Soundaryalahari -7 (A Digest of Kanchi Mahaswamigal.s Discourses)

Soundaryalahari  

(A Digest of Kanchi Mahaswamigal.s Discourses)

 

(Digest of pp.1265-1283 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th imprn.)

The shloka # 91 also is in the same trend of praise of Devi.s feet.

Usually poets describe the gait of their heroic women as .hamsa-gati.,

the gait of swans. But in #91, the Acharya reverses this analogy. He says

that it is the swans that learn their gait from the beauty of ambaal.s gait!

In compassion with the swans Her divine feet actually .demonstrate. how

to produce that graceful gait, but in the act of this demonstration they

(the feet) indeed .teach. the swans the theory of this gait! .teshhAM

shikshhAM AcakshhANaM., says the shloka.

And how is this .teaching. done? She is having anklets on Her feet,

studded with precious gems. .subhaga-maNi-manjIrac-chalAt. . the

auspicious jingling of the gem-studded anklet, is the pretext of teaching!

The jingling of the gems is poetically extolled as the words of the

teaching. Earlier in Shloka #60, it was said that the clang of her ear

ornaments, as She shakes Her head in appreciation of Sarasvati.s

speech, seem to be appreciative words spoken by Her. Thus the jingling

of the ear ornaments of ambaa was the appreciation of Sarasvati in #60

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and here in #91, the jingling of the gems of Her anklet turns out to be the

teaching of the swans, which are the vAhanas of Sarasvati!

Having described and praised in his inimitable poetry all the

different parts of the divine body and thus having immersed us in the

waves (lahari) of beauty (soundarya) of ambaaL, the Acharya finally

comes to the seat on which that Fullness of Form is seated. This is

shloka #92. Therein he also mentions the crimson glory (.rAgaaruNatayA

.) which the entire body emanates. In Lalita sahasranama,

the description of the devI begins with .udyat-bhAnu-sahasrAbhA. . the

effulgence of thousand rising suns .and then goes on to describe the

form from head to foot. Here for a change, the Acharya first describes the

form from head to foot and finally ends up with the composite Glory of

the whole Form. The crimson redness of ambaal makes even the

assumed whiteness of Lord Shiva appear as the .red. KAmeshvara. The

redness indicates creation just as the rising sun is the harbinger of

activity. The Mother-Father role for the whole universe has to be taken

up and that is why KAmeshvara becomes overpowered by .redness. and

becomes, as it were, the embodiment of erotic sentiment. (.sharIrI

shRngAro rasa iva.).

But once the world is created it needs all the infinite compassion of

the Mother. In fact the very purpose of creation seems to be to manifest

that Compassion. The brahman, without a second, cannot show any

compassion or love because there is no second. When it manifested as

Shiva-Shakti, as partners in a sati-pati relationship, the love that arose is

called .shRngAra.. When the same love directs itself to the created world,

it is called .karuNA. (Compassion). So the shRngAra rasa of shloka #92

becomes the karuNA-rasa of shloka #93. And this is proclaimed with a

poetic gymnastics of words:

.jagat trAtuM shambhor-jayati- kAcid-aruNA.

jagat trAtuM : For the purpose of protecting the universe,

karuNA : the Compassion

shambhoH: of Shivam, the Immutably white

kAcid-aruNA : as the indescribable redness, that is, ambaaL

jayati : shines gloriously.

Thus the Shiva-Shakti advaitam is established.

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The Acharya has a motherly affection towards all humanity in the

sense that they should never succumb to the lower instincts of man.

Having talked about the shRngAra (Love) of the divine couple, the

Acharya wants to issue a warning to posterity, lest mankind may slip

into an error. This error could be of two kinds. One might take liberties

with the worship of the divine through yantras and mantras, emphasized

in the Ananda-lahari part; and, because, the divine has been said to be

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169

the Mother and Father of the universe, one might construe it as a licence

to take liberties with that Universal Parent-couple.

Yes, you can treat them as your Mother and Father and worship

them as you like, pouring forth all your love. But in that case there

should be no yantras, nor should you bring in any mantras for invoking

them. Mantras and Yantras have to be used only with the proper

ritualistic sanction and discipline. When these latter are absent, just go

about your worship by doing Soundaryalahari as a devotional recitation

and no more. In fact I know many of you do only that. There is nothing

wrong in it. And I am constrained to say .many of you. and not .All of

you.. For there are people who get into such spiritually advanced

scriptures for curiosity, for academic research, or for enjoyment of

literature, without observing the need to control their sensual

distractions. Such failure to follow ethical and religious discipline is the

second potential error, of the two errors that I talked about.

Obviously the Acharya does not want his beautiful poem on the

beauty of the divine to end with the whimper of a mundane rude warning

to the public not to be swept into the profane. He issues the warning,

however, in the subtlest terms. Instead of saying: .Whatever you do

with this stotra, do it with great discipline of mind and control of the

senses., he indicates, in shloka #95, what awaits those who approach

Her without the necessary self-discipline and regulatory mind. In

modern times I see some people write without any sense of shame at the

fact that they are only fanning the fumes of basal instincts of man. Not

only that, they seem to justify such writing and use alibis like .Realism..

