[Advaita-l] Hreem and Purusha Suktam

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms Sri Sriram prabhuji
Hare Krishna

I have heard the following contradicting statements in informal discussions with Namboothiris in Kerala and Iyers in Tamil Nadu. Can somebody explain where the shastras are on?

The question is - "Whom does the beejaakshara 'hreem' refer to?" 

>  hreem namaH shivAya is the shakti paNchAkshari mantra which we did japa and hOma last week.  So, hreem beejAkshara  obviously refers to shakti.   


I have heard Iyers says that it refers to Goddess Lakshmi, due to Devi Mahatmyam. Here the first charitam (for Kali) is ended with chanting "aim om", second charitam (for Lakshmi) is ended with chanting "hreem om" and the third charitam (for Saraswathi) is ended with chanting "kleem om".

>  Yes, as per saptashati madhyama charitra (adhyAya 2 to 4) belongs to mahAlakshmi which has the beejAkshara 'hreem'.  But as you know mUla has all the three beejAkshara-s i.e. aim, hreem, kleem.  


Quite contrary to that, the namboothiris seem to be of the opinion that all three beejakshara refer primarily to kaali (As in the consort of Shiva). 

>  yes too,  as chAmundeshwari (durgA parameshwari)  is mahAkAli, mahAlaxmi and mahA Saraswati swarUpiNi and icchA shakti, jnana shakti and kriya shakti triguNAtmika as well.  


So much so that they even chant "Om hreem Namashivaya"! I even heard a namboothiri saying that Purushasuktam line "Hree: cha te Lakshmee: cha patnyau" - where Hree refers to Kali, and Lakshmi to Lakshmi herself. Thus Purusha Suktam, which is a hymn to parabrahman, accepts both Shiva and Vishnu as parabrahman.

>  yes, it is sarvavyApi tattva which is explained in purusha sUkta, here purusha is Upanishad purusha i.e. parabrahman, hence thousands of heads, thousands of eyes, thousands of legs, he is anything and everything and something more than whatever we cognize / conceive.  ( dashAngula 😊 ) Sameway, if we see shatarudreeya ( namaka) we cannot categorically conclude it pertains to only kailAsavAsi umAshankara / sAmbaparameshwara.  Both namaka and chamaka could be interpreted as if it is glorifying the vishNu tattva as well.   Ultimately it's all boils down to tattva which has been personified as vishNu and Shiva in these sUkta-s and prashNa-s.  Laghu nArAyaNa and vishNu sUkta too not particularly glorifying ONLY vaikunTa vAsi, lakshmee patii, sheshashayana nArAyaNa, it is tattva behind nArAyaNa dashAkruti which has been elaborated here.  Being advaitins, we should not be having any problem in seeing vishNu in shiva vice versa.  

Just few of my thoughts.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar