"In the Ramacaritamanasa, Tulasidasa says:
bama-bhaga sobhati anukula adi-sakti chabi-nidhi jaga-mula [RCM 1.148.2]
Translation: “On the left side of Lord Rama, Mother Sita shines forth. She is ever favourable, the Primordial Power (Adi-Shakti), the treasure of beauty, and the original cause of the world."
The same Mother Sita manifests Herself in the auspicious land of Mithila with the purpose of increasing the fame of King Janaka.
Being resplendent on the left side of Lord Rama, She destroys any opposition in living beings towards the Lord.
The word "SHREE" (श्री) is compounded with the word "GURU" (गुरु) in 2 ways, to give 2 meanings explained as follows.
As an elliptic and dependent determinative compound [29] the word "ShriGuru" is parsed as "shriya anugrhitah guruh iti shriguruh", which means "a Guru who is favoured or blessed by Goddess Shree (Mother Sita)."
[29]In Sanskrit, an elliptic compound is called a madhyama-pada-lopi samasa, while a dependent determinative compound is called a tatpurusa samasa. In this interpretation, the dependent determinative compound is in the instrumental case (trtiya vibhakti).
The purport is that the mind can be cleansed by the dirt from the feet of only such a Guru who has been initiated in the tradition of "SHREE" (श्री), because the vices resulting from avidya (ignorance) do not go away without the Grace of "SHREE" (श्री).
In other words, the Grace of "SHREE" (श्री) is necessary since even though "SHREE" (श्री) is not different from the Lord, Gosvami Tulasidasa acknowledges Her as Bhakti Herself in the Ramacaritamanasa:
lasata mahju-muni-mandali madhya siya raghucanda gyana-sabha janu tanu dhare bhagati saccidananda [RCM 2.239]
Translation: "Amidst the pleasant assembly of sages, Mother Sita and Lord Rama are resplendent, as if they are bhakti (devotion) and sat-cit-ananda (existence, consciousness, and bliss) incarnate in the assembly of personified jnana (knowledge).”
As an appositional determinative compound, the word "ShriGuru" is parsed as "shrih eva guruh iti shriguruh", meaning "Guru who is the Goddess Sri (Mother Lakshmi or Sita) Herself."
In the Hindu Tradition known as ShriSampradaya, the preceptors Ramanuja and Ramananda acknowledge the Goddess "SHREE" (श्री) as The Supreme Guru.
Older preceptors have accepted Mother Sita to be the Guru of Hanuman. It is said of Hanuman:
samasta-nigamacharyam sita-shishyam gurorgurum
Translation: "To Hanuman, who is the preceptor of all Vedas and Vedic knowledge, who is the disciple of Mother Sita, and who is the Guru of even Brhaspati (the Guru of all deities). ”
Therefore, the remembrance of "SHREE" (श्री) - Mother Sita, the preceptor of Hanuman, is extremely useful at the beginning of the Hanuman-Chalisa, which has been composed to propitiate Hanuman".
Cited from
#translated and annotated by Nityananda Misra#
[Niramaya Publishing Mumbai] ~2015~,
pages 37-39
OCR by Vishnudut1926, Moscow, December 2017
