This week’s Monday Mantra practice was a morning devotional to Lakshmi.

Last week, my practice with Ganesha felt very much like turning towards the Divine at the beginning of the day. Lakshmi brings a softer kind of presence. She is often associated with abundance, prosperity and good fortune, but she’s not just about money. She is also beauty, nourishment, generosity, grace, comfort, and the feeling of being supported.

My devotionals are simple affairs: I start with a candle, incense, and an offering and the words:

Idam aham bhagavate samarpayami
I offer this to the Divine.

Next comes gratitude. Again, nothing elaborate, just what comes to mind. I have so much to be thankful for, so I pick three things. The first two generally stay the same – breath/life and support. At the moment, the third always seems to be freedom. I have a lot of freedom in my life: I’m self-employed and my children are home educated, so we’re not bound by schools or employers. We can all structure our days as we please. Of course, that doesn’t mean I get to sit around doing nothing – I still have bills to pay, but I have so much freedom in how I achieve that. And that seems to be the thing that I include in my gratitude at the moment.

Next comes the devotional mantra. These can be used to ask for something, but in my morning devotionals I try to make sure I don’t do that often. I don’t want every time I sit down to chant to be about asking for something. I’m trying to lean into being thankful for what I have and showing up even when I don’t need something! My mantra was:

Om Shrim Mahalakshmyai Swaha

Om and Salutations to the great Lakshmi

This is a beautiful mantra for Lakshmi, calling in her presence through the seed sound Shrim, which is connected with abundance, beauty, radiance and blessing.

I also chanted the Lakshmi Gayatri, allowing the repetition to become steady and devotional. Mantra gives the mind somewhere to rest. It gathers up all the scattered pieces of us and brings them back into one place.

Om Shree Mahalakshmyai Cha Vidmahe
Vishnu Priyayai Cha Dhimahi
Tanno Lakshmih Prachodayat

Let us meditate on the Great Goddess Sri Lakshmi, the wife of Lord Vishnu. May Goddess Lakshmi illuminate our minds and guide our intellect toward abundance and prosperity.

I close my morning devotions with a few repetitions of

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
May all beings everywhere be happy and free.

Then I bow, and add my tilak (the mark I put on my forehead). Tilaks vary hugely among Hindus and each specific kind carries a particular meaning. Mine is simple – a small splodge (it should be a circle, but it’s also traditional to apply with the tip of your ring finger, so circles are generally quite splodgy!) of white sandalwood paste (which smells amazing and is really cooling on the skin), followed by a small vertical line (or sometimes a dot) of vermillion powder.

A devotional practice does not have to be complicated; it can just be a way to say “I’m here”.