Sri Guna Rathna Kosam : Part 42: slOkam 31

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs:

 

With this and the following two slOkams , ParAsara

Bhattar clears some doubts for us that might

have arisen from the earlier slOkam , where

the Lord's greatness was attributed to His

sambhandham ( relationship) to His divine consort.

It is wonderful to reflect on Bhattar's inspiring

logic.

 

Slokam 31:

**********

 

Svatha: SrIthvam VishNO: Svamasi tatha yEvaisha Bhagavaan

tvadhAyattaddhirthvEabhyabhavath aparAdhIna vibhava:

svayA dhIpthyA rathnam bhavadhapi mahArgam na viguNam

na kuNDavAsvAtantryam bhavathi cha na chAnyahithaguNam

 

The Tamil transaltion of this slOkam has been done very well

by Sri Thirumalai NallAn Raamakrishna Iyengar:

 

iyalbinAl sotthAm unnal IRai siRappu yeythinAlum

ayal poruLAlE aahum adhisayam udyAn aahAn

suya oLi tulakkumEnum thoomaNi guNam maRRonRAl

uyarnthathu Thiru! mudanmai ozhinthathu yenRu uraikkappOmO?

 

The Sanskrit commentary form Sri Vatsya VeerarAghavAcchAr Swamy

on the "Svatha:SrIthvam " is also included for completeness :

 

" Svatha: ithi-- hE SrI: Thvam VishNO: SVATHA: SvabhAbhAvAth

nirupAdhikAthma SvarUpa-SvabhAva: ithi arTa:

 

Svamasi SeshabhUthAsi " SvathvamAthmani samjAtham SwAmithvam

BrahmaNi-sthiTam ; AathmadhAsyam harE: SvAmyam svabhAvam cha

sadhaa smara " ithyAdhi PramANA:

 

Dr.V.N.VedAntha Desikan"s translation of SlOkam 31

***************************************************

Oh Mahaa Lakshmi! You are but a natural posssesison

of the Lord. Thus, when we state that His greatness

depends on Your being His possession , it is not

as though we deny His due greatness , or that He

depends , for His greatness , on an external factor .

Because His greatness depends only on His own " Property "

(This term "Property" is appropriate in the sense of GUNA

as well as POSSESSION . In Tamil, Guna means Quality

and not Possession. In English and in Sanskrit languages

however , GUNA means both Quality and Possession ).

He has not borrowed His greatness from some one else,

it would amount to a kind of stigma. He DEPENDS, afterall,

on His own !

 

Consider an illustration ! A precious gemstone becomes very

valuable only by reason of its brilliant lustre , that is,

the radiations it emits. If we were to assert that the gemstone

will be worthless , we are consciously praising lustre

as if it were a separate factor isolable from the possessor ,

the gemstone. Actually , whateveer tribute we concede to

the possession --the property , the lustre-- will

automatically devolve on the possessor.

 

All that is spoken of You , Oh Mother , is ipso facto

valid in respect of the Lord as well.

 

Additional Thoughts :

********************

Oh MahA Lakshmi! You are indeed the Lord's Sotthu

(Possession )! We say Your glory gives the Lord

His Glory (i-e) he derives His glory from You !

This type of adoration does not demean the Lord in

any sense.Your Lord has all the glory and mahimai .

Our statements Connecting His glory to Yours is not

to be associated with any suggestion that He is deriving

His glory from any thing that does not belong to Him.

He is only deriving it from an adhIna vasthu and not

a parAdhina Vasthu ( the property belonging to

Someone else).

 

You are Your Lord's possesion (Svatha: Svam). One

who owns some one or a property (Svam ) is Swaami .

Your Lord is Your Swami . Therefore His deriving glory

from His own Sotthu does not suggest that He derives

such glory from soem thing that does not belong to Him.

The situation is similar to the lustrous gemstone.

Its lustre is its aathma guNam ( SonthamAna GuNam).

That lustre (gunam ) is not external to the gemstone.

It does not derive that guNam of lustre from something

outside itself.That guNam has to be associated always

with the owner .Similarly , MahA Lakshmi is the "property"

of the Lord. That She confers Her Lord great vaibhavam

does not detract from His Vaibhavam arising from His own

"property" with such lofty "Gunams".

 

Dr.VNV cites two instances in Srimath Rahasya Thraya Saaram ,

where Swamy Desikan cites this slOkam in two chapters:

SiddhOpAya sOdhanAdhikAram(23rd Chapter ) and Dhvaya adhikAram

(28th Chapter).The actual citation is : " Vibhu: PathnyA

GuNAdhyasccha VisishtO VishayOthra na:" Swamy Desikan

cites this 31st slOkam of Sri GuNa Rathna Kosam to

emphasise the doctrine that the Lord with Sri Devi

is the UpAyam for Moksham. As indicated earlier , this slOkam

describes the relation between the Lord and His PirAtti.

She becomes His Sesshbhoothai out of Her own desire.

He (Viseshyam) derives glory (Vaibhavam) from Her(VieshaNam).

This fact does not result in lack of GuNa VisEshams for the Lord.

They are inextricably interlinked by "EkasEshithva YOgam ".

All vaibhavams of PirAtti devolve on Her Swamy . A famous

Lakshmi KalyANa slOkam is cited by Swamy Desikan in this

context:

 

ananyAdhIna kalyANam anyamangaLa kAraNam

jagannidhAnamadhvantham dhvandham vandhAmahE vayam

 

(Meaning): We prostrate before the dhivya Dampathis

who have limitless auspicious attributes of their own

without depending on anyone else , who are the cause

behind the generation of sadhguNams in chEthanams ,

who have no equals and who are the cause for the existence

of the universe as its creators.

 

The dhivya Dampathis are "sadhaika sEshis or SadhA yEka Seshis"

according to AchArya RaamAnuja based on the authority of

PaancharAthra Saasthram . Among the Divine couple , PirAtti

elects to become SeshabhUthai to the Lord and yet in times

of Prapathti , they both become the means and Phalan. She is

His natural possession.He depends on His posession for His

Vaibhavam and not any one other than that possesion ( MahA Lakshmi).

His greatness is in no way diminished by His dependence on

His own Isvaryam .