Everyone Loves Lakshmi On Diwali—and All Year Round

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Everyone Loves Lakshmi On Diwali—and All Year Round

By Laurie Sue Brockway

This is my favorite time of year because Lakshmi, the Hindu Goddess of Fortune, comes alive during the holiday of Diwali, the festival of lights. It falls on November 11th in 2015. Lakshmi is a goddess who brings all good things to light and to life!

As the Hindu Goddess of Good Fortune and Beauty, Lakshmi represents and is seen as the personification of abundance, prosperity, wealth, well-being and harmony. She is a living Goddess, worshiped around the world. In these times of challenge, she can be a comfort and a healer because she brings a sense of greater fortune even in the darkest moments. She is a powerful cosmic connection; a divine female who looks like us, and offers a sense of courage, hope, and power.

She has one of the most colorful creation myths of all the deities in the Hindu pantheon. It is said Goddess Lakshmi was born, fully-grown, on a pink lotus that rose from the milky sea. She was immediately be-decked, be-jeweled and worshiped by the gods and sages.

They prayed that she would come to their abodes, and to their worlds, for they believed that where Lakshmi is you will also find riches and fulfillment.

Three millennia later, she remains the symbol of all things fortunate.

Her eternal mate is Vishnu, The Great Preserver, who has incarnated with Lakshmi on earth many times, including in the form of the sacred couple, Krishna and Radha. They are considered a model for undying love. Lakshmi’s sacred cohort is Lord Ganesha, remover of obstacles. They often work side by side.

Lakshmi, like many divine female Hindu deities, is often pictured as a beautiful Indian woman with big dark eyes and with four arms. Clad in sari, in a form that is very feminine and full, she sits or stands on her lotus pink throne. She usually has two lotuses in either of her back hands. Her front arms typically offer a protective blessing, as well as blessings known as “boons,” or favors from the Gods and Goddesses. Her ability to enhance our good fortune is symbolized by the gold coins seen pouring from her hands.

OM Times is a leading voice of the Conscious Community with articles covering the full spectrum of Conscious Living. Click here to see all we share.