Soundaryalahari -3 (A Digest of Kanchi Mahaswamigal.s Discourses)

Soundaryalahari  

(A Digest of Kanchi Mahaswamigal.s Discourses)

 

In the ShrIvidyA mantra there are three .kUTas., spheres of

influence. The first one is called .vAgbhava-kUTam.. It means that it

arises from .vAk., speech. The entire mantra is the form of ambaaL. And

in that form, the face is .vAgbhava-kUTam.. In the scriptures and stotras

of ShAktam, it is very often said that She gives .excellence of speech. to

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal 61

Her devotees. In this very shloka (#15) that is what it says. Why all this

importance to this Grace of the Goddess? Let me explain.

31

(Digest of pp.915-920)

The power of speech is endowed by parA-shakti only to the human

species. As a special gift from Her it must be really important for us. If

we have any good sense in us we would use it only for noble purposes.

The shakti of speech that She has given us should be used only to reach

Her again.

The greatness of the power of speech lies in this. Its greatness lies

in using it, not just to get great experiences for oneself but for further

transmitting them to others also. This can be done only by the faculty of

speech. It is for such sharing that the parA-shakti has given us, Her

children, this unique faculty. What greater benefit could there be in life

for the power of speech?

When a Guru teaches a certain path of sAdhanA, he appends to it

a number of strict injunctions to be followed. On the other hand a poet

perhaps is able to give a similar thing in the form of pleasing enjoyable

music. It is the Grace of ambaal that has made such a thing possible by

endowing us all with the faculty of speech. That is why we praise vAk-

Shakti. It is LalitAmbikA who graces us thus and this shloka says She

does it in the form of vAg-devi, that is Sarasvati. Just once if we bow

down to Her, good souls get the excellence of the faculty from Her.

Note however that .satAM. is the word used. Not everybody but only

those noble souls who can be classified as .sAdhu. would be endowed.

The excellence of speech is compared to the excellence of sweetness of

three kinds: honey, milk and grapes. They can be easily swallowed and

digested. On the spiritual side, the speech faculty would help them

receive messages full of sense and assimilate them in their innermost

hearts; and all this by just one prostration. Instead of saying in prosaic

words that .they will be endowed with such faculties. the poet in the

Acharya says: Why would not they be endowed with such faculties?.

Just a word about the play with the sound of the word .natvA.. It is

used two times. One time to mean .natvA., that is, (having) prostrated;

and another time to mean .na tvA. meaning, .not . You.. Here it is two

words .na. and .tvA. . The word .na. goes with .sannidadhe. (endowed,

graced) so that it gives the meaning: (Why would they) be not endowed.

The .You. goes with the earlier word .natvA. thus meaning prostrated to

You.

kavIndrANAM cetaH kamala-vana-bAlAtapa-ruciM

bhajante ye santaH katicid-aruNAm-eva bhavatIM /

virinchi-preyasyAs-taruNatara-sRGgAra-laharIgabhIrAbhir-

vAgbhir-vidadhati satAM ranjanam-amI // 16 //

A Digest of Discourses 62 on Soundaryalahari

ye katicit santaH : Those few righteous persons who

bhajante : worship

aruNAm eva bhavatIM: You who are nothing but aruNA , that is,

the colour of crimson personified

bAlAtapa-ruchiM: (and) who are the rising Sun to

kavIndrANAM cetaH kamala-vana: the forest of lotuses (in the form

of) the minds of great poets,

amI : they

ranjanaM vidadhati: give rapturing excitement

satAM ; to the noble souls

gabhIrAbhir-vAgbhiH: by majestic and profound words

taruNa-tara-sRGgAra-laharI : that is a flood of love which is

youthfully fresh

virinchi-preyasyAH : from the beloved of Brahma, i.e., from

Sarasvati.

In the previous shloka the talk was about the all-white vAgdevI.

The same Sarasvati is now talked about in her dynamic (rajo-guNa)

form. Just before sunrise, it is all crimson in the east and we call it the

rising of aruNa. The word aruNa means .crimson-red.. The charioteer of

the Sun is of that colour; so he is called aruNa. Here aruNA is the

personification of the crimson colour and this is Sarasvati in Her rajoguNa

form. When She is meditated in this form She gives the speechexcellence,

where love is dominant. Love belongs to rajo-guNa. It is

therefore usually symbolised as crimson. So it is quite fitting that

aruNA-devI graces one with Love.

But mark it. It is not the usual natural romantic love of the worldly

kind. It is the esoteric Love of the partnership of Kameshvara and

KAmeshvarI. Those who can comprehend it in that light are the

righteous ones (santaH). In the previous shloka, one is said to obtain

poetic excellence by worshipping the all-white pure Sarasvati. The

poetry that springs out of this grace would also be white, sAtvic and

would have the consequence of giving wisdom and dispassion. Such a

wisdom and dispassion can be experienced as an expression of Love.

That occurs only to the noble souls (satAM) . It is to their satisfaction

that the devotees of Sarasvati sing. It is these noble souls who were

said (in the previous shloka) to obtain the sweetness of speech, equal in

sweetness to madhu (honey), kshIra (milk) and drAkshA (grapes). And

in this shloka the same noble souls are being joyfully entertained by the

worshippers of Sarasvati, the Crimson (aruNA): .vidadhati satAm

ranjanam amI.. Those who were .poets. in the previous shloka, have

now become .connoisiurs. !

The poets of the previous shloka were those noble persons who

obtain the proficiency for poetry from ambaaL. Among those noble

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal 63

persons those who reach the nAyikA-bhava (attitude of the beloved)

towards the Almighty are only a few (.katicit.); these are the ones who

can sing of Her Love in the proper manner.

The ecstasy they enjoy and give in singing is called .ranjanaM..

There is a pun on this word here. It is made up of two words .ram. and

.janam.. The consonant .ra. itself denotes .red.. It stands for two kinds of

fires. One is the ordinary one; and the other is the fire of love

(kAmAgni). .ram. + .janam. means that which causes red. It means .to

cause love that is red.. The redness here indicates ripeness. When a

fruit is ripe it is deep red. The .reddening. of the mind is to make it fully

mature and ripe for receiving the Fullness that is God. The noble

persons who are now singing by the Grace of ambaal in the form of

arunA (red Sarasvati), are mature enough to produce the esoteric

.redness. of .ram.. So the poetry comes out of them in a wave of Love

(ShRngAra-lahari). They are actually deep and profound words

(gabhIrAbhir-vAgbhIh). On the surface they appear to be love and

romance. But deep within it, there are gems of philosophy there.

Goddess KAmeshvarI has herself the name .aruNA.. Recall Her

dhyAna-shloka: .aruNAM karuNA-tarangitAkshhIM.. Here our Acharya is

actually invoking the eight armed Goddess: with bow, arrow, noose and

spear (that go with KAmeshvarI) in four of the hands and with varam,

abhayam, aksha-mAlA and book (that go with Sarasvati) in the other

four hands. This is the aruNa-Sarasvati with eight hands, talked about

by our elders.

32

(Digest of pp.921-924 )

In the next shloka (#17) the talk is about the unique .sArasvatasiddhi

. (the siddhi of all Speech and Learning) obtained by the

contemplation of LalitA-Tripurasundari surrounded by the vAg-devatAs

(the Gods of speech). The name .vAg-devatA., if used in the singular,

denotes Sarasvati Herself. When it is used in the plural, it denotes eight

divinities. They are assigned as follows to the various aksharas (letters of

the alphabet):

One for the sixteen vowels;

One for the five letters starting with ka;

Similarly one for each set of five letters starting respectively with cha, Ta, ta, and

pa;

One for ya, ra, la and va;

One for sha, shha, sa, ha, La, kshha.

Thus there are eight vAg-devatAs for the 51 letters of the Sanskrit

alphabet.The first of these is called .vashinI.. Therefore all the eight are

called .vashinI, etc. devatAs. (vashinyAdi devatAH) or simply, .vashinI

devatAs.. These are the ones who sang the Lalita-sahasranAma at the

A Digest of Discourses 64 on Soundaryalahari

behest of ambaal Herself. In the seventh AvaraNa (always you count from

outside) of the ShrI Chakra, there are eight triangles; that is where these

eight devatAs are seated, surrounding ambaal.

(Unfortunately for us the Mahaswamigal does not quote

the shloka #17 and give his word-by-word meanings,

though he explains most of it

For the sake of completeness I give below

the shloka and supply a word-by-word meaning

from what I understand from

His Holiness.s discourse and from other sources. VK)

savithrIbhir-vAcAM shashi-maNi-shilA-bhanga-rucibhiH

vashinyAdyAbhis-tvAM saha janani samcintayati yaH /

sa kartA kAvyAnAm bhavati mahatAM bhangi-rucibhiH

vacobhir-vAg-devI-vadana-kamalA-moda-madhuraiH // 17 //

yaH samcintayati : He who reflects on

tvAM : You

janani : Oh Mother,

vashinyAdyAbhiH saha : along with the vashinI-devatAs

vAcAM savithrIbhiH : who are the Generators of Speech

shashi-maNi-shilA-bhanga-rucibhiH : who have the colour of the

broken moonstone gem,

saH : he

mahatAm kAvyAnAM kartA bhavati : becomes the author of great

poetic compositions

vacobhiH ; through words

bhangi-rucibhiH : (which have) the taste of art and wit

vAgdevI-vadana-kamalA-moda-madhuraiH : (and which have) the

sweet fragrance of the lotus face of vAg-devI (Sarasvati).

