Shakradi Stuti- Part 1

Mahishasura is dead. He has been destroyed by Devi by taking avatara as Mahalakshmi.

Now, the fourth chapter of Durga Saptashati is starting.

Who is the rishi? Sumedha. He is telling all these to Suratha, the king, and Samadhi, the trader.

The Devas and Maharshis got goose pimples after they saw the way in which Devi eliminated Mahishasura and his army. They became so happy. They bowed before her and started praising her.

Vagbhihi - they showed respect to her with their body language and also praised her with words. Words are of five kinds:

• Dravyam: Words can denote an object like butter, stone.
• Words can denote a quality: hot, shiny.
• Words can denote an action: walking, sleeping.
• Words can denote a genre, like trees, songs, or even more specifically a species - coconut tree, all coconut trees; this is Jati.
• Names: Names that we assign to people, like Rama, Krishna, Revati.

Or, Vagbhihi can also mean that they praised her with Para, Pashyanti, Madhyama, and Vaikhari. They are praising her to make her happy. These emotions exist even among Devatas. Almost the whole of Rigveda consists of praises of Devas. And they work. Like how you can praise someone and get something done among humans, this works among Devas also. This is rather the only way it works.

If you want the blessing of Devatas, praise them. You can't order them around. You can't instruct them. You can't threaten them. But you can praise them, and they will oblige.

This is very interesting. This universe is she herself. Even the Devas are part of her. You can say they are different organs of her own body. Like how we have hands, legs, face, and hair, all the Devas are part of her own body. The whole body is Devi. Her body is the whole universe itself or universes themselves. Anything that exists, that's her.

Now, when Devas got into trouble, when Mahishasura threw them out of Swarga, here Devas don’t include the Trimurtis. Those who got thrown out are Indra and other Devas. But then, to favour them, to restore their position, Devi came into existence in the present form as Mahalakshmi, with eighteen hands.

Remember how she came into existence? All the Tejas of all the Devas and the Trimurtis merged together, became a huge mountain of fire, and that mountain of fire assumed a feminine form, which is Devi Mahalakshmi.

So, you can look at it like this:

India is the whole country with so many states. In one of the states, there is some unrest. So, a police force is formed by recruiting 5000 people from that state. They handle the unrest and set everything right. Here, India is Devi as a whole, Mahamaya Jagadamba, and the police force is Mahalakshmi—a small part of Mahamaya Jagadamba, which she manifested into for a certain purpose, for the elimination of Mahishasura.

If that one small aspect of Devi could single-handedly eliminate crores and crores of soldiers of Mahishasura and Mahishasura himself, you can imagine the power of Jagadamba Mahamaya.

Her power is incomparable. Brahma, with four heads, cannot sufficiently narrate her glory. Bhagawan Rudra, with five heads, cannot completely narrate her glory. Why? Even Ananta Adishesha, with his thousand heads, cannot narrate her glory completely.

May her mind always be towards the protection of the world and the destruction of everything inauspicious and all kinds of fears and dangers.

She alone manifests as Shree—good wealth, abundance in the households of good people. She alone manifests as Alakshmi—poverty, problems, troubles in the households of bad people.

Those who observe self-control, keep their mind and organs under control constantly, in them she manifests as Buddhi—intelligence. They don’t act according to their mind. They use their intelligence before acting. Buddhi here is developed by learning Shastras. They function according to what the wise elders have taught. This is the definition of Buddhi. Buddhi does not mean innovation or creativity or ingenuity. Buddhi means conducting oneself according to Vedic principles, which our wise elders have handed over to us through various means—Puranas, Itihasas. To understand these and act according to them is what is called functioning using Buddhi. Acting as driven by emotions is called functioning according to the mind. Buddhi is acquired by learning scriptures. Buddhi is developed further through constant practice.

She alone is Shraddha—faith, devotion in good people.

She alone is Lajja. What is Lajja? The quality that prevents you from committing bad things. If you litter a public place, you will be criticized. You don’t like to be criticized, so you won’t litter a public place—not because of fear of punishment. This is Lajja. That quality in people which prevents them from committing wrong deeds is she alone.

We bow before her, Devas and Maharshis are saying. Please administer and protect the world.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi