SRI LAKSHMI SAHASRAM
BY MAHA KAVI ARASANIPPALAI SRI VENKATADHVARI sadagopan.org sadagopan.org
Annotated Commentary in English By:
Oppiliappan Koil
SrI VaradAchAri1 SaThakopan
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SlOkam 30 30 SlOkam 29 SlOkam 28 SlOkam 27 SlOkam 26 SlOkam 25 SlOkam 24 SlOkam 23 SlOkam 22 SlOkam 21 SlOkam 20 SlOkam 19 SlOkam 18 SlOkam 17 SlOkam 16 SlOkam 15 SlOkam 14 SlOkam 13 SlOkam 12 SlOkam 11 SlOkam 10 SlOkam 9 SlOkam 8 SlOkam 7 SlOkam 6 SlOkam 5 SlOkam 4 SlOkam 3 SlOkam 2 SlOkam 1 SlOkam Sahasram Lakshmi Sri of Chapter 17th Sthabkam Vaibhava Naama Sahasram Laksmi Sri to Introduction T able of Contents: Contents: Table of 2 46 46 40 35 29 24 18 13 10 7 Page 115 115 111 108 104 101 98 96 93 90 88 86 80 75 71 68 65 63 61 58 55 50 4 - 6 6 - 4
SlOkam 39 Page 151 SlOkam 40 154 SlOkam 41 158 SlOkam 42 166
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Sri Perundevi ThAyAr
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inTyaEÚTya PadhmE yEshAm ucchabhAvO na nithya: yE sarvEapi sTAnabhEdhEna theekshNA: yashtusthushDir-nagrahAmsthAnatasthvAm nithyounnathyAm noumi sarvathra mrudhveem Oh PadhmAsani! AdiyEn will not salute the nava grahams (na noumi). adiyEn will prostrate only before You. The reasons are twofold. They have two major blemishes: (1) They are in ascendance (Uccha sTAnam) only for a limited time (Uccha bhAvE na nithya:). Sooryan is recognized to be uccham (ascendant) in mEsha rAsi; Chandran in Vrushabha rAsi. Once they move from these exalted and be- nevolent positions of theirs, every one of the nava grahams lose their boon granting capabilities and MangaLathvam. Why should adiyEn pay attention to these unsteady vyakthis? I will not. sadagopan.org (2) Further, their svabhAvams change once they come down from their Uccha Raasi to neecha rAsi. None of the nine are known for their unchanging benevo- lence. One day or other, they display vikArams (Changes in svabhAvams). Not only do they lose their auspiciousness, but they become cruel, when they enter into neecha Raasis (yE sarvEapi sTAna bhEdhEna theekshNA:). Thus, there is nothing steady in their svabhAvams. They have mood swings, When adiyEn com- pares them with you, adiyEn is overwhelmed by your unquestioned superiority over the nava grahams. Your loftiness is forever and intrinsic (svabhAvikam). It does not change with time, place or dEsam. Your permanence in loftiness and undiminished capacity to grant the desired boons at all times is not shared by the nava grahams. adiyEn can only worship You with unchanging oudhAryam (generosity). Secondly, there are those who change their guNams from place to place and from moment to moment. They behave kindly with a few and display anger at others. There is no steady stream of Dayaa that can be expected from them. You on the other hand is an undimished pravAham of Dayaa. You are forever lofty and superior to all of the nava grahams in your display of compassion to the suffering chEtanams. You are “NithYonnathai” and “Sarvathra 5 sadagopan.org Mrudhvee" Daasan, V.Sadagopan MahA Devyai Nama: SrImathyai anything. for grahams Ta i wy dyn aue ol yu n d nt o n go not do and you only salutes adiyEn why is That . 6 a te nava the ear NAAMA VAIBHAVA STABAKAM 17 TH C HAPTER OF S RI L AKSHMI S AHASRAM sadagopan.org sadagopan.org Sri Ranganayaki ThAyAr FIRST SLOKAM xaça †Zyey rajIvxaça ten dya¦una, Aaçan< jatu ic*Sy naça< }anEyRuni´ n>. 7 sadagopan.org Meaning: Meaning: n h asiiu lts lwr rjeahmA dhAmnA) (rAjeevadhAmnA flower lotus auspicious the in ( lustre Her (DayALu). Dayaa of embodiment the is She do be not need sankeerthanam That here. to referred (n sankeerthanam Naama Lakshmi of power superior The Jn~A blemish-free with us uniting na: Jn~Anai:yunakthy). AamnAnam of boon traordinary nA her of (Jaathuchith/kadhAchith) recitation sional Dayaa fallof bodiment adiyEn! on t May tatthvams). three the about knowledge (Superior wi occasionally even nAmAs many her of mention very soubhA all has tEjas That flower. lotus the in rooted AamnAnam jAthuchith yasya nAmnAm Jn~Anair yunakthy jAthuchith na yasyanAmnAm AamnAnam Jn~Anair The splendorous luster (tEjas) of MahA Lashmi isrec Lashmi MahA of (tEjas) luster splendorous The dhAmnA dhruSyEya rAjeeva dhAmnA tEna dhAmnA dhruSyEya dhAmnA rAjeeva dayALunA 8 ll bless us with Jn~Anam with us bless ll ne every day. day. every ne mAs will confer the ex- the confer will mAs ym t bes s The us. bless to gyams dhAmnA) has its home its has dhAmnA) he glances of this em- this of glances he AmnAm AamnAnam) is AamnAnam) AmnAm . May adiyEn be the the be adiyEn May . ognized as being as ognized a (nAmnAm nam Even occa-Even : : object of the mangaLa dhrushti of that luster (tEna dhAmnA dhrusyEya). MahA Lakshmi is identified with tEjas based on the SrI Sooktha salutations. As ”Jwalantheem”, "ChandrAm” and "SooryAm". She is “JyOthirmayee", “JyOthi SvarUpiNi”. The sukhAnubhavam of the usage of similar sounding words that lilt is adhbhutham: “yasya dhAmnA Raajeeva dhAmnA dhAmnA dhruSyEya! ". Our ThAyAr is ParamdhAmavathi, Raajeeva lOchanai, PuNDareeka valli and aravindha dalAyathAkshi. The power of Her MangaLa dhrushti has been cele- brated by Swamy Desikan elaborately Sri Sookthi e-book in http:// www.sundarasimham.org . Sankeerthnam of Her dhivya NaamAs will give us sadagopan.org sadagopan.org many kinds of boons, the chief among them is the acquisition of Sadh Jn~Anam. Parama Bhakthi about Her sacred feet is the end result, which pro- pels us to Moksha sukham. The boon granting power of her nAmAs is such that they even an occasional recitation is sure to confer the supreme boons on the reciter. Such is Her oud- hAryam and Dayaa Svaroopam celebrared by Swamy Desikan in His Dayaa Sathakam (http://www.sundarasimham.org ). The poet prays here for the dhivya KaDAkshams of the MahA PrabhAvasAli, SriKoMaLavalli ThAyAr, who restored his eye sight with her JyOthirmaya Ka- dAksha veekshaNyam. 9 sadagopan.org Aartayaa rasanayA adhya Seethalam keerthayAmi Tava Tava adhya SeethalamkeerthayAmi rasanayA Aartayaa arNavEndhratanayE athidussahE: dhurnarEndhra-guNa-var arNavEndhratanayEathidussahE: SrI Hemambhuja ThAyAr SrI kItRyaimkItRyaim tv tvnam nam kaem¦m!. kaem¦m!. kItRyaimkItRyaim tv tvnam nam kaem¦m!. kaem¦m!. A[RveNÔtnye=itÊ>shEA[RveNÔtnye=itÊ>shE- AatRyaAatRya rsnya* rsnya* zIt¦< zIt¦< A[RveNÔtnye=itÊ>shEA[RveNÔtnye=itÊ>shE AatRyaAatRya rsnya* rsnya* zIt¦< zIt¦< SECOND SLOKAM ÊRnRreNÔgu[v[RnatpE>,ÊRnRreNÔgu[v[RnatpE>, ÊRnRreNÔgu[v[RnatpE>,ÊRnRreNÔgu[v[RnatpE>, 10 --- nAma kOmaLam NanAtapai: In the second slOkam of the Naama Vaibhava sthaBakam of Sri Lakshmi Sa- hasram, Sri VenkadAdhri Kavi instructs us that the NaamAs of our Mother are extraordinarily efficient in quenching the unbearable heat of the Taapams: arNavEnhdra tanayE = Oh Daughter of the king of the Oceans ! (The reference here is to the birth of MahA Lakshmi from the Milky Ocean as the daughter of the Samudhra Raajan during the churning of the Milky Ocean by the Lord to gain Her as "PeNNamudhu" ). Tava Naama kOmaLam SeethaLam keerthayAmi = adiyEn is now engaged in the sankeerthanam of Your most beautiful and cool Sahasra naamams. sadagopan.org sadagopan.org What is the effect of such keerthanam on adiyEn’s tongue that has until now been parched by the singing of the praise of the inauspicious and insignificant kings of this world? The recitation of your cool and beautiful NaamAs has brought immense comfort to my tongue and has immersed me in the cool and rejuvenating amrutha pravAham of yours. My tongue until now was experiencing intolerable sufferings (Aarthi) from the relentless heat associated with my effort in singing about the nonexistent (imaginary) attributes of the inauspicious kings. This attempt at the guNa var- Nanam of these evil kings (dhur-narEndhrA guNa varNanam) for eking out a livelihood was like being baked in the midday heat of the Sun. The sufferings experienced by adiyEn's tongue (VarNanAthapai: aarthayA rasanayA) through abuse of the poetic skills blessed by you was terrifying. AdiyEn was used to invent auspicious and lofty guNams in these haughty, wealthy kings and lied through my efforts to praise them. The consequence was terrible for my tongue. It experienced immense sufferings. 11 sadagopan.org site tary on Sri VairAgya panchakam can be accessed at t at accessed be can panchakam VairAgya Sri on tary Soo Sri recal the be to has in circumstances similar under panchakam slOkams of pentad powerful Swamy His of through VairAgyam The gone. now is (rasanA) Aarthi tongue The keerthayAmi). Naamaani Tava kOmalam Lam ra ( tongue parched my to comfort and joy brought has kOmala seethaLa, your about sing to now switching By in the form of an formof inthe e-book. Sri KaNNan Swamy's beautiful Summary in Tamizh of this KaNNanof Swamy's in Sri Tamizh beautifulSummary DhUrttharai puhazhntha DhUrttharai tApam Keerthanam paNNUhinrEn Keerthanam TheertthiDa nAvil TheertthiDa taNmai SErtthiDa unn nAmatthaik- SErtthiDaunn nAmatthaik- 12 he he led here. The commen- The here. led adiyEn nAmams, dhivya sanayA adhya Seetha- adhya sanayA Sundarasimham web-Sundarasimham eia expressed Desikan sfeig o my of (suffering) ti f VairAgya of kthi slOkam is: sadagopan.org Sri Senkamalavalli ThAyAr THIRD SLOKAM rajIvgehe tv mTyRrajImTyRrajI---- rajIvyiNt VysnaiBxm¶a>, namain y> kItRyte s xNyae vEmainkanamip mannIy>. rAjeevagEhE Tava marthyarAjee rAjeevayanthy vyasanABdhi-magna: nAmAni ya: keertayathE sa dhanyO vaimAnikaanAmapi mAnaneeya: 13 sadagopan.org Meaning: 1. 1. groupsthis slOkam: of the on word (Comments) are: slOkam this of words key The form us to a status superior compared to compared tob that superior us the a status of form Moth Divine our of sankeerthanam the that us Ar structs sTaBakam, Vaibhava Naama of slOkam third the In sambhOdhanam relates to Sri Devi having the lotus fl lotus the having Devi Sri to relates sambhOdhanam eventhat of the to superior thatis DevAs. status au your of sankeerthanam the inengages who One The .api mAnaneeya: (bhavathy) mAnikAm for their loftiness of loftiness ! of their status for and are blessed eve saluted ocean become SamsAric of swirl are they while nAmAs, rejuvenating Your recite " RaajevagEhE":" The Tamizh rendition of this this by SrislOkam Tamizh KaNNanof S rendition The Oh MahA Lakshmi having your abode in the Lotus flow Lotus the in abode your having Lakshmi MahA Oh MahA Lakshmi is addressed here as as here addressed is Lakshmi MahA thErcchi peRum narar mAttu narar peRum thErcchi mAttu dEvi Ramai peyar paattuut- peyar Ramai dEvi tEnmalar thAmarai veetu tEnmalarthAmarai dEvarhaLin pArAttu dEvarhaLin 14 Y: aa AAi erhytE s: Vai- sa: keerthayathE, nAmAni Tava "Ya: ed about in the whirlpools the in about ed spicious nAmAs attains aattains nAmAs spicious lessed DevAs:lessed ower as her Home. It is It Home. her as ower n by the celestial beings ncelestial by the beings er's naamAs will trans-will naamAs er's “Raajeeva gEhE ". gEhE “Raajeeva sNpAa Kv in- Kavi asANippAlai wamy is: is: wamy er! Those who Those er! That in this context; Sri Sooktham salutes her as one resident in the Lotus flower known for its softness and beautiful hue: “PadhmE sTithAm Padhma VarNAm ThvAmihOpahvayE Sriyam” The prayer here is for the Devi of the Lord residing in her lotus home to re- side near the upAsakan. Another manthram of Sri Sooktham also recognizes her residence in the Lotus flower (PadhmAlayA): sadagopan.org sadagopan.org pÒiàye piÒin pÒhSte pÒalye pÒd¦aytai], ivñiàye iv:[umnae=nuk…le TvTpadpÒ< miy s 15 sadagopan.org 2 the Upaasakan.feet of the on head soft tus hous the in residing Lady the for is here prayer The 4. 4. fo a becomes names auspicious your :). (dhanya recite to enough tute o sea sorrowful the in immersed deeply one Any shmi! 3. pity her suffering for the caring as Mother them readily takes who DayALu, the is She SamsAram. of ocean that Jn~Anam Vipareetha , ajn~Anam of states their ( beings human of assembly the rejuvenates who One, Lakshmi"s nAma sankeerthanam lifts these troubled one troubled these lifts sankeerthanam nAma Lakshmi"s O SamsAric in whirlpool the in up caught were Naamams recit before humans the Earth; the with contact make chariots, their in sky the in travel DevAs erence. definit will beings human that surmise to easy is it bless that If ones. Celestial those by even shipped T Lord. the to dear DevAs the to even superior comes . " MarthyarAjee: Aajeevayanthy ":Aajeevayanthy MarthyarAjee: " . " VyasanABdhi-magna: Ya: tava nAmAni keerthayathE S keerthayathE nAmAni tava Ya: VyasanABdhi-magna: " s: amnknmp mAnaneeya:” VaimAnikAnAmapi sa: " Thvath paadha padhmam mayi sannidhathsva mayi paadha padhmam Thvath PADHMAALAYE PadhmadaLAyathAkshi PadhmadaLAyathAkshi PADHMAALAYE Padhma PriyE Padhmini PriyE Padhma hastE Padhma ViswapriyE VishNumanOnukoolE ViswapriyE 16 Here MahA Lakshmi is recognized as the as recognized is Lakshmi MahA Here h r Dv! ht otnt oe be- one fortunate That Devi! Sri Oh ed one is saluted by DevAs, by saluted is one ed the wheels of which do not do which of wheels the ely hold him in highest rev-highest in him hold ely children. children. e of Lotus to place her lo- her place to Lotus of e sinks them deep into the into deep them sinks f Samsaaram and is as-is and Samsaaram f hat blessed one is wor-is one blessed hat aty rAjee:Marthya n Lkhis sahasra Lakshmi's ing s and elevate them to them elevate and s A: dhanya:" A: n hm n helps and them on en Te oe of power The cean. tnt one rtunate Oh Lak- Oh from ) the level of the DevAs. Such is the ennobling power of her nAmAs! The person Becomes fit for worship by the DevAs, who consider him as a PuNyasaali and wish to acquire their puNyam by worshipping these fortunate ones ( Daasars of Lakshmi Devi) . 5. Alliteration: Sri VenkatAdhri Kavi uses the "Raajee" sabdham thrice to tell- ing effect in this slOkam: “Raajeevam (Lotus), Raajee (rows) and Aajeevayan- thy (Resuscitates) Similarly, the poet uses to pleasing effect “the naama and maana sabdhams” in the second half of this slOkam: "nAmAni, vaimAni, naamapi, mAnanee". This is a power packed and pleasing usage for the enjoy- ment of the listeners. sadagopan.org 17 sadagopan.org gaNDA-visEsha-ninadham kuhanA-piSAchyA: gaNDA-visEsha-ninadham kuhanA-piSAchyA: pachEshu-chApala-palAyana-siddha-manthram pachEshu-chApala-palAyana-siddha-manthram ke kenam nam nam nam n njpiNt jpiNt tvaiBxkNye. tvaiBxkNye. ke kenam nam nam nam n njpiNt jpiNt tvaiBxkNye. tvaiBxkNye. "{qaivze;innd<"{qaivze;innd< k…hnaipzaCya>, k…hnaipzaCya>, "{qaivze;innd<"{qaivze;innd< k…hnaipzaCya>, k…hnaipzaCya>, kaepanlàzmsaNTvvcaekaepanlàzmsaNTvvcae murare> murare> kaepanlàzmsaNTvvcaekaepanlàzmsaNTvvcae murare> murare> pÂe;ucaplplaynisÏmNÇ kOpAnala-praSama-sAnthva-vachO MurArE: kE nAma nAma na japanthy tavABdhikanyE In the Fourth slOkam of Naama Vaibhava sTaBakam, ArasANippAlai Kavi in- structs us that the sankeerthanam of our Divine Mother's naamAs will banish our AasA-Paasams and mohams driven by manO vikArams (Kaamams caused by ManmathA's arrows): The key words of this slOkam are: aBdhi KanyE! Tava nAma kE nAma na Japan- thy? The poet asks here a rhetorical question (Oh Daughter of the Ocean! who in- sadagopan.org sadagopan.org deed will not meditate on your divine names?) and answers in the affirmative: Every one does! Your nAmAs are boon granting and wish yielding in many ways and hence there would be no one, who will stay away from reciting and reflecting on the vaibha- vam of Your nAmAs. Anvaya Kramam: aBdhi kanyE! Pancha ishu chApala palAyana siddha manthram, kuhanA piSAchyA: gaNDA visEsha ninadham Mu- rArE: kOpa anala praSama sAnthva vacha: Tava nAma kE naama na japanthy ? ABdhi KanyE = Oh Daughter of the Ocean! Pancha ishu chApala palAyana siddha mantram = Your nAmam is a siddha man- thram that drives away the distortions to the mind caused by the five flower arrows of Manmathan. We would have to recall in this context the differences Between siddha manthram and sAdhya manthram based on our understanding 19 sadagopan.org uaA iAhA gnA iEh nndm nnda mant (ninAdha ninAdhm visEsha ganDA piSAchyA: KuhanA MurArE: kOpa anala praSama sAnthathva vacha: sAnthathva praSama anala kOpa MurArE: ThrayaSaaram. Rahasya math in detail in dealt SaadhyOpAyam and siddhOpAyam of r rfre t te -ok o Si BU n GodhA and BhU at the Sathakam Sri, on e-books the to referred are in length great and Dayaa and NeeLA GodhA , ( BhU bhUthais amsa Her achi is jeevan offending the of favor in tercession naadhams) gaNDA The quelled. Yours is anger Lord's the and effect rushAkAram of nAmAs The Jeevans. bhaddha repeat and many the over has Lord the that anger of effective extraordinarily is ucchAraNam) naama (Your Paramparai.Guru inour th to next AchAryan the from arising manthram shaNa considere be also could This ninadham. gaNDA VisEsha pe special their from away them chasing and PisAsus ThiruvEnkata of hills the of top the from Devi Dayaa bell. the of peeling of kind unique an is nAdham This plac favorite their to return never and flight take und coming ghosts and ghouls of categories the heard, Padh like names divine Your of form the in bell the in destroyed got she and milk poisonous her with Him KrishNA's infant to came who PuthanA, about think can relate To BhagavAn. of Saasthrams the by forbidden the tricks and deludes that (vanchanai) deception of bell of kind special a of ringing the from sunAdham Sundarasimham Sundarasimham website Sri Sthuthi , BhU Sthuthi and GodhA sthuthiGodhA and Sthuthi BhU , Sthuthi Sri 20 : = The sound of this manthram manthram this of sound The = es in the minds of SamsAris. of minds the in es eved by MahA Lakshmi and Lakshmi MahA by eved that drives away the ghost the away drives that mA, IndhirA, LakshmI are LakshmI IndhirA, mA, It is the announcement of announcement the is It turn. When the sound of sound the When turn. m declaring war on these on war declaring m ed transgressions of the of transgressions ed id o rvl n paths in travel to mind ce. hs s ned a indeed is This rches. n unhn te fires the quenching in o uaA iAu we piSAsu, KuhanA to e Lord (MahA Lakshmi) (MahA Lord e er the name of PiSAsu of name the er d as the Powerful rak- Powerful the as d Devis ) is described at described is ) Devis side to breast feed breast to side wm Dskns Sri- Desikan's Swamy way in which the in-the which in way tuhs n Dayaa and sthuthis ram) . The bhakthAs The . ae h Pu- the have I i the is It = (Sri Sthuthi) http://www.sundarasimham.org/ebooks/ebook1.htm (BhU Sthuthi) http://www.sundarasimham.org/ebooks/ebook2.htm (GodhA Sthuthi) http://www.sundarasimham.org/ebooks/ebook3.htm (Dayaa Sathakam) sadagopan.org sadagopan.org http://www.sundarasimham.org/ebooks/ebook16.htm Tava nAma kE nAma na japanthy? = who indeed would not recite your auspicious and powerful nAmAs to gain the soubhAgyams and ultimately sath-gathi? En- gagement in the recitation of your dhivya Naamams will destroy the disaster yielding kAmams, Mohams and banish the anger of Your Lord over our daring acts that defy His commands (Aj~NA Ullanganam). (Additional Commentary on the words and passages): 1. Pancha Ishu: Manmathan, the son of the Lord is the Pancha BhANan (Five flower arrows that he uses to kindle kAmams). Even ANDAL prays to him to unite her with Her Lord in the first decad of Her NaacchiyAr Thirumozhi. 2. Pancha chApa ishu chApalam = the longings between the lovers, the joy and 21 sadagopan.org 3. Pancha ishu chApala palAyana siddha mantram mantram siddha palAyana chApala ishu Pancha 3. 4. Guhanaa 4. under the word word the under by caused anxieties the reunited, be to agony mental (samslEsh separation and union from caused sorrow the Bhagavath AarAdhanam , when all ill meaning spirits meaning ill all when , AarAdhanam Bhagavath al”et VaishNavee mantram. Prasiddha a effect The roots. their nega a of desires the away, run chapalams the nAmAs, nishtais and niyamams with, purascharaNam performing upA His of dhyAnam in engaged is who ManthrOpAsakan, equivale is them Reciting mantrams. ujjevana pOshaka, Your of mantram siddha the by away driven are Lord that Manmanthan of arrows five the by caused palams of your names such as as such names your of untim to up way the bad all leading damage serious cause BhUtham, (PisAsu, ghost hiding a like is hanaa insteadSrungAra the mind inof the rasam of rasam H reciter. the to chApalyam buddhi any cause not does h eulogizing is reciter the that recognizes mathan like"Lakshmi, NaamAs sahasra her recites one When the dhivya of dampathis.abode BrahmAnandh ParipoorNa of boon the enjoy and mArgam reciter. the by gained seekLord His to the companionship. on centered not = Vanchanai, deceptive acts causing delusion (chitth delusion causing acts deceptive Vanchanai, = "ChApaLam". have the same effect as the ringing of the GaNtA GaNtA the of ringing the as effect same the have It helps us to travel in "gathi visEsham” of arch of visEsham” "gathi in travel to us helps It It is the sidhda Manthram that has existed forever; existed has that Manthram sidhda the is It Srja HrNe CadA Pdmn, SaarngiNee, Padhmini, ChandrA, HariNee, "SarOjaa, of “maRRai namm kAmangaL mARRElO yem paavai” yem mARRElO kAmangaL namm “maRRai of These are chApala vikArams as long as they are they as long as vikArams chApala are These 22 (asura sakthis) are chased are sakthis) (asura Tee etutv ChA- destructive These = reciter. reciter. Padhmaa, Indhiraa”, Man-Padhmaa, Indhiraa”, nAmAs. They are tAraka, are They nAmAs. ely death. The recitation The death. ely s w da Mte and Mother dear own is spirit, Mohini) and can can and Mohini) spirit, keeps us away from the from away us keeps eaain r grouped are separation . On recitation, of your of recitation, On . am and vislEsham), the vislEsham), and am ie id r brt to burnt are kind tive e creates the Saanthi the creates e t o h efrs of efforts the to nt aa Mrh after Murthy sanaa m t h Supreme the at am a bramai): Gu- bramai): a irAdhi during it s s it is is away. This is the GaNTA viSEsha nAdham. It is also equivalent to the Naadham generated by BhagavAn's Paadhuakais, which is nothing but the sound of AchAryAn. The Naadha Paddhathi of Sri Ranganatha PadhukA sahasram cele- brates the glories of that naadham in 100 verses (SlOkams381-480): www.sadagopan.org/srps/srps14.1.htm 5. MurArE: kOpa anala praSama sAnthathva vacha: = The sound of your nAmAs quench the raging fire of the Lord's anger (MurAri kOpa analam). The just anger of Your Lord over our many and unceasing trespasses is in the form of nigraha krOdhAgni. That gets quenched by the potent fire extinguisher repre- sented by the power of your auspicious names. Your Lord's anugraha sakthi sprouts forth and forgives the aparAdhis. sadagopan.org 6. kE naama nAma: = Who indeed will not perform Your nAma japam ? Even those, who do not have the patience and discipline (niyama nishtais), will, recite your dhivya nAmAs since they constitute a siddha manthram. The sinners, the punyasAlis, the powerful, the feeble minded ones, all of them, recite Your nA- mAs to derive the benefits (freedom from the anger of Your Lord). Sriman KaNNan Swamy's Tamil summary of this slOkam is beautiful to include here: Manmathan sey manacchapalam mARRividum mantiram mOsadiyAm mOhini mEl mOthuhira mani oliyAm Murararipuvin muLLsinatthai muRiyadikkum muthu mozhiyAm muRikadalin mahaL peyarai mozhiyAthAr yevar uLarO ? 