Soundaryalahari -4 (A Digest of Kanchi Mahaswamigal.s Discourses)

Soundaryalahari  

(A Digest of Kanchi Mahaswamigal.s Discourses)

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal

The very beginning of the shloka .tvayA hRtvA. brands ambaa as a

.thief.! You have already appropriated half of His body. And you were not

satisfied. Now You have appropriated the other half also.

The gymnastics of words is delightful. In .aparitRptena. there is an

.apari.. This is in the first line. In the second line there is .aparam.. This

latter means .other.. But .apari. is the opposite of .pari.. .pari-tRptena.

means: by one who is fully satisfied. The .pari. stands for .fully.. So

.apari-tRptena. means: by one who is not satisfied fully. Having taken

only half the body how can She have a .full. satisfaction? She had only a

partial satisfaction ! That is what is indicated by the .apari-tRptena..

It is the left side of the Lord.s body that belongs to ambaa. This is

the age-old tradition. That is how the Acharya expected to see ambaa

when he sought Her darshan. But what did he see? He expected to have

a darshan of Father and Mother in the ardha-nArishvara form. But what

he saw was the Mother.s form, including the right side. Father is crystalwhite

and Mother is crimson-red. But what he saw was .sakalam

aruNAbham. . fully crimson-red. He expected to see a masculine form on

the right side, but what he saw was .kuchAbhyAm-Anamram.. So the

Acharya concludes -- in poetic fancy, of course . that the other (right)

half of Shiva.s masculine body also has been taken over by ambaa. Note

that Shiva Himself is described in the vedas as .taskarANAm patiH. . the

head of all the thiefs! But ambaa has executed a theft on Himself, by

stealing the other remaining half of His body . though She had been,

with great condescension, given half of His body (the left side) already!

And it is delightfully interesting to note that the poet in the

Acharya does not say that .the other half of the body has also been

captured.. He dares not, even in poetic fancy, make that charge

assertively against ambaa. He only says .shangke. . .I suspect. !

Let us analyse it still further. When one says .I suspect., one

should give reasons. He has already given two reasons: .Wholly crimsonred

. is one; .the features of the chest. is another. But this is not enough.

To support his charge further, he gives two more, which clinch the issue.

These are the two features: .trinayanam. (three eyes) and .kuTila-shashichUDAla-

makuTaM. (crown that includes the half moon in it). These two

are exclusively the features of Lord Shiva. His name, even according to

the vedas is .tryambaka.. In the preliminary mantras to the rudraprashna,

the dhyAna-shloka beginning with .ApAtALa-nabhasthalAntha

.... the second line describes Him as .jyoti-sphATika-linga-mouli-vilasatpUrnendu

... which means that as the shiva-linga, He has the full moon

on His top. When the same devatA is figured anthropomorphically as a

Person, He would have on His head, only a half moon . Thus the three

eyes and the crescent moon .belong. to the Lord. But when the Acharya

had the darshan he saw both these in ambaa Herself!

A Digest of Discourses on Soundaryalahari

94

In fact the darshan he had was of KAmeshvari, the devatA of

Soundaryalahari. KAmeshvari has a third eye in Her forehead. In the

meditating shloka of LalitA-sahasranAma, the shloka begins with

.sindhUra-aruNa-vigrahAM.. The sindhUra colour ascribed to the form

here is the crimson-red colour, indicated by .sakalaM aruNAbhaM. in our

current shloka. Following that, the dhyAna-shloka goes on next to

.trinayanam. (three eyed). Thus the red colour and the three eyes are

natural to the form of Kameshvari. But in the present shloka (#23) the

Acharya takes the stance, in his poetry, that the former (namely, the red

colour) is naturally Hers, whereas the latter (namely, the three eyes) has

been appropriated from the Lord.s form!

Continuing the dhyAna-shloka, we have the expression .tArAnAyaka-

shekharAm. meaning, .who has the Moon on Her head.. This

the Acharya has used in his shloka as .kuTila-shashi-chUDAla-makuTAM..

Thus the Acharya has made a nindA-stuti (Praise by pointing out

faults) of ambaa by using the same four characteristics which ambaa

has, according to the dhyAna-shloka, namely, red colour, three eyes,

crescent moon on the head and the feminine form. But two of them he

says ambaa has appropriated from the Lord. In fact it is the Acharya who

has appropriated two of the four all of which rightfully belong to Her, by

accusing Her of appropriating those two from Her Lord.

It is not that the Acharya did not know. He certainly would know

that all four are natural characteristics of LalitAmbA. .trinayanA. (.The

three-eyed.) is one of Her names occurring in the LalitA-sahasranAma.

.chAru-chandra-kalAdharA. is also another. In ShymALA-danDaka of

Kalidasa, we have him addressing Her as .chandra-kalAvatamse. (She

who has ornamented Her head with the Crescent Moon). Thus ambaa

does have these two characteristics as Her own. In pictures of olden

times I have myself seen Her being depicted thus. But the ordinary

common-folk still think that the concepts of .three eyes. and .crescent

moon on the head. are exclusively those of Lord Shiva. And, the Acharya,

in his poetic excitement, joins the common-folk and creates a .nindAstuti

.!

There is still another angle! The shloka under discussion revels in

the idea of ambaa having appropriated the Lord.s characteristics and

also his right half. But the poetic world knows that it is the other way

round. It is the Lord who has appropriated Her characteristics and

legitimately what is due to Her!

In the ardha-nArishvara form the third eye is common to both the

masculine and the feminine forms. It is by the third eye He consumed

Manmatha, the God of Love, to ashes. So the credit of that consumption

should go half and half to both the Lord and ambaa. But who is known

as Kama-dahana-mUrti? It is He. Similarly when KAla, the God of

Death, was attempting to get the Shiva-devotee MarkanDeya into his

death-noose, he was vanquished by the left leg of the Lord, and thus He

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal

95

has earned the name .Kala-samhAra-mUrti. and known as such as the

world over. But the left leg in the ardha-nArIshvara form actually

belongs to ambaa and so the credit for vanquishing KAla should go

wholly to ambaa. Thus on both counts it is He that should be faulted for

appropriation and not She!

Well, we could go on like this. But the final essence of all this

discussion is that there is no appropriation on either side. It is all One

form and One Supreme. The Lord.s form is totally in Her and Her form is

totally in His. LalitA Herself is .Shiva-shakty-aikya-rUpiNI.; this advaita is

the bottomline of the whole thing.

[At this point the Paramacharya becomes silent

and starts talking in a measured low voice]

Alright, the form is totally red; it is ambaa. But if one begins to

look at the form in its various parts, amidst the redness, there is visible

only the third eye and the crescent moon at the top. That reminds us of

the Lord. But if you look for Him He is not there. Nothing except those

two characteristics of His are visible. It is probably this experience that

prompted the Acharya to say:

[Now the Paramacharya resumes his normal voice]

. Oh! You got half the body as your own; and now you have taken over

the whole body.!

None can partition the Shiva-experience. You cannot have it

piecemeal; you have to have the whole of it. This is what ambaa has

done!

- 47 .

(Digest of pp.1028 -1032 )

japo jalpaH shilpaM sakalam-api mudrA-virachanA

gatiH prAdakshhiNya-kramaNam ashanAdy-Ahuti vidhiH /

praNAmaH samveshaH sukhaM akhilaM AtmArpaNa-dRshA

saparyA paryAyaH tava bhavatu yan-me vilasitaM // 27 //

(The word-by-word meaning comes out in the Paramacharya.s

explanation itself; so it is not given separately)

Whatever actions we do must all be in dedication to ambaa . this

is the sum and substance of this shloka. Worship, japaM, showing

mudrAs by the fingers of the hand, circumambulation, prostration,

offering in the fire with the chanting of mantras in propitiation of ambaa

. all these are usually done in honour of ambaa by Her devotees. Yes, all

these have to be done. But the matter should not end there. Doing all

this for a portion of the time, and then for the rest of the time getting

fully immersed in material matters of the world, is exactly what should

be avoided. It is not like .A few hours for ambaa; and the rest of the time

for me and my worldly activities.. All the time everything should become

a worship, everything should be a japaM, a homaM and an offering. That

A Digest of Discourses on Soundaryalahari

96

is how we should change our life style. Not only the devotees, but all

should be able to do this.

But how is this possible? Is this feasible? Don.t I have to bathe?

