Swamy KurEsar's Sri Sthavam : Part VII

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Dear Members of the Prapatti group:We will focus now on the verses 6

to 11 of Sri Stavam.Verse 6 of SrI Sthavam:

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Eiswaryam mahadhEva vAalpmaTavaa dhrusyathE pumsAm hi yath

tallakshmyA: samudheekshaNAth Tava yatha: sArvathrikam vartatE

tEnaitEna na vismayEmahi JagannATOapi NaarAyaNa:

dhanyam manyatha eekshaNAth Tava yatha: svAthmAnamAthmEswara:

 

Oh Ranganayaki! It is said that wealth is of two kinds. One is that ,

which is experienced here on earth (Eihikam) and the other

experienced in Sri Vaikuntam by Mukthas and Nitya Suris(Aamushmikam).

Both these types of wealth are enjoyed by a fortunate few as a result

of the anugraham of your merciful glances falling on them.The

beneficial impact of those glances do not surprise us one bit ! The

reason for our belief is that we know already that Your Lord ,who is

His Own Master ,considers Himself Kruthaarthan (one , who achieved

the purpose of his mission) ,when your glances fall on Him. Kuresa

summarizes the special blessed atatus of Sriman Narayana this way:"

JAGANNATHA: ATMESWARA: NARAYANOPITAVA EEKSHANAATH SVAATMAANAM DHANYAM

MANYATEH "Verse 7of SrI Sthavam :

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Eiswaryam yadhasEshapumsi yadhidham soundarya-lAvaNyayO:roopam yasccha

hi mangaLam kimapi yallOkE sadhithyuchyatE

tath sarvam ThvadheenamEva yadhata: SrerithyabhEdhEna vaa

yadhvaa SrImadhitheedhrusEna vachasA Devi ! praTAmasnuthE

 

Oh Consort of Ranganatha! Whatever blessings a Chetana possessesas

Wealth, Beauty ,goodness and auspiciousness in this world , ALL of

theseresult from You. It is Your (Lakshmi ) sambhandam that makes

them qualifiedin the above manner. Some of them become auspicious by

SAAKSHAAT LakshmiVachaka Sabdham and the others by Lakshmi VISISHTA

Vaachaka Sabdham. Kuresa refers in this verse to two types of

auspiciousness thru association withSRI SABDHAM. One is " SRIRITI

ABHEDHENA PRATAAM ASNUTEH ". By the very attachment of the Sabdham

"SRI" , they attain auspiciousness. Thiru Pathi,Thiru Mangai, Thiru

MaaLikai , Thiru ViLakku, Sri Kuresa are examplesof the Sakshaath

Sabdham. Visishta Vaachaka Sabdhams are illustrated bySrimad

Bhagavatam,Srimad Ramaayanam , Srimad Anantha Saras et al. Verse 8 of

SrI Sthavam :*******************************

Devi ThvanmahimAvathi na: HariNA nApi ThvayA jn~AyathE

yadhyapyEvam aTApi naiva yuvayO: Sarvaj~nathA heeyathE

yannAsthyEva tadhaj~nathAmanuguNaam sarvaj~nathAyA vidhu:

vyOmaAmbhOjam idhantayA kila vidhan bhrAnthOayamithyuchyathE

 

Devi ! Even Your Lord does not comprehend fully the limits of your

Kalyana Gunaas. For that matter, You Yourself do not know the full

extent ofYour own auspicious qualities. This lack of awareness does

not in any waycause harm to Your title as SARVAJNAI or as the one,

who understands every aspect of knowledge. The reason for my view is

as follows: Some think that oneis a Sarvajnan ,when one possesses

knowledge about nonexisting things

(e.g) horn of a hare, Lotus growing in the sky, mirage in the desert .

One , who prides themselves about knowledge of those nonreal things

would be at the head of a group of deluded ones. In Your case, however ,

the limit to Your Mahima is an unreal thing (i-e), there is no such limit.

It is understandable therefore that You do not know about an

unreal,nonexisting thing. Hence , there is no dispute on Your

Sarvajnatvam.Your "unawareness (Ajnanam)" Is Yataartha Jnanaparaaya

Ajnanam and is not a Sarvatvabanjaka Ajnanam. The essence of this

verse is that Maha Lakshmi"sauspicious qualities do not have any

limit (i-e) they are limitless.Verse 9 & 10 of SrI Sthavam :

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lOkE vanaspathy Bruhaspaty tAratamyam

yasyA: prasAdha-pariNAmam udhAharanthy

Saa Bharathee Bhagavathee thu yadheeyadhAsee

ThAmm Deva-dEva Mahisheem Sriyam aasrayAma: (9)

 

YasyA: kaDAksha-mrudhu-veekshaNa-dheekshaNEna

sadhya: Samullasitha pallavam ullalaasa

viswam viparyaya samuttha viparyayam prAk

ThAmm DEvadEva mahisheem Sriyam AasrayAma: (10)

 

These two slokas end with the Saranagati statement:" DevadevaMahishim

SRIYAM Aasrayaama: ". In the ninth verse, Kuresa states that

those,whooffer Saranagati at the lotus feet of Maha Lakshmi will be

blessed with greatscholarship or Vak Samrutti. Kuresa explains that

by pointing out that theGoddess of Learning, Saraswati is a Kinkari

(Servant ) Of Maha Lakshmi .