23 sadagopan.org naray[Synaray[Sy ikl ikl inTyjpSTvdIy< inTyjpSTvdIy< naray[Synaray[Sy ikl ikl inTyjpSTvdIy< inTyjpSTvdIy< inTyiÖ;a AamnAya-dugdha-jaladhEramrutham madhamBha nithyadhvishAm praharaNE druhiNAsthramanthra: NaarAyaNasya kila nithyajapas-thvadheeyam nAma prakalbhatamam abhyudhayam tanOthu On this PaarTiva Panguni Utthiram day, when our SaamrAjya DhAyini, Sri Ranga NaacchiyAr reigns supreme in yEkAsanam with Her Lord in the kalyANa MaNTapam at Srirangam, let us study the next slOkam of Lakshmi Sahasram : Anvaya Kramam (Prose Order): MadhamBha! (Tava Naama :) AamnAya-dugdha- jaladhE: amrutham, nithyadhvishAm praharaNE dhruiNAsthramanthra:, Naara- yaNasya kila nithyajapa: , prakalpatamam Thvadheeyam nAma: abhyudhayam sadagopan.org tanOthu . Meaning: Oh My dear Mother! Your names are glorious in many ways. They are the essence of the four Vedams just like the nectar is the auspicious essence of the milky ocean. Your nAmAs destroy utterly the eternal enemies of ours like Kaamam, anger (krOdham), jealousy et al. Your nAmAs are like the never failing BrahmAsthram in destroying these ancient and persistent enemies. Your namAs are very dear to Your Lord for His own Japam. May your auspicious nA- mAs spread srEyas (MangaLam) everywhere! The key prayer in this slOkam is: “Madhambha! Pragalbhatamam Thvadheeyam nAma: abhyudhayam tanOthu” (Oh My Mother! May your sacred and most pow- erful nAmAs of Yours spread everywhere srEyas that grants long life, freedom from diseases, strength, tranquility, freedom from fear of every kind, de- struction of the six enemies such as Kaamam, Madham, KrOdham, lObham, 25 sadagopan.org AamnAya dugdha jaladhE: amrutham: amrutham: jaladhE: dugdha AamnAya andthe PassagesslOkam on of the words Commentary nithya dhvishAm praharaNE dhruhiNAsthra mantra:dhruhiNAsthra praharaNE dhvishAm nithya amrutham: jaladhi”dugdha "AamnAya and Maatsaryam !). Moham eternal enemies hold us back from making any progres any making from back us hold enemies eternal Tat the of understanding poor the from resulting sion we education, kulam, about arrogance things, worthless we what getting not at anger desire, fold: six are nAmAs Saara your name Veda as amrutham to appropriate Si Balam). and Pushti , AarOggyam , (Aayus nourishment ocean. e the is amrutham the as just nAmAs your is Vedams of the and ocean milky the both in rests Lord Our (3) priceless Mantra have rathnams. wh Kousthubham, like gems precious has Ocean Milky (2) are broad, and Both “shoreless” expansive deep, (1) oceanstheseitems inand the have Vedam common: essence Vedams of the the thatocean yielded ingof Tha Vedhams. four the by constituted ocean milky the your delectable nAmAs blesses us with all of the abov the ofall with us blesses nAmAs delectable your muhm s eetbe o at , ie lneiy , longevity gives , taste to delectable is Amrutham (Vedams in the form of the milky ocean) the churn- the ocean) milky the of form the in (Vedams 26 Your nAmAs are the nectar arising from arising nectar the are nAmAs Your Vedams. The quintessence The Vedams. Our ever present enemies present ever Our : Your nAmAs. YournAmAs. : eie ged o assemble to greed desire, e anugrahamse thva Thrayam. These six These Thrayam. thva s in our sAdhanAs. They sAdhanAs. our in s t nectar arose from the from arose nectar t alth, jealousy and delu-and jealousy alth, milarly, milarly, . . sne f h milky the of ssence r a te Vedams the as ere tegh and strength eiain of recitation . Hence it isitHence . are Moksha VirOdhis. Your nAmAs have the same unfailing effect such as BrahmAsthram, which destroys anything against which it is aimed at (the eye of KaakAsuran, RaavaNa Vadham etc). Your nAmAs have the same power in de- stroying thoroughly our six ancient enemies that set traps for us constantly. Both Your nAmAs and BrahmAsthram never fail in their missions. NaarAyaNasya kila nithya japa: (Thvadheeya nAma:) = Your sacred nAmAs are the objects of the unceasing meditation by Your Lord. Recitation of Your nA- mAs have the same effect as the recitation of Your Lord's names for us. We recite your names out of reverence for you as our dear Mother. Your Lord re- cites your names out of Vaathsalyam (deep affection) for you.Our goal in recit- ing your nAmAs is for sva-rakshai (self-protection). This we do during the Urd- hva PUNDra dhAraNam by invoking Your Lord's nAmAs ( KesavAdhi dhvAdasa nAmAs ) with Yours starting from " Sriyai nama: to MahA Lakshmyai nama: " sadagopan.org Your Lord recites Your nAmAs for invigorating Him in the sport of protecting the world that He created. Thus, such recitations become "nithya japam" for Him. There are three kinds of Japams: "Nithya, Naimitthika and Kaamya Ja- pams”. The kind that Your Lord performs is of the category of Nithya Japam or must do category like sandhyA vandhanam for us. Pragalbatamam: The ascending degrees of superiority are indicated by Pragal- pam, Pragalpataram and Pragalpatamam. Your nAmAs are in the category of Pragalpatamam or the most powerful and benevolent. Just as nectar is the most superior among the entities of food, just as BrahmAsthram is the most invincible among the categories of weapons, just as the love for the Lord is the best among the categories of hitham, Your nAmAs are the most powerful since they combine the aspects of amrutham, BrahmAsthram and Bhagavath preethi That is why they are the best among the bests. 27 sadagopan.org bydaa tanOthu: abhyudhayam ,dhaivAnugraham Preethi and abheethi Bhagavath , thy gA dhruDa AarOgyam, , Aayus ( mangaLams sarva reciter Srimath Azhagiya Singar offeringSingar Managalasasnamsto Srimath Azhagiya during the Thirunakshtram celebrations Thirunakshtram in the May 2006 during a toe upcos AA o Yus ofr n the on confer Yours of nAmAs auspicious those May 28 ! ! Sri Perundevi ThAyAr thram, Pushti, Saan-Pushti, thram, sadagopan.org Sri Thiruthhankal ThAyAr SIXTH SHLOKAM saça< jNmaNtrmiol\GvgRsgaRNtr< va pyaRyae va sklyju;a< ài³yawvR[anam!, vedaNtana< ikmu ivinmyae ivïut< ivñmativñmat---- idRVy< ÉVy< idzit jpta< deiv nam TvdIym!. 29 sadagopan.org Mantrams). man in (equivalent tulyam vEda samastha is Lakshmi MahA poet The slOkam. this in poet the by given is swer f other the are nAmAs Lakshmi's MahA how ask can One Order: Prose are: here words Key The Vedams: th equivalentto are Lakshmi MahA of NaamAs the that Venkat Sri SthaBakam, 17th the of SlOkam 6th the In (recitation of all the VEdAs). the all of (recitation to equivalent puNyam the gains one them, recites one vaa ViSva naam Thvadheeyam kimu? Maatha: vinimaya: Devi! prakriyA aTarvaNAnAm vaa, paryAyO yajushAm sakala PurushArTam). rama kshEmam divine grant they reciter, the For brated. disathy” bhavyam dhivyam hln f eiig h etr Vds Sc i te pow the is Such VedAs. entire the reciting of phalan upani Siras aTarva the of recitation the that stated dhivyam bhavyam Thva Devi diSathy nAma dhivyam japathAm sAmnAm janmAntharam-akhila-rg-varga sargAntharam vaa sAmnAm paryAyO vaa sakala-yajushAm prakriyA-aTarvaNAnAm prakriyA-aTarvaNAnAm sakala-yajushAm vaa paryAyO In actuality, Lakshmi nAmAs form one part of the VedA the of part one form nAmAs Lakshmi actuality, In vEdAnthAnAm kimu vinimayO viSrutham vinimayO viSvamAtha: viSrutham vEdAnthAnAm kimu amA jnAtaa, kia gvra agm anthar sargam varga Rg akhila janmAntharam, SaamnAm O Mh Dv! or AA ae h ms cele- most the are nAmAs Your DEvi! MahA (Oh Dv! hahea nm: viSrutham.japathAm nAma: Thvadheeyam “Devi! It is similar to the situation, where it has been has it where situation, the to similar is It 30 explains that the nAmAs of of nAmAs the that explains and show the way for Pa- for way the show and shad confers on one the one on confers shad Sarva Veda PaarAyaNam Veda Sarva r f h vSuh nA- viSrutha the of er a: viSrutham. viSrutham. a: e mantrams of the Four the ofmantrams e Adhri Kavi instructs us instructs Kavi Adhri orm of Vedas. The an- The Vedas. of orm tra sakthi to all Veda all to sakthi tra VedAnthAnAm ? dheeyam dheeyam s and when and s am vaa, am mams of MahA Lakshmi housed in her ashtOttharam or Sahasram or SrI Sook- tham! Visrutham means especially celebrated in the Veda bhAgams like SrI Sook- tham (HariNee, ChandrA, AardhrA, LakshmI, Pushti, SrI:HemamAlini, Padhmini , VisvapriyA). Vedam states that the recitation of such viSrutha nA- mams grants the soubhAgyams of Gold (HiraNyam), Cows, Horses, Servants, Fame, food, sath puthrans and SukanyAs and immense wealth of every kind. Visrutham has also been interpreted to mean world famous (lOka PraSiddham). VedAs are indeed Lakshmi. Her nAmAs are VedAs. This is well accepted view. That is why she is saluted as Vedavalli, Vedavathy, Veda Moorthy and Veda Vaak, Veda RoopA. sadagopan.org Let us now look at the other word passages selected by the Kavi to display His reverence for the Vedamayee, MahA Lakshmi. 1) sAmnAm janmAntharam = She is the other birth for Saama vEda Man- thrams. Janmam here means born entity. She appears as though she is the other roopam (maRu piRavi) of the Saama Veda Manthrams. UttharArchika Saaman 976 addresses Her thus this way: “O drops of Spiritual bliss, since all these nourishing praises are addressed to you and the way you are born and the things are born of You, May You come and be seated in the innermost cavity of our hearts ! ". The links between her nAmam, Chandraa, amrutham and this Saaman are easily discerned here. 31 sadagopan.org 2) akhila rg varga sarga antharam vaa ? vaa antharam sarga varga rg akhila 2) ) TraAA pary vaa? prakriyA aTarvaNAnAm 4) vaa?paryAyO yajushAm Sakala 3) small offerings, to respond equally You advice. sound foe of overcome chief the bounties, Nature's of voker accomplisher the are You (mEdh You. Invoke intelligence who (reciters), of imparter the are “You Rg rk X.91.8: bear you quickly to our benevolent desired benevolent quickly our you ends” to desired bear w Your Supreme! Self Divine O “Harness, manthrams in having the same meanings. They have id have They meanings. same the having in manthrams by addressed is de one that all granting in uniqueness Lakshmi's MahA younot vedathat allmantrams! Are of rg alternate Veda Mantrams? Mantrams? Veda Example byprovided An is Yajur Veda Mantram: Yajur XIII.36: you to be invoked alone and none else (vruNuthE invokedalonebe andelse none to you nAnya jur vEda manthrams are like echoes are YournAmAs. manthrams vEda of jur Ae or AA aohr id f aTarva of kind another nAmAs your Are = = Your nAmAs are parallel to all yajur vEda yajur all to parallel are nAmAs Your = 32 = Thou art indeed the alternate form alternate the indeed art Thou = ell trained vital forces, which forces, vital trained ell form of Rg form rks? entical meanings. The Ya- The meanings. entical krm t te priests the to Akaram) sires and her unique role role unique her and sires m Thvath) ".Thvath) m or great. One would like would One great. or s, and the counselor of counselor the and s, of the worship, the in- the worship, the of Here is an example of aTarva Veda Mantram celebrating the links between the nAmAs of Devi and the reciter (aTarva Vedam: XX.41.2): “The resplendent Self (MahA Lakshmi) destroys ninety nine times nine (innumerable) evils with the help of the rock-like firmness of devotees (reciting her nAmAs)". 5) Viswa Maatha! VedAnthAnAm vinimaya: kimu? = Oh Mother of the Universe! You are indeed the alternate embodiment of Upanishads ! Vinimaya: means sadagopan.org "maaRRu PaNDam " in Tamil . That means exchange currency or alternate vasthu. 6) " Devi! Thavdheeyam visrutham nAma: japathAm dhivyam bhavyam diSathy” Oh MahA Devi! Your celebrated nAmAs are known for conferring the divine sampath to all reciters. It is the equivalent to the PaarAyaNam (recitation) of all the VedAs. Disathy can mean either confers or show the way to dhivyam bhavyam (divine sampath). The Kavi wonders about the sakala kshEmam granting power of MahA Lak- shmi's names and wonders whether they are the essence of the four Vedams and the myriads of Upanishaths (VedAnthams). He concludes that all the Ve- dams and the VedAnthams are alternate forms of her dhivya nAmAs. 33 sadagopan.org Sriman Kannan Swamy's Tamil summary o Tamil summary message of Kannanthe Sriman Swamy's ninn nAmam japippathAl japippathAl ninn nAmam nicchayamAy uNDAhum nicchayamAyuNDAhum nilayAna nalla phalan nigamatthin niharAna nigamatthinniharAna 34 follows: follows: f this slOkam is as this is f slOkam sadagopan.org Sri Yadhugiri Nachiyaar SEVENTH SLOKAM namr][prStvaeict< namr][> Ape]te rme, yStnaeit tv namyaejn< sae=ymÑutmnamyae jn>. 35 sadagopan.org Naama apEkashathE rakshaNam 1."RakshaNapara: Naama "naama" striking: the is sabdham (wo adhbhutha in engaging in poet the of agility The are: slOkam this of words Key The theby and caused body of (those mind samsAric ease n they that protection the all have will they name, diseases all of freed be would Siras(head) their on T tr SvargalOkams. even desire and not will nAmAs recite (divine) who Those Devi! RamA Lakshmi! MahA Oh Order): (Prose adhbhutham (idham) (idham) ! adhbhutham sOa tanOthy nAma-yOjanam Tava ya: . (idham) uchitham anAmayO Jana:” anAmayO RamE! Tava nAma-rakshaNapara: nAma rakshaNam apEksh rakshaNam nAma nAma-rakshaNapara: Tava RamE! sOyam-adhbhutham-anAmayO jana: sOyam-adhbhutham-anAmayO nAmarakshaNam-apEkshathE RamE nAmarakshaNam-apEkshathE yas-taNothy Tava nAmayOjanam Tava yas-taNothy nAmarakshaNaparas-tavOchitha 36 a Tv nm yjnm aOh, sOyam tanOthy, yOjanam nAma Tava Ya: eed to ward off every dis-every off ward to eed . By protecting your divine your protecting By . hose who bear Your name Your bear who hose afflictions). afflictions). dru) od ly using play word nderful) ” yam anAmayO jana: , jana: anAmayO yam aue or dhivya your easure athE. Above passage two meanings: (a) One who is devoted to the sankeerthanam and Japam of Your nAmAs does not seek or want the pleasures of even Indhira lOkam /Svargam (na amara kshaNam apEkshathE). “Icchuvai tavira yaann indhira lOkam AaLum acchuvai peRinum vENDEn, Arangamaa naharuLAnE "is the AzhwAr's resolute declara- tion. In this context, one is reminded of the ancient word of wisdom: "dharmO rak- shathy rakshitha:” Dharmam protects one, who protects those who protect it. Similarly, those sadagopan.org who protect your nAma rahasyam (mysteries) housed in Your mantram from un- fit adhikAris (ayOgyAs and Bhagavath dhvEshis: those who are unqualified and enemies of the Lord). Those who protect your nAma rahasyam by performing upadEsam to the de- serving devotees of Yours with SraddhA and niyamam will be protected by You. The ways of “Naama RakshaNam" is classified along these five fold way: 1. Protection without forgetting. Frequent /daily japam of Your NaamAs 2. Protection from their disappearance thru upadEsam to fit ones. 3. Protection from falling in the hands of the unfit ones. 4. Protection of its veeryam through proper enunciation of Svarams 37 sadagopan.org b Naa asaaaa Naa asaa apEkshathE RakshaNam Naama RakshaNapara: Naama (b) The word word The yOjanamanAmayO jana: tanOthy ya:sOyam nAma 2. BheejAksharamsthe its change of from Protection 5. How does "nAma yOjanam” make them anAmayaO janam? T janam? anAmayaO them make yOjanam” "nAma does How to way The other (b) split is to compound anAmayoj the way split word: one " of is a) tained. a These al. et KrOdham Madham, Kaamam, like enemies physical the from free "anAmaya:” become They ham). o equanimity (peace, thushti and (vigor) pushti in sults raks their is That Lord. Your and You to (servitude) yOja (nAma head her or his on nAmA your has who One (Ta AapnOthy).BalEna rakshaNam japam nAmA your by offered rakshaNam that seeks world the and body the of ills the against (shield) thing. some of anubhavam the in t for stands (TanvasamAnavan) Paran recitation. such the covets Japam nAma your in involved deeply is who " a+nAma + yOjana:+ a+nAma " "anAma yOjana:" "anAma (One who does not wear Your nAmAs on his /her Sira /her his on nAmAs Your wear not does who (One is used in slEdai (double meaning) manner.meaning) in slEdai (double used is "anAmayO +jana:" "anAmayO aA asm’ Nm at ie Kavacham a like act Nama Lakshmi’s MahA 38 (one who is free from diseases). diseases).is free from who (one . Therefore, the upAsakan upAsakan the Therefore, ana. hai (protection). That re-That (protection). hai (seed letters). (seed he one who is entrenched is who one he f mind and lasting suk-lasting and mind f protection offered by offered protection re the rakshaNams at-rakshaNams the re iess sx internal six diseases, nam) reveals dhAsyam reveals nam) va nAma rakshaNa rakshaNa nAma va : eod iw One view Second hat is appropriate is hat s) (uchitham) because of the power of the nAmAs of RamA DEvi. The alankAra Saasthrams have a figure of speech (alankAram) known as “virOdhAbhAsAlankAram" That is used to suggest a contrary meaning, which goes away, when a different split of the words in the word group is used. That is vichithram (adhbhutham) as opposed to Uchitham. Even the un seeking one (a+nAma+yOjanan) gets the benefit of protection. May the recitation of your nAmAs protect the reciter! May the addition of your name (SrI Sabdham) to vasthus and people (Sri Sabdha sambhnadham) remove all afflictions! sadagopan.org sadagopan.org The 7th slOkam described how the diseases are chased away by the recitation of the NaamAs of MahA Lakshmi. This slOkam instructs us as how Her nAmAs kindle the desire for Moksham (Release from the cycles of births and deaths) and lift the ordinaryfolks and great sages to the stage of Mumukshus (those who desire Moksham). 39 sadagopan.org matmuR´aEmatmuR´aE ivihtk…tuka ivihtk…tuka maedyNte maedyNte iày< iày< te. te. matmuR´aEmatmuR´aE ivihtk…tuka ivihtk…tuka maedyNte maedyNte iày< iày< te. te. namnam ïImÅv ïImÅv ikl ikl vlTkItRy> vlTkItRy> kItRyNtae kItRyNtae namnam ïImÅv ïImÅv ikl ikl vlTkItRy> vlTkItRy> kItRyNtae kItRyNtae àTyadezàmuidtmhacets>àTyadezàmuidtmhacets> S)ItsÅva>, S)ItsÅva>, àTyadezàmuidtmhacets>àTyadezàmuidtmhacets> S)ItsÅva>, S)ItsÅva>, ÇYyNtEkà[iymtyStapsa>ÇYyNtEkà[iymtyStapsa> papsaw¡ papsaw¡ ÇYyNtEkà[iymtyStapsa>ÇYyNtEkà[iymtyStapsa> papsaw¡ papsaw¡ Sri Thiruadhanur ThAyArThiruadhanur Sri EIGHTH SLOKAM SLOKAM EIGHTH 40 thrayyanthaika-praNayimatayas-tApasA: pApa-sArTam prathyAdEsa-pramudhitha -mahA-chEtasas-spheetha-satthvA: nAma SrImatthva kila valathkeertthaya: keerthayantha: mAthar-mukthou vihitha-kuthukA mOdhayanthE priyam tE The key words in this slOkam are: “Maatha! tava Srimath nAma keerthayantha: kila mukthou vihitha kuthukA: tE priyam mOdhayanthE " . Oh Mother! By the recitation of your most auspicious Namas, the fortunate ones express their desire in Moksham and please the heart of Your Lord. sadagopan.org sadagopan.org This group of fortunate ones is constituted by the VedAnthins, Sages with theevra (intense) tapas (penance), PuNyasAlis with a broad mind (BhAgavathOtthamAs of a forgiving nature, who have rejected the accumula- tion of sins), the SaathvikAs (unoffending ones filled with Satthva guNam ) , the ParamaikAnthi Mumukshus ( Single minded ones intent on gaining Moksha Siddhi without other prayOjanams) . Sriman KaNNan Swamy salutes them this way in Tamil: “NigamAntha neRi vEtpAr nirambiya naRR-puhazh yERppAr Ninn nAmam keertthippAr Ninn pathiyai mahizhvippAr” The two key words here are: " nigamAntha neRi vEtpAr " and " naRR-puhazh yERppAr " . 