Don.t I have to eat, sleep, mix with people, do my work in the world? I

hear you are all raising these questions immediately. You may say that

even the great so-called jnAnis (enlightened ones) are certainly doing all

these routine activities of worldly life. So what is wrong?

Let it be. She as the Divine Mother has to perform Her leelA. That

is alright. But how is it that the jnAnis, who know it is all Her leelA, are

still working in the mundane world? You should also be like those jnAnis.

Be in the world, not of the world. Maybe it is not possible just

immediately. But gradually, you can train yourself to be so. Effort and

constant practice are needed. For the present, start convincing yourself

that your bathing, eating, talking, sleeping, walking, and all these

ordinary activities are all happening because of Her Shakti . without

which by yourself you cannot do a single thing. Constantly tell yourself

that this is so. Slowly keep widening this belief for every action of yours.

When you recognize that you are eating because of the power She

has given you to eat, you would not have the heart to send rubbish into

your stomach. When the belief settles in that it is ambaa that makes you

walk, you will hesitate twice before wasting it on going to the races or the

movies. When you know that it is by Her Grace you are talking, you

would not waste it on gossiping or scandalising another or discussing

disgusting material. When we are aware of the fact that hands and feet

are working because of Her, we would stop using them for doing wrong

things.

Gradually, in due time, this conviction has to spread to your

mental activities also. In other words, the egoistic thought of .I am

planning this or that. will give way to the thought .Let Her get this done,

if She wishes.. This change in the thought processes is important

because it is through the mind all the mAyic changes and troubles of the

world emerge. And they prevent the nullifying of the mind and the entry

into jnAna mArga. Once we transfer the responsibilities to the Divine

Mother, the impact of the mind will slowly disappear. Thereafter, whether

She keeps us talking, walking or eating or She keeps us without any of

these, in any case, we would be peaceful at the bottom of our heart. It is

to reach that state, to pray for that state to be possible, that this shloka

has been given to us by the Acharya.

.japo jalpaH.: .jalpa. means talk, whether it is meaningful or not.

So all this talk should be a japaM. In other words, it is the state of

whatever we talk becoming an offering of japaM for Her.

There are several mantras like .BalA., .ShhoDashI., and

.panchadashI.. All these mantras are done in a japa form. We are not

saying that they should not be done. But ultimately, the japa as a

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal

97

separate activity has to disappear and the conviction should occur that

whatever we talk is a japa offering to Her.

.sakalaM shilpam-api mudrA-virachanA.: Whatever I do by my

hand, let it be a mudrA that one does in Your pUjA. Here .shilpaM. must

be taken to mean any kind of work. Unfortunately the tamil word

.shilpaM. means only sculpture. Maybe because Man produces forms just

as the Creator creates human beings.

.gatiH prAdakshhiNya-kramaNaM. : Whatever movement I do let it

be a circumambulation of You. Wherever I go let me have the feeling that

I am doing a pradakshhiNa of You.

.ashanAdi. : food, etc. Since the .etc.. is there it means not only

food that is eaten, but food that is consumed by the other senses like

eyes and ears. So all sensual experiences are covered.

.Ahuti vidhiH. : Let them be the offerings given to the sacred fire lit

for You.

In fact all eating is done only after giving the first five morsels to

the five prANas. In the Gita also, the Lord says that He it is who digests

the food by being VaishvAnara as .JATharAgni. in the stomach. Once we

have the conviction that it is He that is sitting inside and consuming

what we send through the mouth, then we would not be sending in wine

and meat for His consumption. The same logic applies to the sensual

consumption by eyes, ears, skin, and nose. Everything is experienced by

Him and so let us not dare send in undesirable stuff.

.praNAmas-samveshaH. : Let my very sleeping be a namaskAraM

done to You. Once we realise that our lying down for rest is nothing but a

namaskAraM at the feet of ambaa, that would itself give us total peace

and relaxation.

Why carry on this list in detail? It is not necessary to do special

japa, homa, namaskAra and such rituals. Whatever we naturally do , let

it be our pUjA to You . this is the meaning of .sukham akhilam

AtmArpaNa-dRshA saparyA paryAyaH tava bhavatu yan me vilasitaM..

Here .saparyA. means pUjA. .paryAya. has many meanings, one of

which is .substitute.. So this gives the meaning: Let whatever I do be a

.substitute. for the pUjA to be done to You.

- 48 .

(Digest of pp.1033 . 1037)

Note the words .sukham-akhilaM-AtmArpaNa-dRshA. in the third

line of shloka #27.

.sukham. means .without strain., .naturally.. The word is very

significant here. Since our mind is not in our control, it becomes a great

strain to make it subscribe to a moralistic routine. But if we train our

mind to think that everything is the work of ambaaL, the attempt to

become moralistic slips into a natural frame wherein the goal is attained

effortlessly. Because, when we have surrendered everything to Her, the

A Digest of Discourses on Soundaryalahari

98

mind starts doing what is natural to it, namely, it behaves like a pure

mind. And that is the road to eternal happiness.

The words .AtmArpaNa-dRshA. is the life-line of this shloka; not

only of this shloka, but of all Hindu scriptures. This is the AtmanivedanaM,

the last of the nine-fold bhakti methodologies enunciated in

the Bhagavatam. It is also the complete Surrender described in all Bhakti

literature and particularly in the Bhagavad-Gita. The expression literally

means: .By the attitude which is ready to lay one.s life at Her feet.. Only

when that attitude is present, all talk becomes a japa, all action becomes

a mudrA, and so on for the rest. Let things become like this through the

attitude of .Atma-samarpaNaM. (laying one.s life at the feet). The word

.bhavatu. in the last line stands for this plea. A person who can do this

surrender, would have his whole life sanctified as a pUjA to Her

Almighty.

An exactly analogous thought almost in the same words has been

given in .Shiva-mAnasa-pUjA. by the Acharya himself.

AtmA tvaM girijA matiH sahacarAH prANAH sharIraM gRhaM

pUjA te vishhayopa-bhoga-racanA nidrA samAdhi sthitiH /

sancAraH padayoH pradakshhiNa-vidhiH stotrANi sarvA giro

yad-yat karma karomi tat-tad-akhilaM shambho tavA-rAdhanaM //

You Lord Shiva are my AtmA; my mind is ambikA, the daughter of

the Mountain; my five prANas are the GaNas that serve you; my body is

your temple; all my involvement in sensual experience is your pUjA; my

sleep is the samAdhi state; my wanderings on my feet constitute Your

circumambulation; whatever I talk shall be your praises; whatever I do

O Shambho, all that shall be a propitiation of You.

Such a dedication of everything at the feet of the Lord is what is

prescribed by the Lord in the Gita:

Yat-karoshhi yad-ashnAsi yaj-juhoshhi dadAsi yat /

Yat-tapasyasi kaunteya tat-kurushhva mad-arpaNaM // IX -27

Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in the

homa-fire, whatever you give away, whatever intense concentration you

do . all that should be offered to Me.

.There is nothing that I do. .Good or bad, Am I the doer?. . Such

expressions of total surrender are everywhere in the works of

Nayanmars, Alvars and also the saints of other religions. It is this kind of

total surrender that gives the destination of one.s birth, namely, jIvanmukti.

What is talked of as .the cessation of mind. in the path of jnAna

becomes the .total surrender. in the path of bhakti. Both are

.AtmArpaNaM. only. Both have the same result, namely, jIvan-mukti .

Release (even) while alive!

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal

99

To sum up, the body does what it does because it is being made to

do so by the jIva within it; so also what all this jIva does is because it is

being made to do so by a Supreme jIva-Shakti behind it and that is the

Mother Goddess. For that Shakti, not only this jIva is the body but all

the jIvas . nay, in fact the entire Universe is the body. So whatever

happens in the Universe is because of Her. Once this idea settles deeply

in our minds then there will be no problem of .laying our lives at Her feet.

(Atma-samarpaNaM).

