-11-
(Digest of
pp.737-743, Deivathin Kural 6th Vol. 4th imprn.)
The mutuality of Shiva and Shakti should be
in our minds all the time. When hard core ideas from philosophy are made into
poetic extravaganzas, both for the poetic excellence and for the liberties
taken with a view to making the devotees revel in their devotion, it is natural
to exaggerate or make out-of-the-way comparisons. Thus at one time it may be
said that Shiva is greater than Shakti and at another time quite the opposite.
In every one of these presentations one should not forget the equality, nay,
the identity of the two. Keeping this clearly in his mind, our Acharya, though
he built into the first sloka the idea that it was Sakthi who made Shiva move,
he takes care to see that the prodding for the ‘movement’ does not come from
outside. She is inside Him and therefore the word ‘spandanam’.
In
According to that shAstra, Shiva and Shakti
together form the parabrahman. All the universe is a
reflection of that parabrahman. By saying this it does not mean that the
reflection is outside of brahman. Nor does it think of
a ‘kevala-shivam’ ( shivam
and shivam alone) that has no connection with the universe. Since the
parabrahman, according to this school, is shiva as well as shakti,
the reflection (AbhAsa) is due to the
presence of shakti. And even then, it is not like light and its reflection,
wherein we think of the reflection outside of the light. No. There can be
nothing outside of shakti. Siva-shakti is one. Within
that one there comes an internal spandanam and the duality is presented. Again
the presentation is not outside of brahman. Just as a reflection shows
itself in the mirror,
there is nothing outside of the mirror. The word ‘spanda’ is
exploited in
Among the various shaiva darshanas, what
comes nearest to our Acharya’s advaita is this spanda-shAstra. On moksha both say the same thing. But
instead of saying that the universe is mithyA, created by mAyA, this school
includes not only mAyA as well as the Ishvara of advaita vedanta in their
shakti. According to them there are 36 fundamentals. Of these shivam is the first and shakti is the next. But immediately they say that the shivam
which is ‘sat’ (Existence) has always the ‘cit-shakti’
within it. Therefore shivam is sat-cit. The Ananda appears when the play of
reflection, producing the universe, starts as a sport.
In order to accommodate those who cannot
take the strenuous jnAna-mArga of advaita,
our Acharya has adopted in this work of bhakti, the concepts of spandanam and those of pashu, pati
and pAsham from the shaiva shAstras. In
sloka No.99 he
says: He who worships ambaal, throws off the attachment (pAsham) to the animal self (pashu) and enjoys the nectar of the bliss of param-Ananda.
Obviously when composing the SoundaryalaharI. he must have had in mind several
objectives, such as: This hymn to Ambal
should raise Her to the skies so that in the devotees it
should generate bhakti towards Her exclusively (ananya-bhakti);
it should reach the pinnacle of poetical excellences and respect all poetic
traditions; it should also be concordant with the religious traditions of
ShrI-vidyA-tantra; even though it may not stress the advaita point of view
exclusively, since anyway shRI-vidyA and advaita are not discordant, it should
be able to touch upon advaita though tangentially. Instead of saying that the
Acharya had these objectives we might say that ambaal had already predetermined
his objectives for him.
Even though these are the basic purposes
which we see have all been fulfilled in the hymn, it should be said to the
credit of our Acharya that, because of his steadfast holding to advaita, and of
his great respect for ShrI-vidyA, and of his natural poetic talent, he did not
regiment himself as to be circumscribed
by preconceived limitations. It is our good fortune that he allowed his talent and imagination
to express itself freely and soar as high as it liked. Such a freedom has resulted in one of the
most excellent hymns which excels in poetry, in
mysticism, in devotion, in spirituality and in religious tradition. And in this
process, the flood of ideas that gushed forth from him includes without bias
some of the philosophical concepts and thoughts that came to the forefront,
long after his time, like those of Saiva-siddhanta, Kashmir Shaivism,
visishTAdvaita, and dvaita.
