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From: Mani Varadarajan (mani_at_be.com)
Date: Wed Aug 26 1998 - 11:23:31 PDT
Raghu Mudumba wrote: > Elders say Lakshmi is Concept and not a figure. > Raghu RD Dear Raghu, If this were the case, then all problems are solved in the philosophical interpretation of Lakshmi and Narayana. I may be wrong -- I will have to go check -- but I am pretty sure that Vedanta Desika argues against the idea that Lakshmi and Narayana are "aspects" or "concepts" of one another. The reference here is Desika's catuh-SlokI-bhAshya. He does not reduce Lakshmi to God perceived in female form. For Desika, Narayana is God, and Lakshmi is God's "patni" or eternal consort, representing two distinct but inseparable realities. Desika quotes the vAkya from the purusha-sUkta "hrIS ca te lakshmIS ca patnyau" in support of his argument. I will research this further to be certain. Mani