SrI SabhdArtham - The Meaning of the Word SrI - mahAlakSmi v

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 18 Jun 2009, 23:40

SrI SabhdArtham - The Meaning of the Word SrI - mahAlakSmi vaibhavam

SrImathE rAmAnujAya namaha

The importance of Her names:

svAmi nigamAnta mahAdESikan in his SrI stuti (7th SlOkam) declares:

asyESAnA tvamasi jagataha samSrayantI mukundam
lakSmihi padmA jaladhitanayA viSNupatnI indirEti
yannAmAni SrutiparipaNAnyEvam AvartayantO
nAvartantE dhurithapavanapprErithE janmachakrE.

Meaning based on the tamizh commentary by vaikuNTavAsi SrI vangIpuram navanItam SrIrAmadesikAchAr (c. 1955): "Hey mahAlakSmi! SrIdEvi! As SrImannArAyaNan's consort, you obey His commands. The vEdAs declare that You are the Empress to the Universe constitued by the cEtanAs (jIvAtmAs) and the acEtanAs (prakRti/jaDam) just as Your Lord is the Emperor for the same. lakSmI, padmA, jaladhitanayA (daughter of the kSIrAbhdhi), viSNupatni, indirA, etc are some of the celebrated names vEdAs themselves use as the basis for comprehending Your glories. Hence, these names are like capital (Moola) dhanam for us. When one recites them as japA, his/her sins are driven away and that leads to the birth of desire in mokSam. Next, they perform SaranAgati and gain mOkSa. Until reciting Your sacred names, the cEtanAs were suffering in the whirlwind of worldly pleasures/displeasures and their sins drove them to be born again and again. They suffered untold miseries as a result of this sAmsAric cycle. The repetition (Avrutthi) of Your sacred nAmams removes the mOkSa virOdis and permits them to practice SaraNagati to gain mOkSa."

keerthi · Post by **keerthi** » 20 Jun 2009, 14:10

ksrimech,

Thanks a lot for that illuminating post.. It should be of interested to linguists and sriyophiles alike..!

A lovely text which in most erudite and charming words praises srI is the 'LakShmI-sahasram' of VenkatAdhvarI, that genius poet..

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 20 Jun 2009, 21:04

... also see Vishnusahasranama verses 77,78 for the SrI shabda in viShNu's perspective.
The word 'SrI' also means poison as used in the epithet 'SrIkanTha' for Siva (poison in the throat).
Yet the word can be reconciled in favour of thAyAr too as:
"bhaktAnAM ati saraLaM
duShTAnaM api garaLaM"
(while She is easy of approach for the devotees she is like poison for the evil persons)

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 23 Jun 2009, 06:35

ksrimech,
just beautiful explanation! we got to learn so many things from your post.Thanks and enlighten us more as and when possible.

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 23 Jun 2009, 11:43

Thank you keerti and punarvasu.

CML - Slokas 77 and 78 from viSNu sahasranAmA are as follows:

viSvamUrtir mahAmUtir dIptamUtir amUrtimAn | anEka mUrtiravyakta SatamUrti SatAnana: ||77||
ekOnaika savah kah kim yat yat padamanuttamam | lOkabandur lOkanAtO mAdhavO bhaktavatsala: ||78||

Except for the word mAdhava, none of the other words indicate any relationship to mahAlakSmi tAyAr.

I think 64th and 65th SlOkas deal with SrI and viSNu.

anivartI nivRttAtmA samkSEptA kSEmakRt Siva: | SrIvatsavakSA SrIvAs SrIpatih SrImatAmvara: ||64||
SrIda SrISa SrInivAs SrInidhi SrIvibhAvana: | SrIdhar SrIkara SrEya SrImAn lOkatrayASya: ||65||

As you say SrI also has the meaning: poison. The words of muttusvAmi dIkSitar comes to my mind - "SrIkanta viSNu virinchyAdi janayitryA" in the bhairavi navAvaraNa kRti, SrI kamalAbikAya param nahi rE.

