- 46 -
(Digest of pp.1015 -1027 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th
imprn.)
The very beginning of the
shloka “tvayA
hRtvA” brands ambaa as a ‘thief’! You have already appropriated half
of His body. And you were not satisfied. Now You have
appropriated the other half also.
The gymnastics of words
is delightful. In ‘aparitRptena’ there is an ‘apari’. This is is in the first
line. In the second line there is ‘aparam’. This latter means ‘other’. But ‘apari’ is the opposite of ‘pari’. ‘pari-tRptena’
means: by one who is fully satisfied. The ‘pari’ stands for ‘fully’. So ‘apari-tRptena’ means: by one who is not satisfied fully.
Having taken only half the body how can She have a
‘full’ satisfaction? She had only a partial satisfaction !
That is what is indicated by the ‘apari-tRptena’.
It is the left side of
the Lord’s body that belongs to ambaa. This is the age-old tradition. That is
how the Acharya expected to see ambaa when he sought Her
darshan. But what did he see? He expected to have a darshan of Father and
Mother in the ardha-nArishvara form. But what he saw was the Mother’s form,
including the right side. Father is crystal-white and Mother is crimson-red.
But what he saw was “sakalam aruNAbham” – fully crimson-red. He
expected to see a masculine form on the right side, but what he saw was “kuchAbhyAm-Anamram”. So the Acharya concludes -- in poetic fancy, of course – that
the other (right) half of Shiva’s masculine body also has been taken over by
ambaa. Note that Shiva Himself is described in the vedas as “taskarANAm patiH”
– the head of all the thiefs! But ambaa
has executed a theft on Himself, by stealing the other remaining half of His
body – though She had been, with great condescension,
given half of His body (the left side) already!
And it is delightfully
interesting to note that the poet in the Acharya does not say that “the other
half of the body has also been captured”.
He dares not, even in poetic fancy, make that charge assertively against
ambaa. He only says “shangke” – ‘I suspect’ !
Let us analyse it still
further. When one says ‘I suspect’, one
should give reasons. He has already given two reasons: ‘Wholly crimson-red’ is
one; ‘the features of the chest’ is another. But this is not enough. To support his charge further, he gives two
more, which clinch the issue. These are the two features: “trinayanam” (three eyes) and “kuTila-shashi-chUDAla-makuTaM”
(crown that includes the half moon in it). These two are exclusively the
features of Lord Shiva. His name, even according to the vedas is ‘tryambaka’.
In the preliminary mantras to the rudra-prashna, the dhyAna-shloka beginning
with “ApAtALa-nabhasthalAntha
...” the second
line describes Him as “jyoti-sphATika-linga-mouli-vilasat-pUrnendu ..”
which means that as the shiva-linga, He has the full moon on His top. When the same devatA is figured
anthropomorphically as a Person, He would have on His head, only a half moon . Thus the
three eyes and the crescent moon ‘belong’ to the Lord. But when the
Acharya had the darshan he saw both these in ambaa Herself!
In fact the darshan he
had was of Kameshvari, the devatA of Soundaryalahari. Kameshvari has a third eye in Her forehead. In
the meditating shloka of LalitA-sahasranAma, the shloka begins with ‘sindhUra-aruNa-vigrahAM’.
The sindhUra colour ascribed to the form here is the crimson-red colour,
indicated by ‘sakalaM
aruNAbhaM’ in our current shloka.
Following that,
the dhyAna-shloka goes on
next to “trinayanam”
(three eyed). Thus the red colour and
the three eyes are natural to the form of Kameshvari. But in the present shloka (#23) the Acharya
takes the stance, in his poetry, that the former (namely, the red colour) is
naturally Hers, whereas the latter (namely, the three
eyes) has been appropriated from the Lord’s form!
Continuing the dhyAna-shloka,
we have the expression “tArA-nAyaka-shekharAm” meaning, ‘who has the Moon on Her
head’. This the Acharya has used in his
shloka as ‘kuTila-shashi-chUDAla-makuTAM’.
