saundarya laharI - 4

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"Mother, Bathe Me too in Your Grace"

 

 

After the stanza in which mInAkSI is called to mind,

there are a number of shlokas that deeply touch our

hearts, and one of them (57) is a prayer to ambikA's

sidelong glance made with a heart that melts in

devotion. It is a stanza in which flows the AcArya's

verbal nectar and it is composed when the nectar

welling up in ambA's sidelong glance flows fully

towards him. However, instead of saying that the

goddess's sidelong glance has come to him in a flow

and become "collected" in him, he prays to her in

utter humility for the same (for her sidelong glance).

The AcArya in fact says that he too must receive

ambA's glance and he does so without any trace of ego

in him. As one who is the pinnacle of devotion and

jnana and poetic genius he prays thus for ambA's

grace.

 

Many great devotees like the nAyanmArs and the AzhvArs,

who had a vision of the Lord and who have had the

experience of divinity, have prayed, lamenting, "Will

not this nAyana be vouchsafed your darshan?" Why do

they act or speak like this? We who do not come face

to face with the Lord do not know to lament with

intensity that we have not been granted his darshan.

So the Lord who is resolved to wash away the sins of

those who pray to him with intense devotion thinks to

himself: "These people do not know how to pray with

all their heart and lament with deep feeling that they

have not had my darshan. So I must teach them how to

do it." He reveals his words of grace only through

those who have realised him inwardly. He inspires

these great men who delight themselves in him to speak

his words, words that would constitute a "model" for us

to lament with devotion that we have not had his darshan.

It is thus that ambA has inspired the AcArya to pray

with a heart that melts in devotion for her and speak

words that should be an example for us to include in

our prayers.

 

...."davIyAMsam dInam snapaya kR^ipayA mAmapi shive."

 

....The AcArya addresses ambA as "shive", the

embodiment of all that is auspicious. "davIyAMsam"

means existing very far away. Like "drAghIyasyA", this

word is also in the comparative degree. If ambA's look

is longer (reaches out farther) than anything else,

what about the one who is more distant from her than

all others? Who is it?

 

"dInam": one who is in abject poverty, one who suffers

much and is worthy of everyone's sympathy, one who is

full of fear, good-for-nothing, lowly - the word has

all these meanings. The AcArya has used such a word

here.

 

He prays for "this dIna, this poor man", who is

farthest from ambA, farther than anyone else.

"kR^ipayA"= with your compassion; "snapaya" = bathe

(him). "Bathe this poor man who is full of dirt and

make him pure. Mother," so prays the AcArya.

 

Where is he to be bathed? In a river or a pond? And

how? In warm water or cold? Not in any of these. Then

in what? "dR^ishA" - in ambA's glance. "In the

ambrosia of your sidelong glance, bathe him, Mother."

A drop of that ambrosia of her sidelong glance will

not be enough. The ambrosia must come flooding and

bathe him, this dIna.

 

If we examined the meaning of the first line of the

stanza we would think that there is no need for such a

prayer. "drAghIyasyA": does not ambA's sidelong glance

reach out far without being asked by anyone to be so

and does it not fall on all irrespective of whether or

not they deserve it? And are not all creatures of the

world bathed in it? Then why should the AcArya

specially pray, "snapaya kR^ipayA": "Bathe (him) in

your compassion?"

 

Why should the AcArya pray thus? This dIna is not like

other creatures. He is far removed from them. Is he

not "davIyAMsa" (one who is far away)? He does not

seem to belong even to this world in which people who

have committed great wrongs are enabled to receive

ambA's sidelong glance. It appears he has been

banished from this world.

 

If he has been banished (or excommunicated) even by

the supremely compassionate ambA, it means that he

must be so evil, so full of sin. But who is he?

 

Now comes the word that is the very soul of this

stanza, the word that eloquently expresses the sublime

character of the AcArya's compassionate heart and his

humility.

 

"mAmapi".

 

"mAm api" : "mAm" = me; "api" = also; "me also".

 

The one who is removed furthest from ambA, the dIna

(the wretched and the impure and the suffering one) is

not an unknown person. "It is I myself," says the

AcArya.

 

....Why does the AcArya, so noble and high-minded,

speak thus lowering himself? As I said in another

context, the AcArya speaks words addressed to

ambA, words that we ought to speak ourselves. It is

indeed we who have committed great sins and are

banished far beyond the empire of bliss, ambA's

sidelong glance. So it is we who must pray as the

AcArya does. But we do not know how to pray. So the

AcArya teaches us to pray, the AcArya who does not

need to pray in this manner.

 

They say that Jesus took upon himself the sins of all

people and was nailed on the cross. The AcArya takes

upon himself all the evil that is ours and tells ambA:

"Bathe me too in the stream of your sidelong glance."

 

....What would be the AcArya's answer if ambA were to

ask him, "That is all right. You have yourself said

that I keep blessing the world on my own with my

sidelong glance. Even so you say that I have discarded

you, banished you far, because you do not deserve my

sidelong glance in the least. Then why do you pray for

it?" Such a question on ambA's part would only be a

pretext to invite an ingenious reply of poetic beauty

from the AcArya.

 

.... To Be Continued

 

(Excerpted from 'saundaryalaharI: An exposition by

pUjyashrI candrashekharendra sarasvatI svAmI, 68th

sha~NkarAcArya of kA~nci kAmakoTi pITha', compiled and

edited by rA. GaNapati and translated into English by

R.G.K., Revised by BrahmashrI A. KuppusvAmI; Published

by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 2001)