(I now continue the Mahaswamigal.s comments . VK)

These eight vAg-devatAs constitute the Mothers of speech. That is

why the shloka #17 which prays for excellence in speech begins with

.savithrIbhir vAcAM. . In traditional literature there is a gem known as

.chandrakAnta gem. which is crystal-like and which will melt in

moonlight. The vAg-devatAs have that kind of crystal colour in which

moon reflects in a dazzling manner. In one shloka ambaal was depicted

as pure white like the moonlight (sharat-jyotsnA shuddhAm - #15). In

another She is aruNA, red (#16). In this shloka (#17) the aruNa, that is

ambaal, is sitting surrounded by the vAg-devatAs, majestically like a

Queen with all Her attendants. Whoever can meditate on this scene

(sancintayati yah) gets the literary capacity and competence to compose

great epic poems. In fact he gets the fluency and the power of speech

which only great writers have.

And the shloka uses a specific word here: .mahatAm bhangi

rucibhiH. . The word .ruci. means .taste., or .flavour.. .Taste. certainly has

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal 65

an association with the tongue and the food which it .tastes.. But the

shloka adds on to this the .flavour. by the nose also. The food .taste. was

indicated by the last line of shloka (#15) where it was said that the

speech prompted by ambaaL has the taste of .honey, milk and grapes..

Now in this shloka that speech is likened to a profound flavour, not of

any ordinary one, but of that which emanates from the lotus face of Her

who is the single vAgdevI integrating all the eight vAgdevIs! Not only

that. We can infer from this that it is not simply the speech that

emanates through the poetry of the devotee has the divine flavour; the

people who read and recite that poetry would also get that divine

flavour.!!

The fact that ambaal graces and bestows the faculty of speech is

mentioned in the latter part of Soundaryalahari several times. shloka #75

says that, fed by Her breast milk one is endowed with magnificient

poetic capabilities. shloka 99 says that the SArasvata-Grace that She

endows makes even Brahma, the pati of Sarasvati, envious. The holy

water that washes Her feet can make even the dumb to sing poems

(shloka 98). Obviously our Acharya takes pleasure in talking about this

aspect of ambaaL.s Grace. Maybe he wants us all to read and recite his

stotras, thereby get the Grace of the Mother and also get the vAk-siddhi

(speech excellence) that She will certainly grant. That is why, it appears,

he is never tired of repeating this.

The word .shashi-maNi-shilA. means .moon-gem-stone. literally.

Because of the fact that the dark patch on the moon appears like a

rabbit (.shasha. in Sanskrit), the moon is known by the word .shashi..

The word .hima-kara. also denotes the moon, meaning thereby that there

flows icy water from the moon. So .hima-kara-shilA. also represents the

same moonstone gem , known as .chandrakAnta stone. in Tamil. .sudhA.

is nectar and .sudhAkara. is also the name of the moon, because it is also

said that there flows nectar from it. Just as it was said that the

attendants of ambaal have the colour of the moonstone (#17: shashimaNi-

shilA), it is said in shloka #20, that he who can meditate on

ambaal Herself in the form made up of the moonstone (hima-kara-shilA),

She who is the daughter of hima-giri (Himalayas) and is therefore .himagiri-

sutA., will pour .sudhA. on him, .sudhA. meaning nectar and .sutA.

meaning daughter. In fact it says more.

33

(Digest of pp.925-929)

kirantIm-angebhyaH kiraNa-nikurumbA-mRta-rasaM

hRdi tvAm-Adhatte hima-kara-shilA-mUrtim-iva yaH /

sa sarpANAM darpaM shamayati shakuntAdhipa iva

jvara-plushhTAn dRshhTyA sukhayati sudhA-dhAra-sirayA // 20 //

saH yaH : He who

A Digest of Discourses 66 on Soundaryalahari

Adhatte : establishes

tvAM : You

hRdi : in (his) heart

hima-kara-shilA-mUrtim-iva: as the form made of moonstem gem

kirantIM : which shoots forth

angebhyaH : from all its parts

kiraNa-nikurumbA-mRta-rasaM : the nectar essence through

clusters of its rays,

shamayati : cools down

sarpANAM darpaM : the energy of snakes

shakuntAdhipa iva : like Garuda

sukhayati : (and) relieves

dRshhTyA : by just an eye-glance

sudhA-dhAra-sirayA : (that is) full (as it were) of the flow of nectar

jvara-plushhTAN : those who are suffering the deadly heat of fever.

The importance of this shloka is in its impact on the eradication of

disease. All kinds of diseases afflict people. People who come to those of

us like me, mostly come to pray to us for removal of this sickness or that.

In fact that tells me how many different kinds of illnesses and afflictions

are there in the world. Our Acharya certainly would know all that and

for sure he would have known the remedies for all of them. But he must

have thought of posterity on these lines: .They cannot think of me as

God. Even those who grant the avatarhood, would think of me only as a

jnana-avatar and so would think of praying to me only for jnAna and

vairagya (dispassion)..

When people of modern times physically see a spiritually great

person, they get to know many of his characteristics and activities. So, in

addition to thinking of him as a jnAni or saint, they also think of him as

father, as mother, child, doctor, a go-getter for a job or a marriage

alliance, and what not; they pray for all these and get the anugraha. But

when one is no more, he is only thought of as a jnAni and only as a

benefactor of enlightenment and nothing more. Of course, if he is

considered a siddha, he is prayed to for material welfare even after his

physical frame is no more. And we think of our Acharya only as a jnAni.

So he must have naturally thought .Let me leave some stotras for

posterity so that they get their sicknesses removed by recitations of

these.. He left behind him a .Subrahmanya bhujangam. for this very

purpose. And in this Soundarya lahari too, there are several shlokas

mainly for eradication of disease.

The whole of Soundaryalahari, as I already said, is a mantrashAstra.

Each of its shlokas can give certain specific results when it is

used for a mantra-japam. For instance, there are shlokas for

Learning and Education (Sarasvati.s Grace of VidyA) : shloka nos. 3, 12,

15, 16, 17, 60, 64, 75, 96, 98, 99;

Wealth and Prosperity (Lakshmi.s Grace) : shloka nos.23, 45, 71, 91,99;

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal 67

Grace of both Sarasvati and Lakshmi: 96, 99;

Proficiency in music: 66, 69

Being blessed with a son : 6, 11, 46, 98

A long-gone relative to return from his journeys: 9

parakAya-praveshaM (to jump into another body) : 30, 84

Warding off evil spirits: 24, 37, 85, 90

To counter the bad influence of planets: 48

jnAna, mukti and sac-chid-Ananda: 27, 63, 73, 84, 97, 99.

[Please let it be noted that the Mahaswamigal

only listed the various results that accrue from the shlokas.

Specific numbers of shlokas associated with the specific results

are reproduced here from a note

appended by Ra. Ganapathi.]

If one does a recitation (pArAyaNam) of the shlokas without

desiring any particular favour, one gets the realisation of either the

saguNa-brahman or the nirguna-brahman, depending on the attitude of

the devotee. Even if one has a desire to be fulfilled, each shloka will give

its own reward. The first shloka and the last shloka are known to be

.sarva-siddhi-pradam. and they will fulfill all one.s desires.

Some shlokas, by their very meanings, allow us to infer what

results will accrue from reciting them. I say .infer. because, they may not

bluntly say what results will accrue. shlokas which bluntly say so are

few, like the ones we saw earlier (shloka 17) and the present shloka

(#20). Even here, the statement is only that if such and such an upAsanA

is done such and such a result will accrue. Only later commentators,

who came in the sishya-paramparA (lineage of disciples) of our Acharya

have listed the specifications of the upAsanA, how they should be done,

what yantra to be used, how many days the pUjA or japam should be

done and similar requirements.

I was saying that we could infer from the meanings of certain

shlokas the results that will accrue. Ashamed at the excellence of speech

of ambaal Herself Sarasvati winds up Her play on the VINA (# 66). The

three lines on the neck of ambaal are the boundary lines between the

three kinds of rAga-categories, so that they may not mix with each other,

says shloka #69. It is clear that a japam of either of these two shlokas

will result in proficiency of music.

shloka #28 has the thought that even after drinking the nectar the

divines do not live beyond the deluge (pralaya), whereas Lord Shiva, even

after drinking the deadly poison, continues to live. It is easy to infer that

by doing a mantra japam of this shloka, one gets a long life, poison or no

poison.

But there are many more shlokas where we cannot in any way

infer what results will accrue from a mantra-japam of the shloka.

A Digest of Discourses 68 on Soundaryalahari

34

(Digest of pp.929-935 )

I was saying that there are many shlokas where we cannot in any

way infer what results will accrue from a mantra-japam of the shloka.

shloka #35, for instance, says that ambaal lives in the six chakras as

the five elements and the mind. It is said that this shloka has the effect

of curing tuberculosis. Obviously there seems to be no connection. Like

this there are several shlokas where the meaning and the results said to

accrue from it are totally disconnected. It all means that the vibrations

of the sounds created,the words themselves, not their meanings, have

that effect. We may make a doll in the shape of a red chili, with sugar as

the material base; the outer will look like a hot chili, whereas the whole

material is sweet. In the same way the meanings of the words may be

something, but the power of the words as a mantra may be something

else.