Thus the Acharya has made
a nindA-stuti
(Praise by pointing out faults) of ambaa by using the same four characteristics
which ambaa has, according to the dhyAna-shloka, namely, red colour, three eyes,
crescent moon on the head and the feminine form. But two of them he says ambaa
has appropriated from the Lord. In fact it is the Acharya who has appropriated
two of the four all of which rightfully belong to Her,
by accusing Her of appropriating those two from Her Lord.
It is not that the
Acharya did not know. He certainly would know that all four are natural
characteristics of LalitAmbA. “trinayanA” (‘The three-eyed’)
is one of Her names occurring in the LalitA-sahasranAma. “chAru-chandra-kalAdharA” is also
another. In ShymALA-danDaka of Kalidasa, we have him addressing Her as “chandra-kalAvatamse” (She who has ornamented Her head
with the Crescent Moon). Thus ambaa does have these two characteristics as Her own. In pictures of olden times I have myself seen Her being depicted thus.
But the ordinary commonfolk still think that the concepts of ‘three
eyes’ and ‘crescent moon on the head’ are exclusively those of Lord Shiva. And,
the Acharya, in his poetic excitement, joins the commonfolk and creates a ‘nindA-stuti’!
There is still another
angle! The shloka under discussion revels in the idea of ambaa having
appropriated the Lord’s characteristics and also his right half. But the poetic
world knows that it is the other way round. It is the Lord who has appropriated
Her characteristics and legitimately what is due to
Her!
In the ardha-nArishvara
form the third eye is common to both the masculine and the feminine forms. It
is by the third eye He consumed Manmatha, the God of Love, to ashes. So the
credit of that consumption should go half and half to both the Lord and ambaa.
But who is known as Kama-dahana-mUrti?
It is He. Similarly when KAla, the God
of Death, was attempting to get the Shiva-devotee MarkanDeya into his
death-noose, he was vanquished by the left leg of the Lord, and thus He has
earned the name ‘Kala-samhAra-mUrti’
and known as such as the world over. But the left leg in the ardha-nArIshvara form actually
belongs to ambaa and so the credit for vanquishing Kala should go wholly to
ambaa. Thus on both counts it is He that should be faulted for appropriation
and not She!
Well, we could go on like
this. But the final essence of all this discussion is that there is no
appropriation on either side. It is all One form and One Supreme. The Lord’s
form is totally in Her and Her form is totally in His.
LalitA Herself is ‘Shiva-shakty-aikya-rUpiNI’; this advaita is the
bottomline of the whole thing.
[At this point the
Paramacharya becomes silent
and
starts talking in a measured low voice]
Alright, the form is
totally red; it is ambaa. But if one begins to look at the form in its various
parts, amidst the redness, there is visible only the third eye and the crescent
moon at the top. That reminds us of the Lord. But if you look for Him He is not
there. Nothing except those two characteristics of His are
visible. It is probably this experience that prompted the Acharya to say:
[Now the Paramacharya
raises his voice]
“
Oh! You got half the body as your own;
and now you have taken over the whole body”!
None can partition the
Shiva-experience. You cannot have it piecemeal; you have to have the whole of
it. This is what ambaa has done!
-
47 –
(Digest of pp.1028 -1032 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th
imprn.)
japo jalpaH
shilpaM sakalam-api mudrA-virachanA
gatiH
prAdakshhiNya-kramaNam ashanAdy-Ahuti vidhiH /
praNAmaH
samveshaH sukhaM akhilaM AtmArpaNa-dRshA
saparyA paryAyaH
tava bhavatu yan-me vilasitaM // 27 //
(The word-by-word meaning comes out in the
Paramacharya’s explanation itself; so it is not given separately)
Whatever actions we do everything must be in dedication to ambaa – this
is the sum and substance of this shloka. Worship, japam, showing mudrAs by the
fingers of the hand, circumambulation, prostration, offering in the fire with
the chanting of mantras in propitiation of ambaa – all these are usually done
in honour of ambaa by Her devotees. Yes,
all these have to be done. But the matter should not end there. Doing all this
for a portion of the time, and then for the rest of the time getting fully
immersed in material matters of the world, is exactly what should be avoided.
