Nava Raathri Season / Fund Raising for the Priest's quarters at Sri RanganAtha Temple : Part II( First Day of NavarAthri)

[Guest guest]

Sri:

 

Dear BhakthAs :

 

AdiyEn would like to start with the prayer ( 20th slOkam

of Sri Kanaka Taaraa Sthothram) to seek MahA Lakshmi's

blessings to raise the funds needed for completing the Priest

Quarter's construction project :

 

Kanaka TaarA SthOthram

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Let us start with Adhi SankarA's Kanaka TaarA thOthra

SlOkam that He sang in praise of SrI DEvi at Klaadi:

 

KamalE ! KamalAksha VallabhE !Thvam

karuNApoora-tarangithair--apAngai:

avalOkaya maam akinchanAnAm

praTamam paathram akruthrimam DayAyA:

 

( Meaning): Oh MahA Lakshmi ! the Divine consort

of the Lord with power to influence Him ! May Thou

cast Your mercy-laden side glances on this leader

among the helpless ones as the fit object for Your

unblemished Dayaa !

 

Adhi Sankara the great devotee of MahA Lakshmi

sought Her anugraham in this moving manner in his

Kanaka tArA sthOthram and She responded with alacrity :

 

Sarasija-nilayE ! SarOja hasthE !

dhavalatamAmsuka-gandha-maalya sObhE !

Bhagavathi ! HarivallabhE ! ManOj~nE!

thribhuvana-bhUthikari! praseedha mahyam

 

( Meaning )Oh the Lady with the red lotus in your hands!

Oh the Empress with the six auspicous attributes

befitting Your name as Bhagavathi ! Oh Mother

who has Her abode on a red lotus ! Oh Beautiful

one resplendent with white robe , fragrances and

garland ! Oh Supreme One delighting the hearts of

Your devotees ! Oh powerful One , who can grant

the three worlds to Your bhakthAs ! Please confer

the soubhAgyams on me ! )

 

Swamy Desikan & Sri Sthuthi at Kaanchi

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Four Centuires later , Swamy Desikan stood before Sri PerumdEvi

ThAyAr at Kaanchipuram and prayed to Her to remove the poverty of

a BrahmachAri. Our ThAyAr showered a rain of golden coins as She

responded to the appeal of Swamy Desikan .

 

Swamy AlavanthAr's ChathusslOki

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The power of the Goddess of all Iswaryams , Sri MahA Lakshmi

is limitless . Let us start this NavarAthri series with

Swamy AlavanthAr's ChathusslOki , which as the name

implies has four slOkams to celebrate the Vaibhavam of

MahA Lakshmi . Both PeriyavAcchAn PiLLai and Swamy

Desikan have written extensive commentaries for this

great SthOthram .

 

The Taniyan for ChathusslOki

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The Taniyan for this Sri Sookthi extolls Swamy AlavanthAr's

sacred feet , whose dhyAnam will remove all blemishes from

one's mind:

 

yath-padhAmbhOruha-dhyAnavidhvasthAsEsha kalmasha:

vasthuthAmupayAthOham YaamunEyam namaami tamm

 

The Text & purport of the four slOkams of ChathusslOki

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THE FIRST SLOKAM

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KaanthastE PurushOtthama:phaNipathi: sayyAsanam vAhanam

vEdAthmA vihagEswarO yavanikA maayA jaganmOhini

BrahmEsAdhi suravraja: sadayitha ; Thvad-dAsa-dAsigaNa:

SrIrithyEva cha nAma tE Bhagavathi! bhruma: kaTam ThvAm vayam

 

The First slOkam salutes the Parathvam (Supermacy ) of

MahA Lakshmi as a result of Sriman NaarAyaNa Sambhandha

niBhandhanam ( Relationship with Her Lord as the Divine Couple

exhibiting yEka sEshithvam).

 

The Utthama Purushan among all is Your husband

( PurushOtthama:tE kaantha:). AdhisEshan is Your bed and

throne/seat( PhaNipati: sayyA aasanam) .The embodiment of

Vedam , Garudan, is Your transport ( VedAthmA VihagEswara:

tE vaahanam).The world enchanter, Moola Prakruthi/Maaya

is Your curtain ( JaganmOhinI maayA yavanikA). Brahma , RudrA ,

the other devathAs and their respective consorts serve as Your

dAsAs and dAsis ( Sadayitha: BrahmEdAthi suravraja : Thvath

daasa daaseegaNa:). Your Name afterall is SrI: ( SreerithyEva

cha naama ithyEva). How can we dare to eulogize You of

such gorious Vaibhavam ( ThvAm vayam kaTam BhrUma: ) ?

 

THE SECOND SLOKAM

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The Second slOkam describes the PurushakArathvam of

MahA Lakshmi , enjoying the Parathvam with Her Lord is saluted.

