-36--
(Digest of pp.942-950 )
In Soundaryalahari, as well as in many
similar works, there is mention about attaining a most attractive form, captivating
women into submission by means of mantra, and such matters. These should not be
taken literally. What does it mean to bring another into submission to you? It
only means that you are already submitting yourself to such practices. To
appropriate a lot of property simply means to allow oneself to be appropriated
by that thought of proprietorship. To want to bring somebody else into submission implies
that you are already submissive to such
thoughts. Thereafter there is no question of bhakti towards ambaal or of
surrendering to Her. Our Acharya would never have
meant to make us slaves to such mean desires.
What he intended must therefore be to warn
us well ahead so that we can steer clear of such desires and aspirations. Just
as all rivers fall and get absorbed into the sea, so also all desires should
get absorbed in oneself, never to rise up again – says the Gita. That is the
kind of shAnti,
Peace, that our Acharya would have advocated. It is
the captivation by oneself of all desires and the absorption of all of them
into oneself that the Acharya must have meant by the power of ‘vashyaM’,
meaning, ‘captivation into submission’.
All the three worlds become a woman who submits to the jnAni in
submission – this is the vashyam that he talks about in Sloka No.19; not the
captivation of a woman into submission for lustful objectives.
Now let me come, as I promised, to the importance
of the red colour of ambaal. It is the
colour of the eastern sky when the sun is just rising. Kameshvari is of that
colour. What is so great about it? There
is some physics of light here and there is also the philosophy of creation and
dissolution. Red is at one end of the spectrum. When a colour is visible it means the light wave
corresponding to that colour is the only thing
that has not been absorbed by the medium that transmits the light.
Whatever colour is reflected, that shows up; and whatever colours are absorbed,
they do not show up. When white shows up it means none of the
colours is absorbed, all of them are ‘reflected’ and they merge into one
colour, white. When dark shows up it means all the waves of light are
absorbed and there is no ‘reflection’.
Of the three gunas, shuddha-satvaM, or
pure satvaM, is the one that
does not keep any of the three for itself and therefore it is pure white, like
milk. It is taken to be indicative of the para-brahman, though the latter transcends
all the colours and the gunas. On the other side, the colour that keeps all the
colours within itself and does not let any reflection
out is black and this is the colour of ‘tamas’. It is pure Ignorance. The
in-between guna is rajas, the kriyA-shakti. It is red in colour because it is
the first colour that separates itself from the pure white sunlight and forms
the beginning of the
projection of the other colours and creations.
From the pure white of satvaM to
the total darkness of tamas, the entire spectrum and variety of creation -- all
of them have come from the parabrahman, through the first emanation of the
‘red’ Kameshvari. The ‘kriyA’
(Action) that projects the jIvas from brahman, and the ‘kriyA’ that takes the jivas back to
brahman – both the kriyAs are those of the parA-shakti who rose up as
the all-red Kameshvari from the first ‘thought’ of the Ultimate.Therefore ‘red’
is indicative of Creation and is therefore the colour of Creator BrahmA. The
activity of life is all due to the flow of blood which is ‘red’ in colour. The
Sanskrit word for blood is ‘rakta’ which also means ‘red’. Creation is done by a poet also; so the
poetic talent, ‘kavitvam’
is also taken to be ‘red.
There are differences in the redness of
rajas. The seeds of ‘kundumani’, the fruit of bitter gourd, and ‘pAdirip-pazham’
are all red.
(Note by VK: (1) The
botanical name for ‘kundumani’
is Abrus precatorius.
The
seeds of this contain
poisonous proteins.
(2) I am not able to get the English name
for ‘pAdirippazham’).
But
the first one is poisonous, the second is bitter though good for health, while the third is
sweet as well as good for health. In
rajas also, there is the rajas that binds, the rajas that keeps a goal of
moksha and the rajas that lifts you up to moksha. The ‘redness’ of Kameshvari
is of the third type. It is that redness which has to be meditated upon, says shloka
#18, as the one that engulfs all the region from the
sky to the earth. The words ‘saraNi’ and ‘lahari’ both mean a flood. ‘ShrI’ stands for the
beauty of ambaal. ‘ShrI – saraNi’ mentioned in #18, is therefore nothing but
Her Soundarya-lahari, the flood of Beauty.
