Vaishnava tradition holds that the Lord owes His supremacy to the presence of Sri as His consort who is extolled as the very essence of auspiciousness. Azhwars and acharyas perceive graciousness and greatness as her inborn nature. While her eminence remains unfathomable, all Jivatmas are sure recipients of her boundless compassion. Pei Azhwar begins his hymn with the words ‘Tiru Kanden’ saying he has the vision of the golden effulgence of Sri. Only after this he sees the dark hued Lord. Vedanta Desika uses the term ‘mangalam mangalanam’ to indicate that because Lakshmi is His consort, He is the Lord of the universe.
Parasara Bhattar, while explaining the Divya Prabandha hymns to his disciples always used to stress the greatness of Lakshmi, said Sri V. Karunakarachariar in a discourse.
Nammazhwar’s hymns sung in the Nayaki bhava express his extreme longing for union with the Lord. In one hymn, Azhwar imagines himself to be Parankusa Nayaki, who is madly in love with the Lord. The young maid eagerly awaits the coming of the Lord. But there is no sign of the Lord. She becomes restless and is unable to wait any further. To while away the waiting time, the love torn maiden engages in a solitary game of forecast. She would draw two concentric circles on the sand and draw small circles between the two big ones at random. Based on the number of circles drawn, she would guess if the Lord would come without much delay. An even number of circles would indicate hope; odd number only disappointment. So, if she had drawn odd number of circles, she would kick the sand and undo the circles to show her frustration.
When Parasara Bhattar explained the meaning of this hymn, a disciple wondered if the Lord who is all pervading had entered the grains of sand that her feet spurned. Maybe He wished that her feet should fall on Him because as Lakshmi’s husband He gains a special stature. In yet another surprising explanation, he points out that more than the fact that the Lord wishes to become the grains of sand that are blessed by Lakshmi’s feet it is true that the grains of sand under her feet become the Lord. Such is the value of the association with her feet.
