Lakshmi's Choice - Why She Stays with Vishnu

The ocean of milk had just been churned. Treasures had emerged—poison, nectar, the divine elephant, the wish-fulfilling tree. And finally, Lakshmi, goddess of fortune, rising from the foam.

Every god wanted her. Every demon coveted her. She was wealth, beauty, power, luck—everything beings fight for.

She walked past them all. Past Indra in his magnificence. Past Shiva in his terrible beauty. Past Brahma in his infinite wisdom.

She garlanded Vishnu.

Vishnu: "Why me?"

Lakshmi: "You didn't chase."

Vishnu: "That's it?"

Lakshmi: "That's enormous. Every other god lunged. Indra was already designing my chambers in his palace. Brahma was composing hymns to my glory. Even Shiva—dignified, austere Shiva—had a certain intensity in his gaze."

Vishnu: "And I?"

Lakshmi: "You were watching. Present, but not grasping. Interested, but not desperate. You wanted me to choose. Not to be won."

Vishnu: "I don't believe in winning people."

Lakshmi: "Exactly. Every age, some king or merchant will try to capture me. They'll hoard gold, perform rituals, make sacrifices—all to force my residence. And every age, I'll leave them. Because fortune cannot be forced."

Vishnu: "Then how do you stay? What keeps you?"

Lakshmi: "You do. Not through chains—through choice. Every moment, I choose to be here. And every moment, you make that choice easy."

Vishnu: "How?"

Lakshmi: "By preserving. You understand what I am. Not just wealth—flow. I am the movement of resources from where they're stagnant to where they're needed. Hoarding kills me. Generosity feeds me."

Vishnu: "And I preserve the flow?"

Lakshmi: "You preserve everything. Including the conditions that let fortune circulate. When dharma collapses, I have nowhere to go. When justice fails, I flee. But as long as you maintain the balance—as long as you incarnate to protect righteousness—I have a home."

Vishnu: "So you stay with me for cosmic reasons?"

Lakshmi: "I stay with you because you're the only one who never tried to own me. The cosmic reasons are just... bonus."

Vishnu: "They'll curse me, you know. The ones who lose wealth. They'll say Lakshmi left them because Vishnu was jealous."

Lakshmi: "Let them. They'll miss the point entirely."

Vishnu: "Which is?"

Lakshmi: "That I don't leave because someone else takes me. I leave because they stop deserving me. Greed drives me away. Generosity invites me back. Arrogance repels me. Humility attracts. This is the only law of fortune—deserve me, and I come. Demand me, and I flee."

Vishnu: "I don't demand."

Lakshmi: "You never have. In thousands of incarnations, through every avatar, you've taken what comes and released what goes. That's why— That's why wherever you are, however poor your circumstances, I find my way to you. Ram in the forest, Krishna in the cowherds' village—fortune followed because you didn't chase."

Vishnu: "And in the next incarnation?"

Lakshmi: "I'll find you again. Not because I must—because I choose. And that choice, renewed eternally, is worth more than any forced possession."

The cosmic ocean rocked them gently. Fortune and preservation, intertwined.

Someday, beings would worship her with gold and elaborate rituals, trying to buy what could only be deserved.

They would miss the secret: Lakshmi stays where Lakshmi is welcome.

Not demanded. Not captured. Not bought.

Welcome.