The concept that ambaaL is pervading the whole universe

immanently is elaborated in two jshlokas (#34, 35) by the Acharya.

sharIraM tvaM shambhoH shashi-mihira-vakshhoruha-yugaM

tavAtmAnaM manye bhagavati navAtmAnaM anaghaM /

atah sheshhas-sheshhI-ity-ayam-ubhaya-sAdhAraNatayA

sthitas-sambandho vAM sama-rasa-para-nanda-parayoH //34//

Bhagavati : Oh Goddess,

Manye : I think

tvaM : You

shashi-mihira-vakshhoruha-yugaM: (who) have the Sun and the Moon as

your breasts,

shambhoH sharIraM : (are) the body of Shiva,

anaghaM : (and) the spotless

navAtmAnaM : (Ananda-bhairava, i.e. Shiva) who has nine facets (of

presentation)

tava AtmAnaM : (as) your AtmA.

ataH : Therefore

ayam sambandhaH : this relationship

sheshhaH sheshhI iti : of .the accessory. and .the principal.

vAM : between You two

sama-rasa-parAnanda-parayoH : who are ParAnanda and ParA, the

enjoyers of the same Infinite Bliss

sthitaH : is poised

ubhaya-sAdhAraNatayA : as a mutual common factor.

.You are the body of Lord Shiva, O Goddess. . thus begins the

verse. Earlier it was said that the whole body of the Lord has been

appropriated by Her. But now are we talking of the .crimson-coloured

body with a crescent moon and a third eye.? No. We are talking of this

vast cosmos of million universes which together constitute His virAtsvarUpa

(cosmic form). That cosmic body is ambaaL, says the verse. The

life-giving force for that entire cosmos is the Absolute Reality, the para-

Brahman.

Mark it! What is being said here seems to be contrary to what was

declared in the very first shloka .shivaH shaktyA yuktah .....Without

A Digest of Discourses on Soundaryalahari

100

Shakti, Shiva cannot even move . that was the statement there. So it

appeared as if Shiva is an inert body and ambaaL is the life-giving force.

Here it is being said that She is the body and .... !

No contradiction is intended or implied. There are two viewpoints.

49 .

(Digest of pp.1038 -1044 )

The first shloka says that She is the soul and He is inert without

Her presence. This shloka (#34) says that He is the soul and She is His

body. There are two viewpoints here.

I must have myself said . in interpreting the first shloka . that He

is inert without Her. To be precise, it is not .He is inert without Her., but

.He is inert-like without Her.. The Shiva that we spoke of in Shloka #1, is

the actionless, attributeless, nameless Brahman. That Brahman can

never be called something that is inert, devoid of .cit or Consciousness.

But it is something to which we cannot attribute the act of cognizing

itself. In that sense there is no .awareness. of being .complete-in-itself.. It

is in this sense, the word .inertness. is used when talking of Brahman. So

it is .as good as inert.. The .as if. part here is the punchline. The

Brahman, that .does not know(!) itself. -- this to become the Brahman

that .knows. itself is due to the jnAna-shakti and that is ambaa. It is this

jnAna-shakti, that now brings its own ichhA-shakti and kriyA shakti, and

the process of Evolution starts. So the nirguNa-Brahman, until it .knows.

itself, is .inert. and the shakti that makes it, as it were, know itself, is its

soul . it is in this sense the first shloka talks of .He is inert without Her.!

Shloka #34 is talking about .kArya brahman.. Ishvara is SaguNabrahman.

When Shakti as KAmeshvari prompts Him, He creates the

entire Universe and is involved in the cosmic functions. It is in this

context the entire Universe is His body and the soul within is the kAryashakti

that is Ishvara. The icchA shakti that is KAmeshvari prompts the

Fundamental Reality that is Brahman.

The contention of advaita however is: It is Brahman that, through

MayA, becomes saguNa Brahman which transacts its cosmic functions.

There is no separate chaitanyaM (life, consciousness) for mAyA. It is

inert. It gets a chaitanyaM from Brahman, hides Brahman and projects

the universe instead, in Brahman. The administration of this universe

takes place by the same Brahman but now as Ishvara coupled with

mAyA.

Brahman is ShivaM and ambaa is mAyA . I have already told you

so. It is because of mAyA that the Universe exists. So one can speak of

the Universe itself as mAyA and therefore the form of ambaa. That mAyA

is inert; it shines because of brahma-chaitanyaM. Therefore ambaa is

spoken of as the body and the Shiva who is in the place of Brahman can

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal

101

be spoken of as its soul. This is why .sharIraM tvaM shambhoH. . You,

Mother, are the body of Shiva!.

In Sankhya school of philosophy, it is almost the same. .Purushha.

is the basic Truth behind all jIvas. .PrakRti. is the basic cause for the

Universe. The two are like body and soul, according to Sankhya.

Scholarly opinion holds that the contention of shloka #34, namely, that

ambaa is the body of the Lord and the universe itself is ambaa (through

the words .shashi-mihira-vakshhoruha-yugaM.) is more akin to Sankhya

than to advaita. The reasoning goes like this:

Brahman is hidden by mAyA. Brahman appears as the universe

and this is the projection of mAyA. Of these two things, it is the .hiding.

part that is dominant whenever we talk of mAyA. Even in ordinary

parlance, we say .the thing disappeared like mAyA!.. On the other hand

.prakRti., instead of being associated with the .hiding. part, is usually

emphasized in the case of what appears as Nature. PrakRti gets the

dominant emphasis whenever we talk of the universe appearing in the

place of Absolute Reality. In Sankhya, the 24 tattvas like the five

elemental fundamentals, pancha tanmAtras, and then the senses, etc.

all are focussed on the Universe and its constitution (=make-up). Even

advaita shAstras have accepted the 24 fundamental tattvas more

because of the importance given to it by traditional scholars. In advaita

sAdhanA, these have no recognized place. In the practical sAdhanA of an

advaitin, knowing about the 24 fundamentals is neither advantageous

nor disadvantageous. The transformation of prakRti into the Universe

and its living beings is important only in SAnkhya.

Though the beginning of this shloka (#34) takes us back to

Sankhya and advaita, the later ideas take us to the two traditions in

ShAkta school, namely, the Kaula and the Samaya. In fact even the idea

that ambaa is the body of the Lord and the Universe itself is ambaa --

has also a basis in the ShAkta scriptures. KaulaM is the tradition

wherein one does external worship with yantram, deity and all. SamayaM

is that which does the pUjA esoterically in the heart-space

(hRdayAkAsha).

Irrespective of any of these philosophies, what is important to note

in this shloka is the Acharya.s refusal to forget the motherly love inherent

in the Mother Goddess. Though ambaa is depicted as the cosmic Form

of the Lord, the Acharya does not have the mind to leave it as an inert

.form. or .body.. He keeps thinking about the Mother as the Mother of the

Universe and its beings and therefore Her breast-feeding of Her children

is hinted at by the mention of .shashi-mihira-vakshhoruha-yugaM.! That

the Sun and the Moon are the life-givers of everything in the universe is a

scientifically accepted fact. Therefore the Mother who protects us as

anna-poorNeshvari also feeds our lives through the Sun and the Moon.

Poetically, in the language of Bhakti, they are the ones who feed us with

A Digest of Discourses on Soundaryalahari

102

life-sustaining breast-feed and that is why they are the two breasts of the

Cosmic Form that is ambaa.

It is customary to talk of the Sun and the Moon as the two eyes of

the Lord. In Soundaryalahari itself, shloka #48 says that .Your right eye

is the Sun that brings out the day; and your left eye is the Moon that

creates the night.. In Lalita Sahasranama ambaa.s ear-ornaments are

said to be the Sun and the Moon. But over and above all this, it is this

shloka that touches us most, because it makes us the Mother.s children

who are breast-fed by the Sun and the Moon as Her breasts.

- 50 .

(Digest of pp.1045 -1050 )

We have not yet done with Shloka #34. The Sheshha-SheshhIbhAva

(The Principal and the Accessory concept) that comes in the third

line of the verse has tremendous conceptual significance.

.sharIraM tvaM shambhoH. indicates that ambaa is the body and

Shiva is the soul. Since the body is usually taken as .containing. the soul

one should not think that soul is a property of the body. It is not like .the

purse is in my pocket; so the purse is my property.. By thinking like that

one commits the foolishness -- as the Acharya himself mentions in his

ShaTpadI-stotra . of thinking that .the Ocean is the property of the

Waves; the Wave is not the property of the Ocean!. The fact that the

waves are the only thing visible from the outside and the calm water

beneath is not visible, does not mean that the waves .possess. the ocean

beneath them! So also with .body and soul.. If the soul (life) leaves the

body, the body becomes rotten and decays. The soul goes and takes

another body. Therefore it is the body that is .possessed. by the soul.

The soul is the possessee and the body is the property of the possessee.

In Sanskrit the word .svaM. indicates the possessed property. It is from

this word .svaM. the word .svat. and the Tamil word .sottu. (meaning

.property. or .possession.) are derived.