The schools that I just mentioned of course
took their present form only after the time of our Acharya. But the original
ideas from which these schools sprang were there from earliest times. In fact
advaita also had its origin long before our Acharya. But it was he who
streamlined it and presented it as a siddhAnta. In the same way the Acharyas of
the other schools who came only later to our Acharya, pulled out the ideas which were already there
and established their siddhantas. It is the greatness of Adi Sankara that he was able to see by
his erudition and farsight the other points of view also even before they had
been established as a popular school.
-12-
(Digest of pp.743-760 of Deivathin Kural, 6th
Vol. 4th imprn.)
I was saying that our Acharya
, had included ideas from the non-advaita schools also. These ideas as well as
those of advaita had their origin long before their chief proponents propagated them formally as a siddhanta. So Soundarya lahari being a work
of bhakti leaning a little on
the side of the Shakta schools, has these ideas also in it. It talks about the ‘spandanam’ of brahma-Shakti and praises, in superlative terms, the Shakti that caused it. But there is no
such idea of ‘spandanam’ in the advaita shAstra of
Adi Sankara.
The Brahman of advaita is motionless, and
changeless. This immutable Brahman was, according to advaita, neither moved
from outside nor
perturbed from the inside. The multiple presentations that resulted through the
Creation process was just due to mAyA, which, with the base (adhAra) of Brahman, somehow initiated it. It is only an appearance according
to advaita and that is why mAyA is criticised and recommended to be negated.
Our Atman is nothing but that very nirguNa Brahman. If we do not know it, it is
because mAyA has done its work of hiding the Reality from us.
But it is that very same mAyA that the
Soundaryalahari now
has taken to the skies and
praised as Shakti, as a power greater than even the Triad of Brahma, Vishnu and
Shiva. Though it
does not use the word ‘mAyA’ here, it uses the word ‘Shakti’ and from the very fact that Shakti is the root
cause for creation of the universe, it is clear it must be the same as the mAyA
of advaita.
In advaita the nirguNa Brahman is unrelated
to the saguNa Brahman which produces and monitors the whole universe by mAyA
Shakti. For, nirguNa Brahman just is; it can never be related to or predicated
with anything. The miraculous way in which mAyA exhibits that Brahman, as
Brahman with name and form and all the associated multiplicity, is analogous to the
way we see in a dimly lit twilight the appearance of a snake in a rope. Clearly
there is no relationship between the appearing snake and the rope which is the
support for the appearance.
However, the Shaktam that the Acharya
projects to us has a mAyA Shakti which is not unrelated to Brahman. There is no
brahma-Shakti talked about in advaita. Here in ShAktam, it is brahma-Shakti
that is important. That is the ambaal. One of her aspects is the magic wand of
mAyA. Not only that. She is Herself the jnAna-Shakti (the power of cognitive
self-recognition) which is diametrically opposite to mAyA; and further it is
the icchA Shakti (the power of wilful self-emanation) and kriyA Shakti (the power of
creative act) also. She stands inseparable from the Shivam which is the nirguNa
Brahman of ShAktam which, however, is a shade different from the nirguNa
Brahman of advaita.
The
identity of Shiva-shakti is important here. Identity does not mean just a
union. It is a total oneness. It is identity in the sense there is only
one. Being one and only one is what is
called ‘Aikyam’ or identity. In Lalita
Sahasranama, after calling Her Shivaa, the
next name is Shiva-Shaktyaikya-rUpiNI. This
Shiva is only a close fit to the brahman of advaita.
So, unionizing with Him, and relating with Him, ‘moving’ Him, She has done as a
couple, all the Creation of the Universe and the monitoring of it. Whenever
there is a Shakti ,
there must be a locus standi (Ashrayam, Base) for it. The concept of, say, a
Shakti of ten pounds of weight does not arise unless there is something to
which the weight can be related or referenced. A fragrance or a colour is
certainly an abstract Shakti, but it has to have an Ashrayam for it to exist as
a fragrance or a colour. Thus for every shakti there
is an Ashrayam. The Shakti that is the origin for all the known Shaktis has
itself an Ashrayam and that is the Shivam-brahman.It is the Shakti of that brahman. So it cannot be separated from its Ashrayam. You
cannot separate the whiteness from milk, or the taste of milk from milk. So by
the expansion of Shakti whatever happens there is Shivam also in that
expansion. In all actions of Shakti
Shivam has to be present.