It is not like ‘A few hours for ambaa; and the rest of the time for me and my
worldly activities’. All the time everything should become a
worship, everything should be a japam, a homam and an offering. That is
how we should change our life style. Not only the devotees, but all should be
able to do this.
But how is this possible? Is this feasible? Don’t I have to bathe?
Don’t I have to eat, sleep, mix with people, do my
work in the world? I hear you are all
raising these questions immediately. You may say that even the great so-called jnAnis
(enlightened ones) are certainly doing all these routine activities of worldly
life. So what is wrong?
Let it be. She as the Divine Mother has to perform Her
leelA. That is alright. But how is it that the jnAnis, who know it is all Her leelA, are still
working in the mundane world? You should also be like those jnAnis.
Be in the world, not of the world. Maybe it is not possible just immediately. But
gradually, you can train yourself to be so. Effort and constant practice are
needed. For the present, start convincing yourself that your bathing, eating,
talking, sleeping, walking, and all these ordinary activities are all happening
because of Her Shakti – without which by yourself you cannot do a single thing.
Constantly tell yourself
that this is so. Slowly keep widening this belief for evcery
action of yours.
When you recognize that you are eating because of the power She has given you to eat, you would not have the heart to
send rubbish stuff into your stomach. When the belief settles in that it is ambaa
that makes you walk, you will hesitate twice before wasting it on going to the
races or the movies. When you know that it is by Her Grace you are talking, you
would not waste it on gossiping or scolding another or discussing disgusting
material. When we are aware of the fact that hands and feet are working because
of Her, we would stop using them for doing wrong
things.
Gradually, in due time, this conviction has to spread to your mental
activities also. In other words, the egoistic thought of ‘I am planning this or
that’ will give way to the thought ‘Let Her get this done, if She wishes’. This
change in the thought processes is important because it is through the mind all
the mAyic changes and troubles of the world emerge. And they prevent the nullifying
of the mind and the entry into jnAna mArga. Once we transfer the responsibilities
to the Divine Mother, the impact of the mind will slowly disappear. Thereafter,
whether She keeps us talking, walking or eating or She
keeps us without any of these, in any case, we would be peaceful at the bottom
of our heart. It is to reach that state,
to pray for that state to be possible, that this shloka has been given to us by
the Acharya.
“japo jalpaH”: ‘jalpa’
means talk, whether it is meaningful or
not. So all this talk should be a japam. In other
words, it is the state of whatever we talk becoming an offering of japam for Her.
There are several mantras like ‘BalA’, ‘ShhoDashI’, and ‘panchadashI’. All these mantras are
done in a japa form. We are not saying that they should not be done. But ultimately, the japa as a separate
activity has to disappear and the conviction should occur that whatever we talk
is a japa offering to Her.
“sakalaM shilpam-api mudrA-virachanA”: Whatever I do by my hand, let it be a mudrA
that one does in Your pUjA. Here ‘shilpam’ must be taken to mean any kind of work.
Unfortunately the tamil word ‘shilpam’ means only sculpture. Maybe because Man produces forms just as the Creator creates human
beings.
“gatiH prAdakshhiNya-kramaNaM” : Whatever movement I do let it be a
circumambulation of You. Wherever I go let me have the feeling that I am doing
a pradakshhiNA of You.
“ashanAdi” : food, etc. Since the ‘etc.’ is
there it means not only food that is eaten, but food that is consumed by the
other senses like eyes and ears. So all sensual experiences
are covered.
“Ahuti
vidhiH” : Let them be the offerings given
to the sacred fire lit for You.
