Digest of Paramacharya's Discourses on Soundaryalahari(DPDS-13)

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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 - 13

(Digest of pp.760 -766 of Deivathin Kural 6th vol. 4th imprn.)

 

(The Paramacharya devotes one more discourse now on mAyA;

now dwelling on the status of mAyA in advaita,

vis-à-vis, the path to Enlightenment -- VK)

 

All the Shakta schools, adopt an interesting strategy with

respect to mAyA. Whatever bondage is created by mAyA, they make

it all related to the divine. Though jnAna and mAyA are at

opposite ends, the very world, mind and senses created by mAyA

are channelised into Love and the pure Beauty of the Mother

Goddess, so that one is blissfully involved in the worship and

prayers aimed at Her. Once the mind is unified in this noble

direction, it is then not difficult to get involved into

enquiry about the Self.

Thus our Acharya also has adopted the same strategy of going

towards jnAna by resorting to the very objects created by that

which is opposite to jnAna. In other words, the thought of God,

worship, listening to stories about His glory, temple worship,

getting emotionally enraptured in stotra recitation, raising the

tempo of spiritual involvement by continuous japa leading to the

correct mood for meditation – these constitute the means by

which one follows the bhakti path thus preparing oneself for the

path of jnAna that is the ultimate. And hence the

Saundaryalahari.

 

The mAyic effect cannot be easily discarded. A tremendous amount

of discretion (viveka) and dispassion (vairagya) might be

needed. In the absence of these the distractions of the sensory

world will be constantly pulling us away. And when such pulls

are very strong, one should not despair of the hopelessness in

making progress in spirituality. It is for this reason that the

Acharya, without asking us to discard the mayic effects totally,

as he would do to a more spiritually mature seeker, asks us to

get involved in bhakti, puja, worship, devotional recitation

and music. If everything of the world is made to relate to the

divine in this way, the mAyA-created world can be gradually won

over. It is like using a certain type of gloves when working

with high voltage electricity. The shock of the system will not

be there and at the same time one has a control over it.

 

Now what I am going to tell you may surprise you in that it

comes from me. I was talking about the mayic creations. They

provide the background for the spiritual sAdhanA. There is a

sAdhanA, a sAdhaka, and the karma of sAdhanA. This triplet is

certainly all mAyA. So what we do is to use mAyA itself to fight

mAyA. This is indeed a strategy to reach advaita-bhAva. The very

fact of a guru teaching you is nothing but Duality. But that

itself can lead to advaita-siddhi. Like a lion roaring in the

dream and waking you up, so also the mayic dream in which we are

all in can be wiped off by a guru’s words doled out in the

world of duality.

Granting that the very act of ‘sAdhanA’ implies duality, the

Acharya, does not hesitate to bring in, into his stotras, the

many sAdhanAs that have goals even contradictory to advaita.

When every propitiation of the divine is certainly a dvaita act,

why shy at the rituals of the non-advaita schools? So without

reservation he allows his imagination to go the path of other

siddhAntas also. That is why, we hear in Soundaryalahari, ideas

from dvaita, visishTAdvaita, shaivam and shAktam.

 

Another important point has to be mentioned. Since all creation

is mAyA, according to advaita, it is not to be thought that

advaita avoids all talk about Shakti. In Chandogya Upanishad,

at one point, it says: The paramAtmA is full of all karmas, all

desires, all fragrance and all tastes. It desired – ‘akAmayata’

–and that is how the One became the Many as said in

Taittiriyopanishad. Not finding any satisfaction in being alone,

it wanted a partner and this desire resulted in it becoming two

as pati and patni – so says Brihad-Aranyakopanishad (I -4- 3 ).

Those two were the father and mother of the entire human race,

according to the same Upanishad.

 

The Brahma-sUtra (II-1-30) also says: ‘sarvopetA ca

tad-darshanAt’ – The Upanishads say that the paramAtman is thus

endowed with all shakti.

 

Our Acharya does not just gloss over such statements. Just

because they talk about mAyA he does not overlook their mention.

In his bhAshya he emphatically says: “shakti-yuktA parA devatA”.

Since he himself has defined mAyA as anirvacanIya (that which

is inexpressible or unexplainable), he is not afraid of

questions like: ‘Where did the Shakti come from”. In the matter

of brahman one cannot ask questions like ‘How is it possible?’

in the same manner as one would ask when being presented with

material matter and worldly concepts. The profound and majestic

truths about brahman cannot be learnt by logical quibbling, but

only by what the Vedas have declared. (Brahma-sUtra-bhAshya: II

– 1 – 31).

 

Therein he says: The talk of creation arises only when, instead

of being in that samAdhi state as brahman, we begin to think and

talk about brahman. When the nirguna brahman which is nothing

but pure cit, is talked about in relation to Creation which is

just avidya-kalpitam (imagined by ignorance), it is said to have

‘sarva-shakti-yogam’ says the Acharya. ‘Shivas-ShaktyA yuktah’

is just this !

 

Following this the Brahma sutra says: ‘lokavattu leelA

kaivalyam’ (II–1-33). The world creation is just leela. The

Acharya concludes his bhashya on this with the words: “When the

vedas talk about srishTi, it is not about the nirguNa absolute

brahman. It is only a view, name-and-form view, of Duality

imagined by ignorance ; it is only a phenomenal reality”. But

though he goes in this strain, he also admires the leela of the

Lord. “It may appear as a great achievement from our angle –

this Creation – but for Him it is only just a play” !

(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.