Also, the same shloka may give different, almost contradictory,

results for different persons. shloka #84 (ShrutInAM mUrdhAno) has been

said to give the power of leaving one.s own body and getting into the body

of another. But the same shloka has also been earmarked as a sAdhaNA

for mokshha!. One has to remember, in such cases, it is the attitude of

the devotee in question that comes into play. The attitude of the

upAsakA (the practitioner of the sAdhanA) has a value. Depending on the

needs and desires of the upAsaka, the results will vary. Honey can

induce sleep in some one who is habitually a non-sleeper; and the same

honey, in the case of a lazy and constant dozer, may produce

wakefulness and alertness. Thus the same shloka might give different

results depending on the mental make-up of the user. shloka #63

(.smita-jyotsnA-jAlaM.) is a sAdhanA shloka for the merging of jIva in

Brahman; but if one does not want this high noble effect, it will give the

other effect of attracting people to oneself! Again, shloka #73 which talks

about the breast feeding of ambaal.s milk and the consequent effects on

Ganesha and SuBrahmanya can lead to two different results: if the goal

is jnAna, the mantra-japam of this shloka with that as goal, will lead step

by step from the blessedness of celibacy all the way up to the obtaining

of brahma-jnAna; on the other hand if the same shloka is used as a

mantra by a lactating mother who is lacking the necessary breast-milk,

she will have her problem solved.

Here is a lemon. It has several uses. It can be used in a garland of

lemons for the Goddess. It can be used to give a lemonish touch to an

edible combination of vegetables. It can be used as dirt remover while

cleaning vessels. It can be used for a medicinal purpose. It may also be

used in occult practices. In the same way, the effect of a word or wordvibrations

can vary over a wide spectrum. That is why, the ideal way is to

have the attitude: .I don.t want this or that. Whatever you think as good

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal 69

for me, Oh Mother, give me that. Even if you don.t want to give anything,

let me do the recitation for just the love of it..

Whether you want it or not, there are effects of such recitation. For

instance, the shloka #44 beginning with .tanotu kshhemaM nas-tava

vadana soundaryalahari. gives a general cure for all ailments and

sicknesses. Specific cures for specific diseases of the body have also been

noted for several shlokas. Each of these only trumpets the power of

shabda ( sound ). There is a shloka for the cure of diseases of the eye and

the ear. .Your eyes have an extent up to the ears. says the shloka (#52)

.gate karNApyarNam ... ime netre.. Just by thinking that ambaal.s eyes

extend up to the ears, the power of sound is so much that the diseases of

both the eyes and ears are cured! Here it appears there is some kind of

correlation between the effects of sound and the meanings of the words

which make the sound. In another shloka (#58), though both these (eyes

and ears) are mentioned, the effect is said to be .cure of all diseases..

What is the logic behind this? You cannot answer the question. We have

only to say .Sound value is such.!

We started all this account from shloka #20 which contains the

mantra for two kinds of ailment . one, a poisonous bite and two, fever.Let

us go to that shloka now.

AmbaaL is thought of as having a form that shoots forth amRitarasa

(nectar essence) through the rays emanating from every part of Her

body. Hers is that kind of form which is crystal-like in colour that reflects

moonlight with a cool and delightful shine; it is a colourless colour. And

nectar springs forth from every spot of that form. The very thought of this

divine feat gives us a cooling effect. One who meditates on this himself

gets the qualities of nectar. What is the opposite of nectar? Poison. That

is why no poison, no snake can touch him!.

Poison is the opposite of nectar. The opposite of snakes is Garuda.

Actually there are two opposites of a snake. One is Garuda; the other is a

peacock. Lord Vishnu has Garuda as his vehicle and Lord SuBrahmanya

has peacock as his vehicle. But the same Vishnu is also reclining on the

snake. And SuBrahmanya is Himself called NAgarAja (the King of

snakes). All this looks self-contradictory.

The snake has two facets. When it sleeps as the kuNDalinI shakti

in a person it only promotes lust. Even the little prANic energy in them is

lost in that lust. Therefore the snake in that situation is said to be

poisonous and evil. It is this poison that Garuda and the peacock

destroy. When the poison is eradicated, the same snake of the kuNDalinI,

when it rises to the sahsrAra cakra, it pours forth nectar! Now it is a

.good. snake - not the corresponding Tamil word, which means a deadly

snake! The fact that energy is lost because of lust is accepted by all. But

the same energy becomes immortal energy (nectar-flow) by yoga is not

generally accepted by people; and that too, by the people, who have never

done the experiment!

A Digest of Discourses 70 on Soundaryalahari

- 35

(Digest of pp.935-942 )

I was saying that the same human energy that is wasted by lust

becomes the powerful nectar by yoga. Whereas the former is understood

by every one easily, the latter fact is always questioned and debated. The

difficulty in the belief comes from the observation that even great yogis

that we hear about, ultimately, maybe after a few hundreds of years, die.

What is missed in the understanding here is the fact that the nectarflow

that yoga talks about and the nectar-drink that the divines are said

to have partaken are both different, totally different. That divine drink of

.amRit. has nothing to do with any spiritual uplift or the progress of the

soul.

The divine drink of nectar that emanated from the churning of the

milk ocean is just like one more medicine. It has no power to take care of

the resident of the body, the Atman. It only takes care of the body and

protects it from becoming old and from decaying. Have you ever heard

that the devas like Indra and others who drank that amRit have become

Realised Souls? Their only goal has been endless sensual enjoyment. At

least for the human species, sensual enjoyment tires one out after some

time since the body ages; so a human being has every chance of turning

to something more permanent, something spiritual. The devas on the

other hand have no way of learning by experience that sensual

enjoyment is not the end of it all.

If the nectar-flow at the apex of the KuNDalinI yoga could only

cause the non-decay of the body and nothing more, I am sure real yogis

would not have gone the path of the kuNDalinI yoga. After all they were

after an eternal bliss, not an eternal body. The flow of amRit from the

thousand petalled lotus seat in the sahasrAra-chakra is just a step prior

to the Realisation of advaita. In addition to that it certainly can give to

the body, so long as it lasts, an enviable health. But it is mainly intended

to shower the divine unlimited bliss. A yogi devoted to the ShAkta

tradition may not discard the body and the universe as mAyA, in the

same way as a jnAni would do. He would only look at everything as the

leelA of ambaal. Therefore so long as he wants it, he is given the power to

watch this leelA of ambaal. But in due course of time, maybe several

hundreds of years, it will strike him to want to merge with that Ultimate.

And at that time his body will also fall.

I told you of two kinds of serpent: the good one and the bad one.

The former is what gives the nectar. The latter gives only poison. It is this

latter one that is destroyed by the peacock of Lord SuBrahmanya and the

Garuda-vehicle of Lord Vishnu. When the former (the good one, the

nectar-showering serpent) is the form of SuBrahmanya, we say He is

nAga-rAja, the King of snakes. It is the same one that Lord Vishnu is

having as his bed-rest. It is the same one that Lord Nataraja is having

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal 71

around his raised foot. And it is the same one who came as Patanjali and

taught the yoga-shAstra, where, even if the kuNDalinI yoga is not

particularly mentioned, the kuNDalinI that arises out of that yoga is of

the serpent form.

Besides the peacock and Garuda, there is one more enemy of

snakes. That is the .nakulam. or mongoose. One of the names of ambaal

is .nakuleshvari.. It is actually the name of .MantriNI. the chief Minister in

the universal kingdom of Queen Lalita-ambaal. The latter keeps only the

portfolio of gracing the devotees and delineates the other duties of

administration of the entire universe to MantrinI. The sahasranama name

.mantriNI-nyasta-rAjya-dhUH. meaning, .She who has delineated the

responsibility of the burden of administration to MantriNi. arises from

this fact. .ShyAmaLA. and .Raja-mAtangI. are other names of this

MantriNI. Meenakshi of Madurai is also the same. She is the

.nakuleshvarI., who shakes up the sleeping serpent-power in the

mUlAdhAra Chakra and opens up the treasury of the Atman to us. The

.mUlAdhAra. has another name .kulam.. The kuNDalinI sleeps in the

.kula-kunDa.. What wakes it up is the .nakuli.. This word arises from

.nakulam. which should be broken up as .na kulam. to mean, .not

kulam., and therefore the opposite of .kulam..

Of the three enemies of the serpent, Garuda is important; because

he is also the one who brought the amRit to the serpents after fighting

even the King of the divines, Indra. That the serpents could not partake

of the amRit, is a different story. The fact that Garuda is the opposite of

the serpent and of its poison and has connections with the story of the

divine nectar is what is made capital of in #20 of Soundaryalahari.

He who meditates on ambaal in Her moonstone form which

radiates rays of amRit, can conquer the poison of the serpent like

Garuda, the King of birds. Not only that; by his very look, such a person

eradicates, in anybody else, the poison of an extreme fever. By meditating

on the Goddess as the One who pours amRit, his own body system gets

the amRta-nADI, perhaps from the sahasrAra-chakra and so his glance,

his sight, itself is enough of a cure for the poison of the fever.

The eight vAg-devatAs are themselves of the moonstone colour.

Their seat is in the eight triangular portions of the eight-sided AvaraNa

in the ShrI-chakra. This AvaraNa is itself called .sarva-roga-harachakram

., that is, the chakra that eradicates all diseases. All of this is

due to the effect of mantras.

Though the crystal colour of the moonstone is what is praised

above as the colour of ambaaL to be meditated upon, the colour of the

devatA of ShrI-vidyA mantra is red or crimson. This colour of the

Goddess has been praised, two slokas earlier (#18) but since it talks of

.vashIkaram. (captivation into submissiveness) I did not want to mention

it. But still I want to tell you how the redness is important.

A Digest of Discourses 72 on Soundaryalahari

--36--

(Digest of pp.942-950 )

In Soundaryalahari, as well as in many similar works, there is

mention about attaining a most attractive form, captivating women into

submission by means of mantra, and such matters. These should not be

taken literally. What does it mean to bring another into submission to

you? It only means that you are already submitting yourself to such

practices. To appropriate a lot of property simply means to allow oneself

to be appropriated by that thought of proprietorship. To want to bring

somebody else into submission implies that you are already submissive

to such thoughts. Thereafter there is no question of bhakti towards

ambaal or of surrendering to Her. Our Acharya would never have meant

to make us slaves to such mean desires.

