The sacred mantra called Sri Kanakadhara Stotram is composed by Sri Adi Sankaracharya. He was a revered Hindu saint who wrote the auspicious hymn in the 8th century. Sankaracharya had taken renunciation at an early age of eight.
One day, he was begging alms and reached the house of a poor Brahmin lady. The lady was very poor and had nothing worth giving as biksha. She searched the house and found one fruit of amla (gooseberry) and dropped it into the hands of Sankaracharya. He was touched to see the plight of the poor woman and recited twenty-one hymns in praise of Goddess Lakshmi who was pleased with this and appeared before Sankaracharya and asked about the reason for his prayer. He pleaded the goddess to grant the Brahmin lady some riches.
Goddess Lakshmi at first refused to offer any riches to the lady as she did not qualify for them. The goddess said she did not do any charity work in her previous lives and deserves suffering and it is not possible to change anybody’s fate. Sankaracharya replied that the lady offered him amla fruit in this life with reverence though there was nothing in her house due to poverty and such an act would justify as a reason to shower riches on her.
9Apps 4.9
