adiyEn's daring venture to take up Sri Alavandhar's sthOthras

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

 

Dearest srivaishnavas,

 

After an overwhelming encouragement on adiyEn's

rambling (called free translation) for

Thirucchandhaviruttham, adiyEn dares to take up Sri

YamunAchArya's ChathuslOkI and SthOthra Rathnam. We

just celebrated three weeks ago- the Greatest

Acharya's Thirunakshathram- Sri YamunAchArya's. I have

been mulling to start this series and due to work

pressure, it was getting delayed. Thus it is most

appropriate to take up these works.. better late than

never. Thus commences adiyEn's daring venture to take

up Sri Alavandhar's sthOthras next..[fools rush in

where angels fear to tread]

 

All our doubts, queries, on siddhAntham, religion,

Parathvam will all be cleared by these two wonderful

sthOthras.. especially sthOthra Rathnam- Gem among

Hymns- It is indeed a GEM…

 

YAmunAchArya also called as Alavandhar is the grand

–preceptor (PrAchAryA) of RamAnujA. Alavandhar

established the principles of VisishtAdhvaitam as an

expansion of the doctrines housed in his grandfather's

[sri Naathamuni's] treatises. Alavandhar has

elaborated on these doctrines with authoritative

scriptures such as vedic statements, Saatvic purANAs,

BrahmasUthrAs, Bhagavad Gita, etc..

 

AlavandhAr's philosophical works are: Siddhitraya ,

Aagama PrAmANya , MahA purusha nirNya and Githaartha

Sangraha.

 

AlavandhAr is also the author of two lyrical master

pieces (stotra GranthAs ) revered as Chathusloki and

Stotra Ratnam- which are what we would take up in this

series. adiyEn (like a rash infant without knowing the

danger) dares attempt this gigantic task. Acharya

anugraham, Bhagavad, BhAgawatha's grace should enable

me to scrape through. adiyEn is also blessed to have

the wonderful rich vyAkhyAnam written by Sri UttamUr

Swamy based on the Poorvacharya vyAkhyAnams of sri

Periyavacchaan Pillai and Swamy Desikan's.

 

These sthOthras are the first among the sthOthras of

our Srivaishnava acharyas – and are the forerunner of

almost every stotram composed by all Acharyas such as

of RamaanujA , Kuresa, Parasara Bhattar,

Swami Desikan, MaNavALa Maamuni and others. Swami

Desikan has written commentaries for both Chathussloki

and Stotra Ratnam because of their importance to Sri

VaishNava siddhAntham. Sri UttamuR Swamy has lucidly

explained the same in easy to understand Tamil and

hence with Acharya's vailakshaNya kataaksham, adiyEn

wishes to take up as one of little kaimkaryam for His

pleasure and for asmadhAchAryan's ThiruvuLLa ugappu.

 

Kaimkaryamaavadhu Seshi ugandha yEval thozhil

seyvadhu.. [Kaimkaryam is doing what pleases the sEshi

– master..]. With that introductory post, let us take

up the sthOthra ChathuslOki (meaning- four verses)… on

Sri Mahalakshmi first.. and then enjoy sthOthra

Rathnam verses.

 

We, the dAsabhUthars (servants) of Sriman Narayanan

should always behave, act in manners that please Him…

For that alone, He has blessed us with the instruments

of mind, speech and action. Out of those three, it is

not simple and easy to think of Him and meditate on

Him controlling the mind which runs faster than the

wind.

 

Also, the mind, body that perform are fruitful only

the doer (or the thinker); while the action of speech

does help a lot to the listeners as well. That's why

the praises openly, loudly, publicly in these forms of

verses are greatly beneficial to mankind… They are

available for us for ages and hence these are to be

saved for future generations to get benefited… These

translations of the wonderful commentaries would thus

enable us understand the ruchi (taste) richness of the

commentaries in original as well as the sthOthras and

would tempt the reader to recite them and read the

commentaries. One may say just naama japam (or

repetition of names) would be adequate and why all

these verses… the response is: [To the dynamic human

intellect, any repetition is boring and tedious, even

if it is of the Lord's haloed name. It is much easier

to recite a stotram than to repeat a mere tirunAmam.

