Ben's Songs

The idea for this song began with just the sound-alike of the refrain, but I knew that, if I was going to write the whole thing, it would need to be a sincere devotional song. Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of material abundance. I also knew that I needed to write this song from where I am, which is a life of abundance — solidly upper-middle-class, with a good deal of privilege. I couldn't in good conscience write a song asking the Goddess for more when I have enough.

I should also mention that I don't literally believe in reincarnation, or any other afterlife — but I have never believed either that one must literally believe a myth in order to draw teaching or spiritual sustenance from it, especially in song and poetry. The intended teaching in this song (which is, as I understand it, consistent with but not exhaustive of the traditional Hindu understanding) is that everything is One, so the idea of a separate self is an illusion — another being living a life very different from yours is no less "you" than you are, and deserves your compassion in the same way.

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A telling of the Ramayana, one of the great Hindu epics, with a focus on the monkey god Hanuman.

lyrics by Benjamin Newman
ttto: "Code Monkey" by Jonathan Coulton

listen to this song

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