Sri:
Dear BhakthAs
:
AdiyEn would like to start with the
prayer ( 20th slOkam
of Sri Kanaka Taaraa Sthothram) to
seek MahA Lakshmi's
blessings to raise the funds needed
for completing the Priest
Quarter's construction project
:
Kanaka TaarA SthOthram
**********************************
Let us start with Adhi SankarA's
Kanaka TaarA thOthra
SlOkam that He sang in praise
of SrI DEvi at Klaadi:
KamalE ! KamalAksha VallabhE
!Thvam
karuNApoora-tarangithair--apAngai:
avalOkaya maam
akinchanAnAm
praTamam paathram akruthrimam
DayAyA:
( Meaning): Oh MahA Lakshmi ! the
Divine consort
of the Lord with power to
influence Him ! May Thou
cast Your mercy-laden side glances
on this leader
among the helpless ones as the fit
object for Your
unblemished Dayaa !
Adhi Sankara the great devotee of
MahA Lakshmi
sought Her anugraham in this
moving manner in his
Kanaka tArA sthOthram and She
responded with alacrity :
Sarasija-nilayE ! SarOja hasthE !
dhavalatamAmsuka-gandha-maalya sObhE !
Bhagavathi ! HarivallabhE !
ManOj~nE!
thribhuvana-bhUthikari!
praseedha mahyam
( Meaning
)Oh the Lady with the red lotus in your hands!
Oh the Empress with the six
auspicous attributes
befitting Your
name as Bhagavathi
! Oh Mother
who has Her abode on a red lotus !
Oh Beautiful
one resplendent with white robe ,
fragrances and
garland ! Oh Supreme One delighting
the hearts of
Your devotees ! Oh powerful One ,
who can grant
the three worlds to
Your bhakthAs ! Please confer
the soubhAgyams on me
! )
Swamy Desikan & Sri
Sthuthi at Kaanchi
*****************************************************
Four Centuires
later , Swamy Desikan stood before Sri
PerumdEvi
ThAyAr at
Kaanchipuram and prayed to Her to remove the poverty
of
a BrahmachAri.
Our ThAyAr showered a rain of golden coins as She
responded to the
appeal of Swamy Desikan .
Swamy AlavanthAr's ChathusslOki
***********************************
The power of the Goddess of all
Iswaryams , Sri MahA
Lakshmi
is limitless . Let us start this
NavarAthri series with
Swamy AlavanthAr's
ChathusslOki , which as the name
implies has four slOkams to
celebrate the Vaibhavam of
MahA Lakshmi . Both PeriyavAcchAn
PiLLai and Swamy
Desikan have written extensive
commentaries for this
great SthOthram
.
The Taniyan for
ChathusslOki
**************************************
The Taniyan for this Sri Sookthi
extolls Swamy AlavanthAr's
sacred feet , whose dhyAnam will
remove all blemishes from
one's
mind:
yath-padhAmbhOruha-dhyAnavidhvasthAsEsha
kalmasha:
vasthuthAmupayAthOham YaamunEyam
namaami tamm
The Text & purport
of the four slOkams of ChathusslOki
**************************************************************************
THE FIRST
SLOKAM
**************************
KaanthastE PurushOtthama:phaNipathi:
sayyAsanam vAhanam
vEdAthmA vihagEswarO yavanikA maayA
jaganmOhini
BrahmEsAdhi suravraja: sadayitha
; Thvad-dAsa-dAsigaNa:
SrIrithyEva cha nAma tE Bhagavathi!
bhruma: kaTam ThvAm vayam
The First slOkam salutes the Parathvam (Supermacy
) of
MahA Lakshmi as a result of Sriman NaarAyaNa
Sambhandha
niBhandhanam ( Relationship with Her Lord as the
Divine Couple
exhibiting yEka sEshithvam).
The Utthama Purushan among all is Your husband
( PurushOtthama:tE kaantha:). AdhisEshan is Your
bed and
throne/seat( PhaNipati: sayyA aasanam) .The
embodiment of
Vedam , Garudan, is Your transport ( VedAthmA
VihagEswara:
tE vaahanam).The world enchanter, Moola
Prakruthi/Maaya
is Your curtain ( JaganmOhinI maayA yavanikA).
Brahma , RudrA ,
the other devathAs
and their respective consorts
serve as Your
dAsAs and dAsis ( Sadayitha: BrahmEdAthi suravraja
: Thvath
daasa daaseegaNa:). Your Name afterall is
SrI: ( SreerithyEva
cha naama ithyEva). How can we dare to eulogize You of
such gorious Vaibhavam
( ThvAm vayam kaTam BhrUma: )
?
THE SECOND SLOKAM
*****************************
The Second slOkam describes the
PurushakArathvam of
MahA Lakshmi ,
enjoying the
Parathvam with Her Lord is saluted.
