PURPORT

The Lord has multifarious potencies (parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate). Since mother Laksmi, the goddess of fortune, is the Lord's very precious potency, she is addressed here as maha-maye. The word maya means sakti. Lord Visnu, the Supreme, cannot exhibit His power everywhere without His principal energy. It is said, sakti saktiman abheda: the power and the powerful are identical. Therefore mother Laksmi, the goddess of fortune, is the constant companion of Lord Visnu; they remain together constantly. One cannot keep Laksmi in one's home without Lord Visnu. To think that one can do so is very dangerous. To keep Laksmi, or the riches of the Lord, without the service of the Lord is always dangerous, for then Laksmi becomes the illusory energy. With Lord Visnu, however, Laksmi is the spiritual energy.