Therefore, She will bless the Prapannas of Her Mistress with her own blessings .

In the tenth verse , Kuresa refers to a happening at the time of the Universal

Deluge(Pralayam ). At that time , there is no Lakshmi Kataksham on this world.

Hence, all chetanas and achetanas are anemic and famished and are in a state

resembling death.When Maha Lakshmi took pity on the state of the Universe

and thought about casting Her glance at the suffering Universe, that very thought

of Her gave new life to the chetanas and achetanas . They became invigourated

with energy and strength. Life came back all over. Kuresa sought refuge

at Her holy feet , which is the embodiment of Compassion. Verse 11 of SrI Sthavam :

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YasyA: KaDAksha veekshA-kshaNa-lakshyam lakshithA mahEsA: syu:

SrirangarAja Mahishee Saa mAmapi veekshathAm Lakshmee: (11

 

Kuresa concludes the Sri Sthavam by describing the power of

thatmerciful glance of Ranganayaki. He begs Her to enrich him by

casting

Her glance on him. In this verse, he reveals that even a second's rest of

Her glance on one will result in the acquisition of riches of the kind

that have no comparison . That Eiswaryam blessed by Ranganayaki

is not the ordinary wealth that disappears with time. It is

theunalloyed bliss of Moksham and residence in Sri Vaikuntam

as a Muktha Jivan in the company of Divya Dampathis and

the Nitya Suris. Kuresa prays for the wealth of Kainkarya-

Sampath from Sri Devi in this Sthavam. Swami Desikan elaborated on the

brief prayer of Kuresa in his SRI STHUTI .

There are 25 verses in Swami Desikan"s Sthuti. The first 12 and the last 12 of

them pay tribute to Sri Devi"s Kalyana Gunaas and reveal the Saastric truths

about Her YEKASESHITVAM . In the epicenter of this sthuti , in the 13th verse,

Swami Desikan celebrates the Pattabhishekam of Maha Lakshmi ,

when She appeared out of the milky ocean during the time of its churning

and became the consort of Maha Vishnu and thereby gave Him the title of

Sriya: Pathi. Swami Desikan like Kuresa recognized Her as "Mangalaanaanam Mangalam"

and "Sreyo Murthi: ". He reveals that She is the auspiciousness behind

allauspiciousness and that She is the embodiment of Benevolence . He

points out

that in the Yajna of Prapatti , the Jeevan , the property of the Divya dampathis

has to be presented as Havis to them in recognition of their role as YEKASESHIS.

Swami salutes the divine couple , who are inseperable this way: " Dampathee

Yuvaanam Na: Daivatham ". SWamy DEsikan salutes them as equals in the spirit of

the Vedas. He adds that the Atman has to be presented as Havis to both of them

to conclude one's Prapatti and to receive thereafter the fruit of Moksham through

that offering to the Divine Couple. Swami says that the blessed -ones are single-

minded about getting Sevaadhikaaram to the Divine Couple practising yEkaseshitva

Yogam. Such Prapannas according to Swami Desikan treat the other riches of

the world as worthless as the blades of Grass. AdiyEn will conclude

this posting on Sri Sthavam with the Dhyana Slokam of the SriSthuti

of Swami Desikan, who drew his inspiration from the PoorvAchAryAs .

Here Swami Desikan sums up the Kalyana Gunaas of Maha Lakshmi in the manner

celebrated by Alawandhar in Chatussloki, Ramanuja in Sriranga Gadhyam,

Kuresa in Sri Sthavam and Parasara Bhattar in Guna Ratna Kosam . The Dhyana Slokam

is as follows:KALYANAANAAM AVIKALA NIDIHI: KAAPI

KAARUNYASEEMAANITYAAMODHAA NIGAMAVACHASAAM MOWLIMANDAARA MAALAA

ISAMPAT DIVYAA MADHUVIJAINA: SAMNIDATTAAM SADHAA MEHSYSHAA DEVI

SAKALA BHUVANA PRAARTHANAA KAMADHENU: IIHere, Swami Desikan

recognizes Maha Lakshmi as the Auspiciousness (Mangalam ) behind ALL

auspicious objects and Tattvaas. He understands Her as the boundary

of Mercy .He sees Her as a Mandaara garland adorning the head of the

fragrant Veda Mantraas .He salutes Her as the most precious wealth of

the Lord. He points out to us that She is the boon-granting ,

wish-yieldingKamadhenu for all the worlds. Swami Desikan prays that

Maha Lakshmi of suchattributes should always reside in his mind.

Kuresa prayed for the glances of Maha Lakshmi to fall on him and

thereby sanctify him. adiyEn conclude this posting with a prayer to

Maha Lakshmi to bless us all

and enhance our Kaimkarya SrI .

 

SrI KooranATa SrIvathsachinhamisra Virachitha : SrIsthava: SampoorNa:

Aazhwaar, Aachaaryaal ThiruvadigaLE Saranam,DaasOham , Oppiliappan

Koil Varadachari Sadagopan