In fact all eating is done only after giving the first five morsels to
the five prANas. In the Gita also, the Lord says that He it is who digests the
food by being VaishvAnara as ‘JATharAgni’ in the stomach. Once we have the
conviction that it is He that is sitting inside and consuming what we send
through the mouth, then we would not be sending in wine and meat for His
consumption. The same logic applies to
the sensual consumption by eyes, ears, skin, and nose. Everything is experienced by Him and so let
us dare not send in undesirable things.
“praNAmas-samveshaH” :
Let my very sleeping be a namaskara done to You. Once we realise that our lying
down for rest is nothing but a namaskaram at the feet of ambaa,
that would itself give us total peace and relaxation.
Why carry on this list in detail. It is not necessary to do special
japa, homa, namakara and such rituals. Whatever we naturally do
, let it be our pUja to You – this is the meaning of “sukham akhilam
AtmArpaNa-dRshA saparyA paryAyaH tava bhavatu yan me vilasitaM”. Here “saparyA” means pUjA. “paryAya” has many meanings,
one of which is ‘substitute’. So this gives the meaning: Let whatever I do be a
‘substitute’ for the pUjA to be done to You.
-
48 –
(Digest of pp.1033 - 1037 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th
imprn.)
Note the words “sukham-akhilaM-AtmArpaNa-dRshA” in the third line
of shloka 27.
“sukham” means ‘without strain’,
‘naturally’. The word is very significant here. Since our mind is not in our
control, it becomes a great strain to make it subscribe to a moralistic
routine. But if we train our mind to think that everything is the work of
ambaaL, the attempt to become moralistic slips into a natural frame wherein the
goal is attained effortlessly. Because, when we have surrendered everything to Her, the mind starts doing what is natural to it, namely, it
behaves like a pure mind. And that is the road to eternal happiness.
The words “AtmArpaNa-dRshA” is the life-line of this shloka;
not only of this shloka, but of all Hindu scriptures. This is the Atma-nivedanaM,
the last of the nine-fold bhakti methodologies enunciated in the Bhagavatam. It
is also the complete Surrender described in all Bhakti literature and
particularly in the Bhagavad-Gita. The expression literally means: “By the
attitude which is ready to lay one’s life at Her
feet”. Only when that attitude is present, all talk becomes a japa, all action
becomes a mudrA, and so on for the rest. Let things become
like this through the attitude of “Atma-samarpaNaM” (laying one’s life at the feet).
The word “bhavatu”
in the last line stands for this plea. A person who
can do this surrender, would have his whole life sanctified as a pUjA to
Her Almighty.
An exactly analogous thought almost in the same words has been given in
“Shiva-mAnasa-pUjA”
by the Acharya himself.
AtmA tvaM
girijA matiH sahacarAH prANAH sharIraM gRhaM
pUjA te
vishhayopa-bhoga-racanA nidrA samAdhi sthitiH /
sancAraH padayoH
pradakshhiNa-vidhiH stotrANi sarvA giro
yad-yat karma
karomi tat-tad-akhilaM shambho tavA-rAdhanaM //
You Lord Shiva are my AtmA; my mind is ambikA, the daughter of the
Mountain; my five prANas are the GaNas
that serve you; my body is your temple; all my involvement in sensual
experience is your pUjA; my sleep is the samAdhi state;
my wanderings on my feet constitute Your pradakshhiNa; whatever I talk shall be your praises; whatever I do O shambho, all
that shall be a propitiation of You.
Such a dedication of everything at the feet of the Lord is what is
prescribed by the Lord in the Gita:
Yat-karoshhi
yad-ashnAsi yaj-juhoshhi dadAsi yat /
Yat-tapasyasi
kaunteya tat-kurushhva mad-arpaNaM // IX -27
Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in the homa-fire,
whatever you give away, whatever intense concentration you do – all that should be offered to
Me.
