saundaryalaharI - 5

[Guest guest]

shrI lalitAyai namaH

 

haristvAmArAdhya praNatajanasaubhAgyajananIM

purA nArI bhUtvA puraripumapi kshobhamanayat.h

smaro.api tvAM natvA ratinayanalehyena vapuShA

munInAmapyantaH prabhavati hi mohAya mahatAm.h 5

 

 

jananIM: Mother

saubhAgya: (who causes) saubhAgyam (to)

praNata: prostrating

jana: people

tvAM: You

ArAdhya: having worshipped

hariH: vishNu

purA: earlier, ancient (times)

nArI bhUtvA: assuming the form of a woman

puraripuM api: even to shiva who is the enemy of the three cities

ksobham anayat: caused mental agitation (kAma vikAra)

smaraH api: manmatha too

tvAM natvA: having bowed to you

ratinayanalehyena vapuShA: with a body seen only by ratI devI's eyes

mahatAM: great

munInAM api: sages even

antaH: in their minds

mohAya: of generating passion

prabhavati: capable

 

O Mother, the bestower of saubhAgya to people who worship You:

vishNu, having worshipped You, assumed the form of a woman and caused

mental agitation even to shiva, the destroyer of the three purAs.

Likewise, having bowed to You, smara, with a personality pleasingly

attractive to ratIdevI, has become capable of generating passion even

in the minds of the great sages.

 

 

Commentary:

 

praNatajanasaubhAgyajananI: praNata means worship with trikaraNashuddhi,

by manasA, vAcA, kAyA. prakarShena nataH praNataH.

 

saubhAgyaM: is a real poignant word in sanskrit with pregnant meaning,

and no single english word (or word in any language) can describe that

well. aishwaryasya, samagrasya, vIryasya, yashasshriyaH, j~nAnavairAgya-

yoshcaiva ShaNNAM bhaga itIraNa

 

purA nArI bhUtvA: This refers to the anecdote of the mohinI incarnation

of vishNu at the time when amR^itaM was obtained after churning of the

ocean of milk by the dAnavAs and the devatAs. This mohinI form was

repeated at the desire of shiva. shiva, the greatest of the yogis, who

had control of all the senses, and who burnt kAma (manmatha) to ashes,

was kindled by passion on seeing the mohinI form of vishNu and lost

himself. vishNu got this enticing form of mohinI because of his worship

of shrI devI.

 

tvAM ArAdhya: adored (worshipped) You. Another anecdote which need to

be mentioned in this context is as follows: shiva saved the world by

destroying tripurAsura. The other asurAs feared destruction of their

entire community by shiva. As a group, they prayed on vishNu to guard

them from shiva's wrath. vishNu promised to do so, and was thinking of

ways of appeasing shiva. Sage nArada came by and noticed the anxiety on

vishNu's face. On knowing the reason for his anxiety, nArada advised

vishNu to worship shrI devI in the form of shrIcakra and meditate upon

shrIdevI by repeating the devI mahAmantrA which would satisfy all

desires. vishNu went in search of a preceptor who could initiate him

in the devI mantrA. Not long after, devI parAshakti appeared before

vishNu and taught him the mantrA and the mode of worshipping shrIcakra.

By prolonged worship and meditation of shrIdevI, vishNu got the power

to assume any form that he wished for. He had the mohinI form and

deceived the dAnavAs while serving amR^itaM obtained during the

churning of the ocean. On a glance at mohinI, shiva's mind got

agitated and he lost control of his senses.

 

puraripu: refers to shiva who killed tripurAsura. He is considered

(at that stage) to be very angry, and is not easily amenable to

kAmavikAra. To mentally agitate amorously such a person is indeed

difficult and mohinI was able to do it because of shrIdevI's grace.

 

Lakshmidhara's commentary on saundaryalaharI (considered the standard

in all commentaries) also narrates the incident where vishNu took the

form of a beautiful woman and killed the demon by name Kanakaswami.

When shiva requested him (vishNu) to appear before him, he did in that

damsel's form with the result stated in the verse.

 

vishNu was one of the great devI-upAsakAs.

 

smara api: manmatha, likewise, i.e., in the same manner as vishNu.

smara also worshipped shrIcakra, meditated on devI, chanting

pa~ncadashAksharI mantrA and thereby received the grace of shrI devI.

 

ratinayanalehyenavapuShA: ratIdevI is said to be beauty par excellence

among ladies. The fact that she is attracted to smara, indicates that

smara must be unusually handsome. manmatha in physical form can be

seen only by ratIdevI's eyes. ratinayanalehyenavapuShA refers to this

fact and to the following anecdote. manmatha was burnt to ashes by the

fire of shiva's third eye. He got back to life by shrIdevI's grace and

ratIdevI was given the boon that manmatha will be visible in physical

form only to ratIdevI's eyes.

 

manmatha's prowess in agitating the minds of even the great sages with

kAmavikAra is due to shrIdevI's grace.

 

The implication of this verse is: Lord shiva, the supreme controller of

the senses, and also the great sages with many years of concentrated penance

to their credit, fell prey to the temptation of passion by vishNu in the

form of mohinI, and to manmatha's actions respectively. This is because

vishNu and manmatha are blessed by shrI devI's grace. Both vishNu and

manmatha are shricakra-upAsakAs and the verse indirectly tells about

the great power of shrIcakra upAsana.

 

 

Regards

Gummuluru Murthy

------

[Guest guest]

I have a small comment on the 5th verse that was posted. Some times it's

hard to interpret what the author really means. While analyzing puranic

verses, elders have given three ways of interpretation that have to be taken

in to consideration.

 

.. The literal meaning itself conveys the author's view. Searching for an

inner import may spoil the rasa.

.. There is a tatva behind what is conveyed. Only the inner import is to be

understood and not the literal meaning conveyed.

.. Both the surface as well the underlying meaning benefits the reader.

 

We all know the famous story where Krishna stole butter, the tale itself is

delighting. We do not go in to details as to what a black guy stealing a

white thing means and so on. That spoils the rasa.

 

In Ramayana we read Ravana abducts sita when rama goes in search of the

golden deer for her. Rama befriends Hanuman and others and gets to Lanka,

kills ravana and unites with sita again. This epic has an inner import too.

When a Jiva wants some thing else other than the paramatma, paramatma

vanishes and senses envelop the Jiva. (Sita wants a golden deer and ravana

abducts her). Jivatma is out in to pain due to its separation from

paramatma. Again Jiva wants nothing other than the paramatma and meditates

on him. A guru who knows both the jiva and the eshwara conveys the state of

the former to the latter. (Hanuman). The paramatma due to his krupa destroys

the aGYana or ten indriya vikaaras (represented by the 10 headed raavaNa)

and unites with the Jiva (Rama destroying Ravana and uniting with Sita). In

this, both the inner import as well as the literal story is of a great

benefit.

 

But there is an other kind in which only the inner import is to be

understood and not the surface meaning. The 5th verse of saundaryalahari

looks like that. If you say after worshipping Devi Vishnu was able to

mentally agitate Shiva and maara generates passion even to yogis, it would

mean one can spoil the sadaachara or righteousness of others through the

worship of Devi. And it makes little sense to say Devi will grant a boon

that can be misused to spoil chastity .

 

I am reminded of the thirupaavai phrase 'ArAindu aruLElOr empAvAi'. To a

true baktha paramatma goes not bless anything that will deviate him from the

path of righteousness. Devi is

sadAchAra pravartikA (356 naama of sahasranaama). She who is immersed in

righteousness and who inspires others to follow right conduct. She is

nishhkaama, nirvikalpa, nirvikaara, nityashuddha, nishhkalaN^kaa,

above all she is nirmoha and mohanaashinii.

 

The sahasranaama verses

nirlepaa nirmalaa nityaa niraakaraa niraakulaa .

nirguNA nishhkalaa shaantaa nishhkaamaa niruupaplavaa .. 44..

 

nityamuktaa nirvikaaraa nishhprapaJNchaaniraashrayaa .

nityashuddhaa nityabuddhaa niravadyaa nirantaraa .. 45..

 

nishhkaaraNA nishhkalaN^kaa nirupadhiH niriishvaraa .

niiraagaa raagamathanii nirmadaa madanaashinii .. 46..

 

nishchintaa nirahaMkaaraa nirmohaa mohanaashinii .

nirmamaa mamataahantrii nishhpaapaa paapanaashinii .. 47..

 

nishhkrodhaa krodhashamanii nirlobhaa lobhanaashinii .

niHsaMshayaa saMshayaghnii nirbhavaa bhavanaashinii .. 48..

 

nirvikalpaa niraabaadhaa nirbhedaa bhedanaashinii .

nirnaashaa mR^ityumathanii nishhkriyaa nishhparigrahaa .. 49..

 

are to be again and again meditated on to understand the true essence of

devi worship.

 

Now Let's try to interpret the 5th shloka with the above guidelines.

When a baktha worships Devi she grants the sarUpya or sAyujya to him. When

one utters the words 'bhavani I am your servant' (bhavaani thvam dhaasae)

she grants him bhavAnitva or makes his Ananda equal to that of the

paramaatma.

 

bhavaani thvam dhaasae mayi vithara dhrushtim sakarunaam

ithi sthoathum vaanjchan kathayathi bhavaani thvamithi ya: | (SL -22)

 

When Shiva saw Vishu after he prostrate to Devi, he saw none other than Devi

and hence was passionate to the mohini rupa. It denotes that any one who

prostrates to Devi gets the sayugya of Devi.

 

When Mara attracts even Yogis through his rUpa. It looks as though he says

'why are people trying to do hard sAdanas when one can get anything by just

meditating on devi's divya soundarya itself'.

 

Mara urges Yogis to leave other sAdanas and meditate on Devi using his

swarUpa (using the beauty that you gave him) and Vishnu gets your swarUpa

itself by worshipping you, O ! devi immense is your compassion. - is the

meaning conveyed.

 

I did not contradict or conveyed more than what Sri Gummuluru Murthy

stated. I have just expressed the way I understood things.

 

Suggestions are at most welcome.

Aravind

 

 

 

 

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