Sri:
Dear BhakthAs of Sri Lakshmi
Nrusimhan :
After coverage of the 25
slOkams of Swamy Desikan's Sri Sthuthi ,
adiyEn will linger over
specific slOkams of Sri Lakshmi Sahasram
composed by MahA VidwAn
ArasANipAlai VenkatAdhvari .
The Great Poet and
Illustrious Lakshmi Bhakthar from ArasANippAlai
****************************************************************************************
Sri VenkatAdhvari comes from
the vamsam of Swamy AppuLLAr ,
Swamy Desikan's
maternal uncle . He lived in the 16th century
at
ArasANippAlai , a
village near Kaanchi populated by Vedic Scholars .
He
was a contemproary of Sri Lakshmi KumAra
Taatha Desikan linked to
the 6th Pattam
Srimath Azhagiya Singar . SvayamAchArya
Purusha
and Desika Ratnam "Seva
SwamigaL " is a descendant of Sri VenkatAdhri
Kavi and was also profoundly
gifted with poetic skills & darsana Jn~Anam.
The compositions of Sri
VenkatAdhri Kavi
********************************************************
Sri VenkatAdhvari Swamy has left behind
monumental sthOthrams
and Kaavyams :
(1) Viswa GuNa darsa champu (2)
Sri Raaghava Yaadhaveeyam
and (3) Sri Lakshmi Sahasram . Each one of
them is a poetic treasure
and deep source book for revelation of his
Bhakthi for Sri Padmasani
ThAyAr SamEtha Lord SrinivAsa of Thirumalai
and MahA Lakshmi
as well as Sri Ramachandra
.
Sri Raaghava
Yaadhaveeyam demonstrates the extraordinary skills
of
Sri VemkatAdhavari Swamy as a poet . The 30
stanzas of this creation
deals on selected topics of Srimath
RaamAyaNam and Srimath BhAgavatham.
The slOkAs can be read normally ( from
left to right) as well as in reverse
( right to left) to find the same meaning .
Viswa GuNa darsa
champu is a tribute
to the dhivya desams . Two GandharvAs
are the characters in this Kaavyam . One of
them praises the vaibhavam of
the dhivya dEsam and its people and the
other Gandharva coments on
the deficencies of the dhivya dEsams and
its people . It is clever juxtaposition .
Laksmi
Sahasram:Soon after composing this champu grantham , Sri VenkatAdhwari
Swamy
lost his eye sight . He
recognized that his unintended offense to the BhagavathAs
in the Champu had caused his loss of eye
sight . Swamy prayed to Sri Padmasani ThAyaar
(AlarmEl Mangai of ThirucchAnUr) and
composed 1018 beautiful slOkams set in
25 Sthapakams . Due to ThAyAr's KaaruNyam ,
Swamy regained his lost eye
sight .
Essays in Sri RanganAtha PaadhukA about Sri
Lakshmi Sahasram
************************************************************************************
NavalpAkkam TatAchAr VamsatthArs have
extensive knowledge about
the mysteries of the slOkams of Sri Lakshmi
Sahasram . Sriman NavalpAkkam
KaNNan Swamy residing now in Hyderabad has
been commenting in detail
about the individual slOkams of Sri Lakshmi
Sahasram in Sri RanganAtha
PaadhukA for quite some time now . adiyEn
has been a keen student of
his postings and insights therein . adiyEn
will share with you all
some of
these auspicous slOkams in a spirit
of supplication to MahA Lakshmi
for success in the fund raising kaimakryam
for the 79th Thirunakshathram of
HH Sri NaarAyaNa Yatheendhra MahA Desikan
.
1) MahA Lakshmi and Padhmam ( Kamalam
/Lotus)
******************************************************************
MahA Lakshmi is saluted as " Padhma PriyE
Padhmini Padhma HasthE ,
PadhmAlayE PadhmadhaLAyadhAkshee " in
Sri Sooktham .
In VishNu PurANam , Indhran salutes Her and
Her close realtionship
to the Padhmam this way
:
" PadhmAlayAm Padhma-karAm Padhma-pathra
nipEkshaNAm
VandhE Padhma-mukheem Deveem
PadhmanAbha-priyAm-aham "
At the end of His sthuthi Indhran begs
for KamalA's anugraham :
" praseedha Devi
PadhmAkshi mAsmAmstayAkshee: kadhAchana"
Adhi SankarA in his KanakadhArA Sthothram
salutes MahA Lakshmi's
close links to the Lotus this way and seeks
Her anugraham(Praseedha
mahyam) . Adhi Sankara begs MahA
Lakshmi to cast her Dayaa-laden
glances on him , the akinchanan and ananya
gathi and performs Prapathti :
SarasijanilayE ! SarOja-hasthE
!
dhavalatamAmSuka-gandhamAlya SObhE ! Bhagavathy ! Hari VallabhE ! ManOj~nE
!