What he intended must therefore be to warn us well ahead so that

we can steer clear of such desires and aspirations. Just as all rivers fall

and get absorbed into the sea, so also all desires should get absorbed in

oneself, never to rise up again . says the Gita. That is the kind of shAnti,

Peace, that our Acharya would have advocated. It is the captivation by

oneself of all desires and the absorption of all of them into oneself that

the Acharya must have meant by the power of .vashyaM., meaning,

.captivation into submission.. All the three worlds become a woman who

submits to the jnAni in submission . this is the vashyam that he talks

about in Sloka #19; not the captivation of a woman into submission for

lustful objectives.

Now let me come, as I promised, to the importance of the red

colour of ambaal. It is the colour of the eastern sky when the sun is just

rising. KAmeshvarI is of that colour. What is so great about it? There is

some physics of light here and there is also the philosophy of creation

and dissolution. Red is at one end of the spectrum. When a colour is

visible it means the light wave corresponding to that colour is the only

thing that has not been absorbed by the medium that transmits the

light. Whatever colour is reflected, that shows up; and whatever colours

are absorbed, they do not show up. When white shows up it means none

of the colours is absorbed, all of them are .reflected. and they merge into

one colour, white. When dark shows up it means all the waves of light

are absorbed and there is no .reflection..

Of the three guNas, shuddha-satvaM, or pure satvaM, is the one

that does not keep any of the three for itself and therefore it is pure

white, like milk. It is taken to be indicative of the para-Brahman, though

the latter transcends all the colours and the gunas. On the other side,

the colour that keeps all the colours within itself and does not let any

reflection out is black and this is the colour of .tamas.. It is pure

Ignorance. The in-between guna is rajas, the kriyA-shakti. It is red in

colour because it is the first colour that separates itself from the pure

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal 73

white sunlight and forms the beginning of the projection of the other

colours and creations.

From the pure white of satvaM to the total darkness of tamas, the

entire spectrum and variety of creation -- all of them have come from the

parabrahman, through the first emanation of the .red. KAmeshvarI. The

.kriyA. (Action) that projects the jIvas from Brahman, and the .kriyA. that

takes the jivas back to Brahman . both the kriyAs are those of the parAshakti

who rose up as the all-red KAmeshvarI from the first .thought. of

the Ultimate.Therefore .red. is indicative of Creation and is therefore the

colour of Creator BrahmA. The activity of life is all due to the flow of

blood which is .red. in colour. The Sanskrit word for blood is .rakta.

which also means .red.. Creation is done by a poet also; so the poetic

talent, .kavitvam. is also taken to be .red.

There are differences in the redness of rajas. The seeds of

.kundumani., the fruit of bitter gourd, and .pAdirip-pazham. are all red.

[Note : The botanical name for .kundumani.

is Abrus precatorius. The seeds of this contain

poisonous proteins.]

But the first one is poisonous, the second is bitter though good for

health, while the third is sweet as well as good for health. In rajas also,

there is the rajas that binds, the rajas that keeps a goal of mokshha and

the rajas that lifts you up to mokshha. The .redness. of KAmeshvarI is of

the third type. It is that redness which has to be meditated upon, says

shloka #18, as the one that engulfs all the region from the sky to the

earth. The words .saraNi. and .lahari. both mean a flood. .ShrI. stands for

the beauty of ambaal. .ShrI . saraNi. mentioned in #18, is therefore

nothing but Her Soundarya-lahari, the flood of Beauty.

The mention of ambaal.s Supreme Beauty (shlokas 12 and 18) in

this part of Ananda-lahari, in spite of its yantra, mantra and esoteric

occupations, is to tell us that all this is to lead us on to the darshan of

that supreme beauty of ambaal.s form, described in the latter part,

namely, Soundaryalahari. That physical form of course is contained in

the .head-to-foot. description; but the redness that radiates from that

form is a light that fills up the universe!

--37.

(Digest of pp. 950-958 )

In the sahasra-nAma ((poem of)one thousand names) of Lalita

there is a long series of names which describe the divine form from head

to foot. Naturally the hands have a due place there. But the hands and

the weapons held in them are talked about even before the head-to-foot

description starts. The weapons are not said to be just held, but they are

built into an esoteric description. The weapons pAshaM, ankushaM, bow

and arrow are each given a philosophical meaning. The .pAsham. (noose)

is called .rAgaM. (desire) there.

A Digest of Discourses 74 on Soundaryalahari

.rAga-svarUpa-pAshADhyA.: Desire is the noose which binds. So

She has the noose of Desire in Her hands. But the desire is not the

wrong desire, it is the desire that binds one to ambaal. At that point

there shoud be no hate or dvesham. That is why there is an ankusham

(goad). And then there are the bow and arrow to help us bind our mind

and senses to the Ultimate. Only after this the darshan of ambaal in Her

head to foot physical form will be obtained. But even before that form is

visible, what one sees is the vast spread of the red colour everywhere. So

the name that occurs just before the first name in the head-to-foot

description is .nijAruNa-prabhA-pUra-majjat-brahmANDa manDalA.,

meaning, .She immerses the entire universe in Her crimson effulgence..

The same idea is said in the second line of shloka 18:

divaM sarvAM urvIM aruNima-nimagnAM.

In several places in the Soundaryalahari, we find the same

descriptions as in Lalita SahasranAma almost in the same words.

The forehead of ambaal is like an inverted half-moon :

dvitIyaM tan-manye makuTa-ghaTitaM chandra-kalashaM (shloka 46);

ashhTamI-chandra-vibhrAja-daLika-sthala-shobhitA (L.S.)

If She opens Her eyes, it is Creation; if She closes them, it is Dissolution:

nimeshonmeshAbhyAM praLayam-udayaM yAti jagatI (shloka #55);

unmeshha-nimishhotpanna-vipanna-bhuvanAvaLiH (L.S.).

Not even a tree bearing precious gems (vidruma-latA) can equal the

enchanting lips of ambaal:

dantachhada-rucheH pravakshye sAdRshyam janayatu phalaM vidrumalatA

(shloka #62);

nava-vidruma-bimba-shrI-nyakkAri-radanacchadA (Lalita-sahasranama).

The jingling of the gems in the anklets of ambaal.s feet is described in

both almost in the same words:

Subaka-maNi-manjIra raNita- ... charaNa-kamalaM (shloka #91);

sinjAni-maNi-manjIra-maNDita-shrI-padAmbujA (L.S.)

The idea that ambaal.s very speech can beat the sweetness of the vINAmusic

of Goddess Sarasvati, epitomised in the Lalita-shasranama line

nija-sallApa-mAdhurya-vinirbhatsita-kacchapI,

is developed in a whole shloka #66 of Soundaryalahari.

While giving examples and analogies to various parts of the form of

ambaal, when it comes to the chin of ambaaL, both the Lalita

sahasranama and the Soundaryalahari, say that it is devoid of all

analogies:

Katham-kAram brUmas-tava chubukam-aupamya-rahitaM (shloka 67);

anAkalita-sAdRshya-chubuka-shrI-virAjitA (L.S.)

Before the radiance of the pair of lotus feet of ambaal, the real lotus pales

into insignificance, according to the Lalita-sahasranama line:

pada-dvaya-prabhA-jAla-parAkRta-saroruhA.

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal 75

This idea is developed elaborately in shloka #87 where the Acharya

shows in how many ways the divine feet pales the lotus into

insignificance. Lotus withers away in snow. But ambaal, whose house of

birth as well as the house of marriage both are in Himalayas, the feet are

always excelling in snow. Lotus droops during night; but the divine feet

beam with freshness. The lotus has the Goddess Lakshmi within it (and

would not give it!), whereas the divine feet of ambaal dispense wealth and

prosperity (that is, Lakshmi) to all who touch them. Thus the divine feet

are always one up, -- so ends the shloka (#87) .himAnI hantavyaM ......

While the Acharya has done stotras on Vishnu and Shiva giving a

head-to-foot description of the deities, he has shown great originality in

the fund of his innovative descriptions and analogies. Then why did he

not do it here in the case of ambaal? Why did he have to borrow from the

Lalita Sahasranama? It shows only the Acharya.s humility and the high

pedestal on which he places the Lalita-sahasranama.

Now let us follow the main trend of our coverage of

Soundaryalahari. In shloka #21 he talks about the flood of absolute bliss

in Brahman that is experienced by one who has reached the apex in

KunDalini yoga. This flood is legitimately called by him .AhlAda-lahari..

.AhlAda. means happiness, joy, bliss.

And now comes one of the most easy-worded, but profoundly

meaningful shloka, #22.

--38.

(Digest of pp. 958-963 )

The next shloka 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 shlokas which reflect the pure bhakti

sentiment coupled with excelling poetry. One such shloka is #22. In this

shloka 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

sakaruNAM : (which is) coupled with Grace and Compassion

mayi : on me

dAse : (who is your) servant.

vAnchan : Wishing

A Digest of Discourses 76 on Soundaryalahari

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 Section. 29 )

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

shloka.

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

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal 77

advaita sAyujyam is the oneness with the Ultimate nirguna-brahman

where there is no more universe. So what is said in this shloka is not the

sAyujya of advaita.

It is the supreme Brahman which manifests itself as the First

Cause in terms of parAshakti. 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 samuttishhTanti

. --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.

--39.

(Digest of pp. 964 - 969 )

Thus the identity (sAyujyam) that shloka 22 talks about in its third

line has something to do with jnAna, bhakti and shakti. It is not the

Brahman-realisation spoken of in advaita.

