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PiraaTTi and Her Greatness

From the Bhakti List Archives

Madhavakkannan V • March 8, 1999 


Sri:

Dearest Sisters and Brothers,

Today is International Day for women.

On this day, it is my intent, by the grace of Sriya: Pathih, to jot down 
on the Greatest glory of our Dearest Mother- Nithya anapaayinee (the One 
who never gets separated and is always with Her Divine Consort Sriman 
Narayanan in all forms and under all circumstances). Let us surrender to 
Akila jagan maathaa- asmath maathaa (The mother of the whole universe- 
and our dearest mother too!) and seek Her blessings- Her kataaksham - 
Her recommendation to the Lord for forgiving our incorrigle nature of 
our comiiting mistakes- in the past- present and in the future- the 
apacharams against Bhagawthas- and even to Divya Dampathis !

It is only She who can consider our case and recommends to the Lord 
"DevarIr should ignore this "kuzhandhai's" (child's) 
mistakes/trespasses; forgive him and save him- please!". The Lord smiles 
and says "If you say, how can I say NoÂ… But this child has committed 
great apacharams, you know?" . Our dear Mother repliesÂ… "SwamIÂ… This 
Kuzhandhai of oursÂ… is lifting his two small hands, puts his two palms 
together and performs anjaliÂ…. This child of ours is taking all troubles 
and great efforts to prostrate at our Feet and is uttering DwayamÂ… with 
his typical "mazhalai" words, making mistakes, thus making it more sweet 
to our ears, NathA! Sathvaa guNaan Bhuvana SundharA! Please save our 
child! Let him not suffer any more! He has surrendered raising his hands 
saying "akinchanan anyagathischarNya tvadh paadha moolam charaNam 
prapadhyE"Â… "Having no other recourse/ refuge, this lowly self- 
surrenders to Your Lotus Feet..". The Lord smiles and says "As long as 
You are there, these smart children know whom to approach and how to get 
their things done through you ". PiraaTTi signals us and whispers "Don't 
worry.. He is Most Merciful and kind-hearted and will certainly save 
you. But samartthaa iru inimEyaavadhu.. ilaattaa appa kOvicchuppa- 
appuRam engitta vandhu azhaadhE.. (Be good at least now onwards, doing 
sandhi and other nithya karmanushaatna~ngaL.. and do not commit 
apacharams knowingly.. Then Your Father will get angry.. and don't come 
to me crying for help then.. )
 
1. It is Sriya: Pathih and VishNu pathnI- the Divya Dampathis who "is" 
our SaraNyam and Praapyam. There is NO other recourse for us except Them 
who is our means and well as the End. 

2. pEyAzhwAr says beautifully in his first pAsuram of moonRaam 
Thiruvandhaadhi", 

"thirukkaNedEn ponmEni kaNdEn- thigazhum/
 arukkan aNi niRamum kaNdEn- serukkiLarum/
 ponnAzhi kaNdEn puri sangham kai kaNdEn/ 
 ennaazhi vaNNan paal ninRu.

Look at the lovely words. Firstly, AzhwAr starts off with Thiru kaNdEnÂ… 
He saw Lakshmi PiraaTTi. - where did he see? "en aazhi vaNNan paalÂ… in 
my dark coloured Emperumaan's ThirumEni (Divine body).. Pon mEni kaNdEnÂ… 
the colour of the Mother is Golden (hiraNya varNaam hariNIm..)Â… the 
Golden colour and the dark hued  Emperumaan's colour are so nicely 
superimposed so that it appears like that of Sun's rays on lustrous 
Maragatha Mani (rays of the lustrous Sun on Emerald stone..).   
Periyavaacchaan PiLLai says "this is like that of light warm Sun's ray 
on a rainy season Â… "iLa veyyil..". 

3. pEyAzhwAr further says in the last paasuramÂ… "saarvu namakku enRum 
chakkaratthaanÂ…Â….. thEn  amarum poomEl ThiruÂ…" .  The Goddess who sits 
on the Honey dripping Lotus Flower- periya PiraaTTi - is the Saarvu 
(meaning: SaraNyam as well as Praapyam)- She is the upaayam and the 
upEyam as well. the Means as well as the End.

4. ALavandhAr in the first verse of chathusslOkI, establishes the equal 
status of PiraaTTi with Her consort. She enjoys an equal status and 
rules the physical and the transcendental universe.  She possesses like 
Her Lord, Svarupam , Rupam, GuNam and Vibhavam . She shares in equal 
measure the six auspicious GuNAs of Her consort (Bhagawan) - JnAnam , 
Bhalam , Iswaryam , Veeryam, Sakthi , and Tejas . This Nitya Sri 
surpasses in some regards Her Lord as a result of  Her motherly 
qualities such as DayA (Compassion), KshamA (forgivenness ) , Vaatsalya  
(affection and love ) just as  a mother has for her children . She 
showers us with Her blessings (anugrahams ) and grants us Aiswaryam , 
Kaivalyam and Moksham.  
5. Ramanujacharya, too requests the Mother in SaraNAgathy Gadyam, 
addressing Her with Her all auspicious qualities with which she 
surpasses Her Consort even. Ramanujacharya surrenders to this   Supreme 
Divine Mother (Deva Deva Divya Mahishi), as the Mother of the Universe 
(akilajaganmaathaa) ; but immediately adds.. ``my Mother'' (asmadh 
maatharam). Indeed, her compassion is unlimited. Ramanujacharya pleads 
to the Mother for the bhakti / devotion that draws to the Supreme (Para 
Bhakti), the wisdom or jnAnam that the Lord grants (Para JnAnam) and the 
inability to move away from that Divine Glorious  Vision (Parama Bhakti) 
and Ramanujacharya prays that this togetherness be ever in him always 
(``avirathaasthu me''). The Mother looks at Ramanuja with affection and 
speaks: ``asthu the.. . tayaiva sarvam sampasyathe''  Let that be so.- 
All your pleas be fulfilled- let all those who belong to you be blessed 
with them too!". What a merciful Mother!

"agalagillEn iRaiyum enRu alarmEl mangai uRai maarbhA! Â… Pugal onRu 
illaa adiyEn nin adikkeezh amarndhu pugundhEnEÂ…".

She along with PerumAL is the Parathvam and the Eka sEshi for us. Eka 
Seshitvam refers to both Sri Devi and Bhagawan together as the means and 
the goal (upAyam and Upeyam )

My regards to all mothers.  "Maatharaay piRatthaRkE nalla maa thavam 
seydhidal vENdumammaa". (One should have done enormous penance to be 
born a womanÂ… a mother.. ) "moonRu bhuvanatthu poruL muRRUm 
kodutthidinum en thaay oru naaL vaLartthadhaRkku iyaiyaadhEÂ… " means 
(even if one offers all three worlds to his mother- it will not match 
her effort of having brought him up for a day.. - here being a mother 
also refers to ashtaaksharam, for this ashtaaksharam is referred to as 
one's mother for a disciple (deemed to be born a Srivaishnava, when 
initiated by his AchAryan) and the AchAryan is the father). Let us pay 
our obeisance to this Great Ashtaakshra mother and the Great loving 
AchAryan (father)., for  WE ARE INDEBTED TO THEM AND CAN NEVER PAY THEM 
BACK FOR WHAT GREAT THEY HAVE DONE TO US. 

ammA! yaan peRRa nanmai ivvulagil yaar peRuvaar? (who is so blessed in 
this world like me to have You, as my Mother?)

Sri RanganAyikA samEtha Sri RanganAtha ParabrahmaNE Namah:

Narayana Narayana

Narayana dAsan madhavakkannan



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