Advaita Vedanta and Soundaryalahari

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

How does the Saundaryalahari of Sri Shankara stand in relation to the

doctrine of Advaita Vedanta? To me it appears that the samanvaya

between these two seemingly dichotomous works hinges on the pre-

qualification that is stipulated of the sadhaka i.e., the extent of

the sadhaka's vairagya, but I would be grateful to the esteemed

members of this group for any further insights into this topic.

 

Prof Vk-ji, I was particularly captivated by your exposition of the

Saundaryalahari -- if you have the time, I would love to have your

views on this topic.

 

Warm regards,

Chittaranjan

[Guest guest]

Namaste Chittaranjan-ji and all.

 

"Composing these verses in praise of You, O Mother, in words

originating from You, is like worshipping the Sun by waving a light,

offering arghya to the Moon with drops of water dripping from a moon-

stone and bathing the ocean with its own water."

 

That is Sankara concluding his Lahari, if at all he had written it.

 

CNji's question is not its authorship but its samanwaya with

advaita. I believe the best way to achieve the interconnection is

from the Consciousness angle.

 

Mother is Consciousness. All conscious acts that constitute life are

a sacrifice by Consciousness to Consciousness. If this is

understood, our whole life becomes a Soundarya Lahari. There isn't a

single moment that we are not intoxicated. Each moment of

consciousness, each movement, each action then is a light waved on

the source of all lights – the one who shines like millions of Suns -

or a moon-stone drop placed on the Lotus Feet of the Totality whose

crown the Moon adorns or a bath given to Her oceanic magnificence

with the very water borrowed from Her boundless bosom.

 

We are doing all this all the time through every act of ours but we

know that not. Advaita reminds us and makes us accept this truth in

total surrender. If we can do that, then the floodgates of lahari

will open up. Life then becomes a joy in sheer abandon under Her

care – the care of Consciousness – the Mother (and father!) of the

universe or all universes.

 

Mother, the advaitin in me places these very words of Yours on your

Lotus Feet. That I have understood the beautiful poem this way is

humble proof for at least me that another advaitin had penned it.

Who can that be other than Your own Sankara?

 

(CNji, I assume you meant by vairagya 'total surrender through right

understanding'. Yes, that then is the right prequalification.

 

PraNAms.

 

Madathil Nair

________

 

advaitin, "Chittaranjan Naik"

<chittaranjan_naik> wrote:

...

> How does the Saundaryalahari of Sri Shankara stand in relation to

the

> doctrine of Advaita Vedanta? To me it appears that the samanvaya

> between these two seemingly dichotomous works hinges on the pre-

> qualification that is stipulated of the sadhaka i.e., the extent of

> the sadhaka's vairagya, but I would be grateful to the esteemed

> members of this group for any further insights into this topic.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Nairji,

 

Thank you for a beautiful post.

 

advaitin, "Madathil Rajendran Nair"

> Namaste Chittaranjan-ji and all.

>

> "Composing these verses in praise of You, O Mother, in words

> originating from You, is like worshipping the Sun by waving

> a light, offering arghya to the Moon with drops of water

> dripping from a moon-stone and bathing the ocean with its

> own water."

> CNji's question is not its authorship but its samanwaya with

> advaita. I believe the best way to achieve the interconnection

> is from the Consciousness angle.

 

Yes Nairji, Consciousness is That which needs none other than Itself

for all of this universe to exist. The existence of this universe is

nothing else but the unlimited Consciousness of its existence. The

universe seen bereft of consciousness is an illusion. That is the

Advaita articulation. But the same universe is nothing but

Consciousness Itself in so far as it subsists only in Consciousness

as that which It is conscious of. There is no way truly to seperate

the world from Consciousness. One sees in every object and every act

the radiance of Consciousness shining through. I believe that that is

the same Advaita articulated in the Saundaryalahari through the unity

of the Mother's form with Brahman. As Jnanadeva says:

 

Shiva and Shakti are the same,

like air and its motion,

Or gold and its lustre.

 

Fragrance cannot be separated from musk,

Nor heat from fire;

Neither can Shakti be separated from Shiva.

 

If night and day were to approach the Sun,

Both would disappear.

In the same way, their duality would vanish

If their essential Unity were seen.

