Hari om Lakshmi is the goddess of prosperity. And, as I look around me, I think we should have Lakshmi Pooja every Friday so we'll have this crowd every Friday. But unfortunately we can't.
In the history of this human race, there has never been, and will never be, a time when the human race will not believe that the accumulation of great wealth is not the key to happiness. Yet we see, time and again, millennia after millennia, people living lives of great misery. At times many have even ended their own lives. What happens after this? Children live their lives aimlessly, taking lives and concluding their own lives in destruction. Not only wealth is needed - the key factor is God.
As children of God we must know all about God, like a child knows all about their father. Here today, at Lakshmi pooja, we sit with a great anxiety, a belief that by doing this pooja prosperity will be coming our way. But if we don't know about God, about Lakshmi, we're far from attaining the prosperity we so long for. This prosperity that Mother Lakshmi gives us is not only in the form of wealth, it's in the form of health as well. That is what we need to look at. Not accumulation of wealth and property, but of health. That will give you all the prosperity you want.
On this day we wear red, and on Varalakshmi day Lakshmi is adorned in red to signify prosperity. Therefore we should wear something red on ourselves. We should do this because it is a sign of prosperity. Who is Mother Lakshmi? She is the great divine Mother who bestows upon us all great health and prosperity. The prosperity to live this life without any obstacles, to have health without any obstacles, the prosperity to gain wealth without any obstacles. But health is the main factor in this prosperity. Praying once in twelve months to Mothers Saraswati and Lakshmi does not bring success in all aspects of life.
We need to remember Mother Lakshmi every Friday. Many of you here have a maha meru and you recite special mantras given to you and offer kungum to the maha meru. That is the offering to Mother Lakshmi herself. That red kungum is a sign of prosperity, your good health and good wealth. Only with good health will good wealth come. There's no point in having millions of rands if your whole life is miserable. The reason we have so much self-destruction in the form of drugs, alcohol, and suicide, is because we don't know God. We don't know how to turn to God. Right now is the time to turn to God - for your good health and wealth.
But wealth isn't the accumulation of property, just so you can show it off. As I've said many times before, the human race does not know when enough is enough, when to stop. They will work themselves to death, just to accumulate. This is not what we're here for. This is just one part of being here. We are are here to serve the poor, the unfit, those who are sick, and the old. And that is what Mother Lakshmi tells you - that is the prosperity.
Today we did a very special Mahalakshmi pooja for all of you: Astalakshmi Mahalakshmi pooja. That means we are asking all eight forms of Lakshmi to bestow upon us good health and good wealth, but health is always first. All of you need to know this. We can drive good cars, have big wallets, fancy pens, suits and outfits, but if we don't have the health for it everything is useless. Remember that.
Therefore on a Friday, at least nine times, you should make your offering to Lakshmi before you leave the house. You should be carrying something red with you. Then you'll find that unique prosperity, wealth and health will come upon you and you'll be happy. Once your cells are happy, your organs are happy, and when they are happy, it means you're healthy. When we have unhappy organs we are not healthy. So today at Lakshmi pooja, I wish each one of you good health and good prosperity. May Mother Lakshmi bestow upon you all of that which I have just mentioned. Let us recite: Om Mahalakshmi Namaha, nine times.
Hari Om.
