The Story of Goddess Lakshmi

 Sham S. Misri

India had many great saints and sages. One day, a great sage was wandering in India. He saw an extremely beautiful girl wearing a garland of flowers. The sage requested the girl to give him that garland. She presented the garland to the sage. He kept the garland on his head and began to wander again. That very moment, he saw god Indra riding on elephant along with some of the gods. The Sage put that garland around the neck of Indra. But, Indra removed it and put it on elephants head. The elephant pulled the garland with his trunk and smashed it on the ground.

The Sage saw it. He became angry and cursed Indra. "O Indra! You are so proud of your luxuries that you dared to insult my humble gift. Hence, all your luxury shall be destroyed. You will lose all your wealth."

Indra at once descended from the elephant and began to request the sage.

The sage said- "Indra! Forgiveness has no place in my personality. So, all your repenting is meaningless."

 Saying this, the sage departed from the scene.

Very soon, the curse began to show its influence. With the loss of Indra’s luxuries, all the prosperity on the earth too began to disappear. Hermits too began to give up Yagya. All the human beings began to be guided by greed. They gave up religious qualities. The goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, also did not stay there. Lakshmi made her abode in the deep sea.

Very soon, the demons launched an attack on the gods and drove them out of heaven. Indra along with other gods approached Brahma for help. Brahma suggested them to take help of Lord Vishnu. They prayed Lord Vishnu and intimated Him about their suffering.

Lord Vishnu was pleased and appeared before them and said- "I will help you regain your luxury. Presently, do what I say. You mix with the demons and convince them to carry out the churning of the sea. Then bring all kinds of herbs and put them in the sea.

With the help of the demons, using mountain Mandaraachal as churner, and Vaasuki the Naag as the rope, they carried out the churning of the sea. When they recovered ambrosia, i.e. food of gods, the gods had to drink that. The drink would make them immortal. They would thus regain their strength.

Following the advice of Lord Vishnu, the gods became friendly with the demons. The gods convinced the demons to carry out the churning of the sea. As soon as the churning began, Mandaraachal Mountain began to sink. Lord Vishnu took incarnation of the great tortoise and bore the weight of the mighty mountain on His back.

During the churning, Kamadhenu, the wishful cow was the first to emerge. It was presented to the sages. It was followed by the Kalpavriksha, the wishful tree. During the churning, huge quantity of poison had also emerged. It was drunk by Lord Shiva and some parts of it were taken up by the serpents. In the end, Dhanvantari himself emerged from the sea carrying the urn of ambrosia.

It was during the churning itself that Lakshmi appeared once again from the sea holding lotuses in her hands. All the sages prayed her. Then taking bath with divine water, goddess Lakshmi took her seat in the heart of Lord Vishnu.

When the demons saw that Lakshmi had chosen Lord Vishnu’s heart as her abode, they got puzzled. They at once snatched the urn from Dhanvantari and ran away. Then a dispute arose among them over the drinking of ambrosia. Each of the demons wanted to drink ambrosia in maximum quantity.

Meanwhile, Lord Vishnu also arrived there in the guise of an extremely pretty woman Mohini and took possession of the urn. Mohini had pleased the demons with her sweet smile, while distributing ambrosia among the gods.

Thus, the gods drank ambrosia. When the demons realized that they had been cheated, they immediately attacked the gods. But since the gods had regained their strength, they defeated the demons. Afterwards, the gods prayed Lord Vishnu and returned to heaven to rule it.

After regaining his comforts and luxuries of the heaven, Indra prayed goddess Lakshmi with love and respect. Pleased by the prayers of Indra, Lakshmi asked him to seek a boon.

Indra said- "O goddess! Kindly bless me with a boon that:

“You will never leave this world, and you will never desert those who worship you."

Lakshmi granted these boons.

Thus, Lakshmi had emerged from beneath the sea during its churning. Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth.