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Devdutt Pattanaik
Laxmi and
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Ancient Indian seers spent a lot of time contemplating on the nature of wealth. And
they compiled this knowledge through the stories, symbols and rituals of Lakshmi.
Laskhmi embodies the principles of artha, economic and political activity. She is
one of the four goals of life, said the seers, the other three goals being: dharma,
social order; kama, pleasurable pursuits; and moksha, spiritual practice.
Some scriptures say that Lakshmi follows Vishnu who is the upholder of dharma
and her son is Kamadeva, the god of pleasure. Is that wishful thinking? After all,
Lakshmi is often seen in the company of Vishnu’s enemies – the demonic Asuras
whose city located under the earth was called Hiranyapura, the city of gold, that
precious metal so closely associated with Lakshmi. And everyone knows that
Lakshmi’s arrival need not always be pleasurable. Her arrival is followed by
quarrels and strife. So what is this mystery?
Children’s books often translate the word Asura as demons. And the word demon
has a moral judgment. But this moral judgment is missing in Indian literature.
Asuras are the children of Brahma, just like Devas. The two sets of beings have
di erent mothers. Diti is the mother of Asuras and Aditi is the mother of Devas. The
former live under the ground and the latter live above the ground. The former
create wealth while the latter yank her out. This makes Lakshmi, Asura-putri
(daughter of Asuras) and Deva-patni (wife of the Devas). Indra’s consort, Sachi, is
a form of Lakshmi.
The reason why Devas were worshipped was not moral, it was material; they
released wealth and made it available to all – they released rain from clouds, trees
from seeds, water from earth, metals from rocks. Asuras were not worshiped
because they hoarded wealth, locked it away from humans. They had to be killed if
Lakshmi had to be released. The sun-god’s sunlight, wind-god’s air and the rain-
god’s water makes the plants come out. The re-god’s heat released metal from
rocks. Without violence, wealth could not be secured: the eld has to be ploughed,
crops had to be cut, grains had to be threshed, rocks had to be broken and
smelted….in other words, ‘war’ had to be declared on Asuras and their daughter
had to be taken forcibly.
Indra and the Devas live a life of luxury surrounded by wine and women and music
and dance. Indra is very blessed. Unlike humans who have to work for a living he
can get anything he desires by simply wishing for it for in his realm, Amravati,
exists the wish-ful lling tree, Kalpataru, wish-ful lling cow, Kamadhenu, and
wish-ful lling gem, Chintamani, and even the elixir of immortality, Amrita. That
is why Indra’s abode is called Swarga or paradise. Still Indra is extremely insecure.
He fears he will lose his wealth. For unlike Asuras, he does not know how to create
wealth; he can only procure and distribute wealth. A sage’s curse can cause
Lakshmi to leave his side in an instant. And this invariably happens, no thanks to
the megalomania stirred by wealth.
Once again Indra leads the Devas to ght and kill the Asuras and get Lakshmi back.
The Asuras can keep creating Lakshmi because they are blessed with something the
gods do not possess – Sanjivani Vidya, the secret of regeneration. This can bring
the dead back to life, in other words make the barren land fertile. This is a gift
obtained for the Asuras by their guru, Shukra, a devotee of Shiva. So the Asuras
keep generating wealth and the Devas keep snatching wealth away from them.
Which is why every where during harvest times we narrate stories of demons being
killed – in Dassera Mahish-Asura is killed by Durga; in Diwali, Narak-Asura is
killed by Krishna and in Onam, Bali-Asura is killed by Vaman.
The battle of Devas and Asuras is the battle between spenders and hoarders,
distributors and creators. It begins with defeat of Devas and the loss of Lakshmi
and ends with victory of Devas and return of Lakshmi. That it is never-ending
indicates it is not a battle of good over evil. It is a fertility cycle.
The funny thing is, neither the Devas nor the Asuras are happy. They try hard to
hold on Lakshmi but she slips away. In folk tradition Lakshmi is described as being
squint – one never knows where she is actually going. She is also called Chanchala,
the whimsical one, eternally restless. They say one should never keep the image of
Lakshmi standing in the house; she will get tired and run away. One is advised to
keep images of Lakshmi comfortably seated, preferably next to Saraswati, goddess
of knowledge.
While Lakshmi brings prosperity into a household, Saraswati brings peace. The two
goddesses are described as quarrelling sisters. Lakshmi loves to go places where
Saraswati resides. But her arrival marks the end of wisdom and peace. With wealth
comes quarrels, bickering over money-matters, annoying Saraswati who runs
away, which is why they say prosperity and peace rarely coexist. The only god who
can bring them together is Ganesha. In some scriptures, he is described as their
brother. In others, Lakshmi and Saraswati are forms of Riddhi and Siddhi, wives of
Ganesha.
Typically everyone chases Lakshmi. As for Lakshmi, she is drawn to only one god,
Vishnu, who is not a Deva, but greater than all Devas, who is actually God (spelt
with an upper case) or Bhagavan. Vishnu is the only one who got the Devas and
Asuras to cooperate and serve as the force and counterforce of a churn that got
Lakshmi and other magical treasures to rise from the ocean of milk.
Vishnu is typically shown siding with the Devas. He o ers Amrita, nectar of
immortality only to the Devas and he ghts alongside them in the battles against
Asuras. This seems unfair until one steps back and observes Vishnu’s role as
preserver.
Brahma, as creator of both Devas and Asuras sides with both of them equally. Shiva
as destroyer is indi erent to both Devas and Asuras and will give both of them
equal power. This equality does not result in movement or dynamism; it produces a
stagnant destructive statement. Vishnu creates an imbalance that causes the forces
of the cosmos to ow, for day to follow night, summer to follow winter. He
balances the Sanjivani Vidya given to Asuras by Shiva with Amrita which is reserved
only for the Devas. So while one group can regenerate themselves after being killed,
the other group is immortal. One groups keeps dying and being reborn while the
other group stays alive forever. When the Asuras are killed, the Devas win and
Lakshmi is with them. When the Asuras are brought back to life by Shukra, the
Devas lose and Lakshmi is back with her fathers.
While Indra seeks Lakshmi for himself, Vishnu does not. Vishnu seeks to create
order in the cosmos by the rhythm of nature and order in society by rules and
regulations. The story goes that when the earth complained that the kings of the
earth were plundering her wealth in greed, Vishnu promised her to take care of her
by instituting the code of civilized conduct known as dharma. The earth turned into
a cow and Vishnu became her cowherd and caretaker, Gopala. He protected her
with dharma and she, in exchange, gave artha and kama.
Dharma is all about balance – taking only as much as one needs, and sharing the
excess. Parashurama kills Kartaviryarjuna who steals the cows which are given as
gifts to sages. Ram kills Ravan who disregards the laws of marriage. Krishna kills
the Kauravas who are unable to share wealth with their own family. This makes
Vishnu a deity intent on making the world a better place. Perhaps that is why
Lakshmi sits coyly at his feet. He is Shrinivas, the eternal abode of Lakshmi.
(From : devdutt.com.)
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