41 sadagopan.org tion of the bundles of the of tion sins), success their over joyful are who ones forgiving and chEtas mahA pramudhitha pratyAdEsa saarTa Paapa (2) self-restraint), know sages accomplished or (Tapasvees TaapasA: (1) by thelisted are as: poet They ghOshti: visEsha are There Lakshmi? MahA of nAmAs auspicious the citing VedAntha the of company blessed the in are else Who ekddr Kv' sOa: " slOkam: Kavi's VenkadAdhri salut are way auspicious this by travel to chosen have (dharm path Veda-VedAnthic the is neRi” “NigamAntha The others in the company in others the The of blessedthe the with Kavi, us who ableupadEsam from to sabdham yEka of addition This mathaya:). praNayi VedAnthi the in ONLY travel who those as recognized M reciting BhAgayasAlis the vein, similar a In Nan. Lo Her as ANDAL by Mukundan identified is dhAyaka sha tharuvAn)paRai namakkE (NaarAyaNanE Moksham and w and can alone NaarAyaNan Lord Her that ThiruppAvai way. VedAnthic that mathaya: en toe nelgn oe, h ae epy n lo in deeply are who ones, intelligent those means Here VenkadAdhri Kavi emulates ANDAL, who revealed in revealed who ANDAL, emulates Kavi VenkadAdhri "Thrayyanthaika praNayi mathaya:” "Thrayyanthaika haynhia rNy mathaya: praNayi thrayyanthaika 42 ahA Lakshmi's naamAs are naamAs Lakshmi's ahA Thryyantham is aremark- is Thryyantham in rejecting the accumula- the rejecting in ed by the passage of Sri of passage the by ed Lakshmi Sahasram. Sahasram. Lakshmi c path (Thrayyanthaika path c fr hi pnne and penance their for n . The one and only Mok-only and one The . Maarga SanchAris re- SanchAris Maarga ill grant Kaimkarya SrI Kaimkarya grant ill a mArgam). Those who who Those mArgam). a a: (those broadminded (those a: rd, Srimann NaarAya- Srimann rd, he mri this morein three e ih traveling with ve “PraNayi (3) spheetha satthvA: ( One who possesses a high degree of Satthva GuNam) The second category needs additional understanding. They are mahA chEtas or one with lofty minds worthy of adulation. Why is it so? This is because they have rejected ( nirAkAram = prathyAdEsam/rejection, which is the opposite of AadEsam) the route that leads to the piling up of bundles of sins thru pursuit of karmAs prohibited by Bhagavath Saasthrams (PrAthikoolya varjana janam). Their success in rejecting the pull of sins makes them happy (pramudhitha mahA chEthasa:). Sri VenkatAdhri Kavi salutes this special group of chEtha- nams (PrapannAs) as: "Paapa sArTa pratyAdEsa pramudhitha mahA chEtasa:”. Their eulogy of Your NaamAs & its effects sadagopan.org sadagopan.org These noble ones known for their satthva guNam and VedAnthic ways are en- gaged in the sankeerthanam of your auspicious nAmAs: “Tava Sreemath nAma keerthayantha: kila valathkeerthaya: “(iha sancharan- thy). They perform Naama Sankeerthanam of Your sahasra Naamams and through that alone (keerthayantha: kila) become famous in this world (valathkeerthaya :). In addition to being celebrated by their fellow human beings, these srEshta bhAgavatha PrapannAs keenly desirous of Moksha Aanandham delight the heart of Your Lord and are blessed with ParipoorNa BrahmAnandham thru nithya, niravadhya kaimkaryam at Your Sri Vaikuntam. 43 sadagopan.org naamAsthat ofitends your up in sankeerthanam deli PriyammOdhayant (tE Lordplease Her aresult as and MahA of sankeerthanam Naama perform MukthAs the tam, o words these das Moksha of state the to in mean also can .Mukthou ham attributed meaning another is There tE mOdhayanthEPriyam Mukthou shmi! All of these are made possible by the power o power the by possible made are these of All shmi! Vaikunt Sri at anubhavam BrahmAnanadha ParipoorNa and Bhagavat Moksham, in icchai Keerthi, abhivruddhi, guNa U naaSam), (Paapa Sins of destruction devel Tapas, Jn~nam, spiritual their in stages progressive The tam. Supreme Your at Seshis Yeka as You p of both to and karyam mukthi gain to desire They increases. Moksham follows fame the and guNams Saathvika their increase VedAnth for (ruchi) taste develop Jn~Anam), their in time with mature here) sukhams (insignificant alpa ing Saadhana of rungs higher climb they are they Whoever post-prapatthiand during their stagethe kuntham of ev dampathis, dhivya the of preethi the gaining for sankeerthanam nAma perform jeevans of category cial wea perishable these outside are who shus/MokshArTis, (Va virakthAs the set, another is There gains. able for nAmAs Lakshmi's MahA recite that ones only the seeke sukham the and types commercial the tatchment, weal longing those of only that think not should One loam this of Summary 44 en while residing in Sri vai- Sri in residing while en f Your Naama Sankeertha-Naama Your f th here, those without de-without those here, th ghting Your Lord. ghtingYour ir lives here. livesir here. rgaAi) n Mumuk- and irAgyasAlis) ic truths, perform tapas, perform truths, ic hy). So effective are theare effective So hy). (kaala kramENa mature kramENa (kaala pet r: ann of Gaining are: opment of Your dhivya naamAs dhivya Your of them. Their desire for desire Their them. rs in their lives here as here lives their in rs short term and perish-and term short i. Even for those seek- those for Even i. dhAra manas, Satthva Satthva manas, dhAra ai. Even in Sri Vaikun- Sri in Even ai. lth seekers. This spe- This seekers. lth rom tra kaim- eternal erform abode of Sri Vaikun-Sri of abode Kikra Preethi Kaimkarya h m O Mh Lak- MahA Oh am. Lakshmi's nAmAs Lakshmi's te at Paad- last the f nam In the ninth slOkam, Sri VenkatAdhri Kavi points out that MahA Laskshmi's nAmAs add lustre to the Lord's radiant dhivya mangaLa vigraham on top of the seven hills (YezhumalayAnukku yezhil sErkkum NaamamngaL: Sapthagirisan's JyOthi enhancer). sadagopan.org sadagopan.org Thirucherai ThAyAr 45 sadagopan.org dhAmnA cha puthrinAJaladhE:sphurathy nAmnA dhAma dhAmnA bhAsvath-varNam VrushagiripathEr-bhAvukamtanvathA t bhAsvath-varNam ramyam harmyasTalamapiramyam maheerakshiNaS-Sailatungam xaçaxaça xam xam s)…rit s)…rit jlxe> jlxe> puiÇ puiÇ naça naça c nam,c nam, xaçaxaça xam xam s)…rit s)…rit jlxe> jlxe> puiÇ puiÇ naça naça c nam,c nam, dIparaep ma ma E dheepArOpam rajanishu vinaa Devi dhEdheepyathE kim Key words: "JaladhE: Puthri! VrushagiripathE: bhAsvath-varNam dhAma bhA- vukam tanvathA tE dhAmnA sphurathy" . Meaning: The sacred body of Your Lord, Saptha Gireesan, gains additional lus- ter through your dEha kAnthi. These results because of His naamam of Srini- vAsan incorporating your nAmaa of "SrI” You are like a lamp in the beautiful and lofty palace of the king of the Universe. It is only through the lighting of this lamp that the beauty of the palace is brought out at night. You are that mangaLa dheepam in the palace of Your Lord. As Vakshasthala Lakshmi, You il- lumine further Your Lord's sacred Body. sadagopan.org sadagopan.org Oh Daughter of the Ocean (JaladhE: puthri)! Oh PadhmAvathy! Your Lord has a shining body with luster like that of the Sun's rays (Vrushagiri PathE: bhAs- vath varNam dhAma). ”Aadhithya varNam tamasasthu pArE” sings the Sruthis in recognition of the splendorous jyOthi of Your Lord on top of the Seven Hills. With this luster mingles your own uniquely auspicious JyOthi and en- hances that luster (bhAvukam tanvathA tE dhAmnA sphurathy). Your golden hue reinforces and multiplies the natural hue of Your Lord. As Vakshasthala Lakshmi , who never leaves Him even for a fraction of a second , You are like a jyOthi-filled lamp in the dark bluish body of Your Lord and illumine every thing around . He is defined by Your Naamam of SrI. With this lakshaNam, He is known everywhere as SrinivAsan. That prefix of SrI (Your Naamam) in His name (Sridharan, Sriya: Pathi) enhances His own luster manyfolds. (BhAsavth varNam naama cha Tava nAmnA adhikam sphurathy). Oh Lakshmi! Your Lord’s divine body is like a lofty palace of a king. The beauty of such an expansive palace can only be appreciated against the darkness of the night with the jyOthi of a brilliant lamp. Oh Lakshmi! Thou art that illumin- 47 sadagopan.org "VarNam" “Dhama" http://www.malolan.org His VakshasTalam. She is the "lOkaiak dheepAnkuraa". "lOkaiakthe is SheVakshasTalam. His dheepa MangaLa the is She kOsam. Rathna GuNa Sri His tha lamp the Swam by of saluted as rEkha“ dheepa MangaLa “Harmyatala radiance the without seen be not can dEdhe vinaa dheepArOpam rajaneeshu sTalamapi (harmya enjoyed be night at palace lofty a Will Lord? Your mo an to relate one can how a dheepam, MangaLa a as sent resembling palace (Rajani night SamsAric engulfing the of darkness the royal lofty Lor Your is harmyasTalam) Sailatungam (MaheerakshiNa: the and Lor Your of (ramyam) mansion the in (dheepArOpam) JyOthi ing The words words The Pallavi (UllAsa Kosam Rathna GuNa Sri of slOkam ond mined by the MangaLa by the mined rEkhai. dheepa kno now is He auspicious. more even Him makes and Him fro in SrI) aksharam, (the name her of addition The hue.Devi's glingHis of i varNam" "bhAsvath Lord's luster. radiant Lakshmi's illumin are Vaikuntham) and (Venkatam abode and tEjas chosen andthe the words metaphors with byVenkatAd joyment of the meanings of “MangaLa dheepa rEkhA ": “MangaLa the of meanings of joyment rEkhA dheepa en bd, utr(Ea) n abode and (tEjas) luster body, means a w enns u n letterand hue meanings: two has DAa n "VarNam” and "DhAma ae ay enns n al f hm i in fit them of all and meanings many have 48 . His hue is enhanced by her hue. her by enhanced is hue His . Tiuektmdyns body, ThiruvenkatamudayAn's . without the illumining light illumining the without ). Without Your light pre-light Your Without ). tha---) for a detailed en-detailed a for tha---) hri Kavi Kavi hri ehne b te min- the by enhanced s t f i nm defines name His of nt Please refer to the sec- the to Please refer ejy h bat of beauty the enjoy d ed brilliantly by MahA MahA by brilliantly ed m having the abode of of abode the having m y ParAsara Bhattar in Bhattar ParAsara y d's ThirumEni against ThirumEni d's wn as SrinivAsan illu- SrinivAsan as wn epyathE kim?). No, it No, kim?). epyathE i lt Se s the is She lit. is t ! hs beautiful This d! untain peak peak untain Sriman KaNNan Swamy's Tamil summary of this slOkam takes on this form: yEzhumalayAnukkum yezhlUttum unn nAmam yEzhadukku mALikayil yERRi vaittha dheepam pOl sadagopan.org sadagopan.org 49 sadagopan.org ingRNxeingRNxe Syadip Syadip suriÉta suriÉta inMbkaóSy inMbkaóSy cU[eR. cU[eR. ingRNxeingRNxe Syadip Syadip suriÉta suriÉta inMbkaóSy inMbkaóSy cU[eR. cU[eR. àa}aSva*<àa}aSva*< àÉvit àÉvit ÉvtInamxeyanu;¼at!, ÉvtInamxeyanu;¼at!, àa}aSva*<àa}aSva*< àÉvit àÉvit ÉvtInamxeyanu;¼at!, ÉvtInamxeyanu;¼at!, APySmak< apyasmAkam vachanamachamathkAri KamsAri-kAnthe prAj~nyAsvAdhyAm bhavathy bhavathee-nAmadhEyAnushangAth karpoorAdhi sTira parimaLa dhravya sAchivya bhUmnA nigandhE syAdhapi surabhithA nimBakAshtasya chUrNE (Prose Order): KamsAri KaanthE! asmAkam achamathkAri vachanam api bha- vathee nAmadhEya anushangAth praj~nAsvAdhyam bhavathy. karpUrAdhi sTira parimaLa dhravya sAchivya bhUmnA nirgandhE nimBakAshta- sya chUrNE surabhithA syAth . sadagopan.org sadagopan.org Meaning: Oh Consort of the Lord, who killed Kamsan! Even our uninteresting and artless speech becomes enjoyable and artful to learned ones through links with your divine Nama. This situation is similar to the dull and non-fragrant neem stick powder acquiring a most enjoyable and lasting fragrance as a result of association with fragrant objects like Camphor and other parimaLams. In this tenth slOkam, Sri VenkatAdhri Kavi states that even our artless and uninteresting speech becomes paNDitha bhOgyam (enjoyable to learned ones) once our vaak is adorned with MahA Lakshmi's sacred NaamAs. The glories of association of our speech with the nAmAs of MahA Lakshmi (nAmadhEya anushangam) is celebrated here. The prAsams (alliterations) in this slOkam are delightful to experience:" ---- kaari KamsAri, bhaavthy bhavathee, dhravyasaa-chivyabhU" et al. This makes 51 sadagopan.org prm Poyi apc o Mh Lakshmi. MahA of to aspect Poojyai) refers (parama bhavathy following bhavathee of word The delightful (prAj~nA rasikAs (bhavathy) svAdhyam). to our SvAdhyam; prAJ~nA with goes bhavathy first The svAdhyam nAmadhEyAnushan bhavathee bhavathy “PrAj~nA and Bhavatheecome othereach Bhavathy next to Here wi names sacred speech. Lakshmi's MahA of links the of fect exce is association by camphor of fragrance the ing of upamA=uvamai) (Similie= alankAram dhrushtAntha The PrAj~n by enjoyable most or " svAdhyam prAj~nA " it clever meanings. clever speech a to only attracted be will PaNDithAs The 2. DithAs. spee one's make to added be to have meanings deep or c interesting; be to qualify not will speeches All 1. slOkam in suggested thoughtsthis six The to of themlinks . power and the hEyams gAth" s h poe re. Here order. prose the is "bhavathee" 52 baahe amdEa anushan- naamadhEya "bhavathee ulfe Hr ard nAmad- sacred Her qualifies hoice of appropriate words words appropriate of hoice with artful construction & construction artful with llent to illustrate the ef- the illustrate to llent in the in the secondline: yAs (the learned ones). learned (the yAs ch appreciable to PaN- to appreciable ch artless words become words artless neem powder acquir-powder neem h ms worshipful most the h u uninteresting our th gAth” 3. There is thus a difference in the taste levels of common folk and learned ones. 4. Only dhaiva anugraham can elevate one to the status of a MahA Kavi; the keerthanam of MahA Lakshmi's nAmAs will make that happen. 5. Even ordinary objects/persons can be elevated by their association with lofty ones. It is therefore important to seek the sath sangam of lofty ones and perform nAma sankeerthanam of MahA lakshmi's nAmAs. 6. Some objects have enduring fragrance and others have short term, acquired sadagopan.org fragrance. The poet concludes that poetry becomes most delectable through the addition of MahA Lakshmi's nAmAs. The poet therefore attaches MahA Lakshmi's names in every one of the slOkams of Lakshmi Sahasram. In this slOakm, the poet addresses MahA Lakshmi as “KamsAri KaanthE". The Summary of the meanings of this slOkam in Tamil by Sri KaNNan Swamy IRayavaLE Unn peyarai idayidayE yenn pEcchil iNaitthatanAl ithu kooDa iNai illAk-kavithathayAm 53 sadagopan.org your theSuch Namas! is power sacred of etry. speec artless my even speech, my of words the tween your linking By (IRayavaLE)! Lakshmi MahA Goddess Oh 54 h becomes matchless po- matchless becomes h iie ae i be- in names divine sadagopan.org Sri Thirupallani ThAyAr ELEVENTH SLOKAM AMba lúmIrm&tshÉUriBxrajNykNya pÒa ivñMÉrshcrI pÒsÒa rmeit, yae namEv< ipbit ÉvtInamnamam&taE"< tSyEvahujRnin sulÉa< s 55 sadagopan.org and VishNu Pathnee-- do not get swirled around the wh the around swirled get not do Pathnee-- VishNu and , PadhmA , LakshmI -- nAmAs Your recite repeatedly ins Desikan Swamy slOkams, Sthuthi SrI the of one In Words): (Key Meaning: SamsAric life: the with ated k every banish which names, Lakshmi's MahA of power us with shares Kavi VenkatAdhri Sri slOkam, this In samsruthy SrAnthy SrAnthy ". Saanthysamsruthy sulabhaam Aahu: are life way of banished. sAric ar amangaLams and asubhams tiresomeness, fatigue, the piBath Ogam nAmAmrutha nAma, (bhavathee NAmAs divine from bl drink the who those that said is It ! Devi) eyes soft Lotus the with One the (Oh PadhmA verse), the of consort divine the (Oh sahachari ViSwambhara lotus the having One the (Oh PadhmA-sadhmA Raajan), d (Oh kanyE abdhi-rajanya- fro Nectar)! the born with along one (Oh Amrutha-sahabhU: MangaLams)! all of this thoughtfollows Kavi line of VenkatAdhri in thi Oh Jananee (Oh Mother of all the beings)! Lakshmee beings)! the all of Mother (Oh Jananee Oh PadhmA Viswambhara-sahacharee Padhma-sadhmA Padhma-sadhmA ramEt Viswambhara-sahacharee PadhmA TasyaivAhur-janani sulabhAm samsruthy SrAnthi Saant samsruthy TasyaivAhur-janani sulabhAm SrAnthi AmBhA LakshmIr-amruthasahabhUr-aBdhi-rAjanya- AmBhA kanyA yO namaivam piBathy bhavathee nAma-nAmAmruthougam nAma-nAmAmruthougam piBathy namaivam yO bhavathee " yO nAma bhavathee nAma amrutha Ogam piBathy, tasya piBathy, Ogam amrutha nAma bhavathee nAma yO " 56 issful nectarine flood of Your of flood nectarine issful s 11th slOkam. 11th s his experiences about the about experiences his aughter of the Samudhra Samudhra the of aughter and feet), Ramaa (Ramaa (Ramaa Ramaa feet), and Jaladhi tanayA , IndhirA , tanayA Jaladhi tructed us: “Those who who “Those us: tructed od ern te Uni- the bearing Lord eel of samsAram ". samsAram of eel flower as Your abode), Your as flower n o Ftge associ- Fatigue of ind sn fo te sam- the from ising te ik Ocean Milky the m y), for them alone them for y), (Oh Possessor (Oh him him hi hi yEva Sri The many sufferings and the consequent fatigue associated with samsAric life are removed by the aavrutthi (repetition) of your divine NAmAs. Only those, who engage in your nAma sankeerthanam with longing and blissful experience (rasAnubhavam) gain this relief. For these fortunate ones, you banish the life in this sorrowful world and grant them Moksham (freedom from the tiring cy- cles of births and deaths). Consistent with Your name as "Ramaa”, you delight the hearts of such devotees. She is the Mother of all. She is the Creatrix. She generates new energy in us when we recite her nAmAs and that leads to the removal of the sufferings connected to hunger, thirst, poverty, bodily ills, viraha taapam, restlessness, mental worries and every other suffering. sadagopan.org sadagopan.org As Lakshmi, She removes all alakshmi (asubhams), when we perform sankeer- tanam of her sacred nAmAs. SrI sookta mantram instructs us thus on the power of Her nAmAs. Her relationship with us is beyond one janmam. Her re- lationship with us as our Mother is indestructible. She has a rich set of rela- tions herself. Her Lord is the One, who bears the Universe effortlessly. Her Father is the King of the Oceans. She herself is “Ramayathy ithi Ramaa” (One who enchants and delights us and thereby chases away our multiple fatigues, avalams and AayAsams. In this slOkam, Sri VenkatAdhri Kavi speaks on behalf of all of us (asampoorNa adhikAris) about our insufficiencies in engaging in the difficult tasks that are beyond our limited capabilities and resorting therefore to the easiest task of Naama sankeerthanam of Mahaa Lakshmi's names to gain Her ParipoorNa anugraham. 57 sadagopan.org Tava nAmnAm Haripathni nAmnAm Tava keerthanE na cha vAchO jaratheeradheemahE jaratheeradheemahE na cha vAchO prayathA: prayathAmahE prayathA: vayam namanUn muhurBahumanmahE Kazhicheeraman Lokanyaki Kazhicheeraman tv tvnaça< naça< hirpiÆ hirpiÆ kItRne. kItRne. tv tvnaça< naça< hirpiÆ hirpiÆ kItRne. kItRne. n nc vacae c vacae jrtIrxImhe, jrtIrxImhe, n nc vacae c vacae jrtIrxImhe, jrtIrxImhe, TWELFTH SLOKAM TWELFTH n nmuhubRhumNmhe muhubRhumNmhe mnUn! mnUn! n nmuhubRhumNmhe muhubRhumNmhe mnUn! mnUn! àyta>àyta> àytamhe àytamhe vy< vy< àyta>àyta> àytamhe àytamhe vy< vy< 58 (Key words): “Hari Pathni! Tava nAmnAm keerthanE prayathAmahE” Meaning: Through the organ of speech (Vaag Indhriyam), three tasks can be Undertaken: (1) Mantra Japam (2) Veda PaarAyaNam and (3) Naama Sankeer- thanam. The poet explains here the reasons for our abandonment of the first two difficult routes and choosing the easy route of Naama sankeerthanam for our salvation. The reasons for the preference for the Naama Sankeerthanam route are: (1) Mantra japam requires upadEsam from a competent adhikAri. One has to have strict discipline and high degree of anushtAnam & AchAram. (Niyama nishtais) One needs to perform anga nyAsams and kara nyAsams. Single minded meditation on the Mantra dEvathai is needed. Phalans for Mantra Japam can be sadagopan.org sadagopan.org realized only after Mantra siddhi is attained. These requirements make it dif- ficult to follow the mantra japam route for the majority of us. It is therefore a frustrating route. (2) The second thing we can use with our speech organ is performing Veda PaarAyaNam. That route is even more difficult than Mantra Japam. The com- pletion of VedAdhyayanam takes many years of effort. Svarams have to be strictly preserved. Sandhai, retention power and repeated practice has to be adopted. To become a GhanapADi, it requires an average of 8 years to gain mastery over one Vedam. This route is not only time consuming but is also full of very difficult steps to gain success. You have to have Upanayanam before commencing VedAdhyayanam. This route is not open to ladies and for anyone outside the three varNams. This route is hence even more frustrating to fol- low than Mantra Japam. (3) Naama Sankeerthanam Route: The inherent difficulties associated with the 59 sadagopan.org PrayathA: Tava nAmnAm keerthanE prayathAmahE keerthanE nAmnAm Tava PrayathA: BahumanmahEna muhu: manUn Vayam Pathni! Hari Meaning: by Word Word univers clear practice route now.to becomes easy safest, the as Sankeerthanam Naama Lakshmi of nee The MOksham. of siddhi supreme the including hams us bless will mind of purity and faith with route this infirm Children, (Ladies, us of majority the for nam easiestr theengage into us propel routestwo first either i (Vedaancient PaarAyaNam) becauseof Vedams needs. meet asignificant our as to route ot wt prt o mn (hymi atu ad attem and vanthu) (“sankeerthanam Naama (thUyOmAi mind of purity with route t for rationale the providing Mant just is of He routes PaarAyaNam. the down putting not is poet the Here, with sankeerthanam nAma (Lakshmi’s) for our :) salvation.