saundarya laharI - 9 (Conclusion)

[Guest guest]

Dear brothers and sisters,

 

Over these past 9 days, it has been my great fortune

to be able to bring to you these nectarine words of

our revered paramAcArya on the glory of our Mother.

 

Today is the concluding piece of this series. I trust

you have enjoyed reading them as much as I have

enjoyed transcribing them.

 

May we be ever immersed in Her Ocean of Love.

 

At Her Feet,

Ramesh

 

---------------------

 

The Auspicious Conclusion

 

 

We have come to the end of the hymn, a hymn that is

supremely auspicious. A wave or a stream has to

complete its journey by mingling with the ocean. Thus

the AcArya completes his wave of words by mingling it

with the ocean that is the embodiment of the Brahman

of sound.

 

....The AcArya has hymned ambA, the Beautiful Mother,

in words of beauty, in images that enchant us and

arouse noble emotions. In this way he has helped us to

grasp ambA joyfully, blissfully.

 

As we read the hymn, love and devotion for ambA will

spring in our hearts and that love itself will be an

adornment for us. As the AcArya bedecks her with his

words, the love and devotion inspired in us for her

become our own adornment. It is this love that is true

beauty, true adornment. As mentioned earlier, is it

not ambA's love that has become a beautiful flow of

her beautiful form, saundaryalaharI? So, by reading

the hymn, if we become steeped in this love, all of

us, who read it, will become saundaryalaharI. Here we

have non-dualism : the hymn, the goddess hymned, the

devotee who reads the hymn, all become

saundaryalaharI, all become united in the wave of

beauty, in the river of beauty. I left out the author

of the hymn. He (the AcArya) himself says that he is

not the author of the work. But how can we leave him

out? In fact he is the great saundaryalaharI. On one

side he is saundaryalaharI because of his love for

ambA and on the other he is saundaryalaharI again

because of his compassion for all of us. It is to

connect the two that he has composed the hymn that is

the saundaryalaharI. Things are joined together,

connected, with bridges. But the AcArya who does

everything in a novel way joins the two together by

swelling the laharI, by creating a flood of the

laharI.

 

....We too must become saundaryalaharI, the wave of

beauty, the flood of beauty. For that purpose we must

become immersed in this hymn, saundaryalaharI, bathe

in it again and again, become steeped in it, and

become ambA's children. Addressing ambA as "vAcAm

janani", mother of words, mother of speech, the AcArya

concludes his hymn, the child that is his stotra,

joining it with its mother: "This is a hymn to you

made up of your own words" ("tvadIyAbhir vAgbhih

stutiriyam"). He brings the child that is his hymn

with its mother. His shivAnandalaharI hymn is a maiden

he marries to Ishvara. If it is a male deity the self-

surrender is made to him in the attitude of a nAyikA

("heroine" or bride). That is why the AcArya concludes

the shivAnandalaharI by marrying his hymn to Ishvara.

A female deity is Mother and each one of us is an

innocent child of hers. "Whatever mother does, however

it be, is right": a child who adopts such an attitude

surrenders to its mother. That is why the AcArya makes

the saundaryalaharI a child and entrusts it to "vAcAm

janani", the mother of speech. In this way he asks all

of us to be children - he asks each one of us to be a

child - and cling to her, the Mother. He does more

than merely ask us to do so. In his great compassion

he opens up a way for it, to make us cling to her, to

join us with her, by blessing us with this marvellous

hymn.

 

The purpose of the gift the AcArya makes us in his

grace, the gift of the saundaryalaharI is this: all of

us must remain ambikA's children, always adoring her,

the World Mother, and always making obeisance to

her. Indeed we must pay obeisance to her through this

very hymn, dissolve our Atman in the beautiful form

embodied by saccidAnanda [existence-consiousness-bliss]

and remain blissful, no, remain as bliss itself.

[Guest guest]

dear ramesh,

 

it was such a treat to taste this 'divine' nectar during the nine

nights of holy navaratri!

 

thank u for bringing it to this audience!