“There is nothing that I do”
“Good or bad, Am I the doer?” – Such expressions of total surrender are
everywhere in the works of Nayanmars, Alvars and also the saints of other
religions. It is this kind of total surrender that gives the destination of
one’s birth, namely, jIvan-mukti.
What is talked of as ‘the cessation of mind’ in the path of jnAna
becomes the ‘total surrender’ in the path of bhakti. Both are “AtmArpaNaM”
only. Both have the same result, namely, jIvan-mukti – Release (even) while alive!
To sum up, the body does what it does because it is being made to do so
by the jIva within it; so also what all this jIva does is because it is being
made to do so by a Supreme jIva-Shakti behind it and that is the Mother
Goddess. For that Shakti,
not only this Jiva is the body but all the jIvas – nay, in fact the entire Universe
is the body. So whatever happens in the Universe is because of Her. Once this idea settles deeply in our minds then there
will be no problem of ‘laying our lives at Her feet’ (Atma-samarpaNaM).
The concept that ambaaL is pervading the whole universe immanently is
elaborated in two shlokas (#34, 35) by the Acharya.
sharIraM tvaM
shambhoH shashi-mihira-vakshhoruha-yugaM
tavAtmAnaM manye
bhagavati navAtmAnaM anaghaM /
atah
sheshhas-sheshhI-ity-ayam-ubhaya-sAdhAraNatayA
sthitas-sambandho vAM
sama-rasa-para-nanda-parayoH //34//
Bhagavati : Oh Goddess,
Manye : I think
tvaM : You
shashi-mihira-vakshhoruha-yugaM: (who) have the Sun and the Moon as your
breasts,
shambhoH sharIraM
: (are) the body of Shiva,
anaghaM : (and) the spotless
navAtmAnaM : (Ananda-bhairava,
i.e. Shiva) who has nine facets (of presentation)
tava AtmAnaM
: (as) your AtmA.
ataH : Therefore
ayam
sambandhaH : this relationship
sheshhaH sheshhI
iti : of ‘the accessory’ and
‘the principal’
vAM : between You two
sama-rasa-parAnanda-parayoH :
who are ParAnanda
and
sthitaH : is poised
ubhaya-sAdhAraNatayA :
as a mutual common factor.
“You are the body of Lord Shiva, O Goddess” – thus begins the verse.
Earlier it was said that the whole body of the Lord has been appropriated by Her.
But now are we
talking of the ‘crimson-coloured body
with a crescent moon and a third eye’? No. We are talking of this vast cosmos
of million universes which together constitute His virAt-svarUpa (cosmic form). That
cosmic body is ambaaL,
says the verse. The life-giving force for that entire cosmos is
the Absolute Reality, the para-Brahman.
Mark it! What is being said here seems to be contrary to what was
declared in the very first shloka “shivaH shaktyA yuktah ...”.Without Shakti, Shiva
cannot even move – that was the statement there. So it appeared as if Shiva is
an inert body and ambaaL is the life-giving force. Here it is being said that
She is the body and ...” !
No contradiction is intended or implied. There are two viewpoints.
49 –
(Digest of pp.1038 -1044 of Deivathin Kural, 6th
volume, 4th imprn.)
The first shloka says that She is the soul and
He is inert without Her presence. This shloka (#34) says that He is the soul
and She is His body. There are two viewpoints here.
I must have myself said – in interpreting the first shloka – that He is
inert without Her.
To be precise, it is not “He is inert without Her”,
but “He is inert-like without Her”. The Shiva that we spoke of in Shloka #1, is the actionless, attributeless, nameless Brahman.
That Brahman
can never be called something that is inert, devoid of ‘cit’ or Consciousness.
But it is something to which we cannot attribute the act of cognizing itself.
