Caption

Lakshmi
Means kindred mark or sign of auspicious fortune

What we really crave is not more stuff, but the inner experience of abundance and beauty
-Sally Kempton
Color: Pink or Red

Bija Mantra: Om Hreem Shreem Lakshmi Bhyo Namaha

Meaning: Goddess Lakshmi reside in me and bless me with your abundance in all spheres of
my life. This mantra cleanses and purifies your heart and home, opening doors of
opportunities that will transform your life. All it needs is faith from your side.

Longer mantra: Om Shrim Hrim Shrim Kamale Kamalalaye

prasida prasida Shrim Hrim Shrim Aum
Mahalakshmyai namah.
Meaning: Om, Shrim, Hrim-cosmic vibration sounds
Kamale Kamallaye-one who resides on the lotus flower

Prasida-be pleased

Mahalakshmiyai namaha-Goddess Mahalaxmi, I bow to you.

Mahalakshmi is also known to preside over 16 forms of worldly wealth: Fame; Knowledge;
Courage and Strength; Victory; Good Children; Valor; Gold, Gems and Other Valuables;
Grains in abundance; Happiness; Bliss; Intelligence; Beauty; Higher Aim, High Thinking
and Higher Meditation; Morality and Ethics; Good Health; Long Life.

Shri
The Vedi singers praised Lakshmi under her most ancient name, Shri and sang the “Hym to
Shri” (“Sri Sukta”) to bring forth whatever is glorious and beautiful in the natural world.
Besides being the of Lakshmi, shri is an abstract noun that signifies all qualities associated
with auspiciousness: good fortune, loving kindness, material prosperity, physical health,
beauty, purity of motive, well being, authority, energy, vitality, and every kind of radiance.
(Sally Kempton, Awaking Shakti)

Vehicle: White Owl. Symbolically, the owl represent wisdom or intelligence on the one hand
and ill omen or bad luck on the other. It leads an unusual and solitary life which stand for
loneliness and fear. These two are the common experiences of people who possess wealth and
abundance. It represents perversion of attitudes in material prosperity. Undue attachment to
wealth shows ignorance (darkness) and disturbs the economic balance in society. If man does
not keep his balance when he gets a lot of material resources, he is bound to become a
nuisance to himself and to others around him.

Flower: Lotus.
The Goddess is shown sitting on a lotus. This posture means ‘Live in the world, but do not
be possessed by the world’. The lotus keeps smiling on surface of water. Its origin is in mud,
deep under water but its flowering is above the water-surface. Detachment and evolution is
the message of this poetic symbol.
Source: https://journeyingtothegoddess.wordpress.com/2012/09/30/goddess-lakshmi/

Creation Story
The story begins with a meeting between Sage Durvasa and Lord Indra. Sage Durvasa, with a
lot of respect, offers a garland of flowers to Lord Indra.Lord Indra takes the flowers and
places it on the forehead of his elephant, Airavat. The elephant takes the garland and throws
it down on the earth.
The chief of sages Durvasa gets angry at this disrespectful treatment of his gift, says to the
King of Gods, “ you have an inflated ego and in your arrogance, you have not respected the
garland which was the dwelling of the Goddess of fortune. Sage Durvasa curses Lord Indra
that his kingdom will also be ruined like he has thrown the garland onto the ground in his
excessive pride since Lord Indra has not bowed in front of him.
Sage Durvasa walks away and Indra returns to his capital Amravati. The changes in Amravati
starts to take place following Durvasa’s curse. The gods & people lose their vigour and energy,
all the vegetable products and plants start dying, men stop doing charity, minds become
corrupted, people start engaging in ultimate sensory pleasures and men and women started
getting excited by objects. Everyone’s desires become uncontrollable.
With the Gods getting weak in Amravati, the demons invaded the Gods and defeated them.
This is the reason the Gods and Demons reside in us and are representative of the good and
evil within us. After being defeated, the Gods went to Lord Vishnu who suggested the
churning of the ocean to restore the power back to the Gods by providing them with the
Amrit that would make them immortal.
This is how the churning of the ocean began. The churning is symbolized by a literal tug of
war between the Gods and Demons in the story. From this churning, Goddess Lakshmi rises
out of the waves seated on a full-blown lotus. The Goddess Lakshmi chooses Vishnu as her
Master and thus chooses the Gods over the demons. The Gods get their power back and fight
the Asuras again and prevail over them.
The first lesson in this story is that Lakshmi, the Goddess of fortune forsakes even the Gods
if they become arrogant.Lakshmi Goddess is not only about material wealth. When the
Goddess of Fortune gets angry, it leads to an inability to perform good work, lack of energy,
hunger, poverty, lack of mental peace, lack of willpower and a meaningless life.
Source: https://www.astrospeak.com/article/goddess-lakshmi-birth-story

