Digest of Paramacharya's Discourses on Soundaryalahari (DPDS-72)

[Guest guest]

Namaste.

Recall the Note about the organization of the ‘Digest’,

from DPDS – 26 or the earlier ones.

V. Krishnamurthy

A Digest of Paramacharya’s Discourses on Soundaryalahari -

72

(Digest of pp.1218 -1221 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,

4th imprn.)

 

Shloka #65:

 

raNe jitvA daityAn-apahRta-shirastraiH kavacibhiH

nivRttaish-caNDAmsha-tripura-hara-nirmAlya-vimukhaiH /

vishAkh-endro-pendraiH shashi-vishada-karpUra-shakalA

vilIyante mAtas-tava vadana-tAmbUla-kabalAH //65 //

 

caNDAmsha-tripura-hara-nirmAlya-vimukhaiH: (Chanda’s share

- Shiva – leavings –looking away) : Rejecting the

offering-remnants of Shiva as the share of the devotee

Chanda,

vishAkh-endro-pendraiH : the celestials KumAra, Indra and

Vishnu

jitvA : after having conquered

daityAn : the asuras

raNe : in battle,

nivRttaiH : return to you

mAtaH : Oh Mother,

apahRta-shirastraiH : with their head-dresses (helmets,

etc.) removed

kavacibhiH : but with their armour-jackets on,

tava vadana-tAmbUla-kabalAH : (eager to receive) as Your

gracious gift (Prasada) the betal rolls used by You

vilIyante : and chew them

shashi-vishada-karpUra-shakalAH : (until) they dissolve

along with the moon-white pieces of refined camphor

contained in them.

 

Just in the previous shloka (#64) the Acharya has said that

Goddess Saraswati who dwells on the tip of Her tongue, gets

Her crystal-like white complexion changed into the colour

of a red ruby because of the ruddiness of the tongue that

defies the japa (habiscus) flowers in its redness. I have

already told you about this.

(Note by VK: See DPDS – 58)

 

Here this shloka talks about the symphony of red and white

that the betal-chewing gives to ambaal’s tongue. You may

ask wherefrom comes this whiteness. Betal-chewing only

produces a reddish tinge.

 

I take resort to the words

“shashi-vishada-karpUra-shakalAH”. Maybe the Acharya

thought : “We only talked about the white Saraswati at the

tip of ambaal’s tongue becoming red. But while writing

bhashyas, and while composing stotras we have been

propitiating only ShAradA the white Goddess. Then why not

bring Her whiteness into ambaal’s tongue that dwells on the

betal rolls?”!

 

That the mouth is full of betal rolls is a characteristic

attribute that we use in all our descriptions of a

sumangali. Even the Sahasranama says of Her:

“tAmbUla-pUrita-mukhI”, meaning, “The One whose mouth is

full of chewing betal”. Ambaal, who is Auspiciousness

personified should always be visualised by us only this

way.

 

There is nothing that can excel the leavings of her

“tAmbUla” (betal roll). It is called ‘tAmbUla-ucchishhTaM’

(betal-leavings). Only we humans have to consider another

human’s food-leavings as something demeaning. That of

ambaal is sacred. Our body is nothing but meat. But the

divine body is akshhara. It encompasses all from “a” to

“kshha”. That is why it is called ‘akshhara’, which also

means ‘immutable’. The divine body is nothing but all the

mantras personified; because no mantra goes outside of “a”

to “kshha”. Over and above all that, it is Love

personified. And hence it is that Her betal leavings are

most sacred.

 

And who is receiving it? Not just a devotee, a poet or a

rishi. Her own son, KumAra; Her own devotee, Indra, who

received Brahma-vidyA from Her (refer Kenopanishad); and

Her own masculine form in the form of Vishnu. The Acharya

has woven a really marvelous dramatic scene in which these

three receive Her betal leavings.

 

“senAnInAM aham skandaH”, says Krishna in the Gita. “I am

KumAra among the warriors of the world”. His trident

(‘Vel’, in Tamil) is victorious, wherever it appears. Its

very name is shakti. It is nothing but parA-shakti Herself.

And it was this KumAra who went as the chief of all the

divine forces to wage war with the enmies of the divines.

Naturally the King of the divines, Indra, goes along with

Him. Vishnu has another name Upendra – because He was born

as a son (VAmana) to the same parents that bore Indra.

Thus these three, VishAka (KumAra), Indra, and Upendra

(Vishnu) are returning to Mother Goddess after their

victory over the asuras. The first thing that they look for

is the gift of ambaal’s betal leavings.

 

Earlier to the birth of KumAra, once the divines did win

over all the asuras. That was when they were all puffed up

with pride. They thought it was their own Power (shakti)

that brought them the victory. The parA-shakti made them

realise how incomplete their Power was, in each one of

them. She put before them a piece of straw which stood like

a rock before all their might. This story of their

becoming just a speck of dust in the presence of the

supreme Shakti is told very graphically in Kenopanishad. It

was only after this that Indra, among them all, immediately

became very humble and he was taught the Brahma Vidya by

ambaaL.

 

KumAra, Indra and Vishnu very modestly want to offer their

victory over the asuras, at the feet of ambaal and partake

as prasad, of Her betal leavings. Ambaal usually revels in

feeding others rather than enjoying the food Herself.

Different varieties of sweet dishes are usually accepted by

Her as offerings, not for Her own sake, but for the sake of

Her devotees. For Herself She is content with the betal

rolls!. But then, who eats all that food in Her house? It

is the Lord!—so that He may not go ‘begging’ for food in

His style as a ‘BikshhATana’ (the roaming mendicant). When

the three divines return from their victorious war, it was

just the time when the Lord had finished His dinner. But

they (the celestials) did not care for the Prasad of Lord

Shiva – because they were heading towards ambaal for Her

betal leavings!

 

And the Acharya excels here, by ascribing a reason to this

action of the three celestials.

(To be continued)

Thus spake the Paramacharya

 

PraNAms to all advaitins and devotees of Mother Goddess.

profvk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

=====

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

My website on Science and Spirituality is http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

You can access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision and

Practice, and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from the site.

Also see the webpages on Paramacharya's Soundaryalahari :

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/gohitvip/DPDS.html