Introduction

For the benefit of those who do not know about the Paramacharya here is a brief
biographical note:

Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swamigal (1894 - 1994), also called the

Paramacharya, was the sage of Kanchi in Tamilnadu, India, who was so simple, humble,
profound, enlightened, compassionate, scholarly and full of Grace that he naturally and
effortlessly touched the hearts of men and women, prince and pauper, around the world.
Ascending to the Headship of the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt at the age of thirteen as the 68th
pontiff in the line of succession from Adi Sankara, he ministered to the needs of the
afflicted and the distressed and spread the message of compassion and of a return to the
most treasured ancient values. After a mission like this full of action for almost half a
century which included a 30-year walking pilgrimage of the entire subcontinent of India,
he laid down his headship and devoted his time, for the next forty years, to severe penance
for universal welfare. Not one of those thousands who had his darshan every day missed to
feel the soul-stirring presence of 'the Living God' in their veins.

A small note on the objective of this digest.

The name ‘Digest’ itself is too much of a claim by this writer, who is currently
studying the discourses in Tamil (on Soundaryalahari – a 100-sloka piece, in Sanskrit) of
the Paramacharya, in ‘Deivathin Kural’ – meaning, ‘The Voice of God’ – in Tamil, in the
sixth volume of the seven-volume series of that name, recorded by and, rewritten in,
the inimitable style of, Ra. Ganapathi. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai, it appears has
published an English summary of this. But instead of trying to read that English version,
I decided to test myself whether I had understood at least a part of the Acharya’s
thoughts. The best way of testing oneself is to try to communicate to others. There are
a number of readers interested in the subject. Some of them know Tamil and probably
would have read Ra Ganapathi’s book in the original. Some others may have read the
English version. The purpose of this digest is TO BRING THE ADVAITA PART (and the
relevant questions that arise usually in the discussions that are very common in the
discussions on advaita) TO THE FOCUS AND ACQUAINT OURSELVES WITH THE
PARAMACHARYA’S VIEWS, WONDERFUL ELABORATIONS AND COMMENTS ON THE
SUBJECT. In consonance with this objective, it is not the intention to cover all the
slokas even out of the 42, the only ones which the Paramacharya himself has covered
in full (he has covered another 37 in part, another 10 just in passing, and has not
touched at all the remaining 11, which are sloka Nos.19, 32, 68, 72, 76 to 81, 85). Even
within the exposition of a particular sloka, large portions may have to be omitted by me.
In spite of all this the ‘Digest’ – contrary to the meaning of the word - is likely to be
rather long. It is broken into 20 (only an estimate as of now) web pages (around 5000
words each). Note that the original extends to 744 pages (pp.577 to 1321 of the sixth
volume). The attempt shall be made, therefore, to be as brief as possible. But, wherever
it is found that the Paramacharya’s already lucidly forceful and simple explanations
cannot be ‘digested through a further precis or summary’, one will have to resort to
almost a close (or free !) translation of his words as reported by Ra. Ganapathi. And also
note that, (1) I, as the digest writer, cannot be expected to dwell on those portions of the
discourses that are not reasonably clear to me, and (2) it may be easy to pull out just a
sentence here or there from what I write and see wrong or absurd meanings in it; if this
happens let us remember to go back to the Paramacharya himself and try to understand
his explanations in entirety, rather than spend time at straws in VK’s imperfect digest.
With these preliminary words let me start on this venture, which is actually a
swAdhyAya-yajna, that is, a yajna of study. May the Paramacharya himself as well as my
own Guru and father, (late) Sri R. Visvanatha Sastri, guide me in this endeavour and see
that I don’t misrepresent either the Paramacharya or the Soundaryalahari !

On the organization of the ‘Digest’

The entire exposition is by the Paramacharya. So the first person pronoun,

wherever it occurs, is his. The ‘I’ of advaita-vedanta is always within
quotes. Additional explanations given by Ra. Ganapathi are so acknowledged.
Parenthetical remarks by him, like ‘with a smile’, ‘after a small pause’ etc. that
all refer to the speaker, the Paramacharya, are repeated, if at all, as they are in
the original, within parentheses. My own remarks, if any, shall be properly
demarcated. And note that the Paramacharya most often refers to Adi
Sankaracharya as ‘Our Acharya’.

(V. Krishnamurthy)

A Digest of Paramacharya’s Discourses on Soundaryalahari

-1-

“How could Adi Sankara, who preached the jnAna mArga,

have promoted this work (Soundaryalahari) of bhakti? It cannot
be his,” say some who profess ‘Philosophy’. But our Acharya was
not a professor who isolated philosophy as a separate discipline.
Having written very profoundly on advaita and its deepest
implications in his several Bhashyas and the other works of his,
he promoted the spiritual pursuit of the common man by writing
and talking about the need to follow one’s swadharma by Karma
and Bhakti. His intent was to raise the common man from
his own level. For this purpose he went from one pilgrim centre
to another all his life and composed hymns after hymns and also
established yantras in temples.
The philosophers argue: JnAni says everything is One. But
Bhakti can happen only when there is the duality of the devotee
and the deity. Therefore, they say, the jnAni can never be a
bhakta. These philosophers cannot themselves claim to have the
Enlightenment of advaita ! But there have been those who could
have so claimed, like the sage Suka, Madhusudana Saraswati or
Sadasiva-brahmam. If we carefully study their lives we will know
that they were devotees of God in the fullest sense of the word
and have themselves written works of Bhakti. Even in our own
times Ramakrishna Paramahamsa has been a great devotee of
Mother Goddess and Ramana Maharishi has done works of
devotion on God Arunachalesvara. Again, on the other side, great
devotees like Manikka-vasagar, Nammazhvar, Arunagiri-nathar,
 Tayumanavar, etc. have themselves been convinced advaitins,
and this is reflected in innumerable flashes in their compositions.
If a jnAni should not do a Bhakti composition, then I would
say that he should not also do a work of jnAna. Why am I saying
this? Let us go back to the definition of a jnAni. ‘ The world is all
mAyA; the thinking of people as if they were separate separate
jIvAtmAs is nothing but Ignorance’ - with such a conviction
through personal experience, they have thrown away that
Ignorance as well as its basic locus, the mind, and they live in the
non-dualistic state of ‘ ‘I’ am everything’ – such should be the
status of the jnAni; shouldn’t it be so? Such a person preaching,
or writing a book, even if it be about the subject of jnAna – is it
not a contradiction? Unless such a person thinks there is a world
outside of him and there are jIvAtmAs outside, how can he think
of ‘teaching’? Teaching whom? And when we look at it this way,
all those great teachers of jnAna should really not be jnAnis ! What
power will there be for such a teaching about jnAna from teachers
who are not jnAnis themselves?
-2-

On the other hand what do we observe in our experience?

Whether it is the teaching about jnAna in the Gita, or the Viveka
Chudamani of our Acharya, or the Avadhuta Gita of Sri Dattatreya
or the teaching in the Yoga-vASiShTa, or a song of Tayumanavar –
even when we just read these we feel we are being taken beyond
the curtain created by mAyA to some distant peaceful state of
Calm. Just by reading, in one’s spiritually ripe stage, such
teachings, there have been people who have renounced the
world and reached the state of Bliss-in-one-Self !. If these
teachings had not been written from that spiritual apex of
Experiential Excellence, how could such things have ever
happened?
Therefore, however much by your intellectual logic, you
argue whether a jnAni can get bhakti, how the jnAni can do any
preaching and so such possibilities cannot exist and so on, these
are certainly happening, by the Will of the Lord which is beyond
the Possible and the Impossible.
It is only the Play of the Lord that the jnAni, who is non-
dualistic internally, appears to do things in the dualistic world. His
mind may have vanished, mAyA might have been transcended by
him; but that does not mean that the outside world of jIvAtmAs
has disintegrated. What do we gather from this? There is a Super-
Mind which does all this and in some mysterious way is compering
and directing the entire universe. And it also means that it is the
same Supra-Mind that is making the minds of men revolve in the
illusion of mAyA. It is that Power which is known in advaita
scriptures as saguNa-brahman or Isvara. In the scriptures devoted
to shakti or Shiva , whenever they call the Actionless nirguNa-
brahman as ‘Shivam’ they call this saguNa-brahman as ‘shakti’,
‘parA-shakti’ or ‘ambAL’. Just as that nirguNa-brahman exhibits
itself and acts as the saguNa-brahman, so also, it must be
presumed, that the enlightened jnAni also does his external actions
and that again, is the work of the saguNa-brahman!
What is the path of jnAna? It is the effort through self-enquiry
and meditation for the eradication of the mind and vanquishing of
mAyA. But the other path is to dedicate oneself and all one’s
thoughts and actions to that very parA-shakti (who produced this
mAyA on us) with an attitude of devotion. It is like giving the
house-key to the thief himself ! However much the parA-shakti
may play with you and toss you and your mind hither and thither,
Her infinite compassion cannot be negated. Only when we separate
and rejoin, we realise the value of that union. To pray to Her for
that reunion and for Her to get us back to Her in answer to our
prayers – this is the great Leela of Duality wherein She exhibits Her
Infinite Compassion ! So when one prays with Bhakti for such
release She releases Him by giving Him that Wisdom of
Enlightenment.
It is wrong to think that the goal of Bhakti lies in the
dualistic attitude of being separate from God. It is by this wrong
assumption that people ask the question: How can a jnAni exhibit
Bhakti? In the very path of Bhakti wherein it appears there is an
embedded duality, the same Bhakti would lead the practitioner to
the stage where he will ask: Oh God ! May I be one with You ! This
is the subtle point which the questioning people miss. When that
stage comes to the devotee, the very parA-shakti known as kArya-
brahman or saguNa-brahman will bless him with that jnAna that
takes him to the non-dual kAraNa-brahman or nirguNa-brahman.
Not everybody can practise the path of jnAna that brings the
realisation of the mahA-vAkyas by sravaNa (hearing), manana
(thinking and recalling) and nididhyAsana (contemplating). Only
when the mind vanishes one can realise the Self as the Absolute
brahman. If that is so, the real question is: How to kill the truant
mind, which refuses to be subdued, much less vanquished ? The
very effort of vanquishing the mind has to be done by the mind
only. How can it kill itself ? The palm can slap another; but it
cannot slap itself. Though we are thus brought to a dilemma, there
is a supreme power which has created all these minds. So instead
of self-effort to kill our minds, we should leave it to the parA-shakti
and surrender to Her. Instead of falling at the feet of the witness
for the prosecution we fall at the feet of the prosecutor himself
! Then She will help us quell the mind; She will grace us with the
necessary jnAna.
-3-

Either She might totally eradicate your mind and give you the
peaceful state of ‘I am shiva’ (shivoham) or She might tell you from
within:
“Look, after all, all this is My Play. The Play appears real to
you because of mAyA. I shall totally erase that mAyA-view for you.
Then you can also be like me, with that calm non-dual bliss inside
and having on the outside a mind which is untouched by mAyA.
Thereby you can also be a witness to all this worldly Dance. You
will thus see yourself in Me and see Me in all the worldly
multiplicities. In other words instead of making the mind non-
existent, your mind will then be full of Me”
And She might make you just exactly that way. But I know
your worry. You constantly worry about the impossibility of
transcending mAyA, of eradicationg this worldly vision and of
vanquishing the mind. You keep worrying to the extent of almost
weeping over it. To such a weiling seeker She replies:
“Why do you worry and weep like this? You are worrying that
you cannot discard the world from your view. But you forget that
the world was not your making. This Sun and Moon, mountains,
trees, oceans, animal kingdom, and the millions of living beings
and categories – all this was not created by you.
“When that is so, you are worrying about the little ‘you’ that
you are, and you forget that this little ‘you’ also was not your
creation. Instead of thinking all this is not only one but one with
Me, your mAyA-clouded view makes you think they are all different
and distinct. And even that mAyA-view that clouds you, again was
not your making!
“My dear child, you are caught up in the web of the world, a
mind and a mAya-cloud -- all this is My making. Did I not
make Krishna say to you: mama mAyA duratyayA ? (My mAyA is
intranscendable). I have also told you there that it is ‘daivI’ (made
by the Power of God). If you had made it all, then you could have
overcome them. But it was all made by Me in the fullness of Power.
“You jIvas have only little fragments of that Power. So if you
cannot eradicate the world, the mind and the mAya that I have
made, you don’t have to cry over it. It is not in your Power. It has
to take place only by My Grace. Come nearer to Me through
Devotion ! I shall do the eradication in proper doses for you.
“That somebody is able to control his mind and is able to walk
on the path of jnAna – that again is My own Grace. It is I who have
granted that privilege to him. What appears as many and different
must be seen as one. To crave for that view is what is called
‘advaita-vAsanA’. One gets it only by My Grace”.
(Now the Paramacharya, who has been talking in the words of the
Mother Goddess, continues on his own).
There is another novelty here. Even the jnAni who has had
the non-dual Enlightenment, still enjoys the play of mAyA. He sees
the different things; but knows they are all one. Just as a spectator
of a play who is not playing any role in it, the jnAni enjoys the
playful novelties of mAyA and revels in his devotion to that parA-
Sakthi who is the author of it all. To be keeping such jnAnis in
this dual-non-dual state is also the work of Mother Goddess. Mark
it. It is not that the jnAni is showing Devotion just for the sake of
others only. No, By himself he is indeed thinking
( I think the Paramacharya is here
letting out an autobiographical tip ! -- VK)

‘What a pleasure to witness this dualistic play of the non-

dualistic One ! What a multiplicity of beauty, panoramic
variety and continuity of Love !’ . Thus revelling in that blissful
vision, he continues to pour out his own love (bhakti) to that
Transcendental Power from the bottom of his heart. This tribute to
the jnAni has been given by the great Teacher Suka himself.
(Cf. Bhagavatam 1-7-10:
AtmArAmAshca munayaH nirgranthA apy-urukrame;
kurvanty-ahaitukIm bhaktim itham-bhUta-guNo hariH. – meaning,
Those who revel in the Self, even though rid of all attachments,
show a causeless bhakti towards the Lord, just naturally.)
 On the one hand the devotee who has yet to get the
Enlightenment enjoys the devotional state for the very reason of
getting the Enlightenment; on the other hand, the one who is
already enlightened and is a jIvan-mukta shows his bhakti for the
sake of enjoyment of that bhakti and not for any other reward or
purpose.