When Shakti, the ambaal, grants moksha to
the jIva, the jIva attains the changeless nirguNa state, say the Shakta works
like the ShrI-vidyA. Even then that nirguNa state has also the Shakti
in it!. It is said that
Shakti itself revels in enjoyment of bliss in its own creation of
the universe of duality. But it is not even right to say that the play of creation is for enjoyment. Because if you accept this, it
would mean that when there is no creation, Shakti is without that bliss! So
instead of saying that She indulges in Creation for
enjoyment of bliss, we should rather say that it is the very Bliss that is part
of Her that exhibits itself as the creation.
Let me now explain the subtle difference
between the mAyA of advaita and the different Shaktis of the Shaiva and ShAkta
schools. Starting from
the Shivam-Brahman, they talk of 36 principles.According to the Shaiva-siddhanta
school, the first five are called pure
‘mAyA’ and the latter 31 belong to the category of impure ‘mAyA.
Shivam is the first. Next there come three
different shaktis, namely, cit-shakti, jnAna-shakti,
vidyA-shakti. These correspond to three different dimensions of cit.
When it pertains to the non-dual shiva-shakti, it is cit. When it pertains to
the seed-knowledge of duality for the purpose of creation it is called jnAna.
In the next stage it is aware both of its non-dual state and its potential for
the sprouting out into multiplicity, and then it is called (pure) vidyA. After
these three, come the next, now the fifth in order, namely the kriyA shakti which is the executing part. Only thereafter,
starting from the sixth principle, it is mAyA and all its evolutes.
All this importance given to Shakti in the
Shaiva and Shakta schools is avoided in advaita, with all the evoluted
appearances from Brahman being branded as the effect of mAyA and we being asked to discredit
them.
But even in the way the Shaiva and Shakta
schools go, the question can be asked; Somehow or other, it is the hierarchy of
these Shaktis that bind us to this samsAra. Why then praise that Shakti and
worship it with hymns like Soundaryalahari?
This is the key question. The answer is, mAyA Shakti even in the Shakta schools does not end
there. It is also the jnAna Shakti as we saw above. And the bottomline of it
all is that this same Shakti as jnAna Shakti graces us with Knowledge and
Enlightenment in the end. And in the meantime She
shows Infinite Love towards us in order to take us back into her fold. That is
the greatest anugraha that She does for us. And that
is why we worship Her and pray to Her for Release.
-13-
(Digest of pp.760 -766 of Deivathin Kural 6th
vol. 4th imprn.)
(The Paramacharya devotes one
more discourse now on mAyA;
now
dwelling on the status of mAyA in advaita,
vis-à-vis,
the path to Enlightenment -- VK)
All the Shakta schools,
adopt an interesting strategy with respect to mAyA. Whatever bondage is created
by mAyA, they make it all related to the divine. Though jnAna and mAyA are at
opposite ends, the very world, mind and senses created by mAyA are channelised
into Love and the pure Beauty of the Mother Goddess, so that one is blissfully
involved in the worship and prayers aimed at Her. Once the mind is unified in this noble
direction, it
is then not difficult to get involved into enquiry about the Self.
Thus our Acharya also has adopted the same
strategy of going
towards jnAna by resorting to the very objects created by that which is
opposite to jnAna. In other words, the thought of God, worship, listening to
stories about His glory, temple worship, getting emotionally enraptured in
stotra recitation, raising the tempo of spiritual involvement by continuous
japa leading to the correct mood for meditation – these constitute the means by
which one follows the bhakti path thus preparing oneself for the path of jnAna that is the ultimate. And hence
the Saundaryalahari.
The mAyic effect cannot be easily
discarded. A tremendous amount of discretion (viveka) and dispassion (vairagya)
might be needed. In the absence of these the distractions of the sensory world
will be constantly pulling us away. And when such pulls are very strong, one
should not despair of the hopelessness in making progress in spirituality. It is for this reason
that the Acharya, without asking us to discard the mayic effects totally, as he
would do to a more spiritually mature seeker, asks us to get involved in
bhakti, puja, worship, devotional
recitation and music. If everything of the world is made to relate to the
divine in this way, the mAyA-created world can be gradually won over. It is
like using a certain type of gloves when working with high voltage electricity.
