Thus Spake the Divine - Benefits of Worshipping Ambal

Thus Spake the Divine

Benefits of Worshipping Ambal

Maha Periyva says that there is really no need for praying to Ambal seeking any specific benefits. He quotes Acharya’s Saundarya Lahari Shlokas in which the Acharya is pleading Ambal to bestow wealth, knowledge and beauty on those who worship Her.

Just worshipping Ambal fulfils the purpose of taking this birth. There could be no other happiness greater than worshipping compassion-filled Ambal. There are many religions and philosophies. However, the benefit derived out of all these eventually can instead be obtained easily by worshipping Ambal. If we just surrender ourselves to Her praying, “Oh Mother! I possess a lot of flaws and defects; however, I trust you the most. With your grace, every kind of defect can be nullified. Please make me the way I should be.” There is no greater philosophy or religion than this prayer. We should keep our minds as light as cotton and surrender everything unto Her Feet. There is no greater happiness than that.

There is no need to seek any specific benefit from Ambal. Her very worship itself is a boon. Since we are all caught in the clutches of Maya and are driven by “I” factor, it does not occur to us to worship Her for Her own sake. Initially, we start worshipping Her seeking fulfilment of wishes one after the other. She also gives us a long rope at this stage and fulfils our wishes so long as they are within the norms of Dharma.

Acharya is well aware of human nature. He knows pretty well that if right at the beginning people are asked to worship Ambal for liberating themselves from the cycle of birth and attaining Moksha, nobody will be interested. People look forward to visible benefits when they do something. That is why when Acharya initially lists the benefits of worshipping Ambal, he brings out visible outcomes, such as one can obtain knowledge, wealth, beauty etc. In his Shloka No. 99 of Saundarya Lahari (Sarasvatya Lakshmya) he has listed the benefits of worshipping Ambal in a sequence.

It is customary for every poet, who composes Shlokas, to list the benefits of chanting that particular Shloka. This is known as Phala Shruthi. It will sound as though benefits can be derived by the power of that Shloka alone. The composer will insist that the devotee recite a particular Shloka composed by him. But our Acharya, who is devoid of any pride or ego, does not indicate any specific benefit of reciting Saundarya Lahari Shlokas. Instead he says, “Mother! You confer all the benefits of these Shlokas to the devotees who worship you.”

The first benefit of Saundarya Lahari Shlokas is the grace of Sarasvati, who confers good and true education and virtuous characteristics. This is followed by the grace of Lakshmi by way of wealth and other prosperities.

Generally, no one prays for virtues as they pray for wealth. But, what is the use of money when virtues are lacking? In such a case, Ambal is so compassionate that She says, “This child is stupidly seeking for wealth; money without virtues will only be futile; he will only accumulate more and more sins by possessing more and more money. Therefore, let knowledge be first given to him as to how to use the money in a righteous way. And then I will confer wealth on him.”

This is like how a mother feeds a child with whatever snacks it wants. She then proactively feeds castor oil to the child to prevent him/her from falling ill. Ambal first confers wisdom (Grace of Sarasvati) followed by wealth (Grace of Lakshmi). Thaithriyo Up anishad also endorses the same. It says, “First fill me with knowledge (Medha) and then give me wealth (Sri). Acharya has made a Bhashyam on this and he says, “Wealth given to an ignorant person will only cause disorder”. He makes a mention of this in his Bhaja Govindam as “Artham Anartham”, which means “wealth becomes meaningless”.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.