-4-

(The Paramacharya continues to speak the words, as if, of the

Goddess):
“Thus I am the One who gives this new Bhakti in the state of
jnAna. And I will be the One who will give you that jnAna to you,
my devotee, when the time is ripe. Don’t you worry. You have
come to Me as your Mother. I will take care of you. The bondage
in which I threw you shall be removed from you by Myself. You
need not have to keep on crying for ‘Release’. Once you know I am
the only One there is, hold on to that steadfastly; there is no
question of ‘Release’ thereafter. ‘Release’ from what?
“Let jnAnis think that they will get the Ultimate Peace only
when the duality-awareness goes away from them and let them go
their own way of Enquiry of the Self. When you feel you don’t have
the interest or the stamina to go that way, don’t feel bad or
incomplete. Come through the path of Love. See the multiplicities.
But instead of seeing them as different and separate, try not to
forget that the basis of all of them is the single Me. Love Me from
your heart and view everything through Love. Encompass
everything in Love. I shall raise you to the Ultimate Enlightenment
by My Love and Grace”.
Thus arises the godly experience that is blessed by the Mother
Goddess. By Mother Goddess I also mean the Lord-God, the
paramAtmA, and also the individual favourite deity of each of us.
It is the same supreme Power that engulfs you into the mAyA, that
graces you as saguNa-brahman and also takes you to that blissful
state of jnAna.
Finally let me also say this. By the very fact that the jnAni
writes a book on jnAna, it must follow that he should also write on
Bhakti. For, writing a book means communicating with others. So
that means he has accepted the presence of a world of duality in
which he has to communicate and educate. The jnAni as he is, must
have already ‘descended’ to this world of duality and decided to
raise the commonfolk to his level. He who knows that the source
of all this duality is that Infinite Compassionate God–principle,
would ipso facto have no compunctions for making a hymn of
praise for that Ultimate in Its saguNa form. And he also knows that
it is that very same Power that prods him on to make this
hymn. So where is the contradiction here?
But if you contend that he is writing jnAna works for the
benefit of the world – ‘loka-sangrahArtham’ without any ‘kartRtva-
buddhi’ -- the awareness of doership – then with the same non-
awareness of doership he can write both jnAna works and bhakti
works. What and where is the difference? The World-welfare (loka-
kalyANam) is the purpose. It is the Lord who is effecting the welfare
through the hands and mouth of these chosen jnAnis. And the
most efficient way for the jnAni, the Lord knows, to reach the
masses, is to propagate hymns of praise of the divine, pilgrimage
to holy centers, installation of mystic yantras, and all the way
down to ritual worship.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are three superlative hymns of praise on Mother

Goddess in the form of Lalita. Chronologically they are: ‘AryA-
dvishati’ (also called ‘lalitA-stava-ratnam’) a 200-sloka piece by
Sage Durvasa; ‘Soundarya-lahari’ which is actually made up of two
parts – ‘Ananda-lahari’ , a 41-sloka piece brought from Kailas by
Adi Sankara and ‘Soundarya-lahari’ the 59-sloka piece composed
by Adi Sankara himself, the two pieces together going by the
popular name of Soundarya lahari by Adi Sankara; and ‘Panca-
shati’ (a 500-sloka piece) by the poet Muka.
Durvasa’s Arya-dvishati gives us a spiritual experience of the
presence of the Almighty-Goddess in the very words of AryA-
dvishati. In this he describes the complicated structure of the Sri-
chakra . The Goddess’s Grace descends on those who read and
recite such hymns of praise composed by great devotees who have
already merited the descent of Her Grace on them. Durvasa, Adi
Sankara and Muka are three such. Such Grace exhibits itself first
in the eloquence of these hymns. And the result is, the devotee
who revels in the recitation and repetition of these hymns, himself
gets that eloquence and flow of language and of speech.
 The Goddess gave such an eloquence to Muka. ‘Muka’ means
‘dumb’. We do not know what name he had before. But from the
moment he composed the five hundred slokas in Her praise, we
have known him as the poet Muka !. Both the AryA-dvishati and
the MUka-pancashati bring to our vision the majestic splendour of
the form of Mother Goddess like an expert painter’s masterly
painting. The third one, the Soundarya-lahari is the crowning glory
of all three and of all hymns of praise of the Mother Supreme.

-5-

Of Soundaryalahari it may be said that there never was one

like it, nor ever will be. It has a perennial charm that does not
satiate. And its majestic eloquence is unbeatable. In his bhaja-
govindam our Acharya uses very elementary words because it
happens to be the alphabet of Vedanta. But here he is describing
the undescribable. So he uses words very precisely.
Consequently the vocabulary turns out to be difficult. But the
words chosen only add to the lilting charm of the poetry that he
weaves. The metre used is ‘shikariNI’, meaning ‘that which is at
the apex’. It has 17 syllables for each of the four lines.

Through the descriptions of the Goddess’s form that make up

the latter 59 slokas, he brings ambaal right before our mental eyes
in all Her majesty, grace and splendour and overwhelms us by the
bliss which the very words and metaphors pour on us. Just as a
master-sculptor dedicates each movement of his chisel to the
object of his sculpture, he transforms each word, as it were, by his
own spiritual experience of the Goddess and thus in turn we readers
feel the words themselves constitute the Goddess.

It is not only blissful poetry, but blessed poetry. Such

blessedness arises not because of any flowery language, but by the
fact the Acharya is himself blessed ! ‘Mother, this hymn is nothing
but a composition of yours in your own words’ (‘tvadIyAbhir-
vAgbhiH tava janani vAcAm stutir-iyam’ – Verse no.100), says he
in the concluding line. Inspirations of great saints and sages, not
only benefit mankind by their inspired poetry, but bring to
successive generations, an inspired contact with the great men,
even long after they have passed away. Thus our Acharya in
enabling us to have a ‘darshan’ of the Goddess herself, gives us,
in addition, a ‘darshan’ of himself !

The concept of ‘intense’ devotion does not care for

the language used, or for the manner of worship. It is the
intensity of devotion and depth of feeling that matter. But getting
that intensity and depth is the most difficult thing. That is exactly
what eludes us. Now that is where the beauty of such blessed poetry
like ‘Soundaryalahari’ excels. Whether you understand it or not,
whether you pronounce the words correctly or not, the very
attempt itself of reciting it produces in you the needed bhakti!
This is the word-power of the words of such blessed poetry. The
vibrations of the words give us all the material and spiritual
success. We have only to keep the objective of bhakti steadfast in
our minds. Everything else just follows.

Of all the stotras that our Acharya has done, it is the

Soundaryalahari that is the topmost. The aShTottara-nAmAvaLi of
the Acharya has the nAmA ‘soundarya-laharI-mukhya-bahu-stotra-
vidhAyakAya namaH’ meaning: ‘prostrations to the one who
composed many stotras with soundaryalaharI as the prime one’. Of
the bhAshyas that he wrote, ‘brahma-sUtra-bhAshya’ towers
supreme; of his expository works, ‘viveka-chUDAmaNi’ is prime and
of all his works of bhakti, the Soundarya-laharI tops the list.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SundarI, the beautiful, is Her name. Tripura-sundari or mahA-
tripura-sundari both derived from the root name, SundarI, is the
Goddess propitiated by the great mantra called ‘shri-vidyA’. Of the
many names of ambaal, such as PArvatI, durgA, KALI, BAlA,
BhuvaneshvarI, etc., it is the sundari name that goes with ‘RAja-
rAjesvari’, the Queen-name of all the scriptures that talk of and
dwell on the Mother Goddess. Sage Ramakrishna has said: I have
seen many forms of Gods and Goddesses; but I have never seen one
more charming than ‘Tripura-sundari’ ! The word ‘soundaryam’
pertains to SundarI and means ‘The Beauty’.

But the beauty of it all is, that the name ‘Tripura-sundarI’ or

any of the other (synonymous) names of the same form, namely,
‘LalitA’, ‘RAja-rAjeshvarI’, ‘KAmAkshI’ or ‘KaAmeshvarI’ do not
occur anywhere in the text, including its title ! Even the other
descriptive names of the Goddess like ‘hima-giri-sutA’ (daughter of
Himalaya mountain), or simply, giri-sutA, shivA, bhavAnI, umA,
satI, pArvatI, chanDI – occur only at one or two places. General
attributed names, like ‘jananI’, ‘mAtA’, ‘ambA’, ‘devI’ meaning
either ‘mother’ or ‘goddess’, -- which commonly go with all
feminine deities -- occur at a few more places, but even they are
few.

While he begins with ‘shivaH-shaktyA’, the most potent name

of ambaal, namely ‘shakti’, gets mentioned. ‘Shakti’ means
‘power’. It is the absolute brahman’s power or energy that ambaal
personifies. So this name tells everything about the Goddess. And
it comes in the very beginning, but never after.
(In sloka no.32, the word ‘shakti’ appears
but there it is a code-word for a syllable in ambaal’s mantra).

Finally, one more point regarding occurrence of names. The

role of a woman has three stages: as daughter, as wife, as mother.
The last two roles certainly do get mentioned very often
in stotras pertaining to a feminine deity. But the Soundaryalahari
uses the daughter-reference such as ‘himagiri-sute’, ‘tuhina-giri-
kanye’, more often. And again, when the first part of 41 slokas
ends, he ends by referring to ‘janaka-jananI’ , the mother-father
role of both Isvara and IsvarI of the whole universe.

(This part, which ‘digests’ pp.675 to 686 of the original, is entitled: “The title:
‘Ananda-lahari’ – advaitam and ShAktam”. The matter was rather terse to me.
But the Paramacharya himself concludes by saying: “What is finally to be
understood as the essence is the following: ….” I use this summary of his own and
mostly translate it as closely as I can. VK)

The shAkta philosophy (ShAktam) talks of

‘Shivam’ in place of the actionless substratum ‘Brahman’. Even if
it is actionless, it is Cit, knowledge, says advaita. In place of this
Cit, ShAktam talks of Cit-Shakti or simply, Shakti. The Brahman
of advaita peacefully rests in itself. In ShAktam, on the other hand,
the peaceful Shivam has the Shakti, power or energy, that
manifests as knowledge potential (Cit-Shakti) and this
manifestation is its play as the multiplicity of the universe. In
advaita there is no second. What appears as the universe is only
an appearance created by mAyA. MAyA has no relationship with
Brahman. What it is, and how it came – all this is inexplainable.
That research is not necessary. What is needed is how to get out of
it and obtain the personal realisation of the basic Brahman
behind. And hence the path of jnAna. In ShAktam, it is claimed
that the play of duality starts by the Will of Shivam coupled with
Shakti. Even here there is a role of mAyA-Shakti. But we shall dwell
on it later.

It is Brahman that appears as jIva, through the effect of

mAyA. If one follows the path of jnAna and transcends mAyA, then
jIva realises itself as Brahman, says advaita. In ShAktam also it
says that the jIva and Shivam are basically the same and actually
become the same in the state of moksha; particularly in the Shri-
vidyA scriptures it is specifically accepted so. Dvaitam,
VishishhTAdvaitam, SiddhAnta-shaivam (Shaiva-siddhantam),
ShrIkaNTa-shaivam (ShivAdvaitam), Kashmiri Saivism – in this
order, the philosophies start from a concept totally distinct from
advaita, gradually nearing and ultimately becoming very near to
advaita.

And in ShrIvidyA the identity of jiva with Brahman is clearly

stipulated. The two philosophies differ only in the concept of
creation. In advaita, duality is said to be only an imagination and
so is to be totally negated. In shAkta philosophies, duality is said
to be created by parA-Shakti, the energy of Brahman. It is also the
parA-Shakti that grants the moksha, which is the identity of
Brahman and jIva in eternal peaceful bliss. This bliss is
called shivAnandam and/or shAntAnandam in the shaivite
schools, and cidAnandam in the shAkta schools.