The mention of ambaal’s Supreme Beauty
(Slokas 12 and 18) in this part of Ananda-lahari, in spite of its yantra,
mantra and esoteric occupations, is to tell us that all this is to lead us on
to the darshan of that supreme beauty of ambaal’s form, described in the latter
part, namely, Soundaryalahari. That physical form of course is contained in the
‘head-to-foot’ description; but the redness that radiates from that form is a
light that fills up the universe!
--37—
(Digest of pp. 950-958 )
In the sahasra-nAma ( (poem of
)one thousand names) of Lalita there is
a long series of names which describe the divine form from head to foot.
Naturally the hands have a due place there. But the hands and the weapons held in them are talked
about even before the head-to-foot description starts. The weapons are not said
to be just held, but they are built into an esoteric description. The weapons
pAsham, ankusham, bow and arrow are each given a philosophical
meaning. The ‘pAsham’
(noose) is called ‘rAgam’ (desire) there.
‘rAga-svarUpa-pAshADhyA’: Desire is the noose which
binds. So She has the noose of Desire in Her
hands. But the desire is not the wrong
desire, it is the
desire that binds one to ambaal. At that point there shoud be no hate or
dvesham. That is why there is an ankusham (goad). And then there are the bow
and arrow to help us bind our mind and senses to the Ultimate. Only after this
the darshan of ambaal in Her head to foot physical
form will be obtained. But even before
that form is visible, what one sees is the vast spread of the red colour
everywhere. So the name that occurs just before the first name in the
head-to-foot description is ‘nijAruNa-prabhA-pUra-majjat-brahmANDa manDalA’,
meaning, ‘She immerses the entire universe in Her crimson effulgence’. The same
idea is said in the second line of Shloka 18:
divaM sarvAM
urvIM aruNima-nimagnAM.
In several places in the Soundaryalahari,
we find the same descriptions as in Lalita SahasranAma almost in the same
words.
The forehead of ambaal is like an inverted
half-moon :
dvitIyaM tan-manye makuTa-ghaTitaM chandra-kalashaM
(Shloka 46);
ashhTamI-chandra-vibhrAja-daLika-sthala-shobhitA (L.S.)
If She opens Her
eyes, it is Creation; if She closes them, it is Dissolution:
nimeshonmeshAbhyAM praLayam-udayaM yAti jagatI (Shloka 55);
unmeshha-nimishhotpanna-vipanna-bhuvanAvaLiH (L.S.).
Not even a tree bearing precious gems (vidruma-latA)
can equal the enchanting lips of ambaaL:
dantachhada-rucheH pravakshye sAdRshyam janayatu phalaM vidruma-latA (Shloka
62);
nava-vidruma-bimba-shrI-nyakkAri-radanacchadA (Lalita-sahasranama).
The jingling of the gems in the anklets of
ambaal’s feet is described in both almost in the same words:
Subaka-maNi-manjIra raNita- ... charaNa-kamalaM
(Shloka 91);
sinjAni-maNi-manjIra-maNDita-shrI-padAmbujA
(L.S.)
The idea that ambaaL’s very speech can beat the
sweetness of the vINA-music of Goddess Sarasvati, epitomised in the
Lalita-shasranama line
nija-sallApa-mAdhurya-vinirbhatsita-kacchapI,
is developed in a whole Shloka No.66 of
Soundaryalahari.
While giving examples and analogies to
various parts of the form of ambaal, when it comes to the chin of ambAL, both
the Lalita sahasranama and the Soundaryalahari, say that it is devoid
of all analogies:
Katham-kAram brUmas-tava chubukam-aupamya-rahitaM
(Shloka 67);
anAkalita-sAdRshya-chubuka-shrI-virAjitA
(L.S.)
Before the radiance of the pair of lotus
feet of ambaal, the real lotus pales into insignificance, according to the
Lalita-sahasranama line:
pada-dvaya-prabhA-jAla-parAkRta-saroruhA.