When one provokes another to fall down in ethical and moral standards,

the provocateur accrues more sinful discredit to himself than the one

who has been provoked into sin. And that is why, as an author, the

Acharya takes great care to see that his readers do not fall into any trap

of sin. So in shloka #95 he paints what happens if you fail to follow

discipline.

purArAter-antaHpuram-asi tatas-tvac-caraNayoH

saparyA-maryAdA tarala-karaNAnAm-asulabhA /

tathA hyete nItAH shata-makha-mukhAH siddhim-atulAM

tava dvAropaAnta-sthitibhir-aNimAdyAbhir-amarAH // 95 //

asi: You are

antaHpuraM : in the inner apartments, (as Consort)

pura-arAteH : of the Destroyer of the cities (that is, of Lord Shiva)

tataH : and therefore

saparyA-maryAdA : the proper regimen and privilege of worship

tava caraNayoH : of Your feet

asulabhA : (is) difficult to attain

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tarala-karaNAnAM : for those with fickle senses, or of unregenerate

mind.

tathA : Thereby

ete shata-makha-mukhAH amarAH : these deities headed by Indra

nItAH hi: are led, indeed, (only up to)

atulAM siddhiM : an unparalleled achievement

aNimAdyAbhiH : by the psychic powers like aNimA, etc.

dvAropAnta-sthitibhiH : who are stationed in proximity to the gates

(which are only peripheral to Your mansion ).

This shloka employs a negative compliment to those of fickle

senses, who are said to reach .atulAm siddhiM. (matchless siddhi). But

Who is giving them this achievement? Only those who stand at the Gates

of the Royal mansion, far removed from the sanctum sanctorum of

ambaa.s inner apartments. These are the attendants of ambaal

stationed in the outermost rounds (AvaraNas) of Her navAvaraNa

mansion (the nine . round Shrichakra). In fact they stand even outside

the outermost round. They are the ten devatas, eight of them

representing the eight siddhis (the psychic powers) aNimA, mahimA, etc.

So the deities who propitiate them have to stand only at the same outer

rounds of the Devi.s mansion and naturally get only what these

attendant devatas can give them. And the Acharya satirically calls,

almost in contempt, what they bestow to the seeker, as .atulAm

siddhiM. (matchless psychic power). Thus indirectly the Acharya is

saying that we should aspire to reach not these siddhis, which are given

by the .dvAropAnta-sthitAH. . those who guard the gates -- but we

should aim far beyond.

Shiva-Shakti couple, in their inner apartments, have to be

understood in the esoteric sense. The right understanding will not come

to those who are still imprisoned by their minds. Even the poetic

descriptions in the stotra should not draw us to the state in which the

very celestials like Indra find themselves only just at the gates of the

mansion and not inside! Only those who honour and welcome the mental

discipline and the strict regimen required for a valid entry into the Royal

Mansion, beyond what the fickle-minded celestials can reach, should

ever attempt to do the Shri Chakra worship. Once that welcoming desire

is planted in the mind, naturally ambaal will lead us to the

understanding and following of all the rules of the rituals that

constitute the Shri Chakra Puja. This is the message of this shloka. What

a beauty that the Acharya has driven it all so nicely and softly into us,

without a single harsh word about the consequences of unregulated and

indisciplined worship!

- 79 -

(Digest of pp.1287-1295 )

by Kanchi Maha-Swamigal

171

girAm Ahur-devIM druhiNa-gRhiNIM Agamavido

hareH patnIM padmAM hara-saha-carIM adri-tanayAM /

turIyA kApi tvaM duradhigama-nissIma-mahimA

mahAmAyA vishvaM bhramayasi para-brahma-mahishhI //97//

Agama-vidaH : Those who know the scriptures

AhuH : declare (You)

girAM devIM : as the Goddess of Speech,

druhiNa-gRhiNIM : the wife of Brahma the Creator

padmAM : (as well) as Lakshmi,

hareH patnIM : the wife of Lord Vishnu

adri-tanayAM : (and as well) as Parvati, the daughter of Mountain-King,

hara-saha-carIM : the Consort of Lord Shiva.

tvaM : (But) You, (on the other hand),

turIyA : are the fourth (higher than the other three),

kA api : not to be delimited as This or That,

duradhigama-nissIma-mahimA: of unique glory that is both unfathomable

and limitless,

para-brahma-mahishhI : (in fact) the Queen-Consort of the Absolute

brahman

mahA-mAyA : (being) the great Cosmic mAyA

bhramayasi : revolving and compering

vishvaM : the entire universe.

