The power to transform oneself

Courage


Taken from Amma's Wisdom


I must mention that my mother was very proud of her children and sincerely believed that all the children were intelligent and capable and she never gave up this conviction. The following story makes the point clear:

Since my village had only a school up to 10th grade, I went to a near by town for my pre-university education. Being a student coming from a village background and not knowing to speak or write good english language, coupled with my penchant to imitate town boys - spending more time loitering than studying, I did poorly in my pre-university education. Thus lost out on pursuing an engineering course. That apart my so called image took a severe beating, since Amma always praised me as an enterprising and intelligent student and she told everyone that her son will do well in college and would pursue a professional course.  

With any other mother, this would have been indefensible unfortunate incident. But Amma seemed unperturbed and called me and made me sit next to her and she told me this story:

You know Venkatesh, the goddess of all wealths has eight sister, representing eight wealths. She narrated that each goddess represented one wealth. One the money, second the grain, third the children/ offsprings,  fourth the wealth of courage, fifth the wealth of cattle, sixth the wealth of knowledge and science, seventh  the wealth of success and the eighth, the bestower of wishes. Each one of these wealths are the gifts of the goddess of all wealths. Any one possessing these wealths will be a complete person.
She told me the Sanskrit names of these goddesses  which represent these eight wealths..

[ Dhana laxmi : for money and gold riches and prosperity
Dhanya Lakshmi  "Lakshmi as goddess of grain"): Giver of agricumltural wealth.
Gaja laxmi : Giver of animal wealth, like cattle and elephants.
Santana Lakshmi :Bestower of offspring
Dhairya Lakṣmī, "Courage Lakshmi:  courage and strength for overcoming difficulties in life.
Vijaya Lakshmi : to beget success.
Vidya Lakshmi :the bestower of knowledge of arts and sciencesP
Vara Lakshmi : "The lady who bestows Beautiful Boons".]

She went on to narrate the story about a king who had all these wealths. When any king  has all these wealths, there cannot be any doubt that the kingdom would do well in all spheres of that country and the king would be a most loved and respected king. The people in that kingdom would also be very happy with all the wealths available in that country. 

Over a period of time, the goddess of wealth and riches felt that she was not given the due respect she deserved  and therefore, decided to leave the king and his kingdom and therefore, she went to the king and told him so. The king didn't appear to be perturbed and told her that it was her wish to stay or go.... Immediately, the goddess of wealth disappeared. The goddess of grains and agriculture was watching this and she followed the suit, telling the king,that without wealth she cannot stay and when the king asked to do what she pleased, she vanished. The other goddesses followed suit and one by one -each one of them disappeared in front of the King. That left one goddess  - the goddess of courage (the one who gives strength for overcoming difficulties in life), sitting alone contemplating. After a while she slowly walked up to the king, she told him that after the exit of her seven sisters, she would be lonely and she told him that she too would have to follow them. 

At this point, the king kneeled before the goddess of courage and held her hand and told her that, the other goddesses were transcient and temporary and beseeched her to stay with him. The king told her that, it was enough for him that she stayed with him and promised her that in  a matter of month he would make sure to bring back all the other goddesses who had left him to join her. The goddess was a little hesitant and told that king that, one month was all that she would get to keep his promise.

The story goes that with courage and the strength to overcome hurdles, the king brought back all the goddesses - of wealth, grain.....and ll of them.

After telling me this story, my mother looked at me with all her love and held my hand said : 'Venkatesh, right now the goddess of success has eluded you but you still have the goddess of courage and use her strength and you will be able get unlimited success!

Instead of chiding me and asking all the awkward questions,  Amma reassured me that I can still be successful and shine in life. This showed her faith in me and also her conviction about the power of courage to overcome hurdles and that if I used that wealth,  I would achieve all other wealths!

This one story and her faith in me and her conviction that I can over come hurdles, changed my life for ever. I went back to college and earned two gold medals and landed a job in a bank then turned an attorney and started a law firm and the rest is history.

This was the power of her being and the power of her story that transformed a carefree boy into an achieving man!


Note:Thanks for reading this story.
It will immensely help me in improving my writing, if you share your ideas and thoughts  and suggestions about the story and my writing. You may also suggest topics  for my writing. Please feel free to contact me on my email  for all your comments and suggestions:

vdharmraj@ramaavenkatesh.com.