The shock of the system will not be there and at the same time one has a
control over it.
Now what I am going to tell you may
surprise you in that
it comes from me. I was talking about the mayic creations. They provide
the background for the spiritual sAdhanA. There is a sAdhanA, a sAdhaka, and
the karma of sAdhanA. This triplet is certainly all mAyA. So what we do is to
use mAyA itself to fight mAyA. This is indeed a strategy to reach
advaita-bhAva. The very fact of a guru teaching you is nothing but Duality. But
that itself can lead to advaita-siddhi. Like a lion roaring in the dream and
waking you up, so also the mayic dream in which we are all in can be wiped off
by a guru’s words doled out
in the world of duality.
Granting that the very act of ‘sAdhanA’ implies duality, the Acharya, does not
hesitate to bring in, into his stotras, the many sAdhanAs that have goals even
contradictory to advaita. When every propitiation of
the divine is certainly a dvaita act, why shy at the rituals of the non-advaita
schools? So without reservation he allows his imagination to go the path of other siddhAntas
also. That is why, we hear in Soundaryalahari, ideas from dvaita,
visishTAdvaita, shaivam and
shAktam.
Another important point has to be
mentioned. Since all creation is mAyA, according to advaita, it is not to be
thought that advaita avoids all talk about Shakti. In Chandogya Upanishad, at one point, it
says: The paramAtmA is full of all karmas, all desires, all fragrance and all
tastes. It desired – ‘akAmayata’ –and that is
how the One became the Many as said in Taittiriyopanishad. Not finding any
satisfaction in being alone, it wanted a partner and this desire resulted in it
becoming two as pati and patni – so says Brihad-Aranyakopanishad (I -4- 3 ). Those two were the father and mother of the entire
human race, according to the same Upanishad.
The Brahma-sUtra (II-1-30) also says: ‘sarvopetA ca tad-darshanAt’ – The Upanishads say
that the paramAtman is thus endowed with all shakti.
Our Acharya does not just gloss over such
statements. Just because they talk about mAyA he does not overlook their
mention. In his bhAshya he emphatically says: “shakti-yuktA
parA devatA”. Since he himself has defined mAyA as anirvacanIya
(that which is inexpressible or unexplainable), he is not afraid of questions
like: ‘Where did the Shakti come from”. In the matter of brahman
one cannot ask questions like ‘How is it possible?’ in the same manner as one
would ask when being presented with material matter and worldly concepts. The
profound and majestic truths about brahman cannot be
learnt by logical quibbling, but only by what the Vedas have declared.
(Brahma-sUtra-bhAshya: II – 1 – 31).
Therein he says: The talk of creation
arises only when, instead of being in that samAdhi state as brahman,
we begin to think and talk about brahman. When the nirguna brahman
which is nothing but pure cit, is talked about in relation to Creation which is
just avidya-kalpitam (imagined by ignorance),
it is said to have ‘sarva-shakti-yogam’ says the Acharya. ‘Shivas-ShaktyA yuktah’ is just this
!
Following this the Brahma sutra says: ‘lokavattu leelA kaivalyam’ (II–1-33). The world
creation is just leela. The Acharya concludes his bhashya on this with the
words: “When the vedas talk about srishTi, it is not about the nirguNa absolute
brahman. It is only a view, name-and-form view, of Duality imagined
by ignorance ; it is only a phenomenal reality”. But though he goes in this
strain, he also admires the leela of the Lord. “It may appear as a great
achievement from our angle – this Creation – but for Him it is only just a play” !
-14-
(Digest of
pp.766-774 of Deivathin Kural, Vol.6, 4th
imprn.)
There is also the Upanishad authority for
saying that the non-dual brahman sprouts out the world
of duality by sheer internal vibration. This is in Katopanishad. All this world arises from the life force called prANa and
moves thereon. The word for ‘moves’ that is used is ‘Ejati’. Ejanam and Kampanam
both mean movement, but not by any external force. We may also interpret
it as vibration from the inside. Brahma sutra also uses the word
‘kampanAt’. When the Acharya writes the
bhashya for this he writes: This prANa which causes the vibration is not simple
air. It is the very brahman itself !
