SAUNDARYA LAHARI - 2 kaaruNyamae ambaal's lavaNyam (part 3/4)

[Guest guest]

... continued from part 2/4

 

Ambaal is a personification of the total Love transformed into

total Beauty .

 

What is the nature of Ambaal ?

 

SHE IS THE EMBODIMENT OF BEAUTY : EQUALLY SO, SHE IS THE EMBODIMENT

OF LOVE ALSO: SHE IS LOVE TRANSFORMED INTO BEAUTY, THUS EMBODIED.

 

 

For all sweet edible items, it is sugar which gives the sweetness.

Similarly, Ambaal is the mother-source of beauty which gives the

element of beauty to all those that are beautiful in all the worlds.

It is only a small drop of Her ( who is the Sakthi of the Brahmam)

magnificent beauty which goes to make any other thing look pretty.

Similarly, She only is the source for all the love that we see

anywhere.

 

IT IS HER GRACIOUS AND SUPREME BOUNDLESS LOVE WHICH HAS TAKEN AN

EMBODIMENT OF SUPREME BOUNDLESS BEAUTY .

 

Love is an aspect without any specific externally visible physical

attributes. In the physical world, those who display affection, are

not sometimes beautiful. The vice versa is also true. But if there is

love, it superimposes a beauty of its own, surpassing the physical

form. It means that the formless internal love somehow reflects into

external the physical form of the person. However, in Ambaal's case,

it is not a mere reflection of the love; SHE IS MADE UP OF LOVE

ITSELF AS HER LIMBS / FORM. The formless love has become her Swarupa

Saundaryam. The completeness of Her supreme love has become the

completeness of Her supreme beauty.

 

Ambaal, which is the Sakthi of the Para Brahmam, has taken the

mother's form basically because She understands that Her children

are not able to comprehend Her in Her nirguna and arupa ( formless )

form. Because the Ambaal form has been taken up by Her out of this

love for Her children, that Ambaal form itself is a personification

of Supreme Love. She wanted to make all, even including common rural

folks, and those not mature enough to seek refuge in her, to forsake

the smaller pretty things in life and turn towards Her and with this

aim, she took a supremely beautiful form. IT IS A FORM FULL OF

BEAUTY ( LAAVANYAM) CREATED OUT OF SUPREME LOVE ( KAARUNYAM). HER

ENTIRE BODY IS LOVE TRANSFORMED INTO BEAUTY. In case of humans, the

external beauty may not exactly correlate to internal love. Unlike

this, Her intense love for Her own children has embodied itself into

Ambaal, particularly the form of Maha Tripura Sundari who is the

supreme Devata for Shri Vidya. She is called Tripura Sundari, as she

is the most beautiful amongst all those in the three lokas. This has

some thathva meanings also. More about that later.......

 

There are several words that indicate that beauty and love are one

and the same. The adjective "su" denotes two meanings : good and

beautiful. "su-gunam" means good character. "su-roopam" means

beautiful form. What is meant by being good ? It is love which is

the best amongst all good things. We say that love is shiva. ( anbae

shivam in Tamil) Shivam and shubam mean the same thing. Shubam also

means a good / happy thing. What is the best among the good/happy

things ? It is only love. So, Shubam also means love only.

>From "Shuba" has come "Shoba". We normally say them together

as "Shuba Shobanam". "Shoba" describes the beauty of a thing.

As "Shoba" ( beauty) is a derivative of "Shuba" (Good=Love), it is

proved that beauty is derived out of love only.

 

Similarly, marriage (KalyaaNam) is considered the most important

amongst the Shuba occasions. We call the marriage invitation

as "Shuba Muhoortha Pathirika". Amongst the several meanings of

KalyaaNam, one is "good" so meaning love; and another is beauty.

Similarly, we say "Shivam-Sundaram". Another example is the name of

Lord Shiva Himself which is Sundareshwara. The love from His heart

embodied itself into the external beautiful ( Sundara ) form (

Moorthy ).

 

 

BECAUSE AMBAAL'S ROOPAM IS AN EMBODIMENT OF HER LOVE, OUR PROFOUND

MEDITATION ON HER BEAUTY ITSELF BECOMES OUR IMMERSION INTO HER

LOVE. IT DOES LEAD US INTO HER OWN INTERNAL STATE OF ADVAITA /

AATMA ANANDA .

 

If love and beauty are not together ( in a being),it gives only a

temporary pleasure. But when love itself is personified into

beauty ? What path is there to liberation ( moksha), which is

more blissful than the love of Ambaal or Her grace ? It is because

we enjoy Her love itself as Her beauty, it becomes a path/method

for liberation.

 

Thirumanthiram says (in Tamil

 

"anbae shivamavadhu aarum arindhaPin

anbe shivamai amarndhu irundharae".

 

( Rough meaning ? : When one realizes that love is God, he himself

becomes (gets into the state of that ) that love/God. ). Hence, when

one deeply immerses/melts into Her love, oneself is transformed into

It/Her in an advaitic fashion.

 

"bhavanithvam" ( sloka-22) and "sarasvathya lakshmya" ( sloka-99)

indicate this state of total / complete/ universal state of bliss.

 

 

Hence it is not a hyperbolic statement to say that the experience of

the bliss of beauty can lead ultimately to liberation itself.

 

 

(continued).

 

>From Part 6 (Saundarya Lahari ) of Dhievathin Kural of Kanchi

Paramaacharyal

 

Kameshwaran