This idea is developed elaborately in
Shloka 87 where the Acharya shows in how many ways the divine feet pales the
lotus into insignificance. Lotus withers away in snow. But ambaal, whose house
of birth as well as the house of marriage both are in
While the Acharya has done stotras on
Vishnu and Shiva giving
a head-to-foot description
of the deities, he has shown great originality in the fund of his
innovative descriptions and analogies. Then why did he not do it here in the
case of ambaal? Why did he have to borrow from the Lalita Sahasranama? It shows
only the Acharya’s humility and the high pedestal on which he places the Lalita-sahasranama.
Now let us follow the main trend of our
coverage of Soundaryalahari. In Shloka 21 he talks about the flood of absolute
bliss in brahman that is experienced by one who has reached the apex in
KunDalini yoga. This flood is
legitimately called by him ‘AhlAda-lahari’. ‘AhlAda’ means happiness, joy, bliss.
And now comes one of the most easy-worded,
but profoundly meaningful Shloka, #22.
--38—
(Digest of pp. 958-963 )
The next shloka is of great interest. Even in the
portion of Anandalahari, which is supposed to be mainly the esoteric content of
the ShAkta scriptures, there are shlokas which reflect the pure bhakti
sentiment coupled with excelling poetry. One such shloka is No.22. In this shloka
one is lifted from the dvaita-bhakti to an advaita-like stage where there is a
symbiosis of bhakti, shakti and jnAna.
bhavAni tvam dAse mayi vitara dRShhTiM sakaruNAM
iti stotuM
vAnchan kathayati bhavAni tvam-iti yaH /
tadaiva tvaM tasmai dishasi nija-sAyujya-padavIM
mukunda-brahmendra-sphuTa-makuTa-nIrAjita-padAM //22 //
“bhavANi” – Oh Mother bhavAni. Bhava is the name of Shiva. The Shakti of Bhava is BhavAni.
tvam vitara
: Please (you) cast
dRShhTiM : (your) glance
sakaruNAM : (which is) coupled with Grace and
Compassion
mayi : on me
dAse : (who is your) servant.
vAnchan : Wishing
iti stotuM
: to praise thus,
yah: whoever
kathayati :says
bhavAni tvaM iti : “bhavAni tvaM” ,
tadaiva (= tadA + eva) : then and there, (that is, even before you complete the remaining words “dAse mayi vitara
dRShhTiM sa karuNAM”)
tvaM : You
dishasi : grant, give
tasmai : to him
nija-sAyujya-padavIM : your own sAyujya
status.
(We shall come to the fourth line of the
stanza later)
The marvel here is, that the devotee has
not yet said the full prayer of his, namely: Oh Bhavani, You please cast on me,
your servant, your glance of compassion and grace. He has just said: “Oh
Bhavani, You” !
That itself is sufficient for the Goddess to pour Her
maximum Grace of Her own sAyujya status on the devotee. This is the implication of the words
‘tadA-eva’ in the beginning of the third line of the stanza. The very moment
one says ‘bhavAni
tvaM’,
he is granted the Grace. How is this? And what is this sAyujya status that is being
granted?
(The sAyujya concept was described
in the first paragraph of DPDS – 29 - VK)
The sAyujya status is that which becomes
one with the Object of Adoration. But what is being said here is not the
oneness with the nirguNa-brahman.
Why am I saying this? Now go to the fourth line of the shloka.
Mukunda: vishnu
Brahma : creator brahma
Indra : Indra, the King of the divines
sphuTa-makuTa : the shining crown
nIrAjita-padAM : the feet which have been offered
the ceremonial waving (nIrAjana) of lights before them.
And thus, the last line means, in
conjunction with the third line, “Then and there, You give him your sAyujya
status, (which earns them) Your feet that have been given the ‘nIrAjana’
(waving of lights) by the Gods Vishnu, Brahma and Indra who, by falling at Your
feet, have had their shining crowns touch your feet and thus have offered
worship to it”.
It is the sAyujya status (the identity in form
and essence) that
privileges the devotee to enjoy the worship of even the Gods, through their ‘nIrAjana’
to the Divine Feet, with which there is identity now.
If one reaches advaita-sAyujya (identity) with the Ultimate, things will not be like this; for there is no
‘form’ there and there are no feet to be worshipped! And then there will be no
gods in name and form. The advaita sAyujyam
is the oneness with the Ultimate nirguna-brahman where there is no more universe. So what is said in this shloka is not the sAyujya
of advaita.