(It is to be noted that in
this portion of the bhAshya,
Adi Sankara has used the very
words ‘spandam’ and ‘pratyabhijnA’,
which
are the words for
without
anywhere hinting that the words come from there.)
We can get many more such authorities to
confirm that as far as the phenomenal reality is concerned, there is a creation
with mAyA as the cause. Whenever these passages occur, they also concur with
many of the thoughts of the ShAkta scriptures.
Let us not think that the Acharya’s
outpourings in the Soundaryalahari is just a mixture
of several viewpoints! We should keep an open mind and let ourselves go along
with the flood of poetry that comes and simply concentrate in the ambaal with
faith and humility. Then we can get the maximum joy out of it.
(Now
follows a general, but remarkable, advice of the Paramacharya on
‘How
to approach the Soundaryalahari’ . VK)
When the scriptures or shAstras talk about
deep philosophical principles which have themselves a divine character, they
present certain descriptions allegorically. We should not misunderstand these
allegories. In fact the word ‘allegory’ itself is not the right word here. When
esoteric principles are deliberately personified, that is ‘allegory’. The profound
ideas of the shAstras or the purANas are not just mental creations of the
author. It is parAShakti Herself who opens out those principles in those forms to great rishis or
persons who have reached the siddhi in the mantras.
If
this world is taken to be real, then more real are the principles and stories
that help us throw off our shackles and reach our
To get back to what I was saying earlier,
these divine forms which personify esoteric fundamentals, might contradict what we
consider to be normal, right, decent, and beautiful in the ordinary mundane
world. Just because of that it is not correct to conclude that the original
reality itself is not right, decent and beautiful.
Similar things can be said of the poetic
traditions and the culture of classic literature. Or even of sculpture,
painting or architecture.
In all these, our norms cannot be the standards of
ordinary worldly life. Works like Soundarylahari, which are simultaneously
devotionally divine hymns and poetic excellences, have to be approached in the right
manner in order to obtain the fullest benefit from them. Our minds have to be
open and clean. The ShrI-vidyA shAstras describe in esoterically romantic terms
how Shiva, who is nothing but the Absolute Brahman, coupled with Kameshvari,
the personification of the icchA (Will) of Shiva, cause creation to happen.
Such matters occur in Soundaryalahari also.
All these years the upAsakAs (intense
devotees) without any prejudice followed the path of ShrI vidyA and have been
able to discard all the faults like desire and the like. And Muka-kavi puts
this with poetic emphasis in his pancha-Shati: “Mother, you caused ‘desire’ to
rise even in Shiva who burnt to ashes the very desire personified in the form
of Manmatha; that is why You are able to eradicate the internal faults like
desire in jIvas and give them Enlightenment”.
The punchline here is the fact that our
people of ancient times had the right approach to such works of art, poetry and
devotion. The Guru-shishhya-paramparA took care to see that such works were
handed over only to those who could be expected to have the right approach. Whether the work was religious or
poetical, mystical or secular, they would, when communicating with the public,
only touch such delicate works and not
elaborate upon them in detail. Accordingly, when the common man meets with any
situation wherein there is an idea,
concept, story or character, apparently repugnant to him, he does not get distracted, because his main
aim always was to take only those things which suited his taste and which were
recommended to him by elders.
Thousands of years have passed like this.
And our people have followed the traditional paths without ever giving place to
indecent imaginations or wrong interpretations. The common man knew that there
must be some sense in those deep and profound things because great men say so
and he would not unnecessarily probe into them. Not that he
was not rational-minded; it only means that he had an unshaking faith in
tradition and also he was aware of his own limitations.
But then the printing press arrived; and
times changed. ….
-15-
(Digest of pp.774-793 of Deivathin Kural
Vol.6, 4th imprn)
The printing press came as a revolution.