There is no difference in the concept of moksha as the

realisation of the one-ness of jIva and Brahman, between advaita
schools and the Shri-vidyA tantra of the shAkta schools. The
philosophy of advaita takes creation as a ‘vivarta’ (a false
appearance, manifestation, of reality) whereas the Shri-vidyA
school takes it as ‘AbhAsa’ (an effulgence of a ‘reflection’). That the
sun appears as a reflection in water is ‘AbhAsa’. In the same way
the universal Cit-Shakti reflects itself with a limitation and
becomes the jIva as well as the universe -- this is the shAkta
concept of creation. But without the original object called the Sun
there could be no reflection. So in basics it comes back
to the advaita concept. But the shAkta holds that to the extent
there is an object with its reflection, there is a phenomenal reality
for jIva and the universe. It does not hold that it is ‘mithyA’ which
is the advaitin’s contention.

It is the latter part of Soundaryalahari that

dwells on the beauty (saundaryam) of ambaal’s form.The former
part dwells on Her Shakti. It is called Ananda-lahari. The identity
between Shakti and Cit is referred to in the word ‘cidAnandalaharI’
in verse no.8 of Anandalahari. “bhajanti tvAm dhanyAH katicana
cidAnanda-laharIm”, meaning, ‘Only the most fortunate few
(recognize you and) worship you as the flood of knowledge-bliss
(cidAnanda)’. Note here that while for every reader of the
Soundaryalahari portion the whole beauty of Mother Goddess is
fully experiential, in the Anandalahari portion the people who can
experience the bliss of the Shakti-lahari, that is, the cidAnanda-
lahari, are only the few fortunate (katicana dhanyAH) !

The close correlation between advaita and the various shAkta

schools, particularly the Shri-vidyA tantra school, has been used
by our Acharya who is aware that many cannot follow the abstract
path of jnAna. And that is why perhaps he chalks out a path
whereby one starts from the ‘leela’ of creation of duality and goes
forward along the path of Shri-vidyA and finally ends up in advaita
itself. In accordance with this, even when he composed many
stotras on Shiva and VishNu, he never goes deep into the
shivAgama or vaishNava-Agama nuances but dwells mainly on the
bhakti and consequent emotions only. On the other hand when
he worked on Soundarya-lahari, the first part, Anandalahari, – even
though it is said that he only ‘brought’ it (from Kailas) and not
composed it – is totally a shAkta scripture. The sum and substance
of the twin work of Ananda-lahari and Soundarya-lahari seems to
be: “advaita is The path; if not, the next (alternative) is Shri-vidyA”
!

In fact, Shri-vidyA is the connecting cord between advaita and

all that is dvaita. It unifies the shAntam-Shivam-advaitam with
Shakti, the creator of duality, and therefore, of the universe. In
LalitA-sahasranAma also, the last name is lalitAmbikA and the last
but one is shiva-shakty-aikya-rUpiNI. And this takes us to the very
beginning sloka of Soundarya-lahari !

-7-

Shivas-ShaktyA yukto yadi bhavati shaktaH prabhavitum

na ced-evam devo na khalu kushalaH spanditum-api /
atas-tvAm-ArAdhyAm hari-hara-virinchAdibhir-api
praNantum stotum vA katham-akRtapuNyaH prabhavati // 1 //
(The Paramacharya stays on this sloka
from p.687 to p.806 in the original.
So we are likely to have several sections,
upto DPDS – 17, on this. VK)
ShaktyA yuktaH bhavati yadi – Only if yoked with shakti
ShivaH devaH – (even) Lord shiva
shaktaH – has the ability
prabhavitum – to create the world;
evam na cet -- if not so (yoked),
kushalaH na – (He) is not capable
spanditum api – even to make a move.
khalu – Isn’t it so?
ataH – Therefore,
katham prabhavati – how is it possible
akRta-puNyaH – (for) one who has not accrued any (spiritual)
merits
praNantum – to do prostrations to
stotum vA -- >or to praise (by hymns)
tvAm – You
hari-hara-virinchAdibhir-api ArAdhyAm –
who are worshipped even by Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma and the
like?

(To get the total meaning, please read the English portions above
in the order in which they are presented above. The Paramacharya
does the same thing, but presents it in the order in which it will
make sense in the Tamil language. He usually does not give the
total meaning in one go. VK)
 Here is embedded the most important ShAkta doctrine that
the parAshakti is higher than the Triad of Brahma, Vishnu and
Shiva. It is only by Her will and action that even the actionless
nirguNa Shivam gets into action through the Triad and the cosmic
process of presentation of Duality starts. “Everything in the
universe moves because of You, Oh parAshakti; when that is so,
even the prostration to you or praise of you by a devotee does not
happen by itself”. And then by implication our Acharya brings out
the point that when ambaal grants the power to somebody of
praising Her, She does not give it to all and sundry but only to
those who have spiritual merits.

And again then, by one more implication, one can take it to

mean that the one who is doing the stotra now, namely, the
Acharya himself, must, ipso facto, be of great spiritual merit. Is
that what he means? Is he so devoid of humility that he praises
himself by implication? No. Later in sloka 57 he is going to say:
‘snapaya kRpayA mAm-api’ ( that is, pour your glance of
compassion, EVEN on poor me) and again in sloka 84, ‘mamApi
shirasi dayayA dehi caraNau’ (EVEN on my head please place your
feet). So the only way we should interpret the present sloka is:
“You can move even the immutable Shivam into action. It is You
therefore who have given even me, who does not have any spiritual
merit, the capability that you usually grant only to the meritorious
! It is You who have moved my senses of speech into the action of
hymnising You !”

Prostration is by the body (kAyam). Praising through a hymn

is by speech (vAk). By implication the mind (manas) is also
mentioned. Thus in the very first sloka the dedication
to Her by manas, vAk and kAyam has been done. And naturally,
the completeion of this dedication in the form of ‘Atma-
samarpaNam’ – dedication of one’s self in fullness – comes in the
very last sloka (#100).

There is a parallel observation in the very first sloka of Viveka-

chUDAmaNi. “muktir-no-shata-koTi-janma-sukRtaiH puNyair-vinA
labhyate”, meaning, ‘Unless one has earned spiritual merit in 100
crores of births, one cannot go the jnAna mArga and obtain
moksha’. But note: our Acharya does not say explicitly, in this
major work of bhakti, that only by spiritual merit you can go along
the path of Bhakti or jnAna or for that matter any noble path.
Whereas, in the Viveka chUDAmaNi, which is a work on the path of
jnAna, -- mistakenly appropriated by people who think that that is
the way to avoid the traditional worship of deities !-- right in the
3rd sloka, he says that ‘Seeking a proper guru and starting on the
path of jnAna occurs only by the Grace of God’ – “deivAnugraha-
hetukam”!

The bottom line of this sloka is that Shiva earns His place and
prestige only when He is united with Shakti. But the words Shiva
and Shakti have been placed in the sloka in that order, with Shiva
first. This indicates that the dependence is mutual; neither of them
is to be lower in hierarchy or glory. THERE IS NO HIGHER OR
LOWER BETWEEN THIS ORIGINAL DIVINE COUPLE. They have an
equality, ‘samam’ in Sanskrit and this is the origin for the word
‘samaya’ to get the meaning of ‘religion’ or ‘tradition’ in Hindu
culture. In the ShAkta and Shaiva scriptures the word
‘samayAcAra’ is used to denote the path of worship, that is done
mentally through the noblest attitude of devotion arising from the
bottom of the heart. The reason for the word ‘samaya’ therein is
that there are five categories in which Shiva and Shakti are
considered ‘equal’ in that regimen of worship.

One: In their names. Shiva and ShivA; hamsa and hamsI;

bhairava and bhairavI; even, samaya and samayA.
Two: In their forms: KAmeshwara and KAmeshwari are both
maroon in colour, each has four hands, three eyes, the half-moon
adorning their heads, the same four weapons – bow,
arrow, pAsha (noose) and ankusha (spear) -- in the four hands.
Three: In their location: the same peak of Meru; the center of
the Ocean of nectar in MaNi-dvIpa; the same central bindu of shrI-
chakra.
Four: In their function: It is the same five-fold function –
called pancha-kRtya – namely, Creation, Protection,
Dissolution, tirodhAna or mAyA, Grace or anugraha leading to
moksha.
Five: In their benediction to the world.

-8-
 But, though the work begins with the name of Shiva, the
ShAkta school will still find in the very name of Shiva itself, the
dominance of the feminine Shakti ! In the very word ‘Shiva’ there
is the vowel ‘i’ along with the consonant ‘sh’. The vowels ‘I’ (as in
‘feel’) and ‘i’ (as in ‘fit’) are themselves names of ambaal. All
consonants are letters pertaining to Shiva and all vowels pertain to
Shakti. This is a general rule. In addition the letters ‘I’ and ‘i’ are
supposed to be the very forms of ambaal. Just as the actionless
immutable brahman has a symbolic praNava or ‘Om’,
so also thebrahman coupled with Shakti, the kArya-brahman, has
a symbolic seed letter called the praNava of Shiva-Shakti. And in
that praNava, the letter corresponding to Shakti is ‘I’.

There is Vedic authority for this. Also in the ShrI sUkta the
form of ambaal as Lakshmi who resides in the heart-lotus is
mentioned as manifesting in the vowel ‘I’ and the surrender is
made to that manifestation. Note that one of the many sanctities
of the word ‘ShrI’ is derived from this.

Thus the first word of of the first sloka, though it begins with
Shiva is actually a propitiation to the feminine Shakti. For, from
the word ‘Shiva’ if we remove the vowel ‘i’ and bring the
consonant ‘sh’ to its first position ‘sha’, the word becomes ‘shava’
meaning ‘a dead body’ ! Thus the word ‘shiva’ gets its life from the
vowel ‘i’ , which is the seed letter for Shakti. Also note that the
popular word for ‘saguNa-brahman’ in Vedanta is ‘Ishwara’, which
begins with the sound ‘I’. This is quite in accordance with its role
as the dynamic active Lord who takes care of the creation and
propels the entire universe.

(For those who know the Tamil language

here are two more interesting observations: VK)
In Tamil the consonants and vowels are known as ‘body-
letters’ (mey-ezhuttu) and ‘life-letters’ (uyir-ezhuttu) respectively
. So in the praNava of Shiva-Shakti, the Lord corresponds to the
‘body-letter’ and the Goddess corresponds to the ‘life-letter’. And
this coordinates with the thought that Shiva is the body and Shakti
is the soul.
Secondly, in Tamil parlance it is common to say: ‘If you have
the power (shakti) to do this, do it; otherwise stay quiet as ‘shiva’
(‘shivane-enRu iru’) ! This again coordinates with the thought that
Shiva is the actionless substratum and Shakti is the switch that
switches everything into action!
Throughout his bhAshyas and all his minor works, our
Acharya is never tired of repeating: All worldly activities are mAyA;
one should aspire to realise and become the changeless and
actionless nirguNa brahman. Thus the immutable
Shivam is the object of all his writing and advice. What produces
movement out of that brahman was called mAyA by him and he
spared no pains to paint that mAyA in uncomplimentary colors and
warn us strongly against getting into her clutches.
But the very same Acharya, now, in the first sloka of
Soundaryalahari, exclaims with great admiration of Shakti (that
very same mAyA): Oh, Goddess, without you even Shiva cannot
move!
How can the same person talk in two contradictory ways like
this? Which is true? If one of them is not true, can the Acharya
tarnish his name by speaking an untruth?

If you look at these things only by logic, you will not get
anywhere. The definition of Truth does not come by
logic. WHATEVER WILL DO GOOD TO WHOMSOEVER IT IS
INTENDED, THAT SHOULD BE STATED LOVINGLY; THAT IS TRUTH
(SATYAM). For those who can tread the path of jnAna, he
recommended retirement from the world. For those who have yet
to evolve to that stage of spiritual maturity, he recommended the
path of Bhakti and Karma; this will make them reach the kArya-
brahman through worldly actions of work and worship. When one
does not have an evolved attitude to a certain path, it is
counterproductive to advise him go that path. So it is not a
question of being logical; it is a question of seeing the psycho-
logical (!) perspective. The ancients called it ‘adhikAri-bheda’, that
is, difference in prerequisite qualifications.

Secondly, it is not just that he understood the psychology of

different types of seekers of spirituality and preached accordingly.
It is more. Both the advices he gave, though seemingly opposite,
are ‘true’, each at a particular stage of evolution. In the
phenomenal world, creation and the universe and the activator of
all of them, namely, Ishwara, are all ‘real’ certainly. But when we
enquire into the root cause of all this, we find that the more basic
Reality is the Existent Self-in-itself that is actionless but through
a miraculous magic wand of mAya brings about all this moving
world.

Thus, when an Acharya or the scripture compares two paths

or two objects of worship and speaks of one as the better or greater
of the two, it does not always mean that the other thing, that had
a lower estimate, is worthless. That which our Acharya talked
about as the thing to be discarded, namely, perception of duality,
in all his works – that very same thing he now praises to the sky,
saying that this is what you have to hold steadfastly in the bhakti-
mArga. In one case it is duality, in the other case it is ‘sva-
svarUpa-anu-sandhAnaM’ (remaining steadfast in one’s own Self).

-9-

There are two statements. One says: Even Shiva, only when
united with you, Oh Shakti, is able to monitor the whole world. And
the other statement says: The Triad formed of Hari, Hara and
BrahmA worship Shakti. Both these statements are contained in
the 1st sloka. Are Shiva and Hara different? Are they not the two
names of the same deity? Why two names, and two actions? Is one
the Prime Mover (corresponding to the word ‘spanditum’) and the
other the one who worships (corresponding to the word
‘ArAdhyAm’)? Are they not both the same?

