Announcing Termination of Soundaryalahari Digest

[Guest guest]

Namaste.

 

This is to announce the termination of the Soundaryalahari

Digest, with just one more post to go. By the Grace, of

Mother Goddess, of the Mahaswamigal and of my Guru, the

task of translating in digest form, the Tamil Discourses of

the Mahaswamigal on Soundarya-lahari, has come to a

successful end. The study of these discourses and the

work of ‘digesting’ them in the English language, has

been, though challenging, very satisfying, spiritually. In

this task there are several members – scores of them --

from the advaitin group, ambaa group, advaita-L group and

Sadhana_Shakti group who have encouraged me and helped me

constructively. There are also friends and relatives

outside these groups who have done so. I stand indebted to

them all. The entire set of posts has also been posted by

me on my website.

 

I have a confession-like personal statement to make. It is

important to note – I am sure readers of the digest would

have noted this also – that the Soundarya-lahari discourses

of the Mahaswamigal contain tons of material on the

conceptual nuances of advaita, and on the practical

application of it, though on the face of it this may not

have been anticipated by all. Till around June 1 of last

year I had no knowledge of Soundaryalahari except a rote

memory of three shlokas (Nos.1, 27 and 57) and a vague idea

of their meaning. Of course I knew that Soundaryalahari was

a great work of Adi Shankara, but I had never delved into

it. Around the middle of May 2003, when I just arrived in

the U.S. for a long stay, I started reading Ra Ganapathy’s

book in Tamil giving the discourses of the Paramacharya on

Soundaryalahari. It was a few weeks before that, I had

started getting by heart the particular shloka # 17. Ever

since, I have been repeating it and using it as a

meditational aid, with the specific prayer to ShrI MatA

that She may bless me with the proper spiritual

understanding that my great father would have been ready

to give me, but for the fact that I was not probably ready

to receive. In June I wrote to Shri Ram Chandranji, Shri

Sunderji and Shri Gummuluru Murthy-ji whether anybody on

the advaitin list had covered Soundaryalahari with the

Paramacharya’s explanatory viewpoints and whether I can

take up the job. They immediately encouraged me. That

started my marathon venture of this ‘Digest’. As you know

the first post was on August 1, 2003 and by Her Grace, the

final post (DPDS-81) is going to be tomorrow, the 29th of

April, 2004.

 

In the course of this one year I have grown – I think --

not only in my understanding of advaita but also in the

‘svAnubhava’ that the practice of seeing Her everywhere can

give. Though all my life I have propitiated Goddess

Meenakshi with Lalita-sahasranamam and Trishati several

times, the symbiosis of nirguna-brahman and saguna-brahman

that the Paramacharya has built into his Soundaryalahari

discourses was only an academic matter for me until I

ventured into this project. My own attitudes have changed.

The irritation that naturally invaded me when things did

not go my way has all but reduced now. Shloka No.27 which

had just been an ordinary component in my pUjA recitation

for several years, has now been blessed by Her to become

more comfortable. A select 27 shlokas of Soundaryalahari

-- namely, #s 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 12, 15, 16, 17, 20, 22, 23,

27, 30, 34, 35, 36, 41, 44, 57, 60, 66, 84, 97, 98, 99 and

100 -- along with the 36 shlokas of Narayaneeiyam, about

which I wrote last year, are now, word by word, in the

mental picture most of the the time. Seeing Her and Him in

everything makes sense. By Their Grace, the implied

discipline in the Gita shloka (VI – 30) ‘yo mAm pashyati

sarvatra ..’ and in the verse (# 6) from the Ishopanishad

‘yastu sarvANi BhUtAni ...’ seems to be not beyond

practical reach.

 

I am indebted to all the members of these four groups and

to several personal friendships who have made this venture

of mine into this project very productive in terms of my

‘mumukshhutvaM’.

 

Coming to mundane matters may I also inform the members

that I expect to be away in India for about five months

from the third week of May and consequently I may not,

during that period, have the opportunity of enjoying the

‘luxury’ of the internet as often and as profusely as now.

What She wills, will be done! My good wishes to every one

of you. Aum ShrI mAtre namah.

 

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

[Guest guest]

Dear Krishnamurthyji:

 

Thank you for the wealth of knowledge and blessings you have

offered, the Goddess has offered, through you, to all of us and many

unknown as well.

 

Love to all

Harsha

 

 

advaitin, "V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk>

wrote:

> Namaste.

>

> This is to announce the termination of the Soundaryalahari

> Digest, with just one more post to go. By the Grace, of

> Mother Goddess, of the Mahaswamigal and of my Guru, the

> task of translating in digest form, the Tamil Discourses of

> the Mahaswamigal on Soundarya-lahari, has come to a

> successful end.