of course high beings but they have their own ego.Puranas are not "mythology".Puranas and Itihahas (Mahabharata and Ramayana) are history.

    Look at what is wrote in Srimad Bhagavata Purana,Canto 2,Chapter 3:
    Chapter 3: Pure Devotional Service - The Change in Heart


    (1) S'rî S'ukadeva said: 'For the intelligent among men, I have given you all the answers in response to the inquiring of your good self about the human being on the threshold of death. (2-7) The ones who desire for the luster of the Absolute worship the master of the Vedas; Indra, the King of Heaven is for the ones desiring strength of the senses [sex] and the Prajâpatis [the strong progenitors] are for those who desire offspring. The goddess [Durgâ] is for those desiring after the beauty of the material world, the firegod for the ones desiring power, for wealth there are the Vasus [a type of demigod] and the incarnations of Rudra [Lord S'iva] are for those wishing for strength and heroism. For a good harvest the mother of the demigods Aditi is worshiped, desiring heaven one worships her sons, for those desiring royal riches there are the Vis'vadeva demigods and for a commercial success there are the Sâdhya gods. The As'vinîs [two brother demigods] are for the desire for longevity, for a strong body the earth is worshiped and those who want to maintain their position and be renown respect their environment up to the horizon. Aspiring beauty there are the heavenly Gandharvas, those who want a good wife seek the girls of the heavenly society [the Apsaras and Urvas'îs] and everybody who wants to dominate over others is bound to the worship of Brahmâ, the head of the Universe. Yajńa, the Lord of Sacrifice is worshiped for tangible fame and for a good bank balance Varuna, the treasurer, is sought. But those who desire to learn worship S'iva himself while for a good marriage his chaste wife Umâ is honored.


    (8) For spiritual progress the supreme truth [Lord Vishnu and His devotees] is worshiped, for offspring and their protection one seeks the ancestral [the residents of Pitriloka], pious persons are sought by those seeking protection, while the demigods in general are for the less common desires. (9) The godly Manus [the fathers of mankind] are for those desiring a kingdom, but the demons are sought for defeating enemies. The ones desiring sense gratification are bound to the moon [Candra], while those who are free from desire worship the Supreme Personality beyond. (10) Whether free from desire, full of it or desiring liberation, the person with a broader intelligence should with all his heart worship in devotional service [bhakti-yoga] the Original Personality of God, the Supreme Whole.


    I copied the translation at http://www.srimadbhagavatam.org/canto2/chapter3.html

    In the Prabhasa-khanda of the Skanda Purana (5.3.121-124) it is said –

    veda-van niscalam manye puranartham dvijottamah
    vedah pratisthitah sarve purane natra samsayah

    bibhety-alpa-srutad vedo mam ayam calayisyati
    itihasa-puranais tu niscalo’yam krtah purah

    yan na drstam hi vedesu tad drstam smrtisu dvijah
    ubhayor yan na drstam hi tat puranah pragiyate
    yo veda caturo vedan sangopanisado dvijah
    puranam naiva janati na ca sa syad vicaksana

    " O best of the brahmanas, the meaning of the Puranas is unchanging just like that of the Vedas. The Vedas are all sheltered within the Puranas without a doubt. The Veda has a fear that unqualified people will read her and then distort her meaning. Thus, the significance of the Veda was fixed in the Puranas and Itihasas. That which is not found in the Vedas is found in the Smrti. That which is not found in the Smrti is to be found in the Puranas. Those who know even the Vedas and Upanisads are not learned if they do not know the Puranas."

    rcah samani chandamsi puranam yajusa saha
    ucchistaj-jajnire sarve divi deva divi-sritah

    "The Rg, Sama, Yajur and Atharva became manifest from the Lord, along with the Puranas and all the Devas residing in the heavens." (Atharva Veda 11.7.24)


    nama va rg-vedo yajur-vedah sama-veda atharvanas caturtha itihasa-puranah pancamo vedanam vedah

    "Indeed, Rg, Yajur, Sama and Atharva are the names of the four Vedas. The Itihasas and Puranas are the fifth Veda." (Kauthumiya Chandogya Upanisad 7.1.4)

    asya mahato bhutasya nihsvasitam etad yad rg-vedo yajur-vedah sama
    vedo’tharvangirasa itihasah puranam ityadina

    "O Maitreya, the Rg, Yajur, Sama and Atharva Vedas as well as the Itihasas and the Puranas all manifest from the breathing of the Lord." (Madhyandina-sruti, Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad 2.4.10)

    I don't mean to go off topic.I just want show that what the hindu scriptures say are true things.So,what Sri Sukadeva Goswami,the son of the great sage Vyasadeva,says are true thingsne mays worship devas (celestial beings) and obtain boons from them.
    Please note that devas are high beings but not spiritual beings.
    They have a material body whick is far superior to human body.But they still have ego.In Puranic literature you may read different tales where devas show jelousy and fear.
    For example read at
    http://www.srimadbhagavatam.org/cant...-contents.html the chapters 24,25,26 and 27.This tale,which talks about Indra,the king of devas,will make you understand that devas have ego and jelousy.
    I repeat that what sattvik puranas say are not just stories but history and spiritual authority (pramana).
    Regards,
    Orlando.