When .svam. is the possessed property, the possessee is .svAmi.. It

is the Lord who is the .svAmi. for the whole universe, because everything

is His, in His possession, His property. The possessor-Lord is called

.SheshhI.. .Sheshha. is the one .owned. by the SheshhI. Soul is the

sheshhI and body is sheshha.

This concept of jIvas and Universe as the body and the Lord as the

soul and on the same basis as sheshha and sheshhI is an important

tenet of the vishishhTAdvaita school of ShrI Ramanujacharya.

If the Lord is taken to be the nirguNa Brahman as per advaita, then

ambaa was first said to be the I-consciousness of the Lord, by the

Acharya. The first half of the very first shloka meant only that. Then in

shloka #7, explicitly ambaa was said to be .Aho-purushhikA.. In this kind

of thing, there is no distinction between sheshha and sheshhI; the shiva

and shakti are in indivisible unison. But looking at the phenomenal

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal

103

world of duality, the talk arises about the divine Triad, and the divinities

in charge of the five cosmic functions. And in this state they are able to

function only with the help of a fragment of Her Shakti. Just by the dust

of Her feet they are able to do what they have to do (shloka #2). Or by

just the winking of Her eyes (shloka #24). These shlokas point to the fact

that She is the Mistress of the whole show; in other words, She is the

SheshhI; and these divinities are the sheshhas who do Her bidding. Even

the alternates of Shiva, namely, Rudra, Maheshvara and SadAshiva who

belong to the same category, are also sheshhas and She is the SheshhI

for them too.

Over and above all this, from the minutest earthworm all the way

up to the Cosmic Divinities of the five functions, all of them have been

created and given life by the presence of Her Shakti within. So She is

the SeshI to all of them . In other words all of us are Sheshas,

accessories, for that SheshI, the principal.

This shloka also tells us in its second line how She is the SheshhI

and He is the Sheshha. Ishvara is nine-faceted . these nine facets

starting with Time and ending with jIva.

[Note: The nine facets referred to here are:

KAla, Kula, nAma, jnAna,citta,

nAda, bindu, KalA and jIva]

That is the navAtmA that is mentioned in the shloka. For all of

these the life giving shakti is ambaa. So She is the SharIrI or SheshhI.

And Ishvara, who has the nine aspects, is Sheshha.

Now change the viewpoint. You will see that He is the SheshhI and

She is the Sheshha. For, She being Shakti, Energy, Power, there must be

someone who wields that Shakti, Power and Energy. That is the Lord

Shiva! Even when He is the saguna-Brahman or the kArya-Brahman, He

is the Ishvara who is the soul of everything in the universe as the First

Cause. The effects, namely, all that is animate and inanimate, are His

body, that is, ambaa. So She becomes the Sheshha.

The simple meaning of SheshhaM is .Remainder.. So the original,

which ought to be far more than the SheshhaM, is the SheshhI. That is

the paramAtman. From that fullness of the paramAtman all this world

has emerged, which appears to be infinite and full. After emerging from

fullness, what has emerged seems to be full. And even after the

emergence, the original is still full. This is what the upanishadic mantra

(pUrnamadaH pUrnamidaM) says. In other words it only tells us that the

paramAtman is the SheshhI and we are all his Sheshha. Ambaa is

manifesting as all the multitudinous universe and the life within is the

Shambhu-Brahman. Therefore .sharIram tvam shambhoH.. Ambaa is the

sheshha and He is the Sheshhi.

Thus the Acharya here does not make any distinction between the

different viewpoints of ShAktaM, ShaivaM, VishishhTAdvaitam,

SAnkhyam and advaitam. The universe that is discardable as mAyA in

advaita is here talked of as the body of the paramAtman. When you think

A Digest of Discourses on Soundaryalahari

104

of nirguNa-Brahman, the question of soul and body, sharirI and sharIra,

sheshhI and sheshha does not arise. But in the phenomenal world when

we view things from our mundane angle, the universe is said to be the

body and the indwelling paramAtman the sharIrI . very much as in

vishishhTAdvaita philosophy.

The Acharya says in this shloka that this Sheshha-SheshhI bhAva

is equally the characteristic of both. Already the .samaya. school of

ShAktaM talks of five equalities between Shiva and Shakti.

[ See Section . 7]

And here the Acharya has added one more equality, namely the

Sheshha-SheshhI bhAva!

Just as the universe is visible so also the body is visible. So long as

the mind is there both the body and the universe will certainly be visible.

When the mind is inactive as in sleep, or in sedation or in samAdhi,

there is no universe, body or activity of the senses. Where is the

distinction in that state, between body and its life or soul, who is the

sharIrI, what is the sharIra, who is the SheshhI, who is the Sheshha? In

sleep and in sedation, there is no duality because nothing is cognized.

For the jnAni who is in the samAdhi state, again there is no universe or

phenomenal activity because of the absence of mind. There is no jIvAtmA

being .monitored. or .enlivened. by the ParamAtman. To comprehend the

presence of these two, function of the mind is necessary. Is it the state

like sleep or sedation where there is nothing? No. That is not a state of

complete void; it is a state of One-ness, namely the presence of the One

without a second! This is how advaita has been established by the

Acharya.

But other than that jnAni, the experience of every one else has to

see everything . starting from the mind and going all the way to the five

fundamental elements . as pervaded by ambaa. And that is what the

Acharya is training us to do. As a beginning for this perception he says

Brahman (shivaM) is the soul and the unvierse (ambaa) is the body.

And he goes on to say in this next shloka (#35), that mind itself,

which is the cause for all duality, is ambaa.

51

(Digest of pp.1050 -1055 )

manas-tvaM vyoma tvaM marud-asi marut-sArathir-asi

tvam-Apas-tvaM bhUmis-tvayi pariNatAyAM na hi paraM /

tvameva svAtmAnaM pariNamayituM vishva-vapushhA

cid-AnandA-kAraM shiva-yuvati-bhAvena bibhRshhe //35//

.manaH tvaM. . You are the mind. Mother, it is this mind that is

responsible for all the truant behaviour and all the consequent troubles;

but even that mind is You yourself. .I may ask you, O Mother; Who are

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal

105

you?. . even this question is rising only in my mind and that again is

You!

In the path of jnAna, they talk of the destruction of the mind. But

here we are told that the mind itself is ambaa. The advantage in

convincing oneself that the Mother Goddess Herself is our mind, is that it

paves the way for stopping all further truant behaviour and thus inviting

further troubles. It is by such practice one ends up with the void where

there is no mind; it is actually not void, but is called jnAna-AkAsha, that

is, Knowledge-space. Maybe it is not visible now. So what? Right now

what you are able to see is the blue vast sky; learn to see that it is also

ambaa.

.Vyoma tvaM. -- You are Space. Not only just Space. You are the

five elements. The thing next to AkAsha is air; and that is also You.

.marud-asi. . air are you. .marut. means .air. (VAyu). Hanuman is

called .MAruti. because He is the son of .marut..

At the next level there is agni, fire. That is also your another form.

Even the Veda says: .agni-varnAM, tapasA jvalantIM., -- .of the colour of

agni, shining by the fire of penance.. Fire travels the way the wind blows,

therefore it is called .marut-sArathiH.. Fire has marut (Wind) as its pilot!

.tvaM ApaH. tvaM bhUmiH. . You are Water. You are the Earth.

Ambaa is in the form of the five fundamental elements and so

manifests Herself in the five chakras in the body, from mUlAdhAra to

Vishuddhi.

Where is the need for elaboration one by one? There is nothing

where You are not manifest. .tvayi pariNatayAM na hi paraM.. The

.pariNatAyAM. means that ambaa Herself has become all this. .na hi

paraM. shows that there is nothing more supreme (paraM) than Her.

All that was said so far constitute the first two lines of the shloka.

In the latter two lines, it says: .In order to make yourself pervade the

whole universe, You Yourself as the consort of Lord Shiva manifest in

the form of Knowledge-Bliss..

The fullness is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss (sat-cid-AnandaM). Shiva

is not only just .sat. (Existence), but also Knowledge and Bliss. As

Knowledge it .knows.. As Bliss it is .blissfully happy.. This knowing and

being happy are the effects of ambaa. That is why She is called .cid-

Ananda-lahari. (Shloka 8). What is the reason for this expression of

Knowledge and Bliss? The third line of the shloka answers this.

