Lakṣmī in the Anuśāsana Parva
Lakṣmī, also called Śrī, is the eternal wife of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa. She stands for prosperity, auspiciousness and radiance. Here is her teaching in the Anuśāsana Parva of the Mahābhārata, in a talk with Rukmiṇī before Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa.
In that passage she is called the daughter of Bhṛgu. She sits in the lap of Nārāyaṇa. She is lotus-coloured and shining, and she is the mother of Manmatha. She says plainly which beings, qualities and settings she favours and which she avoids. She also explains how she lives in full form (mūrtimatī) beside Nārāyaṇa, and how she lives elsewhere only “in essence,” as the growth of dharma, yaśas (fame), artha (wealth) and kāma (desire).
Who she is in the Anuśāsana Parva
In the Śrī–Rukmiṇī Saṃvāda (the talk between Śrī and Rukmiṇī), Bhīṣma tells Yudhiṣṭhira of a time when Rukmiṇī asked Lakṣmī a direct question. Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the son of Devakī, was present. The text describes Lakṣmī as lotus-complexioned (kamala-varṇā) and radiant. She sits in the lap of Śrīmannārāyaṇa and is the mother of Manmatha (Kāmadeva).
Rukmiṇī called her “Mahārṣi Bhṛgu’s daughter” and the beloved of Śrīmannārāyaṇa, the master of the three worlds. She asked Lakṣmī which beings she serves, lives among and looks upon with grace.
The name “Bhṛgu’s daughter” ties Lakṣmī here to the family of Bhṛgu Maharṣi. Other Purāṇic accounts, through the Samudra-manthana, say that Śrī, also called Lakṣmī, rose from the churned Kṣīrasāgara as the daughter of the ocean. The two names are Bhārgavī (Bhṛgu’s daughter) and Sāgara-kanyā (daughter of the ocean).
The Mahābhārata gives this in the Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 11.
Whom Lakṣmī favours
Rukmiṇī asked whom she serves, lives with and looks upon with grace. Śrīdevī answered with delight and spoke sweetly before Bhagavān Garuḍadhvaja.
She lives always in one who is:
- fortunate (saubhāgyaśālī)
- good at speaking (vāgmī)
- free from laziness
- given to karma (right action)
- free from krodha (anger)
- devoted to the pūjā of the devas
- kṛtajña (grateful for what has been done for him)
- jitendriya (master of his senses)
- strongest in sattva-guṇa (the quality of clarity)
She said she cannot live in one who is:
- akarmaṇya (against work)
- nāstika (one who does not believe in dharma and in the fruit of karma)
- a mixer of varṇas (varṇa-saṃkara)
- kṛtaghna (ungrateful)
- of bad conduct (durācāra)
- harsh in speech
- a thief
- one who looks at his elders and teachers with a fault-finding eye
She does not live among those who have lost tejas (valour), bala (strength), sattva (clear judgment) and gaurava (dignity). These are people who are upset and angry over every small matter, and who hide their true aims while they pretend otherwise (saṃgupta-manoratha). She does not live in one whose inner self (antarātmā) has been struck down by delusion (svabhāvopahatāntarātmā). Such a person wants nothing for himself, has a mind full of folly and is satisfied with the smallest things.
She lives instead among those who:
- keep to their own svadharma (the duty that is theirs)
- know dharma
- are always careful in serving their elders
- have mastered their senses and keep the manas (the mind) in their own control
- are forbearing (kṣamāśīla), capable (samartha) and enduring (sahanaparā)
She also lives among self-restrained women whose inner senses are controlled. She lives among those who stand firm in satya (truth) and ārjava (straightforwardness), and among those who honour the devas and the dvijas (the twice-born).
The Mahābhārata gives this in the Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 11.
The women she favours and the women she leaves
Lakṣmī goes on to describe the women in whom, and the households in which, she lives or does not live.
She does not live with a woman who:
- scatters household things about carelessly
- acts without thinking ahead
- is always speaking against her husband
- loves to wander again and again through other people’s houses
- has given up lajjā (modesty)
- has no dayā (compassion)
- is aśuci (unclean in her habits)
- is always wetting her lips with her tongue (avaleṣiṇī)
- has no dhairya (steadiness)
- enjoys quarrels
- is always just lying down or sleeping
She leaves and gives up such a woman.
She lives, and lives for ever, among women who:
- speak the truth
- please the eye at once with fitting ornaments and dress
- are saubhāgyavatī (blessed with good fortune)
- have good qualities
- are pativratā (faithful to their husbands)
- have an auspicious (maṅgala) nature
- dress themselves in a way that suits them
The Mahābhārata gives this in the Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 11.
The settings where she lives
Lakṣmī also names the settings in which she lives. She lives in vehicles (yānas), in maidens (kanyās), in ornaments, in yajñas, in rain clouds, in lotuses in bloom, along the paths of the nakṣatras (the stars), in the nights of śarad-ṛtu (autumn), among elephants, in cow-pens (gośālās), on beautiful seats and thrones, and in lakes bright with blooming kuvalayas and padmas (water lilies and lotuses).
She lives in rivers whose banks ring with the calls of haṃsas (swans) and krauñca birds. These rivers have flourishing trees along them, and tapasvins (those who do tapas), siddhas and brāhmaṇas often visit them. They are full of water where lions and elephants come to bathe.
She lives among elephants in rut, among bulls, in kings, on thrones and among sat-puruṣas (good people). She lives always in the homes of those who honour cows, brāhmaṇas and devas, and who offer flowers at the right time. She lives constantly among the twice-born who study the Veda each day, among Kṣatriyas who keep to their own dharma, among Vaiśyas who devote themselves to farming, and among Śūdras who devote themselves to service.
The Mahābhārata gives this in the Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 11.
Her true form beside Nārāyaṇa
Lakṣmī ends with the central teaching: “I dwell mūrtimatī (in my full bodily form), with an undivided mind (ananya-cittā), with complete bhāva (devotion), in Śrīmannārāyaṇa alone. In Nārāyaṇa, dharma itself is established. There is love for brāhmaṇas. There is love for all.”
Everywhere else she lives not in her body (śarīra) but only bhāvena, in essence. There she is the growth (vṛddhi) of dharma, yaśas, artha and kāma. Wherever her presence is felt in this way, dharma, fame, wealth and rightful desire flourish and grow.
The Mahābhārata gives this in the Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 11.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 11
- Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 2