Lakshmi desires to experience the bliss of, you can say, Krishnanand (the bliss of Krishna), premanand (the bliss of Divine love), the bliss that Radha Krishna gives in Their Divine abode, Vrindavan.
In fact, maybe later you can read the quote from Sam Rahasya Upanishad, which is a conversation between Vishnu and Lakshmi. She’s pressing His legs as He reclines on Sheshnag (the Divine cosmic serpent) in kshirsagar (the ocean of milk). She notices He’s always deeply absorbed in thinking of something or someone. So the next time He opened His eyes, she asked Him,
“Can You tell me what You think of when Your eyes are closed?”
So He describes Vrindavan and the Divine abode of Radha Krishna, and rasleela (the Divine dance of love), and the amazing sweet leelas (Divine pastimes) of the Vrindavan abode.
So hearing that, Lakshmi had a desire in her heart to experience that.
So it shows even God, there are different forms of the one God, yet it’s amazing that the very same God is desiring to experience that higher form of Divine bliss. You can say it’s an illustration for us, to make us understand that attaining Almighty God is one thing, and attaining God in His absolute, full-bloom, blissful form of Divine love of Radha Krishna, that’s something more. So Lakshmi decided,
“I want to attain that.”
So she went and did devotion.
… यद्वाञ्छया श्रीर्ललनाचरत्तपो विहाय कामान् सुचिरं धृतव्रता ॥
… Yad-vāṇchayā śhrīr lalanācharat tapo vihāya kāmān su-chiraṁ dhṛita-vratā.
- Bhagwatam 10.16.36
She went and did devotion for a long time in order to gain entrance to the Vrindavan abode, but she couldn’t because she’s Almighty Power, so she can’t enter into the Vrindavan abode. But she was given, you can say, a compromise. She was graced by Krishna,
“When I come on the Earth planet, you can also join Me in Dwarika,” which is kind of, you can say, in between. Vaikunth (the Divine abode of Vishnu) is the abode of Vishnu-Lakshmi, where there is pure aishwarya (Divine majesty), only almightiness, no personal interaction.
And Vrindavan is the ultimate form of that madhurya (Divine sweetness). You could say the sweetest form of Divine bliss. Now in between comes Dwarika abode, where Krishna is formal to some degree, and there is almightiness in His behavior, but He’s more friendly, less reserved than He is as Vishnu.
So He said, “You come and join Me in Dwarika.”
So she got to become Rukmini, His main queen in Dwarika. So there she is, the goddess of wealth, Shree Lakshmi. She is Krishna’s main queen in Dwarika.
