Lord Narayana is inseparable from His Consort—Goddess Mahalakshmi. The most important reason for His fondness for Her, is Her unfailing kindness towards jivas. The Lord is merciful, and wants to forgive us when we do wrong. But He is also in the position of having to punish the wrong doers, for how else is justice to be established? If the wicked go unpunished, then it will only embolden them to do more wrong. So He has to punish. But this goes against His merciful nature. This is where Mahalakshmi comes in. The Lord looks to Her, when He has to punish someone, almost as if He is asking for a way out. She immediately makes excuses for the person He is about to punish. She argues on behalf of the offender, and urges the Lord to let him go. Goddess Bhooma Devi also approves of Mahalakshmi’s pleas. Thus the two of them together make sure that the Lord is not too harsh when He hands down punishment to an offender. That is why the Lord adores Mahalakshmi, because of Her arguments on behalf of jivas, said M.K. Srinivasan, in a discourse. If not for Her, He would punish us severely, and He is glad that He is spared such a task, for it is a task that He is not fond of.
In temples, the deity is adorned in different ways, and once Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam was dressed up like the Goddess. Vaishnavite Acharya Parasara Bhattar, upon seeing the idol, remarked, that the Lord looked attractive, but His eyes gave Him away. They did not have the gentle look so evident in Goddess Ranganayaki’s eyes. The Lord’s eyes are like lotuses. When Hanuman meets Sita in Lanka, he describes the lotus like eyes of Lord Rama. But the Lord’s eyes also have the commanding look of a king, the stern look of a warrior. The Goddess’ eyes have all the love and kindness of a mother.