Now we shall take up the pun on the words .bhavAni tvaM. in the

shloka. As soon as the devotee utters the words .bhavAni tvaM. as a

beginning for his full sentence: .bhavAni tvaM dAse mayi vitara dRshhTim

sakaruNAM. the Goddess is ready to grant him the highly merited

sAyujyam (identity) with Her. What is so powerful in those two words

.bhavAni tvaM.? This is where the poet has played with Sanskrit

grammar.

A Digest of Discourses 78 on Soundaryalahari

The word .bhavAni. can be interpreted in two ways . one as a noun,

and another as a verb. The verbal root is .bhava.. This itself gives the two

meanings. When .bhava. is a noun it is a name of Lord Shiva. In this

context .bhavAni. would mean .the consort of bhava., that is, ambaal.

.bhava. as a verb would mean .be. or .become.. In this context, .bhavAni.

would mean .Let me become. or .Let me be.. So .bhavAni tvaM. would

mean .May I become You.. Remember that in Sanskrit a sentence

accommodates changing the order of the words in the sentence without

affecting the meaning.

Ambaal is an ocean of compassion and grace. So when a devotee

seeks the identity with Her by the two simple words .bhavAni tvaM., She

doesn.t wait for his further words; She simply grants the sAyujya-status

.then and there. ! But the irony of it is, he, the devotee, considers himself

too low in the spiritual ladder to merit anything great and he has no

conception of what honourable return from the Goddess awaits him.

.Just a glance towards this poor me, Oh Mother!. . this is all what he

pleads for. Note that the poet uses the word .yah., meaning, .whoever.. So

the devotee does not have to be a great .sAdhu.. He could be any one. He

may not even know that there is a status called .sAyujyam with ambaal.!

The couple of words .bhavAni tvaM. has such an effect even on ordinary

persons who recite it.

The Almighty is the Lord. I am only a servant . This is the attitude

of the devotee in the first line of the shloka. Of course it is an attitude of

duality, not advaita. But even to such a person who only wants to be a

servant of the Goddess, ambaal hands over in a platter the very advaita

itself. Certainly this is saguNa-advaitam. But would She not also grant

him, in due course, the nirguNa-advaitam?

Take the case of Hanuman. He was always steeped in the concept

.dAsohaM., (.dAsaH + ahaM.) meaning, .I am your servant.. .dAsa.

means servant. By the very fact that he was steeped in that concept of

.dAsohaM. all his life, he reached the advaitic stage of .sohaM. (.saH +

ahaM.), which means, .I am He (That).. What this shloka says is that

ambaal transforms every one who comes to Her with the attitude of

.dAsohaM., to the apex stage of .sohaM.! It is a stage which is difficult

for countless persons who struggle for the realisation of .aham

brahmAsmi. and for even still more who ceaselessly meditate on the

words .tat-tvaM-asi. of the guru. While many of them find it an

inaccessible ideal, it is granted even to the ordinary person who

sincerely comes to ambaal with the two words .bhavAni tvaM. though

with something else in mind.

We have still not finished with .bhavAni tvaM.. So far we considered

.bhavAni tvaM. as two words. But .bhavAni-tvaM. can also be considered

as a single word. Then it means .the state of being bhavAni or parAshakti

.. The structure of the single word is something like .amaratvaM.

which means .the state of being immortal. and like .kavi-tvaM. which

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal 79

means .poetic talent.. So the moment the devotee says .bhavAni tvaM.

ambaal takes it as a request for .bhavAni-tvaM. and She grants the

.bhavAni-tvaM. to him. In other words She gives Her own status, namely

the status of sAyujya with Her to him.

Remember the devotee has not even begun his petition to Her. But

even before He asks in full, She is ready to give him not only what he

asks but even more. Recall the .vAnchA-samadhikaM. of shloka 4, where

it was said that Her feet are capable of gracing the devotee with .more

than what is wished.!

At this point the Mahaswamigal

makes a very subtle comment about Adi Shankara,

which is exquisite. It also shows

the bhakti which he has towards

(the Acharya) Adi Shankara.

The following paragraph is almost an exact translation,

so that it can be enjoyed more. ]

When we see this, something remarkable strikes us. Suppose

somebody is a great scholar in a language and without any knowledgearrogance

he is also a sincere devotee of the Goddess, to the extent that

he considers himself as nothing but a lowliest servant of ambaal, -- all

this is actually a description of the Acharya himself -- such a one never

ignores even the commonest of people, but discovers a deep content even

in their ordinary comments and speeches. Such profound contents will

certainly be granted to him (at his stature) as an experience, by ambaal.

But when he says that such an experience will be given by ambaal even

to the common man, why would She not give it to him who has the

greatness of heart to see the profound in the profane! The stanza of

KuraL (in Tamil) which says: .From whomsoever whatsoever is heard, to

see the Truth in that is Knowledge. gets a new meaning here.

.Knowledge. may as well be taken to mean .Experiential Knowledge.!

--40.

(Digest of pp. 970 - 973 )

In the Vaishnava tradition, they do not accept the attributeless

non-dual Brahman, but they do talk about One-ness with the state of the

Almighty Mahavishnu, along with all His powers. But even when they say

this, out of deference to propriety, they make an exception to what one

can obtain. The exception is .LakshmI-patitvaM., that is, .the state of

being the spouse of Lakshmi.. Naturally whatever powers and states of

Mahavishnu you may aspire for and actually get, becoming the spouse of

Lakshmi is taboo. In the same manner in the branch of philosophy called

.ShivAdvaitam., they talk of oneness with Lord Shiva, but they make a

similar exception, for the same reason of propriety. All this is because,

the destination in both these schools of philosophy is a couple, such as

.Narayana-Lakshmi. or .Shiva-Parvati.. The very fact that one has to

A Digest of Discourses 80 on Soundaryalahari

make an exception throws a shade of doubt on the other statements of

objectives.

One would like not to make any exception at all. That is where this

shloka (#22) opens the door for us. It says: .Don.t aspire to become

Narayana or Shiva; Don.t have your object of meditation the divine form

of Narayana or Shiva, with the purpose of becoming one with it. Pray

that you should become one with the form of the Mother, that is ambaal

or Lakshmi. In their capacity of universal Mother, they will not only

accept your prayers but will also give you that identical oneness with

them. That Lakshmi or that ambaal are themselves internally in oneness

with Vishnu and Shiva respectively. So when a jIva merges in the

Mother, the Mother takes him along with Her and merges the jIva in

either the Vishnu-form or the Shiva-form, thus granting you the VishnusAyujyam

or the Shiva-sAyujyam.. This shloka therefore gives the right

strategy for us to become one with the Almighty at the same time not

transgressing the elementary propriety of pati-patnI.

To say it shortly, first you become the mother then the father. So

first it is the oneness of filial affection. When the mother becomes one

with the father, it is the apex of all bhakti attitudes, namely the attitude

of nAyikA. And that is what takes us to the ultimate advaita . so say the

great rishis and saints who have gone through it all! Go back now and

enjoy the imagery in shloka #12, where the divine damsels in order to

understand the beauty of ambaal, imagine their oneness with Lord

Shiva and expect to get a glimpse of the full beauty of ambaa.

Thus in this single shloka, the Acharya has brought in advaitam

and dvaitam, philosophy as well as a delightful pun, service to the Lord

as well as the concept of the nAyikA (beloved of the Lord) bhAva -- all

blended together.

To top it all we have one more thing to enjoy about this shloka.

This is in the fourth line. It talks about the Divinities like Vishnu,

BrahmA and Indra falling at the feet of the Goddess and the divine feet

get the nIrAjana (Reverential waving of Lights) from such great Gods. In

fact Soundaryalahari has three such nIrAjanas. One in this shloka, one

in shloka #30 and one in the very last shloka (#100).

The situation in #30 is not the accidental utterance of words of

shloka #22, which meant identification with the Absolute in the generous

interpretation of the poet. There it is not just any one, .yah.. He is not

even just a devotee and a scholar. It is far more than that. He has risen

above the .dAsohaM. stage and has reached the .sohaM. stage. It is the

stage where the conviction that .I am one with You. (= .tvAm-aham iti

sadA bhAvayati yah.). He lives in that continuous identification with the

Absolute. To such a one, says the Acharya (in #30), even the Cosmic Fire

of Dissolution is just a nIrAjana (waving of Lights) only. Because it is so

to the Mother Goddess. And it is therefore also so to one who has

continually identified with Her.

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal 81

The third .nIrAjana. comes in the very last shloka where the

Acharya offers this Soundaryalahari itself as a waving of Lights to that

Sun-like Light, that is the ambaa Herself in Her capacity as the Source of

all Speech and Learning. The words of the Soundaryalahari are words

which emanated from Her. So Her own words form the nIrAjana to Her.

These three nIrAjanas can be classified as one for Creation, one for

Sustenance and one for Dissolution. But not in that order. They come in

the order: Sustenance, Dissolution and Creation. The devi-praNava is

.umA.. The letters come in the order: .u. (which is the letter for

Sustenance, for it represents Vishnu ); .ma. (which is the letter for

Dissolution, for it represents Rudra) and .a. (which is the letter for

Creation, for it represents BrahmA). The first nIrAjana talks about the

worship by Vishnu, BrahmA and Indra. It is significant that this listing of

the divines begins with Vishnu, thus indicating that we are talking about

the nIrAjana meant as an offering of the Sustenance function. The

second nIrAjana (#30) corresponds to the Dissolution function is already

built into the very words .the conflagration of Cosmic Dissolution proves

only to be the nIrAjana. (.mahA-samvartAgnir-viracayati nIrAjanavidhiM

.).

How does the third nIrAjana (#100) correspond to the Creation

function? I shall explain this now.

