Slokam 3

Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth is also said to be born out of this churning.  Her pristine purity induced the Paramathma to have her for Himself.  Is Lakshmi not the eternal consort of the Paramathma?  Why is she said to be born out of the churning of the ocean?

Lets learn about Her.

Lakshmi emerged from the churning of the primordial ocean (Samudra manthan), choosing Vishnu as her eternal consort.^[4] As mentioned in Vishnu Purana, when Vishnu descended on the Earth as the avatarsRama and Krishna, Lakshmi descended as Sita, Rukmini and Satyabhama.^[5][6][7] Lakshmi is also known by the honorific Shri,^[3] as she is endowed with six auspicious qualities (guṇas). She represents the material world of the earthly realm as the mother goddess, referred to as Prithvi Mata; she is also known by her twin identities as Bhudevi and Sridevi, and in another form, as Nila Devi.

Lakshmi (/ˈlʌkʃmi/; Sanskrit: लक्ष्मी, IAST: Lakṣhmī; or Lakṣmī) is the Goddess who leads to one's goal, or lakshya (hence her name), and was first mentioned in the Śrī Sūkta of the Rigveda.^[1] She is both the wife and divine energy (shakti) of Vishnu, one of the principal deities and the Supreme Being in the Vaishnava tradition.^[2] She is often depicted with Saraswati and Parvati as forming the holy trinity (Tridevi). For mankind, 8 types of goals (lakshmi) are necessary according to Hinduism: spiritual enlightenment, food, knowledge, resources, progeny, abundance, patience, and success. Hence there are Ashta Lakshmis ('Eight Lakshmis'): Aadi ('primeval'), Dhaanya ('grain'), Vidya ('knowledge'), Dhana ('money'), Santaana ('progeny'), Gaja ('elephant'), Dhairya ('courage'), and Vijaya ('victorious') Lakshmi.^[1]

As can be seen from the above,  Lakshmi is not just the Goddess of wealth.  Her eight attributes, including wealth, are listed above. 

All these attributes are to be endowed on us.  She is given the power by the Paramathma to distribute it to us.

So when our mind_consciousness complex is churned with the support of the Paramathma (Kurma).   we need churning tools (vasuki and mandara).  A lot of the churning tools are born out of the process of the churning itself.  Tools such as persistence, patience,  kindness,  etc., emerge from within us (where they were always hidden).  The eight attributes of Sri Lakshmi are also embedded within us.  These emerge in the process of churning. 

So although Sri Lakshmi is a permanent resident in the heart of the Paramathma’s eternal self,  and is not subject to creation and destruction,  the attributes within her power to distribute will be generated only when the effort of churning is undertaken. 

Lakshmi  is always born by the effort that we put into discharging our Karma.  Knowledge, food grains, progeny, etc.  are all the endowments from the effort of churning.  Material wealth of a society is generated daily activity and work performed by every working person.  As the Paramathma says in the Bhagavath Gita, we can only put in our effort but we cannot claim ownership of the reward,  which is the sole domain of the paramathma.  The Paramathma retains the right to distribute the results of the effort of karma.

The Paramathma has many metrics to evaluate.  All of these may not be directly related to just the effort required to earn the money.  The Paramathma,  through the pre-ordained karmic sequence of events, is the enabler and enactor of many of these events.  So what we think is our contribution and effort, may not really be so. We will never have the ability to assess the extent of our true effort. It is only the Paramathma that is privy to this information.

The distribution of the results of karmic activity can never be left to man, who is corrupt in every sense of the word.  If that happens,  all the wealth of this world will be concentrated only  in the hands of a few.   As we get deeper into Kaliyuga,  people directly relate job activity to the rewards it offers. All  activities are undertaken only after the rewards are known. 

May we always work selflessly and be happy and accepting of the rewards that we get from our efforts.