Acharya vaibhavam - 18- Sri Mahaalakshmi- Her Glories and Greatness

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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dearest all,

 

Let us enjoy the glories and greatness of VishNu

pathnI- Sri Mahalakshmi.

 

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…

 

With vaalabhyam [love for Her], He is close to Her and

always listens to Her; with Vaathsalyam for us, She

recommends us to Him [and He naturally listens to Her

and heeds to her requests].

 

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 (chandhas), 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.

 

Hence we need to recite the sthotras and try to

understand their purports. One such magnificent

sthothra is ChathuslOki on Mahalakshmi..

 

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

 

In the PancharAtra smahitA, SrI Maha Vishnu explains

to his senior disciple VishvaksenA, the nature and

attributes of His consort, Sri Mahalakshmi. He states

that She is the resting place of all Gurus, ruler of

all worlds, eternal and imperishable. He elaborates

further on their relationship: Just as the Universe is

pervaded by me both in essence and quality, all this

is pervaded by Her also . Therefore, She is the

disposer and ruler of all.... She is pervaded by me

and similarly, I, the Lord, am also pervaded by Her.

The difference between me and Her is that She, who is

the ruler of all is subservient to me on Her own

accord being sahadharmachaarinI.. To Her as well as

the Universe that I am the Lord, is well known in

Vedas.

 

In the same PancharAtra SamhitA, Sri Mahalakshmi

herself has explained Herself and Her consort, their

pervasion and their ruler ship. Sri Vatsya Varada Guru

[also called as Nadhadhoor ammaaL, the author of the

illustrious work on SaranAgathi known as Prapanna

ParijAtha has elaborated on the relationship between

the divine couple as follows : That supreme energy of

Brahman, which is as is lustre to the moon, is the

Goddess Lakshmi , who is coexistent with Brahman in

all His conditions, and who is in His own nature and

is indestructible.

 

Thus 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.

 

maathaa Devi tvamasi Bhagwawaan Vaasudeva: pithAmE..

Regards

asmadhAchArya paryanthAm vandhE GuruparamparAm

namo narayana

dAsan

 

 

 

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