The distinctive keyword in this shloka (#97) is the unusual

expression .para-brahma-mahishhI.. All along, the Soundaryalahari has

been saying that the parA-Shakti is the highest with sovereign power. In

order to show to the world their Father and Mother, that Shakti brought

in a KAmeshvara and gave him the status of a husband to Her. That was

our understanding. Here the words .Queen-Consort of the Absolute

brahman. have significant connotations. It means that the parabrahman

is the sovereign and ambaal is next to him, as his wife. The

word .mahishhI. means Queen-Consort. One who herself rules is not

called a .mahishhI.; she would be called .mahA-rAjnI. or .cakra-vartinI..

.rAjA. and .rAjnI. have the same connotations, except one is male and the

other is female. So also .chakravarti. and .cakravartinI.. But there is no

pair of words .mahishha. and .mahishhI.; the King is not called

.mahishha.. Actually .mahishha. is an asura who was in the form of a

buffalo! .Mahishhi. is a unique word used for the Queen-consort, the

second in command, of a King. Corresponding to that meaning of

.mahishhI. there is no male word .mahishha.!

The stotra began with saying that it is She who makes Him move.

And at several places we have been told that it is She who is the Agent-

Provocateur for every action in the world. She is the One who takes care

of Him even at the time of dissolution. After all this, when he comes to

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the end of the stotra the Acharya winds up with Her as the dutiful .patni.

of Him who is the all-in-all. In fact She Herself would like it only this

way. Is She not the One who is writing all this poetry through the pen of

the Acharya?

Now let us go to the rest of the shloka. Though the last word is

.para-brahma-mahishhI., earlier he mentions Sarasvati, Lakshmi and

Parvati . the Consorts of the Trinity of Divines .and then only brings in

the ParAshakti that is KAmeshvari, the .consort. of the turIyaM that is

brahman. Just in the previous shloka (#96), he had said: .There are

those who have courted and attained Sarasvati though She is the wife of

Brahma. There are all the rich who are called .ShrimAn., because ShrI,

that is Lakshmi, resides with them, though She belongs to Lord Vishnu.

But nobody can fault You as having deserted your husband. Therefore

You are the greatest in chastity!. There is an implied let-down here of

Sarasvati and Lakshmi. The Acharya clears himself of this let-down, in

the present shloka #97. The Teacher of advaita that he is, he cannot

afford to make distinctions between deities. He is the one who gave all

importance to the name of Sarasvati, by creating ShAradA Pitham and

Sringeri where all the worship is for ShAradambAl. The dasha-nAmi

classification of renunciates has two of the categories named as

.Sarasvati. and .BhArati.; note that no other deity gets into the names of

the dashanAmi.s. In the same way, he was the one who composed the

famous .kanaka-dhAra-stavaM. on Lakshmi. In fact it was his first

composition!

So the very first thought of the shloka is to clear any distinction

between deities. It is to ambaa he says .You are the One who is known

as Sarasvati the Goddess of Speech, and You are the One who is also

known as Mother Lakshmi.. This is not a casual statement from him,

says he. The knowers of the Vedas themselves say so (.AgamavidaH

AhuH.), he adds humbly. And then it is You who is also Parvati, the wife

of Rudra. All are parAshakti. And this is nothing but advaita. And this

advaita prompts him to mention the turIyaM, the Fourth.

According to ShAkta philosophy and also according to Shaivam,

there are Divinities for the Five Cosmic Functions. The Absolute Truth is

beyond. Not like this in advaita. Vedic authentication of advaita comes

from Mandukya Upanishad. The dream state of every jIva is Creation, the

waking state is Sthiti (Sustenation) and the sleeping state is Dissolution;

and that which is still awake even in that sleep state is the Fourth, that

is brahman. In the same strain, in this shloka, the Acharya goes to the

.turIyaM. after mentioning the three Shaktis of the Trinity; he does not go

to the other two of the cosmic functions.

The .Shakti of brahman. is not specially talked about by him in

advaita. Nor can we say it is never talked about. Right in the

commentary of the very first sUtra, in Brahma-sutra-bhAshhya, The

Acharya, detailing the .lakshaNa. of brahman in the words .nityaby

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shuddha-buddha-mukta-svabhAvaM. , he adds .sarvajnaM.; by this

addition it is therefore accepted that this .One. (ekaM) also admits of

.sarvaM. ( a multiplicity) and all that is .known. by This. Later, more

explicitly, he adds another lakshaNa: .sarva-shakti-samanvitaM.

(possessing all powers). Further in the commentary on II-1-30,

.sarvopetA ca tad-darshanAt., the duality status is recognised and he

says brahman has a varied shakti-yoga. Here .shakti-yoga. means that

which coeexists with Shakti. This is what becomes the .para-brahmamahishhI

. in the language of ShAktaM, as in this shloka of

Soundaryalahari.