- 41 -

(Digest of pp.974- 979 )

The waving of lights that is mentioned in the last shloka, the third

nIrAjanaM of the whole work, has a specific reason. The Acharya says

that the entire work is actually Hers, and therefore it is fitting, he says,

to visualise the work itself as a nIrAjanaM to the goddess. Mother

Goddess created this universe out of Her own wish and imagination. In

the same way though the poet may have created this work, the words are

actually Hers and so She is the Origin for the work. So from that Infinite

source of Light, a fragment of a lighted camphor is taken out and used as

nIrAjanaM to Her, through this work. In other words the whole work

shows only a fragment of Her Infiniteness. And that is why the third

nIrAjanaM (shloka 100) corresponds to Creation. Thus Soundaryalahari

has three wonderful nIrAjanaMs built into it.

Let us now come back to shloka #22, where the first nIrAjanaM is

taking place. The nIrAjanaM here is nothing but the dazzle of the crowns

in the heads of BrahmA, VishNu and Indra.

The interesting point here is the omission of Rudra, the third of

the Divine Triad. If you are talking of the divine cosmic functions, the

triad must include Rudra, certainly. But the purpose here is different. It

is to show the supremacy of Mother Goddess over everything. The three

A Digest of Discourses 82 on Soundaryalahari

divines mentioned here are, Indra, the King who maintains the divine

world, Vishnu, the One who maintains the entire world, and Brahma,

the One Creator to whom all the divines and all the universe make their

first appeal, whenever there is a universal crisis. So the maintenance of

the created world is the thing in question here. That is why I told you

earlier that this nIrAjanaM is the .sthiti-nIrAjanaM. (the waving of lights

corresponding to the Sustenance function). For that very reason also,

Rudra, the God of Dissolution function, is not mentioned.

Further there is an esoteric purpose. The attributeless Brahman

transcends the three qualities satva, rajas and tamas. Of these three, the

first is usally associated with the Sustenance Function and with Vishnu.

The second, with the Creation function and BrahmA. The third is

associated with the Dissolution function and with Rudra. In the case of

jIva, the same three are the waking state (where we do the maintenanace

function of carrying on the activities of life), the dream state (wherein we,

out of our own mind, create endless varieties) and the deep sleep state

(wherein all is quiet and is dissolved). But even in that deep sleep state,

there is a life within, which is unaffected by any of the three; that is the

turIyaM, familiarly called .caturthaM. (the fourth) in Mandukya

Upanishad. The three states of awareness . waking, dream, sleep .

pertain to the jIva; therefore it is what happens in the microcosm (the

.pinDa.). The three states of Creation, Sustenance and Dissolution,

pertain to the Ishvara; this is what happens in the macrocosm (the

.aNDa.).

The fourth, .turIyaM., is common to both. That .turIyaM. or

attributeless Brahman, which is the substratum behind the saguNa-

Brahman, that is Ishvara, is the very same .turIyam. that lies as the

.Atman. , the substratum of the three states of the jIva.

Why did I get into all this metaphysics? It is to tell you that the

.samhAra. state, namely .Dissolution. is what is nearest to the turIya, the

Brahman. Neither in the jAgrat (waking) nor in the svapna (dream) is the

jIva as restful and unperturbed as in the turIya-samAdhi state. But he is

so in the sushhupti (deep sleep) state. But again that calm that he

obtains in the sushhupti state is not an .experiential. calm. It is so only

in the .samAdhi. state. That is of course true. However, when compared

to the jAgrat and svapna states, the sushhupti state is the one nearest to

the turIya-samAdhi state. In the Cosmic level also, it is the samhArarudra

that is nearer to the peace of para-Brahman than the Creator

BrahmA or the Maintainer Vishnu. It is that para-Brahman that is called

.ShivaM. in the ShAkta literature. Rudra is samhAra-mUrti, Ishvara is the

tirodhAna-mUrti who is responsible for the MAyA phenomenon and

SadAshiva is the anugraha-mUrti, responsible for the grant of mokshha.

And then beyond the three there is the para-Brahman that is ShivaM. In

spite of this classification, in general parlance and tradition, rudra,

Ishvara, SadAshiva and ShivaM are usually identified as the same

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal 83

whereas the creator brahmA and the sthiti-kartA Vishnu are taken only

as brahmA and VishNu.

What we have said about Shiva also applies to Mother Goddess.

The parA-shakti which is the fullest dynamic expression (shakti) of para-

Brahman, is usually talked about as identical with Parvati, the consort of

Rudra but not Sarasvati or Lakshmi. Even in Soundaryalahari She is

addressed as .hima-giri-sute. or .tuhina-giri-tanaye. and not as Sarasvati

or Lakshmi.

The bottomline of it all is this. It is only for Rudra there is an

identity with Shiva; not for the murtis BrahmA or VishNu. Here the

context is the nIrAjanaM in the form of the crowns falling at the feet of

ambaa. And in this context it was not decent to bring in Shiva or

Rudrain this part of Soundaryalahari where the emphasis is on

philosophy and tantra. In the later part, where there is a free licence for

poetic imagination, we have instances where even Shiva falls at the feet

of the Goddess, the context however being that of Love.

It may be pointed out, in objection to what I have said above, that

even in this first part, in shloka 25, it says: .It is enough to make one

offering at Your feet. That itself is equivalent to an offering to the divine

triad. Because they have placed their heads at your feet in obeisance,

the offering at your feet to your feet is also automatically made to those

three..

But a careful study of shloka #25 tells a different story.

- 42 .

(Digest of pp.978 - 981)

I was telling you about the non-mention of Rudra in shloka #22.

And that led me on to shloka #25, which we shall scrutinise now in order

to understand that, in keeping with the esoteric nature of Anandalahari,

the subtlety of the pati-patni relationship between the murtis of shiva

and ambaa has not been damaged there. For there is not even a

loophole therein to bring the identity of Rudra and Shiva.

(Note: Though the Mahaswamigal does not get into

shloka #25 in detail, in order for the understanding

of the key point he makes about it,

a word-by-word translation of #25,

is given below.)

trayANAM devAnAM triguNa-janitAnAM tava shive

bhavet-pUjA pUjA tava caraNayor-yA viracitA /

tathA hi tvat-pAdodvahana-maNipIThasya nikaTe

sthitA hyete shashvan-mukullita-karottamsa-makuTAH // 25 //

yA pUjA : The worship

viracitA : done

A Digest of Discourses 84 on Soundaryalahari

tava caraNayoH : at They Feet

bhavet : becomes, as it were,

pUjA : the worship

trayANAmM devAnAM : of all the three deities (Brahma, Vishnu

and Rudra)

tava triguNa-janitAnAM : who were born of Thy three guNas

tathA hi: Indeed it is this way.

Ete : These gods

sthitAH shashvat ; are stationed, ever,

maNipIThasya nikaTe : in proximity to the seat of gems

tvat-padodvahana : that bear Thy feet

mukulita-karottamsa-makuTAH: with their joined palms held (in

salutation to Thee) above their diademed heads

[Now we shall go back to

the Mahaswamigal.s explanations)

The three divinities mentioned here are referred to as .triguNajanitAnAM

., meaning, .those who have their origins in Thy three guNas,

satva, rajas and tamas.. Rudra is the only one who has the tamas as the

source. Since he is said to .be born. (janitAnAM) of tamas, it is

tantamount to saying that he is .born. of Her and therefore He is Her

offspring. And this justifies his falling at Her feet. Since the topic here is

to say that the pUjA of the Divine Triad (born of Her guNas) is actually

embedded (included, implied) in the pUjA of Mother Goddess, the deity

Rudra, who is generally equated with Shiva, has to be included here.

But whenever one wants to develop the theme that even great divines

worship the devI, (as in shloka 22) one uses Mukunda, BrahmA and

Indra without mentioning any of the names Rudra, Shiva or Ishvara

which names are identified with Shiva. All the divines disappear in the

Grand Dissolution, while the one who doesn.t disappear even at the time

of the Dissolution, is not here at the scene of falling at the feet!

Lest I forget, let me now itself dwell on a subtle point regarding

the nIrAjanaM corresponding to the Grand Dissolution (mahA-pralaya)

(shloka 30).

[Again, as before, given below are the shloka #30

and its meaning, though the Mahaswamigal

does not choose to give the word-by-word meaning]

svadehodbhUtAbhir-ghRNibhir-aNimAdyAbhir-abhito

nishhevye nitye tvAm-aham-iti sadA bhAvayati yaH /

kim AshcaryaM tasya trinayana-samRddhiM tRNayatA

mahA-samvartAgnir-viracayati nIrAjana-vidhiM //30//

nitye : Oh the Eternal One,

nishhevye : Oh the One adored by all,

yah : He who

sadA : always

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal 85

bhAvayati : thinks of (meditates on)

tvAM : You

abhitaH : (You, who are) surrounded

ghRNibhiH : by rays

svadehodbhUtAbhiH : emanating from one.s own body

aNimAdhyAbhiH : such as aNimA and the like,

aham iti : as .I.,

kim Ashcaryam : What wonder is there (meaning, No wonder) that

tasya : for him

triNayatA : (who) makes into insignificance

trinayana-samRddhiM : the glory of the three eyed (Shiva),

mahA-samvartAgniH : The Great Fire of Dissolution

viracayati : is (only) a performance of

nIrAjana-vidhiM : the rite of waving of Lights.

The content here is this: Those who meditate with a complete

(advaitic) identification with ambaa, are themselves offered the

nIrAjanaM by the Fire of the Grand Dissolution. But in an earlier shloka,

(#26), it is said that BrahmA, Vishnu and all other divines disappear at

the time of that mahA-pralaya, but Shiva alone remains, sporting with

Her. The question now arises: How come, in shloka #30, it talks as if the

.tvAm-aham. worshippers (that is, those who have identified themselves

with Mother Goddess) survive during the Great Dissolution and receive

the nIrAjanaM of the mahA-pralaya?

