Digest of Paramacharya's Discourses on Soundaryalahari(DPDS-52)

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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 -

52

(Digest of pp.1056 - 1060 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,

4th imprn.)

 

I was saying how the Acharya is helping us to keep Her

sarva-vyApakatvaM (Her pervasion of everything) always in

our memory. Memory is in the mind. And he has begun this

shloka (#35) with the words “manas-tvaM” (You are my

mind). All our problems arise in the mind and so mind is

the source, origin of all our troubles. But if we start

thinking that, that Mind itself is ambaaL, then we have

nowhere else to go! We have got it! Mind has now to be

turned to what is within. It is not necessary to ‘kill’ it

root and branch. Even if it turns outside and looks at the

world, we now know that all the five elemental fundamentals

are nothing but ambaaL. “vyoma tvaM” - Space is You; “

marud-asi” – Air is You. ... “tvayi pariNatAyaM na hi

paraM” – There is nothing that is not a transformation of

Yourself. Thus we see everything as ambaaL. And the mind

which sees and enjoys these sights is also the same Mother.

 

 

If one trains oneself to this way of viewing everything as

The Mother, in due course, we will obtain the same

Knowledge-Bliss experience even in this play of Creation.

Our little little pleasures – sensual or otherwise - and

our fragments of knowledge all merge in that supreme Bliss

and Knowledge. And we become the cid-Ananda svarUpa itself.

We become one with the Shiva-yuvati, the Reservoir of

Existence-Knowledge-Bliss itself. What else is there beyond

that?

 

In the museum of the former Baroda state, there is a

manuscript which has a picture for every shloka of

Soundaryalahari. One copy of it is in Philadelphia Art

Museum. I have already told you of this in another

connection. A Professor from the University of Pennsylvania

sent three pages from that collection to our Professor in

the University of Madras and asked for clarification. In it

there is a remarkable picture even for this shloka (#35),

which obviously would not seem to admit any pictorial

representation.

 

To wind up let me give you the gist of the two shlokas #s

34 and 35. It is ambaaL who is the body of Ishvara. Body

here includes both the gross and the subtle. The gross body

is mentioned in the “sharIram tvam” shloka. The subtle body

is referred to in “manas-tvam” shloka. This mind could be

our own mind or the supreme Mind called Mahat, which is the

origin for all the five elemental fundamentals. It is from

that Mahat all the five elements originated, until they

finally became this universe. That is why “There is nothing

other than You”. Though You are called the body of the soul

called ‘shambhu’, You are the one who is indistinguishable

between soul and body; You yourself have expanded as this

universe.

 

There is a little echo here of the siddhAnta of Shri

Ramanuja, in the concept of the body and soul, applied to

the universe (Shakti) and the Ultimate (Shambhu).

However, finally the shloka winds up with the words

‘cidAnandAkAraM’, thus ending up with advaita. The ambaaL

is the Knowledge source (cin-mUlaM); She is also the Bliss

source (Ananda-mUlaM). But these two cannot be separated

from the Existence source (san-mUlaM). None of the three

can be kept in isolation; just as in a sweet dish we cannot

separate the form, the taste and the smell. So the cit and

Ananda cannot be separated form their base, the sat. To

manifest to the world this Knowledge and this Bliss , the

One Reality appears as two and takes the posture of

“shiva-yuvati”. This is only a bhAva, an attitudinal

posture.

 

After the “manas-tvaM” shloka, there follow five shlokas

(#s 36 to 40) which depict how the divine couple take their

seats in the kunDalini chakras representing AkAsha, Air,

Fire, Water and Earth (mentioned in the order of evolution

from the subtle to the gross). In each chakra they have a

distinct name, different function, and unique

characteristics. But the one characteristic that is common

to all of them is the Supreme Compassion. In #36, they

shine (in the AjnA chakra) with the effulgence of millions

of Suns and Moons and lift up the devotee to a status

higher than the Sun, the Moon and the Fire. In the next,

(in the vishuddhi chakra) they radiate, from their pure

crystalline source, the infinite coolness like some supreme

moonlight thus eradicating the obstacle of an inner

darkness. Just as the mystical bird ‘cakora’ consumes

moonlight, the devotees enjoy that mystic coolness.

 

In #38, residing in the anAhata chakra the couple is now in

the form of a hamsa couple. The ‘hamsa’ word should

indicate the ‘parama-hamsa’ characteristic of a sannyAsi,

a jnAni of advaitic enlightenment. It is that seat from

which the praNava mantra “OM” generates by itself. It is

the praNava that is the source of all words. It is the

dialogue of this divine hamsa-couple that is the source of

all eighteen vidyAs. And they swim in the mAnasa lake

(that which pertains to the mind) drinking the honey of

brahmAnanda (Bliss of brahman) oozzing out from the lotus

of Knowledge. The traditional ‘hamsa’ has the unique

characteristic of being able to separate water from milk.

In the same way this unique divine hamsa couple separates

the bad things that we do, takes only the good things and

blesses us with their Grace.

 

The couple has been depicted as doling the same thing

together in the three chakras above. But when we come to

the svAdhishhTAna chakra (shloka #39), the superior

compassion of the Mother dominates. This chakra corresponds

to the Fire element. This is where the Lord opens his

Third Fire Eye and completes his Dissolution function.

While the flames of the angry Rudra destroy the universe,

with Her “dayArdrA dRshTih” (the look that is wet with

Compassion), through the gracious and cooling effect of

that glance She comforts the whole universe. We may wonder

here: “Can the Father be ever equivalent to the Mother?”.

As if to answer our question the poet uses the word

“samayA” here to refer to the Mother Goddess – confirming

thus the principle that, though the two might appear to be

different for the outside world, in essence they are one

and the same.

 

But the Svami Himself (shloka #40) in the

MaNipUraka-chakra is the dark blue rain cloud that pours

cool showers on the universe – thus quelling the Fire that

He Himself raised and thus preparing for a further

creation. And it is then that ambaal brilliantly lights up

by Her lightning.

 

And thus we come to the last (#41) of the part called

Ananda-lahari.

 

tavAdhare mUle saha samayayA lAsya-parayA

navAtmAnaM manye nava-rasa-mahAtANDava-naTaM /

ubhAbhyAm-etAbhyAM udaya-vidhim-uddishya dayayA

sanAthAbhyAM jajne janaka-jananImat jagad-idaM // 41 //

 

manye : I meditate

mUle AdhAre : in the mUlAdhara chakra

tava : of Yours

navAtmAnaM : the form of Shiva called Ananda-bhairava, with

his nine facets

nava-rasa-mahA-tANDava-naTaM : [nine-rasas- grand style

–tANDava-dance] that is, who dances in a grand style the

tANDava dance (peculiar to the masculine world),

incorporating the nine rasas,

samayayA saha : along with samayA, another equivalent form

of You

lAsya-parayA : (who is) involved in the dance ‘lAsya’,

peculiar to the feminine world.

idam jagat : This universe

jajne : becomes

janaka jananImat : endowed with Father and Mother

etAbhyAM ubhAbhyAM : by this couple,

sanAthAbhyAM : who mutually resonate with each other

uddishya : aiming at

udaya vidhiM : the regeneration rule

dayayA : with compassion.

 

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.

Also see the webpages on Paramacharya's Soundaryalahari :

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