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Vishnu and Lakshmi
Maitreya- "It is commonly said that the goddess Sri was born from the sea of
milk, when it was churned for ambrosia; how then can you say that she was the
daughter of Bhrigu by Khyati?"
Parasara- "Sri, the bride of Vishnu, the mother of the world, is eternal,
imperishable; in like manner as He is all-pervading, so also is she, O best of
Brahmanas, omnipresent. Vishnu is meaning, she is speech. Hari is polity(Nyaya)
she is prudence(Niti). Vishnu is understanding; she is intellect. He is
righteousness; she is devotion. He is the creator; she is creation. Sri is the
earth; Hari the support of it. The deity is content; the eternal Lakshmi,
resignation. He is desire; Sri is wish. He is sacrifice; she is sacrificial
donation(Dakshina). The goddess is the invocation which attends the oblation;
Janardana is the oblation. Lakshmi is the chamber where the females are present
(at a religious ceremony);Madhusudana the apartment of the males of the family.
Lakshmi is the altar; Hari the stake (to which the victim is bound). Sri the
fuel; Hari the holy grass, Kusa. He is the personified Sama Veda; the goddess
the tone of its chanting. Lakshmi is the prayer of oblation (Svaha); Vasudeva,
the Lord of the world, is the sacrificial fire. Sauri(Vishnu) is Sankara; and
Sri is his bride Gauri. Kesava, O Maitreya, is the sun; and his radiance is the
lotus-seated goddess. Vishnu is the tribe of progenitors(Pitrgana); Padma is
their bride (Svadha), the eternal bestower of nutriment. Sri is the heavens;
Vishnu, who is one with all things, is wide extended space. The Lord of Sri is
the moon; she is his unfading light. She is called the moving principle of this
world; He, the wind which blows everywhere. Govinda is the ocean; Lakshmi its
shore. Lakshmi is the consort of Indra, Indrani; Madhusudana is Devendra. The
holder of the discus is Yama; the lotus-throned goddess is his dusky spouse,
Dhumorna. Sri is wealth; Sridhara is himself the god of riches,Kuvera. Lakshmi,
illustrious Brahmana, is Gauri;and Kesava is the deity of ocean, Varuna. Sri is
the host of heaven, Devasana; the deity of war, her lord, is Hari. The weilder
of the mace is resistance; the power to oppose is Sri. Lakshmi is the Kashtha
and the Kala; Hari the Nimesha and the Muhurta. Lakshmi is the light: and Hari,
who is all, the Lord of all, the lamp. She, the mother of the world, is the
creeping vine; and Vishnu the tree round which she clings. She is the night; the
God who is armed with the mace and discus, the day. He, the bestower of
blessings, is the bridegroom;the lotus-throned goddess is the bride. The God is
one with all male rivers, and the goddess is one with all female rivers. The
lotus-eyed deity is the standard; the goddess seated on a lotus, the banner.
Lakshmi is cupidity; Narayana, the master of the world, is covetousness. O thou
who knows what righteousness is, Govinda is love; and Lakshmi, his gentle
spouse, is pleasure. But why thus diffusely enumerate their presence? It is
enough to say that of gods, animals and men, Hari is all that is called male;
Lakshmi is all that is termed female: there is nothing else than they."
