Laksmi (CC and other books)

Expressions researched:
"Laksmi" |"Laksmidevi" |"Laksmiji" |"Laksmis"

CC Preface and Introduction

CC Introduction:

Viṣṇu does not require anything in order to create. He does not require the goddess Lakṣmī in order to give birth to Brahmā, for Brahmā is born from a lotus flower that grows from the navel of Viṣṇu. The goddess Lakṣmī sits at the feet of Viṣṇu and serves Him. In this material world sex is required to produce children, but in the spiritual world a man can produce as many children as he likes without having to take help from his wife. So there is no sex there. Because we have no experience with spiritual energy, we think that Brahmā’s birth from the navel of Viṣṇu is simply a fictional story.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 1.79-80, Translation:

The energies (consorts) of the Supreme Lord are of three kinds: the Lakṣmīs in Vaikuṇṭha, the queens in Dvārakā and the gopīs in Vṛndāvana. The gopīs are the best of all, for they have the privilege of serving Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the primeval Lord, the son of the King of Vraja.

CC Adi 4.90, Translation:

I have already explained the meaning of "sarva-lakṣmī." Rādhā is the original source of all the goddesses of fortune.

CC Adi 4.91, Translation:

Or "sarva-lakṣmī" indicates that She fully represents the six opulences of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore She is the supreme energy of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

CC Adi 4.92, Translation:

The word "sarva-kānti" indicates that all beauty and luster rest in Her body. All the lakṣmīs derive their beauty from Her.

CC Adi 5.27-28, Purport:

"They saw the lotus-eyed Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, mounted on Garuḍa and holding Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune, to His chest. He resembled a bluish rain cloud with flashing lightning, and in two of His four hands He held a conchshell and disc. His arms stretched down to His knees, and all His beautiful limbs were smeared with sandalwood and decorated with glittering ornaments. He wore yellow clothes, and by either side stood His energies Bhūmi and Nīlā."

CC Adi 5.27-28, Purport:

There is the following reference to the śrī, bhū and nīlā energies in the Sītopaniṣad: mahā-lakṣmīr deveśasya bhinnābhinna-rūpā cetanācetanātmikā. sā devī tri-vidhā bhavati, śakty-ātmanā icchā-śaktiḥ kriyā-śaktiḥ sākṣāc-chaktir iti. icchā-śaktis tri-vidhā bhavati, śrī-bhūmi-nīlātmikā. "Mahā-Lakṣmī, the supreme energy of the Lord, is experienced in different ways. She is divided into material and spiritual potencies, and in both features she acts as the willing energy, creative energy and the internal energy. The willing energy is again divided into three, namely śrī, bhū and nīlā."

CC Adi 5.112, Purport:

Lord Viṣṇu lies there with the goddess of fortune, and it is said that during the four months of the rainy season He enjoys sleeping on that Śeṣa Nāga bed. East of Sumeru is the ocean of milk, in which there is a white city on a white island where the Lord can be seen sitting with His consort, Lakṣmījī, on a throne of Śeṣa. That feature of Viṣṇu also enjoys sleeping during the four months of the rainy season. The Śvetadvīpa in the milk ocean is situated just south of the ocean of salt water. It is calculated that the area of Śvetadvīpa is 200,000 square miles. This transcendentally beautiful island is decorated with desire trees to please Lord Viṣṇu and His consort.”

CC Adi 5.141, Purport:

"What is the value of a throne to Lord Kṛṣṇa? The masters of the various planetary systems accept the dust of His lotus feet on their crowned heads. That dust makes the holy places sacred, and even Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, Lakṣmī and I Myself, who are all portions of His plenary portion, eternally carry that dust on our heads."

