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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Brahmacharini Shripriya Chaitanya

Good morning.

Today we celebrate the day of Diwali with the worship of Lakshmi. Lakshmi is the deity of wealth; something we can all see the necessity of in our life. Lakshmi is invoked to pray for abundance, particularly in traditional business communities but also in homes.

Most of the time, we are concerned with acquiring wealth to enjoy whatever benefits it can give us. At the very minimum, we strive for wealth in order to take care of our basic needs, and often for the sake of comforts and luxuries.

There is a story of a man who is offered seven jars of gold by a stranger. He accepts, takes them home, and finds that although six are full to the brim, the seventh is half full. Although elated by his gain, he becomes fixated on the seventh and focuses all his efforts on trying to fill it. As much he tries, no amount of gold will fill it and forgetting about the six jars, he loses all his peace over the seventh, half-empty, jar.

Although we generally associate wealth with material possessions, Lakshmi also represents the abundance of internal wealth: of qualities like compassion, generosity, forgiveness, perseverance. What’s so beautiful about this wealth is that the more we ‘spend’ it, the more we acquire, especially if we’re able to direct those positive thoughts and emotions towards ourselves as well as others.

May we not forget what wealth we already possess, and may we be blessed with gratitude. May we be blessed with abundance in order to share with others. May we never feel afraid to give out of our abundance.

Wishing you all a very happy and auspicious Diwali.

Hari Om

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