.tvaM eva svAtmAnaM pariNamayituM vishva-vapushhA. .

meaning, .For the purpose of your pervasion as the entire universe, You

took the Knowledge-Bliss Expression in the role of the consort of Shiva..

.The brahman knowing itself and revelling in the Bliss of that

Knowledge does not just end there; the expansion as Knowledge and

Bliss is for the purpose of manifesting itself as the Universe. . This is the

kind of thought in this shloka. It is out and out a ShAkta doctrine. It is

not there in advaita. When advaita school dwells on Creation, they say:

A Digest of Discourses on Soundaryalahari

106

.It is all because of mAyA; the questions of How and Why do not lead us

anywhere. The whole business is to discard this mAyA and rest in the

base, the substratum . So where is the need for research about How this

came and for what purpose?. On the other hand, in the traditions of

Bhakti, like ShAktaM, they give you reasons for Creation . that the same

Cit (that is, Supreme Consciousness) manifests as several fragments of

consciousness and the same Ananda (that is, Supreme Bliss) manifests

as several fragments of Bliss, and that Creation is enable us to watch the

play of that Universe. According to them it is that drama that we take to

be wholly real and we consequently are immersed in that mAyA. .Even in

this mAyic universe what flows is only that Consciousness-Bliss

(cidAnanda-rasam); in the same way as the substratum of existence

being called .shiva-yuvati.. If only we realise that all this creation of

universe is to make us enjoy Her play, Her drama, Her expansion, then

we can delight in that blissful view of the miracle, and in turn, be

immersed in that CidAnanda.

Note that the word .pariNAma. (transformation) has been used

twice. There is no .transformation. concept in advaita. In advaita,

Brahman does not get transformed, as milk does into curd. The

changeless brahman appears as the universe through mAyA . that is the

advaitic contention. It is SAnkhyaa that talks of the universe as the

transformation of PrakRti. Even there they don.t say that it is the

transformation of the Purusha, but it is so only of PrakRti. Our Acharya

has adopted that tenet here and used the form of that tenet as given by

the ShAkta tantra.

It will be interesting to research into how much the Acharya

condescends to stray away from advaita in order to accommodate the

various tastes of people with the purpose of lifting them up. One may

question: .Could he do such things, ever?.. The only answer could be:

.Only a compassionate one such as the Acharya can.!

There is a branch of Kaula called uttara-kaula. They interpret

.shiva-yuvati. as follows. .Shiva-yuvati. does not mean .the consort of

Shiva.. It is Shivam itself that encompasses the Shiva-tattva within itself

and manifests as the .yuvati., the feminine consort. The SahasranAmam

also has .svAdhIna-vallabhA. which means .She who has her husband in

her control.. A little stretching of that meaning will indicate that She has

Him within Herself. And this will help us to be confirmed of the

Acharya.s words .na hi paraM. (there is nothing other than Herself) in this

shloka.

-52-

(Digest of pp.1056 - 1060 )

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

(Her pervasion of everything) always in our memory.

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal

107

Memory is in the mind. And he has begun this shloka (#35) with the

words .manas-tvaM. (You are my mind). All our problems arise in the

mind and so mind is the source, origin of all our troubles. But if we start

thinking that Mind itself is ambaaL, then we have nowhere else to go!

We have got it! Mind has now to be turned to what is within. It is not

necessary to .kill. it root and branch. Even if it turns outside and looks at

the world, we now know that all the five elemental fundamentals are

nothing but ambaaL. .vyoma tvaM. - Space is You; . marud-asi. . Air is

You. ... .tvayi pariNatAyaM na hi paraM. . There is nothing that is not a

transformation of Yourself. Thus we see everything as ambaaL. And the

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

If one trains oneself to this way of viewing everything as The

Mother, in due course, we will obtain the same Knowledge-Bliss

experience even in this play of Creation. Our little little pleasures .

sensual or otherwise - and our fragments of knowledge all merge in that

supreme Bliss and Knowledge. And we become the cid-Ananda svarUpa

itself. We become one with the Shiva-yuvati, the Reservoir of Existence-

Knowledge-Bliss itself. What else is there beyond that?

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

which has a picture for every shloka of Soundaryalahari. One copy of it is

in the Philadelphia Art Museum. I have already told you of this in

another connection. A Professor from the University of Pennsylvania sent

three pages from that collection to our Professor in the University of

Madras and asked for clarification. In it there is a remarkable picture

even for this shloka (#35), which obviously would not seem to admit any

pictorial representation.

To wind up let me give you the gist of the two shlokas #s 34 and

35. It is ambaaL who is the body of Ishvara. Body here includes both the

gross and the subtle. The gross body is mentioned in the .sharIram tvam.

shloka. The subtle body is referred to in .manas-tvam. shloka. This mind

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

origin for all the five elemental fundamentals. It is from that Mahat all

the five elements originated, until they finally became this universe. That

is why .There is nothing other than You.. Though You are called the

body of the soul called .shambhu., You are the one who is

indistinguishable between soul and body; You yourself have expanded as

this universe.

There is a little echo here of the siddhAnta of ShrI Ramanuja, in

the concept of the body and soul, applied to the universe (Shakti) and the

Ultimate (Shambhu). However, finally the shloka winds up with the

words .cidAnandAkAraM., thus ending up with advaita. The ambaaL is

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

But these two cannot be separated from the Existence source

(san-mUlaM). None of the three can be kept in isolation; just as in a

sweet dish we cannot separate the form, the taste and the smell. So the

A Digest of Discourses on Soundaryalahari

108

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

to the world this Knowledge and this Bliss , the One Reality appears as

two and takes the posture of .shiva-yuvati.. This is only a bhAva, an

attitudinal posture.

After the .manas-tvaM. shloka, there follow five shlokas (#s 36 to

40) which depict how the divine couple take their seats in the kunDalini

chakras representing AkAsha, Air, Fire, Water and Earth (mentioned in

the order of evolution from the subtle to the gross). In each chakra they

have a distinct name, different function, and unique characteristics. But

the one characteristic that is common to all of them is the Supreme

Compassion. In #36, they shine (in the AjnA chakra) with the effulgence

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

than the Sun, the Moon and the Fire. In the next, (in the vishuddhi

chakra) they radiate, from their pure crystalline source, the infinite

coolness like some supreme moonlight thus eradicating the obstacle of

an inner darkness. Just as the mystical bird .cakora. consumes

moonlight, the devotees enjoy that mystic coolness.

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

form of a hamsa couple. The .hamsa. word should indicate the .paramahamsa

. characteristic of a sannyAsi, a jnAni of advaitic enlightenment.

It is that seat from which the praNava mantra .OM. generates by itself. It

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

divine hamsa-couple that is the source of all eighteen vidyAs. And they

swim in the mAnasa lake (that which pertains to the mind) drinking the

honey of brahmAnanda (Bliss of brahman) oozzing out from the lotus of

Knowledge. The traditional .hamsa. has the unique characteristic of being

able to separate water from milk. In the same way this unique divine

hamsa couple separates the bad things that we do, takes only the good

things and blesses us with their Grace.

The couple has been depicted as doling the same thing together in

the three chakras above. But when we come to the svAdhishhTAna

chakra (shloka #39), the superior compassion of the Mother dominates.

This chakra corresponds to the Fire element. This is where the Lord

opens his Third Fire Eye and completes his Dissolution function. While

the flames of the angry Rudra destroy the universe, with Her .dayArdrA

dRshTih. (the look that is wet with Compassion), through the gracious

and cooling effect of that glance She comforts the whole universe. We

may wonder here: .Can the Father be ever equivalent to the Mother?.. As

if to answer our question the poet uses the word .samayA. here to refer

to the Mother Goddess . confirming thus the principle that, though the

two might appear to be different for the outside world, in essence they

are one and the same.

But the Lord Himself (shloka #40) in the MaNipUraka-chakra is

the dark blue rain cloud that pours cool showers on the universe . thus

quelling the Fire that He Himself raised and thus preparing for a further

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal

109

creation. And it is then that ambaal brilliantly lights up by Her

lightning.

