Why are Lakshmi and Ganesha Worshipped Together?

Diwali is approaching fast, and people are looking forward to celebrating the festival with family and friends. Diwali is celebrated over 5 days. Day 1 is Dhanteras. Day 2 is Chhoti Diwali. Day 3 is Badi Diwali, and on this day, Lakshmi Pooja is performed. Day 4 is Govardhan Pooja, and Day 5 is Bhai Dooj.

Lakshmi Pooja is the main day of the festival, and hence the day is also called Badi Diwali. People believe that doing this Pooja will bring auspiciousness, good fortune, and prosperity into their lives. Lakshmi, also called Laxmi, is the Hindu Goddess of wealth, fortune, and abundance (material and spiritual).

Facts about Goddess Lakshmi

Lakshmi is the consort of Lord Vishnu, who is one of the Trimurtis, and who protects the universe from harm. In fact, he takes birth on earth from time to time to restore Dharma and destroy evil forces. His various forms are called avatars. Lakshmi also is born on earth whenever Vishnu takes an avatar. When Vishnu took the form of Lord Rama, she took the form of Sita. When he was born as Krishna, she took 3 forms –Radha, Rukmini, and Satyabhama. When he was Parashurama, she was Dharani. When he was Narasimha, she was born as Sudha, and so on.

Lakshmi is a very popular Goddess, as her blessings can help people lead a luxurious life with ample wealth and possessions. But she is also a fickle Goddess. She does not remain in one place for too long. It is why even kings become paupers, and paupers become millionaires overnight. That is Lakshmi’s leela!

The Goddess is quite fussy. She does not like unclean places, and she does not enter homes where women are not given respect. She also does not like noise, arguments, quarrels, and clutter.   

  The Garuda Purana, Linga Purana, and Padma Purana state that Lakshmi was born to the divine sage Bhrigu and his wife Khyati, who named her Bhargavi. As per the Vishnu Purana, the universe was created when the gods and demons churned the Milky Ocean. Lakshmi appeared from the ocean, holding a lotus. Along with her came the divine cow Kamadhenu, Varuni, Parijat tree, Apsaras, Chandra (the moon), and Dhanvantari with the pot of Amrita ('nectar of immortality'). She had a choice to join the gods or the demons; she chose the gods. And among the 30 male gods, she chose Vishnu as her consort.

The Lakshmi-Ganesha connection

On Diwali, people worship Goddess Lakshmi and the elephant-headed deity, Lord Ganesha, together. Ganesha, as all know, is the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. He is Vighnakarta, the remover of obstacles and also the patron of arts and sciences. He also rules intellect and wisdom. These two deities are worshipped together for wealth and intelligence. Invoking Ganesha is mandatory for any Hindu celebration. He is worshipped first to remove all obstacles. Hindus believe that on Diwali night, Goddess Lakshmi visits their house to bless them with prosperity. An interesting story lies behind the combined worship of Lakshmi and Ganesha on Diwali.

Lakshmi adopts Ganesha

The Scriptures say that at one point, Lakshmi became very arrogant as she was very popular and had great wealth and power. Once, while conversing with Lord Vishnu, she went on praising herself and declared that only she was worthy of worship, as she had the power to shower people with money and wealth. On hearing this, Vishnu was irked and wanted to destroy her arrogance. So, he told her that despite having all the qualities, a woman is incomplete if she does not have children. Motherhood is the most exalted role in a woman’s life. But Lakshmi, the giver of wealth and good fortune, was not fortunate enough to experience this ultimate joy as she had no children. On hearing this, Lakshmi felt dejected.

She went to see Goddess Parvati for help. Parvati had two sons, so Lakshmi requested Parvati to allow her to adopt one of her sons. Parvati was hesitant at first, as she knew that Lakshmi never stayed in one place for long. So, how would she take care of her son?

But Lakshmi promised her that she would take good care of Parvati’s son and make him very happy. So, Parvati allowed her to adopt Ganesha as Her son. A delighted Lakshmi assured her that would bestow Ganesha with many accomplishments and prosperity. Those who wanted to worship Lakshmi for wealth would have to worship Ganesha first. If they failed to do so, she would not bless them. For this reason, people worship Lord Ganesha and Lakshmi on Diwali.

In a way, this makes sense, too. For a man who has wealth without intellect will not be able to use his wealth in the right manner and will end up losing it. So, one needs to acquire the intelligence to spend one’s wealth in the right manner. In other words, worship Ganesha first and then Lakshmi.