  2. #22
    Join Date
    March 2006
    Location
    Italy
    Age
    36
    Posts
    651
    Rep Power
    231

    Smile

    Quote Originally Posted by Namo Narayana
    Orlando, traditionally it is Mahalakshmi who you pray for wealth. You can also have kubera yantra at home or do kubera pooja to attain wealth. But be sure to put in some effort on your job.
    Dear Namo Narayana,my job is blacksmith.My job will never make me wealthy.

    I mean to became wealthy by winning at lottery.

    Regards,
    Orlando.

  3. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by nekozuki
    I can't help it, it's evident. Don't worry Gill I have Welsh blood in me so I'm pretty much criticizing myself.
    I also have Welsh blood, Nekozuki - my maiden name, before I was married, was Evans, a very Welsh name.

    However, Orlando, if you become rich by winning the lottery, this won't be good karma for you. Krishna says in the Srimad Bhagavatham that the hallmarks of Kaliyuga are the drinking of alcohol, eating of animal flesh, womanising and gambling.

    But Naro Narayana is quite right. I woudn't take offence about any criticism about the British in India and in my book about my time in India, I have been critical of them myself.

    Also Bhakta of God, my view is - after thirty years of research, meditation and study under an Indian guru - that the stories in the Vedas are allegorical and are not historical fact. This is backed up with much research in the last few years alongside historians and archaeologists. This doesn't mean that I believe that they are useless, frivolous stories. On the contrary, I believe they were used a learning tool by spiritual aspirants to help them explore and work through concepts and ideas that are/were trapping them in worldly consciousness. Words can sometimes be planted like seeds in the heart in the bhakta, and under the right conditions - satsang, prayer, devotion - can grow into God realisation. I am not alone in this view. So you don't have to educate me on what the Vedas says. It's very kind of you to take the time, but I already know.

    Anyway, to get back to the subject of whether worship of Lakshmi makes you wealthy, please take a look at this:

    Top 20 richest countries in the world
    http://www.aneki.com/richest.html


    Rank
    Country
    GDP - per capita
    1
    Luxembourg
    $ 55,100

    2
    Norway
    $ 37,800

    3
    United States
    $ 37,800

    4
    San Marino
    $ 34,600

    5
    Switzerland
    $ 32,700

    6
    Denmark
    $ 31,100

    7
    Iceland
    $ 30,900

    8
    Austria
    $ 30,000

    9
    Canada
    $ 29,800

    10
    Ireland
    $ 29,600

    11
    Belgium
    $ 29,100

    12
    Australia
    $ 29,000

    13
    Netherlands
    $ 28,600

    14
    Japan
    $ 28,200

    15
    United Kingdom
    $ 27,700

    16
    France
    $ 27,600

    17
    Germany
    $ 27,600

    18
    Finland
    $ 27,400

    19
    Monaco
    $ 27,000

    20
    Sweden
    $ 26,800


    None of the above countries are known for their worship of Sri Lakshmi - or even God!

    Plus jewellers and pawn brokers are not what I call rich. Rich, to me, is when you no longer have to work, in the normal sense of the word.

    I have a nice ancecdote on Sri Venkataswara. My daughter, Lucy, bought a big poster of Sri Venkataswara when she was in India about five years ago, thinking that he was a goddess, as in this painting, he does look quite androgynous. She also bought several other posters of other gods like Shiva and Krishna, and then about a year ago, she got them all out of the attic and spread them out on floor, and told my grand daughter Kaya (then one year old) that she could pick one for her bedroom. Kaya chose Sri Venkataswara and now he sits on her bedroom wall, facing her cot.

    But I read the story of Sri Venkataswara in an allegorical way. The money that he asks for from his devotees is actually a metaphor for devotion (bhakti). His need to pay back the money owed for his wedding with Sri Lakshmi is actually about the sacred marriage of the atma with God, or merging. After all, what use would Vishnu have for worldly money. The only currency that Vishnu is interested in, imho, is our bhakti.
    Last edited by Gill Harley; 13 April 2006 at 11:13 AM.
    Gill

  4. #24
    Join Date
    March 2006
    Location
    NorthEast, USA
    Age
    49
    Posts
    246
    Rep Power
    0
    god and itihasas are dual in nature. either it really happened or incorporated for teaching morals. you can either assume god exists externally or internally that is your mind.

  5. #25
    Join Date
    March 2006
    Location
    NorthEast, USA
    Age
    49
    Posts
    246
    Rep Power
    0
    the reason i said Lakshmi is because in Hinduism each deity has a speciality. if you believe and keep faith and offer prayers it increases your focus. ultimately it enables you to achieve your goal and the kartha is you if you look in one angle or it is the god in the other angle. winner is you

  6. #26
    Join Date
    March 2006
    Location
    NorthEast, USA
    Age
    49
    Posts
    246
    Rep Power
    0
    Gill, next time and everytime you copy and paste my login. you seem to make a typo on the Namo part. if you make spelling mistake then it would be hard for me to criticise singhi's typos.

