MahaLakshmi and Navratri Pooja
We recently completed Navratri or the 9 auspicious days in sharadya month where devi or Goddess mother is celebrated in Nine forms on the different days. The 10th day or dasami is celebrated as the Vijayadasmi in the south and Dussera in the north. It is considered as day of the victory of good over evil.
The three main forms of the devi are Goddess Shakti, Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Saraswati. Since we are a financial blog, let us focus on Goddess Lakshmi and what we can learn about wealth building from this festival and our mythology.
Kubera, the demi- God
Hindu Mythology also has a demi-God Kubera, who is associated with wealth. Laughing Buddha is also a form of Kubera. Kubera is the lord or the keeper of wealth. In puranas, he is described as short (dwarf) , overweight, with missing teeth, missing eye and other physical deformities. Stories show him as jealous and showoff.
Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth
Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth on the other hand is the epitome of beauty. In India, when an elderly person compliments the a bride to be, they always say ‘She looks like Mahalakshmi.’ It means the girl will bring all good things to the family with her. And it is indeed the highest compliment one can give from their perspective.
Why is there such a stark difference between Kubera and Lakshmi ? Why is Kubera, all things ugly while Lakshmi is the epitome of beauty and perfection. Was it intentional and if so why?
Hindu epics are always very deep and nuanced with lessons to be learnt in every single story, character and description
I contemplated on this and have penned down my thoughts here. You may have a different outlook and if so feel free to share in comments.
Kubera’s story and secret of his wealth:
Kubera is the treasurer or keeper of wealth. This wealth was bestowed to him by Lord Siva. Some stories says it was assigned to him by his Father. He is surrounded by things that are expensive like gold, precious stones, gems etc. He carries with himself a drawstring bag of Gold coins.
Skill Vs Luck
Kubera derives his sense of importance from the wealth that was bestowed on him due to the grace of God. It was not earned through skill or work and may be considered primarily through Luck. If Kubera falls out of the good grace of God and loses his wealth, he loses his identity. There is no way for his to earn back that wealth. As against someone who believes in his own ability to be able to create value and hence wealth. This is how entrepreneurs in various fields, successful specialists such as designers, artists, sportsmen, surgeons etc make their wealth. This is also why first generation entrepreneurs that have built their business and wealth feel more confident even when their luck turns bad and they lose most of their wealth. They believe they created wealth once and they can do it again.
Elon Musk – The Story of Resilience
We have many comeback stories of entrepreneurs. My favourite is that of Elon Musk. Elon Musk made most of his early wealth from being co founder of X.com which later became paypal and was bought by E-Bay in 2002 for $1.5 Billion.
Most would have retired into a beach shack and never worked a day in their life. But not Elon Musk. He invested almost all of the money from the Exit into two new companies – SpaceX in 2002 and Tesla in 2004. There were times he barely had money to pay salaries and was at the brink of failure.
But he made a comeback. Space X had a successful launch after several early failures. Tesla is one of the most coveted names in the Auto Industry now. He has created more companies in the field of Energy (Tesla Energy), OpenAI (Promoting and Developing AI), Neuralink (To link Artificial Intelligence with Human Brain) and the Boring Company(To construct Tunnels). Today, Elon is the richest man in the planet. He has created huge wealth and value having come from nowhere (a first generation immigrant) and being close to broke. This is all because of his belief in able to solve problems that people would care about. And this is what people who suddenly get lots of wealth don’t have.
Hoarding:
In a way Kubera is like the Uncle Scrooge in Duck Tales whose happiness comes from rolling over in the gold and hoarding more and more of it. Hoarding is a result of greed and insecurity which comes from Kubera’s inability to replicate his fortune if and when he loses it.
This is also why eventually he loses the throne of Lanka to his half brother Ravana who did not even have an army at his disposal. Ravana won the throne and all the wealth of Lanka without a fight.
Show – off /Arrogance:
This is the other extreme of hoarding where one spends money just to get attention/importance. This is how most people who won lottery or inherit huge wealth lose their fortune. Kubera too out of his arrogance and with an intention to show off his wealth rather than out of devotion or love arranged a feast for Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. Shiva knew Kubera’s intentions and instead sent his son Ganesha for the pompous feast.
Ganesha not only ate the huge feast with aplomb, he also started eating the valuable treasures of Kubera from his treasury to satisfy his hunger. Kubera realised his mistake and took refuge in Lord Shiva who quenched Ganesha’s hunger with a ladoo.
My learning from these stories is that ‘Wealth does not give one the feeling of Abundance on its own’. So how is Goddess Lakshmi the epitome of all things good?
