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Om Jai Lakshmi Mata

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Refrain
ॐ जय लक्ष्मी माता,
oṃ jaya lakṣmī mātā,
मैया जय लक्ष्मी माता।
maiyā jaya lakṣmī mātā |
तुमको निशिदिन सेवत,
tumako niśidina sevata,
हरि विष्णु विधाता॥
hari viṣṇu vidhātā ||
ॐ जय लक्ष्मी माता॥
oṃ jaya lakṣmī mātā ||
Meaning

Om. Hail to you, Mother Lakshmi. Mummy — hail to you, Mother Lakshmi.

Night and day they wait on you and serve you: Hari, Vishnu, and the one who set the whole world in order.

Om. Hail to you, Mother Lakshmi.

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Verse 1
उमा, रमा, ब्रह्माणी,
umā, ramā, brahmāṇī,
तुम ही जग-माता।
tuma hī jaga-mātā |
सूर्य-चन्द्रमा ध्यावत,
sūrya-candramā dhyāvata,
नारद ऋषि गाता॥
nārada ṛṣi gātā ||
Meaning

Uma, Rama, Brahmani — every one of those names is you. You alone are the mother of the world.

The sun holds you in his mind and so does the moon, hour after hour, and Narada the wise singer sings of you.

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Verse 2
दुर्गा रुप निरंजनी,
durgā rupa niraṃjanī,
सुख सम्पत्ति दाता।
sukha sampatti dātā |
जो कोई तुमको ध्यावत,
jo koī tumako dhyāvata,
ऋद्धि-सिद्धि धन पाता॥
ṛddhi-siddhi dhana pātā ||
Meaning

You are Durga too, riding her lion, and nothing marks you or clings to you. You are the one who gives ease and the one who gives plenty.

Whoever holds you in their mind finds things growing, finds things coming right, finds enough.

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Verse 3
तुम पाताल-निवासिनि,
tuma pātāla-nivāsini,
तुम ही शुभदाता।
tuma hī śubhadātā |
कर्म-प्रभाव-प्रकाशिनी,
karma-prabhāva-prakāśinī,
भवनिधि की त्राता॥
bhavanidhi kī trātā ||
Meaning

You live down in the deep world, underneath everything. You alone give what is good.

You are the light that shows us what our own doing has really been doing. And when this life is deep water with no far shore in sight, you are the one who carries us across.

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Verse 4
जिस घर में तुम रहतीं,
jisa ghara meṃ tuma rahatīṃ,
सब सद्गुण आता।
saba sadguṇa ātā |
सब सम्भव हो जाता,
saba sambhava ho jātā,
मन नहीं घबराता॥
mana nahīṃ ghabarātā ||
Meaning

In whatever house you stay, every good thing comes to live there too.

Everything becomes possible. And nobody lies awake with their heart racing.

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Verse 5
तुम बिन यज्ञ न होते,
tuma bina yajña na hote,
वस्त्र न कोई पाता।
vastra na koī pātā |
खान-पान का वैभव,
khāna-pāna kā vaibhava,
सब तुमसे आता॥
saba tumase ātā ||
Meaning

Without you there is no offering made into the fire, and nobody has clothes to wear.

Food and drink, and enough of both to spread out for guests — all of it comes from you.

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Verse 6
शुभ-गुण मन्दिर सुन्दर,
śubha-guṇa mandira sundara,
क्षीरोदधि-जाता।
kṣīrodadhi-jātā |
रत्न चतुर्दश तुम बिन,
ratna caturdaśa tuma bina,
कोई नहीं पाता॥
koī nahīṃ pātā ||
Meaning

You are the house that every good quality lives in, and you are beautiful. You rose out of the ocean of milk, the day it was churned like a butter churn.

The fourteen treasures that came up out of that sea — without you, nobody gets a single one of them.

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Verse 7
महालक्ष्मीजी की आरती,
mahālakṣmījī kī āratī,
जो कोई जन गाता।
jo koī jana gātā |
उर आनन्द समाता,
ura ānanda samātā,
पाप उतर जाता॥
pāpa utara jātā ||
Meaning

Whoever sings this lamp-song of great Mother Lakshmi —

gladness fills their heart and fits there at last, and the wrong they have done gets down off them and goes.

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Contents
Deeper

An aarti is not built like a poem with a beginning and an end. It is built like a wheel: a refrain, then a stanza, then the refrain again, around and around until the lamp has been all the way round the image. So the shape to look for is not a narrative — it is a widening.

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