Of course, advaita says all are the same One. But the very
origin of this stotra is not to stay at the level of advaita. Everything
may be the same One ultimately, but on the surface, they are seen
to be different. So Hara is one, Shiva is another. The Shiva who is
said to be ‘moved’ is the Shivam enunciated as the first
principle in the scriptures of the ShAkta and Shaiva schools. Hara
is the ‘Rudra’ who is in charge of the function of dissolution among
the five functions of the Almighty. ‘Hara’ comes from the root verb
‘har’ to destroy, to eradicate, to nullify.

(At this point, the Paramacharya begins to explain at length

the technicalities about the ‘five cosmic functions’.
What follows is a much-condensed digest. – VK)
 It is the same paramAtmA who became the three members of
the Triad for the discharge of the three functions of Creation,
Sustenance and Dissolution. For all the three functions the power
source is ambaaL, the parA- Shakti. It is the explicitly expressed
power of brahman. So we may call it para-brahma-Sakti. It is not
only the power for the Triad but it is the power source for the entire
universe of the animate and the inanimate. By calling it para-
brahma-Shakti, let us not think it is different from para-brahman
itself. For, when the shakti of an entity is separated from it,
whatever it be, the very fact of its being that entity is lost. To give
a mundane example, a ten-horsepower motor loses the very fact of
motorship if the horsepower is taken away from it. Therefore the
para-brahma-shakti is para-brahman itself. But the para-brahman
can also remain in itself without ‘exhibiting’ or ‘exploiting’ or
‘manifesting’ its power. When the parabrahman sorests in itself by
itself as itself, it is known in ShAkta parlance as ‘Shivam’.

It is from that calm nirvikAra (changeless) state of the First

Principle that we have all come to this jIva state with a mind and
all its runaway associates called the senses. Only when we merge
in that ShAnti (Peace) back again it may be said that we have
reached our true state and transcended the mAyA effect, the
bondage of samsAra. That blissful state of moksha is so calm and
peaceful because it is now the same as being brahman, which
naturally, is calm and actionless without exhibiting its latent
shakti. In our daily life we may observe that if somebody is totally
inactive, unresponsive and unaffected by anything, we refer to him
jocularly (at least in the Tamil world) as ‘para-brahmam’ !

Thus we are constrained to view Shiva as ‘para-brahman’ and

ambaaL as ‘para-brahma-shakti’. Though neither of them exists
without the other, we may allow ourselves the
privilege of speaking of them AS IF they are different. Without
para-brahma-shakti, the world would not be there. Now we have to
consider two more cosmic functions in addition to the three well-
known to all of us. We were nothing but the calm Shiva-svarUpa
once; from that state somehow the real nature has been forgotten
and we have arrived at this ignorant state of a jIva and we find
ourselves in a revolving cycle of samsAra without the knowledge of
our true state. The power which has done this to us must also be
the same para-brahma-shakti. And by the example of several sages
and saints who, though thrown into the vortex of samsAra like
ourselves, have obtained the Enlightenment which took them back
to that moksha state, beyond the mAyA enchantment, it is clear
that this function of gracing the spiritually merited ones with
moksha is also done by the para-brahma-shakti.

These two functions are called ‘tirodhAna’ and ‘anugraha’

respectively. The meaning of the root verb ‘tiras’ is to be secretive
or to hide. It is from the verb ‘tiras’ that the Tamil word ‘tirai’
(meaning, ‘curtain’) has come. It is mAyA that blinds the real thing
from us by a ‘tirai’ (curtain). Just as the three functions of creation,
sustenance and dissolution have been assigned (by the para-
brahma-shakti) to BrahmA, Vishnu and Rudra (Hara), so also Her
assignee for the tirodhAna function is called ‘Ishvara’ (also
‘maheshvara’) and that for the anugraha function is called
‘SadAshiva’. The first three functions are subject to mAyA. This
mayic activity is in the control of Ishvara. Release from mAyA is
granted by SadAshiva.
These are the five cosmic functions. Together they are called
the five-fold activity (pancha-kRtyam) of the Lord. This concept of
pancha-kRtyam is also mentioned by the Shaiva schools. The very
word panca-kRtyam means and involves activity. And as we know,
no activity is possible without the kArya-brahman (para-brahma-
shakti) coming in. So we can take it that the
original source is parAshakti. She does it through the five agents
of Hers, namely the five forms of divinity mentioned above. The
shAnta (calm) Shivam in its nascent state cannot act. When action
takes place it takes place through parAshakti in the form of the
five-fold functions. Shivam by itself does not produce the action.
But it is in Shivam, the parabrahman, that the first vibration for
action sprouts, by its own Shakti. But even before the action there
must have been a will. This will is called the icchA-Shakti. On the
basis of this icchA -- the first wish, as it may be called, and the
Upanishad also says: ‘akAmayata’ –the kriyA-shakti (the power of
Action) begins the pancha-kRtya-leelA. Thus, what was the
parabrahman by itself in itself, willed to ‘become’. It
is for this divine will that the Upanishad uses the word ‘kAma’,
meaning desire. This ‘desire’ is not to be taken in any derogatory
sense. It is pure Divine Will from Being to Becoming. Thus the first
evolute from brahman is this divine kAma. So the shakti that is
the origin of this is called Kameshvari and the Shivam in which
this kAma sprouted is therefore called Kameshwara.

-10-

The first evolute from brahman is the ‘desire’ (kAmam) that

the leela of the manifestation of the universe should take place. So
the ‘Kameshvara-Kameshvari’ evolute is the first couple. She
(Kameshvari) might later be called ‘Lalitambaal’ or ‘Raja-
Rajeshvari’ but He (Kameshvara) is never called ‘Laliteshvara’ or
‘Raja-Rajeshvara’. Again She is ‘Tripura-sundari’ – which name is
the origin for the titling of this composition as ‘Soundaryalahari’
, but there is no ‘Tripurasundara’ .
All these latter names of Shakti have come because She is
the Creator, Monitor and Queen of this entire universe. That is
why, as soon as the lalitA-sahasranAma begins with the name ‘ShrI-
mAta’, the next two names are ‘Shri-mahArAjnI’, and ‘ShrImat-
simhAsaneshvarI’. For these two names there is no masculine
counterpart of the name.

When brahman ‘chose’ to become saguNa-brahman, the

initial spark was that ‘desire’ to become. So the Kameshvari-
Kameshvara couple arose and is rightly named so.
The panchakRtya is for the world to arise and go on from there.
Thus the desire to produce multiplicity out of Herself is the
kAmam. But along with this desire is also the act (in the form of
mAyA) of ‘separating’ the created multiplicity from the reality of
the Creator. Is this not then a cruel desire? No. The ultimate aim
is to bring back everything into the source. Then why do it at all?
That is the Cosmic Play. The very ‘desire’ to exhibit into a
multiplicity is based on the joy of bringing back everything
together into the one and only source.

The para-brahma-Shakti exhibits itself into five functions.

Thus we have a five-fold aspect of brahma-Shakti, created by itself
from itself. So these five aspects are represented in a peculiar form
where Kameshvari is sitting on the left lap of Kameshvara. The
seat on which they are sitting facing the East, has four legs, namely
Brahma (Creation), Vishnu (Sustenance), Shiva (Dissolution), and
Ishvara (mAyic curtain); the seat itself is SadAshiva (moksha-
anugraha). These five are called the five ‘brahman-s’ . And this
explains the name ‘panca-brahma-Asana-sthitA’ for the Goddess.
There is also another name ‘panca-preta-Asana-Aseena’
meaning ‘She who is seated on the seat of five ‘preta-s’ – preta,
meaning ‘dead body’ --. The ‘brahman-s’ of the earlier name are
here called ‘preta-s, because, if the five functions had not been
assigned to them, they are nothing, - like the motor without the
horsepower ! Even for Kameshvara, she is the life-giving Shakti and
therefore the name ‘Kameshvara-prANa-nADI’ which occurs both in
Lalita-sahasranama and in Trishati.

Now let us come to the word ‘spanditum’. The hara-rudra has

been assigned the duty of samhAra, this is a ‘full duty’, so to say.
On the other hand, the Shiva that is the absolute brahman has just
been ‘moved’ – moved from within! This movement is the
‘spandanam’. The Shivam was like a calm, ripple-less, vibration-
less peaceful lake; and in that lake, the first ripple, the first
vibration, the first movement took place in the form of ‘kAmam’.
The agent for this was the cit-Shakti of brahman itself. She, the
cit-Shakti, not only became two, namely the willing power (icchA-
Shakti), and the acting power (kriyA-Shakti), but made
the icchA rise in brahman itself and this ‘making’ was itself Her
first act of creation!

Let us analyze this still further. Before someone ‘desires’ he

should first recognize that he ‘is’. When we are in deep sleep we
don’t desire. So the event of ‘desire’ rising in brahman, must be
preceded by the awareness of self-existence. Brahman was just
existing in itself, but was it ‘aware’ that it was existing as
such? The very event of cognition – by brahman, as it were - that
‘I am brahman’ is itself an act of the ‘spandana’-effect of Shakti.

This ‘experience’ of brahman of the act of

recognizing itself has a technical name in Vedanta. It is
‘parAhantA’. ‘ahantA’ is the thought ‘I am’. When we wrongly
think that our real ‘I’ is body-mind-intellect, it is called ‘ahantA’ –
the word derived from ‘aham’. When the supreme Absolute, which
is the origin of all the ‘aham’s in the world, thinks of itself as ‘I’ it
is supreme ‘ahantA’, that is, para-ahantA. In devotional literature,
it is customary to call parAShakti the parAhantA form of Shivam
and thus arises the name ‘parAhantA-svarUpiNI’ for ambaal.
Indeed the ‘feeling of I-ness’ that arises in the immutable
brahman, is the spandana caused by Shakti and that is what
personifies her. Our Acharya brings this effectively by using the
word ‘Aho-purushhikA’ in Sloka No.7. The word means that She is
the personification of the thought ‘I am brahman’ of brahman !

The ShAkta school conception of Shiva and Shakti

sometimes appears to involve a duality there. Thus they contend
that it is Shakti that caused the movement. Acharya’s sloka also
seems to say so. But the Acharya, while appearing to be talking
‘dvaita’ he has built his advaita into it by using the word
spandanam. In what was Knowledge-Absolute, the thought of ‘I’
arose from within. This internal pulsation is the spandanam. The
word is very precisely placed here. Because ‘spandanam’ by its very
meaning negates anything
external. It is internally caused. Something like what you say in
modern science about the central nucleus bursting of its own
accord.

But even the ShAkta schools cannot place Shiva and Shakti
as two separate things. Because Shiva and Shakti are like the lamp
and its light, the flower and its fragrance, honey and its sweetness,
milk and its whiteness, word and its meaning. Thus they cannot be
separated from each other. Even though the credit for the
spandanam is given to Shakti, it is not as if She and He are
separate. This mutual dependence of the two should be kept in our
mind always.

Digest of pp.737-743, Deivathin Kural 6th Vol. 4th imprn.)

The mutuality of Shiva and Shakti should be in our minds all

the time. When hard core ideas from philosophy are made into
poetic extravaganzas, both for the poetic excellence and for the
liberties taken with a view to making the devotees revel in their
devotion, it is natural to exaggerate or make out-of-the-way
comparisons. Thus at one time it may be said that Shiva is greater
than Shakti and at another time quite the opposite. In every one
of these presentations one should not forget the equality, nay, the
identity of the two. Keeping this clearly in his mind, our Acharya,
though he built into the first sloka the idea that it was Sakthi who
made Shiva move, he takes care to see that the prodding for the
‘movement’ does not come from outside. She is inside Him and
therefore the word ‘spandanam’.

In Kashmir Saivism this internal spandanam is emphasized

very well. Though we call it Kashmir Shaivism, the propagators of
that philosophy did not give it that name. ‘Trika-shaivam’ is its
name. For it focusses on three principles; pashu, pati and
pAsham. ‘pratyabijnA-shAstra’ is also another name for the same.
To know the fact that Shiva principle is Atman is pratyabijnA. The
literal meaning of ‘pratyabijnA’ is ‘to know a thing truly as it is’.
Another name for this school of philosophy is ‘spanda-shAstra’ !

According to that shAstra, Shiva and Shakti together form the

parabrahman. All the universe is a reflection of that parabrahman.
By saying this it does not mean that the reflection is outside
of brahman. Nor does it think of a ‘kevala-shivam’ ( shivam and
shivam alone) that has no connection with the universe. Since the
parabrahman, according to this school, is shiva as well as shakti,
the reflection (AbhAsa) is due to the presence of shakti. And even
then, it is not like light and its reflection, wherein we think of the
reflection outside of the light. No. There can be nothing outside
of shakti. Siva-shakti is one. Within that one there comes an
internal spandanam and the duality is presented. Again the
presentation is not outside of brahman. Just as a reflection shows
itself in the mirror, there is nothing outside of the mirror. The
word ‘spanda’ is exploited in Kashmir Shaivism to establish two
things. One is that the universe is not outside of brahman and two,
Shakti itself is not an external action on brahman. Shakti is
abhinnam – non-separate – from shivam.