One direct disciple of the Acharya was SarvajnAtman. He was the

last disciple. He is one of the leading exponents of advaita. Listen to him

in .Samkshhepa-ShArIrakaM. III-228, 229. .In Shuddha-advaita there is

nothing like Shakti, leelaa or creation. However, even for those with such

faith, there is a place for karma and upAsanA. Seen from that vyavahAra

perspective, the cit (Brahman, Consciousness) takes a role of Shakti and

with its inert mAya-avidyA power, creates the universe.. Yet, in the

advaita works of the Acharya the aim is not to direct attention to this

dance of Shakti. Without giving any importance to Brahma-Shakti, he

always discards creation as the work of mAyA and calls on us to think of

the turiya-brahman beyond. Mostly he does not even refer to the Shakti

or energy that is beyond a gender specification. When that is so, what to

talk of Her as the .patni. of brahman!

But the same Acharya, the teacher of brahma-vidyA, now talks as

the teacher of ShrI VidyA and shows the way to those who have a taste in

this direction. And the way is KAmeshvari, the .para-brahma-mahishhI..

The Shri VidyA tantra also has the same aim as advaita-sAyujyaM. Thus

he combines the turIya at the goal of the jnAna path of advaita and the

Shiva-Shakti concept in the Bhakti path.

Incidentally when he says .turIyA. in the feminine, not only does

that mean the parAshakti beyond the three of Sarasvati, Lakshmi and

Parvati, it also means that .turIyA. is the patni of the .turIyaM. that is

brahman.

Notice that there is a unification of advaita Vedanta with ShAktam

here. The parAshakti of the ShAkta philosophy is identified with the

mAyA of advaita Vedanta. When it is spoken of as .duradhigama-nissImamahimA

. (of unfathomable and boundless glory) the language is of

ShAktam. For in advaita mAyA is considered to be .tuchhaM. and

therefore to be discarded as an incomprehensible anirvacanIyaM. But

here it is the glorious parAshakti!

Our Acharya is matchless when it comes to his role as a spiritual

teacher. In Soundaryalahari he has talked both advaita and Shri VidyA

and has made a beautiful symbiosis of the two philosophies so as to be

palatable, enjoyable and adaptible to both the Vedantins and the Shri

VidyA followers. And this has been possible because, as I have told you

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in the beginning, ShrI VidyA is nearest to advaita, among all schools of

thought.

In the beginning he talked about the capability of Shakti making

the first prompting that makes Him move. And now at the end he makes

the same Shakti as the prime mover of everything in the universe:

.vishvam bhramayasi.. Naturally this compering and revolving includes

all the motion of the universe. Krishna in the Gita talked only of the

movement of the living when He said: .bhrAmayan sarva-bhUtAni.. By

that He meant only the movement of the minds of living beings. But here

the Acharya has included the movement of not only the living (cetana)

but also of the non-living (acetana), by the use of the word .vishvaM..

This mAyA or parAShakti that makes both the living and the nonliving

dance to Her tunes, is the same one who as Mother Goddess

graces all of us not only with everything mundane but finally the very

Bliss of brahman (. parAnanda-rasaM.). This is the content of Shloka

#99.

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(Digest of pp.1295 -1306 )

sarasvatyA lakshhmyA vidhi-hari-sapatno viharate

rateH pAtivratyaM shithilayati ramyeNa vapushhA/

ciraM jIvan-neva kshhapita-pashu-pAsha-vyatikaraH

parAnandAbhikhyaM rasayati rasaM tvad-bhajanavAn // 99//

The modesty of our Acharya is well-known. It is going to exhibit

itself again in the next shloka #100 where he says, in winding up the

stotra, that nothing is his, it is all ambaal.s work. So he does not give

any phala-shruti (a list of what one achieves by reading this stotra;

.phala. means fruit, consequence, reward) as is usual with all devotional

compositions. Instead, he gives, in this shloka #99, a different form of

phala-shruti, wherein he says what an upAsana of ambaal would give a

devotee (tvad-bhajanaVAn, meaning, one who propitiates You), and thus

indirectly hinting to us something like a phala-shruti. The first part of

this stotra is the form of Her in mantra and tantra. The second part is the

form of Her physical beauty. Thereby the whole stotra becomes Her

very Self. So the recitation of this stotra is itself an upAsanA. The reciter

is the .bhajanavAn..

What does the .bhajanavAn. get? The only answer could be: What

will he not get? Whether it is of this world (.iha.) or of the other world

(.para.), he will get everything. One might say, from a Vedantic point of

view, that .iha-phala. is no .phala. at all. But who has that kind of

maturity that does not want mundane rewards of this world? One has to

start from the tastes of this world and move on to discard them only

gradually. The movement from the .iha. (meaning .here., .now.) to the

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.para. (meaning .distant., .subsequent.) has to go from stage to stage in

the natural course of one.s evolution. It is in this context that this shloka

details both the .iha-phala. and the .para-phala. as rewards for the

upAsaka. Both the kinds of rewards may be put together under four

heads: Knowledge, Wealth, Beauty, Life. Of these the first one goes along

with both .iha. and .para..

Knowledge is obtained by Learning. The Goddess of Learning is

Sarasvati. But ambaal Herself gives all that is given by Sarasvati . to

such an extent that even Brahma, the Creator, is envious of such a

devotee who has got all the learning that Sarasvati can bestow. Brahma

the Creator, the consort of Sarasvati, was all along thinking that he was

the sole beneficiary of Sarasvati.s favours. Remember that Brahma with

his four faces always chanting the four vedas is the repository of all

knowledge. Still he feels that the devotee who is favoured by ambaal with

all that Sarasvati has ever given Him, is a kind of competitor to Him

vis-a-vis Sarasvati. .How come, this human devotee of ambaaL has more

favours of the Sarasvati-type than what I myself have!. is the Creator.s

feeling. This is part of the first line of the shloka. .SarasvatyA vidhisapatno

viharate..

The other part of the first line . .lakshhmyA hari-sapatno viharate.

says the same thing of Vishnu, whose consort is Lakshmi. Again ,

ambaal.s Grace gives Her upAsaka, all favours of the Lakshmi type .

meaning, wealth and prosperity -- that Vishnu Himself is envious!

The Acharya mentions Sarasvati before Lakshmi. In other words,

he talks of Knowledge before Wealth. If the choice is given to us we

might want to put Wealth before Knowledge. I am sure that if God were

to suddenly appear before us and ask us what we want, most of us .

nay, almost all of us . would ask for wealth, as our first priority. Wealth

is the one thing that never satiates the human mind.

Certainly, Knowledge, Wealth, and Beauty are all desired by every

one. But it is Wealth that gets the first seat in this. There is an

interesting irony here. As far as wisdom and knowledge are concerned,

none of us would call oneself unwise or unknowing. Even if we do not

know we usually like to pose as one who knows! We don.t take

extraordinary efforts to make an improvement to our real knowledge. The

same story with Beauty. None of us would like to be told that there is no

beauty in us. And we would not like others also to think of us otherwise.

In the case of Knowledge we may be slack in making efforts to improve.

But in the case of Beauty every one of us takes elaborate pains to

improve our presentation and appearance. This is the story with

Knowledge and Beauty.

On the other hand, in the case of wealth, we all behave differently,

almost contrarily. We may have wealth but we would not like other

people to know about it. Always we make a plea for our need to have

more and we go about taking that posture. In the case of Knowledge and

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Beauty, we pose as if we have them even if we do not have them. In the

case of Wealth it is the opposite! This is the irony, which clearly

establishes that, among the three, Wealth is our first preference.

But our Acharya mentions Knowledge first and then only Wealth.

This only shows his infinite concern for us. However much he may know

our minds and their predeliction for wealth in preference to knowledge,

he wants to do good to us by influencing us in favour of the one thing

that he knows will only do good to us. Because if wealth is accrued

before the wisdom to use that wealth properly, there is every chance that

such wealth will be lost in no time. His thinking goes along with

Taittiriyopanishad where, the prayer is for .medhA. (Right knowledge)

(1.4.1) and then it says .Thereafter (.tataH.) give me wealth. (1.4.2). His

own Bhaja Govindam also emphasizes this in .artham-anartham

bhAvaya nityaM..

In an earlier shloka (#97) he said .You are Sarasvati, You are

Lakshmi, Parvati also; and You are the source of them all, because You

are the Queen-Consort of the Absolute Brahman. He did not call

Sarasvati or Lakshmi as the Goddess of Learning or the Goddess of

Wealth. Instead He made them the Shaktis corresponding to the .sRshhTi.

function and the .sthiti. function. In apposition to the fact that they were

the Shaktis corresponding to Cosmic functions, ambaal was placed as

the Universal Shakti integrated into the parabrahman itself. And thereby

She becomes the source of all other Shaktis. So the Learning and Wealth

which are the domains of Sarasvati and Lakshmi, have their original

source in ambaal. Naturally, by propitiating ambaal, the other two also

are obtained.

And thirdly, ambaal is the original source of Power for the God of

Love, namely .KAma.. In fact Her own name is KAmeshvari, KAmAkshhI

and KAmakoTi. It is that KAma who was reinstated by her by being given

a new life. It is he who reigns over the third fundamental desire of man,

namely, Beauty. That is why when somebody possesses all the beauty

that we can think of, we say the person is a Manmatha in physical form.

The stotra that talks predominantly of the .soundarya. (beauty) of

ambaal, is now said to give the beauty that man desires. In the case of

Sarasvati and Lakshmi, they were feminine; so it was said (in the first

line) that a devotee of ambaal gets knowledge (Sarasvati.s gift) and wealth

(Lakshmi.s gift) in such abundance that their own husbands were

envious of the recipient. Now Manmatha is male and so when his bounty

of beauty is bestowed on the devotee due to ambaal.s Grace, his own wife

Rati, becomes suspicious of the identity of the recipient .whether he is

Manmatha himself! This is the content of the second line of the shloka.

Well, Knowledge, Wealth and Beauty . all three have been

obtained. Are these enough? What if the recipient does not live long?