 

YasyAstE mahimAnamAthmana iva Thavad-vallabhOpi: Prabhu:

nAlam mAthumiyatthayA niravadhim nithyAnukoolam svatha:

ThAmm ThvAm dhAsa ithi prapanna ithi cha sthOshyAmyaham nirbhaya:

lOkaikEswari lOkanATa dayithE ! dhAntE dayAmtE vidhan

 

Oh the Mistress of the Universe ( LOkaikEswari) ! Oh the consort of

the Lord of the Universe ( LOkanATa DayithE ) ! Your omnipotent Lord

is unable to assess exactly the limits of Your intrinsic capabilities to

be compassionate to the suffering jeevans just as He is unable to know

the extent of His own powers ( YasyA: tE niravdhim svatha: nithyAnukoolam

mahimAnam iyatthayA mAthum ThvadvallabhOpi aathmana: mahimAnam

maathumiva naalam ). Your Lord is unable to quantify it . adiyEn is going to

eulogize You with such limitless kalyANa guNams now without fear

( ThAmm ThvAmm nirbhaya: sthOshyAmi). adiyEn is emboldened

in this effort by the knowledge that You have compassion towards

me the unfit one on the grounds of myself approaching You as

Your daasan and as one , who has performed Prapatthi to You

(dhAntE mayi tE dayAm vidhan sann daasa ithi , prapanna ithi cha

mathva sthOshyAmi).

 

THIRD SLOKAM

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The third slOkam sings the praise of MahA Lakshmi with Soulabhya,

Dayaa GuNams and hints that She has share in Jagath KaaraNathvam

as well .

 

Eeshath thvath KsruNA nirIkshaNa sudhA andhukshaNAd rakshyathE

nashDam prAk tadhalAbhats-thribhuvanam samprathyananthOdhayam

srEyO nahyaravindha lOchanamana:kAnthAprasAdhAdhruthE

samsruthyakshara VaishNavAdhvasu nruNAm sambhAvyathE karhichith

 

Swamy AlavanthAr reminds us that the world is protected by a small

fragment of the nectarine side glances of MahA Lakshmi ( Eeshath Thvath

akruNA nirIkshaNa sudhaasandhukshaNAth Thribhuvanam rakshyathE).

Prior to the falling of those mercy-laden glances , the worlds were in a state of

inauspiciouness and poverty ( prAk tadh alaabadha : nashtam samparthi ) .

Once those glances fall on the world , matchless resurgence of

riches results ( anantha udhayam sambhavathy). For the chEtanams ,

enjoyement in this world , Kaivalya bhOgam (aathma saakshAthkAram)

or Parama padha bhOgam ( Vaikunta vaasam & ParipoorNa BrahmAnandham)

will never happen without the anugraham of the divine consort

dear to the lotus-eyed Lord ( KaruNAm samssruthy akshara vaishNavaadhvasu

aravindhalOchana mana: kAnthA prasAdhAdhAtruthE karhichith na

sambhAvyathE hi ).

 

FOURTH SLOKAM

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The fourth slOkam deals with the Svaroopam ( intrinsic nature) of

the fruits (Phalan) arising from seeking Her as UpAyam :

 

SaanthAnandha-mAhAvibhUthi paramam yadhbrahma roopam HarE:

moortham Brahma tathOapitathpriyataram roopam yadhatyadhbhutham

yAnyanyAni yaTAsukham viharathO roopANi sarvANi taani

aahu: svairanuroopavibhavair-gADOpagUDAni tE

 

This slOkam states that in every one of His (Lord's) avathAram ,

PirAtti has avicchinna samslEsham ( indissoluble links ) to Her Lord .

Her Lord has two aakArams (attributes/manifestatons) : UpAyathvam

( being the Means) and upEyathvam ( Being the Goal of that upAya

anushtAnam ). PirAtti pleads for the ering jeevans ( PurushakAra

kruthyam )during the UpAya dasai of Her Lord and never leaves Him .

During the UpEya dasai , She overpowers Him with Her beauty and

affection and accepts the havis of the surrendered soul with Her Lord.

The yEka sEshithvam of this matchless Divine Couple ( Dhivya miTunam)

is saluted here. In all places , times and states , She does not stay away

from Him even for a fraction of a second.

 

The first Quarter of this fourth slOkam refers to the dhivyAthma

svaroopam of the Lord .The second paadham of this slOkam

salutes the dhivya mangaLa vigraham of Her Lord . The third

paadham covers the VyUha-vibhava avathAra forms of the Lord.

The fourth paadham connects all the three paadhams with PirAtti

by emphasizing that PirAtti and Her Lord are indissoluably

linked together such as the fragrance and the flower as well as

the lustre and the gem through anuroopa guNa visEshams

resulting in niranthara samslishtam ( state of inseperable union).

 

adiyEn will cover next the detailed commentaries by PeriyavAcchAn

PiLlai and Swamy Desikan on the individual words and phrases of

the four extraordinary slOkams of Swamy AlavanthAr on MahA Lakshmi.

 

Periya PirAttiyAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan