LalithA SahasranAma: Hara netrAgni sandagdha kAma saNjivanausadhih

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Hara netrAgni sandagdha kAma saNjivanausadhih : She was the life

giving medicine to Manmatha who was burnt up by the fire from the

eye of Siva.

 

The eye : the third eye of Siva.

 

In the Brahm. Pr. Occurs this story of how Devi who had enchained

even her husband [siva] though he had renounced [the world] at the

prayer of BrahmA, etc restored Manmatha to life. This agrees with

the saying, "Children rebuked by the father are consoled by the

mother." Similarly the Brahma-vaivarta Pr says "If Hari

becomes angry, the guru is the protector, but if the gur becomes

angry there is no one to protect" But it may be said, since here

Hari is the deity to be worshipped, Paramasiva should be the saviour

from the anger of Devi as he is the highest gur, and without

exception [because Siva is called AdinAtha, the first guru]. This is

wrong, because Paramasiva also is one of the devotees of Devi and

the devotee requires a guru, hence Tripurasundari must be his guru;

and in the Yoginihrdaya [iII, 211] Siva says to Parvati, " O noble

Lady, [this knowledge] should not be given indiscriminately to

atheists. Thus by you, who are in the form of my IcchA, was I

commanded" To every effort desire is cause, Devi is the well-known

cause of Siva's activity and she is his guru, hence one of her names

is "in the form of guru" [no 603].

 

The catussati-sastra says, "Without Sakti, Siva has neither name

nor abode". According to the Tantras, Siva became the first guru

[AdinAtha] because he possesses the icchAsakti. Therefore there is

no need to ask whether Devi is included in the circle of the gurus,

or whether she is superior to Siva, the first guru. So the

MahAsvaacchanda-tantra says," SadAsiva himself standing as both

guru and pupil promulgated the Tantras in the form of questions and

answers." The word "himself" [svayameva] means, by

dividing his real and manifested forms [prakAsa and virmarsa] he

became both guru and pupil. Suggesting and questioning were the part

of Devi, and teaching and responding, that of Siva. To express the

above, Siva speaks [ in the Yoginihrdaya [iII, 2]] of Devi as "as in

the form of his IcchA" and addresses her as "Noble Lady." Really

speaking, [among the ranks of gurus] next to AdinAtha [siva, the

first guru] is counted Adisakti, and AdinathA is second to none.

There is no authority for taking either of those two as the first,

but Adisakti united with AdinathA, should be taken in the second

rank, ,as she is the tacher of the third guru, Sadasiva by name ie

among the ranks of gurus, first is AdinAtha, second Adisakti, and

third Sadasiva.

 

Or Hara, taking the real nature of the Self, netA, leader; fire,

causing forms to change; that is to say the root of ignorance

[mUlAjNAna]; burned by that, kAma, the embodied soul whose real

nature is Siva; samjivana: sam, entirely – getting rid for ever

of the veil [of MayA], and Jivana, the attainment of his own real

nature; medicine, ie Devi is the means to attain one's own real

nature. The meaning is that Moksa is the attainment of one's own

real nature, through the worship of that which is in the form of

vidyA and by getting rid of avidya. Before buring, Manmatha was

embodied, afterwards he was living without a body, this

illlustration shows that the jivas which before Brahman, become

embodied through the influence of nescience, when he has got rid of

the influence, he has no longer any body and becomes one with

Brahman. This [idea] is also contained in the last Siva-Sutra [iII,

46], "The union already described again occurs."

 

Comm. "union [milana] again, realizing one's own caitanya;

this occurs to the Yogin who has reached the highest stage of Yoga.

Again, the attainment of union with Siva is not a new thing for the

Yogin, because it is his own real nature; his own nature was hidden

by the depravity, brought about by the many material images, raised

by the power of illusion, and the nature of Siva becomes manifest

[in him] when the covering is dispersed by following the method

taught by the guru. Thus Siva said."

 

The last Sakti-Sutra also says, "the attainment of his own divine

nature and the mastery over the cakras"

 

 

 

BhAskararAya's Commentary

Translated into English by R. Ananthakrishna Sastry.