Lakshmi

A former Hindu goddess of fortune (health, beauty, wealth), Lakshmi is a Censor at Teotihuacan these days. Her materialistic ideals has made her a favorite of mortals and her idealistic tendencies has made her a favorite of immortals – both Daevas and demons. Lakshmi was the consort of Vishnu in all his incarnations. Fortuna and Tyche were her avatars in rival pantheons, but she is neither an implacable force of nature nor a whimsical mistress.

An ideal extrovert, Lakshmi’s immense talents come primarily from her external focus, in which her perception is thoroughly intuitive – her empathy is unmatched. Her intellect is a diplomatic one, in which she can identify the common ground quicker than most, smoothing out differences, and her metaphoric language prove to be influential and enlightening. Lakshmi considers division or discrimination as gross evils – differentiations are merely artifices that project and preserve insecurities. She is often promoting shared experiences and universal truths, often advocating views and positions or beliefs or causes that promote rapport among gods and mortals. A lesser god might be more inclined towards propaganda, whereas Lakshmi strives for inclusion.

Because Lakshmi does not subscribe to fatalism, she views life as open-ended, and there are causes worth advocating. Lakshmi is temperamentally altruistic, in which she is devoted to other-serving, and although some suspect her motives to be merely self-serving, she strives for self-actualization when she rids of her selfishness by putting others first. In doing so Lakshmi gains a glimpse into Brahman, the true Self that lies beyond the transient concerns and wishes of herself.

Where many other gods resign themselves to pessimistic conclusions, Lakshmi speaks only of grand possibilities. The present is not enough, for what might be is always greater. Lakshmi’s view of the future is mystical, which makes her language oracular and prophetic.

The way gods and mortals carry themselves determines how they will be treated. Lakshmi’s healthy self-respect inspires the same sentiment in others. This confident and regal manner made her predestined for greatness. For some of the older gods, because they have had immeasurably long lives full of rebuffs and failures that mark their boundaries, they impose limitations on themselves by settling for less and expecting less from their lives. Lakshmi moves in the opposite direction by downplaying failures and ignoring such limitations in her persistent encouragement that comes from high expectations. Her belief in destiny actually radiates outwards and infect the others around her. Many suspect she must have a reason for such confidence, an ace up her sleeve that explains her edge. By acting with dignity, irrespective of the circumstances, she emphasizes her difference and demonstrates her distance from many other gods and goddesses. Some mistake this for arrogance, but that is actually insecurity in disguise, and the very opposite of confidence.

Lakshmi’s genius lies with her ability to identify the deeply buried ideals within others, the inner self of the person that yearns to come out, and the creativity to bring all sorts of appearances to life and escalate suspense. Her wide variety of skills and talents, combined with intuitive understanding, implied a bottomless well of creativity. Not only did she make titans out of gods, she often went as a mortal – Shreedevi – to make kings out of men.

Many gods held themselves to be far greater than what they appeared to the others, for they had unrealized ideals – they aspire to be creators, thinkers, leaders, or otherwise -yet the responsibility of their positions is a prison that oppress them and restrict the chances of allowing themselves to flourish. Lakshmi appeals to this ideal self when she recognizes their aspirations, their better selves. Once the god feels even more elevated and lofty, Lakshmi has attained limitless power over them.

This intuitive understanding of others is the key behind Lakshmi’s influence – by understanding the minds of others she holds the upper hand. Even though the gods are all narcissists, Lakshmi does not share the natural tendency to see others as mere reflections of her own desires and values. Because she understands how others are different from her, she is rarely surprised at their actions. Since the gods are trapped within themselves, where their narcissism serve as a filter between themselves and others, they often misconstrue one another and their plans fail.

However, Lakshmi’s ideation of others comes at the cost of conventional ties. She has little patience for tradition, and may agitate others from within an organization, join with detractors. Her sympathetic ears conceal a spirit of nonconformist. Lakshmi requires freedom, i.e., new outlets to challenge her creativity, for she quickly becomes restless when things get stagnant. In this sense, Lakshmi’s gifts themselves are her worst enemy. The ability to serve many different offices with different pantheons reinforce a reputation of free-spiritedness, which is easily perceived as fickleness and inconstancy, particularly inspiring mistrust in other goddesses. They disparage Lakshmi for appearing purposeless and directionless in her search for advocacy.