Lakshmi is perhaps the
most popular of the goddesses since she is regarded as being especially close
to the people, caring for everyone and unconcerned with their background or
even their actions. She is like a woman who is perfect in many ways but is easily
enticed by flattery and worship. When she is won over by her worshipers, she
will grant them gifts of love, wealth and good fortune - which are after all
the most desirable things in the world. But although she can be easily
attracted, Lakshmi can also easily be tempted away by another devotee who might
call a little louder or with greater endearments than the first one. When she
leaves, her gifts often (though not always) go with her. Because of her
faithlessness, she became known as Chanchal, "the Fickle One."
During the festival of
Diwali in October or November, Lakshmi roams the Earth in search of a place to
spend the night and bestow her gifts. All over India hundreds of little oil
lamps are lighted and placed around houses and roof-tops and even floated in
ponds and streams to attract her to them. The whole of India is like a
fairyland, glittering and twinkling in devotion to this lovable goddess who
never stays with anyone for long but is an eternal wanderer.
At the beginning of
creation, when the powers of the gods were beginning to wane because a curse
had been put on them by a sorcerer, they went to see the supreme godVishnu. He
advised them to churn the celestial ocean to obtain a life-giving draught of
nectar. As they did so, the waves began to ripple with excitement, and floating
on top of them was a lotus flower. From this stepped the goddess Lakshmi.
When her beauty was
revealed, even the heavens sang her praises and the heavenly dancers performed
for her alone. All the world's streams and rivers flowed towards her and their
waves beckoned to the heavenly elephants to suck up the pure waters in their
trunks and bathe the exquisite goddess in them. When she had completed her
bath, Lakshmi dressed herself in jewels and garments that were beautiful beyond
description. Then the ocean gave her its own gift-a garland of fragrant and
never fading blooms.
Lakshmi was young and
beautiful, with skin the color of gold with a sheen of pearls on it. Her large,
luminous eyes were the shape of lotuses. Her black hair rolled own in waves to
her knees. She wore so many exquisite jewels that she was like a vision of
flashing, glowing lights as she stepped from the ocean's foam and walking over
to Vishnu, she embraced him tenderly, making the watching gods and demons sick
with jealousy and longing. Lakshmi was born solely to be Vishnu's wife, and
although she was much desired by other gods, she remained faithful to her
husband Vishnu and was reborn many times to accompany his incarnations - and
each time a great love story was created. When Vishnu was born as the dwarf
Vaman, she was born as Kamla; when he was Parasuram, she was his wife Dharini;
when he was Rama,
she was Sita, and when he was Krishna she was Rukmini.
In short, whenever Vishnu
was born as a man, Lakshmi appeared as his human wife. When he was a god, she
was a goddess. Vishnu is the male in everything and Lakshmi the universal
female.
Courtesy-www.allaboutbharat.org
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