Digest of Paramacharya's Discourses on Soundaryalahari(DPDS-14)

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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 - 14

(Digest of pp.766-774 of Deivathin Kural, Vol.6, 4th imprn.)

 

There is also the Upanishad authority for saying that the

non-dual brahman sprouts out the world of duality by sheer

internal vibration. This is in Katopanishad. All this world

arises from the life force called prANa and moves thereon. The

word for ‘moves’ that is used is ‘Ejati’. Ejanam and Kampanam

both mean movement, but not by any external force. We may also

interpret it as vibration from the inside. Brahma sutra also

uses the word ‘kampanAt’. When the Acharya writes the bhashya

for this he writes: This prANa which causes the vibration is not

simple air. It is the very brahman itself !

(It is to be noted that in this portion of the bhAshya,

Adi Sankara has used the very words ‘spandam’ and

‘pratyabhijnA’,

which are the words for Kashmir Shaivism,

without anywhere hinting that the words come from there.)

 

We can get many more such authorities to confirm that as far as

the phenomenal reality is concerned, there is a creation with

mAyA as the cause. Whenever these passages occur, they also

concur with many of the thoughts of the ShAkta scriptures.

Let us not think that the Acharya’s outpourings in the

Soundaryalahari is just a mixture of several viewpoints! We

should keep an open mind and let ourselves go along with the

flood of poetry that comes and simply concentrate in the ambaal

with faith and humility. Then we can get the maximum joy out of

it.

(Now follows a general, but remarkable, advice of the

Paramacharya on

‘How to approach the Soundaryalahari’ . VK)

 

When the scriptures or shAstras talk about deep philosophical

principles which have themselves a divine character, they

present certain descriptions allegorically. We should not

misunderstand these allegories. In fact the word ‘allegory’

itself is not the right word here. When esoteric principles are

deliberately personified, that is ‘allegory’. The profound ideas

of the shAstras or the purANas are not just mental creations of

the author. It is parAShakti Herself who opens out those

principles in those forms to great rishis or persons who have

reached the siddhi in the mantras.

If this world is taken to be real, then more real are the

principles and stories that help us throw off our shackles and

reach our True State. Even today if we can do the japas and

dhyAnas in the proper manner, and melt our hearts in intense

devotion, those forms can be seen as we see each other in the

outside world. And when such divine sights occur our ordinary

views of each other would pale into insignificance. The Love and

Bliss that such sights generate will take us to the realisation

of the Ultimate. Therefore it is not right to say that

everything is an allegory.

 

To get back to what I was saying earlier, these divine forms

which personify esoteric fundamentals, might contradict what we

consider to be normal, right, decent, and beautiful in the

ordinary mundane world. Just because of that it is not correct

to conclude that the original reality itself is not right,

decent and beautiful.

Similar things can be said of the poetic traditions and the

culture of classic literature. Or even of sculpture, painting or

architecture.

 

In all these, our norms cannot be the standards of ordinary

worldly life. Works like Soundarylahari, which are

simultaneously devotionally divine hymns and poetic excellences,

have to be approached in the right manner in order to obtain

the fullest benefit from them. Our minds have to be open and

clean. The ShrI-vidyA shAstras describe in esoterically romantic

terms how Shiva, who is nothing but the Absolute Brahman,

coupled with Kameshvari, the personification of the icchA (Will)

of Shiva, cause creation to happen. Such matters occur in

Soundaryalahari also.

All these years the upAsakAs (intense devotees) without any

prejudice followed the path of ShrI vidyA and have been able to

discard all the faults like desire and the like. And Muka-kavi

puts this with poetic emphasis in his pancha-Shati: “Mother, you

caused ‘desire’ to rise even in Shiva who burnt to ashes the

very desire personified in the form of Manmatha; that is why You

are able to eradicate the internal faults like desire in jIvas

and give them Enlightenment”.

 

The punchline here is the fact that our people of ancient times

had the right approach to such works of art, poetry and

devotion. The Guru-shishhya-paramparA took care to see that such

works were handed over only to those who could be expected to

have the right approach. Whether the work was religious or

poetical, mystical or secular, they would, when communicating

with the public, only touch such delicate works and not

elaborate upon them in detail. Accordingly, when the common man

meets with any situation wherein there is an idea, concept,

story or character, apparently repugnant to him, he does not

get distracted, because his main aim always was to take only

those things which suited his taste and which were recommended

to him by elders.

Thousands of years have passed like this. And our people have

followed the traditional paths without ever giving place to

indecent imaginations or wrong interpretations. The common man

knew that there must be some sense in those deep and profound

things because great men say so and he would not unnecessarily

probe into them. Not that he was not rational-minded; it only

means that he had an unshaking faith in tradition and also he

was aware of his own limitations.

 

But then the printing press arrived; and times changed. ….

(To be continued).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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.