Once there was a king. He was a strong spiritualist, a dharmik. Whatever he said he did and whatever he did he said. One day the king declared that he would buy anything that remained unsold in the village market. People flocked to the market.

A sculptor brought an idol of the goddess Alakshmi, which negates wealth. Who would want to keep an idol of Alakshmi in their house? Nobody bought it. In the evening the sculptor came to the king and said: “Please take this idol and be true to your words.’’ The king bought it. Alakshmi entered the palace. At midnight the king heard a woman weeping. He approached her, asking, ‘‘Mother, why are you weeping? What is the matter?’’ ‘‘I am the goddess of wealth, Rajyalakshmi,’’ she replied. ‘‘Now that Alakshmi has entered the palace, how can i live here?’’ The king said, ‘‘Very well, for the protection of dharma i have to keep Alakshmi here. If you do not want to live here, you may go.’’ So the goddess of wealth left.

After some time the Raja heard the sound of footsteps. He saw a man and asked, ‘‘Who are you?’’ The reply was: ‘‘I am Narayana.’’ The king asked: ‘‘Where are you going?’’ Narayana replied: ‘‘Lakshmi has left the palace, so i shall not live here.’’ The king said, ‘‘To protect dharma, i have to keep Alakshmi, and so if you want to leave the palace, you may go; what can i do?’’ Narayana left. After that all the gods and goddesses left the palace. The king said, ‘‘If you all so desire you may go.’’ In the end a glorious personality appeared. ‘‘Who are you?’’ asked the king. The reply was ‘‘I am Dharmaraj, the king of dharma. As all the other gods and goddesses have left the palace, i am also leaving.’’ The king replied, ‘‘It cannot be. To protect dharma i kept Alakshmi. Oh Dharmaraj, how can you leave me?’’ Dharmaraj said, ‘‘You are right. I will not leave.’’

Since Dharma remained there, Narayana slowly entered through the back door. The king said to him, ‘‘If you wish you may come.’’ Lakshmi followed him, covering her face, because she did not dare to show her face to the king. Then all the gods and goddesses started entering. They said, ‘‘Where there is dharma, where there is Narayana and Lakshmi, we shall also go and remain.’’
Dharmabal is the biggest force. For those who have such a force, the worldly force is meaningless. You were with Dharma, you are with Dharma and you will be with Dharma. Don’t fear anybody. We should move on the path of Dharma even if Lakshmi leaves. Those who oppose Dharma will be destroyed.

There are three stages of people: Uttam or superior, madhyam or middle standard, adham or inferior. The adham people always think, “Can i do that great work, can i do? Shall i do? No, perhaps, i won’t be able to do great work.” They always avoid such work. The madhyam people come forward, associate themselves to do great work but when obstacles come, they dissociate themselves from the great work. The uttam people always participate in great work. Such people cannot come from the path of Dharma because there are impediments on that path. They will be victorious. So you must be adhere to Dharma. Victory is in your pocket. You shouldn’t cry for victory. You shouldn’t run after victory; rather victory will seek you out.

Excerpted from Anandavachanamritan.