Sri Bharatamata

Ashtottaram 64

 

 

64) OṀ PRAKRUṪI PŨJANA BHŪMYAINAMAH:

            OṀ (AUM) - PRA-KRU-TI- POO-JA-NA- BHOO- MYAI- NA-- MA- HA

 

(Prakruti: means-Nature, origin, source; Pūjana: means-worship, service to a deity)

 

 

 

This is one of the most widely used words in Sanskrit literature as also in the Hindu scriptures. There are many meanings like 'the natural,' 'original principle,' and 'that which produces effects'. In the most basic sense, it means nature or a natural quality.

In Vedic sacrifices, it means a model yāga-like the Darśa or the Pūrṇamāsa-others based on it being called 'vikritis'. In grammar, it represents the basic form of a word. In the Sānkhya Darśana, it represents pradhāna, the basic material cause of the universe, comprising the three guṇas-sattva, rajas and tamas. This concept has generally been accepted byā almost all the schools of Vedānta. In AdvaitaVedānta it stands for Māya at the cosmic level and avidya (ignorance) at the individual level. In VisiṣhṭādvaitaVedānta it is called 'aċit' (the unconscious principle) and accepted as a permanent reality, but under the control of Īśvara or God. The Dvaita Vedānta considers it as having two aspects: the ċitprakruti (conscious entity same as Lakshmi, the divine consort of Vishṇu) and the aċitprakruti or the unconscious basic material cause of the world.

 

In the Śākta tantras, prakruti is the Divine Mother who appears in five forms. They are: Durga, Rādha, Lakshmi, Sarasvati, and Sāvitri. These five goddesses are responsible for creation. In the Āyurveda (health sciences) it stands for the general condition of the body.

 

The Bhagavadgīta describes prakruti as representing two aspects of the Lord's power, the aparā (lower) and the parā (the higher). The former comprises eight unconscious material objects and the latter, the conscious jīva (individual soul).

In political science, the word stands for the seven rājyāngās or constituents of the state. In Sanskrit poetry, it is the name of a particular meter with 21 letters or syllables per line.

 

Parabrahma is beyond the three guṇas and prakruti is comprised of the three guṇas with which it is the cause of the material world. Every matter that is created including the human-beings is the combination of these three guṇas. Just like our mother, who brought us into this world and nourished us; prakruṫi is the mother of everything in this universe because the five basic elements of the universe: space, air, fire, water and earth constitutes the universe. For giving us everything without asking, what else can we call Prakruṫi other than Māta (mother)? For that reason, every Hindu worships Prakruṫi as 'mother' in the form of goddess Durga, Lakshmi, and Sarasvati.

 

That's why our motherland is ' Prakruṫi Pūjana Bhōmi'.