It is the supreme brahman
which manifests itself as the First Cause in terms of parAshakti. She is the Queen of this
Universe and She adminsiters this whole universe by Her
own agents such as Brahma and Indra. It is those divine agents who fall at Her feet in obeisance. It
is in that state that the individual soul (jIvAtma) becomes one with the parAshakti
in its sAyujya
status. It is that sAyujya that is spoken of here.
The interesting fact is that even the
advaita shAstras do speak of this state. Of course the goal of the advaita
scriptures is not this. The peaceful nirguNa state without any mention of shakti or of any ‘action’ is the goal of advaita. But the
‘Ishvara’ that advaita talks of does ‘get into action’! It is He (taking the
place of ‘parAshakti’
of the shAkta schools) who does all the leelA
with the devotee. That is why, even though the Ultimate is something in which
there should be no talk of ‘the rise of desire’ or the ‘occurrence of
determination (sankalpa)’,
the Upanishads do speak like ‘Whatever objects He
desires, they appear by His very desire’. (‘yam kAmam kAmayate saH
asya sankalpAd-eva samut-tishhTanti’
--Chandogya U. VIII -2). This means just that He has the quality of
‘aishvarya’, namely,
the godliness of being parAshakti.
Even if the person goes via the path of
jnAna and looks forward to the advaitic union in nirguNa brahman, the parAshakti
catches hold of him, as it were, on the way and makes him play along with Her
in saguNa-sAyujyam
(identity with Ishvara, the aspect of brahman with form) in the world of
action! But the play does not end there. He soars even higher spiritually. He
is now in identity with the parAshakti, the Director of the entire universe
and all its play. It is in that state he enjoys the bliss of union with the saguNa
Ultimate. It is a state where there is
the apex of Devotion and also the sense of advaita-jnAna – a perfectly peaceful
and blissful state.
--39—
(Digest of pp. 964 - 969 )
Thus the identity (sAyujyam) that
shloka 22 talks about in its third line has something to do with jnAna, bhakti
and shakti. It is not the brahman-realisation spoken of in advaita.
Now we shall take up the pun on the words ‘bhavAni tvaM’ in
the shloka. As soon as the devotee utters the words ‘bhavAni tvaM’ as
a beginning for his full sentence: ‘bhavAni tvaM dAse mayi vitara dRshhTim sakaruNAM’ the Goddess is ready to grant him the highly
merited sAyujyam
(identity) with Her. What is so powerful in those two words ‘bhavAni tvaM’? This is where the poet has played with
Sanskrit grammar.
The word ‘bhavAni’ can be interpreted in two
ways – one as a noun, and another as a verb. The verbal root is ‘bhava’.
This itself gives the two meanings. When ‘bhava’ is
a noun it is a name of Lord Shiva. In this context ‘bhavAni’ would mean ‘the consort of bhava’,
that is, ambaal. ‘bhava’ as a verb would mean ‘be’ or
‘become’. In this context, ‘bhavAni’ would mean ‘Let me become’ or ‘Let me
be’. So ‘bhavAni
tvaM’
would mean ‘May I become You’. Remember that in
Sanskrit a sentence accommodates changing the order of the words in
the sentence without affecting the
meaning.
Ambaal is an ocean of compassion and grace.
So when a devotee seeks the identity with Her by the two simple words ‘bhavAni tvaM’,
She doesn’t wait for his further words; She simply grants the sAyujya-status
‘then and there’ !
But the irony of it is, he, the devotee, considers himself too low in
the spiritual ladder to merit anything great and he has no conception of what
honourable return from the Goddess awaits him. ‘Just a glance
towards this poor me, Oh Mother!’ – this is all
what he pleads for. Note that the poet uses the word ‘yah’, meaning, ‘whoever’. So the
devotee does not have to be a great ‘sAdhu’. He could be any one. He may not even know
that there is a status called ‘sAyujyam with ambaaL’! The couple of words ‘bhavAni tvaM’ has
such an effect even on ordinary persons who recite it.
The Almighty is the Lord. I am only a
servant – This is the attitude of the devotee in the first line of the shloka.