 

love and blessings,

 

om sree ambikayaii namaha!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-- In , Ramesh Srinivasan <ramesh@i...> wrote:

>

>

> Dear brothers and sisters,

>

> Over these past 9 days, it has been my great fortune

> to be able to bring to you these nectarine words of

> our revered paramAcArya on the glory of our Mother.

>

> Today is the concluding piece of this series. I trust

> you have enjoyed reading them as much as I have

> enjoyed transcribing them.

>

> May we be ever immersed in Her Ocean of Love.

>

> At Her Feet,

> Ramesh

>

> ---------------------

>

> The Auspicious Conclusion

>

>

> We have come to the end of the hymn, a hymn that is

> supremely auspicious. A wave or a stream has to

> complete its journey by mingling with the ocean. Thus

> the AcArya completes his wave of words by mingling it

> with the ocean that is the embodiment of the Brahman

> of sound.

>

> ...The AcArya has hymned ambA, the Beautiful Mother,

> in words of beauty, in images that enchant us and

> arouse noble emotions. In this way he has helped us to

> grasp ambA joyfully, blissfully.

>

> As we read the hymn, love and devotion for ambA will

> spring in our hearts and that love itself will be an

> adornment for us. As the AcArya bedecks her with his

> words, the love and devotion inspired in us for her

> become our own adornment. It is this love that is true

> beauty, true adornment. As mentioned earlier, is it

> not ambA's love that has become a beautiful flow of

> her beautiful form, saundaryalaharI? So, by reading

> the hymn, if we become steeped in this love, all of

> us, who read it, will become saundaryalaharI. Here we

> have non-dualism : the hymn, the goddess hymned, the

> devotee who reads the hymn, all become

> saundaryalaharI, all become united in the wave of

> beauty, in the river of beauty. I left out the author

> of the hymn. He (the AcArya) himself says that he is

> not the author of the work. But how can we leave him

> out? In fact he is the great saundaryalaharI. On one

> side he is saundaryalaharI because of his love for

> ambA and on the other he is saundaryalaharI again

> because of his compassion for all of us. It is to

> connect the two that he has composed the hymn that is

> the saundaryalaharI. Things are joined together,

> connected, with bridges. But the AcArya who does

> everything in a novel way joins the two together by

> swelling the laharI, by creating a flood of the

> laharI.

>

> ...We too must become saundaryalaharI, the wave of

> beauty, the flood of beauty. For that purpose we must

> become immersed in this hymn, saundaryalaharI, bathe

> in it again and again, become steeped in it, and

> become ambA's children. Addressing ambA as "vAcAm

> janani", mother of words, mother of speech, the AcArya

> concludes his hymn, the child that is his stotra,

> joining it with its mother: "This is a hymn to you

> made up of your own words" ("tvadIyAbhir vAgbhih

> stutiriyam"). He brings the child that is his hymn

> with its mother. His shivAnandalaharI hymn is a maiden

> he marries to Ishvara. If it is a male deity the self-

> surrender is made to him in the attitude of a nAyikA

> ("heroine" or bride). That is why the AcArya concludes

> the shivAnandalaharI by marrying his hymn to Ishvara.

> A female deity is Mother and each one of us is an

> innocent child of hers. "Whatever mother does, however

> it be, is right": a child who adopts such an attitude

> surrenders to its mother. That is why the AcArya makes

> the saundaryalaharI a child and entrusts it to "vAcAm

> janani", the mother of speech. In this way he asks all

> of us to be children - he asks each one of us to be a

> child - and cling to her, the Mother. He does more

> than merely ask us to do so. In his great compassion

> he opens up a way for it, to make us cling to her, to

> join us with her, by blessing us with this marvellous

> hymn.

>

> The purpose of the gift the AcArya makes us in his

> grace, the gift of the saundaryalaharI is this: all of

> us must remain ambikA's children, always adoring her,

> the World Mother, and always making obeisance to

> her. Indeed we must pay obeisance to her through this

> very hymn, dissolve our Atman in the beautiful form

> embodied by saccidAnanda [existence-consiousness-bliss]

> and remain blissful, no, remain as bliss itself.