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A question stirred in Maitreya. Only a moment before, Parashara had said that Lakshmi came into the world as the daughter of Bhrigu and Khyati. Maitreya folded his hands and asked, “Bhagavan, it is also told that Lakshmi rose from the ocean of milk at the churning for amrita, the nectar of immortality. How then do you name her the daughter of Bhrigu?” Parashara smiled, lightly. “Listen, Maitreya,” he said. “I too heard this katha, from the lips of the rishi who was the son of Marichi.
Once, Durvasa, born of a portion of Lord Shankara, was wandering the earth. As he roamed, he saw in the hand of a vidyadhari a divine garland of santanaka blossoms, whose fragrance had swept through the whole forest. The sage asked for the garland, and the large-eyed vidyadhari bowed with reverence and gave it to him. He had set it upon his head and gone only a little way when, before him, appeared Indra, king of the gods, riding the elephant Airavata and moving among his host.
Durvasa lifted that garland, humming with bees, from his own head and tossed it toward Indra. Indra took it and set it on Airavata’s brow, but the elephant, maddened with must, was drawn by the scent, lifted the garland with his trunk, and flung it to the ground. Seeing this, the sage filled with rage. “Devaraja,” he said, “the pride of your dominion has stolen your judgment. This garland, a dwelling place of beauty, given by my own hand, you have thrown aside like a wisp of straw. No bow, not one word of respect. So from this day let your three worlds be stripped of Shri, of every fortune and splendor.”
Indra dismounted from Airavata and began to entreat the sage, but Durvasa said, “Forgiveness does not dwell in my heart. I am not one of those sages who soften under repeated pleading. Go.” With that he walked on, and Indra returned to Amaravati, downcast.
The Three Worlds Bereft of Shri
From that very moment the three worlds began to empty of Shri. Trees and vines withered, yajnas ceased, ascetics abandoned their tapas, and no one’s heart turned to charity or dharma. People fell under the sway of greed and lost their sattva, the goodness in them. And where there is no sattva, where would Lakshmi stay? Upon the gods, now without fortune and without strength, the daityas fell in war and defeated them on the field.
The defeated gods, setting Agni at their head, took refuge with the grandsire Brahma. When he had heard the whole account, Brahma said, “Devas, go and take refuge with Lord Vishnu, the supreme lord of all, who, though he is the cause of this world’s making, keeping, and unmaking, is himself changeless. He, tender to everyone who seeks his shelter, will bring you well-being.” So saying, Brahma himself led the gods to the northern shore of the ocean of milk and there sang the Lord’s praise. Pleased by their praise, the Lord appeared before them, bearing conch, discus, and mace. Beholding that matchless mass of splendor, the gods bowed their heads.
The Churning of the Ocean of Milk
The Lord said, “Devas, I will restore your splendor. Do as I tell you. Make peace with the daityas, gather every healing herb, and cast them into the ocean of milk. Take Mount Mandara for your churning-staff and the serpent Vasuki for your cord, and with my aid churn the sea and draw out the amrita. Tell the daityas that if they lend their hands to this labor, they will share equally in its fruit. Yet I will contrive it so that the amrita never reaches your enemies; the share that falls to them will be the toil of the churning alone.”
The gods made their treaty, and the daityas and danavas joined them. Into the waters of the ocean of milk, clear as the autumn sky, they cast many healing herbs. Mount Mandara became the staff, Vasuki the cord, and with great force the churning began. On one side the gods held Vasuki’s tail, on the other the daityas took his head. From Vasuki’s mouth burst hisses of poison-laden fire that scorched the daityas without pause, while toward the tail the raining clouds swelled the strength of the gods.
The Lord himself took the form of a tortoise and, as Mount Mandara sank into the sea, bore it up on his back. Then, mingling with the gods in one form and with the daityas in another, he pulled at the serpent-king, and in a vast form above he pressed the mountain down from overhead. So, with his own many forms, he took up the whole burden.
The Manifestation of Lakshmi
As the churning went on, the first to appear was Surabhi, the wish-granting cow Kamadhenu, the very source of the offerings. Then came Varuni, the goddess whose eyes swam with wine. Then rose the Parijata tree, whose fragrance perfumes all three worlds, and behind it a throng of apsaras, rich in beauty and grace. Then appeared the moon with its cooling rays, which Mahadeva took for his own. The poison that rose from the sea the serpents took to themselves. After this, clad in white and holding a vessel brimming with amrita, Dhanvantari himself came forth from the water. At this sight every god and danava filled with joy.
Then, from the waters of the ocean of milk, seated upon an open lotus, a lotus in each hand, radiant with unfolding light, the goddess Shri Lakshmi appeared. The great rishis began to praise her with the Shri Sukta. Gandharvas led by Vishvavasu sang before her, apsaras led by Ghritachi danced. Rivers led by the Ganga came in person to bathe her, and the elephants of the quarters, from golden vessels filled with pure water, anointed the mistress of all the worlds. The ocean of milk gave her a garland of lotuses that would never wilt, and Vishvakarma set divine ornaments on every limb. Adorned so, in divine garland and raiment and jewels, before the eyes of all the gods, Shri Lakshmi went to rest upon the breast of Lord Vishnu.
Seeing Lakshmi enthroned on Hari’s heart, the gods felt a joy without measure, but the daityas Viprachitti and the rest, cast off by Lakshmi, grew frantic. They snatched the vessel of amrita from Dhanvantari’s hands. Then Lord Vishnu took the form of a woman of matchless beauty, and by his maya bewitched the danavas, and taking the vessel from them gave it to the gods. Indra and the other gods drank the amrita. The daityas fell upon them with keen weapons, but the gods, made strong by the amrita, cut down their whole army; what survived fled to the quarters and into the underworld. The sun resumed his course, the fires blazed up, living beings turned again to dharma, and the three worlds were rich once more with Shri.
The Boon of Lakshmi
Having won back the kingdom of heaven, seated on his throne, Indra sang the praise of the lotus-handed Shri Lakshmi. “Mother of all the worlds, goddess with eyes like the lotus, you who rest upon Vishnu’s breast, I bow to you. You are Siddhi, you are Svadha, you are Svaha and Sudha; you are the twilight and the night, you are radiance, wisdom, faith, and Sarasvati. Without you a man is left empty of every virtue; and should your gracious glance fall on him, even one devoid of merit becomes noble and rich. Mother, never forsake our treasuries, our homes, our bodies, and our kin.”
Pleased, Lakshmi said, “Lord of the gods, your praise delights me greatly. Ask whatever boon you desire.” Indra asked for two. “First, that you never forsake these three worlds; and second, that whoever praises you with this stotra, him too you never forsake.” Lakshmi granted both. “I will never leave these three worlds, and from anyone who praises me with this stotra at dawn and at dusk, I too will never turn away.”
Parashara said, “Now, Maitreya, hear the answer to your doubt. Lakshmi is eternal. First she appeared as the daughter of Bhrigu and Khyati, and again at the churning for amrita, from the ocean of milk. Whenever Vishnu, the lord of the world, takes birth, Lakshmi is with him. When the Lord became Aditya she rose from the lotus and was called Padma; when he was Parashurama she was the earth; when he was Rama she was Sita, and when he was Krishna she was Rukmini. Whoever hears or reads this katha of Lakshmi’s manifestation, from his house Lakshmi never departs for three generations, and where this stotra is read, poverty can never take hold.”
Source: the Vishnu Purana (Gita Press, Gorakhpur)