Lakshmi Puja
Goddess Shri Lakshmi has been referred to in the above lines. We can find a hymn on her in the Rig Veda, which is the oldest of the Hindu Scriptures. The word Lakshmi has been derived from the Sanskrit word Lakshya, meaning aim or goal and as her name suggests, she is the goddess who’s responsible for giving us wealth and prosperity. This wealth may be spiritual or monetary.
The story behind Laxmi Puja
Goddess Laxmi is the one who symbolises good luck. Goddess Lakshmi was the wife of Lord Vishnu and the daughter of Goddess Durga. It is told that in each of the avatars of Lord Vishnu, she appeared with him taking different forms.
Goddess Lakshmi not only gives us wealth and mental peace, but it also takes our goes at our bad times or on our bad actions. This is associated with the story of Goddess Lakshmi.
This story starts with Vijay Durvasa and Lord Indra. Sage Durvasa bows to Lord Indra and offers him a garland as a mark of respect. Lord Indra disrespects it, and takes the garland out and put it on the neck of his elephant Airavat. Airavat gets angry and throws the garland on the ground.
This act enrages Sage Durvasa, and he curses Lord Indra. He says that “As you have disrespected my gift of respect, that was a mark of Good Fortune, so, I curse you that as you have disrespected the garland so your kingdom will be ruined.” After saying this, Sage Durvasa goes away from there in anger.
When Lord Indra returns to his capital city Amravati, he starts observing the effects of the curse. Gods start misbehaving. Living beings such as plants start dying. The beast that rests in every living being comes out. Amravati becomes a land of Demons instead of Gods. As the gods’ virtues had turned and moreover the area of Amravati was invaded by the Demons.
So now, what is the answer to it? For the remedy, Lord Indra goes to Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu says that the churning of the ocean is the only answer to it. By the Churning of the ocean, the Amrit that will come out can be consumed by the Gods and that will make them immortal.
The churning of the ocean began. It was a war between the Gods and the Demons. During this churning Goddess, Lakshmi comes out seated on the full-blown lotus. Now while the choice rest on Goddess Lakshmi to choose, she chooses Lord Vishnu as her master and thus comes on the side of the Gods. Now the Gods were able to get their powers back, and now to defeat the demons became easy. The Demons were defeated, and thus Gods won.
Thus, the coming of Goddess Lakshmi on the side of the Gods helped them to perform good work, be polite, and helpful, get their energy, be at mental peace and have the energy to do work. So, from this, we understand that Goddess Lakshmi is the Goddess of Material as well as Mental Peace.