In that sense there is no ‘awareness’ of being ‘complete-in-itself’. It is in
this sense, the word ‘inertness’ is used when talking of Brahman. So it is ‘as good as
inert’. The ‘as if’ part here is the punchline. The Brahman,
that ‘does not know(!) itself’ -- this to become the Brahman that ‘knows’ itself is due
to the jnAna-shakti
and that is ambaa. It is this jnAna-shakti,
that now brings its own ichhA-shakti and kriyA shakti,
and the process of Evolution starts. So the nirguNa-Brahman, until it ‘knows’ itself, is
inert and the shakti that makes it, as it were, know itself, is its soul – it
is in this sense the first shloka talks of ‘He is inert without Her’!
Shloka 34 is talking about ‘kArya brahman’. Ishvara is SaguNa-brahman. When Shakti as
Kameshvari prompts Him, He creates the entire Universe and is involved in
the cosmic functions. It is in this context the entire Universe is His body and
the soul within is the kArya-shakti that is Ishvara. The icchA shakti that is Kameshvari prompts the Fundamental
Reality that is Brahman.
The contention of advaita however is: It is Brahman that, through MayA, becomes saguNa Brahman
which transacts its cosmic functions. There is no separate chaitanyaM (life,
consciousness) for mAyA. It is inert. It gets a chaitanyaM from Brahman, hides Brahman and projects the universe
instead, in Brahman.
The administration of this universe takes place by the same Brahman
but now as Ishvara coupled with mAyA.
Brahman is shivaM and ambaa is mAyA – I have already told you so. It is because
of mAyA
that the Universe exists. So one can speak of the Universe
itself as mAyA
and therefore the form of ambaa. That mAyA is inert; it shines because of brahma-chaitanyaM.
Therefore ambaa is spoken of as the body and the shiva who
is in the place of Brahman can be spoken of as its soul. This is why “sharIraM tvaM shambhoH” – You,
Mother, are the body of Shiva!.
In Sankhya school of philosophy, it is almost the same. ‘Purushha’ is the basic Truth behind all jIvas.
‘PrakRti’ is the basic cause for the Universe. The two are like body and soul,
according to Sankhya. Scholarly opinion
holds that the contention of shloka 34, namely, that ambaa is the body of the Lord and
the universe itself is ambaa (through the words ‘shashi-mihira-vakshhoruha-yugaM’) is more akin to Sankhya than to advaita. The
reasoning goes like this:
Brahman is hidden by mAyA. Brahman appears as the universe and this is
the projection of mAyA. Of these two things, it is the ‘hiding’ part that is
dominant whenever we talk of mAyA. Even in ordinary parlance, we say ‘the thing
disappeared like mAyA!’. On the other hand
‘prakRti’,
instead of being associated with the ‘hiding’ part, is usually emphasized in
the case of what appears as Nature. PrakRti gets the dominant emphasis whenever
we talk of the universe appearing in the place of Absolute Reality. In Sankhya,
the 24 tattvas like the five elemental fundamentals, pancha tanmAtras, and then
the senses, etc. all
are focussed on the Universe and its constitution (=make-up). Even advaita
shAstras have accepted the 24 fundamental tattvas more because of the
importance given to it by traditional scholars.
In advaita sAdhanA, these have no recognized place. In the practical sAdhanA
of an advaitin, knowing about the 24 fundamentals is neither advantageous nor
disadvantageous. The transformation of prakRti
into the Universe and its living beings is important only in Sankhya.
Though the beginning of this shloka (34) takes us back to Sankhya and
advaita, the later ideas take us to the two traditions in ShAkta school,
namely, the Kaula and the Samaya. In fact even the idea that ambaa is the body
of the Lord and the Universe itself is ambaa -- has also a basis in the ShAkta
scriptures. Kaulam is
the tradition wherein one does external worship with yantram, deity and all.
Samayam is that which does the pUjA esoterically in the heart-space (hRdayAkAsha).