Among the various shaiva darshanas, what comes nearest to

our Acharya’s advaita is this spanda-shAstra. On moksha both say
the same thing. But instead of saying that the universe is mithyA,
created by mAyA, this school includes not only mAyA as well as the
Ishvara of advaita vedanta in their shakti. According to them there
are 36 fundamentals. Of these shivam is the first and shakti is the
next. But immediately they say that the shivam which is ‘sat’
(Existence) has always the ‘cit-shakti’ within it. Therefore shivam
is sat-cit. The Ananda appears when the play of reflection,
producing the universe, starts as a sport.

In order to accommodate those who cannot take the

strenuous jnAna-mArga of advaita, our Acharya has adopted in this
work of bhakti, the concepts of spandanam and those of pashu,
pati and pAsham from the shaiva shAstras. In
sloka No.99 he says: He who worships ambaal, throws off the
attachment (pAsham) to the animal self (pashu) and enjoys the
nectar of the bliss of param-Ananda. Obviously when composing
the SoundaryalaharI. he must have had in mind several objectives,
such as: This hymn to Ambal should raise Her to the skies so that
in the devotees it should generate bhakti towards Her exclusively
(ananya-bhakti); it should reach the pinnacle of poetical
excellences and respect all poetic traditions; it should also be
concordant with the religious traditions of ShrI-vidyA-tantra; even
though it may not stress the advaita point of view exclusively,
since anyway shRI-vidyA and advaita are not discordant, it should
be able to touch upon advaita though tangentially. Instead of
saying that the Acharya had these objectives we might say that
ambaal had already predetermined his objectives for him.

Even though these are the basic purposes which we see have
all been fulfilled in the hymn, it should be said to the credit of our
Acharya that, because of his steadfast holding to advaita, and of
his great respect for ShrI-vidyA, and of his natural poetic talent,
he did not regiment himself as to be circumscribed by
preconceived limitations. It is our good fortune that he allowed
his talent and imagination to express itself freely and soar as high
as it liked. Such a freedom has resulted in one of the most
excellent hymns which excels in poetry, in mysticism, in devotion,
in spirituality and in religious tradition. And in this process, the
flood of ideas that gushed forth from him includes without bias
some of the philosophical concepts and thoughts that came to the
forefront, long after his time, like those of Saiva-siddhanta,
Kashmir Shaivism, visishTAdvaita, and dvaita.

The schools that I just mentioned of course took their present

form only after the time of our Acharya. But the original ideas from
which these schools sprang were there from earliest times. In fact
advaita also had its origin long before our Acharya. But it was he
who streamlined it and presented it as a siddhAnta. In the same
way the Acharyas of the other schools who came only
later to our Acharya, pulled out the ideas which were already
there and established their siddhantas. It is the greatness of Adi
Sankara that he was able to see by his erudition and farsight the
other points of view also even before they had been established as
a popular school.

-12-
(Digest of pp.743-760 of Deivathin Kural, 6th Vol. 4th imprn.)

I was saying that our Acharya , had included ideas from the
non-advaita schools also. These ideas as well as those of advaita
had their origin long before their chief proponents propagated
them formally as a siddhanta. So Soundarya lahari being a work
of bhakti leaning a little on the side of the Shakta schools, has
these ideas also in it. It talks about the ‘spandanam’ of brahma-
Shakti and praises, in superlative terms, the Shakti that caused
it. But there is no such idea of ‘spandanam’ in
the advaita shAstra of Adi Sankara.

The Brahman of advaita is motionless, and changeless. This

immutable Brahman was, according to advaita, neither moved
from outside nor perturbed from the inside. The multiple
presentations that resulted through the Creation process was just
due to mAyA, which, with the base (adhAra) of Brahman,
somehow initiated it. It is only an appearance according to advaita
and that is why mAyA is criticised and recommended to be negated.
Our Atman is nothing but that very nirguNa Brahman. If we do not
know it, it is because mAyA has done its work of hiding the Reality
from us.

But it is that very same mAyA that the

Soundaryalahari now has taken to the skies and praised as
Shakti, as a power greater than even the Triad of Brahma, Vishnu
and Shiva. Though itdoes not use the word ‘mAyA’ here, it uses
the word ‘Shakti’ and from the very fact that Shakti is the root
cause for creation of the universe, it is clear it must be the same
as the mAyA of advaita.

In advaita the nirguNa Brahman is unrelated to the saguNa

Brahman which produces and monitors the whole universe by
mAyA Shakti. For, nirguNa Brahman just is; it can never be related
to or predicated with anything. The miraculous way in which mAyA
exhibits that Brahman, as Brahman with name and form and all the
associated multiplicity, is analogous to the way we see in a dimly
lit twilight the appearance of a snake in a rope. Clearly there is no
relationship between the appearing snake and the rope which is
the support for the appearance.

However, the Shaktam that the Acharya projects to us has a

mAyA Shakti which is not unrelated to Brahman. There is no
brahma-Shakti talked about in advaita. Here in ShAktam, it is
brahma-Shakti that is important. That is the ambaal. One of her
aspects is the magic wand of mAyA. Not only that. She is Herself
the jnAna-Shakti (the power of cognitive self-recognition) which is
diametrically opposite to mAyA; and further it is the icchA Shakti
(the power of wilful self-emanation) and kriyA Shakti (the power of
creative act) also. She stands inseparable from the Shivam which
is the nirguNa Brahman of ShAktam which, however, is a shade
different from the nirguNa Brahman of advaita.

The identity of Shiva-shakti is important here. Identity does

not mean just a union. It is a total oneness. It is identity in the
sense there is only one. Being one and only one is what is called
‘Aikyam’ or identity. In Lalita Sahasranama, after calling
Her Shivaa, the next name is Shiva-Shaktyaikya-rUpiNI. This Shiva
is only a close fit to the brahman of advaita. So, unionizing with
Him, and relating with Him, ‘moving’ Him, She has done as a
couple, all the Creation of the Universe and the monitoring of it.
Whenever there is a Shakti , there must be a locus standi
(Ashrayam, Base) for it. The concept of, say, a Shakti of ten pounds
of weight does not arise unless there is something to which the
weight can be related or referenced. A fragrance or a colour is
certainly an abstract Shakti, but it has to have an Ashrayam for it
to exist as a fragrance or a colour. Thus for every shakti there is an
Ashrayam. The Shakti that is the origin for all the known Shaktis
has itself an Ashrayam and that is the Shivam-brahman.It is the
Shakti of that brahman. So it cannot be separated from its
Ashrayam. You cannot separate the whiteness from milk, or the
taste of milk from milk. So by the expansion of Shakti whatever
happens there is Shivam also in that expansion. In all actions of
Shakti Shivam has to be present.

When Shakti, the ambaal, grants moksha to the jIva, the jIva
attains the changeless nirguNa state, say the Shakta works like the
ShrI-vidyA. Even then that nirguNa state has also the Shakti in it!.
It is said that Shakti itself revels in enjoyment of bliss in its own
creation of the universe of duality. But it is not even right to say
that the play of creation is for enjoyment. Because if you accept
this, it would mean that when there is no creation, Shakti is
without that bliss! So instead of saying that She indulges in
Creation for enjoyment of bliss, we should rather say that it is the
very Bliss that is part of Her that exhibits itself as the creation.

Let me now explain the subtle difference between the mAyA

of advaita and the different Shaktis of the Shaiva and ShAkta
schools. Starting from the Shivam-Brahman, they talk of
36 principles.According to the Shaiva-siddhanta school, the first
five are called pure ‘mAyA’ and the latter 31 belong to the category
of impure ‘mAyA.

Shivam is the first. Next there come three different shaktis,

namely, cit-shakti, jnAna-shakti, vidyA-shakti. These correspond
to three different dimensions of cit. When it pertains to the non-
dual shiva-shakti, it is cit. When it pertains to the seed-knowledge
of duality for the purpose of creation it is called jnAna. In the next
stage it is aware both of its non-dual state and its potential for the
sprouting out into multiplicity, and then it is called (pure) vidyA.
After these three, come the next, now the fifth in order, namely
the kriyA shakti which is the executing part. Only thereafter,
starting from the sixth principle, it is mAyA and all its evolutes.

All this importance given to Shakti in the Shaiva and Shakta

schools is avoided in advaita, with all the evoluted appearances
from Brahman being branded as the effect of mAyA and we
being asked to discredit them.
 But even in the way the Shaiva and Shakta schools go, the
question can be asked; Somehow or other, it is the hierarchy of
these Shaktis that bind us to this samsAra. Why then praise that
Shakti and worship it with hymns like Soundaryalahari?

This is the key question. The answer is, mAyA Shakti even in
the Shakta schools does not end there. It is also the jnAna Shakti
as we saw above. And the bottomline of it all is that this same
Shakti as jnAna Shakti graces us with Knowledge and
Enlightenment in the end. And in the meantime She shows Infinite
Love towards us in order to take us back into her fold. That is the
greatest anugraha that She does for us. And that is why we
worship Her and pray to Her for Release.

-13-

(Digest of pp.760 -766 of Deivathin Kural 6th vol. 4th imprn.)

(The Paramacharya devotes one more discourse now on mAyA;
now dwelling on the status of mAyA in advaita,
vis-à-vis, the path to Enlightenment -- VK)

All the Shakta schools, adopt an interesting strategy with

respect to mAyA. Whatever bondage is created by mAyA, they make
it all related to the divine. Though jnAna and mAyA are at opposite
ends, the very world, mind and senses created by mAyA are
channelised into Love and the pure Beauty of the Mother Goddess,
so that one is blissfully involved in the worship and prayers aimed
at Her. Once the mind is unified in this noble direction, it is then
not difficult to get involved into enquiry about the Self.
Thus our Acharya also has adopted the same
strategy of going towards jnAna by resorting to the very objects
created by that which is opposite to jnAna. In other words, the
thought of God, worship, listening to stories about His glory,
temple worship, getting emotionally enraptured in stotra
recitation, raising the tempo of spiritual involvement by
continuous japa leading to the correct mood for meditation – these
constitute the means by which one follows the bhakti path thus
preparing oneself for the path of jnAna that is the ultimate. And
hence the Saundaryalahari.
 The mAyic effect cannot be easily discarded. A tremendous
amount of discretion (viveka) and dispassion (vairagya) might be
needed. In the absence of these the distractions of the sensory
world will be constantly pulling us away. And when such pulls are
very strong, one should not despair of the hopelessness in making
progress in spirituality. It is for this reason that the Acharya,
without asking us to discard the mayic effects totally, as he would
do to a more spiritually mature seeker, asks us to get involved in
bhakti, puja, worship, devotional recitation and music. If
everything of the world is made to relate to the divine in this way,
the mAyA-created world can be gradually won over. It is like using
a certain type of gloves when working with high voltage electricity.
The shock of the system will not be there and at the same time one
has a control over it.

Now what I am going to tell you may surprise you

in that it comes from me. I was talking about the mayic creations.
They provide the background for the spiritual sAdhanA. There is a
sAdhanA, a sAdhaka, and the karma of sAdhanA. This triplet is
certainly all mAyA. So what we do is to use mAyA itself to fight
mAyA. This is indeed a strategy to reach advaita-bhAva. The very
fact of a guru teaching you is nothing but Duality. But that itself
can lead to advaita-siddhi. Like a lion roaring in the dream and
waking you up, so also the mayic dream in which we are all in can
be wiped off by a guru’s words doled out in the world of duality.
Granting that the very act of ‘sAdhanA’ implies duality, the
Acharya, does not hesitate to bring in, into his stotras, the many
sAdhanAs that have goals even contradictory to advaita.
When every propitiation of the divine is certainly a dvaita act, why
shy at the rituals of the non-advaita schools? So without
reservation he allows his imagination to go the
path of other siddhAntas also. That is why, we hear in
Soundaryalahari, ideas from dvaita, visishTAdvaita,
shaivam and shAktam.

Another important point has to be mentioned. Since all

creation is mAyA, according to advaita, it is not to be thought that
advaita avoids all talk about Shakti. In Chandogya Upanishad, at
one point, it says: The paramAtmA is full of all karmas, all desires,
all fragrance and all tastes. It desired – ‘akAmayata’ –and that is
how the One became the Many as said in Taittiriyopanishad. Not
finding any satisfaction in being alone, it wanted a partner and this
desire resulted in it becoming two as pati and patni – so says
Brihad-Aranyakopanishad (I -4- 3 ). Those two were the father and
mother of the entire human race, according to the same Upanishad.

The Brahma-sUtra (II-1-30) also says: ‘sarvopetA ca tad-

darshanAt’ – The Upanishads say that the paramAtman is thus
endowed with all shakti.

Our Acharya does not just gloss over such statements. Just
because they talk about mAyA he does not overlook their mention.
In his bhAshya he emphatically says: “shakti-yuktA parA devatA”.
Since he himself has defined mAyA as anirvacanIya (that which is
inexpressible or unexplainable), he is not afraid of questions like:
‘Where did the Shakti come from”. In the matter of brahman one
cannot ask questions like ‘How is it possible?’ in the same manner
as one would ask when being presented with material matter and
worldly concepts. The profound and majestic truths
about brahman cannot be learnt by logical quibbling, but only by
what the Vedas have declared. (Brahma-sUtra-bhAshya: II – 1 – 31).

