Lakshmi


 * Lakshmi**
 * Lakshmi is the goddess of light, beauty, good fortune, wealth, and prosperity, both material and spiritual. She means good luck to Hindus. She is the active power of her husband, @Vishnu. She is the household goddess of Hindu families and she is the favorite of women. Her special and festive month is October. During her festival, people pray for her blessings. Some people leave golden items to attract her into their home. It is said that she comes into their homes and fills the homes with wealth.**

Lakshmi's Description

Lakshmi is pictured with four hands, sitting or standing on a full-bloomed lotus flower, and holding a lotus bud in each hand, which stands for beauty, purity, and fertility. Her four hands represent the four ends of human life: dharma or righteousness, karma or desires, artha or wealth, and moksh or gaining equal rights from the cycle of birth and death. She is also pictured with elephants in the background spraying her with water. That shows that with endless effort in your dharma, and led by wisdom and purity, you can be led to prosperity, both material and spirtual.

**Lakshmi's Family**

Lakshmi is married to Vishnu. Her siblings are Saraswati, Ganesha, and Karthikeya. Her mother is Durga or Parvati and her father is Shiva. When the gods saw Lakshmi, they all wanted to marry her. Shiva claimed her as his wife, but he had already claimed the Moon, so she married Vishnu, who she wanted to from the start.

(left) Lakshmi, Durga, Ganesha, and Saraswati Devi. (right) Lakshmi and Vishnu.

media type="youtube" key="ZNCHjxaT9KI" height="349" width="425"A Video of Lakshmi.

Symbols

Lakshmi's colors are pink, gold, and orange. Her symbol is the Star of Lakshmi. It is a symbol in Indian philosophy where it represents the eight forms of wealth or it repesents the eight forms of the Hindu goddess, Lakshmi. Also she is mostly pictured with lotus flowers which symbolize purity and prosperity. The lotus seat that she sits on represents that while you are in the world, you should enjoy your wealth, but no become obsessed with it. Another comparison to that is that a lotus grows in water but is not wetted by the water. The golden coins represent her wealth.

Myth One day Ganga was looking at her husband Vishnu. Vishnu kept looking back. Saraswati Devi, who was married to Vishnu, got very angry, and she blamed Vishnu partially. Vishnu left to let Saraswati calm down, but she got angrier. Saraswati kept threatening Ganga. Lakshmi, who was also there, went to hold Saraswati back from Ganga. Saraswati cursed Lakshmi. When Vishnu found out, he cursed both Saraswati and Ganga. He gave them both new husbands. He gave Saraswati to Brahma, Ganga to Shiva, and he was married to Lakshmi.

References

[|en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakshmi]

[|hinduism.about.com/od/hindugoddesses/p/lakshmi.htm] [|4lotus-flower.blogspot.com/2009/05/why-does-goddess-lakshmi-sit-on-a-lotus.html]