  7. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by Namo Narayana
    ... hard for me to criticise singhi's typos.
    To confess, most of the time they are genuine spelling mistakes and not typos.

  8. #28
    Join Date
    March 2006
    Location
    NorthEast, USA
    Age
    49
    Posts
    246
    Rep Power
    0
    your honesty is appreciated singhi. we will pray goddess saraswathi to give you a wealthy spell bee knowledge.

  9. #29
    Namo Narayana

    Many apologies for typing your name wrongly. I'll be more careful in future.

    On the nature of the stories, the type of teaching that I'm referring to is not much to do with morals. If you just want morals, you can use the 10 Commandments. The laws in that are very similar to those written by Manu.

    No, I'm referring to the stories that gurus use to take their disciples from darkness to light, from being trapped in body consciousness to being released into God consciousness. The archetypal images that they contain operate on a subconscious, rather than conscious level. The words are planted like seeds and then they grow into a tree of god realisation. This has been my own personal experience.

    It's true that God is in our imagination, but that's ony because he's (I use 'he', but obviously God has no gender) all pervasive or omnipresent. In other words, he is everywhere, so therefore, how he not be in our imagination? However, for a tiny drop of water (us) to merge into the Ocean (God), it has to lose its resistance. The stories are part of the journey that the guru takes us on in order for us to merge into the Ocean of Bliss.

    These stories are constructed in a very specific way. They're not just random tales. The skeleton of them always has a very specific plotline - that of the Godhead descending to rescue the fallen Goddess from the demons/Panis in their cave/underworld. These stories, starting from Indra in the Rig-veda rescuing Sarama from the cave of the Panis in the Rig-veda, spread out of India and right across Mesopotamia and also into Greece.

    In the Greek stories, you have Persephone having to be rescued from the Underworld, and Orpheus trying and failing to rescue Eurydice, because he looked back.

    In the Sumerian/Babylonian stories you have Ishtar being rescued from the Underworld by Tammuz, and also Enkidu rescued from the Underworld by Gilgamesh.This theme also penetrated the Celtic sacred lore and so you can see it the Irish stories, and the Welsh Mabinogian.

    The Underworld is also sometimes referred to as 'south'. In the Ramayana, you have first Hanuman and then Rama going 'south' to rescue Sita in 'Ceylon'. And Krishna rescued so many 'goddesses' that he had to marry them all and ended up with 16,108 wives!

    These are all the same story but told differently according to the locality in which they were told. The story tellers, or kavis, or bards, would change the details to suit the local surroundings and often they would give the rescuing hero the name of a local king, most probably to flatter him but also so that it would be a character recognisable to their audience In the Srimad Bhagavatham, Sukdeva Goswami is the storyteller, the sage, and he used the name of locak king of that time to enrich his story - and the local king's name was Krishna.
    Gill

  10. #30
    To explain a llittle further how this allegorical form of teaching works, I thought it might be helpful to show an analysis in this respect of one of the Indian sacred stories. So here is Sathya Sai Baba's interpretation of the Ramayana.

    Rama is the Indweller in every Body. He is the Atma-Rama, the Rama (Source of Bliss) in every individual. His blessings upsurging from that Inner Spring can confer Peace and Bliss. He is the very embodiment of Dharma of all the Codes of Morality that hold mankind together in Love and Unity.

    The Ramayana, the Rama Story, teaches two lessons: the value of detachment, and the need to become aware of the Divine in every being. Faith in God and detachment from objective pursuits are the keys for human liberation. Give up sense objects; you gain Rama.

    Sita gave up the luxuries of Ayodha and so, she could be with Rama, in the period of ‘exile’. When she cast longing eyes on the golden deer and craved for it, she lost the Presence of Rama. Renunciation leads to joy; attachment brings about grief. Be in the world, but not of it.

    The brothers, comrades, companions and collaborators of Rama are each of them examples of persons saturated with Dharma.

    Dasaratha is the representative of the merely physical, with the ten senses.

    The three Gunas – Sathwa, Rajas and Thamas – are the three Queens.

    The Four Goals of Life – the Purusharthas – are the four sons.

    Lakshmana is the Intellect; Sagriva is Viveka or Discrimination. Vali is Despair.

    Hanuman is the embodiment of Courage. The Bridge is built over the Ocean of Delusion.

    The three Rakshasa chiefs are personifications of the Rajasic (Ravana), Thamasic (Kumbhakarna) and the Sathwic qualities (Vibhishana).

    Sita is Brahmajnana or the Awareness of the Universal Absolute, which the Individual must acquire and regain undergoing travails in the crucible of Life [the Underworld].

    Make your heart pure and strong, contemplating the grandeur of the Ramayana. Be established in the faith that Rama is the Reality of your existence.

    Hope this helps.
    Gill

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •