Digest of Paramacharya's Discourses on Soundaryalahari (DPDS-38)

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Namaste.

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

from DPDS – 26 or the earlier ones.

V. Krishnamurthy

A Digest of Paramacharya’s Discourses on Soundaryalahari -

38

(Digest of pp. 958-963 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th

imprn.)

 

The next sloka is of great interest. Even in the portion

of Anandalahari, which is supposed to be mainly the

esoteric content of the ShAkta scriptures, there are slokas

which reflect the pure bhakti sentiment coupled with

excelling poetry. One such sloka is No.22. In this sloka

one is lifted from the dvaita-bhakti to an advaita-like

stage where there is a symbiosis of bhakti, shakti and

jnAna.

 

bhavAni tvam dAse mayi vitara dRShhTiM sakaruNAM

iti stotuM vAnchan kathayati bhavAni tvam-iti yaH /

tadaiva tvaM tasmai dishasi nija-sAyujya-padavIM

mukunda-brahmendra-sphuTa-makuTa-nIrAjita-padAM //22 //

 

 

“bhavANi” – Oh Mother bhavAni. Bhava is the name of Shiva.

The Shakti of Bhava is BhavAni.

tvam vitara : Please (you) cast

dRShhTim : (your) glance

sakruNAM : (which is) coupled with Grace and Compassion

mayi : on me

dAse : (who is your) servant.

Vanchan : Wishing

Iti stotuM : to praise thus,

yah: whoever

kathayati :says

bhavAni tvaM iti : “bhavAni tvaM” ,

tadaiva (= tadA + eva) : then and there, (that is, even

before you complete the remaining words “dAse mayi vitara

dRShhTim sa karuNAM”)

tvaM : You

dishasi : grant, give

tasmai : to him

nija-sAyujya-padavIM : your own sAyujya status.

(We shall come to the fourth line of the stanza later)

 

The marvel here is, that the devotee has not yet said the

full prayer of his, namely: Oh Bhavani, You please cast on

me, your servant, your glance of compassion and grace. He

has just said: “Oh Bhavani, You” ! That itself is

sufficient for the Goddess to pour Her maximum Grace of Her

own sAyujya status on the devotee. This is the implication

of the words ‘tadA-eva’ in the beginning of the third line

of the stanza. The very moment one says ‘bhavAni tvaM’, he

is granted the Grace. How is this? And what is this sAyujya

status that is being granted?

(The sAyujya concept was described

in the first paragraph of DPDS – 29 - VK)

The sAyujya status is that which becomes one with the

Object of Adoration. But what is being said here is not the

oneness with the nirguNa-brahman. Why am I saying this? Now

go to the fourth line of the sloka.

Mukunda: vishnu

Brahma : creator brahma

Indra : Indra, the King of the divines

sphuTa-makuTa : the shining crown

nIrAjita-padAM : the feet which have been offered the

ceremonial waving (nIrAjana) of lights before them.

 

And thus, the last line means, in conjunction with the

third line, “Then and there, You give him your sAyujya

status, (which earns them) Your feet that have been given

the ‘nIrAjana’ (waving of lights) by the Gods Vishnu,

Brahma and Indra who, by falling at Your feet, have had

their shining crowns touch your feet and thus have offered

worship to it”.

 

It is the sAyujya status (the identity in form and essence)

that privileges the devotee to enjoy the worship of even

the Gods, through their ‘nIrAjana’ to the Divine Feet, with

which there is identity now.

 

If one reaches advaita-sAyujya (identity) with the

Ultimate, things will not be like this; for there is no

‘form’ there and there are no feet to be worshipped! And

then there will be no gods in name and form. The advaita

sAyujyam is the oneness with the Ultimate Nirguna-brahman

where there is no more universe. So what is said in this

sloka is not the sAyujya of advaita.

 

It is the supreme brahman which manifests itself as the

First Cause in terms of parA-shakti. She is the Queen of

this Universe and She adminsiters this whole universe by

Her own agents such as Brahma and Indra. It is those divine

agents who fall at Her feet in obeisance. It is in that

state that the individual soul (jIvAtma) becomes one with

the parAshakti in its sAyujya status. It is that sAyujya

that is spoken of here.

 

The interesting fact is that even the advaita shAstras do

speak of this state. Of course the goal of the advaita

scriptures is not this. The peaceful nirguNa state without

any mention of shakti or of any ‘action’ is the goal of

advaita. But the ‘Ishvara’ that advaita talks of does ‘get

into action’! It is He (taking the place of ‘parAshakti’ of

the shAkta schools) who does all the leelA with the

devotee. That is why, even though the Ultimate is something

in which there should be no talk of ‘the rise of desire’ or

the ‘occurrence of determination (sankalpa)’, the

Upanishads do speak like ‘Whatever objects He desires, they

appear by His very desire’. (‘yam kAmam kAmayate saH asya

sankalpAd-eva samut-tishhTanti’ --Chandogya U. VIII -2).

This means just that He has the quality of ‘aishvarya’,

namely, the godliness of being parAshakti.

 

Even if the person goes via the path of jnAna and looks

forward to the advaitic union in nirguNa brahman, the

parAshakti catches hold of him, as it were, on the way and

makes him play along with Her in saguNa-sAyujyam (identity

with Ishvara, the aspect of brahman with form) in the world

of action! But the play does not end there. He soars even

higher spiritually. He is now in identity with the

parAshakti, the Director of the entire universe and all its

play. It is in that state he enjoys the bliss of union with

the saguNa Ultimate. It is a state where there is the apex

of Devotion and also the sense of advaita-jnAna – a

perfectly peaceful and blissful state.

 

(To be continued)

Thuis 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.

Also see the webpages on Paramacharya's Soundaryalahari :

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/gohitvip/DPDS.html