Wealth is not just of Money:
Goddess Lakshmi manifests herself in 8 different forms or Ashta Lakshmi. The eight forms are Aadhi Lakshmi( the origin or the one who liberates) Dhana laksmi(goddess of wealth), Dhayriya lakshmi/veera lakshmi(goddess of courage), Dhanya lakshmi( Goddess of grains/food), Gaja Lakshmi (Goddess of Animal wealth aka elephants), Santana Lakshmi (Goddess of Offsprings i.e children), Vidya Lakshmi (Goddess of Learning) and Vijaya Lakshmi (Goddess of Victory).
Lakshmi is bestower of Courage, Food Grains, Children, Salvation, Knowledge, Animals (Elephant), Wealth(Prosperity) and Victory. So Mahalakshmi’s grace completes your life in every aspect and is not unidimensional of only financial prosperity as in the case of Kubera.
The aspects of Knowledge/Wisdom and Courage are those that can help one create wealth and value and not be dependent on other’s good grace to become prosperous. That is why self-made people rebuild their lives even when impacted with huge calamities. This is exactly opposite of Kubera who lost his kingdom to his half brother Ravana.
Humble:
Despite being the Goddess of Wealth and the epitome of perfection, she humbly submits herself to the Lotus feet of Lord Vishnu. Such a contrast to Kubera who tries to show off to the the God who was the one who granted the wealth to him. It is through humble servitude it is possible to keep wealth for several generation together. This is the secret of various business families of Parsis’, Jains, Agarwals and other business families who have built and preserved wealth over multiple generations. These families teach their children to be humble and work with values and attitude of being the servant leader.
Wealth Vs Cashflow – The most important difference
One key difference is that Kubera’s wealth is shown as a treasure of Gold and precious stones. These assets are a good store of value but do not multiply or generate cashflow(income) on its own. However Goddess Lakshmi’s wealth is shown as a shower of gold coins from Her hands. Goddess Lakshmi can generate more where it came from but Kubera can not. In this basic difference lies the difference in every behaviour trait we have discussed till now.
Many who have had crores of property have lost the properties due to their inability to pay property tax. The high value property in such cases has been a liability and not an asset. Robert Kiyosaki talks about these concepts in his book Rich Dad Poor Dad.
Wealth Vs Cashflow – My Experience
So is there any real difference between wealth and cashflow. There is and I have personally experienced the same too.
In 2017, My husband Harikrishna Natrajan and I took a break from our work and went on a one year trip around the country. I had dreamt about this trip for a very long time and it was a common goal for us both. We saved up for the trip, we arrived at a budget that was doable for us considering our then networth, spending habits on similar short trips and the time it may take for us to come back and restart our careers.
The Good and the Bad
With the exception of a few days, we lived well within the daily budget we had assigned for ourselves and completed the trip at a cost less that what we had budgeted and saved for.
It was a trip of a life time where we learnt so much about our country and enjoyed it immensely. There are some regrets though. For Eg, When we were in Aleppey, the boat house costed about Rs. 8000 per night. This was significantly more than our daily budget. But from a net worth perspective it may not have left a dent. But we chose to pass on the opportunity telling ourselves that we will come back later. It’s been 5 + years we have not been there yet. We wanted to take my parents but my Father is not around anymore for us to take him there. The covid and the lockdown made us realise we cannot take the future for granted.
There were a few other experiences too that we passed off like this due to a similar thought process.
Realisation : Wealth Vs Cashflow
I look back and realise what drove my/our thought process on these decisions. Although we had a good net worth, a back up plan, considerable confidence in our abilities to come back and start up, we had very little cashflow at that time and were spending almost entirely on our savings. My fear of running out of money kept me too conservative. Some people go all the way to the other extreme and end up spending a life time of money in just a few years and go bankrupt too.
Right now, We do not feel that way. For we have built a good cashflow from our investments that more than covers our basic expenses. So we feel abundant and indulge more on experiences, learning, giving etc, the way we had never done before. We know that our pot will never be empty because it is constantly getting refilled.
The thought process is very different and I can truly feel abundance which I never felt when we had wealth but no cashflows or as a salaried person.
Conclusion:
The abundance outlook is one of the reasons one has to attempt to create regular cashflow over appreciating assets that take money out of your pocket. This is especially important while trying to plan for goals such as retirement where you will need a certain sum for living expenses over a long period of time. This is different than accumulating a huge lumpsum which is required for purposes of event planning such as children’s higher education or wedding that requires a large sum during a short period of time.
Do consider these points when you plan for your retirement. If you need any assistance on the same, do reach out to me. May Goddess Lakshmi bless you all with skills, courage and knowledge to obtain all forms of wealth in abundance.