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

tavAdhare mUle saha samayayA lAsya-parayA

navAtmAnaM manye nava-rasa-mahAtANDava-naTaM /

ubhAbhyAm-etAbhyAM udaya-vidhim-uddishya dayayA

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

manye : I meditate

mUle AdhAre : in the mUlAdhara chakra

tava : of Yours

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

facets

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

that is, who dances in a grand style the tANDava dance (peculiar

to the masculine world), incorporating the nine rasas,

samayayA saha : along with samayA, another equivalent form of You

lAsya-parayA : (who is) involved in the dance .lAsya., peculiar to the

feminine world.

idam jagat : This universe

jajne : becomes

janaka jananImat : endowed with Father and Mother

etAbhyAM ubhAbhyAM : by this couple,

sanAthAbhyAM : who mutually resonate with each other

uddishya : aiming at

udaya vidhiM : the regeneration rule

dayayA : with compassion.

-53-

(Digest of pp.1061 - 1071 )

Shloka #41 is the last shloka of Ananda-lahari. It propitiates

ambaaL along with Lord Shiva in the lowest chakra, that is, mUlAdhAra.

It is remarkable to note that this shloka as well as shloka #34 have both

mentioned .navAtmAnaM. for Lord Shiva. From #34 to #41 the topic has

been the divine couple. With this shloka the discussion on the chakras

is completed. So in addition to interpreting .navAtmA. as the ninefaceted

(starting from Time etc.) Shiva, we can also interpret it as .six

chakras plus the three granthis (knots). together making a set of nine,

for which He is the Atman..

.lAsya. is the dance that is characteristically feminine. It is

delicate, gentle and polished. On the other hand the masculine dance

A Digest of Discourses on Soundaryalahari

110

.tANDava. would be noisy, forceful and aggressive. In .tANDava. what is

important is .nRttaM. in which the assemblage of beats (.tALa.) and

nuances in the pace (.gati.) and march (.jati.) of the dance dominate. In

.lAsya. it is the bhAva (face expression of mental states) that dominates.

Hence the traditional association of words like .masculine. and .feminine.

with these dance forms.

Lord Shiva is called .mahAnaTaH., the great dancer. .mahAkAlo

mahAnaTaH. is part of the list of names of Shiva in amara-kosha.

Without His dance there cannot be any movement in the world. Even

when the world is to dissolve, He has to do the .dance. of destruction!

Since the first shloka has already said that His very movement itself is

due to Her, it follows that every movement in the Universe is because of

Her. She lets Him do the magnificent dance and She also joins with her

lAsya. It is this ever-lasting dance of this divine couple that is the reason

for the multifarious movements that we beings make with our physical

bodies, or the varied physical reactions that our nerves exhibit in

concordance with the attitudinal expressions that invade us through

anger, sorrow, or lust. When we are engulfed in sorrow, why should the

eyes twitch? When we are invaded by anger why do the lips twitch? It is

all because the Lord is within us and He goes through His dance covering

all the nine rasas, that are expressed by the lAsya of ambaa. All these

are related to the varying attitudes that engulf us.

There are also dances without the attitudinal expressions. All the

world is making periodic revolutions. The planets are going round the

sun. The wind blows. Everything is a dance. The fire is a dance of the

flames. Water is dancing through its floods. These are .tANDava. without

.bhAva.. But they cause various bhAvas in us. When the breeze blows

past us we feel happy. But the same wind when it blows fiercely as a

storm, we feel the bhAva of fear. And so on. This is what has been said

in this shloka. Ananda-bhairava (the Lord) and Ananda-bhairavi (ambaa)

are doing this tANDava-lAsya dance. And we meditate on this scene in

mUlAdhAra-chakra. .Ananda-bhairavi. is the name of a rAga in music.

But here it goes also with dance.

.maheshvara-mahAkalpa-mahAtANDava-sAkshhiNI. is one of the

names of ambaa in LalitA-sahasranAma. There it is the tANDava dance

of the Lord at the time of Dissolution, that She is watching as a witness.

But the tANDava dance described in this shloka is the dance of Creation.

So She joins in it with Her lAsya.

.Ananda. . joy, happiness, bliss . usually goes with excitement and

dance. The divine couple are dancing with the fullness of Ananda in

them. But we should not think therefore we can take liberties with them.

That is why the disciplining bhairava name is associated with their

names. .bhairava. indicates anger, fear and the like. All for disciplining

us. But the bhairava nature is only temporary. It is Ananda that is

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal

111

permanent. And the greatest Ananda is universal compassion. Hence

the word .dayayA. in this shloka.

The word .dayA. means compassion. Where do they show the

.dayA. in this dance of creation? The very creation is the compassionate

act. For without creation how do we, with all our baggage of sins behind

us, ever reach Him ultimately? It is to help all the souls to have

opportunities of redemption that a creation starts after every dissolution.

This greatest act of compassion is done by the Dance of Creation of this

divine couple. Hence .dayayA.! .udaya-vidhim uddishya. means .with the

purpose of regulated creation..

The divine couple therefore is the Father and Mother of the

universe. .janaka-jananI.. Let the world not feel that there is no one

visible to take care of it. There is an invisible father and mother. The

world (jagat) has become janaka-jananImat, endowed with a father and

mother and therefore also .sanAtha., that is, (endowed with) a .caretaking

Lord.. In fact our children feel that if even one of the parents is

not there, they are .anAtha. (orphaned). So when both of them are there

we are not .anAtha. but .sanAtha..

But wait. There is a greater subtlety. The word .sanAtha. used in

the shloka is not about our being .anAtha. or .sanAtha.. The word

actually used is .sanAthAbhyAm. that goes with .ubHAbhyAM etAbhyAM..

Therefore .sanAthAbhyAM. refers to the divine couple. In other words it is

they, each one of them individually, who needs a .nAtha. (care-taking

overlord), because they have nobody .above. them. But if you carefully

read the shloka the correct meaning will spark; it is not somebody else

who is taking care of them as their Lord . there is nobody . but it is they

themselves, namely Shiva the Lord and ambaaL the Shakti, who are

taking care of each other. Each is a .nAtha. for the other. There is no

Shiva without Shakti; and no Shakti without Shiva. In one viewpoint, He

is the SheshhI (the Principal) and She is the Sheshha (the Accessory); in

another viewpoint, She is the Principal and He is the Accessory. When

He drinks the poison She protects Him and when She is in the form of

the daughter of Daksha and later the daughter of the Mountain King, He

protects Her. This mutual support and protection that this divine couple

give each other is the mysterious divine symbiosis that all the Shiva

Agamas, and mantra shAstras, and the Tamil Tirumandiram talk about

eloquently. Tirumandiram verse No. 333 says .By the grace of the

ShaktimAn, Shakti dispenses Her Grace and by the grace of Shakti, the

ShaktimAn dispenses His Grace..

In the Trichinopoly Rock Fort Temple dedicated to the Lord, His

manifestation there is .TayumAnavar. .

(Tamil word meaning, He who became also the Mother .

there is a whole story behind it,

wherein He appears at the right time as the Mother-nurse

who helps a lonely woman-devotee deliver her baby )

A Digest of Discourses on Soundaryalahari

112

But though He has become the mother, the temple dedicated to

Him has also a sannidhi for ambaa, the Mother. It is in the precincts of

this temple that all the shlokas of .Anandalahari. have been engraved on

the walls.

Thus with the auspicious account of the divine couple becoming

the Father and the Mother of the whole universe, the Ananda-laharI

portion of Soundaryalahari ends.

-54-

(Digest of pp.1072 - 1085 )

(Note: At this point the Paramacharya looks back on the Anandalahari

portion and describes in the form of an overview how Shiva and Shakti

have been dealt in different relationships within this first part of

Soundaryalahari).

The capability of .moving. the immovable impregnable Father of the

Universe is Her greatest glory. Soundaryalahari starts with that glorious

idea in the very first shloka. He is the executor of the Dissolution

Function of the Universe. But even that function could be done only by

the power of the dust of Her feet, says the 2nd shloka. His relationship

with Her is like our relationship to Him. In other words She is in the

place of a Goddess for Him, as is confirmed by the word .ArAdhyAm. in

the first shloka. A little later (in #7) She is His Self-awareness personified

. Aho-purushhikA . In the next shloka He is Her equal, She as

KAmeshvari sitting on the lap of the KAmeshvara form of Shiva

(.parama-shiva paryangka-nilayAM.). This is where they are together the

twin form of saguNa-brahman, as King and Queen of the .five cosmic

functions.. Shloka #9 (.sahasrAre padme saha rahasi patyA viharase. .

You are revelling with your husband in the sahasrAra-lotus) depicts Her

as the saguNa-brahman coalescing within Him, the nirguNa-brahman.