Then that itself will negate everything else! That is why all our scriptures

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include in their benedictions, .dIrghAyuH. as the first blessing. Without

long life and the implied good health, everything else is of no value.

And this is what is promised in the third line of the shloka. This is

the most (materially) significant benefit to the upAsaka. .ciraM jIvanneva.

says the shloka. But as one goes on in one.s life, living long, in due time

he gets into the thought process: .All these days I have obtained

everything of value in this world (.iha.) in terms of knoledge, wealth and

beauty, - all by ambaal.s Grace. Let me hereafter work through the same

upAsanA of ambaal, for betterment of my after-life.. And then, what

happens, is said in the third and fourth line of the shloka:

.ciraM jIvanneva kshhapita-pashu-pAsha-vyatikaraH

parAnandA-bhikhyaM rasayati rasaM tvad-bhajanavAn.

He who propitiates You, namely Your upAsaka, lives long, is able

to discard the pashu-pAsha knot and enjoys the infinite bliss of

BrahmAnanada.

So long as a JIva revolves in the quagmire of the senses and their

natural attractions, the JIva is nothing but an animal (pashu). That is

when the bond of .karma. anchors him to the concept of .janma. (birth

and death). It is that bond that is called .pAshaM.. It makes him revolve

again and again in the samsAra cycle. It is the sword of jnAna that cuts

it asunder. And then he is no more a pashu. He becomes Shiva, the

pashu-pati (the Lord of the pashu). The parAnandaM . supreme bliss of

advaita . is then the essence (rasa) of his experience. Note that the

Acharya uses his words very carefully. He does not say he .experiences.

that .rasa.. If he wanted to say so he would have used the words .pibati.

(drinks, consumes) or .AsvAdayati. (tastes). But he has put in the word

.rasayati. meaning, he becomes the rasa (essence) himself and it is that

becoming that is termed as .rasayati.. In other words there is no duality

of the experiencer and the experienced. There is only one .rasa.. It is

advaitam!

The great teacher of advaita uses two concepts of what is going to

develop in future as the great Shaiva siddhanta. This shows his

universality of outlook. Also, all along he has been propagating

Soundaryalahari according to the ShAkta schools of thought. Accordingly

Shakti was placed in the dominant position. But when he ends the stotra

he raises Shiva to dominance and effortlessly throws in two important

concepts -- namely .pashu. and .pAsha. -- of the Shaiva canon.

-------------------------------

The flood of beauty of Mother Goddess is now terminating. All

floods have to terminate in a sea or ocean. This flood (lahari) of words

has now to merge in the ocean of shabda-brahman. The Acharya uses

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the word .salila-nidhi. which is the same as .jala-nidhi. that means

.ocean..

pradIpa-jvAlAbhir-divasakara-nIrAjana-vidhiH

sudhA-sUtesh-candropala-jala-lavair-arghya-racanA /

svakIyair-ambhobhiH salila-nidhi-sauhitya-karaNaM

tvadIyAbhir-vAgbhis-tava janani vAcAM stutir-iyaM // 100 //

vAcAM janani: Oh Mother who generated Speech,

divasakara-nIrAjana-vidhiH : (just as one does) the light-waving ritual to

the Sun-God

pradIpa-jvAlAbhiH : by the flames of a lamp,

arghya-racanA : (just as) the offering of the arghya ritual

sudhA-sUteH : to the moon

candropala-jala-lavaiH : by the water drops that ooze out of the

moonstone in contact with moonlight,

salila-nidhi-sauhitya-karaNaM : (just as) offering ritual bathing to the

ocean

svakIyaiH ambhobhiH : by its own water,

tava iyaM stutiH : (so also is) this stotra on You

tvadIyAbhiH vAgbhiH : composed of Thine own words.

An elaborate explanation is needed for this final shloka.

81

(Digest of pp.1307 - 1321 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th imprn.)

The great Acharya always does something different from other

poets. Usually they all end their work with a phala-shruti . a listing of all

the good things that will accrue by the reading, recitation and repetition

of the stotra just finished. Here our author is himself a unique

combination of the deity of the stotra and Her own Lord. So we would

expect the last shloka of the stotra to be a magnificent phala-shruti that

soars far higher than the ordinary. But what do we find?

Instead of trying to soar higher, he actually makes himself the

humblest of the humble. .Why talk of phala-shruti for such an apology of

a stotra, that has just been done by Her Grace? What accrues to

whomsoever that worships Her has already been told in shloka #99. Let

me stop there. Whatever happens in the world, whether highly

commendable or not, all that is founded on Her Will. If everything turns

out to be commendable then that may not contribute to the variety that

is the spice of Her leelA. That is why perhaps She encourages and

prompts some low-level achievements also, for the very purpose of

highlighting really higher ones! This stotra is one of such promptings of

Hers. She is the Source of everything and so this is also Her child. And I

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179

am placing Her child at Her own feet.. This is the spirit of the final

shloka #100. In shloka #27 the Acharya laid himself at Her feet . that

was his Atma-samarpaNaM. Now he is placing this child of Hers at Her

own divine feet.

