SrI Alavandhaar's ChathuslOkI- Sloka 4

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

 

Dearest srivaishnavas,

 

PiraaTTi asks: Thus, you are telling that I am the

means [upAyam] for all fruits; even when I am not

there, the perumAL is there for everyone to go to,

pray to and ask for. How can I be the upAyam then for

everything and everyone? Hence, I can not be upEyam

[Goal] as well. Alavandhar replies in fourth verse and

this final sloka of Chathussloki is a verse with

profound meanings related to Sri Devi"s Kalyana

Gunas. “You are ever associated with Him

uninterruptedly and manifest with Him as vibhu; be

with Him forever in all forms, under all circumstances

and in every avathAram, roopam. Thus without You, He

never exists alone..”

 

saanthAnantha mahAvibhUthi paramam yath brahma roopam

harE:

moorTham brahma tadhOpi thath priya tharam roopam

yathadhayadhbhutham

yaanyanyaani yathA sukham viharathO roopAni sarvaani

thaani

Ahuswair anuroopa roopa vibhavair gAdOpagUDani thE

 

Saantha- hunger, thirst, sorrows, desires, old age,

death, etc.; births; are not found…

anantha- endless (unbounded; limitless)

mahA vibhUthi- the huge two vibhUthis- leelA vibhUthi

(world); Nithya vibhUthi (SrI vaikuNtam);

paramam- none able or equal to

Brahma- Brahmmam- The Supreme..[possessed with

everything Grandesr and Greatest;

hare rUpam- VishNu’s ParamAthma Dhivya Athma swaroopam

of manifesting everywhere – [inside and outside

everything and everyone;

yath- That which is [as described just above- namely,

the One who has no defects such as hunger, thirst,

etc.. and who has both vibhUthis as His properties;

His attributes;]

 

moorTham brahma tadhOpi thath priya tharam roopam

yathadhayadhbhutham

 

Further than the Dhivya Athma swarUpam, sweeter to Him

is His most divinely beautiful, most gorgeous, most

wonmderful, amazingly charming, most mysterious

resplendent, Huge, enormous, dhivya mangaLa vigraham

(most divinely beautiful form – ThirumEni) with form,

ornaments, silk cloth, vanamaali, four hands holding

the divine weapons (as ornaments);

 

The forms (vibhava avathArams- that give most

pleasurable experience to Him- [yathA sukham] that

enables Him to perform leelAs during those avathArams

taking divine thirumEni in bodily forms (like mathsya,

korma, Rama, Krishna avathArams);

 

Other whatever forms that He has or takes namely,

vyUham [KsheerAbdhi sayanan] archA [in temples], or

Haardha [antharyaami roopam in humans, devas];

 

In all such above forms, You take most appropriate

forms to match His and be always with Him forever in

all such forms.. be in Dhivya Athma swaroopam

manifesting everywhere; or in Para, vyUha, vibhava,

arachA, haardha forms… You are there with Him always

in all forms and under all circumstances because You

and He are never ever separated.. And this is

mentioned in saasthrAs (pramANams - aahu: ) says Sri

Alavandhar.

 

Thus, the sloka beginning with "Santaananda Maha

Vibhuti" it is emphasised that the ubhaya vibhuti's

(the two world eternal and material), Divya vigraham

(Divine form), Divine avathaarams (Divine

incarnations) attributed to Bhagawaan are always in

association with SrI MahALakshmi inseparable and hence

she is also the refuge to be sought after and to be

attained like Bhagavan.

 

The ParamAthma swaroopam that has spread and manifests

everywhere [antharbahischathassarva vyApya

nArAyaNasthitha:] is along with Your Athma swaroopam

which also manifests alonmg with His Athma swaroopam;

The Paravaasudeva dhivya mangaLa vigraham, seated in

Srivaikuntam is more sweeter to Him that this Dhivya

Athma swaroopam which has manifested everywhere as

this dhivya mangaLa vigraham is enjoyed by His

bhAgawathas –namely Nithyasooris and is most charming

and most beautiful – athikOmaLam and in that sweetest

form of Paravaasudeva form, You take Your most

beautiful form [which is more divinely beautiful to

Him]; in order to perform shrushti, protection He

takes various avathArams namely, vyUha, vibhava,

Haardha and archA avathArams and without leaving Him

at anytime and in any form, You appear along with in

each of such forms firmly and most beautifully as

mentioned in saasthrAs and by sages quoting saasthrAs.

Thus He and You become both the means and the Goal for

all others and there is no grievance for us..

 

yathA sukham- says Alavandhar. Meaning: most

pleasurable; When He takes vibhava avathArams, doing

grandest deeds as leelAs during these avathArams, it

is sukham to Him and to Her.. Thus, when They take

even Rama avathArams, the tears, longing, suffering

are all grandest acts and are pleasure to Them; The

avathAra rahasyam is thus nicely mentioned by Sri

YamunAchArya that the avathArams – the Lord and She do

not take like human beings; His is of different kind..

and is a pleasure to Them. All are abhinayam…

 

viharatha: The shrushti, siddhi, samhAram are all

plays (sport) for Him; hence is called leelA vibhUthi…

 

 

anuruoopa roopa vibhavai: In LakshmI thanthram, it is

mentioned that when vyUha avathArams, vyUhAnthara,

Kesava, Narayana, Madhava, twelve names, have got

corresponding and associated twelve names for PiraaTTi

as well in detail and hence Alavandhar touches upon

here in one line.. that in every form She takes a form

unique to each form. Thus Alavandhar blessed us with

this slokam keeping all these in mind.