(prayathA Your perform to jarathee vAcha: na adhImahE cha adhImahE na vAcha: jarathee = Oh Divine Oh = Hari! of Consort Malar Mangai peyarkaL solla maasinRi MangaiMalar muyalhinROm)peyarkaL = We do not engage in the recitation of the the of recitation the in engage not do We = 60 = We do not consider the mantra Japams mantra the considernot do We = = (Therefore), we attempt we (Therefore), = oute of Naama sankeertha-Naamaof oute all with panoply of anugra- of panoply with all ones etc). The pursuit of pursuit The etc). ones ts inherent ts diffiuclties. e hie f h third the of choice he d for the adaptation adaptation the for d a aa ad Veda and Japam ra ally applicable and and applicable ally tn t perform to pting pr mind pure a . . sadagopan.org Sri Arvandavilli - Kakale THIRTEENTH SLOKAM AinraSymxae]jiàye Évraeg< bhul' œ"nErip, tirtu< àÉviNt lIlya tv namaE;xaseivnae nra>. anirAsyam adhOkshajapriyE bhavarogam bahulanghanairapi | taritum prabhavanti leelayA tava nAmoushadhAsEvinO narA: || 61 sadagopan.org nAmAs. Your thanamof thi cure to enough powerful become and them recite mAs power the know who few select A . fail and SamsAram to attempts repeated with vain in try Many , sAram o jump To ! AdhOkshajan of consort dear Oh Meaning: power the YourNaamAs. of with sorrows them from for play effortless effectively an like almost is themselves .It ease cure result a as and them (Naama NaamAs sacred Your of power and mahimai the f few A miserably. fail but langanai:) (Bahu disease o their of effots make Many SamsAram. of disease the Samsaari the for calamity That Sakthyaa). (Irayithum t calamity a is It . calamity a means " "anirAsayam consort dear (AdhOkshaja Priyai). His Her as qualities same the has She nectar. of adhOkshaja: fountain ithi ksheeyathE adhO times. all at tar e diminished gets never which , nectar of ocean the Naam Sahasra VishNu Sri in Lord Her of Naamaa 416th Priyai AdhOkshaja as here addressed is Lakshmi MahA Comments: 62 hat can not be driven away driven be not can hat to jump over the SamsAric the over jump to ven if many drink that nec-that drink many if ven ortunate ones know about know ones ortunate jump over the disease of disease the over jump e s h undiminishing the is He ver the disease of sam- of disease the ver and glory of Your nA-Your of glory and Lord and hence She is is She hence and Lord Vaibhavam) and recite and Vaibhavam) i Baa hgm or rhogam Bhava is s . AdhOkshajan is the is AdhOkshajan . s disease by sankeer-by disease s n o up vr this over jump to wn m Ahkhjn is AdhOkshajan . am h SmAi dis- SamsAric the sadagopan.org Thirukannapuram ThAyAr FOURTEENTH SLOKAM n ih nNtumnNtmIZmhe n c inmaR[kwaip kmR[am!, kmle kilÉI invtRn< klyamStv namkItRnm!. na hi nanthum AnanathameesmahE na cha nirmANa-kaTAapi karmaNAm KamalE kali-bhee nivartanam kalayAmas-tava nAma keerthanam 63 sadagopan.org kaTA api na; KamalE kali bhee nivartanam Tava nAma api nAma Tava na; nivartanam kaTA KamalE bhee kali cha hi; yeesmahE Na nanthum Ananatham Order): (Prose gams and Yaj~nams are like a child's play. For us o us For play. child's a like are Yaj~nams and gams him, For "asthOkAdhvari”. of title the with honored Yaj and Yaagams many performed has Kavi VenkatAdhri the dharmam isdecline. on forever where of fears the removes part our on act an Such you. gize sin to instead elected have YaagAs difficult forming as we Therefore, Yugam. Kali in alone nAmAs your of achieved are Yugams other inthe Yaj~nams and Yaagams phal the that states vachanam Moksham.PurANa to routes t from away stayed therefore yOgam have We us. by practise Bhakthi and yOgam Karma that concluded have We Meaning: Nama. Lakshmi's of Sankeerthanam Naama tAnam of e those as them with identifies and folks powerless nam alone for his redemption from the ill the effects o from his redemption namalone for Lak Sri reason that for chosen has he that concedes his expresses Kavi VenkatAdhri Sri slOkam, this In this Kali yugam. this cha to names sacred your of recitation the in gaged Ya or YaagAs eof observanc the towards inch an budge limitle (the Ananathan of name the having Lord Your od u cpblte. h pe hs s ec i mind in hence us has poet The capabilities. our yond Oh MahA Lakshmi (KamalE)! We are unable to offfer our offfer to unable are We (KamalE)! Lakshmi MahA Oh 64 f SamsAram: f se away the fear caused bycaused fear the away se nly, such activities are be- are activities such nly, (limiting) incapabilities and incapabilities (limiting) ngaged in the easy anush- easy the in ngaged keerthanam kalayAma: kalayAma: keerthanam g Your NaamAs and eulo-and NaamAs Your g the performance of Yaa- of performance the ss One). We do not even not do We One). ss incompetent ones in per-in ones incompetent shmi Naama sankeertha-Naama shmi we h rfr t the to refers he when , raveling on these bumpy these on raveling j~nAs. We are only en-only are We j~nAs. by the sankeerthanam the by living in Kali Yugam , , Yugam Kali in living amNm nirmAna karmANam nm ad a been has and ~nams n o performing of ans are difficult to to difficult are worship to to worship sadagopan.org Sri Perundevi ThAyAr FIFTEENTH SLOKAM ivivxain tvaxuna tu nam VysnaNyiBxsute xunatu nam, Aip y¾pt> klavhain SyurmUNyu¾vlxIklavhain. 65 sadagopan.org Nama thatchase allpowerful of Lakshmi away The kin raig nAa aot ra acaa. h vros da various The Panchakam. arTa about Jn~Anam creasing into transformed are Bhakthi and ViswAsam MahA with wh Those away. blown are dukkhams samsAric our of all By Ocean! Milky the of daughter the Lakshmi, MahA Oh growing aboutTatthva Jn~Anam true of tre Thrayams. b days the Yugam, Kali this in nAmams dhivya your of in! engaged are we that practises bad many our of us of tha dangers of varieties the immediately away power chase the May Ocean! the of Daughter Oh Meaning: syu: ujjval ahAni amUni kalou japatha: yath nAma.api nAthu Tava vyasanAni VividhAni aBdhisuthE! Order): (Prose n hs lkm Sia KNa Say ons u that SlEsham places. two at out together SlEsham and PrAsam points Swamy KaNNan Sriman slOkam, this In Parama bywho of those nAmAs Paavanrecitethe ized all that says poet The flight. take habits bad All at only obtainable Jn~Anam y (unshrinking) asankuchitha (dhiyO purified are intellects Our vilAsam). dhee: a) ht hy r epsd o r sae of Or med Our off. shaken are to exposed are they that yam) vyasanAnyaBdhisuthE dhunAthu nAma vyasanAnyaBdhisuthEdhunAthu syuramunyajjvaladhee-kalAvahAni syuramunyajjvaladhee-kalAvahAni vividhAni tavAdhunA nAma vividhAni thu api yajjapatha: kalAvahAni apiyajjapatha: kalAvahAni 66 of these bhAgyams are real-are bhAgyams these of t we come across and free and across come we t ecome filled with the lus- the with filled ecome ds of tApams of ds a MahA Lakshmi. Lakshmi. aMahA Further, for the reciter the for Further, n: prachOdhayAth). na: O is pun and PrAsam is al-is PrAsam and pun is aa duA h dhu- thu adhunA Nama Moksha dasai results . results dasai Moksha de kl AavahAni kalA dhee a evolved souls with in- with souls evolved reciting your nAmAs, your reciting rct yu nAmAs your recite o hA expands (ujjvala (ujjvala expands hA or ard nAmAs sacred your gr (ap Thra- (Taapa ngers h Kv ue the uses Kavi the literation. These are two figures of speech that are used in a beautiful manner here. In the first paadham of this slOkam, we come across "adhunA thu nAma” ; in the second paadham , the word group is " dhunA thu naama" . The meanings however are different in the two Paadhams but the sound effects are similar. The third and the fourth paadhams end with the same word: “KalAvahAni“. The meanings however are different based on splitting of this compound word. "KalAvahAni" can be split as Kalou+ahAni (the days in kali yugam) or kalA + AavahAni (the acquisition of the various Kalais due to the acquisition of the sharpened intellect /ujjvala dhee :). sadagopan.org sadagopan.org Sri VenkatAdhri Kavi’s sense of humor and poetic greatness is evident here and is recognized as the result of MahA Lakshmi's ParamAnugraham. 67 sadagopan.org dhustarkavAdha- paradhUshaNa-dhOsha-Saanthyai: dhustarkavAdha- rAshtraprasanga-kujanasthuthi-rAjakAryam rAshtraprasanga-kujanasthuthi-rAjakAryam nAmAni keerthayathu tE rasanA madheeyA keerthayathu nAmAni tE rasanA NaarAyaNa PriyataME NaarAyaNa pAvanAni nanu namainnamain kItRytu kItRytu te tersna rsna mdIya. mdIya. namainnamain kItRytu kItRytu te tersna rsna mdIya. mdIya. ÊStkRvadprË;[dae;zaNTyE>,ÊStkRvadprË;[dae;zaNTyE>, ÊStkRvadprË;[dae;zaNTyE>,ÊStkRvadprË;[dae;zaNTyE>, Thiruvellakkulam ThAyAr Thiruvellakkulam ra:q+às¼k…jnStuitrajkay¡ra:q+às¼k…jnStuitrajkay¡ naray[iàytmenaray[iàytme nnu nnu pavnain pavnain ra:q+às¼k…jnStuitrajkay¡ra:q+às¼k…jnStuitrajkay¡ naray[iàytmenaray[iàytme nnu nnu pavnain pavnain SIXTEENTH SLOKAM 68 In the 16th SlOkam of this staBakam, Sri VenkatAdhri Kavi points out that the nAmAs of MahA Lakshmi destroy the blemishes (dhOshams) of our tongues: Meaning: My tongue is full of blemishes. Some of these asuddhis acquired by my tongue are: (1) Praising of the lowly & evil ones for my livelihood / kujana sthuthi (2) Engaging in vicious chatter about my neighbors and friends and spreading Rumours / rAshtra prasangam (3) Making hypocritical political speeches / rAja kAryam (4) Playing the devil's advocate and arguing for arguments' sake / kustarka vAdham (5) Belittling others /Para dhUshaNam. sadagopan.org Oh dearest Consort of NaarAyaNa! If adiyEn has to cleanse my tongue from all these pancha mahA dhOshams, adiyEn has to place a most sacred object on my tongue. That sacred object is Your Name. Once adiyEn adorns your name on my tongue, all the blemishes are destroyed. My tongue gets consecrated by your nAmAs in a manner similar to our association with GangA water, the dust from cow's hoof in the morning , Sri Paadha theertham of BhagavathAs , Pancha- gavyam , consecrated PunDram prepared with dhvAdasa nAma manthrams , con- secrated sacred thread et al. There are other methods for removing these dhOshams such as Pradakshi- Nams and PraNAmams (Circamambualations and prostrations before the Lord) and yet adiyEn believes that the dhOshams caused by the tongue has to be eliminated by the tongue ( karthA ) itself. The parihAram (cure) for these dhOshams is the recitation of MahA Lakshmi's dhivya nAmAs. 69 sadagopan.org tongues. our addition addresses poet the slOkams, two next the In recita .This saanthi. dhOshams of kinds five these of o tongues sankeerthanam and names Mother's our of japam The culture. low andmaintenanceof apac others, to pain causing to leads dhUshaNam Para power. for others). (harming PeeDai Para and dharmam) rAja in wealth), including kinds different of desires the by prA arTa-kAma of dhOsham the to leads Kaaryam Raajya athivA of Truth) and degradat of vachanam (distortion asathya- effects side harmful the has sthuthi Kujana greatscholars. of with enimity generation (winning winning with obsession drOham), ing/vidhyA (dis cheating to leads Vaadham dustarka instance For effects. side bydhOshams thegenerated causes tongue these Each of 70 dharma lObham (dimunition lObham dharma for winning's sake) , the , sake) winning's for tortion of the true mean- true the of tortion ion of honor. of ion one'sown These arise from hunger from arise These al aparAdhams caused by caused aparAdhams al hAram to BhAgavathAs to hAram in rdcs parama produces tion so many harmful hm (Exaggeraton), dham te cene our cleanses them f vaNyam (domination vaNyam sadagopan.org Sriperumbudur ThAyAr SEVENTEENTH SLOKAM àadezs 71 sadagopan.org moves the heat and delights my tongue. tongue. my delights and heat the moves nectarine The relish. with Nama many your recite I sc gets Itfire. on is tongue my mistakes, those ize and stooped I livelihood, a earning of sake the For hun your of nectar cool parched tongues, our andrench NaamAs them rejuvenate the May lifeless. become and Our abhidahyamAnA). rasanA anruthai: (yEbhi: tongues l conscious these of result The arTai:). pooraNa hara (pr stomachs (small-dimensioned) long two-finger our tel We Ocean)! the of daughter (the suthE Neeradhi Oh filling sake stomachs. the of our for O lofty. be always should strivings and goals Our 1) slOkam in this embedded SaasthrArTams 8 The poet. by the here "anrutham" in letter one of change in difference experien of the by comforted the sankeerthanamassociated yourwith of (amrutham) be (anrutham) lies telling Neeradhi Sankeerthanam: nirvAthu! Naama (tongue) rasanA Lakshmi by heat the of prAdEsa-sammitha-nija-udhara-pUraNa-arTai: prAdEsa-sammitha-nija-udhara-pUraNa-arTai: AakhyAsathair-abhimathair-amruthairivAasou AakhyAsathair-abhimathair-amruthairivAasou nirvAthu neeradhisuthE rasanA Thvadheeyai: neeradhisuthE rasanA nirvAthu athyarTamEbhir-anruhtai: abhidahyamAnA athyarTamEbhir-anruhtai: May my scorched tongue resulting from the act of act the from resulting tongue scorched my May 72 The prayer here is for the quenching the for is here prayer The told many lies. When I real- I When lies. many told orched. Seeking a sure cure, sure Seekinga orched. ne should not lower oneself lower not should ne ies is the scorching of our of scorching the is ies effect of your Nama re- Nama your of effect AdEsa sammitha nija ud-nija sammitha AdEsa and "amrutham" is noted is "amrutham" and nAmAs! ). The mountain nAmAs! The ). l lies (anrutham) to fill to (anrutham) lies l oge gt parched get tongues d delight them ! them delight d dreds of delectable delectable of dreds e f h nectar the of ce SuthE! (Mama) (Mama) SuthE! 2) It is a mighty sin to lie. The AchAryan's upadEsam for the anthEvAsi is: "Satyam vadha" Upanishad empasizes the utterance of sathyam (Truth) 3) When a vivEki is forced to tell a lie, he regrets it and develops nirvEdham. That repentance alone destroys one fourth of the accumulated sins. 4) The Saadhus who have committed a mistake go through successive stages of AnutApam, uparamam, PrAyascchittha unmukathvam and the performance of the PrAyascchittham These 4 stages of repentance culminating in the per- formance of the act of atonement destroys the Paapams one quarter at a time. 5) The intense pain experienced by the Saadhus is the telling of a lie for the sadagopan.org sake of the insignificant stomach. Saasthrams permit conscious uttering of un- truth for the observance of some lofty dharmams: protection of a SaraNA- gathan, protection of life and maintenance of an unnatha dharmam. 6) The slOkam specifically refers to the tongue being the agent of the lie. For a prAyascchittham to be effective, the aparAdham and the agent associated with the aparAdham should be expressly stated (bahirangam); seeking forgive- ness in secret wont be effective at all (rahasya aparAdha kshAmaNam). 7) The sankeerthanam of the thousands of NaamAs of MahA Lakshmi and Her divine consort destroys all types of sins. The reference to " AakhyA Sathai: " (hundreds of NaamAs) is to remind us of the Lakshmi Sahasra Naamams housed in SanathkumAra samhithai. 73 sadagopan.org phalans evenbliss onewillonedrench if does with naamAs any expecting of instead prayOjanam Svayam They bhOgyam). (Parama delectable are NaamAs Her 8) Thiru evvul Kankavalli Thiru ThAyAr 74 not ask for ask notit. should be recited as recited be should h pwr f these of power the sadagopan.org sadagopan.org Jayanagar Sri Mahalakshmi ThAyAr EIGHTEENTH SLOKAM AgitkdeihdeihvcnStuuitÊ>odzaAgitkdeihdeihvcnStuuitÊ>odza---- k…iptimt agathika-dEhi-dEhi-vachana-sthuthi-dukkha-dasA kupitha-mithampacha-sthavana-dushkruthi-nishkruthaya: bhavadhabhidhAsudhA bhavadhavAnalatApamusha: Janani puna: puna: paripunanthy jaganthy RamE 75 sadagopan.org ht r te ides dskuh : cmitd y the by committed :) (dushkruthi misdeeds the are What 2. kupi dasA du:kkha sthuthi vachana dEhi dEhi agathika 1. Comments: puna: ,bhavadhabhidhAsudhA: puna: nalajaga tApamusha: nidhkruthaya dushkruthi sthavana mithampacha vac kupitha dasA dEhi dEhi Agathika RamE! Jananee Order): (Prose ill effects of praising the worthless and begging worthless p the praising of ill effects th nAmAs, your recite people errant such When people. self-inf and humiliating the is This out. get to them assemble these at shout and give to janams pestering repeat these at angry get and pressed feel rich The t process, this During them athivAdham. and eulogize words) (untrue janams these "rich”, insignificant and p to handouts; for clamor and poverty their overcome a in rich self-satisfied and arrogant immature, the The key words of this slOkam are: are: slOkam this of words key The : our from misdeeds arising neutralizer/cleanser/"termin a as serve nAmAs shmi’s t that states Kavi VenkatAdhri Sri slOkam, this In th for Nishkruthi the becoming NaamAs Lakshmi’s MahA again). the and time universe purify time mAs paripunanthy"jaganthy puna: puna: aa) sfeig n dseae etet? hy arri They sentients? desperate and suffering janam), sthavana dushkruthy nishkruthaya: ( tava nAmA: ( nAmA: tava): dushkruthy nishkruthaya: sthavana (Oh Mother Ramaa Devi! Your nectarine nA- nectarine Your Devi! Ramaa Mother (Oh 76 Jnne aE Baahbih sudhA: BhavadhabhidhA RamE! “Jananee resents from them. The them. The reci-from resents tt o dseain to desperation of state ator" for the ill effectsill the for ator" itd uhrti f the of dushkruthi licted e oe o Mh Lak- MahA of power he lease these intemperate these lease d euss rm these from requests ed e t h fot or of door front the at ve d people and scream at scream and people d hog aay vaak asatya through ey get cleansed of the the of cleansed get ey e ls ter dignity. their lose hey e Dushkruthis of ours. of Dushkruthis e hana sthuthy du:kkha du:kkha sthuthy hana nthy paripunanthy . nthy. paripunanthy helpless (agathika (agathika helpless h mithampacha tha baa dhavA- bhava , : tation of Your sacred names is like the performance of a PrAyascchittham (nishkruthaya :) to cleanse them of these foul deeds (Dushkruthi). 2. bhava-dhavAnala tApamusha: (Tava nAMA :): For these suffering and erring people , the recitation of Your sacred nAmAs are antidotes against the afflic- tions caused by the wild fire of SamsAram. 3. bahavadhabhidhA-sudhA: puna: puna: jaganthy paripunanthy: Oh Mother! Your nAmAs purify and rejuvenate the suffering errants again and again .They cleanse them from their misdeeds and shower them with Your anugraham. That grace of yours and the power of your nAmAs nullify their samsAric sufferings. sadagopan.org sadagopan.org 4. Dushkruthi nishkruthaya: This word group has two meanings: (1) PrAyachittams for one's Paapams (2) That which keep one away from engagement in misdeeds. According to the second meaning, the recitations of your sacred Nama save the helpless ones from begging at the houses of the rich and praising the un- qualified etc. Your nAma sankeerthanam will chase away the mental & physical poverty and elevate the chEtanams to an uniquely wealthy status. 5. What are the things people beg the rich for? (1) To help overcome their poverty, they seek money (2) The one without courage asks a strong person to protect him, (3) The unintelligent ones approach a clever person for counsel, 77 sadagopan.org themselves through sthuthi of alpa janams will not ar not will janams alpa of sthuthi through themselves si these Lakshmi, of nAmAs the recite who those, For 7. DEhi dEhi: dEhi: DEhi 7. (Cleansing usual not &tatthvams delectable) thatare enti rare such one is Laskshmi) (MahA Yours of nAmAs The us. purify not th at and nectar like delectable are that tatthvams do but taste to delectable are sugar nec the like delectable not are but sins one's stroy l our tApams. Acts samsAric remove not but do us rify the from dust the with thing Same sins. one's remove pa wood likesandalthings Thereare is: answer The quen SamsAram. and nectar like rejuvenating names Lakshmi's MahA wha repeats poet the why to as arise may question The areand quenchnectar nAmAs Her like Why SamsAric 6. vyApArams). del the by begging of kinds different all are These politician asks forThe thepower seeking (4) vote and that. huma helpless The padham). kriyA (a give please means this first by slOkam.the halfof conveyed (mithampacha ones half-baked these of doors the at elimin and anugrahams all grant will Herself Lakshmi themselves expose and rich haughty these before bend the first dEhi means the embodied living person. Th person. living embodied the means dEhi first the 78 of the citizen. of ste that cool one but do notdo but one thatcool ste e same time purify one. The one. purify time same e ly found together. together. lyfound a. h we suf like stuff sweet The tar. :).These are the thoughts the are :).These dd aahk dh dEhi dEhi (agathika uded ate the need for begging for need the ate hoof of the cow that pu-that cow the of hoof ise. ike theertha yAthrai de- theertha ike n begs the rich for this for rich the begs n tApams? t he said earlier about earlier said he t tuations of demeaning demeaning of tuations to their anger. MahA anger. their to ty combining the two two the combining ty They do not need to need not do They e r ol a few a only are re hn te et of heat the ching e second dEhi second e 8. Abundant PrAsams: In this slOkam as in the others, we come across a rich set of delectable PrAsams : dhushkruthi-nishkruthi, bhidhA-sudhA, puna: puna: punanthy, bhavatha: bhavatha: et al. sadagopan.org sadagopan.org Thirukoshtiyur ThAyAr 79 sadagopan.org Bhagavathy mAdhrusAm jagathy nagathi: prathibhAthi mAdhrusAm Bhagavathy Sruthi-paNithi-sTithi-smruthi-purANatathi-SravaNE Sruthi-paNithi-sTithi-smruthi-purANatathi-SravaNE tadhapi Tava Thvadheeya -dayithasya cha nAma japa: cha nAma -dayithasya tadhapi Thvadheeya Tava Bhavathi Kalou yugE jaDa-dhiyAmapi kAmadhugA KaloukAmadhugA yugE Bhavathi jaDa-dhiyAmapi ÉgvitÉgvit ma†za< ma†za< jgit jgit n nàitÉait àitÉait git>, git>, ÉgvitÉgvit ma†za< ma†za< jgit jgit n nàitÉait àitÉait git>, git>, ÉvitÉvit klaE klaE yuge yuge jfixyamip jfixyamip kamÊ"a. kamÊ"a. ÉvitÉvit klaE klaE yuge yuge jfixyamip jfixyamip kamÊ"a. kamÊ"a. Sri Ranaganayaki ThAyAr—Belur Ranaganayaki ThAyAr—Belur Sri tdiptdip tv tvTvdIydiytSy TvdIydiytSy c namjpae c namjpae tdiptdip tv tvTvdIydiytSy TvdIydiytSy c namjpae c namjpae ïuit)i[itiSwitSm&itpura[titïv[eïuit)i[itiSwitSm&itpura[titïv[e ïuit)i[itiSwitSm&itpura[titïv[eïuit)i[itiSwitSm&itpura[titïv[e NINETEENTH SLOKAM SLOKAM NINETEENTH 80 In this the Kavi states that even mandha Mathis (dull-witted ones) are quali- fied to recite MahA Lakshmi's nAmAs and derive benefits and MangaLams there from. The key words of this slOkam are: “Bhagavathy! MaadhruSAm jaDa-dhiyAmapi Tava Thvadheeya-dhayitasya nAma japa: kalou yugE kaamadhugA bhavathy” Meaning: Oh Divine One! In this Kali yugam, even for dull-witted ones like us, the recitation of your and Your Lord's names is like the Kaama dhEnu cow that grants all desired wishes . There are no other ways for chEtanams like us in this world (MaadhruSAm jaDa dhiyO: Anya gathi: na prathibhAthy) except to recite Your nAma sahasrams. The First Two Paadhams of this slOkam sadagopan.org sadagopan.org Oh Bhagavathy! For dullards like us, there are no means for upliftment (Moksham) through listening to the wisdom housed in Smruthis and PurANams; equally, there is no hope in using the route of Veda vichAram for our salvation. Our escape route is only the Japam of the nAmAs of Yours and Your Lord's. The reasons for the unsuitability of listening to the Veda-smruthi-purANams for the Jada Mathis are described under four categories: 1) There are a huge number of Vedams, Smruthis and PurANams. Their sheer number can stagger even a brilliant scholar. If that were to be so, you can imagine our problems as the dull witted ones in tackling them for our salvation. Veda VichAram and VedAntha tatthva vichAram (inquiry) is beyond our limited intellect. When we attempt such inquiries we are easily confused about the true meanings and the passages look contradictory (Samsaya-viparyayangaL). 