Therein he says: The talk of creation arises only when, instead

of being in that samAdhi state as brahman, we begin to think and
talk about brahman. When the nirguna brahman which is nothing
but pure cit, is talked about in relation to Creation which is
just avidya-kalpitam (imagined by ignorance), it is said to have
‘sarva-shakti-yogam’ says the Acharya. ‘Shivas-ShaktyA yuktah’is
just this !

Following this the Brahma sutra says: ‘lokavattu leelA

kaivalyam’ (II–1-33). The world creation is just leela. The Acharya
concludes his bhashya on this with the words: “When the vedas
talk about srishTi, it is not about the nirguNa absolute brahman. It
is only a view, name-and-form view, of Duality imagined by
ignorance ; it is only a phenomenal reality”. But though he goes in
this strain, he also admires the leela of the Lord. “It may appear as
a great achievement from our angle – this Creation – but for Him it
is only just a play” !
 -14-
(Digest of pp.766-774 of Deivathin Kural, Vol.6, 4th imprn.)

There is also the Upanishad authority for saying that the non-
dual brahman sprouts out the world of duality by sheer internal
vibration. This is in Katopanishad. All this world arises from the
life force called prANa and moves thereon. The word for ‘moves’
that is used is ‘Ejati’. Ejanam and Kampanam both mean
movement, but not by any external force. We may also interpret it
as vibration from the inside. Brahma sutra also uses the word
‘kampanAt’. When the Acharya writes the bhashya for this he
writes: This prANa which causes the vibration is not simple air. It
is the very brahman itself !
(It is to be noted that in this portion of the bhAshya,
Adi Sankara has used the very words ‘spandam’ and ‘pratyabhijnA’,
which are the words for Kashmir Shaivism,
without anywhere hinting that the words come from there.)

We can get many more such authorities to confirm that as far

as the phenomenal reality is concerned, there is a creation with
mAyA as the cause. Whenever these passages occur, they also
concur with many of the thoughts of the ShAkta scriptures.
Let us not think that the Acharya’s outpourings in the
Soundaryalahari is just a mixture of several viewpoints! We should
keep an open mind and let ourselves go along with the flood of
poetry that comes and simply concentrate in the ambaal with faith
and humility. Then we can get the maximum joy out of it.
(Now follows a general, but remarkable, advice of the Paramacharya on
‘How to approach the Soundaryalahari’ . VK)

When the scriptures or shAstras talk about deep philosophical

principles which have themselves a divine character, they present
certain descriptions allegorically. We should not misunderstand
these allegories. In fact the word ‘allegory’ itself is not the right
word here. When esoteric principles are deliberately personified,
that is ‘allegory’. The profound ideas of the shAstras or the purANas
are not just mental creations of the author. It is parAShakti Herself
who opens out those principles in those forms to great rishis or
persons who have reached the siddhi in the mantras.
If this world is taken to be real, then more real are the
principles and stories that help us throw off our shackles and reach
our True State. Even today if we can do the japas and dhyAnas in
the proper manner, and melt our hearts in intense devotion, those
forms can be seen as we see each other in the outside world. And
when such divine sights occur our ordinary views of each other
would pale into insignificance. The Love and Bliss that such sights
generate will take us to the realisation of the Ultimate. Therefore
it is not right to say that everything is an allegory.

To get back to what I was saying earlier, these divine forms

which personify esoteric fundamentals, might contradict what we
consider to be normal, right, decent, and beautiful in the ordinary
mundane world. Just because of that it is not correct to conclude
that the original reality itself is not right, decent and beautiful.
Similar things can be said of the poetic traditions and the
culture of classic literature. Or even of sculpture, painting or
architecture.

In all these, our norms cannot be the standards of ordinary

worldly life. Works like Soundarylahari, which are simultaneously
devotionally divine hymns and poetic excellences, have to be
approached in the right manner in order to obtain the fullest
benefit from them. Our minds have to be open and clean. The ShrI-
vidyA shAstras describe in esoterically romantic terms how Shiva,
who is nothing but the Absolute Brahman, coupled with
Kameshvari, the personification of the icchA (Will) of Shiva, cause
creation to happen. Such matters occur in Soundaryalahari also.
All these years the upAsakAs (intense devotees) without any
prejudice followed the path of ShrI vidyA and have been able to
discard all the faults like desire and the like. And Muka-kavi puts
this with poetic emphasis in his pancha-Shati: “Mother, you caused
‘desire’ to rise even in Shiva who burnt to ashes the very desire
personified in the form of Manmatha; that is why You are able to
eradicate the internal faults like desire in jIvas and give them
Enlightenment”.

The punchline here is the fact that our people of ancient

times had the right approach to such works of art, poetry and
devotion. The Guru-shishhya-paramparA took care to see that such
works were handed over only to those who could be
expected to have the right approach. Whether
the work was religious or poetical, mystical or secular, they
would, when communicating with the public, only touch such
delicate works and not elaborate upon them in detail. Accordingly,
when the common man meets with any situation wherein there is
an idea, concept, story or character, apparently repugnant to
him, he does not get distracted, because his main aim always was
to take only those things which suited his taste and which were
recommended to him by elders.
Thousands of years have passed like this. And our people have
followed the traditional paths without ever giving place to indecent
imaginations or wrong interpretations. The common man knew
that there must be some sense in those deep and profound things
because great men say so and he would not unnecessarily probe
into them. Not that he was not rational-minded; it only means that
he had an unshaking faith in tradition and also he was aware of his
own limitations.

But then the printing press arrived; and times changed. ….

-15-

(Digest of pp.774-793 of Deivathin Kural Vol.6, 4th imprn)

The printing press came as a revolution. And it became the

order of the day for anybody to write on anything, publish it and
put it in the hands of anybody. One of the earliest effects was that
profound ideas got mundane interpretations in the hands of the
uninitiated. As independent human beings each one felt that
whatever strikes his mind is right and each one made his own
interpretations. Neither the authors of books had the strength of
practice behind them; nor the readers had any intention to try
and experience what they read. Several readers were just curious
and nothing more. Or they were interested in a so-called
‘academic research’ mostly for purposes of self-glorification and
recognition in the material world. How can any spiritual benefit
arise from these?

Thus arose two major setbacks in the culture. The first one is
that those who were traditionally equipped to do the upAsanAs and
were also fit to do them, preferred the glamour of modern days to
break off from their traditions. And the second one is that all and
sundry took to these difficult upAsanAs without proper guru or
training. It is not clear, I must confess, which is the major disaster.

I know that I may be criticised and commented that I have a

‘vested interest’ in saying all this. But having started to talk on
Soundaryalahari publicly, I cannot but give you this warning. Let
me conclude by saying that there is nothing wrong in approaching
shAstras like Soundaryalahari as an aid to get Mother Goddess’s
Grace and thereby to go upward in the spiritual ladder. It is enough
you know that it is great. Just with that approach if you recite it,
ambaal will give you the necessary mental strength and maturity
to reach higher levels of spirituality. Automatically the ultimate
object of realisation would also be obtained by Her anugraha.

The mantras and their esoteric meanings have to

be safeguarded like nuclear secrets. If you really want to get
them, approach the proper guru and if he thinks you have the
requisite qualifications he will tell you. In this connection I will
tell you an important matter. I am touching it, so that you may not
‘touch’ it ! The name Kundalini and all the associated cakras are
being talked about by every one now, especially ever since Sir John
Woodroffe wrote about ‘The Serpent Power’. I am not finding fault
with him. I only thank him for bringing to light the fact that our
ancients had great things to tell the world in spite of modern
advances in science. My only warning to you is that without a
proper initiation no mantra or japam will help anybody. It is like
having costly electrical and electronic equipment in your house
without a power connection. The same thing with these mantras
and kundalinI yoga. Without the guru power they will not work.

That is not the only thing. There is more in it. The power that
comes through these electrical words of the mantras, can also give
you a shock because you may not be properly insulated. Only when
it comes from the guru, it gets properly secreted within bounds; if
it exceeds the bounds, that is if the insulation is not there, it will
only burn you ! My own suggestion to book-writers is that when
they publish such things, let there be a popular edition which
avoids the profound matters of mantra secret. And let there be a
limited circulation book which does get into those secrets, but
such ‘classified’ books must be made available only with the
authorization of the proper guru. I think, from my platform, it is
my duty to say this.

Finally what is wanted is a rapport with the author. A devotee,

a poet and a vidhushaka (the Royal Fool or Clown in the King’s
Court) – these three have a great licence to do or write what they
want. Of these our Acharya was both a devotee and a poet. So there
is a bhakti-bhAva in everything he writes and there is also a poetic
licence exhibited in pieces like the Soundaryalahari. In classical
literature, there is always a respectable status for this freedom
which a poetic or devotional piece enjoys. Of the many such
licences we can refer here to nindA stuti (where you actually
criticise the deity you are supposed to praise), praise one of the
divine couple to the extent of bringing down the other of the pair
and so on. If we look at these with a humility and an open mind for
poetic exaggeration, we may also enjoy them. Now come to the first
sloka.

Shiva is the husband and ambaal is the wife. It is only

by Her power that even He moves – this is the content of the first
sloka. One might ask: Just to boost up the glory of Mother Goddess
does one have to descend to such a level as to bring God Himself
to the level of saying that He is simply a nonentity? The esoteric
principle here is that the immutable Brahman expresses itself only
by the unfolding of the cit-shakti. The poetic principle involved
here is that the beloved, being the fair sex, is always to be given
the credit and so ‘He moves only when She moves Him’ is also
acceptable. Thus on both counts, the presentation is enjoyable.

(Digest of pp.794 - 802 of Deivathin Kural Vol.6, 4th imprn)

Now let us come to modern Science and see whether there is

any correlation with the set of ideas relating to Shivam and
Shakti. Matter is inert and its nature is inertia. But we
know that inert matter undergoes internal changes and in due
course evolves into more complicated matter and finally the
universe itself. What is the power which made inert matter non-
inert?
(Readers, please note that these talks of the Paramacharya
 probably date back to the thirties or the forties
of the 20th century ! VK)
In atomic science they talk about the interconvertibility of
matter and energy. This energy is our shakti. This is what makes
inert matter non-inert. So Shivam, the immutable brahman, has
to be compared to the ‘inert matter’ of science; but the comparison
is not right since, brahman is consciousness so not jaDam (that
which has no consciousness), whereas inert matter of science is
jaDam. Further, in the convertibility of matter into energy there is
a difference for, when matter becomes energy, the matter that has
become energy is now not there as matter. But in our philosophies,
when energy shoots forth from Shivam, the Shivam still remains
the same Shivam.

After the Relativity theory of Einstein, science has come

nearer to advaita vedanta and the shAkta schools. Time and Space
are relative concepts, as far as I have understood these scientific
theories. Brahman is the only absolute. Everything else is relative,
says vedanta. Anything that appears as real, does so because it is
resting on the brahman-canvas. This appearance as reality, is the
relativity of science and the mAyA of advaita Vedanta. Science
which talks of the relativeness, does not say what is the absolute.
The only absolute is brahman , according to our religious
scriptures as well as philosophical schools. Though western
knowledge makes a distinction between religion and philosophy,
sanAtana Dharma does not make any distinction between the two.
In it the two are inseparable like Shiva and Shakti ! And that
Absolute has been experienced as Atman by our great sages. That
is the soul of all souls.

But this fact has evaded science. Even if the scientists one
day accept it in theory, they will have to say “its ‘proof’ is not
within our jurisdiction; go to the shAstra of Spirituality to know
it”. Science can explain, through its laws, only certain
‘movements’ of the grand cosmic dance of parAShakti; whereas it
is incapable of showing a path for becoming the Absolute by
quelling the live Mind that vibrates in an integrated way together
with all the vibrations of the universe. Nor is it the goal of Science.
Only religious scriptures can show you the way. But even then, the
final gates will be opened only by ambaal. Who else, except the One
who originally separated us from the Absolute, can reunite us with
that Absolute?

It is unfair on our part to find fault with science for what is

beyond science. In the same way protagonists of science must
realise that there is a limit to their scientific quest. They have no
right to say that what transcends their science is wrong or false.
That the two are complementary must be felt by both sides. It will
be fascinating to discover that several scientific truths have been
enunciated, though in a different way, by some of our scriptural
findings.

Why not think of the proton with a positive charge in the

centre of the nucleus, as Shiva and the electron with the negative
charge that goes round, as ambaal?

There is a ‘still center’ for everything which is its peaceful

center. Even though it has no vibration it is not the emptiness
nor it is of zero potential. The equilibrium which we aim at when
we weigh a weight, is this still center. Every object has a center of
gravity. Even in a dreadful storm, there is a ‘storm center’. Always
the energy radiates from such a center and that is why movement
and action are produced. It is that center which may be called
Shivam and the energy that radiates from it and revolves about it
is ambaal.