Yes, it is alright --, in the following sense. If they had been different

from ambaa, they would have certainly been destroyed in the

Dissolution. But they are in advaitic oneness with ambaa. They are the

.tvAm-aham. upAsakas. They are the .I am one with You. entitites. In

other words they are one with the devI. Of course this devI is not the

attributeless (nirguNa) one. How can there be a nIrAjanaM for the

nirguNa? The first line of shloka #30 means .You who are surrounded by

divine powers like aNimA, which are all rays emanating from Your own

body.. This itself says we are talking of the saguNa form only here. The

identity or oneness (sAyujyaM) that is talked about here is the same as

the .bhavAni-tvam. idea of shloka #22.

But again one may question: .Then, why are they talked about as

separate and as if they are separately receiving the nIrAjanaM of the Fire

of Dissolution?.. Though they may, in their identity with the Mother, have

a feeling that they are themselves doing the play of Dissolution, along

with that, there will be a symbiotic feeling of appreciation and bliss at the

sight of the divine leelA taking place right before them.

Let us note clearly that never can a jIvAtmA attain the identity of

being the doer of Creation, Sustenance and Dissolution. To be in that

kind of complete oneness with the saguNa-brahman in total advaitic

A Digest of Discourses 86 on Soundaryalahari

identification is an impossibility. The peak of experience can only be the

.feeling. as if it is itself doing the activities of the saguNa-brahman. The

feeling can be very deep and profound. But never can it become the

original. In order to compensate for this gap in complete identification,

one is graced by Ishvara with this apex-like experience of being witness

to the divine deeds. In fact, let me venture to say, that the very purpose

of being a saguNa brahman may well be to grant this experience to that

single one in a million!

- 43 .

(Digest of pp.982 - 987 )

The very deed of ambaa in keeping some people on the border of

duality and non-duality is probably for the purpose of making them see

the Cosmic Play of Dissolution. Naturally such people will not be

engulfed in that play of Dissolution, because they are themselves

privileged spectators of the play! These are the .I-am-one-with-You.

people (of shloka #30). Even when it is said in shloka 26 that He (Shiva)

is the only one who survives the praLaya, the .I-am-one-with-You. people

who are those in identification with Shakti are, by the very reason of their

being very privileged spectators of the PraLaya, are not consumed by the

PraLaya. They are one with Her. There is no contradiction between the

shlokas.

This concept of .being consumed by PraLaya. needs further

clarification. Though we use the word .Shiva. generally, so long as He is

the .Kameshvara. or the attributeless .shivam. He cannot be consumed by

PraLaya. But when He is one of the divine triad, as the Rudra in charge

of Dissolution, or the Maheshvara in charge of the .tirodhAna. function,

or the SadAshiva of the .anugraha. function, he will not be there after the

PraLaya, because there is no pancha-kRtyam (the five Cosmic Functions)

once the PraLaya is over. The Kameshvara who is non-distinct from

ambaa, and the nirguNa-shivam which is the substratum of them both

are the only ones which are there. The eternal truth and existence of

nirguNa-satyaM need not have to be re-emphasized or re-affirmed. So

when we talk of who survives the PraLaya it is only ambaa and the

Kameshvara-Shiva who is One with Her. This is what is referred to in

shloka #26 when it says .viharati sati tvat-patirasau. (meaning, .Your

husband alone is in the play.). Read along with the word .para-brahmamahishhi

. (shloka #97), we should have meant only the para-Brahman by

the word .tvat-patiH. in #26. But in the case of para-brahman, there is no

question of any action like .playing or sporting. (.viharati.); that is why

the interpretation of .Kameshvara-Shiva. (who is non-distinct from

ambaa) for .tvat-patiH. in shloka #26.

In the shloka where it talks of the .I-am-one-with-You.-people it

says even the .wealth or prosperity. of Shiva Himself is nothing before

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal 87

them. With great gymnastics of sound effect it says: .trinayanasamRddhiM

triNayataH. (that is, even the majesty of the three-eyed One

is like straw before the wind). Why was it said like this? Shiva might be

Ishvara; but the .aishvarya. (Wealth) that gave Him that name, came

from the parA-shakti. Without Her action, there is no Shiva, no Wealth of

any kind for Him. Even if there was anything in terms of authority or

jurisdiction, He shares it with so many other divinities to each of whom

She has allotted responsibilities as well as the associated authority and

wealth of Power. On the other hand, the .I-am-one-with-You. people are

one with Her and so they enjoy all Her aishvarya in fullness. So they are

the greater ones!

I must warn you here. Let us not be carried away by this poetic

devotional exaggeration. There is no separate identity for either of

Ishvara and devI. In fact what is Hers is His and what is His is Hers.

A final subtle point. I just talked about the greatness of the .I-amone-

with-You.-people. But notice that they are not saying .You are one

with me.; that is where there is also a modesty revealed. One of the

mahA-vakyas is .aham brahma asmi. that is, .I am Brahman.. Another is:

.ayam Atma brahman., that is, .This Atman, in other words, what is

cognised as jIvAtman, is nothing but Brahman.. These two mahA-vAkyas

and the essence of .I-am-one-with-You. of shloka 30 are all the same.

However, those who look only at the word-sequence of the mahAvAkyas,

are likely to misunderstand them as saying : .The person who is in this

jIva-bhava is calling himself Brahman. . instead of correctly

understanding: .It is Brahman that is this jIvAtmA..

But when the mahAvakya comes forth from the mouth of the

Guru it creates no such confusion. Because it says: .That is what you

are. and clearly implies .That has become you.. In fact it indicates

.Without you there is nothing to be called .I... And thus modesty is

automatically oozing out here. This is what the conviction .I am one with

You. also disseminates. Along with it, there is also the grandeur of the

association with the aishvarya of the Almighty. All these ideas have gone

into the Acharya.s expressive line .trinayana-samRddhiM triNayataH..

The bottom line is this: The jIva which is in identity with the

Mother Goddess and the Lord who is non-distinct from Her, both are ever

there.

I referred to shloka #26 above. It talks about how when everything

and every one gets dissolved in the PraLaya, only the Lord Shiva along

with ambaa are remaining in sport. It mentions the disappearance of the

others one by one. The Creator BrahmA reaches his end. Vishnu arrives

at a dead stop. The God of Death (.kInAsha.) himself dies (. vinAshaM

bajati.). The Divine Treasurer (.dhanadaH.) also perishes without any

help from all his wealth (.nidhanam yaati.). Notice the gymnastics in the

poetry here, which describes the gymnastic sport of the divine couple

during the process of Dissolution of the Universe. Even during such a

A Digest of Discourses 88 on Soundaryalahari

great PraLaya (mahA-samhAra), ambaa.s spouse (.patiH.) alone survives!

Reason: Your tATanka-mahimA. This is what is taken up in shloka #28.

- 44 .

(Digest of pp.987 -993)

sudhAm-apy-AsvAdya prati-bhaya-jarA-mRtyu hariNIM

vipadyante vishve vidhi shatamakhAdyA divishhadaH /

karALaM yat kshhvelaM kabaLitavataH kAla-kalanA

na shambhos-tan-mUlaM tava janani tATangka-mahimA // 28 //

AsvAdya api : Even after having consumed

sudhAM : the nectar

prati-bhaya-jarA-mRtyu-hariNIM : (which) eradicates the dreadful old age

and death

vishve divishhadaH : all the divines

vidhi-shatamakhAkhyAH : like BrahmA, Indra and others

vipadyante : meet their end (at the time of PraLaya).

Yat : (But) the fact that

shambhoH : for Lord Shiva

kabalitavataH : who had consumed

karALaM kshhvelaM : the terrible poison (of KalakuTa)

kAla-kalanA na : there is no submission to Time

tan-mUlaM : has its reason (in)

janani : Oh Mother

tava tATangka-mahimA : the Glory of Your ear-ornament (tATangka).

We have always been led to believe that some one who has

consumed he most dreadful poison has to meet his end, whereas some

one who has taken the nectar will be immortal. What is happening here

is exactly the reverse. All the divines who had partaken of the nectar

have all to disappear at the Deluge whereas the Lord who has consumed

the most dreadful hAlAhala, is standing as the lonely survivor after the

Deluge.

What is more, this partition of the Lord on the one side and all the

other divines on the other side is also happening in the context of Service

to the Mother Goddess. Mukunda, Brahma and Indra and all those

divines fall at Her feet with their crowns touching Her feet (#22), while

the crownless dweller of the burial ground is distinguished as unique.

The punchline of this remark is that those who fell at Her feet are

destroyed in the praLaya, but He who did not so prostrate before Her is

unaffected by the praLaya!

There is even another shloka (#29) which says that She runs to

welcome the one who did not serve, and while so running, tramples on

the crowns of those that chose to serve Her and fall at Her feet!