81 sadagopan.org and slOk ofPaadhams) 4th this the SecondHalf(3rd PaDanam. or studies Vedic PurANa the for is ruchi Our likes. different have People ruchi:“. Th Japam. Naama Devi to gravitates mind Our cencies. blami not are We Saasthrams. and Vedams the of study leaning Our movement. and inclination means Gathy 4) Smruthi this Vedam , fund remind of dhi. and PurANam us sur the is nAmAs consort's His of sankeerthanam the De ones. dull-witted by even attainable is Sathgathi t has It routes. recommedned the not are These lect. Saasthr studying Vedams, the of recitation by gained P (parama Srivaikuntam or Sathgathi is here Gathi 3) the a as curefor your recitation sure naamAs the of P the . that us for route appropriate realize the not is route (reading) us deficien make much and our of apachArams us BhAgavatha remind Lord the to ins challenge in Hi SisupAlan PirAtti, SithA stealing of in dhushkruthyams RaavaNA’s aparAdhams The discouraged. very diff the in stories various the to listen we When 2) nAma sankeerthanam. Your resort we .Therefore heads our over is much are Things side which and (PrAbhalyam) correct is argument) w establish to skills analytical the have not do We 82 ih asa (ie f the of (side paksham hich samsAric illness. samsAric am am lighting the Lord through Lord the lighting Therefore, we resort to resort we Therefore, nAma japam and not for not and japam nAma rn PrNm, e are we PurANams, erent ams or by superior intel- superior by or ams e route to gain this sid- this gain to route e to the easier way (viz). way easier the to ng them for their defi- their for them ng ae o twrs the towards not are s adham). It can not be be not can It adham). b udrto that understood be o ek (dhourbhalyam). weak amental truth. ayksp' daring raNyakasipu's ey say "lOkO bhinna bhinna "lOkO say ey e ie Bhagavath- like ce ulting BhagavAn, BhagavAn, ulting rN paDanam urANa “asmAkam Tava Thvadheeya dhayithasya nAma Japa: kAmadhugA” For us of weak intellect, the sankeeerthanam of your and Your Lord's nAmAs is like being blessed with the divine, wish-granting Kaama dhEnu. Oh Bhaga- vathy! Your nAma japam is the veritable KaamadhEnu for us.Even a MahAn like Sage Vasishtar had such a Kaama dhEnu. Additional Reasons for sathgathy through Naama Japam Even a Jada Mathy can perform the japam of the name "Janani” and gain Sath- gathy. Naama PaarAyaNam of Her name will bless us with all unexpected fortunes (adhrushtam). sadagopan.org sadagopan.org Even pEthais (pitiable ones) can gain "pERu" (high stats) through japam of Pe- rumdEvi's Nama. Even mandha buddhis can delight from the recitation of the names of the Lotus Lady. UNIQUENESS OF NAAMA JAPAM IN KALI YUGAM In Kali Yugam, One can attain salvation from Naama Sankeerthanam alone just as through Tapas in Krutha yugam , Yaj~nams in thrEthA yugam , Bhagavath AarAdhanam in DhwApara yugam. This is what Kali santharaNa Upanishad teaches us. Why does the Kavi use the long phrase of “Sruthi-phaNithi-sTithi-smruthi?” instead of the shorter version of the same as "Sruthy-Smruthy )? 83 sadagopan.org ada: wrs n wt "thi”: with end words 5 paadham: endi the with construction sentence the of beauty The slOkam finessein Poetic this The bhE and PurANams. case in the of Texts) Smruthis Paada different the to rise give These tact. in wh altered, be sannivEsamcan however, word PurANams S in alteered be not can juxtaposition Word PurANams. t in present not is requirement a Such ". sTithi Nithi of choice the by indicated is what is This altered. V the of svarams the that is rule inviolate only The without Manthrams Veda recite to acceptable is It 3) group: sTithi, phaNithi smruthi purANatath “Sruthi word a Vedams the in rooted those Only knowledge). Valid of status the havenot do PurANams and smruthis All 2) books the (writtenfrom Texts). a Smruthi contrast, In (Vedams). Sruthi to only lates " “Sruthi-phaNithi-sTithi of group word extended the prote be to have svarams The aurally. sishyan the to transmissi "mukhastham”: be to has (Sruthy) Vedam 1) thisthree are reasonselaborate for usage: There tathi". 84 rti Paih, Tti srti purANa- smruthi, sTithi, PhaNithi, Sruthi, the word group: “Sruthi pha- “Sruthi group: word the eda mantrams are not to be to not are mantrams eda cted this way. That is why is That way. this cted nd PurANams can be read be can PurANams nd he case of Smruthis and Smruthis of case he hm (aitos n the in (variations thams knowing their meanings. their knowing e eonzd hu the thru recognized re ng of "thi" .In the first first the .In "thi" of ng is used. This sTithi re-sTithi This used. is ile meaning keeping the (acceptedPramANams AchAryan the from on i sravaNEi ". ruthi; In smruthi and smruthi In ruthi; In the second paadham again there are 5 words ending with "thi":" Bhagavathi, Jagathi, prathi-bhAthi, and gathi". All these lilting sounds have a very pleasant ring to them as we recite this slOkam sadagopan.org sadagopan.org 85 sadagopan.org nidhanam-ubhadhravam cha na kadhAapi yatassahathEcha na kadhAapi nidhanam-ubhadhravam athiSayam-AadhimAth aparamEva taTAabhyayathE aparamEva athiSayam-AadhimAth Janani sAmAnamEva nanu sAma cha nAma cha nAma chatEnanu JananisAma sAmAnamEva manasija tAthapAdha manasa: paritushtikaram paritushtikaram manasa:manasija tAthapAdha Sri Lakshmi ThAyAr—Devarayanadurg ThAyAr—Devarayanadurg Lakshmi Sri jninjnin smanmev smanmev nnu nnu sam sam c nam c nam c cte, te, jninjnin smanmev smanmev nnu nnu sam sam c nam c nam c cte, te, inxnmupÔv In this slOkam, the great Lakshmi BhakthA states jocularly that Saama Veda Manthrams have passages known as nidhanam and upadhravam, which have the secondary meanings of struggles and destruction. This is in ParibhAshai. The poet states that MahA Lakshmi's nAmAs unlike some of the Saama sAmans do not have Ubadhravam or Nidhanam aspects. MahA Lakshmi's nAmAs are Sarva MangaLakaram and easy to recite for obtaining Her anugraham. Meaning: Oh Mother! Both the Saama Veda Manthrams that delight the mind of the Father of Manmathan (Your Lord) and Your Naamams are equal in sa- credness.There is however two negative connotations with Saama Veda Man- thrams that Your nAmams do not have. Saama Vedam has passages known as Ubhadhravam (Giving trouble) and nidhanam (destruction). Your Nama differ from these two Saama Vedic fetures and never cause any inauspiciousness to sadagopan.org sadagopan.org those who recite them. Therefore, Saama Veda Saamans will not reach equality with Your nAmAs in Vaibhavam. The poet concludes that Lakshmi Naama ghA- nam is superior to Saama GhAnam that is recited in Sri Vaikuntam to delight the Lord. 87 sadagopan.org pÒepÒe tavknam tavknam s pApa-AaDOpa-nidhAga-varjana-kruthE parjanya-garjAyathE vyAdhi-vyAla-kulE pathath-pathi-Garuth-vaathUla-nAdhAyathE dhAridhra-dhviradhEndhra dhAraNa-vidhou simhADDahAsAyathE PadhmE Taavaka-nAma samsruthi-niSA prathyUsha vAdhyAyathE Meaning: Oh Mother! Your nAmAs destroy sins, poverty, diseases (vyAdhi) and SamsAram (bhava rOgam). The poet gives us some memorable comparisons in this context. For the torrid summer of sins, Your nAmAs are like the welcome, seasonal rains. For the serpent of disease, your nAmAs are like the dhvani from the movement of the wings of Veda Purushan, Garudan. For the elephant in rut, your Nama are like the roar of the lion to chase it away. For the night of Sam- sadagopan.org sAram, Your nAmAs are like the instruments played at dawn to greet the birth of a new day. The sacred names of MahA Lakshmi transforms into the sound of thunder (idi Osai), the fierce wind generated by the wings of mighty Garudan as He rushes forward, the simha garjanam and the tender sounds of the SuprabhAtham re- cited at dawn. The sins, diseases, poverty and SamsAram shudder and run away the moment they hear the auspicious sounds of lakshmi Naama sankeerthanam. The sound effects in this slOkam are beautiful to enjoy. All the Paadhams end with "AayathE ". 89 sadagopan.org rAjeevAayathanEithi dhaithya-jith-urO-rakshEthi Lak dhaithya-jith-urO-rakshEthi rAjeevAayathanEithi prAthar mAthar-upAsmahE krutha Subha tE nAmAni krutha mAthar-upAsmahE sTEmAni prAthar KsheerABdhErduhithEthi KaiDabha-ripO: dhArA ithi SrI ithi dhArA KaiDabha-ripO: KsheerABdhErduhithEthi SrEyas-sAdhana-dEvathA-ithi jagathAm MathEthiSrEyas-sAdhana-dEvathA-ithi Seeth àatmaRtépaSmheàatmaRtépaSmhe k«tzuÉSwemain k«tzuÉSwemainnamain namain te. te. àatmaRtépaSmheàatmaRtépaSmhe k«tzuÉSwemain k«tzuÉSwemainnamain namain te. te. ïey>ïey> saxndevteit saxndevteit jgta< jgta< mateit mateit sIteit sIteit c c ïey>ïey> saxndevteit saxndevteit jgta< jgta< mateit mateit sIteit sIteit c c ]IraBxeÊRihteit]IraBxeÊRihteit kEqÉirpaedaRra kEqÉirpaedaRra #it #itïIirit, ïIirit, ]IraBxeÊRihteit]IraBxeÊRihteit kEqÉirpaedaRra kEqÉirpaedaRra #it #itïIirit, ïIirit, rajIvaytneitrajIvaytneit dETyijÊraer]eit dETyijÊraer]eit lúmIirit lúmIirit rajIvaytneitrajIvaytneit dETyijÊraer]eit dETyijÊraer]eit lúmIirit lúmIirit TWENTY SECOND TWENTY SLOKAM Sri Yadugiri Nachiyaar Yadugiri Sri 90 shmIrithi rithi rithi Ethi In this slOkam, Sri VenkatAdhri Kavi reminds us that the sacred names of our Mother establish firmly (without ever fading) all auspiciousness for the re- citer. Meaning: Oh Lakshmi! Through these 9 NaamAs, we meditate on you at early morning hours: (1) VishNu VakshasTalasTithA, (2) PadhmAlayA (3) Lakshmi (4) Samudhra TanayE (5) Consort of the enemy of KaiDaba asuran (6) SrI (7) Devathai serving as the means for SrEyas (8) Mother of the Universe and (9) SeethA such a recitation and the meditation on these 9 Nama establish soundly all auspiciousness for us. We perform upAsanam with reflections on the myriad tatthvams behind each of these Nama (arTAnusandhAnam) during the early morning hours, which are ideal for Japam and grantha KaalakshEpam. Sriman Kannan Swamy succinctly records the meanings of this slOkam in Tamil: sadagopan.org ahalAtha MangaLatthai aruLUm unn NaamangaL athanAlE anudinamum athikAlai avai solvOm The recitation of Your nAmAs results in lasting auspiciousness. Therefore, we recite them daily during Brahma MuhUrtham ( PrAtha: kaalE upAsmahE) . Each of the nAmAs have depths of meanings. RajjevAyathanA (Raajeeva AayathanA ) means the One who has Her abode in the Lotus. The deeper mean- ings of this nAmam are covered in the next sthaBakam. “dhaithya jithurOrakshA " refers to Her being the protection (rakshai) for 91 sadagopan.org p one when asanchalA, Naama Her atsankeerthanam dawn. through becomes She that suggests Kavi of instead (selvOm reason that for Sanchalaa as Her fo place one at stay not does Lakshmi that say Some by Swamy and in Desikan. MummaNikkOvai Tantram b has sabdham "SrI” the of meanings profound six The Kaanthan al. shmi et therefor understood is He chest His on residence Her (lakshaN definition the provides “Lakshmi" name The enemies. His to able is Lord our Lakshmi, p VakshasTala as her presence of because is It enemies. His against Lord Her 92 selvam). Sri VenkatAdhri Sri selvam). am) for the Lord through Lord the for am) r too long. They address They long. too r win His battles against against battles His win een revealed in Lakshmi in revealed een a Sia ah, Lak- Pathy, Sriya as e oeto truh her through rotection rom UpAsanai erforms sadagopan.org Sri Thiruanbil ThAyAr TWENTY THIRD SLOKAM AÂTpÂ;v[Rm[RRvsute TvÚamk[aRm&t< mTpapain mhÄra{yip muhumuR:[ait k«:[a¼ne, A]Ii[ àitéNxdNxtms< gehe;u ÉUiyómÉUiyóm---- Py¼‚óàimtEv dIpkilka ha hNt nae hiNt ikm!. anjath-panchasha-varNam arNavasuthE ThvannAma karNAmrutham math-pApAni mahattharANyapi muhur-mushNAthy KrishNAnganE aksheeNi prathirundhath andhatamasam gEhEshu bhUyishDAmapi angushta-pramithaiva dheepa-kalikA haa hantha nO hanthy kim 93 sadagopan.org Angushta pramithA yEva dheepa kalikA nO hanthy kim? hanthy nO kalikA dheepa yEva pramithA Angushta andhatamasamapi bhUyishtam GEhEshu Haahanttha! mushNAthy muhu: api pApAni math MahattharANi = ThvannAma = KarNAmrutham = Anjath-panchasha-varNam KrishNAnganE= = suthE ArNava gigantic bundles of our Sins: the have but size in small are which , nAmes shmi's poet the StaBakam, Vaibhava Naama of slOkam this In ih sne f odr Cn n n cae wy n el theboat as anocean? cross grass to blade of away chase ant an Can wonder. of sense a with of power this about thinks adiyEn When sins. of dles your size, small their of Inspite huge. are sins of of size small the to contrast In suthA. malaa,arNava letter 6 or 5 of up (made sized small are nAmAs Your . lampfact small thatsized the is t in darkness enveloping huge the destroys and where th from radiance The lamp. (little) lit thumb-sized, mine bundlesof sizedeffortlessly ofand f sins huge house house = what a surprise (mystery)? asurprise what = Your NaamAs NaamAs Your Oh Daughter of the Ocean! Daughter the Oh of Oh wife of KrishNa BhagavAn! of wife Oh and acting as a nectar to to ears andactingthe anectar as having the assembly of just 5 or 6 letters 6 or just5assembly letters the having of 94 ee te es drns i the in darkness dense the even = nAmAs destroy my huge bun-huge my destroy nAmAs at little lamp spreads every- spreads lamplittle at sel wy et p the up) (eat away steal = requently. immense power to destroy to power immense Your naamAs, my bundles my naamAs, Your Your nAmAs , it fills me fills it , nAmAs Your s) like HarivallabhA, Ka-HarivallabhA, like s) pat cn n ue a use one can ? ephant he house inspite of the of inspite house he states that MahA Lak- MahA that states = is destroyed by the by destroyed is = Can one use a soft bud to crack a piece of granite? Can a piece of thorn suc- ceed in pulverizing a bar of iron? They can not and it is understandable that small entities can not take on successfully a mighty object. In the case of your nAmAs made up of very few letters take on however the huge accumulation of my sins and destroy them. This action takes place quite often. It is not a once in a while thing (one day wonder). Math pApAni mahattharANi: My offenses (insufferable apachArams, decep- tions, cheatings and trespasses against Bhagavath sAsthrams) are huge and are growing forever. You’re nAmAs destroy them again and again. What takes mighty long Prayascchitthams? (SaandhrAyaNa vratham PrAjApathya kruc- chiram) to do, your short Nama destroy these huge bundles of sins quickly and often. sadagopan.org sadagopan.org The situation is similar to the radiance from a small lamp that spreads over the entire room and destroys the surrounding darkness. There are plenty of PrAsams in this slOkam as well:" anjath-Pancha, varNam- arNava, MushNAthi Krishna, rundha-dandha, BhUyishtam-angushta, hantha- hanthy et al. These prAsams have a pleasing effect on the listener's ears. 95 sadagopan.org Meaning: adiyEn has a deadly disease. It has the na the has It disease. deadly a has adiyEn Meaning: maraNa jarAdhimayaath mahAmayAnmAm maraNa pachathy Suchir bhavadheeya nAmavarga: bhavadheeya nAmavarga: pachathySuchir avithum udhadhi kanyakE achikithsyAth udhadhi achikithsyAth avithum kanyakE paramavishamam Antaram kashAyam Antaram kashAyam paramavishamam TWENTYFORTH SLOKAM TWENTYFORTH AivtumudixkNyke=icikTSyaAivtumudixkNyke=icikTSyad AivtumudixkNyke=icikTSyaAivtumudixkNyke=icikTSya mr[jraidmyaNmhamyaNmam!,mr[jraidmyaNmhamyaNmam!, mr[jraidmyaNmhamyaNmam!,mr[jraidmyaNmhamyaNmam!, pcitpcit zuicÉRvdIynamvgR>. zuicÉRvdIynamvgR>. pcitpcit zuicÉRvdIynamvgR>. zuicÉRvdIynamvgR>. Sri Komalavalli ThAyAr Komalavalli ThAyAr Sri prmiv;mmaNtr me of samsAra rhOgam and rhOgam samsAra of me ddd has the constituents of old age, death et al.For saving me from that disease, adiyEn has to make a curative concoction (KashAyam). That act is performed by Your nAmAs. Your namaas are the fire to cook that kashAyam to the per- fect state for curing my illness. KashAyam has two meanings here: (1) The syrup that the doctor gives. It is prepared bythe slow evaporation of the solution containing the active ingredient with a huge amount of water. (2) KashAyam also means desire, udhvEgam (excitement) and other rAgams and blemishes of the mind. (3) The assembly of your Nama is like the fire that condenses the potion and forms the essence (kashAyam) to destroy my samsAric disease. “KAshAyam sadagopan.org sadagopan.org pachathy " refers to the destructive evaporation of the disease causing blem- ishes of the mind. To secure a clean mind, the route to travel is the recitation of our Mother's divine naamAs. The summarizing Tamil Paasuram by Sri KaNNan Swamy is: Kadum nOyai kazhippathaRkku KaashAyatthai kaaycchuhinRa kanalukku samamAhum KadaRkkani nAmangaL For preparing the kaashAyam for dispensing with the fierce bhava rhOgam, the fire used is the nAmAs of the daughter of the Ocean. 97 sadagopan.org TWENTY FIFTH SLOKAM SLOKAM FIFTH TWENTY àzimtÊgRitàzimtÊgRit nam nam tavkInm!. tavkInm!. àzimtÊgRitàzimtÊgRit nam nam tavkInm!. tavkInm!. Sri Potramaraiyal ThAyAr Potramaraiyal ThAyAr Sri ÉRgvitÉRgvit ÉaeGymtIv ÉaeGymtIv pavn< pavn< c, c, ÉRgvitÉRgvit ÉaeGymtIv ÉaeGymtIv pavn< pavn< c, c, AiÉdxitAiÉdxit suv[RmaTmvNt> suv[RmaTmvNt> AiÉdxitAiÉdxit suv[RmaTmvNt> suv[RmaTmvNt> k«tzuÉtitk«tzuÉtit xairt< xairt< k«tawER k«tawER- k«tzuÉtitk«tzuÉtit xairt< xairt< k«tawER k«tawER 98 - --- kruthaSubhatathy dhAritham kruthArTai: Bhagavathy bhOgyamatheeva pAvanam cha abhidhadhathy suvarNamAthmavantha: prasamitha-dhurgathy nAma thAvakeenam Meaning: Bhagavathy Lakshmi! Your nAmAs are like the exalted metal gold, which is used in all auspicious occasions. Here are six instances, where there is similarity between Lakshmi's nAmAs and coveted gold; 1) Both Lakshmi's nAmAs and the Gold generate rows of MangaLams. Auspi- cious rites like vivAham take place with gold; similarly, auspiciousness arises from the sankeerthanam of Lakshmi's nAmAs. sadagopan.org sadagopan.org 2) Both MahA Lakshmi's Nama and the gold are adorned by the kruthArTAs (BhAgyasAlis). 3) Both are bhOgyam (most enjoyable). MahA Lakshmi's nAmAs are sweet for the mind and the tongue to taste; Gold is similarly enjoyable to adorn and cele- brate. 4) Both are known for their purity (Parisuddham). ThirunAmams of MahA Lak- shmi cleanses one's speech and mind. Gold is svatha-suddham. It does not need any cleansing agent like tamirand, clay etc to bring out its luster. 5) Both are SuvarNam: VarNam means letter or an alphabet. Since MahA Lak- shmi's nAmAs are constitued by auspicious letters, they are SuvarNam or SvarNam. Gold has the alternate name( paryAya sabdham) of SvarNam. 99 sadagopan.org nAmAs. near narakam. nAmAs anywhere Her willgo not recite for the w are tradition children this follow girl who Those the NaamAs. name should one progeny), picious parampa sObhana realizing For gold. metal noble the Mah for thus well fits svarNam for meaning double The poverty nAmAs forever. Bhagavathy's destroy T poverty. removes Gold misfortunes. destroy Both 6) 100 rAvApthy (lineage of aus- of (lineage rAvApthy Such is the power of Her of theSuch is power uae ns Toe who Those ones. tunate A Lakshmi's names and names Lakshmi's A e aketaa of sankeerthanam he t Mh Lakshmi's MahA ith Sri Mahalakshmi ThAyAr Sametha Sri Rajagopalan sadagopan.org TWENTHY SIXTH SLOKAM hirsio tv xUtKlezÉUman! Ahrhrmu*Ñi´rak{y¡ xNy>, jih dly bxan iCDiNx iÉNxIit "aer< ymÉqriqn< tÑUir ËrIi³yasm!. Harisakhi Tava dhUtha-klEsa-bhUmAn- aharaham-udhyath bhakthir-AkarNyam dhanya: jahi dhalaya BadhAna cchindhi bhindheethi ghOram yamabaDa-raDanam tath bhUri dhUreekriyAsam 101 sadagopan.org scriptions of those punishments not fall ever on my my on offfar distances dhUreekriyAsam) off to (bhUri them ever fall not punishments those of scriptions and c breakings cleavings, pulverizings, ings, other (beating himsais their all from me spare and Raajan sathg s the of attaining clutches the from adiyEn me free to about going is status now doubts no has adiyEn res a As one). an (Fortunate/Blessed dhanyan bhakthi a of status with Nama your of listening the with next min my in sprouted You dai for Bhakthi a sankeerthanam. nAma it made and outcome positive this with enthused y of sravaNam that of result a as me left years many sufferings The others. by recited names divine Your ThOzhi (ThirumAlin Hari! of Friend Dear Oh Meaning: Sri VaishNavAs. Please VaishNavAs. fromthem ".away stay Sri way: this servants his counsels himself Dharman Yama power by your the nAmAs. sacred of protected Your Lakshmidharan, of daasan the become now have I dha Yama of servants the of words harsh these pushed h the from arising blessings The blood. one's curdle a These ". (bhindhi) him crush (chindhi), him cleave (dha him cut pApinam), (jahi sinner the hit " as such (Y dhUthAs Yama the by made sounds harsh and loud The the becamepowerl Yama of kinkaraas harsh words the nAm Your of SunAdham the of entry the By Lakshmi! Oh nAmAs Lakshmi's all willMahA remove inauspiciousness the that reveals Kavi inspired the SlOkam, this In 102 hitravadhais). de- Maythe hitravadhais). all s, kickings, punchings, tear-punchings, kickings, s, very sravaNam (hearing) of (hearing) sravaNam very re harsh words that would that words harsh re laya) , bind him (BadhAna) him bind , laya) borne by adiyEn for many, for adiyEnby borne aig or AA have nAmAs Your earing ess to ess ears. reachmy ! ! yE!) , adiyEn listened to to listened adiyEn , yE!) ult of this soubhAgyam, this of ult ervants of Yamadharma of ervants : : rman far away from me; from away far rman our nAmAs. AdiyEn got got AdiyEn nAmAs. our “I am not the Lord of Lord the not am “I ears! May adiyEn push push adiyEn May ears! gt lvtd o the to elevated got d y ai t ha your hear to habit ly As into adiyEn's ears, adiyEn's into As Lord. AdiyEn is fully is AdiyEn Lord. d. AdiyEn continued continued AdiyEn d. ama baDa raDanam) raDanam) baDa ama ty Ti exalted This athy. The four sAsthrArTam items housed in this slOkam are: 1. SravaNam of Her Nama is one of the nine kinds of _expression of Bhakthi like Keerthanam, vandhanam, PaadhasEvanam, Aathma nivEdhanam et al . 