A: Considering the special status of Sridevi vis-a-vis the other consorts, some opine that she may be classified on par with the Supreme Lord, but having regard to the saasthric declaration that there is only one Supreme Lord (‘Bramhman’) associated with all the sentient and non-sentient beings of the universe, Sri Vedantha Desika, one of the foremost acharyas of the order of Ramanuja has opined that Sridevi may be looked upon as the amenable part of the Lord’s body and as the ‘Easwari’ (feminine ‘Brahman’). However, the overwhelming opinion of the other venerable acharyas is in line with the saasthric injunction that ‘Brahman’, the Super-Soul or the infinite Supreme Lord is only one and is not divisible. The position of leadership among the consorts and among the ‘nithya sooris’; her associate role at the time of creation and in according liberation to the living entities, which are none too insignificant have been recognized by the acharyas. It is noteworthy that the ‘poorvaacharyas’, although had debated the point of according the position of Sridevi either among the living entities or along with the Supreme Lord, none of the ‘poorvaacharyas’ had considered her on par with the Supreme Lord or had addressed her as the ‘Para Brahmam’.
The Q&A of the day is an excerpt from "Two-fold Vedic Vision", a Sri Vaishnavite handbook based on Sri Sudarsanar’s 1008 Catechisms in Tamil written by Sri. Kidambi Sridharan. The collection contains invaluable information on the Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Ithihasas, the lives of Alwars, Acharyas from Sriman Nathamunigal to Sri Manavala Mamuni, the 108 Divya Desams and answers to various other related questions. This book is available for kindle in e-book format for purchase on Amazon.
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