Another shloka (#11) depicts how they are situated in unison in the ShrIchakra.

And in the next shloka it talks of how as an ideal pati-vratA, She

reveals Her full form only to Him. But after twelve shlokas later, (shloka

#23) She has not only taken half His body but has captured the

remaining half also.

The next shloka (#24) needs more than a passing mention.

[Shloka 24 is not quoted by the Paramacharya

but since he deals with it in detail,

I am giving the shloka below

without the word-by-word meaning.

These meanings automatically come forth

in his explanations. V. K.]

jagat-sUte dhAtA harir-avati rudraH kshhapayate

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal

113

tiraskurvan-netat svam-api vapur-Ishas-tirayati /

sadA pUrvas-sarvaM tadidam-anugRHNAti ca shivaH

tavAjnAm-Alabhya kshhaNa-calitayor-bhrUlatikayoH //24//

It begins in the style of shloka #2 where the Trinity is spoken of as

doing their work only with Her grace. .jagat-sUte dhAtA. . Brahma

originates the universe. .hariH avati. . Vishnu protects and maintains it.

.rudraH kshhapayate. .Rudra destroys. Not stopping here, it goes on to

talk also about the remaining two cosmic functions and the deities in

charge of those functions. One of them is Ishvara who carries out the

.tirodhAna. aspect. .Ishas-tirayati. is what the shloka says: The Lord Isha

deludes by His mAyA. And all this happens by mandate (.tava AjnAm-

Alabhya.) from ambaaL. .kshhaNa-calitayoH bhrU-latikayoH. . by the

subtle movement, for a second, of Her eyebrows! The absorption by

mAyA is not only of the universe and all creation but of the Trinity also:

Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra. Not only that; He himself disappears into

the fifth functionary namely SadAshiva. .svam-api vapuH Ishas-tirayati.

. Isha makes His own body disappear.

.sadAshivaH. is the name of the fifth cosmic functionary. The

shloka names him .sadA-pUrvaH shivaH. meaning, .shiva with a prefix of

sadA..

At this point, one should note how a funny situation is implied

here by the poet. The five cosmic functionaries are lower in hierarchy to

ambaaL and her pati Lord Shiva. But one of those functionaries, namely

the One who dispenses Grace has the name which means .Always Shiva..

And in order that the meaning should strike us in the face, the poet,

instead of using the straight word .sadA-shiva., uses the construction

.Shiva with a prefix of sadA. .

Shloka #24 therefore shows the Lord as Rudra, Ishvara and

SadAshiva in the relationship of functionaries under the suzerainty of

ambaaL.

In the next shloka (#25) the Trinity is considered to be at the feet of

ambaaL, but by that very reason, they are also worshipped; because,

those who propitiate ambaal offer their flowers in obeisance at the feet of

the Mother and the flowers do fall on the crowns of the Trinity, which are

in prostration at those divine feet. In #25, by using the expression

.trayANAM devAnAM triguNa-janitAnAM., they can be considered as born

of ambaaL and therefore She is their jananI.

In #26, when everybody meets their end, even at the time of the

Grand Dissolution (mahA-samhAra), the Lord is depicted as sporting with

Her. The Grand Dissolution, seemingly a negative mode, is actually a

great anugraha from the Almighty to the Universe; for, the millions of

jIvas are brought back from their karmic whirl into the fold of the

Supreme. .mahA-samhAre asmin viharati sati tvat-patirasau. : Here the

key word is .viharati.. It means .plays in joy., generally; but it also means

A Digest of Discourses on Soundaryalahari

114

.destroys..The sanskrit words .haraNaM., .apaharaNaM., .samharaNaM.,

.viharaNaM., .apahAraM., .samhAraM. , .vihAraM. . all of them can be

used interchangeably. So taking the words .tvat-patiH viharati. , we have

to interpret it as .Your husband is engaged in Destruction..

This interpretation leaves ambaaL out of the business of

Destruction. He does it and She watches it. The authority for this

interpretation comes from Lalita-sahasranAmam where She gets the

name: .maheshvara-mahAkalpa-mahAtANDava-sAkshhiNI.. I have already

mentioned this in my explanation of shloka #41. The interesting point

here is that She is the sAkshhI and He is the actor . in the action of

mahA-samhAra. A similar sAkshhI status for Her is given in the great

pilgrimage centre of Chidambaram, where the Lord performs the

tANDava dance of Creation, while the ambaaL there, is a silent witness!

But in shloka #9, as we have seen just a little while ago, the word

.viharasi. is used for ambaaL herself. In the context there, it is the union

of Shiva and Shakti. This is the last stage of Involution. It is the union of

jIvAtmA and paramAtmA. There is no negative of Destruction there. There

is only the flooding of nectar in fullness in the jIva. It is actually a

delightful experience for the jIva when the kunDalinI reaches the

sahasrAra. So the word .viharaNaM. for ambaal is quite apt with the

meaning of joyful play.

Among the various relationships of Shiva and Shakti, there is also

the guru-shishhya relationship.

-55-

(Digest of pp.1086-1091)

Almost all the Agamas, tantras and Sam hitas are supposed to

have been taught by the Lord to ambaaL.

[Note by Ra. Ganapati: Generally,

rites of worship follow the Agamas,

Tantras and Samhitas according to

the deity that is being worshipped

. Shiva, Devi or Vishnu]

This guru-shishya relationship . with the Lord as guru and ambaaL as

shishyaa, comes in shloka #31.

[I am giving shloka 31 here along with its translation,

though the Paramacharya does not do so,

but still discusses it in detail. V.K.]

catuH shhashhTyA tantraiH sakalam-atisandhAya bhuvanaM

sthitas-tattat-siddhi-prasava-paratantraiH pashupatiH /

punas-tvan-nirbandhAd-akhila-purushhArthaika-ghaTanAsvatantraM

te tantraM kshhiti-talaM avAtItarad-idaM //31//

pashu-patiH . Lord Shiva

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal

115

sthitaH - remained as if fulfilled

atisandhAya . after having deceived

sakalaM bhuvanaM. all the world

catuH-shhashhTyA tantraiH . with the sixty four tantras

tattat-siddhi-prasava-paratantraiH. . (that that . result . generating --

worldy fulfillments) which expound practices that result in one or other

of various psychic powers and worldly fulfillments.

punaH . But again,

tvan-nirbandhAt . by Your insistence,

avAtItarat . (He) revealed

kshhiti-talaM . (to the ) world

idaM . this

te tantraM . Thine own tantra,

svatantraM . independent (of all the others)

akhila-purushhArthaika-ghaTanA . (which is) capable of conferring all the

purushhArthas (by itself)

The Lord taught the various 64 tantras (means or strategies for

attaining an end) to the world. But each one of them can give a certain

type of worldly benefit, not more. In some sense this is a curtain of

delusion thrown on the people of the world. The four purushhArthas

(objectives of life) are dharma, artha, kAma and mokshha. All these can

be had in one stroke by resorting to the Shri VidyA tantra. The Lord knew

this. Then why did he not teach that also to the world? In fact the Shri

VidyA tantra not only gives the worldly benefits but also takes one to the

level of Brahman-realisation, because it makes all worship internal and

focusses the entire physical and mental body toward that Ultimate goal

of brahman-experience. So the Mother Goddess insisted that the Lord

should teach this also to their worldly children.

The word .nirbandhAt. is very aptly put. It was She who involved

the actionless brahman somehow into being the cause of the Cosmic

World-play. But what happened? The play became so involving that it

became a cosmic dance for Him. The dance of the five cosmic functions;

then the samhAra dance, where the parA-shakti is only a nonparticipating

witness! And then there are the seven different dances

called ajapA-dance, kukkuTa-dance, and so on. In addition to this there

is the nine-fold dance mentioned in shloka #41. Over and above this

there are the 64 leelAs, like bikshATanaM, tripura-dahanAm, and

jalandhara-vadha . not to speak of the 64 leelAs particularised in the

temple-city of Madurai, where Meenakshi reigns. Not only he is involving

himself in a pluralistic capacity, but He has also manouvred to distract

the populace into the 64 tantras that give worldly benefits and retained

the supreme Shri VidyA Tantra which could give the advaitic realisation

to them.