2. When one hears daily Her dhivyanAmAs, Bhakthi will arise (Udhyath bhak- thi) in us. 3. SravaNam of Her nAmAs will generate many soubhAgyams (AakarNya dhanya:) in us. sadagopan.org sadagopan.org 4. Even accidental hearing of her nAmAs will get release from Naraka aasam (Stay in the narakams). When one goes one step further and listens to her nA- mAs with intense devotion, these blessings get multiplied. 103 sadagopan.org TWENTY SEVENTH TWENTY SLOKAM kmlekmle mm mm ka' ka' kmlekmle mm mm ka' ka' Stvnaha œ i]taini]tain ÊGxe ÊGxe i]taini]tain ÊGxe ÊGxe svapdhanyasanEna chAruvarNA sura-varghOshDa-viSuddha-hEthu-bhUthA KamalE mama kAnkshithAni dhugdhE stavanAhaam Tava nAmakAmadhEnu: In this slokam, Sri VenkatAdhri Kavi instructs us that MahA Lakshmi's Nama grant all desired things like the Deva lOka KaamadhEnu. She is the Vaan- chithArTa phala pradhAyini and hence her nAmAs have such abundant wish granting power: The key words here are: " stavanAhAm Tava nAma KaamadhEnu: mama kAnk- shithAni dhugdhE “. sadagopan.org sadagopan.org Meaning: Oh Divine One having as your abode, the Lotus flower! The most praise worthy nAmAs of Yours are like the celestial Cow, KaamadhEnu in grant- ing all my desired wishes. Your nAmAs are a veritable KaamdhEnu. The poet reveals 5 points of similarity (sAdhrusyam) between the nAmAs of MahA Lakshmi and the Celestial cow, KaamadhEnu in the matter of their wish granting power: 1) Both have beautiful colors (varNaa; VarNaa also means aksharams of the nAmAs). 2) Both have the power to consecrate the places, where their paadham (foot) is placed or padham (nAmam) is heard (sva-padha-nyasanEna visuddhi hEthu bhUthaa). 3) Both Mahaa Lakshmi and KaamadhEnu have ”suravAghOshtathva viSuddhi". In the case of MahA Lakshmi, the lips and the tongue of DevAs are purified by 105 sadagopan.org nAma sankeerthanam (Visuddhi byhEthu). Lakshmi and harsh telling words uttering from lies, resulting t of blemishes The results. same the yield KaamadhEnu Sankeethanam nAma Lakshmi form. in KaamdhEnu dhivya one of fulfilment the for KaamadhEnu asking as phalan Mah of nAmAvaLis the reciting that suggests poet The arelakshmi's nAmAs same MahA praise wi worthy; 5) them grant of whatfor. all Both prays one 4) placementfeet. its its of through imparted purity the itis cow, celestial the of case ass speech purify nAmAs the Her Lakshmi, MahA of case "su-ravaa-ghOshD becomes ViSuddhi" “sura-vaak-OshDa t In bhUthaa". ghOshDa-viSuddhi-hEthu "su-ravaa- : is nAmAs. of chantingcase her the the In of with ated the to purity imparting for cause the are Nama Those (sura-vaak-osh nAmAs Her bhUthaa). of recitation of power the 106 to the cow sheds (gO sAlAs) (gO cow sheds the to empty chatter are purifiedare chatter empty the split KaamadhEnu, the th KaamdhEnu. th organs of DEvAs associ-DEvAs of organs A Lakshmi has the same the has Lakshmi A KaamadhEnu, of case he he lips and the tongue tongue the and lips he ociated organs. In the In organs. ociated s ihs Se s the is She wishes. 's vsdh” I the In visuddhi”. a avSdh hEthu Da-viSuddhi n pATni to prArTanai and Sri KaNNan Swamy's summary of this slOkam in Tamil takes this form: Padhmai pEr KaamadhEnup- pasu yenRu paharhinROm padham pattAl parisuddhi phalan yellAm peRRiDalAm Meaning: We declare that one name of MahA Lakshmi is KaamadhEnu.Purity and consecration results, wherever her paadham is placed. One can gain all what one desires by reciting her dhivya nAmAs. sadagopan.org 107 sadagopan.org VysneVysne iSwte=ip iSwte=ip rsneiNÔy< rsneiNÔy< mm, mm, VysneVysne iSwte=ip iSwte=ip rsneiNÔy< rsneiNÔy< mm, mm, AwAw va vatdSy tdSy "qte "qte jfaTmn>. jfaTmn>. AwAw va vatdSy tdSy "qte "qte jfaTmn>. jfaTmn>. tv tvidVynamain idVynamain mxure mxure inrak«t inrak«t- tv tvidVynamain idVynamain mxure mxure inrak«t inrak«t TWENTY EIGTH slokam EIGTH TWENTY rmtermte rme rme kwmhae kwmhae rsaNtre;u rsaNtre;u rmtermte rme rme kwmhae kwmhae rsaNtre;u rsaNtre;u Sri Perundevi ThAyAr Perundevi Sri 108 -- - Tava dhivya nAmAni madhurE nirAkrutha vyasanE sTitEapi rasanEndhriam mama ramathE RamE kaTamahO rasanAntharEshu aTavaa tadhasya ghaDathE jaDAthmana: In this slOkam focusing on the Naama Vaibhavam of MahA Lakshmi, the poet states that the dhivya nAmAs of the Divine consort of the Lord are the most delectable among all sweet experiences: Meaning: Oh Ramaa Devi! Your divine nAmAs are delectable to recite (Madhuram MadhurAksharam). Your sacred nAmAs have the power to destroy all sorrows and troubles (nirAkrutha-vyasanE). While that is so (ithi sTithEapi), my sense organ dedicated to experience taste (rasEndhriyam) runs after other ignoble sweet tastes. AdiyEn finds it very difficult to understand this strange sadagopan.org behavior of my tongue chasing other "sweet" tastes (mama rasanEndhriyam kaTam rasanAntharEshu ramathE ? ). Alas (ahO)! For this ignoramus, this kind of deluded behavior is perhaps appropriate (aTavaa asya jaDAthmana: tath ghaDathE). I am at a loss to understand this odd behavior of my tongue. Knowing fully well that there is nothing sweeter than Your dhivya nAmaas , my tongue has a fas- cination for alpa pathArthams , which can never ever come close to the depth of the sweetness of Your sacred names . ahO dhurbhAgyam ! I must indeed be a fool to engage in such endeavours to let my tongue chase all these insignifi- cant “sweets “instead of enjoying the greatest of all sweets, the taste of Your nAmAs. 1. One has to conclude that the person, who prefers an ordinary thing over an extraordinary thing has to be a fool 109 sadagopan.org and Sorrow removing. sacred dhivya Your Only Lakshmi! MahA delectable. nor cred ( medicine curative The sorrows. the away chase not candy rock The taste. to delightful not is but divine i For one. in three these all has that entity other sufferin & sorrow of banisher experience), to (sweet thre of essence integrated an are nAmAs dhivya Your those andb delight to whichcomfort over has ences aft who person thatchases the can One only conclude thing hasbe to fool.answeet uninformed 2. n cn ny ocue ht h prs wo rfr a prefers who perosn the that conclude only can One 110 nstance, Paarijatha flower is flower Paarijatha nstance, is sweet to taste but does does but taste to sweet is e afool. e g and sacred. There is no is There sacred. and g er pain-causing er experi- oushadham) is nither sa-nither is oushadham) e tathtvams: Madhuram tathtvams: e AA ae delectable, are nAmAs itr hn oe a over thing bitter sadagopan.org sadagopan.org Sri Mahalakshmi ThAyAr, Pamona, New York TWENTY NINTH SLOKAM TvÚamidVyk…sumain †FEguR[ESte s<¢Wy saErÉivze;pir:k«tain, AamuÂtaidh mdIysrSvtIy< matmRhapué;mansrÃnay. 111 sadagopan.org nAmangaL): kum (Maala Lord Her by desired much very is that garland guNams (Dhivya attributes divine Her of string strong strung when kusumams); Nama (Sourabha flowers fragrant MahA compares Kavi VenkatAdhri Sri SlOkam, this In 1. Her divine nAmAs are compared to beautifultocelesti compared arenAmAs divine Her 1. AdditionalComments: MahA great Purusha ( mAnasa ranjanAyaLord Her Aamunj garland fragrant that presents and nAma sangraTya) guNai: dhivya (Tava attributes auspicious Her of togeth thread them stringing by kusumams Naama Her using land cons (Vaak/Sarasvathy) indhriyam speech poet's The fragranc parishkruthAni). and beauty of kind unique an with adorned are N (Thvath Nama dhivya her that states poet the Here ThiruvuLLam! Lord's Your p be to garland beautiful a create and guNams) (dhivya Yo of string firm the with flowers) paarijAtha tial your string speech adiyEn's May Mother! Oh Meaning: ThvannAma dhivyadhruDair-guNastE ThvannAma kusumAni AamunjathAmiha madheeya sarasvatheeyam madheeyasarasvatheeyam AamunjathAmiha sangraTya sourabha visEsha parishkruthAnisourabha sangraTya mAthar-mahA Purusha mAnasa Purusha mAnasa ranjanAya mAthar-mahA 112 ur own auspicious attributes auspicious own ur al flowers with a special , , aspecial with flowers al to the utter delight of delight utter the to nAmAs (fragrant celes-(fragrant nAmAs ), these flowers form a form flowers these ), rcs batfl gar- beautiful a tructs resented for delighting for resented Ai ali mahizhvik- Maalai yAhi m diy KusumAni) dhivya ama asm' NaA to NaamAs Lakshmi's athy). athy). (orba visEsha (sourabha e together with the with together uuAi dhruDai: kusumAni r ih h firm the with er never-fading fragrance. Her nAmAs are adorned with visEsha sourabham. The word sourabham has two meanings: (1) Fragrance and (2) Beauty. In Her sourabha nAma kusumams, the Vaak (beautiful speech) and artham (the deep meanings) are blended together indissolubly. 2. When the poet creates a nAmAvaLi with her divine nAmAs, he organizes them in an orderly manner according to their different hues and strings them together to form a charming garland as it were. The strong strings used to create this garland are Her guNams that hold the nAmAs together. GuNam has two meanings: (1) divine culture and (2) the thread. If this thread is not strong, it will not have the strength to hold the flowers together and the gar- land will shed all its flowers. In the case of MahA Lakshmi's nAmAs , the hold- ing strings (guNams ) are very strong. sadagopan.org sadagopan.org 3. My speech (Vaak/Saraswathy) is the one, which created this unique garland of infinite fragrance and beauty (Sri Lakshmi Sahasram). 4. My speech presents this special garland to delight Your Lord. My speech is the lady who strung this garland withYour NaamAs and guNams. 5. The SaasthrArthams referred to in this slOkam are: (a) MahA Lakshmi's guNams are firm; for instance, Her guNams like Vaath- salyam (affection for us) and KaaruNyam (Compassion) are firm and do not dis- play any variations. (b) Her divine names have both deep meanings (as in SrI, Lakshmi) as well as 113 sadagopan.org nAma Lakshmi's vaibhavam. MahA brating abundantlydispl is poet the of imagination rich The alamp. and (e) disease of lustre the sAric potions curative creating for used flame the (d) Gold KaamadhEn (b) flowers Fragrant (a) to conpared been thi including slOkams contiguous five of set the In 6) rushOtthaman. pleas immensely (garland) maalai kusuma Nama Her (c) Sund Sura and JalajA, Padhmasadhma, and profound different meaning six Sabdhamalone has in (as beauty aural 114 ayed in these slOkams cele- slOkams these in ayed (kAshAyam) to cure sam- cure to (kAshAyam) s. s. u , the celestial Cow (c) Cow celestial the , u oeHr AA have nAmAs one,Her s s e Lr, h Pu- the Lord, Her es re a) SrI al). ariet sadagopan.org sadagopan.org Sri Lakshmi ThAyAr— Kunigal THIRTIETH SHLOKAM mNvNtra{yMb )l< tnIytnIy---- StNviNt mNvNtrmaÇvit¡ Aamui:mk< zañtmEihk< va TvÚam ik< nam )l< n dÄe. manvantharANyamBa phalam taneeya: tanvanthy manvantharamAthravathim 115 sadagopan.org with enduring Phalans: reciter tha us instructs Kavi VenkatAdhri Sri SlOkam, this In ) ht s hs aSah Phalan? SaaSvatha this is What 2) Manthram. means Manu 1) Comments: thing the phalansreciter every wis willgrant They no can they that nothing is There beyond. and earth re the bless contrast in nAmAs Your time. limited a phalans the that such time short a for only is power o yield except yours mantrAs All Meaning:Mother! Oh aa, h acps h SrNgty ih e Lr th Lord Her with SaraNAgathy the a accepts ChEtanam She Dasai, the of trespasses the forgiving for Lord s samayam, MokshOpAya During goal). and (Means upEyam manvantharam these of each etc; Manvantharam vatha m SvAyambhuva as known are Manus different of cations b Time a meaning: another has also Manvantram tram. yields SaaSvatha YournAma sankeerthanam Phalatime. yield (manvantrams) mantrams other the as just time yOgam in the Desika sampradhAyam. Desika in yOgam the sampradhAyam. Rishis) (Sage Manus these of each of reign The years ThvannAma kim nAma phalamThvannAma kim na dhatthE Aamushmikam Saasavathamaihikam Saasavathamaihikam Aamushmikam avnhrm hrfr rfr t aohr man- another to refers therefore Manvantharam 116 t s osa. h i bt uAa and upAyam both is She Moksham. is It hes to hesto have. granted wont last beyond beyond last wont granted citer with phalans on this on phalans with citer t do in terms of granting of terms in do t ound entity. Time demar- Time entity. ound nly limited phalans. Their nlyphalans. limited Their n. t her nAmAs bless the bless nAmAs her t at hs o a finite a for thus last at ,2,0 human 4,320,000 last nd during the UpEya UpEya the during nd hln fr limited a for phalans anavntharam, Vaivas- anavntharam, og yEkasEshithva rough he pleads with Her with pleads he 3) No one can grant this SaaSvatha Phalan except the dhivya damapthis. Rest of the gods can only bless one with boons that can only last a finite time. Their own stay in positions that they earned by worshipping dhivya dampathis are limited in time (Brahma Pattam, Indhra Pattam et al). 4) The SaraNAgathy performed for Moksham itself starts with MahA Lak- shmi's name (Dhvaya Mantram). This slOkam underlines that tatthvam. sadagopan.org sadagopan.org 117 sadagopan.org MahA Lakshmi's Nama being more than Namasacred Lakshmi's being MahA PraNavam more Sri Lakshmi ThAyAr—Thondanur Parathasarathy TempleLakshmi Sri THIRTY SLOKAM FIRST THIRTY icÇ VarNathrayAthmA praNavassvanishDAm varNathrayeemEva punAthy yuktham yEkathvivarNApi RamETavAkhyA chithram puneethE chathurOapi varNAn Meaning: Oh Ramaa Devi! Every one knows about the exalted status of PraNavam. Still, your Nama are superior to PraNavam in one aspect. Your nA- mAs have sarva yOgyathai (fitness to recite by members of the four Var- Nams). The recitation of your nAmAs bless all the 4 VarNams (BrahmaNAs, KshathriyAs, VaisyAs and SudrAs). It is open to every one and grants phalan to all. The Japam of PraNavam with its three letters (Thraya Aathmaa PraNava :) is limited however to the first three varNAs (VarNa thrayeem yEva punAthi; sadagopan.org yuktham). What a wonder! In contrast, even Your nAmAs (AakhyA) with one aksharam or two aksharams (SrI:, Ramaa) cleanse the members of all the four varNams ( yEka dhvi varNA Tava AakhyA chathura: api varNAn puneethE).This is indeed a miracle (Chithram) linked to the power of Your nAmAs. Comments: 1) The one lettered PraNavam is split into its three letters of which it is made: A+U+M (VarNa thraya AathmA PraNava :) It has a body made of VarNa thra- yam. This three lettered PraNavam purifies people belonging to the three Var- Nams (BrahmaNa, Kshathriya, VaisyALs). They recite it and mediate on it for gaining siddhi. This three-three symmetry seems to be fitting. In contrast to the limited sweep of PraNavam, Your Nama extend the reach to members of all the FOUR varNams and purify them. It is amazing to recognize that even Your one lettered nAmAs (SrI) or two lettered nAmAs (Ramaa, Seethaa , Ambhaa, Padhmaa et al) have the power unlike the PraNavam ( wiht its limited reach) 119 sadagopan.org 4) Lakshmi mantrams have sarva yOgyathai /amitha ad /amitha yOgyathai sarva have mantrams Lakshmi 4) Sukham. and direct Moksha towards Prakruthi us , mind , speech in Cleanliness cleansing: of pect inc cleansing of term the since Moksahm to path the cleanse only not wil nAmAs Her of Sankeerthanam 3) uponby unfit canmanthtrams Lakshmi PraNavam, to contrast In 2) the harm also can but failure a be (PrathyavAyam) only not would broadmindednes of sense a of out rules these Breaking e to VarNikAs) Thrai the by sid (only mantra "VarNathrayeemEva” has who AchAryan, qualified a from come to F eligible. not are who those by recited if phalans Th mantram. every recite to fit not is one Every 1) T indeed is That awonder! Nams. outreach their in disproportionate are they yet and tw or one in Prathishtai or nishtai have nAmAs shmi The letters. three those in are nishtai nilai, dhi (A, letters three the in established is PraNavam 2) the of every one allto VarN 4 can(Belonging bless HE S AASTHR ANY ONE EVERY AND ONE. ANY A R T AMS 120 conduct to dissolve the links tolinks the dissolve to conduct one or two lettered MahA Lak-MahA lettered two or one ams) urther, MantrOpadEsam has has MantrOpadEsam urther, e mantrams wont yield their yield wont mantrams e U and M).Its sTAnam, sid- sTAnam, M).Its and U o aksharams respectively aksharams o and covers all the 4 var-4 the all covers and ludes in itself every as- every itself in ludes be recited and mediated and recited be us but will also set us in us set also will but us hikAram in contrast to to contrast in hikAram s and democratization and s paie hs point. this mphasize h. h pe uses poet The dhi. adhikAri adhikAri the mitha yOgyathai (limited access) of PraNavam. sadagopan.org sadagopan.org 121 sadagopan.org ThvannAma kAmapi dhadhAthi mudhAm samruddhim dhadhAthisamruddhim mudhAm ThvannAma kAmapi VyAjAdhupAtthamapi VaaridhirAjakanyE VyAjAdhupAtthamapiVaaridhirAjakanyE TvÚamTvÚam kamip kamip ddait ddait muda< muda< sm&iÏm!,, sm&iÏm!,, TvÚamTvÚam kamip kamip ddait ddait muda< muda< sm&iÏm!,, sm&iÏm!,, Sri Madhuranthakam Madhuranthakam Janakavalli Sri ËrIkraeitËrIkraeit ËirtaNyip ËirtaNyip vair vair ga¼m!. ga¼m!. ËrIkraeitËrIkraeit ËirtaNyip ËirtaNyip vair vair ga¼m!. ga¼m!. THIRTY SECOND SLOKAM THIRTY VyajaÊpaÄmipVyajaÊpaÄmip vairixrajkNye vairixrajkNye VyajaÊpaÄmipVyajaÊpaÄmip vairixrajkNye vairixrajkNye AapItmuLb[tpatptapzaNTyEAapItmuLb[tpatptapzaNTyE AapItmuLb[tpatptapzaNTyEAapItmuLb[tpatptapzaNTyE 122 AapethamulBaNathapAthapathApaSAnthyai DhUrikarOthy dhurithAnyapi vAri Gaangam In this SlOkam, the poet instructs us that Mahaa Lakshmi's NaamAs recited with or without the right pronunciation or recited as a VyAjam or even acci- dentally will still yield all the fruits of proper worship: The key words are: “Vaaridhi-rAja-kanyakE! VyAjAth upAttham api Thvan- nAma kAmapi mudhAm samruddhim dhadhAthi ". Meaning: Oh Daughter of the Ocean! Even if Your nAmAs are recited as a pre- tence or pretext with no sincerity or belief will bless the reciter with an abun- dance of joy. This effect is comparable to drinking the waters of Ganga during sadagopan.org a hot summer by one to quench his thirst ; such an act not only quenches his thirst 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 de- sired 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 interpreted in six different ways in 123 sadagopan.org Serma iap, vsrma O Oaa Nd, bhad Nada, Oramaa pO, avasaramaa kiLampu, “Seegramaa 4. VyAjam as being hidden in other words: When one one When words: other in hidden being as VyAjam 4. nAmAs. usedHer fact thathe mere with complainer annoyed the blesses and Mother the angry the Here done. gets work no together, get VedA this in complain might One complaint: as VyAjam 3. them. t fact simple the for nAmAs Your reciting of act the bless Mother! Names. You Your who those recite funof of awaste just is it etc; IndhirA SeethA, Lakshmi, is what stating: by Sankeerthanam Naama of step fun makes one even go You Mother! ParihAsam: as VyAjam 2. a this bless speaker. to the (SankEtham) to listen You MOther! Oh activity. morning's bla a was declaration The nAmAs. Lakshmi's MahA ing d no was there “Here me waitingfor was who RukmiNi, cli Jaya via home returned and dhoti a buy to stores Ban VilAsa Lakshmi from Money withdrew “I as: event instance, For SankEtham: as classed vyAjam The 1. PurANam: BhAgavatha 5. VyAjam when the words unite to form a whenunite the to words VyAjam sentence:5. nAmAs Her is and rush callingof by one speaker Her Our sentences. these in hidden is ramaa" " word the 124 time “. Here the man makes man Herethe “. time manner: When SeethA and SeethA When manner: es to bless es him. Mother takes it that the that it takes Mother nic road to meet my wife my meet to road nic gives instruction such as, such instruction gives eliberate intent in recit- intentin eliberate hn n dsrbs an describes One when d s i a a excuse an as it use nd k, went to Raajalakshmi to went k, the man who mocked at the mocked manwho a hs oge uttered tongue his hat complaint is heard by heard is complaint e besns o the for blessings Her d ecito o the of description nd the use of reciting reciting of use the ute. hn one When further. aa py Eu “ sEru pOy ramaa , , 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 Nama such as Kamala, SeethA are implicit although the speaker did not utter those names deliber- ately. MahA Lakshmi hears the echoes 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 utterHer name as” Pa Pa Pa PadhmA ". Another with a different kind of speech defect can not use the letter "r”. sadagopan.org That person says” Hama, when he means “RamA”. He means one and says an- other. That is another kind of vyAjam and our Mother responds still with alac- rity, 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 uttering the Mother's name without any intention to ad- dress her. 7.2: The vyAjam of pronouncing her nAmAs incorrectly 7.3: The vyAjam of uttering her names with the correct abhisanthi (union of 125 sadagopan.org thoughts of the handlers. of the thoughts will svabhAvam) (Vasthu attributes inherent The 9.3: hAgyams. numerous and