Digest of Paramacharya's Discourses on Soundaryalahari(DPDS-12)

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Namaste.

Recall that the entire contents of the Digest are from the

Paramacharya’s ideas and words, except for my English rendering.

Wherever he uses specific English words himself, I have drawn

the attention of the reader to that fact. FOR NEW READERS of

this series, it may be worthwhile to go back to the

Introduction about the objective of this Digest and the Note on

the Organization (both at advaitin Message No.18425;

message no.5273; advaita-L message No.14046; Sadhana_shakti

message no.334).

V. Krishnamurthy

 

 

A Digest of Paramacharya’s Discourses on Soundaryalahari - 12

 

I was saying that our Acharya , had included ideas from the

non-advaita schools also. These ideas as well as those of

advaita had their origin long before their chief proponents

propagated them formally as a siddhanta. So Soundarya lahari

being a work of bhakti leaning a little on the side of the

Shakta schools, has these ideas also in it. It talks about the

‘spandanam’ of brahma-Shakti and praises, in superlative terms,

the Shakti that caused it. But there is no such idea of

‘spandanam’ in the advaita shAstra of Adi Sankara.

 

The Brahman of advaita is motionless, and changeless. This

immutable Brahman was, according to advaita, neither moved from

outside nor perturbed from the inside. The multiple

presentations that resulted through the Creation process was

just due to mAyA, which, with the base (adhAra) of Brahman,

somehow initiated it. It is only an appearance according to

advaita and that is why mAyA is criticised and recommended to be

negated. Our Atman is nothing but that very nirguNa Brahman. If

we do not know it, it is because mAyA has done its work of

hiding the Reality from us.

 

But it is that very same mAyA that the Soundaryalahari now has

taken to the skies and praised as Shakti, as a power greater

than even the Triad of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Though it does

not use the word ‘mAyA’ here, it uses the word ‘Shakti’ and

from the very fact that Shakti is the root cause for creation of

the universe, it is clear it must be the same as the mAyA of

advaita.

 

In advaita the nirguNa Brahman is unrelated to the saguNa

Brahman which produces and monitors the whole universe by mAyA

Shakti. For, nirguNa Brahman just is; it can never be related to

or predicated with anything. The miraculous way in which mAyA

exhibits that Brahman, as Brahman with name and form and all the

associated multiplicity, is analogous to the way we see in a

dimly lit twilight the appearance of a snake in a rope. Clearly

there is no relationship between the appearing snake and the

rope which is the support for the appearance.

 

However, the Shaktam that the Acharya projects to us has a mAyA

Shakti which is not unrelated to Brahman. There is no

brahma-Shakti talked about in advaita. Here in ShAktam, it is

brahma-Shakti that is important. That is the ambaal. One of her

aspects is the magic wand of mAyA. Not only that. She is Herself

the jnAna-Shakti (the power of cognitive self-recognition) which

is diametrically opposite to mAyA; and further it is the icchA

Shakti (the power of wilful self-emanation) and kriyA Shakti

(the power of creative act) also. She stands inseparable from

the Shivam which is the nirguNa Brahman of ShAktam which,

however, is a shade different from the nirguNa Brahman of

advaita. The identity of Shiva and Shakti is important here.

Identity means total oneness. It is this Shivam that is made to

be the object of spandanam, and then coupled with Him She does

the creation and all further processes. Since She is the

‘Energy’ or ‘Power’ of Shivam, it is clear that any action She

undertakes cannot but have a relationship with that Shivam.

 

When Shakti, the ambaal, grants moksha to the jIva, the jIva

attains the changeless nirguNa state, say the Shakta works like

the ShrI-vidyA. Even then that nirguNa state has also the

Shakti in it!. It is said that Shakti itself revels in

enjoyment of bliss in its own creation of the universe of

duality. But it is not even right to say that the play of

creation is for enjoyment. Because if you accept this, it

would mean that when there is no creation, Shakti is without

that bliss! So instead of saying that She indulges in Creation

for enjoyment of bliss, we should rather say that it is the very

Bliss that is part of Her that exhibits itself as the creation.

 

Let me now explain the subtle difference between the mAyA of

advaita and the different Shaktis of the Shaiva and ShAkta

schools. Starting from the Shivam-Brahman, they talk of 36

principles. The first five are called pure ‘mAyA’ and the latter

31 belong to the category of impure ‘mAyA.

 

Shivam is the first. Next there come three different shaktis,

namely, cit-shakti, jnAna-shakti, vidyA-shakti. These correspond

to three different dimensions of cit. When it pertains to the

non-dual shiva-shakti, it is cit. When it pertains to the

seed-knowledge of duality for the purpose of creation it is

called jnAna. In the next stage it is aware both of its non-dual

state and its potential for the sprouting out into multiplicity,

and then it is called (pure) vidyA. After these three, come the

next, now the fifth in order, namely the kriyA shakti which is

the executing part. Only thereafter, starting from the sixth

principle, it is mAyA and all its evolutes.

 

All this importance given to Shakti in the Shaiva and Shakta

schools is avoided in advaita, with all the evoluted appearances

from Brahman being branded as the effect of mAyA and we being

asked to discredit them.

 

But even in the way the Shaiva and Shakta schools go, the

question can be asked; Somehow or other, it is the hierarchy of

these Shaktis that bind us to this samsAra. Why then praise that

Shakti and worship it with hymns like Soundaryalahari?

 

This is the key question. The answer is, mAyA Shakti even in the

Shakta schools does not end there. It is also the jnAna Shakti

as we saw above. And the bottomline of it all is that this same

Shakti as jnAna Shakti graces us with Knowledge and

Enlightenment in the end. And in the meantime She shows Infinite

Love towards us in order to take us back into her fold. That is

the greatest anugraha that She does for us. And that is why we

worship Her and pray to Her for Release.

(To be continued).

PraNAms to all advaitins and Devotees of Mother Goddess.

profvk

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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.