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Sri Guna Rathna Kosam : Part 42: slOkam 31

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • May 28, 2001 


Dear BhakthAs:

With this and the following two slOkams , ParAsara
Bhattar clears some doubts for us that might
have arisen from the earlier slOkam , where 
the Lord's greatness was attributed to His
sambhandham ( relationship) to His divine consort.
It is wonderful to reflect on Bhattar's inspiring 
logic.

Slokam 31:
**********

Svatha: SrIthvam  VishNO: Svamasi tatha yEvaisha Bhagavaan
  tvadhAyattaddhirthvEabhyabhavath aparAdhIna vibhava:
svayA dhIpthyA rathnam bhavadhapi mahArgam na viguNam
  na kuNDavAsvAtantryam bhavathi cha na chAnyahithaguNam

The Tamil transaltion of this slOkam has been done very well
by Sri Thirumalai NallAn Raamakrishna Iyengar:

iyalbinAl sotthAm unnal IRai siRappu yeythinAlum 
  ayal poruLAlE aahum adhisayam udyAn aahAn
suya oLi tulakkumEnum thoomaNi guNam maRRonRAl
  uyarnthathu Thiru! mudanmai ozhinthathu yenRu uraikkappOmO?

The Sanskrit commentary form Sri Vatsya VeerarAghavAcchAr Swamy 
on the "Svatha:SrIthvam " is also included for completeness :

" Svatha: ithi-- hE SrI: Thvam VishNO: SVATHA: SvabhAbhAvAth 
nirupAdhikAthma SvarUpa-SvabhAva: ithi arTa: 

Svamasi SeshabhUthAsi " SvathvamAthmani samjAtham SwAmithvam
BrahmaNi-sthiTam ; AathmadhAsyam harE: SvAmyam svabhAvam cha 
sadhaa smara " ithyAdhi PramANA:

Dr.V.N.VedAntha Desikan"s translation of SlOkam 31
***************************************************
Oh Mahaa Lakshmi! You are but a natural posssesison
of the Lord. Thus, when we state that His greatness
depends on Your being His possession , it is not 
as though we deny His due greatness , or that He 
depends , for His greatness , on an external factor .
Because His greatness depends only on His own " Property "
(This term "Property" is appropriate in the sense of GUNA
as well as POSSESSION . In Tamil, Guna means Quality
and not Possession. In English and in Sanskrit languages
however , GUNA means both Quality and Possession ).
He has not borrowed His greatness from some one else, 
it would amount to a kind of stigma. He DEPENDS, afterall,
on His own !

Consider an illustration ! A precious gemstone becomes very 
valuable only by reason of its brilliant lustre , that is, 
the radiations it emits. If we were to assert that the gemstone
will be worthless , we are consciously praising lustre 
as if it were a separate factor isolable from the possessor , 
the gemstone. Actually , whateveer tribute we concede to
the possession --the property , the lustre-- will 
automatically devolve on the possessor.

All that is spoken of You , Oh Mother , is ipso facto
valid in respect of the Lord as well.

Additional Thoughts :
********************
Oh MahA Lakshmi! You are indeed the Lord's Sotthu
(Possession )! We say Your glory gives the Lord
His Glory (i-e) he derives His glory from You !
This type of adoration does not demean the Lord in 
any sense.Your Lord has all the glory and mahimai . 
Our statements Connecting His glory to Yours is not 
to be associated with any suggestion that He is deriving 
His glory from any thing that does not belong to Him. 
He is only deriving it from an adhIna vasthu and not
a parAdhina Vasthu ( the property belonging to
Someone else). 
 
You are Your Lord's possesion (Svatha: Svam). One 
who owns some one or a property (Svam ) is Swaami . 
Your Lord is Your Swami . Therefore His deriving glory
from His own Sotthu does not suggest that He derives 
such glory from soem thing that does not belong to Him. 
The situation is similar to the lustrous gemstone. 
Its lustre is its aathma guNam ( SonthamAna GuNam). 
That lustre (gunam ) is not external to the gemstone.
It does not derive that guNam of lustre from something
outside itself.That guNam has to be associated always  
with the owner .Similarly , MahA Lakshmi is the "property"
of the Lord. That She confers Her Lord great vaibhavam 
does not detract from His Vaibhavam arising from His own
"property" with such lofty "Gunams".

Dr.VNV cites two instances in Srimath Rahasya Thraya Saaram ,
where Swamy Desikan cites this slOkam in two chapters:
SiddhOpAya sOdhanAdhikAram(23rd Chapter ) and Dhvaya adhikAram
(28th Chapter).The actual citation is : " Vibhu: PathnyA 
GuNAdhyasccha VisishtO VishayOthra na:" Swamy Desikan
cites this 31st slOkam of Sri GuNa Rathna Kosam to
emphasise the doctrine that the Lord with Sri Devi 
is the UpAyam for Moksham. As indicated earlier , this slOkam 
describes the relation between the Lord and His PirAtti.
She becomes His Sesshbhoothai out of Her own desire. 
He (Viseshyam) derives glory (Vaibhavam) from Her(VieshaNam). 
This fact does not result in lack of GuNa VisEshams for the Lord.
They are inextricably interlinked by "EkasEshithva YOgam ". 
All vaibhavams of PirAtti devolve on Her Swamy . A famous 
Lakshmi KalyANa slOkam is cited by Swamy Desikan in this 
context:

ananyAdhIna kalyANam anyamangaLa kAraNam
jagannidhAnamadhvantham dhvandham vandhAmahE vayam

(Meaning): We prostrate before the dhivya Dampathis 
who have limitless auspicious attributes  of their own
without depending on anyone else , who are the cause 
behind the generation of sadhguNams in chEthanams ,
who have no equals and who are the cause for the existence
of the universe as its creators.

The dhivya Dampathis are "sadhaika sEshis or SadhA yEka Seshis"
according to AchArya RaamAnuja based on the authority of 
PaancharAthra Saasthram . Among the Divine couple , PirAtti 
elects to become SeshabhUthai to the Lord and yet in times
of Prapathti , they both become the means and Phalan. She is
His natural possession.He depends on His posession for His
Vaibhavam and not any one other than that possesion ( MahA Lakshmi). 
His greatness is in no way diminished by His dependence on
His own Isvaryam .  

   

   
  





 


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