indescribable us grants grace Devi's 9.2: glories. afull knowledge abouther with recite who one, surround would bliss higher of levels o informed poorly and unintentional the for so be to fille is pretext under or names her of greatness the o intention without names her utters one if Even 9.1: incorporated slOk SaasthrArTams inFOUR this The 9. Naama Her Such anubhavathy). Vaibhavam! is samruddhim indescribabl derives nAmAs Her to referred tionally who her nAmAs of utterer thatthe states poet The 8. Ganga River. cred destroyed sins his getting accidentally unint up ends his time quench an to water of GangA drinks example One results: an unthought gives poet The yielding sankeerthanam. vyAjams these all about doubts have may One in anugrMother's thesevyAja Maathrama result of All forming word). a compound words individual 126 ne, we can guess how many how guess can we ne, r without knowledge about knowledge without r by the waters of the sa-the of waters the by d with bliss. If that were that If bliss. with d mudhaam (Kaamapi bliss e s her names deliberately names her s intentionallyuninten- or am are: kinds of bliss and soub-and bliss of kinds aham. o cag wt the with change not h fut o nAma of fruits the ne at giving act ended hit n summer in thrist 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. sadagopan.org 127 sadagopan.org nithyOnnathO nrupathirEva vaSeekruthascchEth nithyOnnathO nrupathirEva sarvANi tasya hrudhi bhAnthi sadhA padhAni sadhA tasyahrudhi bhAnthi sarvANi yO vakthi Devi padhamEkamapi Devi Thvadheeyamvakthi yO kimkurvathE purajanA ithi ka: prayathna: ithi purajanA kimkurvathE ka: svaRi[svaRi[ tSy tSy ùid ùid ÉaiNt ÉaiNt sda sda pdain, pdain, svaRi[svaRi[ tSy tSy ùid ùid ÉaiNt ÉaiNt sda sda pdain, pdain, Arumpuliyar AnandvalliArumpuliyar ThAyAr ik»‚vRteik»‚vRte purjna purjna #it #it k> k> àyÆ>. àyÆ>. ik»‚vRteik»‚vRte purjna purjna #it #it k> k> àyÆ>. àyÆ>. inTyaeÚtaeinTyaeÚtaen&pitrev n&pitrev vzIk«tZcet! vzIk«tZcet! inTyaeÚtaeinTyaeÚtaen&pitrev n&pitrev vzIk«tZcet! vzIk«tZcet! yae yaevi´ vi´ deiv deiv pdmekmip pdmekmip TvdIy< TvdIy< yae yaevi´ vi´ deiv deiv pdmekmip pdmekmip TvdIy< TvdIy< THIRTY THIRD SLOKAM THIRTY 128 In this slOkam, Sri VenkatAdhri Kavi points out that the recitation of Sri MahA Lakshmi's nAmAs will bless one with Raaja Padhavi , Indhra Padham, Brahma padhavi or any other status and position one desires. Such is Her boon granting munificence. Meaning: Oh Sri Devi! It is enough to recite one of your many nAmAs. All words (Padhams) will appear on the curtain of one's mind. When the right words appear in one's minds, it is very easy to become a celebrated poet. When there are so many padhams (Nama), even the mastery of one nAmA of Yours (reciting and comprehension) would pave the way for all soubhAgyams. The key words are: “Devi! Ya: Thvadheeyam padham yEkamapi vakthi, Tasya hrudhi sarvANi padhAni sadhA bhAnthi” sadagopan.org sadagopan.org Meaning: Once one masters even one of your nAmAs, then all the other pad- hams /padhavis basks under its glory , rest of the padhams readily shine in his/her mind. There are so many padhams in this world. When one recites even one of those padhams/nAmAs, the rest fall within easy reach of that reciter. When her nAmam (Sri nAmam) stands behind us as strength and support , all the other unnatha padhams( lofty positions/high offices) are readily accessi- ble. The poet gives a comparison: nithyOnnathO nrupathirEva vaseekruthascchEth kimkurvathE purajanA ithi ka: prayathna: Meaning: When the king of the realm is under your influence, what is there to say about the control over the citizens? The citizens will perform the desired 129 sadagopan.org The poet avers: avers: poet The come chakrAthipathyam. padhavis one's other under all then Naamam), (SrI nAmAs of Empress the masters dis favorably is himself king the since kaimkaryams Padham al. et rama Padhavi as interpreted be also can Padham word The branches of thelikelow fruits to the tree on comes Even years. of thousands of hundreds over penance by Brahma, like sTAnam or Padhavi means also here ham “Annai pER vasathAl soRkaL anaitthumE vasatthilAhum" anaitthumE soRkaL vasathAl pER “Annai 130 pick pick readily. posed. Similarly, when one when Similarly, posed. Indhra Padhavis attained Padhavis Indhra like Indhra Padham , Pa- , Padham Indhra like other nAmAs denoting nAmAs other uh ot sau be- status lofty such . Pad- . sadagopan.org Singaperumal Koil ThAyAr THIRTY FOURTH SLOKAM ]mainxe yMyixpaiÉxey< vacae ivxey< tv namxe=y<, pÒalye ySy g[aedxe=y< pcei¦m< ivNdit Éagxeym!. KshamAnidhE yamyadhipAbhidhEyam VachOvidhEyam Tava nAmadhEyam 131 sadagopan.org asm Shsa Naamam. Sahasra Lakshmi bhAgyams perfection names Lakshmi's to bring MahA our VenkatAd Sri Vaibhavam, Naama of slOkam 34th the In 1) 1) Comments: (Tav Yathis great adhipaabhidhEyam). the by recited ones the are nAmAs empow thus nAmAs Your BhAgyasAli. Parama a becomes He nAmAs (pachELitham allbh bhAgyams with perfected blessed your of control the under is speech whose One Words): (Key here bhAgyams and hereafter. ened nAmA your of control the under is Vaak who’s one Any because SanyAsis adhipa (Yami :) kings of of by the recited are nAmAs Your (GuNodhadhE)! attributes cious (PadhmAlayE)! flower Lotus the of abode the has who (KshamA Forbearance of house Treasure the Oh Meaning: bhAgadhEyam vidhanthy ". bhAgadhEyam The king of Yathis referred to here is Sage Sanathk Sage is here to referred Yathis of king The Tv nmdEa ysa AhvdEa, ym pachELim ayam vAchOvidhEyam, yasya nAmadhEyam “Tava PachELimam vindhathy bhAgadhEyam bhAgadhEyam PachELimamvindhathy PadhmAlayE yasya guNOdhadhEyam yasyaguNOdhadhEyam PadhmAlayE e s get ays ad s eee a leader as revered is and SanyAsi great a is He 132 their their sacredness. AgadhEyam). As aresult, As AgadhEyam). s harvests the fully rip-fully the harvests s Oh Ocean of all auspi- all of Ocean Oh umArar, the author of author the umArar, by and reflected upon reflected and by (blessings): a nAmadhEyam yami yami nAmadhEyam a r Kv sae that states Kavi hri vcOihym is (vAchOvidhEyam) nidhE)! Oh Mother Oh nidhE)! er him. Your sacred Your him. er am am among nivrutthi margam seekers. Those who have mastery over his Lakshmi Sahasra nAmams will attain all soubhAgyams. At the Phala Sruthi section of His Lakshmi sahasra nAmam, Sanath KumArar points out that the phalan of recitation is the attainment of parama BhAgadhEyams. Our Kavi bases this slOkam on that revelation. 2) Sri VenkatAdhri kavi takes off from the word BhAga-dhEyam and uses the word dhEyam six times in this slOkam: nAma dhEyam, bhAga dhEyam , vid- hEyam and in other dhEyam forming words as a result of PadhAntha anu- prAsams. Swamy Desikan used the word dhanam in one slOkam of VairAgya Panchakam eleven times. 3. Yami adhipa: This Yamyadhipar could also be Swamy NaaTa Muni saluted as: sadagopan.org “NaaTAya NaaTamunayE yaminAm varAya “ . As a result of the upadEsam of the Dhvaya mantram by Swamy NammAzhwAr, NaaTa Muni became yamyadhi- par. ”Tava nAmA: yamyadhipEna abhidhEyam". Through dhvyArTAnusandhA- nam, NaaTa Muni was blessed with parama bhAgadhEyams. 4. The grandson of Swamy NaaTa Muni is Swamy AaLavanthAr. He is the one, who composed the first sthuthi on MahA Lakshmi among our AchAryAs (Chathus-slOki). Hence, he can also be considered as Yamyadhipar (YameenAm adhipa:). He addressed MahA Lakshmi as ”Bhagavathy, lOkaikEswari, Aravindha nivAsini, Varadha VallabhA” and saluted her as SrI (SrIrithyEva cha nAma tE) in his path setting ChathuslOki. 5. Bhagavath RaamAnujar saluted as YathirAjar is another Yamyadhipar. His abhidhEyams of MahA Lakshmi's nAmAs as Yamyadhipa in his Gadhyam are “Bhagavathy , Sri Devi and Akhila JaganmAthA ". Muni Thraya SampradhAyam 133 sadagopan.org slOkam in this context is considered as a tribute t tribute a as considered is context this in slOkam Ra and Muni Yaamuna Muni, Naatha Munis: three the hails 6. Lakshmi is is Lakshmi 6. 9. 9. sages andblesse nAmAs get Even great 8. reciteher heartedly. vyAjam a as nAmAs her of sankeerthanam our uses she is She 7. fr the Sankeerthanam. with us blesses and shortcomings our therefore SoubhAg of ParibhAga the and(pachELimam)reach thyield state kinds all to leads and ripened get puNyams Laks of NaamAs dhivya the recites one When control. of sequence Their etc). first fruit yield will Paapams (w kramam their control not do We fruit. bear stantly yam. yam. "PachELimam”: "GuNOdhadhi”. Khm nidhi". "KshamA There is no guarantee that the accumulated puNyams will puNyams accumulated the that guarantee no is There h i te ca o asiiu gNm. Therefore; guNams. auspicious of ocean the is She h i te ek f obaac. h forgives She forbearance. of peak the is She 134 d with bhAgyams. d o Munithraya sampradhA-Munithraya o eir tofruit reciter. eir the hmi, then the unripened the then hmi, delivery is beyond our our beyond is delivery hich among the puNya- the among hich and blesses us whole us blesses and as Te puNyams The yams. is f e Naama Her of uits amAnuja Muni. This Muni. amAnuja in- sadagopan.org sadagopan.org Sowmyanayaki ThAyAr — Belur THITY FIFTH SLOKAM Svnawnaç> SvymuÄr< st! tvaiÉxan< gu[madxait, pÒe][àeyis inivRgan< àma[mÇ à[v< àtIm>. 135 sadagopan.org The focus words focus the on The proof by given blemishless by the PraNavam attested Yo to (uttharam) superior are (names) abhidhAnams Her are: words key The PraN ithi prabhalam nAmAni (Tava SlAgyathE) ithi uttharam nAmAni Tava DeekarOthi. PraNavam. of mANam b given meanings the through tatthvam this derstands those to superior are nAmAs sacred ThAyAr's Meaning: “ PravaN PramANam nirvigAnam Athra, AadhadhAthy. guNam Lord: that Her Lakshmi's of over MahA nAmAs of the reveals Kavi VenkatAdhvari Sri slOkam, this In When one refers to Utthara KaaNDam, PoorvOttharam, KaaNDam, Utthara to refers one When celebrated in means or superior Uttaram mea in opposite the also is Uttharam follows. which Uttharam Here Uttharam. is Poorvam of opposite sta The us Let meanings. two have GuNam and Uttharam Both SvanATa-nAmnas-svayam uttharam sath uttharam SvanATa-nAmnas-svayam “Tava abhidhAnam sva-nATa-nAmnA svayam uttharam sath uttharam svayam sva-nATa-nAmnA abhidhAnam “Tava PramAnamathra PraNavam pratheema: PramAnamathra TavAbhidhAnam guNam-AadhadhAthi guNam-AadhadhAthi TavAbhidhAnam PadhmEkshaNa-PrEyasi nirvigAnAm nirvigAnAm PadhmEkshaNa-PrEyasi "Uttharam” and "GuNam” "Uttharam” 136 reasons for the supremacy the for reasons . . ig o aaa” Hence, “ataram”. to ning means the next or that or next the means te lmsls pra- blemishless the y of Her Lord. One un- One Lord. Her of and Utthara Phalguni, Utthara and r ods AA as nAmAs Lord's ur am ithi pratheema: ithi am t ih Uttharam. with rt vm Praka- avam the first meaning (next or the following) applies. When we refer to "LOkOttharam, DharmOttharam”, the second meaning (Superior to) comes into effect. Now the question is: Is PerumAL's nAmAs superior or that of ThAyAr? The letter "A" precedes the letter "U" and becomes "O" in PraNava mantram. Here, "A" is Poorvam and "U" is uttharam (superior). GuNam Normally, GuNam means superiority or SrEyas. In the vyAkaraNa sAsthrams, GuNam has another meaning. This is elaborated by two sUtrams (aphorisms) of PaaNini. According to them, when "A" ( a vowel) coming at the end of one word unites with another vowel ( "U" ) at the beginning of the next word , then the sadagopan.org sandhi of "O" is created : Purusha+Utthaman = PurushOtthaman Ksheera+ udhathi = KsheerOdhathy Neela+uthpalam = neelOthpalam When "A" unites with "U”, then the GuNa sandhi "O" is created This GuNa Sandhi manifestation is seen in PraNavam as well. If “A" did not join with "U”, there will be no GuNa Sandhi leading to "O". Therefore, it is recognized that our Mother's NaamAs are superior to Her Lord's. Besides the play with the words, there are deep SaasthrArTams conveyed by this slOkam: 137 sadagopan.org and are Nama one Lakshmi's elevate superior MahA 4. nAmAksharams. the of union the with starts Mantram PraNava The 3. significance. Saaram this on elaborates Thraya Srut Gada from is This name. Lakshmi's MahA is "U" 2. mean NigaNDus give also this slOki. from Ashta ment VishNu:” "AkaarArTO nAmam. Lord's the denotes "A" 1. Sriman NavalpAkkam KaNNan Swamy's Tamil summary of th Tamil of NavalpAkkam KaNNanSwamy's Sriman summary Uyarvu tarum PraNavamumtarum Uyarvu Unn KaNavan peyarai vida Unnvida KaNavan peyarai IvvuNmaikku chAnrAhum chAnrAhum IvvuNmaikku Unn peyarE utthramAm UnnutthramAm peyarE this form: form: this 138 ing for "A". ingfor Lord's and His consort's His and Lord's to thatof to Lord. Her is a well known state- known well a is i Siah Rahasya Srimath hi. is slOkam takes slOkam is sadagopan.org sadagopan.org Sri Komlavalli ThAyAr THIRTY SIXTH SLOKAM pÒe naça< pamraStavkana< àaEiF< iv*unREv namaNtre_y>, c³IvNtZcaékpURrcU[eR ÉSm_y> ik< ivSmy< àaßuviNt. PadhmE nAmnAm PaamarAs-thAvakAnAm prouDim vidhyur naiva nAmAntharEbhya: chakreevantaS-chAru-karpoora-chUrNE bhasmabhya: kim vismayam prApnuvanthy 139 sadagopan.org mAs. sacredness the well fully know They folk. common the nAmA Your of Vaibhavam the is know not do they that t many know not do people (untutored) ordinary the 1) Commentary: to of proficientbedistinction. in key thatkind to is It difference the comprehend not an can It ever? without ash ordinary the and powder camphor grant differ the comprehend donkey the Can asks: Kavi The ignoranc the illustrate to example an gives Kavi The (NaamAntharam). al with up it mix will They nAmAs. your of vaibhavam a idea any has won't folk’s common The Lakshmi! Oh The key words in this slOkam are : are slOkam this in words key The any otherNaamAs ordina like Her willconsider they He NaamAs. Lakshmi's MahA of Vaibhavam the about know that states Kavi Venkatadhvari Sri SlOkam, this In pAmarA: na yEva pAmarA: vidhyu:” kim? “ kim? vism bhasmabhya: chAru-karpoora-chUrNE ChakrIvantha: 140 " PadhmE ! ThAvakAnAm nAmnAm prouDim nAmnAm ThAvakAnAm ! PadhmE " ry nAmAs and stay foolish: andfoolish: nAmAs stay ry o much to expect the don- the expect to much o bout the significance and significance the bout s. PandithAs differ from differ PandithAs s. e of the simple folks: folks: simple the of e h sml fls o not do folks simple the and power of your nA- your of power and ohr riay names ordinary other l ne ewe te fra- the between ence ig. n sc thing such One hings. farne whatso- fragrance y ym prApnuvanthy ayam ons u that out points " 2) The common folks equate your nAmAs out of ignorance with those of the other dEvathais. In this matter, they are like the donkeys that can not under- stand the difference between the fragrant camphor powder and ordinary ash. The common folks will recite the names of dEvathAntharams. The PandithAs will only recite Your nAmAs. 3) The Common Folks (PaamarAs) do not understand the full extent of the glo- ries of your nAmAs. They recite your nAmAs only for gaining wealth. PandithAs however know that the recitation of your nAmAs will be for blessings in this as well as in the other world. 4) Paamraas out of their ignorance will name their girl children with silly names like rOjA , BharaNi etc; The PandithAs will name their girl children with Your sadagopan.org names ( Lakshmi , Indhira, Kamala , Saroja etc). 5) The common folks do not know about your nAma vaibhavam. They do not know that the recitation, sravaNam, dhyAnam of Your nAmAs will confer great auspiciousness. Names other than yours do not confer such anugrahams. 6) The common folks do not understand that you are ready to bless them with all soubhAgyams even under any pretext (VyAjam). Their situation is like the man , who has butter in his hands and cries for ghee. 7) PaamarAs do not understand that your names portray the essence of the VedAs. The other nAmAs are sankEtha-mAtram. 8) The common folks do not grasp the upadEsams of great ones from Sanath- 141 sadagopan.org wrns o te abaa o yu nms os o di not does nAmAs your of vaibhavam the of Similarly, awareness latter. the to harm no is there chUrNam, fragr unique the appreciate not does donkey the if (a) things: three do ignorant the to folks common the comparing In 10) ). dhravyam fragr most is that Saffron and camphor green of ture saffron. (viz)., ChAru for meaning familiar too not s one goes He fragrant. is that camphor) uses (the thing Kavi the , here hair); of assembly beautiful with beauti is that thing some as understood quickly is ChAru Ka the group, word “ChAru-KaRpoora-chUrNe”, usingthe are “cha of Donkey word unusual thre uses kavi the the here, rAsabham; for names understood commonly stance (par meaning same the convey to words used often not donkey ignorant the to compared are PaamarAs The 9) power of their grasp. tentof Vaibhava nAma Your about Kavi VenkatAdhvari to kumArar Your nAma Vaibhavam. Your ins to time any spends one no Therefore, folks. mon effort. wasted a be would it ParimaLam; the of ness do the instruct/educate to effort an takes one No (b) your names even by an your iota. 142 ChAru Karpooram is a mix-a is Karpooram ChAru truct the PaamarAs about PaamarAs the truct tep further to invoke the invoke to further tep Same thing with the com- the with thing Same ance of ChAru-Karpoora- of ance h cmo fls un- folks' common the (ass). The poet chooses chooses poet The (ass). nkey, the Kavi hints at hints Kavi the nkey, nkey about the unique- the about nkey n ( aaa ParimaLa parama ( ant plays vi us. with hr t ma some mean to ChAru Aapda) Fr in- For padham). yAya kreevAnti ". Again, in Again, ". kreevAnti iih h gois of glories the minish ful ( ChAru-kEsi: one ChAru-kEsi: ( ful m. That is the ex-the is That m. adahm and Kardhabham (c) No body pays much respect to the donkeys. Same is true with the common folks, who do not comprehend the glories of your nAmAs. sadagopan.org 143 sadagopan.org jfmitritirKt jahadhiha Janani ThvannAmadhEyam vidhEyam jaDamathiathiriktham SarmaNE karma kuryAth nidhimanavadhim ucchair-nishkuDasTam vihAya prathibhavanam aSaanka: paryaDan bikshithum ka: In the 37th SlOkam, Sri Venkatadhvari Kavi reminds us that anyone , who abandons the treasure in his house (MahA Lakshmi's nAmAs) and seeks sukham through other means is equal in status to that of a foolish street Beggar: Meaning: Oh Mother (Janani)! Fools forsake the lofty and limitless treasure present at their homes, your sacred nAmAs and run shamelessly after trivia outside to seek comfort. This situation is similar to that of a beggar roaming in sadagopan.org the street and going from house to house to seek alms. Your sacred names are within our tongue's reach (ThvannAmadhEyam Vid- hEyam) You are the Mother and we as your children are entitled to that wealth of Your nAmAs . Some of us are foolish (JaDamathi :) and abandon the tra- sures at home (nishkooDasTam nidhim jahath) and vainly search for other Kinds of anithya (perishable) "sukhams" (JaDamathi: athiriktham karma Sar- MaNam kurvanthy). Your nAmAs available readily to us are lofty (Uccham) and is a limitless treas- ure (anavadhim nidhi). Those who abandon what is in hand and run after dubious things (karmAs) are like shameless street beggars stopping at every house to seek uncertain alms and become objects of derision of the householders. 145 sadagopan.org begging belongs to others. beggingothers. belongsto money the one; to belongs nAmAs Lakshmi's MahA of ure street the at begging from earnings the precious; is the under nAmAs (Your home at treasure The uncertain. karmAs other in (engagement begging stree from ings ( limitless is home at reach within treasure The 4. and ParyaDEth". Bikshithum i engaged fool the of misery the illustrate to words VenkatAdhr Sri act! that through experiences he that he for beg to houses stranger's the at stop to there comfortable his abandons fool of type this day, the s from help for beg folls need of times in treasure fool a is sukham ephemeral some of favor in it sakes of availability easy the about knows who one The 3. for? sukham. creates It poverty. banishes It precious. is ho our at treasure accessible readily the like tongues ar They them. acquire to needed is effort difficult No 2. Lakshmi's holy nammes are like a treasure at home. at treasure a like are nammes holy Lakshmi's 2. and the some Yaj~nams. YaagAs of like a They o will. our at to recited be available can They readily (VidhEyam). are nAmAs sacred Lakshmi's 1. Kannan Commentary Sri Swamy's jump over walls of a fort, climb a mountain, and dig dig and mountain, a climb fort, a of walls over jump 146 anavadhi), whereas the earn-the whereas anavadhi), is low in value. The treas- The value. in low is this treasure and yet for-yet and treasure this lp. What a state of misery of astate What lp. in a mine or cross a moat. a cross or mine a in rnes I te et of heat the In trangers? e o byn or sakthi our beyond not re mes. Like any treasure, it treasure, any Like mes. . Instead of using such a such using of Instead . sc atve: “VihAya, activies: such n oe n te treasure the and home What else can one ask ask one can else What ) is limited (avadhi) and (avadhi) limited is ) e already resting on our on resting already e i Kavi uses three choice three uses Kavi i One does not need to need not does One control of one's vaak) one's of control r peh indhriyam speech ur ska rie by raised /sukham 5. The Kavi instructs us that MahA Lakshmi's Naama Sankeerthanam is prad- hAnam overthe performance of Yaagams and Yaj~nams as well as engagement in theertha yAthrAs . sadagopan.org sadagopan.org 147 sadagopan.org Bethamanagala Mahalakshmi BethamanagalaMahalakshmi n nva vajpey< jpey< mhtae=ip mhtae=ip mNÇan!. mNÇan!. n nva vajpey< jpey< mhtae=ip mhtae=ip mNÇan!. mNÇan!. iÉxaiÉxa suxey< suxey< yid yid ta< ta -- - DayAdhadhE yaa Tava nAmadhEyA bhidhA sudhEyam yadhi thAmm dhayEyam na VaajabhEyam KamalE yajEyam na vaa japEyam mahathOapi mantrAn In the 38th SlOkam, Sri Venkatadhvari Kavi states that after drinking the nectar of MahA Lakshmi's naamAs, he is not disposed to performing Yaagams and Yaj~nams anymore: Meaning: Oh KamalA! Oh Ocean of Mercy! If adiyEn has the bhAgyam of drink- ing your nectarine nAmAs, adiyEn need not engage either in the performance of grand Yaagams like VaajapEyam or the recitation of big mantrams to gain the samePhalan anymore. They are superfluous. sadagopan.org (Key words): KamalE! Tava nAmadhEya abhidhA yadhi dhayEyam, (atha: param), VaajapEyam na yajEyam, mahatha: mantram na japEyam. Comments: 1) DhayAdadhE: She is the Ocean of Mercy. It is that DhayA of Hers which is behind the Phalans gained from the performance of MahA Yaj~nams like Vaa- japEyam and the recitation of MahA Mantrams. Her KaruNai grants the same phalans from the sankeertanam of Her nAmAs. 