[Since the Mahaswamigal elaborates rather lengthily

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal 89

on this reference to shloka #29 here,

I am giving it here with meanings and all,

though he has not yet finished his discussion of #28. ]

kirITaM vairinchaM parihara puraH kaiTabha-bhidaH

kaThore koTIre skhalasi jahi jambhAri-makuTaM /

praNamreshh-veteshhu prasabham-upayAtasya bhavanaM

bhavasyA-bhyutthAne tava parijanoktir-vijayate // 29 //

vijayate : Remarkable (= to be noted) are

tava parijanoktiH : the words of your maids-in-attendance,

abhyuthAne : at the hasty stir to welcome

bhavasya : Lord Shiva

upayAtasya : (who) had come

bhavanaM : home

prasabhaM : suddenly, unannounced.

praNamreshhu eteshhu : .Amidst all these prostrating (divines)

parihara : avoid

vairinchaM kirITaM : the crown of Creator Brahma;

purah : in front (of you)

skhalasi : you are trampling (over)

kaThore koTire : the heavy crown

kaitabha-bhidaH : of .the enemy of Kaitabha. ( = .Vishnu.)

jahi : (also) avoid

jambhAri makuTam : the crown of .the enemy of jambha. (= .Indra.)..

Among the many names of the Creator Brahma, the Acharya most

often uses the name .virinchi. (See shlokas #s1, 2 and 12 for example).

The word .rinchati. means .creates. . The prefix .vi. before the word adds a

special effect to that action indicated by .rinchati.. In other words, Creator

Brahma does the creation work most effectively and with dedication.

Therefore he is .virinchi..

.Kaitabha-bhit. denotes the One who vanquished the asura

Kaitabha; therefore it is Vishnu. When He was in yoga-nidrA, the asuras

Madhu and Kaitabha attacked Lord BrahmA, patent in the region of the

divine navel of Lord Vishnu. And Brahma sang a song of praise of lord

Vishnu so that He may wake up. The Lord obliged by shaking up the

Goddess Yoga-nidrA, and vanquished the two asuras. Goddess Yoga-

NidrA is none else but the Mother Goddess. It is quite fitting therefore

that Vishnu is remembered here as Kaitabha-bhit; because it is Kaitabha

that connects Vishnu, Brahma and parA-shakti in the same cosmic

event.

His (Vishnu.s) crown is not just an ordinary one. It is solid, not

hollow in its material. Why is it solid? The reason comes in the stotra

called .Vishnu-pAdAdi-keshAnta-stotra. of the Acharya himself. .kRtamakuTa-

mahAdeva-linga-pratishhTe. meaning thereby that the crown of

A Digest of Discourses 90 on Soundaryalahari

Vishnu is in the form of a shiva-linga. Now comes the ironical situation!.

It is this crown that the maids-in-attendance of ambaa are wanting her

not to trample over. It is the shiva-linga-formed crown on the head of

Vishnu that is now at the feet of ambaa! And that is what She is about to

trample, in her hurry to welcome Her Lord, when He arrives home

suddenly. When Bhakti and Love are in full flood, as in the case of

Kannappar.s behaviour, none can default any action, even if it looks

like one that is faulty!

The context in which this happens is still more interesting. Bhava

is returning to his bhavanaM . this is the context. Bhava means Shiva.

BhavanaM means home. He is returning home unexpectedly and ambaa,

as soon as She became aware of this, hastens to welcome Him . in the

tradition of a traditional pati-vratA. .prasabhaM. means .in great haste

and excitement.. And here comes a word .abhyuthAnaM. that has great

significance.

.abhyuthAnaM adharmasya. . does it not ring a bell? It is the

Lord.s promise in the Gita, that he will come whenever there is a damage

to dharma. In that context, .abhyuthAnam. means .rising to the

occasion.. But now Soundaryalahari adds another meaning to that word

.abhyuthAnaM.. It also means .rising to welcome. or .welcoming.. This

sets up an interesting thought in my mind. Why not we appropriate this

meaning in the shloka of the Gita also. Then it would mean:

abhyuthAnam adharmasya = the welcome offered by adharma.

In other words, to make the Lord come down as an avatAra, a

welcome strategy would be adharma. It was the adharma of a Ravana, of

a Hiranyakashipu, of a Kamsa that brought in three great avatAras of

the Lord!. But let us not carry the analogy too far. We should also

remember what finally happened to these carriers of the welcome banner!

We have strayed too far from the shloka #28, which was our main

discussion point. Let us go back to it now.

- 45 .

(Digest of pp.996-1000, 1015 )

The feat that Shiva survives even the kAla-kUTa poison, that stays

in his throat is the glory of the ear-ornament of ambaa . this is the

content of shloka #28. In other words Shivaa (meaning, ambaa) is the

medicine for Shiva. This thought goes back to the Vedas. In the Rudram

chapter of Krishna Yajur veda, the 2nd mantraM of the 10th anuvAkaM

says: Oh Rudra!, You have a form which includes the most auspicious

form of parAshakti, which is a cure for the entire universe and which is

in total unison with your form, let that bless us to live a full life. In other

words, it says there are two bodies for the Lord; when it shows up as

Rudra it is frightening (.ghora.). When it shows up as Shiva it is

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal 91

.auspicious., because He has also this other body which is the one in

unison with Shivaa (ambaa).

[Note : The Mahaswamigal does not usually

quote vedic passages in public during his speeches,

though he may give the purport of such passages.

This is the mantram that he is referring to:

yA te rudra shivaa tanuuH shivaa vishvAha bheshhajI /

shivaa rudrasya bheshhajI tayaa no mRDa jIvase //]

In the world of duality, there is good as well as bad. Both come

from the same Absolute Reality that is God. It is not as if one comes from

God and the other comes from Satan. This is not acceptable to our

scriptures. The same Almighty is the Rudra of destruction and is also the

most compassionate, most peaceful Shiva.

When we talk of the .ghora. form, the word .ghora. includes all that

is bad like .anger., .sorrow. etc., though the direct meaning of .ghora. is

.frightful.. The opposite form called .aghora-mUrti. includes all that is

good. When we look at worldly life, we have the feeling that it is .bad.

which is predominant. That is why our elders call this .samsAra. a

.ghora-samsAra.. But it is not totally .ghoraM. nor does it end as

.ghoraM.. Now and then some peace, some happiness is mixed up with it.

This is like a medicine which is graced to us by the Lord. Probably it is

divine will that this worldly life has to be a mixed life of good and bad.

Maybe .bad. is intended to be more in abundance, so that we would all

want to get away from this and reach our Real Nature of Atman. I said

.Maybe. because how can anybody know what was the .divine intention.?

Just as there are medicines for diseases, for this .ghora. events of

life, there is a medicine of .shivaM.! But even that does not cure the

illness totally. We get hungry and we eat to satisfy the hunger. But

hunger is not for ever satisfied! Again we get hungry and again we have

to eat! So also the .ghora. part of life comes again and again and the

shivaM part gives us the medicine every time. That medicine is called

.SHIVAA. -- say the vedas. They say: .Oh Lord! Do you know what

converts your Rudra-body into the .shiva-body.? It is the .extended shiva.,

namely .SHIVAA.. Therefore .SHIVAA. is also the universal cure for

everything!. This is the declaration of the mantraM from RudraM referred

to above.

The matter does not end there. She is not just .vishva-bheshhajI. .

The Shruti continues: .She is also .Rudrasya bheshhajI., the medicine

that will bring down the .roudra. (frightening) nature of Rudra and

transform it into a .karuNa. ( compassionate) nature..

Indeed we think that Shivaa is just the consort of Shiva and that is

why She has been called Shivaa. But the above words of the vedas go to

the extent of saying that only when the medicine of .Shivaa. is applied to

Rudra, Rudra becomes .Shiva. ! It is further confirmed by the fact that

the auspicious form of Rudra is not referred to by the masculine term

.Shiva tanuu. (the Shiva body) but it is declared to be the feminine word

A Digest of Discourses 92 on Soundaryalahari

.Shivaa tanuu.. Thus the body is the one coming from the Mother

concept. So the attitude is that of the mother, and the physical form is

the father.s. It is the Shivaa bheshhajI that converts Rudra into Shiva.

The incident of Shiva drinking the poison that came out from the

Ocean of Milk, and retaining it in his throat, for the purpose of saving

those of the world outside, namely all the divines and those in his

Cosmic stomach, namely the entire universe, is graphically pictured in a

Sivanandalahari shloka (#32), wherein the poet-author (The Acharya)

wonders .Was it a .siddha-gulika. that you put into your mouth?..

Siddha-gulika refers to a medicine from the Siddha-vaidya-shAstra. It is

interesting to note that this links well with the .bheshhajI..-word

(bheshhaja . medicine; bheshhajI . Doctor) that is being used here in the

veda-mantra.

This idea that the Lord has within Himself another body which is

wholly that of Shivaa and the usual idea that the Lord has an ardhanArishvara

(half-male, half-female) form are together combined in

another shloka (#23) where ambaa is branded as one who has

appropriated for Herself the entire body of Her husband! :

tvayA hRtvA vAmaM vapur-aparitRptena manasA

sharIrArdhaM shambhor-aparaM api shangke hRtam abhUt /

yad-etat-tvad-rUpaM sakalam aruNAbhaM trinayanaM

kuchAbhyAm AnamraM kuTila-shashi-chUDAla-makuTaM //23//

yad-etat : The fact that

tvad-rUpaM : this form of Yours

sakalam aruNAbhaM : is fully red

trinayanaM : (and) having three eyes

kuchAbhyAm AnamraM : (and) is bent because of the breasts

kuTila-shashi-chUDAla-makuTaM : incomplete-moon-hair dresscrown

, meaning, (and) having a crown of hairdo with the half

moon in it,

shangke : makes me doubt (that)

vAmaM vapuH hRtvA : having taken the left side of the body

aparitRptena manasA : but not being satisfied (with it),

aparaM sharIrArdhaM : another half of the body

shambhoH : of Shiva

api : also

hRtaM abhUt : has been appropriated

tvayA : by You

Om Tat Sat

(Continued)

(My humble salutations to  the lotus feet of Sri Sankaracharya  and  Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi  Mahaswami ji and  Humble gratefulness to great Devotees   for the collection)