Digest of Paramacharya's Discourses on Soundaryalahari (DPDS-33)

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Recall the Note about the organization of the ‘Digest’,

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V. Krishnamurthy

A Digest of Paramacharya’s Discourses on Soundaryalahari -

33

(Digest of pp.925-929 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th

imprn.)

 

kirantIm-angebhyaH kiraNa-nikurumbA-mRta-rasaM

hRdi tvAm-Adhatte hima-kara-shilA-mUrtim-iva yaH /

sa sarpANAM darpaM shamayati shakuntAdhipa iva

jvara-plushhTAn dRshhTyA sukhayati sudhA-dhAra-sirayA // 20

//

 

saH yaH : He who

Adhatte : establishes

tvAM : You

hRdi : in (his) heart

hima-kara-shilA-mUrtim-iva: as the form made of moonstem

gem

kirantIM : which shoots forth

angebhyaH : from all its parts

kiraNa-nikurumbA-mRta-rasaM : the nectar essence through

clusters of its rays,

shamayati : cools down

sarpANAM darpaM : the energy of snakes

shakuntAdhipa iva : like Garuda

sukhayati : (and) relieves

dRshhTyA : by just an eye-glance

sudhA-dhAra-sirayA : (that is) full (as it were) of the

flow of nectar

jvara-plushhTAN : those who are suffering the deadly heat

of fever.

 

The importance of this shloka is in its impact on the

eradication of disease. All kinds of diseases afflict

people. People who come to those of us like me, mostly come

to pray to us for removal of this sickness or that. In fact

that tells me how many different kinds of illnesses and

afflictions are there in the world. Our Acharya certainly

would know all that and for sure he would have known the

remedies for all of them. But he must have thought of

posterity on these lines: “They cannot think of me as God.

Even those who grant the avatarhood, would think of me only

as a jnana-avatar and so would think of praying to me only

for jnAna and vairagya (dispassion)”.

 

When people of modern times physically see a spiritually

great person, they get to know many of his characteristics

and activities. So, in addition to thinking of him as a

jnAni or saint, they also think of him as father, as

mother, child, doctor, a go-getter for a job or a marriage

alliance, and what not; they pray for all these and get the

anugraha. But when one is no more, he is only thought of

as a jnAni and only as a benefactor of enlightenment and

nothing more. Of course, if he is considered a siddha, he

is prayed to for material welfare even after his physical

frame is no more. And we think of our Acharya only as a

jnAni. So he must have naturally thought “Let me leave

some stotras for posterity so that they get their

sicknesses removed by recitations of these”. He left behind

him a ‘Subrahmanya bhujangam’ for this very purpose. And

in this Soundarya lahari too, there are several shlokas

mainly for eradication of disease.

 

The whole of Soundaryalahari, as I already said, is a

mantra-shAstra. Each of its shlokas can give certain

specific results when it is used for a mantra-japam. For

instance, there are shlokas for

Learning and Education (Sarasvati’s Grace of VidyA) :

Shloka nos. 3, 12, 15, 16, 17, 60, 64, 75, 96, 98, 99;

Wealth and Prosperity (lakshmi’s Grace) : Shloka nos.23,

45, 71, 91,99;

Grace of both Sarasvati and Lakshmi: 96, 99;

Proficiency in music: 66, 69

Being blessed with a son : 6, 11, 46, 98

A long-gone relative to return from his journeys: 9

parakAya-pravesham (to jump into another body) : 30, 84

Warding off evil spirits: 24, 37, 85, 90

To counter the bad influence of planets: 48

jnAna, mukti and sac-chid-Ananda: 27, 63, 73, 84, 97, 99.

 

[Please let it be noted that the Paramacharya

only listed the various results that accrue from the

shlokas.

Specific numbers of shlokas associated with the specific

results

are reproduced here from a note

appended by Ra. Ganapathi.—VK]

 

If one does a recitation (pArAyaNam) of the shlokas

without desiring any particular favour, one gets the

realisation of either the saguNa-brahman or the

nirguna-brahman, depending on the attitude of the devotee.

Even if one has a desire to be fulfilled, each shloka will

give its own reward. The first shloka and the last shloka

are known to be ‘sarva-siddhi-pradam’ and they will

fulfill all one’s desires.

 

Some shlokas, by their very meanings, allow us to infer

what results will accrue from reciting them. I say ‘infer’

because, they may not bluntly say what results will accrue.

Shlokas which bluntly say so are few, like the ones we saw

earlier (shloka 17) and the present shloka (#20). Even

here, the statement is only that if such and such an

upAsanA is done such and such a result will accrue. Only

later commentators, who came in the sishya-paramparA

(lineage of disciples) of our Acharya have listed the

specifications of the upAsanA, how they should be done,

what yantra to be used, how many days the pUjA or japam

should be done and similar requirements.

 

I was saying that we could infer from the meanings of

certain shlokas the results that will accrue. Ashamed at

the excellence of speech of ambaal Herself Sarasvati winds

up Her play on the VINA (# 66). The three lines on the

neck of ambaal are the boundary lines between the three

kinds of rAga-categories, so that they may not mix with

each other, says Shloka 69. It is clear that a japam of

either of these two shlokas will result in proficiency of

music.

 

Shloka #28 has the thought that even after drinking the

nectar the divines do not live beyond the deluge (pralaya),

whereas Lord Shiva, even after drinking the deadly poison,

continues to live. It is easy to infer that by doing a

mantra japam of this shloka, one gets a long life, poison

or no poison.

 

But there are many more shlokas where we cannot in any way

infer what results will accrue from a mantra-japam of the

shloka.

 

To be Continued

 

Thus spake the Paramacharya

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.