Om Gum Shrim Maha Lakshmiyei Swaha

For years I taught at a major yoga center where we were encouraged / required to chant.
In many ways, I loved doing this, although I have a complicated, uncertain relationship with Hindu dieties.
(My dear friend Bryn, however, seems to be on an intimate, first-name bases with them.  Seriously –– it’s like Krishna and Shiva are friends she could call to help her move.)
What felt most truthful for me during this time was that rather than offering a new chant every month, I’d simply pick my favorite…something I did for nearly a decade.
And since what I wanted most was wealth (or frankly just a smidgen of relief from financial stress), I chose one for Lakshmi of course.
Thus, for years, I began each class with
OM
GUM (seed syllable for Ganesh)
SHRIM (seed syllable for Lakshmi)
MAHA (“great”)
LAKSHMIYEI (endearing form of “Lakshmi” — and not the one hosting on Bravo)
SWAHA (“We salute you”)
 
But here’s the really interesting thing about this particular chant.
The big mantra guy Thomas Ashleigh Farrand who I’ve met and seen speak, in one of his books assures the reader that chanting to Lakshmi — the goddess of wealth and prosperity — is a thousand times more effective (he might even say 10,000 times more effective; my book is in storage) –– if you include “Gum,” the seed syllable for Ganesh.  IE, Chanting “Om Gum Shrim Maha Lakshmiyei Swaha” is 1,000/10,000 times more powerful than just “Om Shrim Maha Lakshmiyei Swaha.”

Ganesh is of course the elephant-headed god who is the remover of obstacles.   But everyone always forgets he is also the placer of obstacles.
Or as I like to call him, “The Cosmic Speed Bump.”
So I am enjoying reflecting that on the one hand, there’s the idea that you are asking Ganesh simply to remove the obstacles to your abundance.  That’s VERY Abraham Hicks (“just get out of the way”) in terms of allowing and flow…
But there’s also the sense that Ganesh’s obstacles are perhaps/potentially increasing the abundance, that his inclusion of contrast and challenge makes for more Abundance than his omission.
It is absolutely something I’m exploring and hoping is true with all my present “challenges.”
And on the most practical level, since I really do only know one chant for teaching in classes, I’m glad that I’ve abstracted numerous potential pedagogical opportunities from it — and perhaps will find within the Gum more of the true prosperous energy of the Shrim.
And technically –– although Lakshmi is married to Vishnu –– they do sort of make a cute couple (I’m just sayin’).

 
In any case, here’s a download recording of me chanting the mantra 108 times.
Definitely let me know if a bag of money appears on your door….or maybe something even more interesting will happen.