Guest guest Posted February 8, 2004 Report Share Posted February 8, 2004 , "Aravind Krishna" <seeksha@h...> wrote: ---- Gopaala Sundari ---- 'kaDachilalliteshani pumruupaa krishNa vigraH ' - some times Lalitha is seen in the form of Krishna. There are innumerable forms of Devi described in Veda, Agama and PuraaNas. No other deity in the Hindu pantheon has such countless forms. She being the universal mother with bound less mercy, manifests in a number of forms to enable one to meditated in any of these that one likes to visualize. Though the ultimate reality is beyond all forms and conception, its out of immense compassion that the he manifests with a swaroopa embracing kalyaNa guNas. There is a special roopa of devi described in tantric texts as a fusion of goopla and lalita named 'Gopaala Sundari'. The supreme manifestation of devi as the universal mother is Lalita. When you say a sahasranAma or a trishati on Devi with out a prefix, it refers only to Lalita's. She is 'shrI mahA rAGYI', the supreme empress. She is tripurasundarii who rules over the entire universe with Brahma,VishhNu and Shiva are mere functionaries in her empire. Rig-Veda celebrates her as the supreme power in all beings. 'ahaM rudrebhir basubhishcharAmyaham Aditairuta vishvadevaiH ahaM mitrAvaruNobhA vibharmyahamindrAgnI ahamashvinobhA ..' Like wise the most celebrated masculine form of the saguNa brahma is Sri man naaraayaNa. He is parama purusha the first and fore most among devatas. naaraayaNaparo yogo naaraayaNapara.m tapaH | naaraayaNapara.m j^naana.m naaraayaNaparaagatiH || Out of several incarnations of Sri mannaaraayaNa, Sri Krishna is considered as the poorNaavatara as he brims with all kalyaNa guNas. We find a beautiful shloka by leela shuka, which reads as, satyaM satyaM durlabhaM daivateshhu tatkaishoraM tachcha vaktraaravindaM | tatkaaruNyaM te cha liilaakaTaakshaaH tatsaundaryaM saa cha mandasmitashriiH || (I swear, I swear, there is none equating Krishna with such an enchanting beauty, lotus face, kaaruNya, liilaa kaTaakshaa, saundarya and that smile (saa cha mandasmitashriiH), indeed there is none.) These two supreme principles manifest in a single swaroopa named 'Goopaala Sundari', needless to say this is the most enchanting of all swaroopAs. She is shyamala and he is shyamalaanga. She is rAjarAjeshwari and he is rAjagopAla. There exist several puraanic evidences to state that they are one and the same. The following shloka from krishNa karNamrutam beautifully describes the form that result when Devi and Krishna unite. kodanDamaikshavamakhaNDamishhuM ca paushhpaM cakraabjapaashasR^iNikaaJNcanavaMshanaalam | vibhraaNamashhTavidhabaahubhirarkavarNaM dhyaayeddhariM madanagopavilaasaveshham || dhyaayeth hariM madana gopa vilaasa veshham - I meditate upon hari in the form of madana gOpAla, arkavarNaM - who with the color of a rising sun, vibhraaNam - holds akhaND aiksha kodanDa - a strong sugar cane bow, ishhuM ca paushhpaM - an arrow of flowers, cakra abja paasha sR^iNi kaaJNcana-vaMshanaalam - cakra, shanka, lotus, wipe, AN^kushA and a golden flute, AshhTa baahubhiH - in his eight arms. The Mantra dedicated to Sri gopaala sundari has 33 beejaaksharams, which is a fushion of Pancha Dassakshari (15) and Sri Rajagopaala (18) ashhta Dassakshari. It's a traditional practise to equate Gopaala sundari to shyamala or meenakshi. Meenakshi being visualized as Sri mannaaraayaNa is nothing new. There is a special ramaayaNa which says meenakshi assumed the form of rama & sundareshwara as seetha. So nandi deva incarnates as Anchaneya (shrii chandrasekharendra sarasvatii mahAsvamigaL has elaborated on this topic).Mutthuswami diikshitar in one his songs on somasundareshwara (madurai) says 'nandi ropa Anchaneyadi nutam' - The one served by nandi in the form of Anchaneya (implies, he took the form of jaanaki). One the other hand, sri chakra of devi is seen at the lotus feet of gopaala in dakshina dwaaraka (mannargudi). He is named as sri vidya raaja gopaala and decorated as madana Gopaala Sundari during Brahmothsavam. There is a special krithi of diikshitar dedicated to the sri vidya swaroopam of raja gopala. These fusion principles serve as standard testimony towards mutual tolerance and bakti. Let shyamala and shyamaanga bestow their grace on us and empower us to always meditate upon their lotus feet. --- End forwarded message --- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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