Of course it is an attitude of duality, not advaita. But even to such a person
who only wants to be a servant of the Goddess, ambaal hands over in a platter
the very advaita itself. Certainly this is saguNa-advaitam. But would She not also grant him,
in due course, the
nirguNa-advaitam?
Take the case of Hanuman. He was always
steeped in the concept “dAsohaM”, (‘dAsaH + ahaM’) meaning, “I am your servant”. ‘dAsa’ means
servant. By the very fact that he was steeped in that concept of “dAsohaM” all
his life, he reached the advaitic stage of “sohaM” (‘saH + ahaM’), which means, “I am He (That)”. What this shloka says is that ambaal
transforms every one who comes to Her with the
attitude of “dAsohaM”,
to the apex stage of “sohaM”! It is a stage which is difficult for
countless persons who struggle for the realisation of “aham brahmAsmi”
and for even still more who ceaselessly meditate on the words “tat-tvaM-asi”
of the guru. While
many of them find it an inaccessible ideal, it is granted even to the ordinary person
who sincerely comes to ambaal with the two words “bhavAni tvaM”
though with something else in mind.
We have still not finished with ‘bhavAni tvaM’. So
far we considered ‘bhavAni tvaM’ as two words. But ‘bhavAni-tvaM’ can
also be considered as a single word. Then it means ‘the state of being bhavAni
or parA-shakti’. The structure of the single word is something like ‘amaratvaM’
which means ‘the state of being immortal’ and like ‘kavi-tvaM’ which means ‘poetic talent’.
So the moment the devotee says ‘bhavAni tvaM’ ambaal takes it as a request for ‘bhavAni-tvaM’ and
She grants the ‘bhavAni-tvaM’ to him. In other words She
gives Her own status, namely the status of sAyujya with Her to him.
Remember the devotee has not even begun his
petition to Her. But even before He asks in full, She is ready to give him not only what he asks but even
more. Recall the “vAnchA-samadhikaM” of shloka 4, where it was said that Her feet are capable of gracing the devotee with ‘more than
what is wished’!
At this point the Paramacharya
makes a very subtle comment about Adi Shankara,
which is exquisite. It also shows
the bhakti which he has towards
(the Acharya) Adi
Shankara. I am giving the
following
paragraph (almost) in exact translation,
so that it can be enjoyed in the original. VK
When we see this, something remarkable strikes
us. Suppose somebody is a great scholar in a language and without any
knowledge-arrogance he is also a sincere devotee of the Goddess, to the extent
that he considers himself as nothing but a lowliest servant of ambaal, -- all
this is actually a description of the Acharya himself -- such a one never ignores even the commonest
of people, but discovers a deep content even in their ordinary comments and
speeches. Such profound contents will certainly be granted to him (at his
stature) as an experience, by ambaal. But when he says that such an experience will
be given by ambaal even to the common man, why would She not give it to him who
has the greatness of heart to see the profound
in the profane! The stanza of KuraL (in Tamil) which says: “From
whomsoever whatsoever is heard, to see the Truth in that is Knowledge” gets a
new meaning here. “Knowledge” may as well be taken to mean “Experiential
Knowledge”!
--40—
(Digest of pp. 970 - 973 )
In the Vaishnava tradition, they do not
accept the attributeless non-dual brahman, but they do
talk about One-ness with the state of the Almighty Mahavishnu, along with all
His powers. But even when they say this, out of deference to propriety, they
make an exception to what one can obtain. The exception is ‘LakshmI-patitvaM’,
that is, ‘the state of being the spouse of Lakshmi’. Naturally whatever powers
and states of Mahavishnu you may aspire for and actually get, becoming the
spouse of Lakshmi is taboo. In the same manner in the branch of philosophy
called ‘ShivAdvaitam’, they talk of oneness with Lord Shiva, but they make a
similar exception, for the same reason of propriety. All this is because,
the destination in both these schools of philosophy is a couple, such as
‘Narayana-Lakshmi’ or ‘Shiva-Parvati’.
The very fact that one has to make an exception throws a shade of doubt
on the other statements of objectives.
