Artha

Diwali is now and yesterday was the Lakshmi day, Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth and prosperity....

asia.si.edu

as a Westerner, Christian religion emphasizes poverty as being honorable way to live (maybe that was later influence in efforts to keep the lower classes accepting of their status?) and, to a Westerner, worshiping a goddess of wealth and prosperity seems vain and materialistic....

Johansen's Bridge House

but if you live in poverty, how can you be in a position to help those in need, for example, i would like a nice house some day so i can adopt, not so i can keep up with the Jones'... or the Johansen's...

etsy.com

i enjoy Swami Vivekananda's sentiments, that religion was not for those with empty stomachs, to be interesting--when a person is struggling to survive, he or she would hardly find any solace in religion...Soothing words would not comfort a hungry soul as much as a morsel of food. 

Gauguin

in order to share a part of yourself or what you believe in, you have had the luxury to come to know yourself and to have the clarity to and resources to help others, having abundance in your life is different than greed.