Moreover, a name could possibly convey only certain

limited aspects of His greatness, whereas a Stotram

could do much greater justice to the Lord and His

auspicious attributes. Thus reciting a stotram affords

the devotee much more enjoyment than mere recitation

of His names. Stotras generally conform to a specific

metre (chhandas), often lilting and pleasurable,

adding to the enjoyment of the subject. [sri Sadagopan

Iyengar wrote under "Praise the Lord"]]

 

If we write the Vedantha saasthrAs in prose form, very

few only would be able to follow and understand. Also

they would not address the Lord straight. Also

Bhagawan is called sthavya: sthavapriya: meaning: One

who likes being praised… Vedas can be recited only by

those eligible therefore, and uttering some mantras

too is subject to qualifications. Stotras do not

impose any such restrictions on anybody, and are open

to all universally.

 

Thus, the first such sthOthras [verses] of

Srivaishnavam in Sankrit language blessed by our

Poorvacharyas are these ChathuslOkI and SthOthra

Rathnam. ChauthslOki is on the divine Consort of

Sriman Narayanan – SrI Mahalakshmi.

 

Swamy Desikan blessed us with the commentary for these

two sthOthras referring and quoting the SriBhashyam,

Vedas, Upanishads, Smruthis, Ithihasa, PurANas,

Paancharaathra etc… In fact Swamy Desikan pays his

gratitude to Sri Alavandhar for his blessing us with

these greatest works:

 

[in the words of Sri Muralidhar Rangasway- Testimony

in support of his greatness can be found from Swami

Desikan's tribute to him in the Yatiraja Sapthathi and

the Daya Shatakam. Swami Desikan, who is renowned for

his careful choice of words employs the usage vigAhE

to characterize the stature of Swami Alavandar in the

Yatiraja Sapthathi. It may be interesting to note that

Swami Desikan reserves this tribute only for two

Acharyas-Swami Alavandar and Swami NammAzhwar in the

Daya Shatakam salutation "vigAhE thIrtha bahuLAm

shIthalAm guru santhathim". Again in verse 59 of the

Daya Shatakam, Swami Desikan provides a thundering

declaration on the efficacy of Prapatti highlighting

in the process the exalted role of Swami Alavandar.

Swami Desikan declares "yathipathiyAmuna prabhruthaya:

praThayanthi dhayE jagathi hitham nanasthvayi

BharanyasanAdhaDhikam" (Lord Srinivasa is a master

artisan. The sky is his canvas and Daya Devi is his

paint brush. She sends us geniuses like Swami

Alavandar and Sri Ramanujacharya, who have established

that for the redemption of the entire universe, there

is no path greater than unconditional, total surrender

to Your Lotus Feet!

 

The concept of SrI or MahalakshmI or PERIYA PIRAATTI

is unique to Srivaishnavam and has no parallel in any

other religion or philosophy in the world. Right from

Vedas to date, there are eight major works besides

innumerable minor texts, extolling her glories. Those

eight are: SrI Sooktham, SrI Sthuthi (by Devendran-

found in Sri Vishnu purana), ChathuslOkI (by Sri

ALavandhar- that we are now taking up), Sranagathi

Gadya (where Ramanuja first addresses PiraaTTi), Sri

Sthavam (by KooratthAzhwAn), SrI GuNa Rathna kOsam(by

Parasara Bhattar), SrI Sthuthi (by Swamy Vedantha

Desikan), Lakshmi Sahasram (Sri Venkatadvari)…

 

All these compositions contain enormous references to

Her eternal presence, eternal unity, and total

uninterrupted, never-ceasing indentify with the Lord,

Her unbounded Limitless dayA, benevolence, Her being

the MEANS as well as The GOAL… of all Humans and

lastly Her special role as Purushaakaara (Mediatrix)

between Her children (us) and the Father (the Lord).

The Lord and She are the Dhivya Dampathi – and thus

They Both are SEshi (Master) for all except Them..

While the Lord takes the role of dhaNdadharathvam

(punishing of the transgressors against saasthrAs –

and everyone of us are in this category- in accordance

with our karma) and She forgives us to recommend our

pitiable case to Him for protection and saving us..

For that, She expects us to turn to Her and look upto

Her as complete surrender to Her… Else, She would be

partial to few…

 

In Chathussloki (four verses), YaamunA focussed on the

theme of Purushakaara Prapatti and Eka Seshithvam

principles. He based this work of his on the doctrines

outlined by Lakshmi Tantram. Eka Seshitvam refers to

the practise of considering both Sri Devi and BhagavAn

together as the means and the goal (upAyam and Upeyam.

In this context, they are inseparable [agalagillEn

iRaiyum enRu alarmEl mangai.. – says NammAzhwAr] and

hence She is known as VishNu Patnee and He is known as

Sriya: Pathi.. She on her own accord serves Him. We

will learn more about Her greatest glories when we go

through the individual four slokas of ChathuslOkI..

 

ThirumaamagaL ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Alavandhar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo narayana

dasan