Vedic Kathas
यदि दीपावली की कोई अधिष्ठात्री देवी है तो वह लक्ष्मी हैं। समुद्र मंथन से जन्मीं, कमल पर विराजमान, दीपों की यह रात उन्हीं के स्वागत के लिए है।
If Diwali has a presiding deity, it is Lakshmi. The whole night of lamps is arranged around a single hope: that the goddess of fortune will cross the threshold and choose to stay.
Lakshmi is said to have risen from the churning of the ocean on this new moon, radiant upon a lotus, and to have chosen Vishnu as her lord.
She sits on a lotus, purity rising from muddy water; her four hands hold the four aims of life; coins fall from one palm, for wealth is meant to flow and be shared;
She is worshipped in eight forms, the Ashta Lakshmi, of money, grain, courage, victory, knowledge and progeny among them. Together they say a quiet thing: that true wealth is far wider than coin.
Lakshmi enters a home that is clean, lit and glad. Sweep every corner, draw a rangoli at the door, keep it open and lit, perform her puja and sing the Lakshmi aarti.
लक्ष्मी के सिक्के खुली हथेली से झरते हैं, बंद मुठ्ठी से नहीं। उनकी पूजा का गूढ़ संदेश यही है कि सौभाग्य संचित नहीं, प्रवाहित किया जाता है।
Vedic Kathas
The complete story, its characters and sources, on Vedic Kathas.