When something is positive and the other is negative, it does

not appear to be equivalent. So to arrive at equivalence there is
another way of looking at it. Instead of saying that one is in the
center and the other revolves around it, think of each as half and
half. That is the ardha-nArIshvara form. The right side is Shiva
(positive), and the left side, ambaal (negative). This may be
justified by the fact that the heart is on the left side and supplies
the ‘life’ for the entire body. If it does not work properly, the right
side also cannot work: na khalu kushalaH spanditum api, as the
sloka 1 says.
(The ParamAcharya goes on like this irrepressibly !
It must be enjoyed in the original.
But I have to rush forward to take the readers
to the other slokas. So I am omitting a few pages. – VK)
 Another observation about ‘left’ and ‘right’. What is ‘right’ in
the original is shown as ‘left’ in the reflection. And what is ‘left’,
becomes the ‘right’. The non-dual nirguNa-brahman-
Consciousness when it gets reflected in the mirror of mAyA,
becomes the saguNa brahman that creates and monitors the
dualities of the universe. This is an accepted principle of
the advaita school. In other words IT IS SHIVA THAT GETS
REFLECTED IN MAYA AND BECOMES THE AMBAAL!
(Emphasis mine – VK)

-17-
(Digest of pp.802 - 820)

I was saying: It is Shiva Himslf who gets reflected in the

mirror of mAyA and becomes ambaal. If you ask the advaitin, “What
is this mAyA”, he will reply: ‘It is not possible to say what it is. You
know it is called mAyA, magical ! So it will not allow us to
understand it’. The ShAkta school will say: ‘Even mAyA is only a
part of ambaal.’. I already told you that mAyA occurs only at the
stage where Shivam becomes the jIva, according to ShAktam. That
the jIva does not know that it is itself Shivam, is mAyA. It is the
work of mAyAShakti that makes it incomprehensible for jIva to
know the Permanent Eternal One and mistake the ephemeral
things as permanently existing.

It is at this point that the object and its

reflected image analogy leads to the positive and negative. What
we said earlier pertained to electricity. But now we shall take the
positive-negative phenomenon of photography. In the positive,
light is light and dark is dark. In the negative on the other hand,
light is dark and dark is light. That is the Ignorance which shows
what exists as not existing and non-existence as existence. This is
the handiwork of mAyA ! We are all submerged in this mAyA and
since ambaal is responsible for this, we call Her, mAyA.

But to top it all, we should not forget that, the very ambaal
who does all this play of mAyA, is Herself the Most Compassionate
One, and those of us who can surrender to Her as the Only Refuge,
will be graced by Her and made to cross the mAyA-curtain !
 Now we can make the meaning of the first sloka more
meaningful.The very fact that the Acharya says that it was ambaal
who activated the first movement in Shivam gives a clear hint to
us, that the reverse movement of the universe going back to that
immutable Shivam has again to be triggered only by Her Grace.

All the movements which resulted in the jIvas and the

universe coming up are together called (cosmic) evolution. This is
not Darwin’s evolution. In his case it is something where lower
level beings transform in due time to higher levels. In Vedanta,
the brahman at the apex expands into the universe and living
beings. This outward expansion of subtle principles into gross
matter is called evolution. The principles are taken to be 36 by
some and 24 by some. Having become the jIvas, our goal should
now be to go back to the source. That going back is moksha.

All the things in the expanded mode have to get back into
the internal mode and merge in brahman. That is ascent
(ArohaNam). The descent of jIvas and the universe
from brahman is avarohaNam. The terms ‘expansion’ and
‘merging’ seem to be better. Expansion of brahman is Evolution
and the merging into brahman is ‘Involution’. All of us have
evolved from brahman; not by ourselves but by the Will and Action
of ambaal. We cannot involve into brahman except by Her Will and
Grace. Even though, in her cosmic Play, She seems to have given
us a role for ourselves, we can never complete the ‘Involution’
without Her Grace. The electrical switch makes the fan rotate. Only
the same switch can stop it from rotating. Thus the same Cause
which made us evolve has to work again to make us involute
into brahman. So we have to pray to Her. This is where bhakti,
jnAna and yoga come in.

What is incomprehensibly divine would be made

comprehensible by the divine itself if we cultivate intense love for
that divine. This intense love is bhakti. If we have that, the divinity
then would descend to make itself comprehensible to us. It is this
bhakti-rasa coupled with the poetic rasa that our Acharya gives us
in the form of Soundaryalahari.
 So with all this introduction based on Sloka 1, we may now go
forward. Sloka 2 elaborates the words ‘hari-hara-virincAdhibihir-
api ArAdhyAM’ (you who are worshipped even by Vishnu, Shiva and
BrahmA and others) of Sloka 1. Here it says that only by Her Grace
these three great divinities discharge their functions of Creation,
Sustenance and Dissolution. And this they do just by the power of
the dust of the holy feet of the Mother Goddess! This praise of the
divine dust is carried over into Sloka 3 also. It (the divine dust) is
the ‘rising sun for the darkness of the Ignorant, the flower-bunch
giving out the honey of wisdom for the Dull-witted, and the wish-
fulfilling godly gem for the Poor’.

Sloka 4 continues to dwell on the glory of the Divine Feet but

does it very subtly.

tvad-anyaH pANibhyAM abhaya-varado daivata-gaNaH

tvam-ekA naivAsi prakaTita-varAbhIty-abhinayA /
bhayAt trAtuM dAtuM phalam-api ca vAnchhA-samadhikaM
sharaNye lokAnAM tava hi charaNAveva nipuNau // 4 //

daivata-gaNaH: The multitude of gods

tvad-anyaH : other than You
abhaya-varado: grant abhaya (=fearlessness) and boons
pANibhyAM: by the hands
tvam-ekA asi: You are the only one
na-eva: not at all
prakaTita-vara-abhIti-abhinayA: exhibiting – boon (giver)
– fearlessness (giver) – by your ‘mudras’.
sharaNye: Oh Refuge
lokAnAM : for all the worlds
hi: indeed
tava: Your
charaNau-eva: feet alone
nipuNau: (are) expertly efficient
trAtuM : to protect
bhayAt : from fear
dAtuM api ca: and also to give
phalam: the fruit, the result
vAnchhA-samadhikaM: more than what one wishes.
 (As in sloka 1, to get the total meaning,
please read the English portions above in
the order in which they are presented
above. The Paramacharya does the same
thing, but presents it in the order in
which it will make sense in the Tamil
language. He usually does not give the
total meaning, initially, in one go. We
shall follow the same arrangement in the
succeeding slokas also. VK)

-18-
(Digest of pp.820-824 )

“Other than You, all divines are seen with their mudras
of abhaya (fearlessness) and vara (Boon). In other words they show
by their hands that they give abhaya and vara”. This is the
meaning of the first half of the sloka. But it does not mean that
ambaaL would not grant ‘abhaya’ and ‘vara’. In fact in the
Mayavaram temple She is known as ‘abhaya-ambikA’. One
of Her other names is ‘vara-pradAyini’, ‘the benefactor of boons.’

In fact the Acharya only means that She doesn’t have to give
‘abhaya’ and ‘vara’ by Her hands. Her divine feet alone are capable
of granting what other deities do by their hands. The very word
‘kAryaM’ in Sanskrit (which means, ‘the act’ or ‘action’) goes back
to the word ‘kara’ meaning ‘hand’. So the other divines have to
take effort to do the action of giving ‘vara’ and ‘abhaya’. You, Oh
Goddess, can do anything by the very ‘sankalpa’ (determination).
Even the fivefold cosmic actions beginning with creation are done
by You just by ‘wiggling the eyebrows’ (kshaNa-calitayoH brU-
latikayoH – sloka 24 – meaning: by the movement, for a moment,
of the eyebrows). Whether it is to protect devotees from fear, or it
is to give them more than what they want through their
wishes, She does it by just being there. By taking refuge
at Her feet, the devotee achieves his wishes. She is the refuge of
the entire universe.

Note the expert use of the words ‘sharaNye’ and ‘charaNau’.

The first comes from the word ‘sharaNa’ meaning refuge. She is the
Ultimate Refuge for the whole world. The second word comes from
‘charaNa’ meaning ‘foot’. Her feet are the Refuge; because the feet
themselves are capable of granting our wishes, by just being there.
Just as flowers, without ‘doing’ any action, radiate fragrance.

When one asks for the removal of fear, that is, fearlessness
(abhaya), the positive response from the deity could only be the
removal of fear; there is nothing more to be given. On the other
hand, whatever other wish one asks for fulfillment, there can
always be something more than that wish and thus She – nay, just
the grace of Her divine feet - ggives the devotee more than what
he wants.

A question may arise. Why is ‘fearlessness’ sought separately?

Can it not be given as one of the many wishes, by the Goddess?
Why is it separated from the general category of ‘boons’?

(The following paragraphs are so exquisite in the original

that I chose to translate them literally word by word ! VK)

Fearlessness (abhaya) is not a commodity that is given and

taken. It is actually another name for advaita. ‘Only when there is
duality there is fear’ says the Brihad-AraNyakopanishad (1.4.2). If
there is only one thing there is, from what can fear arise? Only
when there is a second entity fear arises in relation to it. “If one
thinks even of the tiniest distinction in brahman, then fear arises.
Even wise men, if they think of brahman as another distinct object,
are ceased of fear”, so says Taittiriya-upanishad (II – 7).

The moment we think of brahman as different from us and

as a God with qualities, we get into the mood of ‘bhakti out of
fear’. Even the westerners talk about the ‘God-fearing’ nature as
man’s noblest quality. When will that fear go? It will go only when
the non-duality conviction arises that there is no jIvatman distinct
from Ishvara. In that state of the Existence of One without a
second, where is the scope for a boon-giver and a boon-receiver –
two entities? The symbolic exhibition of the ‘abhaya-mudrA’ in the
deity’s hand is in fact a formless (esoteric) principle only. There is
no giving, no taking, there. It is a supreme state and the mudrA is
only a symbol for it. The Lord may be eradicating fears from the
smallest fears, through those of birth and death, to the largest fear,
namely that of duality, that of separation from Him; but the actual
state of fearlessness is only the non-dual state. And that is why, it
does not form part of the category of boons.

To the same question the scholars of the other (dvaita)

schools cite the ‘bhava-bhIti’ that is, the fear of the cycle of births
and deaths, as the major fear to be removed by Divine Grace and
that is why, they say, ‘abhaya’ is kept separate from the other
boons; and they stop there.

The ‘abhaya mudrA’ is shown by the upward extended palm

of the right hand. Other schools of philosophy say that this right
hand points to the Divine worlds like Vaikunta and Kailasa in the
upper worlds. But we advaitins say that it indicates the non-dual
state which is vast and boundless like the wide space (AkAsha) up
above.

(The translation-mode ends here. VK)

The hand which shows the boon-giving status is the left hand
but with the palm facing us and extending downwards. ‘I want this
and I want that’ is itself indicative of a lower state. Just as the
actionless advaita state of ‘abhaya’ belongs to the Shiva side,
namely the right side, the hand which shows the boon-giving Grace
legitimately belongs to the action-packed Shakti side of the divine
form. The left palm is extending downwards; what does it point to?
It points to the divine feet, which is the last Refuge. Hold on to
My Feet, says the Goddess, “That is the greatest boon for you”.

The show of ‘mudrA’ is technically called ‘abhinaya’. To

exhibit whatever mood there is internally, by the expression in the
face, or by a symbolic gesture of the hands or feet is called
‘abhinaya’. Particularly, that shown by the fingers of the hands is
called a ‘mudrA’. It is the science of tantra that prescribes the
‘mudrAs’. The science and art of dancing has adapted only these
‘mudrAs’.

The bottomline of this sloka is to say that all this business

of hand mudras belongs only to the other deities. Ambaal does not
show any of these mudras. Obviously one is thinking here of the
Goddess Lalita-tripura-sundari only.
 - 19 -
(Digest of pp.824-831 )

The Goddess LalitA-Tripurasundari, as affirmed in this

sloka. does not have the ‘vara-abhaya’ hands, (vara =
boon; abhaya = fearlessness). She has the sugarcane-bow and the
arrow of flowers in those two hands. Note however, the Acharya
himself says in Sloka 70 that She has all Her four hands indicative
of abhaya and vara.

Let us not make the mistake of thinking that this sloka

means that all other deity-forms have the ‘vara-abhaya’
hands. There are several without these hands. Think of
Vighneshvara (Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed deity) whom we
see at every nook and corner (in India). What about the figure of
the dancing Nataraja? He has only the ‘abhaya’ hand but no boon-
giving hand. Minakshi of Madurai does not have these two hands.

The Vishnu deity (of almost all temples) Himself, though He

has four hands – with conch, disc, mace and lotus --, has no ‘vara-
abhaya’ hands. Varada-rAja – the name meaning ‘the king of boon-
giving deities’ -- in Kanchipuram, inspite of His name, does not
have the ‘vara’ hand; He has the mace in that hand ! Maha-lakshmi,
the Goddess of Wealth, almost invariably, has the vara-
abhaya hands. But the Goddess of Learning, Sarasvati, does not
have either.

Durga, most of the times, has an ‘abhaya’ by the right hand,

while the corresponding left hand is on the thigh – this
situation being called ‘Uru-hastam’ . Some of the Subrahmanya
deity-forms have the same configuration. Balaji of Tirupati has
the vara-mudrA in the right hand, while His left hand is an ‘Uru-
hastam’. Thus the statement of this sloka “Other than You, all
other deities show the ‘vara-abhaya’ mudrA by their hands” is to
be considered a poetic exaggeration only.