A Digest of Discourses on Soundaryalahari

116

It is at this point ambaaL decided to insist that they be taught the

Shri VidyA tantra. It is of course the worship of ambaaL. But instead of

Herself propagating it, She wanted this husband of Hers, this guru of

Hers, to bring it to the world. This shows three characteristics of the

Mother Goddess. Firstly, Her conjugal devotion to the .pati.; secondly Her

respect for Her guru; and thirdly Her infinite compassion on Her

children, the people of the world. It need not be emphasized it is the third

quality, the motherly affection, that shows uppermost here.

The Shri VidyA tantra has several greatnesses of which one is the

fact that it is the most concordant with the vedic route. Of course all the

tantras can be adapted to the vedic route; but some of them do present

obstacles to such vedic adaptation. So there is a necessity to speak of

tantras which are concordant with vedic practices and which are not. It

was our Acharya who established the pure vaidic pUjA and instilled life

into it. It is true that even this pUjA contains some of the mantras which

owe their origin to the tantra way. When he initiated the vaidic pUjA

rituals in connection with the upAsanA following the Shri VidyA tantra,

he followed only the samayAchAra discipline.

It is this tantra that he calls .te tantraM. (Your tantra). In other

words it is Hers, and She got it initiated into the world by the Lord

Himself by insisting on it (.nirbandhAt.). And again, it is interesting to

note that in all those other tantras, very often only a lower hierarchical

position is given to Shiva. On the other hand, it is in this tantra which is

delibrately called .te tantraM. , that there is a perfect equality (.samaya.)

between Shiva and Shakti!

Looking back at the Ananda-laharI portion we see that Shiva and

Shakti have been represented in several different roles . Shiva, as Her

Majesty.s most obedient servant; as Husband with an equal role; as a

functionary so positioned by Her; as Husband only in name; as Guru; as

devotee ; even as a son. And again, ambaaL has been depicted severally,

as half of His body; as one who has appropriated even the other half of

Shiva.s body; as life-saver; and as the motive force who moves Him.

In spite of all this, what is most important in this Ananda-laharI

section are the two shlokas 32 and 33 where the esoteric nuances of the

Shri VidyA tantra are mentioned. The later part of the hymn is a

description of the physical form of the Goddess; whereas the first part is

the representation of that form through the akshharas. Any deity for that

matter has two forms . one physical and the other, the form of sound.

This Ananda-laharI part is the sound-form (shabda-svarUpa) of ambaaL.

The physical form is a vision for the eyes. The sound-form is to be heard

by the ears, articulated by the tongue through speech. In fact the

physical form actually emanated from the sound. Only by the japa of the

sound the other form becomes visible. Of course the same thing also

means that it is the physical form that is the goal and the japa of the

sound or the akshharas is only a means for that end. And thus we come

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal

117

to the end of Ananda-laharI looking forward to that goal of viewing the

delightful physical form of ambaaL.

The Acharya ends the Ananda-laharI portion with the mention of

.janaka-jananI. . the Father and the Mother, of the whole universe. So

the philosophical part is going to be set aside now and we go on to see

the physical form of the Mother in all its infiniteness of Grace,

Compassion and Beauty.

56

(Digest of pp.1091- 1098 )

.VaidarbhI rIti. and .GaudI rIti. are two styles in Sanskrit poetry.

The former conveys delightful thoughts by very gentle words, flowing like

a river of honey. The latter, which originated in Bengal, has not only

difficult thoughts, but they are also expressed in a high-sounding noisy

style. The Acharya has used both the styles in Soundaryalahari. He has

just finished the Ananda-laharI portion with the mention of .jananI., thus

bringing the Goddess as near as a Mother to us. But, lest that should

make Her very familiar and simple for us, and lest that might make us

under-estimate Her majesty and grandeur, he starts the Soundaryalahari

portion, with a bang, through the 42nd shloka, with a complicated

thought and with a torrent-like flow of language.

The subject is the description of ambaal.s head. We see in the

shloka the dazzling shine of the bright hot sun and the cooling comfort of

gentle moonshine, through the poet.s imagination and his language.

Gatair-mANikyatvaM gagana-maNibhis-sAndra-ghaTitaM

kirITaM te haimaM himagiri-sute kIrtayati yaH /

sa nIDeyac-cchAyAc-cchuraNa-shabalaM chandra-shakalaM

dhanuH-shaunAsIraM kim-iti na nibadhnAti dhishhaNAM // 42 //

himagiri-sute : Oh Daughter of the snow-capped mountain

yaH : Whoever

kIrtayati : describes

te : your

haimaM kirITaM: golden crown

sAndra-ghaTitaM: studded densely with

mANikyatvaM gataiH gagana-maNibhiH: the (twelve) suns that have

become the precious ruby stones (on the crown)

kim saH na nibadhnAti dhishhaNAM: why would he not record the idea

(that)

chandra-shakalaM: the crescent moon (on the crown)

nIDeyac-cchAyAc-cchuraNa-shabalaM : (bird.s nest .shadow .reflected

shine . enveloped - variegated colour) which reflects the variegated

colours from the shadows of the (gems) in that nest (of the crown)

dhanuH-shaunAsIraM iti : is (nothing but) Indra.s bow (rainbow)?

A Digest of Discourses on Soundaryalahari

118

The whole metaphor pours like a torrent from the heavens as

Ganga did on Shiva.s head. Once this description of Amba.s crown on the

head is done in this shloka, the style changes from the next shloka to a

softer one. .Chandra-sekhara. is a name of the Lord, because the half

moon is on His head. Already in shloka #23 devI was described as having

the Moon on Her hairdo. So She is also .Chandra-sekhari.. Shiva has

also the name .Surya-sekhara. because in many of the Shiva-kshhetras,

there are certain days on which the rising Sun.s rays directly fall on the

linga in the sanctum sanctorum. Here we have also a Surya-shekharI,

because not just one Sun but twelve Suns are supposed to be sitting in

the form of ruby gems on the crown of devI. The very first line of the

shloka thus brings before us the grandeur of Her enthralling form with

the blinding dazzle of twelve suns radiating from the gems of Her crown.

The use of the word .hima-giri-sute. is significant. .hima. means

.snow.. So .hima-giri-sutA. means .the daughter of the snow-capped

mountain. The first line has brought the heat of twelve suns in the

picture. As a contrast the second line cools it off and brings in the

coolness of .hima-giri.. Also the daughter of .hima-giri. that is Parvati is

said to be of cool greenish colour. It is Sati, the daughter of Daksha who

immolated herself in the Fire of Daksha-yajna; and the same Sati,

immediately after that heat of the immolation, was born in Her next

birth as the daughter of the Himalayas, fresh as green, in the form of

hima-giri-sutA, called Parvati. In modern times in the time of jnAnasambandhar,

the argument with the Jain saints ended up only after the

palm leaves of his devotional songs (tevAraM) survived the heat of the fire

into which they were placed, and they emerged as green leaves with the

writing unscathed.

The crown on the head of devI is made of gold. .hema. means gold.

.haimam. means .made of gold.. In Kenopanishat, the Goddess appears as

Brahma VidyA and teaches the divines led by Indra. There the word

used for the Goddess is .haimavatI .. Our Acharya interprets it in two

ways: one, as .hima-giri-sutA., namely Parvati and the other as, the One

who shines with the shine of .hema., that is .a golden shine.. It is

perhaps his intention to show the connection with the Upanishad that

the Acharya in the very first shloka of the Ananda-laharI portion, uses

both the words .hima-giri. and .hema.. To boot, let us remember that in

the Upanishad, Her disciple was Indra; and here also .Indra-dhanus. is

mentioned as .dhanuH shaunAsIraM., the rainbow.

The golden crown is studded with .suns. as gems. So the .suns. are

specks on the crown; but on the crown there is the big crescent moon. In

the real world the Sun is far far bigger than the Moon. Here it is the other

way. The moon pours out nectar as well as the cool snow. So its cool

downpour from the moon are the snowflakes on the crown. The bright

light from the sun-gems falls on them and gets refracted as a multicoloured

rainbow: This is the .nIDeyac-chAyAcchuraNa-shabalam.. This

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal

119

extraordinary poetic imagination -- that the self-effulgent moon.s rays

receive the sun.s light and thereby the rainbow appears -- beats all

scientific understanding. That, of course, is the privilege of poetic liberty.

In the very first shloka that starts describing the beauty of ambaaL, the

idea of white light being refracted into the several constituent colours of

the rainbow is brought in, as if to indicate esoterically that the nirguNa

brahman manifests itself as the varied multipliciy of the universe by the

magic of parAshakti.

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)