Olivia Robertson wrote in "Sophia": "I offer this incense to Thee,
Lakshmi, Goddess of the Cow, who produced the turning Universe from the
churning of Thy Sea of Milk! Yet Thou canst appear as any of Thy
children, disguised Avatar. 'And the pilgrim asked in his wanderings:
whence doth that wind blow, the sweetest-scented I ever inhaled? And it
seemed to him as if his own conscience were advancing to him in that
wind, in the shape of a maiden fair, bright, white-armed, strong,
tall-formed, beautiful of body, noble, of a glorious seed, of the size
of a maiden in her fifteenth year, as fair as the fairest things in the
world. And the soul of the faithful one addressed her, asking: ‘What
maid are thou, who are the fairest maid I have seen?’ And she answered
him: ‘Oh youth, of good thoughts, good words, and good deeds, of good
religion! I am Thine own conscience. I was lovely, and thou madest me
lovelier; I was fair, and thou madest me still fairer; I was desirable,
and thou madest me still more desirable. I was sitting in a forward
place, and thou madest me sit in the foremost place, through good
thought, good speech, and through the good deeds of thine.’"
From the "Guide to Clonegal Castle" by Lawrence Durdin-Robertson: "The
South angle of the temple leads into the Hindu chapel, on the N.W. wall
just inside the door is a picture of Lakshmi, Goddess of wealth or
prosperity (Shree), with the Elephant God Gayanana on one side of her.
At the far side of her is an Indian picture of Shiva and Parvati, the
Third Persons of the Hindu Trinity."
(Photo by Minette Quick, all rights reserved.)
