Shri Lakshmi (Laxmi) Chalisa

Shri Lakshmi Chalisa is a devotional hymn to Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, fortune and well-being, and it is signed by the poet Ramdas. The opening doha asks the Mother to be merciful, to make her home in the heart, and to fulfil the wishes of her devotee. The soratha adds a simple prayer with folded hands. It is a different text from the Mahalakshmi Chalisa, which dwells on her white-lotus form and the seed sounds Shri, Hreem and Kleem.

The hymn opens with a plain request. The devotee remembers Lakshmi as Sindhu Suta, the daughter of the ocean, and asks for knowledge, intelligence and learning. He calls her the support of all, the one who lives in every heart, the friend of the poor, and says that nobody does as much good as she does. The verses ask her to forgive faults, look with kindness and remove trouble.

The central story is that of her origin and her service. The Chalisa says that when Vishnu churned the ocean of milk, fourteen jewels (chaudah ratna) were found, and among them she is the treasure of happiness, who then served the Lord as his companion. It adds that whenever the Lord took birth anywhere, she changed her form and served him there. When Vishnu took a human body and came as the Avadhpuri avatar, she appeared at Janakpur and served him with a joyful heart, which devotees read as Sita (see the Ram Chalisa and the Vishnu Chalisa). It calls her known to the world and the mistress of the three worlds.

The next verses describe what faithful worship brings. It says that whoever serves her with mind, deed and word, giving up deceit and cunning, receives the wished-for fruit, and that one who reads this paath with attention suffers no trouble. It calls her the remover of the three kinds of suffering and the one who frees from the bonds of worldly life. The Chalisa goes on to say that one who reads, teaches, or listens with focus is not troubled by illness and gains sons, wealth and property, and that even the childless, the poor, the blind, the deaf and those afflicted by leprosy are blessed. It advises calling a Brahmin to perform the paath for forty days without doubt, and worshipping for twelve months, with the promise that no one will lack anything. These are promises of faith, so they are best read as hope and discipline alongside honest work and medical care.

The closing verses are a humble prayer. The poet says he has no knowledge or intelligence, asks her to forgive mistakes and give darshan, to take the four-armed form and remove his suffering, and ends with Ramdas calling out for her to end his troubles. The closing dohas ask her to destroy fear and enemies and to show kindness to her servant. Devotees recite it on Fridays and at Diwali for dhan prapti, peace at home and steady prosperity.