Goddess Alakshmi is the elder sister of goddess Lakshmi who is deemed to be the harbinger of misfortune and poverty.
She curses the humans with poverty and goddess Lakshmi aslways comes to their rescue. It is also said that Goddess Alakshmi has an evil eye on goddess Lakshmi’s popularity among her devotees because Goddess Lakshmi is the epitome of beauty, grace and fortune whereas Alakshmi is symbolic of ugliness both internally and externally. While Alakshmi spells ruin for the human beings and abets their prosperity, goddess Lakshmi brings grace, poise, fortune and wealth to their lives. When Alakshmi runs amok, goddess Lakshmi was the only one to bring her to task.
How was Goddess Alakshmi born?
It was said that in the time of churning the sea, the ocean of milk or Samudramanthan, goddess Lakshmi came out and along with her Alakshmi emerged too. Alakshmi is the stark contrast of everything good about goddess Lakshmi because virtue can’t persist without vice. During the sea-churning, goddess Laksmi emerged with the nectar or Amrit while Alakshmi emerged with halahal or poison. In some other beliefs whatsoever, goddess Lakshmi was born from the radiance of Brahma’s face while Alashmi was born from the darkness of his back.
How was goddess Alakshmi personified?
Alakshmi is the repository of extreme ugliness and she is depicted as the old, haggard, dirty, messy woman riding a donkey. She has a dark skin which is leathery and shrunken, her hair is unkempt and and matted that is heavy with thick layer of dirt and grime. She likes to dwell on the places where there are people are full with ego, vanity and pride. She cottons to the selfish mindset of people and works to alleviate and propagate it more so the poor people are subjected to all sorts of misfortune.
How did Laksmi and Alakshmi co-exist?
They both co-exist and it is said where there os Lakshmi, there is Alakshmi. Some people believe that Alaksmi is invisible while some believe that she stays with Lakshmi in the form on an owl. Alakshmi brings strife, jealousy and hardship wherever she goes. Whoever comes into proximity with her, faces lack of knowledge, vision and positive thinking. Goddess Alakshmi also reaps the families of their wealth and brews distrust and misunderstanding among family members, friends and relatives.
Who are the propagators of Goddess Alakshmi?
The extremely selfish people allow Alakshmi to live in their lives and perpetuate her evil principles. They have wealth aplenty but they live in poverty. the are extremely greedy people and can’t be satiated with anything they are given. In short, they have a beggar’s mindset who will very well sit on a pile of gold yet remain stingy.
They would spend their wealth on all the wrong purposes but never reach out to help the poor. They have highly inflated egos who are leaded to the path of Adharma or sin.
The existence of Goddess Alakshmi is rather a lesson for us and that is one should not be selfish and conceited because wealth is never permanent. One should thrive around love and seek the divine excellence, that is the way of life.