Thus he does not show it off as something worthy of being

submitted to Her as an offering. He thinks that it is absurd to make such

a submission. This absurdity reminds him of three other absurdities that

are current in the world. And this is what makes the final shloka.

The word .divasa-kara. means one who produces the day

(.divasa.), therefore, the Sun. When a deity in the form of an idol of

worship is located in the innermost sanctity of a garbha-griha in a temple

then a waving of camphor flame makes sense because it really lights up

the dark sanctum sanctorum and brightens up the deity with all its

decorations. But what can a poor camphor flame do to brilliant sunlight?

In fact it is the other way. The brilliance of sunlight actually dampens

any light that may be emanating from the camphor flame! .The devI is

the fullest Effulgence of the Shakti that is Speech (.Vak.). Before that

Light, what can this poor stotra of mine do in terms of lighting up

anything?. This is the attitude in which the Acharya is submitting his

work at Her feet and compares his action to the absurd action of lighting

up camphor and showing it as an offering to the Sun-God!

Every time he talks of the .hot. Sun he immediately refers to the

.cold. moon! Here also the second example of absurdity (2nd line of the

shloka) is about the moon. Worship is being done to the Moon-God. In

any ritual worship, there are usually three offerings by means of water.

One is .pAdyaM. (that which is offered for washing the feet). The second

is .arghyaM. (that which is offered in the hands). The third is

.AcamanIyaM. (that which is offered to be taken in by the mouth).

Technically, .arghyaM. means .that which is valued most.. Therefore that

formality has a special value. Now in one such pUjA that the Acharya

might have witnessed, probably something like the following took place.

There are two gem-stones talked about in ancient literature. They

are Moon-stone and Sun-stone. Probably these were there in ancient

times and are now extinct. The sunstone draws into itself the rays of the

Sun and radiates heat. Almost like a concentration through a lens. The

moonstone is just the opposite. It absorbs moonlight into itself and pours

out cool water! Now what some one did in the worship of the Moon was

to take that water poured out by the moonstone and offer it to the Moon-

God as an .arghyaM.! .candra-upala. is moonstone. .upala. is stone. And

the moon itself is called .sudhAsUti. because moon is said to pour out

nectar by its light. .sudhA. is nectar.

There is a gradation of absurdities in the two absurdities cited.

Camphor has an independent existence outside of the Sun. The only

dependence of camphor on the Sun may be that camphor may not light

up if it is continuously exposed to an absence of any light or heat. On the

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other hand, the case of the moonstone pouring out water is totally

dependent on the moon, because it is the moonlight that makes it give

out water. Thus the absurdity of using the water from the moonstone to

offer arghyaM to the Moon is a greater absurdity than the camphor flame

being shown to the Sun!.

The third absurdity (from the third line of the shloka) is still more

absurd. And the Acharya must have witnessed it many a time because

he has travelled from coast to coast in the entire country. For example he

must have seen it in Rameshvaram where people dip in the Ocean and

offer worship to the Ocean-God Varuna. Any ritual worship has, as one

of its sixteen formalities, a ritual bathing, called .abhishhekaM.. How

does one do .abhishhekaM. to the ocean? Is it not funny? .Abhishhekam.

to the Ocean! But they all do it. The Acharya himself must have done it

when he went to Rameshvaram. What do they do? They take some drops

of water from the ocean itself and sprinkle it on the ocean with the

mantra beginning with : .Apo-hishhTA mayo bhuvaH. (Oh Water! You are

conferring bliss) ...... .If millions of people over the centuries have done

this kind of worship of Varuna during their bath in the ocean, then why

can.t I., says the Acharya, .take a few words from that ocean of Vak

(Speech) and offer it to Herself, the Goddess of all Speech?..

The word .sauhityaM. in the third line of the shloka, is generally

taken to mean the ritual act of .tarpanaM. (offering a little palmful of

water) but the word actually means .that which is most beneficial or

pleasant.. In our country which is generally hot, the most pleasant thing

is to give a bath. So I extended its meaning to .abhishekam. or bath, in

the pUjA to the Ocean. Anyway it increases the intensity of the absurdity

still further and so suits the context well!

Look at the gradation among the three examples. The Sun and

Camphor are two distinct entities. The water oozing out of the

moonstone gem, though caused by moonlight, still is different from the

moon. But in the case of water being taken out of the sea and being

offered to that sea of water itself, there is no medium involved; the water

is the same. So the third example brings you to the peak of absurdity.