 

Ramanuja, Kuresa, Bhattar and Swami Desikan

incorporated the profound thoughts enshrined in this

immortal verse in their Sri Sookthis.

 

YaamunA asserts here that Sri Devi's Rupams and GuNAs

are tightly bonded together with that of Her Lord in

an insepaerable manner. Whenever He assumes Vyuha

-Vibhava - Haartha-Archaa rupaas , She takes the

appropriate rupams and is tightly united with Him as

AnapAyini. Thus they demonstrate Eka Seshitvam and

become UpAyam and Upeyam to us all.

 

ALavandhAr has based the four slokAs of Chathussloki

on the four chapters of Brahma Soothram- Sri UttamUr

Swamy writes. YamunAchArya’s purpose was to

demonstrate that the kalyANa guNAs [auspicious

attributes] of BhagawAn saluted by the four chapters

are shared equally by His consort, SrI MahAlakshmi as

well.

 

The first chapter of Brahma Soothram establishes

unequivocally that the Lord Sriman Narayanan is the

sEshi [master] of the Universe and He is the creator

of all. The second chapter dwells on His never

diminishing glories and that those kalyANa guNAs can

not be negated or explained away as nonexistent. The

third chapter states that He blesses us with all

fruits of our endeavours. The final chapter dealing

with mukthi states that He is our Praapyam or our

ultimate goal.

 

Sri UttamUr Swamy writes: Alavandhar follows the same

sequence while praising the Goddess Mahalakhsmi (in

line with Sri Lakshmi thanthram) and mentions that

 

(1) AdhisEshan and other Nithyars and BrahmA, Isa

(Rudra) along with other devas along with their

spouses are Her daasa dasee gaNa (servants and cluster

of dAsars); Thus She is the sEshi for all. sEshi means

making use of the dAsars to the pleasure and

satisfaction of Master (seshi) and protecting, saving

them (dAsars); capable of saving them- all fit in for

Her. Making use of moola prakrithi in order to enable

jeevas get on track and with Her merciful glances save

those jeevans with all wealth including ultimate Goal-

[Their Lotus Feet]

 

(2) In second sloka, Athmana iva, swatha- The grandess

and supremacy for Him and Her are equal and are the

same extent- says Sri Alavandhar- which never diminish

from time immemorial.. for Both of Them.

 

(3) mOksham is also Her anugraham says Alavandhar

 

(4) She also exists along with Him everywhere and in

every form; The vibhuthvam of Hers is established very

beautifully and subtly here by Sri YamunAchArya.

 

Thus what is mentioned in Vishnu purAnam, Paancha

raathram, LakshmI Thanthram, Alavandhar most

brilliantly placed in short four slokas for the

benefit and recitation of all of us.

 

Thus, according to the infallible authorties of the

scriptures [saasthrAs- pramANAs- Ahu:] it is

understood that the Lord is inseparably associated

with Goddess Mahalskhmi in all states and She is the

Mother of this world and the other. The Purusha

sooktha declares that the Lord is ever associated with

SrI. Both of Them are sEshin for the sentient and

non-sentient. ubhayADhishtAnam ChEkam SEshithvam.

 

Generally ChathuslOkI recitation is ended with this

following sloka:

 

aakAra thraya sampannAm aravindha nivAsinIm

asEsha jagadhIsithrIm vandEh Varadha vallabhAm

[sri SatakOpan Swamy of New York wrote excellent

translation for this verse few years ago: reproduced

here]

 

This is a slOkam from prapanna PaarijAtham blessed to

us by NadAthUr ammAL or Varadha Vaatsya Guru, the

guru's guru (prAchAryAL) of Swami Desikan.

 

The condensed meaning of the SlOkam is: I salute the

Consort of the boon-granting BhagavAn, who by being

the most beloved of Her Lord , assumes the role of the

mediatrix for erring chEthanAs, who are bending from

the weight of their huge load of sins and thus are

unworthy of Her Lord's anugraham. Through Her DayA for

Her erring children, She pleads with the Lord to

overlook their sins and pleads with Him to bless them

with His anugraham. She promotes mercy and dayA in Her

Lord and fosters jn~Anam, energy and power in Him at

the time of our performance of the Prapatti.

 

AakAram means aspects or mental dispositions or

capacities. The three distinguishing dispositions of

MahA Lakshmi (Aravindha NivAsini or the One, who

resides on a Lotus flower) are:

 

She is endowed with the three capacities of UPAYATVA

(being the means), UPEYATVA ( being the end) and

PURUSHAKAARA (being the mediatrix) --and is the ruler

of the whole world.

 

This is the SiddhAntham of AlavandhAr (ChathusslOki),

of AchArya RaamAnujA ( Gdhyams ) and of KurEsA (Sri

Sthavam ) and NadAdhUr ammAL, Bhattar (Gunarathna

kOsam), Swamy desikan (SrISthuthi) following the way

shown by ParAsara Muni in his VishNu purANam.

 

ThirumaamagaL ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Alavandhar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

dAsan

 

 

 

 

 

 

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