What do we understand from the word ' SWAMI '

P.Natarajan.

                            

When a question 'Where Swami Exists' or 'What meaning the expression Swami conveys'  is thrown open, we may have to ponder for a while for an answer.

Swami exists in Vaikunta. He lives in our 'hirudaya or heart'. He also lives in the Temple. That is why, we travel long distances to visit famous and sacred shrines as we believe they are the birth places of  Swami or connected with some notable 'sthalapuranams'. We get a relief that we have fulfilled the commitments made long ago by worshiping Swami in those places.

As Swami exists in the heart, may be the reason for calling him 'hirudayakamalavasa', we think of him by feeling his existence there and then do 'avahanam' in an idol or Murthy by means of a simple 'sankalpa'.

It is also believed that Swami exists in Kailash also as in Vaikunta - another name for Vaikunta is 'Paramapadam'. To quote Veda " Tat Vishno ;  Paramam  Padam ". Vaishnavites refer when a person dies that he ascends to Vaikunta.

A title is given to Swami as 'Purushothma' with reference to his place of living in Vaikunta. The meaning of Purushothama becomes clear when we split it as Purusha + Uthama. In Tamil Purushothaman gets the meaning as "PERUM + Al", that is "PERUMAL". 'Uth' in Uthama means in Tamil as 'Periyavar'. Uthamar is used as a qualifying term to refer a person as respectable or adorable. By fixing the prefix Purusha before Uthama, the resulting word is 'Purushothama' which symbolically refer to Narayana who is undoubtedly the 'Uthama-Purusha'.

The word swami has 'swam' in it. 'Swam' in Sanskrit means 'possession' or 'property'. Swami signifies the one who possesses. What or which property Swami owns? Jagat Guru Kanchi Kamakoti Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Sankaracharya Swamigal had explained that whenever we refer to our family deity, it means the deity who owns us or we who belong to him.

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