Sri Stuti — Benefits & How to Chant
श्री स्तुति
Complete guide to chanting correctly for maximum benefit
Benefits of Chanting Sri Stuti
Invokes the grace of Goddess Lakshmi, bestower of wealth and auspiciousness
Traditionally recited to remove poverty and bring prosperity and abundance
Cultivates devotion (bhakti) and surrender (prapatti) to the Divine Mother
Believed to grant both material well-being and spiritual liberation through her grace
Brings auspiciousness, harmony and well-being to the home and family
A profound meditation on Sri as the compassionate mediator between the soul and the Lord
How to Chant Sri Stuti
Instructions
Recite with devotion and a settled mind, preferably after bath in the early morning or on Fridays, before an image of Goddess Lakshmi. The complete stuti has 25 verses in the elegant Mandakranta and other metres; learn the pronunciation carefully. Many devotees recite the full hymn, which begins as given here with 'Manatita'. Conclude with the seed-mantra salutation to Sri. Offering lotus flowers or kumkum and maintaining cleanliness deepen the practice.
Spiritual Significance
Tradition holds that when Swami Vedanta Desika composed and recited the Sri Stuti to relieve the distress of a poor devotee, Goddess Lakshmi was so pleased that she caused a shower of gold to fall, lifting the devotee out of poverty — a grace remembered whenever the hymn is sung for prosperity.
Origin & History
Source: Sri Stuti (Srivaishnava stotra literature)
Author: Swami Vedanta Desika
Swami Vedanta Desika, known as the 'Kavi-tarkika-simha' (lion among poets and logicians) of the Srivaishnava tradition, composed the Sri Stuti at Srirangam as a hymn of surrender to Goddess Lakshmi. Tradition relates that he sang it to relieve the poverty of a devotee, and that the Goddess responded by showering a rain of gold, much as Adi Shankara's Kanakadhara Stotram had once done. The hymn celebrates Sri as inseparable from Vishnu and as the gracious purushakara who leads the soul to the Lord's feet.