Irrespective of any of these philosophies, what is important to note in
this shloka is the Acharya’s refusal to forget the motherly love inherent in the Mother
Goddess. Though ambaa is depicted as the cosmic Form of the Lord, the Acharya
does not have the mind to leave it as an inert ‘form’ or ‘body’. He keeps
thinking about the Mother as the Mother of the Universe and its beings and
therefore Her breast-feeding of Her children is hinted
at by the mention of ‘shashi-mihira-vakshhoruha-yugam’! That the Sun and the
Moon are the life-givers of everything in the universe is a scientifically
accepted fact. Therefore the Mother who protects us as anna-poorNeshvari also feeds our
lives through the Sun and the Moon. Poetically, in the language of Bhakti, they
are the ones who feed us with life-sustaining
breast-feed and that is why they are the two breasts of the Cosmic Form that is
ambaa.
It is customary to talk of the Sun and the Moon as the two eyes of the
Lord. In Soundaryalahari
itself, shloka 48 says that “Your right eye is the Sun that
brings out the day; and your left eye is the Moon that creates the night”. In
Lalita Sahasranama ambaa’s ear-ornaments are said to be the Sun and the
Moon. But over and above all this, it is
this shloka that touches us most, because it makes us the Mother’s children who
are breast-fed by the Sun and the Moon as Her breasts.
-
50 –
(Digest of pp.1045 -1050 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th
imprn.)
We have not yet done with Shloka 34. The Sheshha-SheshhI-bhAva (The Principal
and the Accessory concept) that comes in the third line of the verse has
tremendous conceptual significance.
“sharIraM tvaM shambhoH” indicates that ambaa is the body
and Shiva is the soul. Since the body is usually taken as ‘containing’ the soul
one should not think that soul is a property of the body. It is not like ‘the
purse is in my pocket; so the purse is my property’. By thinking like that one
commits the foolishness
-- as the Acharya himself mentions in his ShaTpadI-stotra – of thinking that
the Ocean is the property of the Waves; the Wave is not the property of the
Ocean! The fact that the waves are the
only thing visible from the outside and the calm water beneath is not visible,
does not mean that the waves ‘possess’ the ocean beneath them! So also with ‘body and soul’. If the soul (life) leaves the
body, the body becomes rotten and decays.
The soul goes and takes another body.
Therefore it is the body that is ‘possessed’ by the soul. The soul is
the possessee and the body is the property of the possessee. In Sanskrit the word ‘svaM’ indicates the possessed
property. It is from this word ‘svaM’ the word ‘svat’ and the Tamil word ‘sottu’
(meaning ‘property’ or ‘possession’) are derived.
When ‘svam’
is the possessed property, the possessee is ‘svAmi’. It is the Lord who is the ‘svAmi’
for the whole universe, because everything is His, in His possession, His
property. The possessor-Lord is called ‘SheshhI’. ‘Sheshha’
is the one ‘owned’ by the SheshI. Soul
is the sheshhI and body is sheshha.
This concept of jIvas and Universe as the body and the Lord as the soul
and on the same basis
as sheshha and sheshhI
is an important tenet of the vishishhTAdvaita
If the Lord is taken to be the nirguNa Brahman as per advaita, then ambaa
was first said to
be the I-consciousness of the Lord, by the Acharya. The first half of the very
first shloka meant only that. Then in shloka #7, explicitly ambaa was said to
be ‘Aho-purushhikA’.
In this kind of thing, there is no distinction between sheshha and sheshhI; the shiva and shakti are in indivisible unison. But looking at the
phenomenal world of duality, the talk arises about the divine Triad, and the divinities
in charge of the five cosmic functions.
And in this state they are able to function only with the help of a fragment of Her
Shakti. Just by the dust of Her feet they are able to
do what they have to do (shloka 2). Or by just the winking of Her eyes (shloka 24). These shlokas point to the fact that She is the Mistress of the whole show; in other words, She
is the SheshhI; and these divinities are the sheshhas who do Her bidding. Even
the alternates of Shiva, namely, Rudra, Maheshvara and SadAshiva who belong to
the same category, are also sheshhas and She is the SheshhI for
them too.
