Most of us confuse wealth with a lot of money. But that is not true.

Hindu traditions have very beautifully explained what wealth really is and how fortunate we are if we have wealth.

Lakshmi is the Goddess of wealth and prosperity. Wealth is a vital ingredient bestowed upon us for maintenance and progress in our life. It is much more than just having money. It means abundance in knowledge, skills and talents. Lakshmi is the energy that manifests as the complete spiritual and material well-being of a person.

There are eight aspects of this divine energy that may be bestowed upon us. Also known as the Ashta Lakshmi.

• Adi Lakshmi is the memory of the source. When we forget that we are a part of the entire creation, we feel small and insecure. Adi Lakshmi is that aspect which connects us to our source, thus bringing strength and calmness to the mind.
• Dhana Lakshmi – this everyone understands – is the aspect of material wealth. Some people forget Dhan as Lakshmi and Dhan (Wealth) becomes the Lakshya (goal) of life. Man makes Dhan as Lakshya and becomes sad. Dhan is Lakshmi, worship it like Lakshmi- honour it. Some people see fault in the Dhan(Wealth) and held it responsible by thinking its all because of Wealth, Dhan has only made all this happen, Dhan is not good, this is also not good. Honour the wealth, make good use of it then Dhan becomes Lakshmi. It is said that Lakshmi is very chanchal ( playful,unsteady), it keeps moving. When it moves then it gets value. What doesn’t move, remains fixed has no value.
• Vidya Lakshmi is the aspect of knowledge, skill and talents.
• Dhanya Lakshmi manifests as wealth in the form of food. It is said that we become what we eat. The right amount and the right type of food, eaten at the right time and place affects our body and mind positively. You go and see in villages, they don’t have wealth there but have enough Dhanya Lakshmi. They don’t have any hesitations or shortage of serving any anyone with food for few days. Whether they have money or no, but they have enough Dhanya. The quality and quantity of food villagers eat, people in city don’t eat that much. Their digestion power is also good. Dhanya Lakshmi- honor the Dhanya. Food is the most important in this world to everyone.
• Santana Lakshmi manifests as wealth in the form of progeny and creativity. People full of creativity, talented and skillful in the arts are bestowed with this aspect of Lakshmi.
• Dhairya Lakshmi manifests as wealth in the form of courage.
• Vijaya Lakshmi is the aspect that manifests as victory.
• Bhagya Lakshmi is the aspect of good luck and prosperity.

At different stages in life, different aspects of this energy manifests in a person. For e.g., Dhairya Lakshmi may make a person courageous, but without Vijaya Lakshmi, one would not be victorious. Similarly, Knowledge, Vidya Lakshmi, may manifest but without Bhagya Lakshmi the Knowledge would not help one progress.

These are the eight types of Lakshmi, they are all connected to each other. In some or the other quantity these all are with everyone. How much do we honor it, make use of it, it all depends on us. We all have these, some of them are more and some are less in quantity.