Digest of Paramacharya's Discourses on Soundaryalahari (DPDS-18)

[Guest guest]

Namaste.

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).

Let us recall that the entire contents of the Digest are from

the Paramacharya’s ideas and words, including the first person

reference to himself, except for my English rendering. Wherever

he uses specific English words himself, I have drawn the

attention of the reader to that fact. Recall particularly that

‘our Acharya’ or ‘The Acharya’ in the discourses, means ‘Adi

Sankaracharya’.

V. Krishnamurthy

-------------------------------

A Digest of Paramacharya’s Discourses on Soundaryalahari - 18

(Digest of pp.820-824 of Deivathin Kural Vol.6, 4th imprn)

 

We are in sloka No.4.

 

(Note by VK: In the text of the sloka given in DPDS-17,

there was a typo. The fourth line ends with

‘sharaNAveva nipuNau’.

It should be ‘charaNAveva nipuNau’.

I thank DVN Sharmaji for pointing this out. )

 

“Other than You, all divines are seen with their mudras of

abhaya (fearlessness) and vara (Boon). In other words they show

by their hands that they give abhaya and vara”. This is the

meaning of the first half of the sloka. But it does not mean

that ambaaL would not grant ‘abhaya’ and ‘vara’. In fact in the

Mayavaram temple She is known as ‘abhaya-ambikA’. One of Her

other names is ‘vara-pradAyini’, ‘the benefactor of boons.’

 

In fact the Acharya only means that She doesn’t have to give

‘abhaya’ and ‘vara’ by Her hands. Her divine feet alone are

capable of granting what other deities do by their hands. The

very word ‘kAryaM’ in Sanskrit (which means, ‘the act’ or

‘action’) goes back to the word ‘kara’ meaning ‘hand’. So the

other divines have to take effort to do the action of giving

‘vara’ and ‘abhaya’. You, Oh Goddess, can do anything by the

very ‘sankalpa’ (determination). Even the fivefold cosmic

actions beginning with creation are done by You just by

‘wiggling the eyebrows’ (kshaNa-calitayoH brU-latikayoH – sloka

24 – meaning: by the movement, for a moment, of the eyebrows).

Whether it is to protect devotees from fear, or it is to give

them more than what they want through their wishes, She does it

by just being there. By taking refuge at Her feet, the devotee

achieves his wishes. She is the refuge of the entire universe.

Note the expert use of the words ‘sharaNye’ and ‘charaNau’. The

first comes from the word ‘sharaNa’ meaning refuge. She is the

Ultimate Refuge for the whole world. The second word comes from

‘charaNa’ meaning ‘foot’. Her feet are the Refuge; because the

feet themselves are capable of granting our wishes, by just

being there. Just as flowers, without ‘doing’ any action,

radiate fragrance.

 

When one asks for the removal of fear, that is, fearlessness

(abhaya), the positive response from the deity could only be the

removal of fear; there is nothing more to be given. On the other

hand, whatever other wish one asks for fulfillment, there can

always be something more than that wish and thus She – nay, just

the grace of Her divine feet - gives the devotee more than

what he wants.

 

A question may arise. Why is ‘fearlessness’ sought separately?

Can it not be given as one of the many wishes, by the Goddess?

Why is it separated from the general category of ‘boons’?

(The following paragraphs are so exquisite in the original

that I chose to translate them literally word by word ! VK)

 

Fearlessness (abhaya) is not a commodity that is given and

taken. It is actually another name for advaita. ‘Only when there

is duality there is fear’ says the Brihad-AraNyakopanishad

(1.4.2). If there is only one thing there is, from what can fear

arise? Only when there is a second entity fear arises in

relation to it. “If one thinks even of the tiniest distinction

in brahman, then fear arises. Even wise men, if they think of

brahman as another distinct object, are ceased of fear”, so says

Taittiriya-upanishad (II – 7).

 

The moment we think of brahman as different from us and as a

God with qualities, we get into the mood of ‘bhakti out of

fear’. Even the westerners talk about the ‘God-fearing’ nature

as man’s noblest quality. When will that fear go? It will go

only when the non-duality conviction arises that there is no

jIvAtman distinct from Ishvara. In that state of the Existence

of One without a second, where is the scope for a boon-giver and

a boon-receiver – two entities? The symbolic exhibition of the

‘abhaya-mudrA’ in the deity’s hand is in fact a formless

(esoteric) principle only. There is no giving, no taking, there.

It is a supreme state and the mudrA is only a symbol for it. The

Lord may be eradicating fears from the smallest fears, through

those of birth and death, to the largest fear, namely that of

duality, that of separation from Him; but the actual state of

fearlessness is only the non-dual state. And that is why, it

does not form part of the category of boons.

 

To the same question the scholars of the other (dvaita) schools

cite the ‘bhava-bhIti’ that is, the fear of the cycle of births

and deaths, as the major fear to be removed by Divine Grace and

that is why, they say, ‘abhaya’ is kept separate from the other

boons; and they stop there.

 

The ‘abhaya mudrA’ is shown by the upward extended palm of the

right hand. Other schools of philosophy say that this right hand

points to the Divine worlds like Vaikunta and Kailasa in the

upper worlds. But we advaitins say that it indicates the

non-dual state which is vast and boundless like the wide space

(AkAsha) up above.

(The translation-mode ends here. VK)

 

The hand which shows the boon-giving status is the left hand

but with the palm facing us and extending downwards. ‘I want

this and I want that’ is itself indicative of a lower state.

Just as the actionless advaita state of ‘abhaya’ belongs to the

Shiva side, namely the right side, the hand which shows the

boon-giving Grace legitimately belongs to the action-packed

Shakti side of the divine form. The left palm is extending

downwards; what does it point to? It points to the divine feet,

which is the last Refuge. Hold on to My Feet, says the Goddess,

“That is the greatest boon for you”.

 

The show of ‘mudrA’ is technically called ‘abhinaya’. To exhibit

whatever mood there is internally, by the expression in the

face, or by a symbolic gesture of the hands or feet is called

‘abhinaya’. Particularly, that shown by the fingers of the hands

is called a ‘mudrA’. It is the science of tantra that prescribes

the ‘mudrAs’. The science and art of dancing has adapted only

these ‘mudrAs’.

 

The bottomline of this sloka is to say that all this business

of hand mudras belongs only to the other deities. Ambaal does

not show any of these mudras. Obviously one is thinking here of

the Goddess Lalita-tripura-sundari only.

 

(To be continued)

 

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.