CC Adi 5.223, Purport:

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, in his Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta, has quoted from the Padma Purāṇa, where it is stated that Lakṣmī-devī, the goddess of fortune, after seeing the attractive features of Lord Kṛṣṇa, was attracted to Him, and to get the favor of Lord Kṛṣṇa she engaged herself in meditation. When asked by Kṛṣṇa why she engaged in meditation with austerity, Lakṣmī-devī answered, "I want to be one of Your associates like the gopīs in Vṛndāvana." Hearing this, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa replied that it was quite impossible. Lakṣmī-devī then said that she wanted to remain just like a golden line on the chest of the Lord. The Lord granted the request, and since then Lakṣmī has always been situated on the chest of Lord Kṛṣṇa as a golden line. The austerity and meditation of Lakṣmī-devī are also mentioned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.16.36), where the Nāga-patnīs, the wives of the serpent Kāliya, in the course of their prayers to Kṛṣṇa, said that the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, also wanted His association as a gopī and desired the dust of His lotus feet.

CC Adi 6.79, Purport:

In the Purāṇas it is found that Śiva appears sometimes from the heads of Brahmā and sometimes from the head of Viṣṇu. The annihilator, Rudra, is born from Saṅkarṣaṇa and the ultimate fire to burn the whole creation. In the Vāyu Purāṇa there is a description of Sadāśiva in one of the Vaikuṇṭha planets. That Sadāśiva is a direct expansion of Lord Kṛṣṇa's form for pastimes. It is said that Sadāśiva (Lord Śambhu) is an expansion from the Sadāśiva in the Vaikuṇṭha planets (Lord Viṣṇu) and that his consort, Mahāmāyā, is an expansion of Ramā-devī, or Lakṣmī. Mahāmāyā is the origin or birthplace of material nature.

CC Adi 6.102, Translation:

"O Uddhava! Neither Brahmā, nor Śaṅkara, nor Saṅkarṣaṇa, nor Lakṣmī, nor even My own self is as dear to Me as you."

CC Adi 10.15, Purport:

In the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (147–53) it is stated, "The pleasure potency of Śrī Kṛṣṇa formerly known as Vṛndāvaneśvarī is now personified in the form of Śrī Gadādhara Paṇḍita in the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu." Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī has pointed out that in the shape of Lakṣmī, the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa, she was formerly very dear to the Lord as Śyāmasundara-vallabhā. The same Śyāmasundara-vallabhā was present in Lord Caitanya's pastimes as Gadādhara Paṇḍita. Formerly, as Lalitā-sakhī, she was always devoted to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Thus Gadādhara Paṇḍita is simultaneously an incarnation of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and Lalitā-sakhī.

CC Adi 10.37, Purport:

Śrīmān Paṇḍita was among the companions of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu when the Lord performed saṅkīrtana. When Lord Caitanya dressed Himself in the form of the goddess Lakṣmī and danced in the streets of Navadvīpa, Śrīmān Paṇḍita carried a torch to light the way.

CC Adi 14 Summary:

The chapter further describes how He displayed Himself as a naughty boy, how when His mother fainted He brought a coconut to her on His head, how He joked with girls of the same age on the banks of the Ganges, how He accepted worshipful paraphernalia from Śrīmatī Lakṣmīdevī, how He sat down in a garbage pit and instructed His mother in transcendental knowledge, how He left the pit on the order of His mother, and how He dealt with His father with full affection.”

CC Adi 14.62, Translation and Purport:

One day a girl of the name Lakṣmī, the daughter of Vallabhācārya, came to the bank of the Ganges to take a bath in the river and worship the demigods.

According to the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (45), Lakṣmī was formerly Jānakī, the wife of Lord Rāmacandra, and Rukmiṇī, the wife of Lord Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā. The same goddess of fortune descended as Lakṣmī to become the wife of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

CC Adi 14.63, Translation:

Seeing Lakṣmīdevī, the Lord became attached to her, and Lakṣmī, upon seeing the Lord, felt great satisfaction within her mind.

CC Adi 14.64, Translation and Purport:

Their natural love for each other awakened, and although it was covered by childhood emotions, it became apparent that they were mutually attracted.