YasyAstE mahimAnamAthmana iva
Thavad-vallabhOpi: Prabhu:
nAlam mAthumiyatthayA niravadhim
nithyAnukoolam svatha:
ThAmm ThvAm dhAsa ithi prapanna ithi
cha sthOshyAmyaham nirbhaya:
lOkaikEswari lOkanATa dayithE !
dhAntE dayAmtE vidhan
Oh the Mistress of the
Universe ( LOkaikEswari) ! Oh the consort of
the Lord of the Universe ( LOkanATa
DayithE ) ! Your omnipotent Lord
is unable to assess exactly the
limits of Your intrinsic capabilities to
be compassionate to the
suffering jeevans just as He is unable to know
the extent of His own powers (
YasyA: tE niravdhim svatha: nithyAnukoolam
mahimAnam iyatthayA mAthum
ThvadvallabhOpi aathmana: mahimAnam
maathumiva naalam
). Your Lord is
unable to quantify it . adiyEn is going to
eulogize You with such limitless
kalyANa guNams now without fear
( ThAmm ThvAmm nirbhaya:
sthOshyAmi). adiyEn is emboldened
in this effort by the knowledge that
You have compassion towards
me the unfit one on the grounds
of myself approaching You as
Your daasan and as one ,
who has performed Prapatthi to You
(dhAntE mayi tE dayAm vidhan sann
daasa ithi , prapanna ithi cha
mathva
sthOshyAmi).
THIRD SLOKAM
**********************
The third slOkam sings the praise of
MahA Lakshmi with Soulabhya,
Dayaa GuNams and hints that She
has share in Jagath KaaraNathvam
as well .
Eeshath thvath KsruNA nirIkshaNa
sudhA andhukshaNAd rakshyathE
nashDam prAk
tadhalAbhats-thribhuvanam samprathyananthOdhayam
srEyO nahyaravindha
lOchanamana:kAnthAprasAdhAdhruthE
samsruthyakshara VaishNavAdhvasu
nruNAm sambhAvyathE karhichith
Swamy AlavanthAr reminds us
that the world is protected by a small
fragment of the nectarine side
glances of MahA Lakshmi ( Eeshath
Thvath
akruNA
nirIkshaNa sudhaasandhukshaNAth Thribhuvanam
rakshyathE).
Prior to the falling of
those mercy-laden glances , the worlds were in a state
of
inauspiciouness and
poverty ( prAk tadh alaabadha : nashtam samparthi )
.
Once those glances fall on the world ,
matchless resurgence of
riches results ( anantha udhayam sambhavathy). For the
chEtanams ,
enjoyement in this world , Kaivalya
bhOgam (aathma saakshAthkAram)
or Parama padha bhOgam ( Vaikunta
vaasam & ParipoorNa
BrahmAnandham)
will never happen without the anugraham
of the divine consort
dear to the lotus-eyed Lord (
KaruNAm samssruthy akshara
vaishNavaadhvasu
aravindhalOchana mana: kAnthA prasAdhAdhAtruthE
karhichith na
sambhAvyathE hi ).
FOURTH SLOKAM
**********************
The fourth slOkam deals with the
Svaroopam ( intrinsic nature) of
the fruits (Phalan) arising from
seeking Her as UpAyam :
SaanthAnandha-mAhAvibhUthi paramam
yadhbrahma roopam HarE:
moortham Brahma
tathOapitathpriyataram roopam yadhatyadhbhutham
yAnyanyAni yaTAsukham viharathO
roopANi sarvANi taani
aahu:
svairanuroopavibhavair-gADOpagUDAni tE
This
slOkam states that in every one of His (Lord's) avathAram ,
PirAtti
has avicchinna samslEsham ( indissoluble links ) to Her Lord
.
Her Lord has two aakArams (attributes/manifestatons) :
UpAyathvam
( being the Means) and upEyathvam ( Being the Goal of that
upAya
anushtAnam ). PirAtti pleads for the ering jeevans (
PurushakAra
kruthyam )during the
UpAya dasai of Her Lord and never
leaves Him .
During the UpEya dasai , She overpowers Him with Her beauty
and
affection and accepts the havis of the surrendered soul with Her
Lord.
The yEka sEshithvam of this matchless Divine Couple ( Dhivya
miTunam)
is saluted here. In all places , times and states , She does not
stay away
from Him even for a fraction of a
second.
The first Quarter of this fourth slOkam refers to the
dhivyAthma
svaroopam of the Lord .The second paadham of this
slOkam
salutes the dhivya mangaLa vigraham of Her Lord . The
third
paadham covers the VyUha-vibhava avathAra forms of the
Lord.
The fourth paadham connects all the three paadhams with
PirAtti
by emphasizing that PirAtti and Her Lord are
indissoluably
linked together such as the fragrance and the flower as well
as
the lustre and the gem through anuroopa guNa visEshams
resulting in niranthara samslishtam ( state of inseperable
union).
adiyEn will cover next the detailed commentaries
by PeriyavAcchAn
PiLlai and Swamy Desikan on the individual
words and phrases of
the four extraordinary slOkams of Swamy AlavanthAr
on MahA Lakshmi.
Periya PirAttiyAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
,
Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan
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