Attributes
Lakshmi is usually depicted as a beautiful woman of golden complexion, with four hands,
sitting or standing on a full-bloomed lotus and holding a lotus bud, which stands for beauty,
purity, and fertility. Her four hands represent the four ends of human life: dharma or
righteousness, kama or desires, artha or wealth, and moksha or liberation from the cycle of
birth and death.
Cascades of gold coins are often seen flowing from her hands, suggesting that those who
worship her will gain wealth. She always wears gold embroidered red clothes. Red symbolizes
activity, and the golden lining indicates prosperity. Said to be the daughter of the mother
goddess Durga and the wife of Vishnu, Lakshmi symbolizes the active energy of Vishnu.
Lakshmi and Vishnu often appear together as Lakshmi-Narayan—Lakshmi accompanying
Vishnu.
Two elephants are often shown standing next to the goddess and spraying water. This denotes
that ceaseless effort when practiced in accordance with one's dharma and governed by
wisdom and purity, leads to both material and spiritual prosperity.

Worship of a mother goddess has been a part of Indian tradition since its earliest times.
Lakshmi is one of the traditional Hindu mother goddesses, and she is often addressed as
"mata" (mother) instead of just "devi" (goddess). As a female counterpart of Lord Vishnu,
Mata Lakshmi is also called "Shr," the female energy of the Supreme Being. She is the
goddess of prosperity, wealth, purity, generosity, and the embodiment of beauty, grace, and
charm.
Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/lakshmi-goddess-of-wealth-and-beauty-1770369

Maha Lakshmi
In Tantrik texts, which were composed around the same time as the Puranas, Lakshmi
acquired supreme importance. She was Maha-Lakshmi, the supreme goddess.
Lakshmi is often differentiated from Maha-Lakshmi. While the former is the consort of
Vishnu and the goddess of wealth, Maha-Lakshmi is viewed as an autonomous entity, the
supreme embodiment of the mother-goddess. When worshipped as Maha-Lakshmi, Lakshmi
is not visualised as a beautiful goddess seated on a lotus, pot in hand, but like a virginal
warrior-goddess riding a lion, much like Durga. This form of the goddess is especially
popular in Maharashtra.
Ancient Pancharatra texts that adore Maha-Lakshmi consider her to be the root of all
creation. In the beginning, they say, the cosmic soul—the unfathomable unmanifest
Narayana—desired to create the cosmos. But he did not have the resources to do so. As he
pondered over this problem, his dormant energy, his shakti, burst forth in a blinding light,
manifesting as Maha-Lakshmi.
Maha-Lakshmi placed the seed of divine desire in the palm of her hand and unleashed the
dynamic forces of creation until the three worlds took shape and all forms of life came forth.
In the Lakshmi Tantra, the goddess says: “I am inherent in existence. I am the inciter, the
potential that takes shape. I manifest myself. I occupy myself with activity and finally
dissolve myself. I pervade all creations with vitality, will and consciousness. Like ghee that
keeps a lamp burning, I lubricate the senses of living beings with the sap of my
consciousness.”
Lakshmi is the divine power that transforms dreams into reality. She is prakriti, the perfect
creation: self-sustaining, self-contained Nature. She is maya, the delightful delusion, the
dream-like expression of divinity that makes life comprehensible, hence worth living. She is
shakti, energy, boundless and bountiful.
To realise her is to rejoice in the wonders of life.
Source: https://qz.com/india/545655/the-ancient-story-of-goddess-lakshmi-bestower-of-power-wealth-and-sovereignty/