One would like not to make any exception at
all. That is where this shloka (#22) opens the door for us. It says: ‘Don’t
aspire to become Narayana or Shiva; Don’t have your object of meditation the
divine form of Narayana or Shiva, with the purpose of becoming one with
it. Pray that you should become one with
the form of the Mother, that is ambaal or Lakshmi. In
their capacity of universal Mother, they will not only accept your prayers but
will also give you that identical oneness with them. That Lakshmi or that
ambaal are themselves internally in oneness with Vishnu and Shiva respectively.
So when a jIva merges in the Mother, the Mother takes him along with Her and
merges the jIva in either the
Vishnu-form or the Shiva-form, thus granting you the Vishnu-sAyujyam
or the Shiva-sAyujyam’. This shloka therefore gives the right
strategy for us to become one with the Almighty at the same time not
transgressing the elementary propriety of pati-patnI.
To say it shortly, first you become the
mother then the father. So first it is the oneness of filial affection. When the mother becomes one with the father,
it is the apex of all bhakti attitudes, namely the attitude of nAyikA.
And that is what takes us to the ultimate advaita – so say the great rishis and
saints who have gone through it all! Go back now and enjoy the imagery in shloka
No.12, where the divine damsels in order to understand the beauty of ambaal,
imagine their oneness with Lord Shiva
and expect to get a glimpse of the full beauty of ambaa.
Thus in this single shloka, the Acharya has
brought in advaitam and dvaitam, philosophy as well as a delightful pun,
service to the Lord as well as the concept of the nAyikA (beloved of the Lord) bhAva -- all blended together.
To top it all we have one more thing to
enjoy about this shloka. This is in the fourth line. It talks about the
Divinities like Vishnu, BrahmA and Indra falling at the feet of the Goddess and
the divine feet get the nIrAjana (Reverential waving of Lights) from such
great Gods. In fact Soundaryalahari has three such nIrAjanas. One in
this shloka, one in shloka 30 and one in the very last shloka (#100).
The situation in #30 is not the accidental
utterance of words of Shloka 22, which meant identification with the Absolute
in the generous interpretation of the poet. There it is not just any one, ‘yah’. He is not even just a devotee and a scholar.
It is far more than that. He has risen above the ‘dAsohaM’ stage and has reached the ‘sohaM’
stage. It is the stage where the conviction that ‘I am one with You’ (= ‘tvAm-aham iti sadA
bhAvayati yah’). He lives in
that continuous identification with the Absolute. To such a one, says the Acharya (in #30),
even the Cosmic Fire of Dissolution is just a nIrAjana (waving of Lights) only. Because it is so to the Mother Goddess. And it is therefore
also so to one who has continually identified with Her.
The third ‘nIrAjana’ comes in the very last
shloka where the Acharya offers this Soundaryalahari itself as a waving of
Lights to that Sun-like Light, that is the ambaa Herself in Her capacity as the
Source of all Speech and Learning. The words of the Soundaryalahari are words
which emanated from Her. So Her
own words form the nIrAjana to Her.
These three nIrAjanas can be classified as one
for Creation, one for Sustenance and one for Dissolution. But not in that order.
They come in the order: Sustenance, Dissolution and Creation. The devi-praNava
is ‘umA’.
The letters come in the order: ‘u’ (which is the letter for Sustenance, for it
represents Vishnu ); ‘ma’
(which is the letter for Dissolution, for it represents Rudra) and ‘a’ (which
is the letter for Creation, for it represents BrahmA). The first nIrAjana
talks about the worship by Vishnu, BrahmA and Indra. It is significant that
this listing of the divines begins with Vishnu, thus indicating that we are
talking about the nIrAjana meant as an offering of the Sustenance function. The second nIrAjana
(#30) corresponds to the Dissolution function is already built into the very
words ‘the conflagration of Cosmic Dissolution proves only to be the nIrAjana’
(“mahA-samvartAgnir-viracayati
nIrAjana-vidhiM”).
How does the third nIrAjana (#100) correspond to the
Creation function? I shall explain this now.
Thus
spake the Paramacharya.
Previous Next Back to Contents of
DPDS
Acknowledgement of Source Material:
Ra. Ganapthy’s ‘Deivathin Kural’ (Vol.6) in Tamil published
by Vanathi Publishers, 4th edn. 1998
Copyright of English Summary © V. Krishnamurthy
Nov.19, 2003