SHREESOOKTA !

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shankaa roopena macchhittam pankeekritamabhoodth

yayaa, kimkaree yasya saa maayaa

shamkaraacharyamaashraye !<br><br>Kaamakotimahaapadma peethasthaam

kulasundareem<br>Srichakrarajanilayaam tripurasundareem aashraye!<br><br> The

important

vedic sookthas used in homa,pooja,japa,archana,vratham

are shree-purusha and durga sooktahs.Shree sooktha is

used by followers of shaiva-shaaktha-vaishnava sects

alike. Srisuktha is the KHILA suktha in rigveda. Khila

means appendix or supplementary. Mahabharatha

says,(shanthiparva) : " Khila is that which is not found in the

present shaakha(branch), but added due to its relevance

in the present branch of study ".

Rathri-shree-medha-shiva samhalpa sookthas are all khila sooktahs. They

are placed after the samhita arrangement in the

rigveda.<br> Srisooktha is found in rigveda after the 5th

mandala and before the beggining of the 6 th mandala.This

mandala is also called Aatreya mandala.Srisookatha is

mainly the adoration of Sri Mahalakshmi or Kamalatmika,

in a general sense.But in this magnificent hymn

there is no limited conception of the goddess as just

the deity of wealth, but instead as jagadhhatri,the

world mother. She is surya,chandra,indra,shiva,agni and

vishnu. Hence this sooktha is especially used by shakthas

and most vedic people to give ceremonial bath

(abhshekam or majjanam) to Bhagavathi.<br> 'SRI' arises from

the root(dhatu) which means "to serve". With "aj"

upasarga, it emans "that which is the refuge of all" or "

that which is served by all", indicating the ultimate

rahman itself.Similarly chandi says " Ya devi sarva

bhooteshu lakshmi roopena samsthitha...etc".<br> Though we

refer to sri as feminine power,as Dakshinamurthy

samhita says, this energy transcends the male-female

distinctions. It is the very seed of the entire

universe.Vamakeshawara tantra calls this as Lalitha Pararahman. Though

it is the sexless,formless,sole reality, world sees

it as the all-causing shakthi.Parabrahman is the

actual entity,chit or sri is it's transformation. Thus

sri indeed is the brilliant pillar of light(agni

stambha) in illumined hearts.<br> Though srisooktha seems

simple at the first sight,it is the key to the secret

and the much celebrated srividya panchadashi

mahamantra.Each rik mantra gives a letter of this incomarable

vidya and the samasthi suktha, the shodashi paraa

vidya.Tripurarnava tantar and other scriptures detail the merits

conferred on the sadhaka by worshipping sridevi in

srichakra with srividya using

srisooktha.<br>...................................