2) SudhA: Her nAmAs are present as the nectar on one's tongue. It is there- fore an easy upAyam for receiving her mahA anugrahams. 3) People perform difficult to execute Yaj~nams like VaajapEyam to receive 149 sadagopan.org he brings it out like this: " na vaa japEyam in the the in japEyam vaa na " this: like out it brings he her places two at VaajapEyam word the evokes He 5) nAmA Lakshmi's sankerthanam of MahA nAma performing phala same the get can one that us instructs Kavi the b such of anushtAthA accomplished an As performances. direc a be could Bhakthi Lakshmi His al. et Satthram Y performing for known is Kavi VenkatAdhvari Sri 4) extended times. pamover Yaagam conducting like routes hard following for need Lakshmi' Mother of recitation of route easy the thru ca one When nectar. drinking to equivalent phalan the times in six soundslOkheard "yamm” is this The 6) japEyam " in the third paadham. paadham.japEyam " third in the 150 fourht paadham and " na Vaa-na " and paadham fourht am to reveal PrAsa Pushti. Pushti. to am PrAsa reveal aj~nams like VaajapEyam, like aj~nams e.In the fourth Paadham, fourth the e.In s and theevra mantra ja- mantra theevra and s n attain the same phalan same the attain n n and that too easily by easily too that and n cneune f such of consequence t nms tee s no is there , nAmAs s s. s. g am Yaagams, Saama ig sadagopan.org sadagopan.org Sri Mahalakshmi—Kadabha THIRTYNINTH SLOKAM zr[vr[mNÇe zai¼R[> àa[kaNte prmpué;naç> àagupadIymanm!, ivzdmihm nam i]àmeka]r< te ivtrit jptamPyekmeva]r< tt!. 151 sadagopan.org ada. n hs aaa aaa ata (haa Mant (Dhvaya Mantram varaNa bef SaraNa comes this "Sri" In of sabdham. aksharam The ". NaarAyaNa ”Sriman s SaraNAgathy performing for used Mantram Dhvaya 1. Commentary: Naadu) quickly. tam/Thiru A grants mantram akshara The Vaikuntam). (SrI sharam n (Your yEkAksharam this recites who one For sharam. ”S dhvayam. "in “NaarAyaNa of nAmA the before comes dhvayam is mantram SaraNAgathy Lakshmi! Oh Meaning: and Letter Srivaikuntam : (1) ings: (2) A "Akshara word the with plays Kavi VenkatAdhvari Sri from such ameditation. such from with fits phalan akshara yielding Japam Akshara 3. Lord. the to the before ThAyAr to Prapatthi perform to customary "NaarAya before sabdham "SrI" the only not is It 2. yEkAksharam (SrI :) sabdh "NaarAyaNa” (SrI before yEkAksharam appears yEva sabdham refers to the object of dhyAnam being dhyAnam of object the to refers sabdham yEva SaraNa-varaNa-mantrE SaarngiNa: prANakAnthE SaarngiNa: SaraNa-varaNa-mantrE ViSadha-mahima nAma kshipram yEkAksharamnAmatE ViSadha-mahima kshipram vitarathy japathAm apyEkam japathAm that yEvAksharam vitarathy Paramapurusha-nAmna: prAg-upAdheeyamAnam prAg-upAdheeyamAnam Paramapurusha-nAmna: 152 Na" sabdham but it is also is it but sabdham Na" ahrtu yym The nyAyam. Tathkrathu m”, which has two mean- two has which m”, the same as the Phalan the as same the ame), the phalan is Ak- is phalan the ame), execution of Prapatthi of execution am. am. saa (r Vaikun- (Sri ksharam Te khrm “SrI” aksharam .The at wt te word the with tarts I hs ny n ak- one only has rI" a) ThAyAr's ram), r NaarAyaNa ore 4. Akshram has also the meaning of PerumAL according to one Sri Vishunu Sa- hasra Naamam. That meaning does not alter the BhAvArTam. 5." yEkam” has two meanings: (1) One and (2) matchless. 6. ViSatha mahimaa: Many AchAryas have celebrated the Mahimai of the name of "SrI". Swamy AlavanthAr has has declared: "SreerithyEva naama tE" to re- veal Her Vaibhavam. Swamy Desikan has elaborated on the six meanings of SrI sabdham in many of his Sri Sokthis: Srimath Rahasya Thraya Saaram, ChillaRai rahasyams, SthOthra BhAshyam and MummaNikkOvai . Having all these AchArya upadEsams in mind, Sri VenkatAdhvari Kavi salutes Lakshmi's mahi- sadagopan.org sadagopan.org maa as "ViSatha mahimA” 7. Kshipram aksharam, yEkAksharam vitharathy: Oh Sri Devi! The one leetered NaamA of Yours delivers quickly the Aksharam (Sri Vaikuntam) for the ones, who meditate on that yEkAksharam of yours: " viSadha mahima yEkAksharam tE nAma japathAm api tath yEkam aksharam yEva kshipram vitharathy “. 153 sadagopan.org TvÚamaepiht kaNThE kuNThita nisvanE kaphacayai: akshEshu vikshEpishu syUtE cEtasi yAtanAbhi: asushu kshipram pratisThAsushu | sAyAsA api samudraputri samaya abhijn~A rasajn~A mama tvannAmOpahitam hitam japatu tat dEvasya nAma svyam || anvaya Kramam: Samudhra Puthri ! kaNDE kapachayai: kuNDitha nisvanE akshEshu vikshEpishu , yAthanAbhi: chEtasi syUthE asushu kshipram prathish- DAsushu , sAyAsaa api samaya abhij~naa rasaj~naa Thvath naama upahitham hitham Devasya nAma svayam japathu Meaning: Oh Daughter of the Samudhra Raajan ! There will be a time when my throat will be congested with the accumulation of phlegm and will interfere with my speech ; my limbs will be weak ; my sufferings of the last moments will sadagopan.org sadagopan.org be deeply entwined with my mind and the life will be rapidly extinguished . In- spite of the fatigue experienced during those parting moments , may my tongue knowing that approaching moment recite Your name along with that of Your Lord (Sriman NarayaNa) to comfort me. Comments: During the moments of departure from this earth one undergoes a lot of unpleasant experiences ; Speech may be blocked by the phlegm in the throat ; the eyes and the ear would have lost their functions ;the mind will be confused by the onslaught of fear about the approaching death and pains ex- perienced by the aching limbs. The vital air would be ready to leave the body. At that time of great turmoil, Oh Mahaa Lakshmi , bless my tongue to recite Your Lord's name preceded by Your name to have hitham. Sri Kannan Swamy points out that the poet literally translates various AzhwAr's Paasura Vaakyams dealing with human experiences as death ap- proaches into equivalent Sanskrit passages and includes them in this slOkam. Four such examples are listed below : 155 sadagopan.org " Yeyttha sollOdeeLayEngi irumi "sollOdeeLayEngi " Yeyttha irumi my tongue be programmed to step in at that time to r to time that at in step to programmed be tongue my RamaNa Jaanaki , NaarAyaNa Siman ( PirAtti Your of reci tongue my May , nearing is end the that Knowing pathu" . dEvasya upahithamhitham naama Thvath rasaj~nA mama " in this says poet context : The Vi GopAla Desikan's Swamy in and GithA Bhagavath In the isIppOthu is mind time the ,when trol. an clear a faculties when , death to nearness of time the to are faculties my when , time of ahead way you remind t not do Please vaitthEn". solli appOthaikkppOthE " do: about time of ahead Lord the reminded AzhwAr Another thishDAsushu " thishDAsushu yenRum "vaaNAL aRRathu sAmidatthu " "yeLhik-kalanga uLLam naiyya" " pulankaL muthu meyyil pachayai:" forthings gaining useless sathgathy. an children on not and NarayaNan Sriman on be should mo finalthe During . lastmoments) the during form o (rememberance smruthi ofanthima importance the of has been translated into been translated has has its echos in echos its has is translated is into 156 hasinto been translated " akshEshU "akshEshU vikshEpishu " . " syUthE chEthasi" " syUthE . d the limbs arelimbs the . d strong ments of life , our thoughts our , life of ments nd the limbs are not in con-in not are limbs the nd ell me that adiyEn did nort nort did adiyEn that me ell " kuNDitha "nisvanEkuNDitha ka- te Your Naamaa with that with Naamaa Your te in tact. AppOthu refers AppOthu tact. in ecite those NaamAs. My NaamAs. those ecite msathy f the Lord's Naama andLord'sthe Naama f , SeethA Raamaa). May Raamaa). SeethA , poet ad other and property d what the Lord has to has Lord the what Naama SVAYAM Ja- SVAYAM Naama , we are remided are we , "asushu pra- "asushu tongue is aware of the time to conenct the switch as it were to the recitation of those NaamAs (samaya abhij~naa). It would be a deliberate act and not a happenstance event . We have an agreement . adiyEn will recite Your name even in those difficult times or would haveperformed my SaraNAgathy , when my faculies and limbs were in control and You will come and guide me with Your own hands to Your supreme abode as you instructed us in Your VarAha Charama slOkam .The poet's prayer to Mahaa Lakshmi is : May my tongue recite Your Lords' NaamAs automatically (Mama rasaj~nA svayam japathu, SamayE ja- pathu) . That would be Parama hitham says the poet. Sri KaNNan Swamy has a KuRaL like succinct translation of thei slOkam in TamiL : sadagopan.org sadagopan.org thunpuRRut-thujumka al thuyar mikkut-thudikkunkaa l thuNayAhum unn pErAl thodangum unn ThuNaivan pEr Thunpam is sufferring . This suffering is during the time of death ( thunjum kaal). There are so many sorrows that makes one restless and makes one's mind jump with fear of the naraka VaathaNai due to accumulated sins ( thun- puRRu tudikkumkAl) .Thudipaathu is intense suffering like the fish out of wa- ter or the jumping with pain ,when one crosses a hot , dry river bed in the height of summer During those times of intense suffering ,Your name is a great protection (TuNayAhum unn Peyar ) .Your Name ( SrI ) is preceded by your Lord's name (unn pErAl thodangum unn ThuNaivan Peyar ) : Sriya: Pathi , Indhiraa Kaanthan, SeethA Raaman , Kamalaa Pathy et al . 157 sadagopan.org suddhim vyAhruthi sOdharai: nanaama bhajathE tE sOdharai: n vyAhruthi kO suddhim gAyathryA: punarukthibhi: paripaNai: OmkAra pumsooktha paripaNai:OmkAra punarukthibhi: gAyathryA: abhyAsai: pavamAnabhangyavitathE: aBlingha mantra abhyAsai: AadEsair-agamarshaN asya yamakair-ashtAkshar OsyEnd yamakair-ashtAkshar asya AadEsair-agamarshaN Sri Amruthavalli and Sri Senchulakshmi ThAyAr Senchulakshmi and Sri Sri Amruthavalli zuiÏ œ GyNtrEGyNtrE- GyNtrEGyNtrE - --- ntharai: ntharai: aamabhi: hirE hirE yO: yO: anvaya Kramam: IndhirE ! PavamAna mantra vitatE: abhyAsai: aBlinga bhangee antharai: agamarshaNasya AadEsai: ashtAksharasya yamakai: GayathryA: punarukthibhi: OmkAra pumsUkthayO: paripaNai: vyAhruthi sOdharaI : tE naamabhi: kO naama Suddhim na bhajathE ? Meaning: Among the mantrams used for consecration are : ApOhishtA mantrams recited at the beginning of sandhyA vandhanam , PavamAna mantrams recited during PuNyAhavAchanam , AgamarshaNa man- trams used during the time of snAnam , AshtAkshari , Gaayathri , yEkAkshari PraNavam , Purusha Sooktham and VyAhruthi mantram used dur- ing prOkshaNam (sprinkling for pavithrIkaraNam) . sadagopan.org sadagopan.org Oh Mahaa Lakshmi ! Your NaamAs have the same power to consecrate any one and any thing. There is none who is outside their power of consecration. Such is the power and Vaibhavam of Your NaamAs ! Who will fail to be purified by them None ! Comments: Here , the poet , who is a Parama Vaidhikar and a performer of many Yaj~nams states from experience that the NaamAs of Mahaa Lakshmi are as powerful as Mantrams from several Veda Bhaagams : 1) PuNyAhavachana Parisuddhi mantram : PavamAna mantram starting with " PavamAna: suvarjana: " . This is the heart of the PunyAhavachana rites. The sankalpam for PuNyAhAvachanam states clearly that it is for ganing all types of parisuddhi: 159 sadagopan.org reiterates places.are: Examples puNyAhavachanam) (VaasudEva temples the at PuNy the households, the in PuNyAhavachanam than Other fromevery thing. shams mantr consecration a is it Therefore, /Yaj~nam. nam ute the and manas body, site, the of purification for mant PavamAna the out points clearly sankalpam This SuddhyarTam puNyAvAham Gruha Suddhi vaachayishyE". SuddhyarTamSuddhyarTam Aathma sarvOpak , , "sareera The above mantram says that sprinkling ofmantram says all thatabove s sprinkling the The SuddhayE karishyamANasya VibhO: YaagasTAnasya VishvaksEna:(2 prathApavAn guNAdhyaksha: SuddhayEasthu Pakshi uraga aasana: raaD SuddhayE VainatEyAasthu (1 : anthu dEvyaS-SriyAdhayass SuddhayE VishNuvallabhA SuddhayE lOkapAvanA:imE dEvA: ashDAthrimsA SuddhayE SuddhayE (3) AniruddhOasthu Pradhyumna chAsthu laangali SuddhayEVaasudEvasthu taTaa SuddhayE yEthan mantra jalairEva prOkshaNam SuddhiruchayathE ( prOkshaNam yEthanjalairEva mantra VishNOr-Yaagahdhi- uddhishDam yEthathpuNyAham karma (27) SuddhayEyaaga yOgOpakaraNAnAncha KarmaNAm 160 ites , vessels used in VishNu vessels , used ites nsils used in the AarAdha- the in used nsils a i t b eie is recited be to is ram m o rmvn dhO- removing for am 35) 35) 9) 9) araNaSuddhyarTam su su Ahavachanam used Ahavachanam udi t many at Suddhi 1) 1) yaagam with the waters consecrated by the VaasudEva PuNyAhavachanam will remove all aSuddhi and consecrate them for use in the Yaj~nam. 2) AapOhishtaa Mantram used at the beginning of daily sandhyA vandha- nam and during the Mantra snAnam has the same putificatory effect. They are for gaining parisuddhi. 3) Similarly, MadhyAhnika prASana mantram (Aapa: punanthu--) clearly points out their effect of achieving purification. Similar are the abhlinga mantrams such as " AapO vaa idham--) . 4) AgamarshaNa mantram: it has the words PunAthu and punanthu often in its sadagopan.org sadagopan.org midst. The usage of PunAthu indicates a prayer for purification. 5) AshtAksharam: Its sacredness is matchless. "PavithrANAm pavithram yO Moola Mantra: sanAtana: " is the reference to the purificatory power of this ancient mantram. 6) Gayathri: When we do not recite Gaayathri Mantram daily , one is consid- ered impure and unfit to do any Vaidhika karmaas (SandhyAheena: aSuchi:) . 7) PraNava mantram & Purusha Sooktham: They confer special Jn~Anam on the reciters (ViSuddhi: paramaa mathaa). They consecrate the mind. 8) VyAhruthi Mantrams: With PraNavam in front, these three VyAhruthi man- trams are uttered for all purification purposes thru sprinkling with water and 161 sadagopan.org devotion. a recitethemThe with asks who poet those a confer naamAs Lakshmi's Mahaa out points poet The of one'supakaraNamssareeram, secration andB Yaaga key are BhAgams Aagama and Veda 8 these Therefore, in PrAyascchittha sarva Yagams.AahUthi for ou for Lakshmi of NaamAs these of each PraNavam nAmAs: add before Please these of some recite us Let shmi. the receive and purified be will one every is answer get not nAmAs Your of reciters the among indeed who na naamabhajathE Suddhim ? ""kO tE namabhi: sarvabhUtha hithAyai nama:hithAyai sarvabhUtha HiraNmayyai nama: HiraNmayyai Padhminyai nama:Padhminyai Lakshmyai Nama: Nama: Lakshmyai KamalAyai nama:, nama:, KamalAyai PrabhAyai nama: PrabhAyai SubhAyai nama: SubhAyai nama: SudhAyai RamAyai nama: RamAyai SuchayE nama: Sriyai nama: Sriyai 162 anugraham of Mahaa Lak-Mahaa of anugraham rhetoric question: rhetoric hUmi. hUmi. for cleansing and con-and cleansing for similar purification on purification similar uiid Te poet's The purified? on purification. own r anagAyai nama: VasudhAyai nama: BhadhrAyai nama: rEvathyai nama: Sruthyai nama: anugrahapradhAyai nama: ParAyai nama: JayAyai nama: Sriyai nama: Sritha Sriyai nama: trilOka Sriyai nama: Jaya Sriyai nama: dheepa Sriyai nama: sadagopan.org dhAna Sriyai nama: sathya Sriyai nama: dEva Sriyai nama: PuNya Sriyai nama: Raaja Sriyai nama: Phala Sriyai nama: tapa Sriyai nama: Veda Sriyai Nama: yOga Sriyai nama: Mahaa Sriyai nama: Brahma Sriyai nama: The poet says in this context : 163 sadagopan.org od' ams uoaial (aa aa~A vym ja bethe hitham says poet. would Parama That pathu). svayam rasaj~nA (Mama automatically NaamAs Lords' m May is: Lakshmi Mahaa to prayer poet's .The slOkam i instructedus you as abode Your supreme to hands own come will You and control in were limbs and faculies Sa my haveperformed would or times difficult those in wi adiyEn agreement. an have We event. happenstance de a be would It abhij~naa). (samaya NaamAs those of as switch the conenct to time the of aware is tongue r to time that at in step to programmed be tongue my RamaNa Jaanaki , NaarAyaNa Siman ( PirAtti Your of reci tongue my May , nearing is end the that Knowing pathu" . dEvasya upahithamhitham naama Thvath rasaj~nA mama " water or the jumping with pain, when one crosses a h a ac crosses one when pain, to with jumping the or water due VaathaNai naraka the li suffering intense is Thudipaathu tudikkumkAl). (thunpuRRu of fear with jump res mind one makes that sorrows many so are There kaal). tim the during is suffering This sufferring. is Thunpam Sri KaNNan Swamy has a KuRaL like succinct has KaNNanSwamy a KuRaL like translatio Sri thodangum unn ThuNaivanthodangum pEr thuyar mikkut-thudikkunkaa l thuyar thunpuRRut-thujumkaal thuNayAhum unn pErAl thuNayAhum 164 TamiL : : TamiL te Your Naamaa with that with Naamaa Your te it were to the recitation the to were it ot , dry river bed in the in bed river dry , ot ecite those NaamAs. My NaamAs. those ecite ll recite Your name even name Your recite ll n gie e ih Your with me guide and n Your VarAha Charama nYour , SeethA Raamaa) .May Raamaa) SeethA , ls ad ae one's makes and tless liberate act and not a a not and act liberate n of thei slOkam in thei nslOkam of aAah, hn my when raNAgathy, Naama SVAYAM Ja- SVAYAM Naama tnu rct Your recite tongue y e of death (thunjum (thunjum death of e ah, aaE ja- SamayE pathu, ke the fish out of out fish the ke cumulated sins sins cumulated height of summer During those times of intense suffering, Your name is a great protection (TuNayAhum unn Peyar ). Your Name ( SrI ) is preceded by your Lord's name (unn pErAl thodangum unn ThuNaivan Peyar): Sriya: Pathi , Indhiraa Kaanthan, SeethA Raaman , Kamalaa Pathy et al . sadagopan.org sadagopan.org 165 sadagopan.org The NaamAs that is the althat is ultimate PrAscchittham for NaamAs The gaytugaytu tv tv namE;a namE;a kmle kmle kiltaNyinrsna kiltaNyinrsna rsna. rsna. gaytugaytu tv tv namE;a namE;a kmle kmle kiltaNyinrsna kiltaNyinrsna rsna. rsna. àayiícÄivzudàayiícÄivzud àayiícÄivzudàayiícÄivzud FORTYSECOND SLOKAM SLOKAM FORTYSECOND Sri Vedavalli ThAyAr Sri œ XyE XyEàayiíÄ< àayiíÄ< smStpapanam!, smStpapanam!, XyE XyEàayiíÄ< àayiíÄ< smStpapanam!, smStpapanam!, 166 l the Sins l the PrAyscchittha visuddhyai PrAscchittham samastha paapAnAm gAyathu tava nAmaishA KamalE kalithAnya nirasanA rasanA (anvaya Kramam): KamalE ! samastha pApAnAm PrAyscchittham Tava Naama; yEshA rasanA kalitha-anya- nirasanA Chittha visuddhyai: PrAya: gAyathu Meaning: Oh KamalA Devi ! Sage Sanath KumAra has revealed to us that the recitation of Your nAmAs are the most potent expiatory act for destroying all sins including even the most heinous of sins (Tava nAmA samastha PaapAnAm PrAyscchittham) May adiyEn's tongue (rasanA) be engaged in singing Your nA- mAs most of the time ( prAya: gaayahtu) , reject every thing else (kalitha anya nirasanaa) and attain purity of mind (chittha Visuddhi). sadagopan.org Comments: In this sthaBakam , the poet has been instructing us about why we should sing about Mahaa Lakshmi's namAs , celebrate them , protectHer man- trams from falling into the hands of the unfit , enjoy the nAma ankeerthana- mas nectar , meditate on them and share them with others .In this last slO- kam of this sthaBakam , the poet reveals that the singing of Her sacred nA- mAs is Sarva Paapa vimOchanam and utthama PrAyaschittham to banish all sins. Andal instructed us about "utthaman pEr paaDi " as the way to be blessed with all kinds of soubhAgyams. Another AzhwAr showed us the way : " AadipAdi ArangavO yenRazhaikkum ". By singing about Her nAmAs exclusively , all blemishes in the mind will be wiped out (Chittha Visuddhi) and the success- ful execution of PrAyscchittham for all sins would have been accomplished (Samastha Paapa PrAyaschittham). One AzhwAr observed in this context : "mana maasu theerum ; aruvinayum saaraa " (the kaLangams in the mind will be erased and the sins wont even approach one) . This is the power of singing about the sacred nAmAs of Kamalai . 167 sadagopan.org Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SaThakOpan VaradAchAri Koil DaasanOppiliappan , KumAran, Lakshmi Sarv nama:, Murthyai Dayaa nama:, Murthyai Vaathsalya CLUDE THIS STHABAKAM TO REALIZE SUDDHI TO CLUDESTHABAKAM CHITTHA THIS AND LET US RECITE SIXTEEN MORE NAMAS OF KAMALAI BEFORE KAMALAI LETRECITEOF US MORE SIXTEEN NAMAS HUDHA VENKATARYA DHIKSHITHALAKSHMI KRUTHISHU HUDHA SAHAS ITHI ASTHOKAADHVARI KACCHIGADAMBHU ASTHOKAADHVARI ITHI VAADHIHAMSAMB- NAMA VAIBHAVA STHABAKA: SAMPOORNA: STHABAKA: VAIBHAVA SAMPOORNA: NAMA PAAPA PRAYASCHITTHAM : : PRAYASCHITTHAM PAAPA SanthAna Lakshmyai nama:SanthAna Lakshmyai Moksha Lakshmyai nama: Lakshmyai Moksha Vidhyaa Lakshmyai nama: Lakshmyai Vidhyaa Dhairya Lakshmyai nama: Lakshmyai Dhairya nama: Lakshmyai DhAnya JyOthi Lakshmyai nama: Lakshmyai JyOthi Veerya Lakshmyai nama: Veerya Raajya Lakshmyai nama: RaajyaLakshmyai Mahaa Lakshmyai nama: Mahaa Lakshmyai Vijaya Lakshmyai nama: Vijaya Lakshmyai Dhana Lakshmyai nama: Dhana Lakshmyai Gruha Lakshmyai nama: Gruha Aadhi Lakshmyai nama: Aadhi Vara Lakshmyai nama: Lakshmyai Vara Jaya Lakshmyai nama: Lakshmyai Jaya Gaja Lakshmyai nama: Gaja Lakshmyai 168 alOka SaraNyai Nama: SaraNyai alOka WE CON- WE SAKALA SAKALA RE