Thribhuvana-bhUthikari ! Prassedha mahyam
KamalE ! KamlAkshavallabhE !
Thvam
KaruNApoora-tarangithair-apAngai:
avalOkaya mAmm
akinchanAnAm
PraTamam pAthram
akruthrimam dayAyA:
Kamala Pushpam has thus an exalted status
thru its links
to MahA Lakshmi in many ways
.
Sri VenkatAdhvari Kavi uses 40 slOkams of
one chapter of
Sri Lakshmi Sahasram to
offer his salutations to the
Lotus dear to
MahA Lakshmi . Here is a sample slOkam (
First of the Fourty) .
Salutations to the Lotus as the abode of
MahA Lakshmi
**********************************************************************
Aravindha-vanam vandhE
tadhaham yadhaharnisam
preethi-poorvaka-madhyAsthE
PeethAmbhara-kuDumbinee
MahA Lakshmi resides in the lotus forest
(Aravindha Vanam) .
She is there day and night ( aharnisam) .
She resides there with
Joy ( Preethi Poorvakam) . The Padhmam is
very dear to Her
and therefore She has the name of Padhma
PriyA . She is
the dear consort of PeethAmbharadharan ,
Sriman NaarAyaNan;
hence She is saluted here by the Kavi as
"PeethAmbhara KuDumBinee " .
The Poet salutes the whole Lotus forest
(Aravindha Vanam vandhE ).
It is like saluting the Giri ( Hasthi Giri
or Saptha Giri ) in VaradarAja
Sthavam and DayA Sathakam ) . The poet
salutes the Lotus forest
since MahA Lakshmi lives there with great
affection .Wherever
Sri Devi resides , those objects / places
are worthy of worship (e.g):
the back of a Cow , the lotus flower , The
Milky Ocean . That
is
the SaasthrArTam .
The Beautiful Lotus resembling MahA
Laksmi's sacred Feet
****************************************************************************
ThAvakam padham abhikhyayA
RamE
vArijam praNigadhanthi
Sooraya:
ProuDa SObha nakharAmsu
vaibhava
prApthamanjima sadhALi
sEvitham ---slOkam 3 of Fourty
The poet's skills in using double
meaning for the same word is
brought out beautifully here . Four aspects
are chosen to show
the resemblence between Her
beautiful feet and the Lotus .
Oh MahA Lkashmi ! Knowledgable rasikAs
(Sooraya:) describe Your sacred
feet as the Lotus . Why So ? There are four reasons (Similarities)
:
1. Both are Padham for You ; Padham means
both the Foot and also the place of
residence ( ThAvakam Padham) . Both are
Padham .
2. Both became Lotus because of Abhikhyaa (
means beauty or name) :
(ThAvakam Padham abhikhyA ) .
Both are abhikhyA : One is abhikhyA
Vaarijam (Lotus) and SrI DEvi is
abhikhyA Ramaa (Lakshmi) .
3. Both have links to " KharAmsu", the
Sooryan . The Lotus blossoms
from the rays of the spreading Sun ( ProuDa
sObhana kharAmsu vaibhava
manjima ). In the case of MahA Lakshmi , " Sobhana KharAmsu " is split
in to " Sobha nakhara amsu " : Her padham
has the glory of being
beautified by the lustre of the rays
emanating from the white nails
( ProuDa Sobha nakhara amsu vaibhava
prAptha manjma) .
4. Both the Thiruvadi and the Lotus are
"SadhALi sEvitham " .
" SadhALi Sevitham " for MahA Lakshmi means
worshipped by
rows and rows of puNyasAlees (SadhALi) . In
the case of the lotus ,
it is "sadha aLi sEvitham "( surrounded
always by honey sucking bees).
These are the four reasons to identify MahA
Lakshmi's sacred feet
as the Lotus .
SrI Devyai Nama: , Sriyaiy
Nama:
Srimath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE
SaraNam ,
Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri
Sadagopan
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