And this quite naturally fits with the attitude of the Acharya when he

thinks that what he has composed is nothing but the words of ambaal

Herself. She is addressed as .vAcAm janani. -- meaning, the origin, the

source, of everything that has anything to do with Speech -- in the

fourth line. .What has been done is what You Yourself have composed in

Your own words. It is all Yours. There is nothing of mine there.. This is

how the Acharya makes a complete surrender. He does not even use the

words .samarpaNaM. or .arpaNaM. meaning dedication. But it is clear

that he has offered his entire self to the Goddess. The jIvAtmA has totally

negated itself and there is only the paramAtmA thereafter. By means of

the bhakti stotra of Soundaryalahari the Acharya has shown us what it

is to reach the Self-Realisation of Oneness with the Ultimate.

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181

And, most of all, he shows to us the peak of modesty. .vidyAvinaya-

sampanna. say our ShAstras. Here is the colossal example of

vidyA (Learning) and vinaya (Modesty). If nothing else, we should learn

this from the Acharya. His advaita lesson may not penetrate into our

head. But this lesson in modesty that he teaches us should. Any time

we feel heavy in our head, the thought must come: .Whatever I think I

am is Her Grace.. And that thought will help us lighten the burden of Iness

in the head. Even the inhaling breath is given by Her; it is Hers. If

only it had been ours we would never die!

If we thus start living as an instrument in the hands of ambaal, it

will lead us to an advaita state of merging in Her. This lesson of being

nothing but an instrument in Her hands and negating oneself as the doer

is what this shloka tells us as the final teaching of all brahma-vidyA.

Because it is this lesson and the consequent living of it (.abhyAsa.) that

takes us on to an advaita-anubhava (experience of non-duality). This is

the phala-shruti that is unsaid here by the Acharya. It is the phala

(reward, fruit) that asks for no phala! Only when there is a .doer. there is

a .phala for the doer.. When the .doer. himself has been negated, there is

no question of .phala..

How does one negate and dissolve oneself and be only Her

instrument ? Only by thinking of Her. We do not even know what the

Universal parAshakti is like? So thinking of that parA-shakti is an

impossibility. But here in this Soundaryalahari our Acharya has brought

Her to us in a beautiful form from head to foot. Her form itself is nothing

but Beauty and he has added beauty to it by his beautiful play of words.

Looking at, and thinking about, that beauty from head to foot, in all the

details that the Acharya has brought to us, is the only antidote for the

ego in which we are all steeped in. She has blessed us all with our

intellects and with the facility to use our speech and mind. Use all this

in Her favour as a decoration. What She gave us, give it back to Her.

That will kill our ego. Not only speech, but any art or science that we are

capable of -- make it as an ornament for Her. In that attitude of humility

every activity of ours will take us up the spiritual ladder. Whatever we

then do will become a sAdhanA to reach Her.

When one thus merges in the flood of Her beauty through these

delightful stanzas of Soundaryalahari, maybe he will himself accrue all

those qualities of beauty. Maybe not. But one thing is certain. In the eyes

of the world he will appear to have become so endowed with all the

beauties of the Mother Herself. For he has taken the nectar of Wisdom

and the Milk of Love that flows from Her and so he should naturally be

bubbling with that divine bliss that She has given him.

He might have a bald head. But the world will be attracted to him

as if he has the .kirITaM te haimaM. (cf. #42) quality! His face may have

all kinds of distortions. But others would gather round him to see his

.vadana-soundarya-laharI. (cf. #44). Maybe he has squint eyes; but it

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would be .dara-dalita-nIlotpalaM. (cf. #57) for the others. His uncouth

mouth will appear to surpass the beauty of .vidruma-latA. or .bimba. (cf.

# 62). Even when his body is disproportionate and unattractive, because

of the bhakti and Divine Love with which he is full he would shine so well

as to be said: .jayati karuNA kAcid-aruNA. (cf. #93). Every movement of

his would benefit the rest of the world as to say there is nothing better

than this .lakshmI-caraNa-tala-lAkshhA-rasaM. or .nava-nalina-rAgaM.

(cf. #71). Every step that he takes would make us melt in respect; and

that is the .karaNa-caraNa-shhaT-caraNaM.-type (cf. #90) of jIva which

merges in that lotus feet of Hers. Thus one who dips into the stotra that

is Soundaryalahari, would become ultimately a veritable Soundaryalahari

(flood of beauty)! There is no doubt that, with the blessings of our

Acharya, The Mother of the Universe to whom we bow in prostration, by

means of these Soundaryalahri shlokas, will gradually, but steadily, lead

our Atman to become, ultimately, one with that Ocean of Bliss.!

Concluded.

Thus spake the Paramacharya

Aum Shri Matre namaH / tvadIyAbhir-Angila-vAgbhiH janani idam

guror-bhAshhaNAkhyaM gadya-vyAkhyanam gurvanugrahAt

samkshhiptaM samAptam ca / lokAs-samastAs-sukhino bhavantu // Aum

tat sat //

Salutations to The Auspicious Mother. Oh Mother! By the Grace of

the Guru (The Paramacharya), this prose commentary named

.Discourses of the Guru. has now been summarised and also finished,

in words of English which are Your own. May all the Universes turn out

to be happy. Aum tat sat.

Om Tat Sat

(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)