And it became the order of the day for anybody to write on anything, publish it
and put it in the hands of anybody. One of the earliest effects was that
profound ideas got mundane interpretations in the hands of the uninitiated. As
independent human beings each one felt that whatever strikes his mind is right
and each one made his own interpretations. Neither the authors of books had the
strength of practice behind them; nor the readers had any intention to try and experience what they
read. Several readers were just curious and nothing more. Or they were interested in a so-called
‘academic research’ mostly for purposes of self-glorification and recognition
in the material world. How can any spiritual benefit arise from these?
Thus arose two major setbacks in the
culture. The first one is that those who were traditionally equipped to do the
upAsanAs and were also fit to do them, preferred the glamour of modern days to
break off from their traditions. And the second one is that all and sundry took
to these difficult upAsanAs without proper guru or training. It is not clear, I
must confess, which is the major disaster.
I know that I may be criticised and
commented that I have a ‘vested interest’ in saying all this. But having
started to talk on Soundaryalahari publicly, I cannot but give you this
warning. Let me conclude by saying that there is nothing wrong in approaching shAstras
like Soundaryalahari as an aid to get Mother Goddess’s Grace and thereby to go
upward in the spiritual ladder. It is enough you know that it is great. Just
with that approach if you recite it, ambaal will give you the necessary mental
strength and maturity to reach higher levels of spirituality. Automatically the
ultimate object of realisation would also be obtained by Her
anugraha.
The mantras and their esoteric meanings
have to be safeguarded
like nuclear secrets. If
you really want to get them, approach the proper guru and if he thinks you have
the requisite qualifications he will tell you. In this connection I will tell
you an important matter. I am touching it, so that you may not ‘touch’ it ! The name Kundalini and all the associated cakras are
being talked about by every one now, especially ever since Sir John Woodroffe
wrote about ‘The Serpent Power’. I am not finding fault with him. I only thank
him for bringing to light the fact that our ancients had great things to tell
the world in spite of modern advances in science. My only warning to you is that without a
proper initiation no mantra or japam will help anybody. It is like having
costly electrical and electronic equipment in your house without a power connection. The same thing with these mantras and kundalinI yoga.
Without the guru power they will not work.
That
is not the only thing. There is more in it. The power that comes through these
electrical words of the mantras, can also give you a shock because you may not
be properly insulated. Only when it comes from the guru, it gets properly
secreted within bounds; if it exceeds the bounds, that is if the insulation is
not there, it will only burn you ! My own suggestion to book-writers is that
when they publish such things, let there be a popular edition which avoids the
profound matters of mantra secret. And let there be a limited circulation book
which does get into those secrets, but such ‘classified’ books must be made
available only with the authorization of the proper guru. I think, from my
platform, it is
my duty to say this.
Finally what is wanted is a rapport with
the author. A devotee, a poet and a vidhushaka (the Royal Fool or Clown in the
King’s Court) – these three have a great licence to do or write what they want.
Of these our Acharya was both a devotee and a poet. So there is a bhakti-bhAva
in everything he writes and there is also a poetic licence exhibited in pieces
like the Soundaryalahari. In classical literature, there is always a
respectable status for this freedom which a poetic or devotional piece enjoys.
Of the many such licences we can refer here to nindA stuti (where you actually
criticise the deity you are supposed to praise), praise one of the divine
couple to the extent of bringing down the other of the pair and so on. If we
look at these with a humility and an open mind for
poetic exaggeration, we may also enjoy them. Now come to the first sloka.
Shiva is the husband and ambaal is the
wife. It is only by Her power that even He moves –
this is the content of the first sloka. One might ask: Just to boost up the
glory of Mother Goddess does one have to descend to such a level as to bring
God Himself to the level of saying that He is simply a nonentity? The esoteric principle here is that the
immutable Brahman expresses itself only by the unfolding of the cit-shakti. The
poetic principle involved here is that the beloved, being the fair sex, is
always to be given the credit and so ‘He moves only when She
moves Him’ is also acceptable. Thus on both counts, the presentation is
enjoyable.
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DPDS
Acknowledgement of Source Material:
Ra. Ganapthy’s ‘Deivathin Kural’ (Vol.6) in Tamil published
by Vanathi Publishers, 4th edn. 1998
Ó Copyright of English summary. V. Krishnamurthy
Sep.6, 2003