Sri Lakshmi Sahsram : 17.32

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SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs of MahA Lakshmi:

 

In the 32nd SlOkam , the poet instructs us that Mahaa Lakshmi's

NaamAs recited with or without the right pronunciation or recited

as a VyAjam or even accidentally will still yield all the fruits

of proper wworship:

 

vyAjAdhupAtthamapi VaaridhirAjakanyE

ThvannAma kAmapi dhadhAthi mudhAm samruddhim

AapethamulBaNathapAthapathApaSAnthyai

dhUrikarOthy dhurithAnyapi vAri Gaangam

 

The key words are : " Vaaridhi-rAja-kanyakE ! VyAjAth upAttham api

ThvannAma kAmapi mudhAm samruddhim dhadhAthi ".

 

(Meaning): Oh Daughter of the Ocean! Even if Your nAmAs are

recited as a pretence or pretext with no sincerity or belief

will bless the reciter with an abubdance of joy .

 

This efeect is comparable to drinking the waters of Ganga

during a hot summer by one to quench his thirst ; such an act

not only quenches his thrist but it also chases away

his sins from the consumption of those sacred waters :

 

" ulBaNa tapa Aathapa tApa Saanthyai Aapetham gAngam

vAri , dhurithAni api dhUreekarOthy ".

 

The thirsty one with a parched throat from the fierce summer

heat wishes to quench his thirst ( ulBaNa tapa Aathapa tapa

Saanthi). While fulfilling the desired purpose , that act of consuming

the waters of the sacred GangA river led to another result:

the banishment of the sins of the consumer .

 

(Commentary):The context of the word VyAjam has been

intrepreted in six different ways in BhAgavatha PurANam :

 

1. The vyAjam classed as SankEtham : For instance , when

One describes an event as : " I withdrew Money from Lakshmi

VilAsa Bank, went to Raajalakshmi stores to buy a dhoti

and returned home via Jaya clinic road to meet my wife

RukmiNi , who was waiting for me ". Here there was no

deliberate intent in reciting MahA Lakshmi's nAmAs .

The decalaration was a bland description of the morning's

activity . Oh MOther! You listen to this and use it as

an excuse (SankEtham) to bless the speaker .

 

2. VyAjam as ParihAsam: Mother ! You go even one step further.

When one makes fun of Naama Sankeerthanam by stating : what is

the use of reciting Lakshmi , SeethA , IndhirA etc ; it is just a waste

of time " . Here the man makes fun of those who recite Your Names .

Mother ! You bless the man who mocked at the act of reciting Your

nAmAs for the simple fact that his tongue uttered them .

 

3. VyAjam as complaint : One might complain in this manner: When

SeethA and VedA get together , no work gets done . Here the angry

complaint is heard by the Mother and blesses the annoyed complainer

with Her blessings for the mere fact that he used Her nAmAs .

 

4. VyAjam as being hidden in other words: When one gives instruction

such as , " Seegramaa kiLampu , avasaramaa pO , Oramaa nada ,

bhadramaa pOy sEru " , the word " ramaa" is hidden in these

sentences.Our Mother takes it that the speaker is calling Her

by one of Her nAmAs and rushes to bless him .

 

 

5. VyAjam when the words unite to form a sentence :

When one says for instance : "yEngka malaicchu pOreenga ?

**********

Please place the liquid in " the kadaisee thAmbALam ".

**********

Here, while referring to some other thing, Mother's nAmAs

such as Kamala , SeethA are implicit although the speaker did not

utter those names deliberately . MahA Lakshmi hears the echos of

Her nAmAs and is pleased to bless the speaker .

 

6. VyAjam as incorrect utterances : One stutterer wants to call

the Mother as "PadhmA " but his stuttering drives him to utter

Her name as " Pa Pa Pa PadhmA ". Another with a different kind

of speech defect can not use the letter "r" . That person says

" hamA , when he means " RamA" . He maeans one and says

another . That is another kind of vyAjam and our Mother responds

still with alacrity , since She can understand what was meant .

 

7) " VyAjamupAttham " : This slOkam has the compound word

arising from the combination of VyAjam and UpAttham . This compound

word has three meanings of its own :

 

7.1: The vyAjam of uteering the Mother's name without

any intention to address Her .

 

7.2: The vyAjam of pronouncing Her nAmAs incorrectly

 

7.3: The vyAjam of uttering Her names with the correct

abhisanthi (union of individual words forming a compound word).

 

All of these vyAja Maathrama result in Mother's anugraham.

 

One may have doubts about all these vyAjams yielding

the fruits of nAma sankeerthanam . The poet gives an example

of an unintended act giving unthought results : One drinking

GangA water to quench his thrist in summer time ends up

accidentally getting his sins destroyed by the waters of

the sacred GangA river .

 

8. The poet states that the utterer of Her nAmAs who intentionally

or unitentionally referred to Her nAmAs derives indescribable

bliss ( Kaamapi mudhaam samruddhim anubhavathy). Such is

Her Naama Vaibhavam !

 

9. The FOUR SaasthrArTams incorporated in this slOkam are :

 

9.1:Even if one utters Her names without intention or without

knowledge about the greatness of Her names or under pretext

is filled with bliss . If that were to be so for the unintentioned and

poorly informed one, we can guess how many levels of higher

bliss would surround one , who recites Her names deliberately

with a full knowledge about Her glories .

 

9.2: Devi's grace grants us indescribale and numerous kind of

bliss and soubhAgyams.

 

9.3: The inherent attributes ( Vasthu svabhAvam) will not change

with the thoughts of the handlers.

 

9.4: Our nAma sankeerthanam is vyAja-mAthram. We should never

think that we earned Her anugraham because of our effort . She

blesses us not because She feels obligated but she does so

because of Her overwhelming Dayaa. Even if our sankeerthanmas

have blemishes , She overlooks them and uses them as a vyAjam

to shower Her blessings.

 

Sri PadhmAvathy SamEtha Sri SrinivAsa ParabrahmaNE nama:

Daasan , Oppiliappan KOil VaradAchAri Sadagopan