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Lakṣmīdevī are eternal husband and wife. Therefore it was quite natural for their dormant love to awaken when they saw each other. Their natural feelings were immediately awakened by their meeting.

CC Adi 14.66, Translation and Purport:

The Lord told Lakṣmī, "Just worship Me, for I am the Supreme Lord. If you worship Me, certainly you will get the benediction you desire."

This is the same philosophy declared by Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself:

sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear." (BG 18.66) People do not understand this. They are accustomed to flattering or worshiping many demigods, human beings, or even cats and dogs, but when requested to worship the Supreme Lord, they refuse. This is called illusion.

CC Adi 14.67, Translation:

On hearing the order of the Supreme Lord, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Lakṣmī immediately worshiped Him, offering sandalwood pulp and flowers for His body, garlanding Him with mallikā flowers, and offering prayers.

CC Adi 14.68, Translation and Purport:

Being worshiped by Lakṣmī, the Lord began to smile. He recited a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and thus accepted the emotion she expressed.

The verse quoted in this connection is the twenty-fifth verse of the Twenty-second Chapter, Tenth Canto, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The gopīs worshiped goddess Durgā, or Kātyāyanī, but their inner desire was to get Lord Kṛṣṇa as their husband. Kṛṣṇa, as Paramātmā, could realize the ardent desire of the gopīs, and therefore He enjoyed the pastime of vastra-haraṇa.

CC Adi 14.70, Translation:

After thus expressing their feelings to each other, Lord Caitanya and Lakṣmī returned home. Who can understand the grave pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu?

CC Adi 15 Summary:

A synopsis of the Fifteenth Chapter is as follows. The Lord took lessons in grammar from Gaṅgādāsa Paṇḍita and became very expert in commenting upon grammar. He forbade His mother to take grains on the Ekādaśī day. He narrated a story that Viśvarūpa, after accepting the sannyāsa order, invited Him in a dream to accept sannyāsa also, but the Lord refused and was therefore sent back home. When Jagannātha Miśra passed away, the Lord married the daughter of Vallabhācārya, whose name was Lakṣmī. All these events are summarized in this chapter.

CC Adi 15.29, Translation and Purport:

When the Lord and Lakṣmīdevī met, their relationship awakened, having already been settled, and coincidentally the marriage-maker Vanamālī came to see Śacīmātā.

Vanamālī Ghaṭaka, a resident of Navadvīpa and a brāhmaṇa by caste, arranged the marriage of the Lord to Lakṣmīdevī. He was formerly Viśvāmitra, who negotiated the marriage of Lord Rāmacandra, and later he was the brāhmaṇa who negotiated the marriage of Lord Kṛṣṇa with Rukmiṇī. That same brāhmaṇa acted as the marriage-maker of the Lord in caitanya-līlā.

CC Adi 15.30, Translation:

Following the indications of Śacīdevī, Vanamālī Ghaṭaka arranged the marriage, and thus in due course the Lord married Lakṣmīdevī.

CC Adi 16 Summary:

He went to East Bengal to secure financial assistance, cultivate knowledge and introduce the saṅkīrtana movement, and there He met Tapana Miśra, whom He instructed about spiritual advancement and ordered to go to Vārāṇasī. While Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu was touring East Bengal, His wife, Lakṣmīdevī, was bitten by a serpent or by the serpent of separation, and thus she left this world. When the Lord returned home, He saw that His mother was overwhelmed with grief because of Lakṣmīdevī’s death. Therefore at her request He later married His second wife, Viṣṇupriyā-devī. This chapter also describes the Lord's argument with Keśava Kāśmīrī, the celebrated scholar, and the Lord's criticism of his prayer glorifying mother Ganges.

CC Adi 16.3, Translation:

Long live Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His kaiśora age! Both the goddess of fortune and the goddess of learning worshiped Him. The goddess of learning, Sarasvatī, worshiped Him in His victory over the scholar who had conquered all the world, and the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmīdevī, worshiped Him at home. Since He is therefore the husband or Lord of both goddesses, I offer my obeisances unto Him.