 

The duality of Shiva and Shakti

Cannot exist in that primal unitive state

>From which AUM emanates.

 

Jnanadeva says:

"I honor the primal pair of Shiva and Shakti

Who, by swallowing up the sweet dish

of name and form,

Reveal their underlying Unity."

 

> (CNji, I assume you meant by vairagya 'total surrender

> through right understanding'. Yes, that then is the

> right prequalification.

 

 

While agreeing with you essentially, I think Shankara takes vairagya

a notch higher in Advaita Vedanta by qualifying it with dispassion

for everything here and hereafter upto Brahmaloka. In the

Saundaryalahari, vairagya would mean complete and total surrender to

the Mother (Consciousness). I believe that Shankara changes co-

ordinates in the Saindaryalahari to reveal the same Advaita Truth

through a slightly different window of the heart. Also, I believe

that there is an esoteric element in Saundaryalahari that is bypassed

in Advaita Vedanta due to the level of vairagya that is pre-

conditioned for an Advaita sadhaka. I have a hunch and I plan to

write about it and shall post it here when it is done.

 

Warm regards,

Chittaranjan

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "Chittaranjan Naik"

<chittaranjan_naik> wrote:

>

> Namaste,

>

> How does the Saundaryalahari of Sri Shankara stand in relation to

the

> doctrine of Advaita Vedanta? To me it appears that the samanvaya

> between these two seemingly dichotomous works hinges on the pre-

> qualification that is stipulated of the sadhaka i.e., the extent

of

> the sadhaka's vairagya, but I would be grateful to the esteemed

> members of this group for any further insights into this topic.

>

> Prof Vk-ji, I was particularly captivated by your exposition of

the

> Saundaryalahari -- if you have the time, I would love to have your

> views on this topic.

>

> Warm regards,

 

Namaste Chittaranjan-ji and all

 

As I am busy with some other professional work at Pilani, I shall

rest content with referring you to the following portion of the

Saundaryalahari posts of mine. It contains I think the gist of the

samanvaya between Saundaryalahari and advaita.

 

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/gohitvip/DPDS06-10.html

 

 

PraNAms to all advaitins

profvk

[Guest guest]

dear profeffsor sir,

 

what you have said is true and i have read a similar thing in

deivathin kural by shri ra ganapathi about one discourse given by

Kanchi Paramacharya on Abhirami Bhattar on the ambal of

thirukaddayur.in that also he says the leg which kicked the yama to

save Markandeya is left leg of shiva which is embodied the shakti in

the ardhanareesvara pose of lord shiva. in the Abhirami Andhadi also

the Bhattar prays for the devine grace of ambal for release from the

worldly bondages and for merging into the parabrahmam.

 

regards

 

cdr b vaidyanathan

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sri Professor-ji,

 

advaitin, "V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk>

wrote:

> Namaste Chittaranjan-ji and all

>

> As I am busy with some other professional work at Pilani, I shall

> rest content with referring you to the following portion of the

> Saundaryalahari posts of mine. It contains I think the gist of the

> samanvaya between Saundaryalahari and advaita.

>

> http://www.geocities.com/profvk/gohitvip/DPDS06-10.html

 

 

Thank you Prof VK-ji, after reading the post, it confirms my belief

that Advaita and Sri Vidya both speak of the same Truth, and that

Shankara walks the razor's edge when he speaks about Maya. This is so

even in the Brahma Sutra Bhashya. Maya is the wonderful power of the

Lord, or it is avidya, depending on the frame of reference from which

one sees it. As that which presents the illusion of duality, it is

avidya; or that which shows forth names and forms, it is the Maya-

Shakti that is always inseparable from the Lord.

 

The threefold powers of iccha shakti, jnana shakti and kriya shakti

are ultimately the Jnana of the Lord. His acting is merely His

Knowledge - His creation is His drishti. That is the essential Unity

of Brahman and Its Shakti, which is never diluted even in the seeming

creation of the universe. In Tantra, I believe it is articulated as

the Divine Spanda - the movement that is at once no movement. And if

I have understood the Dvaita doctrine correctly, even they have a way

of saying something very similar - they say that the Lord's act of

creation is through His Knowledge. Also they also say that a thing

exists because the Lord is not indifferent to it.

 

Thank you and warm regards,

Chittaranjan