saundaryalaharI - 2

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shrI lalitAyai namah

 

tanIyAMsaM pAMsuM tava caraNapa~NkeruhabhavaM

viri~ncih saMcinvan viracayati lokAn avikalam

vahatyenaM shaurih katham api sahasreNa shirasAM

harah saMkshudyainam bhajati bhasitoddhULanavidhim 2

 

O Mother

viri~ncih: brahma

tava: your

caraNapa~nkeruha: lotus feet

bhava: present in

pAMsuM: dust

tanIyAMsam: speck of (very subtle)

saMcinvan: collecting

lokAn: all the worlds

avikalam: without any defects

viracayat: created

shaurih: vishNu

enam: the same (the tiny bit of dust from Your lotus feet)

shirasAM sahasreNa: by his thousand heads

katham api: how does he do (i.e. with great difficulty)

vahati: carrying

harah: shiva

enam: the same (the tiny bit of dust from Your lotus feet)

saMkshudya: by powdering it well

bhasma uddULana vidhim: smearing the ashes

bhajati: serving

 

O Mother; brahma, having gathered the tiniest speck of dust of Your

lotus feet, has created the worlds efficiently; shauri carries this

speck of dust on his thousand heads with great difficulty; shiva,

having pulverized this dust, smears his body with it.

 

commentary:

 

shri shankara begins this stotra with a reverent look at the divine

Mother's lotus feet. He ends the stotra also with a similar praise

of the greatness of Her lotus feet (verse 98). [verse 1 is the

benedictory verse and the last verses 99 and 100 are the phalashruti

verses and the stotra may be considered to be starting at verse 2.]

 

In this verse, the great power or potency of the lotus feet of the

divine Mother is highlighted. The creation, sustenance and destruction

of the entire universe has become possible for brahma, vishNu, and

shiva, only through the power derived by them from shri devI. Further,

the speck of dust from Her lotus feet is the material cause for this

universe. This dust from Her lotus feet provides the blessing for

brahma, vishNu and Ishwara to proceed on with their duties of creation,

sustenance and destruction.

 

tanIyAmsam: the very subtle, speck of (dust)

 

viri~ncih: brahma, having gathered this very fine subtle dust from

the devI's feet and with that, created the upper seven worlds (bhuh,

bhuvah, suvah, mahah, janah, tapah and satya) and the lower seven

worlds (atala, vitala, sutala, rasAtala, talAtala, mahAtala, and

pAtAla).

 

avikalam: This may be interpreted as

(i) associated with brahma: brahma created the worlds so that

one world doesn't get into the way of the other; i.e. with

efficiency;

or (ii) associated with vishNu: the protection by vishNu is up to the

final dissolution; he ensures the existence of the universe in

the regular order in which it has been created, up to the time

of final dissolution.

 

shauri: coming from the lineage of a yAdava king by name shUra;

Shauri sshUrah janeshwarah: shauri is one of the names of vishNu

from vishNusahasranAma.

vishNu the sustainer is said to be lifting the fourteen worlds,

the upper seven in the form of a porpoise (shiMshumAra) and the

lower seven in the form of sheSha.

 

SahasreNa shirasAm: sahasrashIrShA puruShah; from shrutI, with thousand

heads

 

harah: antakAle prapa~ncam harati harah. The one who destroys the jagat

at the time of praLaya is hara.

 

The main essence of the verse is: the greatness of the devI is shown by

the total dependence of the creator, the sustainer and the destroyer of

the worlds on the dust of Her feet, for carrying out their respective

duties. Her greatness is further shown by the fact, that a single speck

of dust of her feet provides the material for the creator to create all

the worlds, with their various contents. The same speck of dust requires

great effort from vishNu to lift the weight with his thousand heads. The

mighty shiva has to reduce this tiny speck to ashes by way of destroying

the worlds.

 

The meaning of this verse is also graphically explained as follows:

The divine Mother was walking in the pleasure garden of shripuram along

with the attendants. Brahma after having had darshan of devI, gathered

the dust from the path on which devI had walked. With the aid of this

dust, brahma created the fourteen worlds. vishNu, having known that all

the worlds are only particles of the dust of devI's feet, bears them on

his (thousand) heads with great care and reverence. shiva awaits the

time of mahApraLaya to have the gains (dust from shridevI's lotus feet)

derived by brahma and vishNu. At the time of praLaya, he (shiva) reduces

the worlds (dust particles of divine Mother's feet) into ashes and smears

his body with that vibhUti.

 

Regards

Gummuluru Murthy

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