Over and above all this, from the minutest earthworm all the way up to
the Cosmic Divinities of the five functions, all of them have
been created and given life by
the presence of Her Shakti within. So
She is the SeshI
to all of them . In other words all of us are Sheshas,
accessories, for
that SheshI,
the principal.
This shloka also tells us in its second line how She is the SheshhI
and He is the Sheshha.
Ishvara is nine-faceted – these nine facets starting with Time and ending with
jIva.
[Note by VK: The nine facets referred to
here are:
KAla, Kula, nAma, jnAna,citta,
nAda, bindu,
KalA and jIva]
That is the navAtmA that is mentioned in the shloka. For all of these the life giving shakti is ambaa. So She is the SharIrI or SheshhI. And Ishvara, who has the nine aspects, is
Sheshha.
Now change the viewpoint. You will see that He is the SheshhI
and She is the Sheshha. For, She being
Shakti, Energy, Power, there must be someone who wields that Shakti, Power and
Energy. That is the Lord Shiva! Even
when He is the saguna-Brahman or the kArya-Brahman, He is the Ishvara who is
the soul of everything in the universe as the First Cause and the effects,
namely, all that is animate and inanimate, His body, that is, ambaa. So She becomes the Sheshha.
The simple meaning of SheshhaM is ‘Remainder’. So the original, which ought to be far more
than the SheshhaM,
is the SheshhI. That is the paramAtman. From that fullness of the paramAtman all this world has emerged, which appears to be infinite and
full. After emerging from fullness, what has emerged seems to be full. This is
what the upanishadic mantra
(pUrnamadaH pUrnamidaM) says. In other words it only tells us
that the paramAtman is the SheshhI and we are all his Sheshha. Ambaa is manifesting as all
the multitudinous universe and the life within is the Shambhu-Brahman. Therefore “sharIram tvam shambhoH”. Ambaa is the sheshha
and He is the Sheshhi.
Thus the Acharya here does not make any distinction between the
different viewpoints of ShAktaM, ShaivaM, VishishhTAdvaitam, Sankhyam and
advaitam. The universe that is discardable as mAyA in advaita is here talked of as
the body of the paramAtman. When you think of nirguNa-Brahman, the question of soul and
body, sharirI and sharira, sheshhI and sheshha does not arise. But in the phenomenal
world when we view things from our mundane angle, the universe is said to be
the body and the indwelling paramAtman the sharIrI – very much as in
vishishhTAdvaita philosophy.
The Acharya says in
this shloka that this Sheshha-SheshhI bhAva is equally the
characteristic of both. Already the “samaya”
[VK : See DPDS – 7]
And here the Acharya has added one more equality,
namely the Sheshha-SheshhI
bhava!
Just as the universe is visible so also the body is visible. So long as
the mind is there both the body and the universe will certainly be visible. When the mind is inactive as in sleep, or in sedation or in
samAdhi, there is no universe, body or activity of the senses. Where is
the distinction in that state, between body and its life or soul, who is the sharIrI,
what is the sharIra, who is the SheshhI, who is the Sheshha? In sleep and in sedation,
there is no duality because nothing is cognized. For the jnAni who is in the samAdhi
state, again there is no universe or phenomenal activity because of the absence
of mind. There is no jIvAtma being
‘monitored’ or ‘enlivened’ by the ParamAtman.
To comprehend the presence of these two, function of the mind is
necessary. Is it the state like sleep or sedation where there is nothing? No.
That is not a state of complete void; it is a state of One-ness, namely the
presence of the One without a second! This is how advaita has been established
by the Acharya.
But other than that jnAni, the experience of every one else has to see
everything – starting from the mind and going all the way to the five
fundamental elements – as pervaded by ambaa. And that is what the Acharya is
training us to do. As a beginning for this perception he says Brahman
(shivam) is the soul and the unvierse (ambaa) is the body.
And he goes on to say in this next shloka (#35), that
mind itself, which is the cause for all duality, is ambaa.
Thus spake the Paramacharya
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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
Jan.21, 2004