SrI:
SraimathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama:
Dearest
all,
Let us enjoy Sri Mahalskhmi?s unmatched and unique
status,
Someone enquired me as to how can both be
Paratvam. Here is what I had read
and gathered from
Poorvars and other wonderful books.
Purushakartvam of Goddess Sri Mahalakshmi- This is
related to the
role of Her in the manner of Her
serving as upaayam or the means to those
who seek
moksha and also grant moksha. Purushakaratva or
recommendation
role attributed to Mahalakshmi is also
described by Swami Desikan in Nyasa
thilakam.
pirATTi's purushakAratva (recommendation,
support,
advocacy): The only thing that is in between us
and
SrIviakunTham is the enormous sins that we have
committed. The only
prAyaScitta that is available to
most of us for our heaps of sins is
prapatti. The
greatness and efficacy of prapatti has been taught to
us
by bhagavAn in His rAma and kr*shNa incarnations,
and also by the great
sages and AcArya-s. As the
first step in seeking prapatti, we should seek
the
protection of our divine Mother, pirATTi, who speaks
for us and
pleads for us with bhagavAn ?tadArambhe
tasyAh giram avadhAnena manasA
akhila nAthasya ekAm
ahishIm tAm Sriyam prapadye (Slokam 3). In
lakshmi
tantra, pirATTi's words to us are: "Surrender to Me
when you
perform the prAyaScitta for your sins".
"prAyaScitta prasange tu sarva
pApa samudbhave
|
mAm ekAm devadevasya mahishIm saraNam Srayet
||
As our divine Mother, She takes the responsibility to
plead our
case when bhagavAn is vexed with our
enormous sins. Without Her pleading
our case, we have
no chance of approaching Him (adhr*shyatvam
-
non-approachability - Slokam 4).
SrI D.rAmasvAni aiye~ngAr points
out that SrI rAmAnuja
in his SaraNAgati gadyam, also first seeks
pirATTi's
Grace, and after obtaining Her blessing, performs
prapatti at
the feet of the Lord. SrI deSika follows
SrI rAmAnuja in performing SrI
prapatti here. This is
also called purushakAra prapatti.
[Thanks to
Sri N. Krishnamachari swami for the
reference].
Further, her roles are
rakshakatva, upAyathva, moksha
pradathva etc. The two roles are not
mutually
contradictory. She can play the role of a mediator and
also
serve as upAya for moksha. The Dwaya mantra if
properly interpreted reveals
that Sri along with
Sriman Narayana is both upaaya and upEya.
As
Goddess Lakshmi is on par with VishNu in all
respects and the two together,
as inseparably related
constitute like One Reality [aprathak
siddhantha
visEshana Vedanta] and that both partake in all the
divine
functions including upaayatva and
mokshapradatva. VishNu puraaNa clearly
states that
Lakshmi is giver of moksha [vimukti phaladayini].
The
hymns of Nammazhwar using the expressions irumai vinai
kadivare and
vEri maaRaadha poo mEliruppAL vinai
theerkkumE.. convey the idea, as
explained by PiLLaan,
that the Supreme Lord along with His beloved
consort
removes the sins standing as obstacles for attaining
God. The
statement pf Vadakku ThiruveedhipiLLai, if
properly interpreted, affirms
explicitly that the
divine couple alone is the goal without
any
distinction both at the time of approaching [the
Divine Being for
Self-Surrender] and also at the tile
of enjoyment [when rendering Divine
service in mOksha]
?AshrayaNa vaeLaiyOdu bhOga vaeLaiyOdu vaasiaRa
oru
mithunamE uddhESyam].
Vishnu pathnee and Sriya: Pathi are the
means and the
end
asmadhAchArya paryanthAm vandhE
GuruparamaparAm
Regards
Namo
Narayana
dAsan
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