bhaktAnAm ati saraLam - very very true about mahAlakSmi tAyAr.
lduSTAnAm api garaLam - I beg to differ. Even with duSTAs, mahAlakSmi tAyAr showers her kAruNyam, viz. SrImad vAimiki yudda kANDam when hanumAn wanted to kill all the rAkSasIs in aSoka vanA. But sItAdEvi asks him who has not committed any mistake. She talks and even rescues the rAkSasIs from hanumAn from killing them. She can never ever be poison. She is always our mother and a true mother never does anything against the child even through the child may turnout to be bad. The SlOkA goes "pApAnAmvA SubhAnAm vadhArhANAm pLavangam...."

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 23 Jun 2009, 14:15

'kuputrO jAyatE kadAcit
kumAta na bhavati kadA(a)pi
There may be a bad son born sometimes; but there never is a bad mother.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 23 Jun 2009, 18:37

Krishna - thanks for your post - extremely informative. In fact, it is so packed that it took me some time to get most of what you were trying to explain. I read it, and had a question, but could not find the original post - for some reason, I kept hunting for it in the languages thread...

My question is this - if Sri = lakshmi and nidhi is repository, then SrInidhi is vishNu, right? So, how did that evolve into a name for a girl?

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 24 Jun 2009, 06:48

punarvasu - You are correct. The mother we are talking about here is the lOkamAtA. Even if we take svAmAtA, she would never think bad for her own children whom she has born for 10 months. But once in a way, we do have a hiraNyakaSipu, a SiSupAlA and even a jayantA (dEvEndran's son,aka kAkAsuran in SrImad rAmAyaNam). But diti (kaSyapA mahaRSi's second wife), SrutadEvA (SrIkRSNa's aunt, vasudEva's sister) and indrANi were never bad.

rShankar - Good questions. viSNu is indeed SrInidhi. svAmi kUrESar, the scribe for svAmi rAmAnujar, sings in the first SlOkA of SrIvaradarAjastvam,

SrInidhim nidhim apAramartinAm artitArtaparidAnadIkSitam|
sarvabhUta suhRudam dayAnidhim dEvarAjamadirAjamASrayE||

Clearly the word refers to only viSNu. But let me try to explain with what I know about why tAyAr can be SrInidhi.

One thing like CML pointed out SrI Sabdham, which clearly denotes mahAlakSmi tAyAr can also denote the auspiciousness which viSNu brings. svAmi yAmunAchAryA points to how paramaSiva became Siva, the one with auspiciousness in his stOtraratnam exactly the same way SrIparASara mahaRSi points out in vAmana-tirvikramAvatArA in SrIviSNupurANA. "tasya pAdOdakEna SirOdRtEna paramaSivaha SivOh bhUth||". The tasya Sabdham here denotes mahAviSNu as triuvikrama. Since mahAviSNu brought auspiciousness, He can also be addressed as SrI (not by defintion though). Since He is (also) SrI, we can say tAyAr is SrI's nidhi or perumAL's nidhi. So She is also SrInidhi. nammAzhvAr calls perumAL "tiruvukku tiruvAgiya en selvA" (tiruvAymozhi 7.7.1). This exactly translates to "One who is the SrI to SrI".

SrI nammAzhvAr in one of his pAsurams says "tirumAlE kaTTuRaiyE" for which the vyAkyAna kartA, SrI periyavAcchAn piLLai (c. 13th Cent.) points out that the pair are so much in deep love (like a mithunam) that we cannot distinguish between tiru and mAL. They have become one in love. Now perumAL becomes SrI and SrI becomes perumAL and thats could another reason why tAyAr is SrInidhi and hence people like to keep that name. The reference to SrI becoming viSNu and viSNu becoming SrI is found in brahmavaivarta purANA. The gauDiya vaiSNavAs use that to point Krishna and Radha are one and the same personality.

I'm sorry I don't know how else to explain it. Again, my intention was and is not to confuse readers. I apologize for any inconvinience caused.