Bring home Mahalakshmi – The Hindu

Every day is a good day to pray to Mahalakshmi. However, Fridays falling in the Tamil month of Thai are considered extra special. Mahalakshmi is the repository of everything that a devotee needs in this life and needs to be blessed in order to pray to Her or listen to discourses on Her, said Damal Perundevi. When one recites or listens to Swami Vedanta Desikan’s Sri Stuti, one can be assured of Mahalakshmi’s blessings.

Why does Mahalakshmi enjoy this exalted status?

In the Ramayana, when Vali lies wounded, he looks at Rama and says, ”You have attacked me and wounded me. This has happened only because Janaka’s daughter Sita, the manifestation of Mahalakshmi, is not with you. Had She been by your side, you would not have harmed me.” She is the one who makes everything better. When Perumal joined the devas and asuras as they churned the Milky Ocean, with his locks of hair dancing due to the effort, Mahalakshmi emerged from it, glowing brilliantly like the light of one crore suns. She placed Her garland around Perumal and He gave Her a place in His heart, where She always resides. He churned the ocean for the ultimate amrut, Mahalakshmi. Wherever there is Mangalam (auspiciousness, welfare), there will be Her abode.

The only time She enters any other place is when She is moved by the devotion of Her devotees: She rushes to their homes, ever ready to shower Her grace, blessings and prosperity. When a poor bachelor appealed to Vedanta Desikan for funds for his wedding, the great preceptor composed Sri Stuti and Mahalakshmi responded by showering wealth. Vedanta Desikan did not want any other wealth than that of Mahalakshmi’s blessings; the bachelor took merely what he needed for the wedding. Such is the power of Mahalakshmi’s blessings that She makes a better person of all. Manifesting as Sita, when She was held captive in Lanka, She refused to punish the captors, showing instead the way to divine kindness. She showers lasting wealth on all.