CC Adi 16.20, Translation:

Because the Lord was engaged in various ways in preaching work in East Bengal, His wife, Lakṣmīdevī, was very unhappy at home in separation from her husband.

CC Adi 16.21, Translation and Purport:

The snake of separation bit Lakṣmīdevī, and its poison caused her death. Thus she passed to the next world. She went back home, back to Godhead.

As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (8.6), yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram: one's practice in thinking throughout his entire life determines the quality of his thoughts at death, and thus at death one obtains a suitable body. According to this principle, Lakṣmīdevī, the goddess of fortune from Vaikuṇṭha, who was absorbed in thought of the Lord in separation from Him, certainly went back home to Vaikuṇṭhaloka after death.

CC Adi 16.22, Translation:

Lord Caitanya knew about the disappearance of Lakṣmīdevī because He is the Supersoul Himself. Thus He returned home to solace His mother, Śacīdevī, who was greatly unhappy about the death of her daughter-in-law.

CC Adi 16.46, Purport:

In the last line of the verse quoted by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the letter bha is repeated many times, as in the words bhavānī, bhartur, vibhavati and adbhuta. Such repetition is called anuprāsa, or alliteration. The words lakṣmīr iva and viṣṇoś caraṇa-kamalotpatti are instances of upamā-alaṅkāra, for they exhibit metaphorical beauty. The Ganges is water, and Lakṣmī is the goddess of fortune. Since water and a person are not actually similar, the comparison is metaphorical.

CC Adi 16.59, Translation:

“In the word "dvitīya-śrī-lakṣmī" ("a second all-opulent goddess of fortune"), the quality of being a second Lakṣmī is the unknown. In making this compound word, the meaning became secondary and the originally intended meaning was lost.

CC Adi 16.60, Translation:

“Because the word "dvitīya" ("second") is the unknown, in its combination in this compound word the intended meaning of equality with Lakṣmī is lost.

CC Adi 16.73, Translation:

“There is a sound ornament of alliteration in three lines. And in the combination of the words "śrī" and "lakṣmī" there is the ornament of a tinge of redundancy.

CC Adi 16.76, Translation:

“Although the words "śrī" and "lakṣmī" convey the same meaning and are therefore almost redundant, they are nevertheless not redundant.

CC Adi 16.77, Translation:

“Describing Lakṣmī as possessed of śrī (opulence) offers a difference in meaning with a tinge of repetition. This is the second ornamental use of words.

CC Adi 16.78, Translation:

“The use of the words "lakṣmīr iva" ("like Lakṣmī") manifests the ornament of meaning called upamā (analogy). There is also the further ornament of meaning called virodhābhāsa, or a contradictory indication.

CC Adi 17.242, Translation:

The Lord sometimes took the part of Goddess Durgā, Lakṣmī (the goddess of fortune) or the chief potency, Yogamāyā. Sitting on a cot, He delivered love of Godhead to all the devotees present.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 1.145, Translation:

After dancing in the Guṇḍicā temple, the Lord sported in the water with His devotees, and on Herā-pañcamī day they all saw the activities of the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmīdevī.

CC Madhya 8.183-184, Translation:

“Even Satyabhāmā, one of the queens of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, desires the fortunate position and excellent qualities of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. All the gopīs learn the art of dressing from Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, and even the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, and the wife of Lord Śiva, Pārvatī, desire Her beauty and qualities. Indeed, Arundhatī, the celebrated chaste wife of Vasiṣṭha, also wants to imitate the chastity and religious principles of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.

CC Madhya 8.246, Purport:

"I underwent meditation and austerities for sixty thousand years just to understand the dust of the lotus feet of the gopīs. Still, I could not understand it. To say nothing of me, even Lord Śiva, Lord Śeṣa and the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, could not understand it."