This Verse of "Shree Stuti" is more than amazing as it dwells on LeelaVada-Siddhanta.
And it walks on the territory of Shree Vidya of course, depicting Shreemati MahaLakshmi-Devi as BhuwanEshwari playing over Prakriti, devatas (demigods) and jivas.
The commentary by Shree M.K. Shreenivasan is very profound.
पश्यन्तीषु श्रुतिषु परितः सूरिवृन्देन सार्धं
मध्येकृत्य त्रिगुणफलकं निर्मितस्थानभेदम् ।
विश्वाधीशप्रणयिनी सदा विभ्रमद्यूतवृत्तौ
ब्रह्मेशाद्या दधति युवयोरक्षशारप्रचारम् ॥ ७॥
Wondrous is the game of checkers you play,
Most Beloved of the Universal Lord Supreme!
The pieces are Brahma, Rudra and that Heavenly Team,
Moving at Your Will on the board of Matter (Prakriti), night and day,
On squares white, red and grey being the Natures three,
And witnessed by Scriptures (The Vedas) and the Eternally free (NityaSuris).
The commentary by Shree M.K. Shreenivasan: It has been established that Goddess Shree (Shreemati MahaLakshmi-Devi) occupies Her position on Lord Vishnu's Chest and
is Inseparable from Him.
Both jointly engage Themselves in all activities and appear Together in all places, possess Innumerable Virtues and are Perfectly Matched.
Each helps in illumining The Other, full of LOVE towards The Other.
In this verse, the idea that Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi together attend to Their activities in the universe is reinforced by a picturesque description.
When the King and Queen with ineffable mutual love move to the harem, they indulge in friendly games to while away the time.
For Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi, the SuperLords of the universe, the entire gamut of the threefold activities of creation, protection and destruction is but a play, a Divine Play (Lila Vibhuti).
This idea is woven into a tapestry of exquisite imagination.
The board on which They play is Primordial Matter (Prakriti). The squares are represented by the triad of Nature, Purity (Sattva-white), Passion (Rajas-red) and Darkness (Tamas-black).
The conventional board has only two colours in their squares (viz) white and black and it can be explained that the Divine Play (Leela) board also has two natures, Sattva and Tamas (white and black) with Rajas (red) merging with them for action.
Instead of rolling the dice, The Divine Players exercise Their Will, and the coins (pieces) which are moved are none else than the highest gods (devatas, demigods), Brahma, Siva Indra etc.
This is to indicate that all gods (devatas, demigods), other than Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi act on the Will of The Latter Two in their respective domains.
This game has no beginning, no end and goes on for ever.
No game is complete without spectators. Since it takes place within the four walls of the private quarters of Goddess Lakshmi, only ladies are allowed inside.
Since the Vedas are incessantly speaking about Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi, they the Vedas, are the spectators (the poet uses the feminine gender Sruti to indicate the Vedas here).
Besides there are the eternally free (Nityasuris) who are of indeterminate gender, neither male nor female.
It is interesting to see how the poet gradually builds up an attractive edifice of imagination to depict Goddess Lakshmi's Exalted Status in the pantheon of gods (devatas) Equal to the Highest God (Bhagavan Shree Narayana) in all respects.
Cited from Saptagiri Magazine, June 1996 issue