(At this point the Paramacharya begins

an elaborate introduction to slokas 5 and 6,
thereby dwelling on the topic:
 “Is it legitimate for God to bless one ‘to desire’ ?´ -VK)

So far in the first three slokas the stotra does not say
specifically which deity is being praised. Even in the fourth sloka
there is just a clue that the deity is without the ‘vara-abhaya’
hands. How many hands there are, or what are in those hands?
– these questions are left open. In the next two slokas, the clue is
given (sloka 5) that it is that deity that prodded a desire in mahA-
vishNu to take the form of ‘mohini’ and create sensual impulses
even in Lord Shiva and it is also the same deity (sloka 6) which
gave even to the God of Love (manmatha) the power to disturb even
the minds of great sages and saints. And thus we get the idea that
the deity of this stotra could be the Kameshvari that we spoke of,
in the beginning when we discussed the original ‘Desire’ that
sprouted out in brahman itself ‘to express Itself’.
(See DPDS -9 and 10. VK)

The major purpose of bhakti is to quell all desires and get

attracted to that Infinite source of Bliss. While that is so, how is it
legitimate for a bhakti-stotra to praise that very deity as Onewho
encouraged and manouvred the powers that be, to fall in Love? In
spite of our reverence to the Acharya, we have to raise this
question sometimes. The world-view has to disappear in order for
Divine Enlightenment to appear; but here the deity is praised for
having engineered the creation of that world ! Knowledge arises
only after all ‘kAma’ (Desire) has been eradicated; but here She is
glorified as having been that very Power who gave the power to the
God of ‘Desire’ for generating Desire. Does it mean, then, that
‘Desire’ itself is Divine Grace?

It all means that opposite forces have to exist. We have to

contend with both. If there were no enemy, internally, to struggle
against, life could be totally without any challenges and therefore
uninteresting. If everything was going smoothly, then we would not
even recognize ‘good’ as ‘good’. The cross-currents of conflicting
powers exist for the purpose of proving to us that ‘good’ will survive
and surface at the end. The ‘desire’ in brahman resulted in the
creation of the universe. The ‘desire’ in the living results in the
world of the living growing up.
 Note another interesting marvel. What we consider as ‘good’
has something ‘bad’ in it and vice versa. To understand this
subtlety of Creation and carry on our struggle in this drama of the
world is the art of living in fullness. Desire (kAma) and Anger
(krodha) are wrong; but this is only a generalised
statement. Looked into deeply, even they have ‘good’ in them.
There should be a ‘desire’ for ‘good’ and ‘anger’ against ‘bad’. In
fact it is not only not wrong, but essential. In the same way, what
appears to be ‘good’ will have ‘bad’ hidden in it.

On top of this all there are two important things to note. One
is the Lord’s shower of Grace; and the other is our surrender to
Him. Both are products of Creation; without the existence of evil
and the necessity to fight it, Grace and Surrender have no meaning.
On His side, the highest He does is ‘Grace’ or Anugraha. On our
side, the highest we can do is ‘Surrender’. TO ACCEPT THAT WE
CANNOT DO ANYTHING EXCEPT TO SURRENDER TO HIM IS THE
APEX OF ALL THAT WE CAN DO ! You will know it when you do it
!
(Note: Emphasis mine – VK)

- 20 -
(Digest of pp. 831-836 )

Even if millions of people do not go the right way what is of

significance is that one of them will see the difference between
good and bad and make the total surrender to Her and get Her
shower of Grace for him to see that he (the jIva) and the Ultimate
are one. Not all the seeds of the fruits of a tree grow into a full tree.
In the whole world of living beings even if one in a million achieves
that Infinite fullness of Man the purpose of Creation is
fulfilled. That probably is ambaal’s idea of Creation.

But again, those who do not so achieve the Fullness are not
to be considered wasted or damned. There is no eternal damnation
in our scriptures. Acharya Madhva propagated that idea. Maybe he
thought that at least the dread and fear of eternal damnation would
motivate people into reforming themselves to be good. Even an
extremely sinful person has a way of ultimate redemption -- that
is the creed of our religion.
 Once there was a king. An ordinary commoner was told by
him, on an important mission, to come and see him in his camp.
But the commoner entreated the king to give him some kind of an
authentification, like a ring or something, which would gain him
the entry to the king’s presence when he presented himself at the
camp. The king gave him such a ring; but the ring did not have his
(the king’s) seal. It had the seal of the enemy king. The commoner
was perplexed. Why is this king giving him a ring which
would only be identified as the enemy’s? The king himself
removed his doubt by saying: “There are so many of my own
couriers and courtiers who have obtained from me my authentified
ring so that they can meet me any time they like. The line of such
people would be so large at any time, that you would not get
anywhere near me when you come to meet me. But if they see the
seal of the enemy king in your hands they would take you to be a
spy and would present you before me in no time !”

This perhaps is the strategy of ambaal ! Desire, Anger and the

whole gang of bad things are Her own Grace to us in the form of
authentified ‘rings’, so that we may go to Her soon. Once Kunti,
the mother of the Pandavas, asked Krishna to keep giving her
difficulties and miseries all the time so that she will never forget
the Lord ! In other words, in the mystery of
creation, unhappiness itself is a divine blessing in disguise.

Again, the opportunity of showering Grace on an individual

does not stop with that person. It continues to pour on all the
offsprings of that person in the same way. At this point one is
tempted to say that, in spite of the general Hindu prayer that there
should be no more births, the very fact that there are offsprings is
itself a shower of Her Grace. How else can the balance of karma
of jIvas be exhausted? If there was no ‘kAma’ in the world those
who die with a large balance of karma would have to go
unredeemed. Thus it is ambaal’s grace that there is ‘kAma’ as one
of the four objectives or purposes of life.

And the scriptures come to our help by earmarking four

stages of life in which one of the stages, namely, grihastAshrama
(the householder-stage) is set apart for giving vent to our legitimate
desires. Just as there are exceptions to every rule, for this general
rule of creation also there are certain exceptions in the form of a
few, - very few -, who take to the fourth ashrama (sannyasa) without
having to go through the second ashrama of a householder.

Another final point. Whoever has the power and the means to
create should have also the power and the means to bring the
end to creation and the created. The ambaal has the power to
create and spark the desire in us; and therefore She has also the
power to free us from that creation and release us from the desire
that overpowered us. The obverse of a coin has always a reverse.
So the same (obverse) power which originates ‘kAma’ in human
beings, has also the (reverse) power to say, in respect of certain
blessed individuals, to that ‘kAma’, “Don’t go near such and such
persons” !

So Manmatha, the God of all sensualities, who overpowers us

by the power which he got from ambaal, has however to
obey Her when She says: “Thus far and no further”. The slokas 5
and 6 which talk of the power of Manmatha has this implication
for the devotees of ambaal, though the slokas do not say so; they
only talk of the obverse of the coin, not its reverse ! And that, the
unsaid reverse, is the significance of those two slokas, especially
for those of us who can surrender to Her through recitation of these
slokas. Her leelA is: From advaita through ‘desire’ to dvaita; and
then, ultimately, to advaita through Her Grace and Compassion!

Now we shall go over to sloka 7. Here comes, for the first time,
a graphic description of the form of Kameshvari (Raja-rajeshvari,
LalitA-tripura-sundari), the deity of praise in Soundaryalahari.
Even here, no name is mentioned; in fact, throughout the hymn,
the name does not occur.

(Digest of pp. 856-860 of Deivathin Kural Vol.6, 4th imprn)

kvaNat-kAnchI-dAmA kari-kalabha-kumbha-stana-natA
parikshhINA madhye pariNata-sharac-candra-vadanA /
dhanur-bANAn pAshaM sRNimapi dadhAnA karatalaiH
purastAd-AstAM naH puramathitu-rAho-purushhikA // 7 //

kAnchI-dAmA: (She who is) wearing the girdle with jewelled bells
kvaNat: tinkling and jingling (of jewels)
kari-kalabha-kumbha-stana-natA: (She who is made to) lean forward
by the breasts that resemble the forehead of an young elephant
parikshhINA madhye : (She who is) slender in the middle (of the
body)
pariNata-sharac-candra-vadanA: (She whose) face is like the
autumnal full moon
dadhAnA karatalaiH : (She who is) wearing in Her hands
dhanur-bANAn: the bow and arrows
pAsham: the noose
sRNim-api : (and) also the goad
Aho-purushhikA : (She who is) the ‘I’–ness ( =Ego, in the positive
sense)
pura-mathithuH: of the destyroyer of (the demon named) pura —
i.e. of Lord Shiva
AstAM : may She appear
purastAt : before
naH : us.
(Please see DPDS – 10
for an explanation of “Aho-purushhikA” - VK)

A girdle is called ‘mekhalA’. If there are tingling bells in it

it is called ‘kAnchI’. The name ‘raNat-kiNkiNi-mekhalA’ that occurs
in the LalitA-sahasranAma is just this ‘kvaNat-kAnchI-dhAmA’,
namely, the jingling girdle with bells. The string of bells is also
called ‘maNi’. So ‘kAnchI’ is also known as ‘mani-mekhalA.

In Tamil literature ‘Mani-mekhalai’ is one of the five great

epics. The heroine of that epic is Manimekhalai. At the end of the
story she finally comes to the town of Kanchi where she feeds the
poor from her inexhaustible vessel (akshaya-pAtram). This work
‘Manimekhalai’ is slanted towards Buddhistic religion. Accordingly
the heroine reaches salvation after getting the initiation from a
Buddhistic Guru. But the incident of feeding the poor from an
‘akshaya-pAtram’ is a traditional story of the Goddess Kamakshi of
Kanchi from age-old times. Even in the Sangam Age (of Tamil) there
was a woman by name ‘KAmak-kaNNi’ which is nothing but the
Sanskrit ‘KamAkshi’. Well, all this is a digression from my thought
that ‘Mani-mekhalai’ finally comes to the town (Kanchi) which has
the same name as hers!
 By the mention of ‘KanchI’ the author has hinted at the
deity of his devotion. There are scores of feminine deities in this
country from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. KshIra-bhavAni (in
Kashmir), Bhagavati (in Kerala), ChamunDeshvari and
ShAradAmbA (in Karnataka), JnAnAmbA, BhramarAmbA and
Kanaka-durgA (in Andhra), TulajA BhavAni (in Maharashtra),
ambAji (in Gujarat), Vindhya-vAsinI and anna-pUrNeshvarI (in
Uttarpradesh), KALi (in Bengal), KamAkhyA (in Assam), VaishNavI
(in Jammu) and finally, MeenAkshI, akhilANDeshvarI, dharma-
samvarddhanI, KamalambAL, BalAmbAL, and Shiva-kAma-sundarI
(in Tamilnadu).

(Note: The Paramacharya does not seem to have

mentioned the names of the regions in the above list.
These names have been supplied
by Ra. Ganapathi in a footnote.
The Paramacharya seems to have
just reeled off the names of the deities only. – VK)

Thus there are several several deity-forms of ambAL. But, there is

only one deity which conforms to the form of LalitA-tripura-
sundari as delineated in the ShrI-vidyA tantra with certain
characteristic physical features and arms and weapons and that is
the deity ‘KamAkshi’ of Kanchipuram. The author of
Soundaryalahari who does not mention the name of the deity of his
devotion throughout the text, has perhaps hinted it here, by using
the word ‘KanchI-dAmA’ !

The word ‘dAmaM’ means ‘twisted rope or string’. It was

because YashodA bound child Krishna with a ‘dAmaM’ around his
waist, He is called ‘dAmodara’ (udara means stomach). ‘KanchI-
dAma’ is so named because the jewel-belled girdle is made up of
twisted golden strings. When ambaaL gracefully walks over, not
only the ornaments round her ankles but the jewels of the girdle
also jingle !

The whole earth is personified as BhUmA-devI. When one

visualises that form, the geographical location of the navel for
that form on the earth is said to be Kanchipuram. When the girdle
with bells is also imagined at its location on the waist, the facade
of that girdle comes at the position of that navel; and that is why
the kshetra (place) also gets the name of Kanchi !

A girdle which circles the globe must be really big.

When that is supposed to be the ornament around the waist of
ambaaL, then that waist also should be big. But that is not so, says
the description: ‘parikShINA madhye’. ‘kShINa’ means ‘lean’ . The
preposition ‘pari’ indicates that the leanness is extra-ordinary.
Thus ‘parikShINA madhye’ means She is really very slender in Her
middle. The miracle is that this ‘slender’ waist covers the whole
universe. ‘The macro within the micro’ !

Let it be. But what about the face? The face is the ‘mukhya’ (=
important, significant) part. It is from the word ‘mukhya’ the
word ‘mukha’ (face) arose. How is ambaaL’s face? She is ‘pariNata
sharat chandra-vadaNA’. Her face is like the moon, with all the
coolness and the whiteness of the autumnal full moon. Later, (in
the 63rd sloka), the Acharya puts this thought in more poetic
terms: ‘smita-jyotsnA-jAlaM tava vadana-chandrasya ’ – which, in
effect, means ‘your moon-like face radiates miraculous moonlight
through its smile’.

Another point. The second line of the sloka has two words
both beginning with ‘pari’ : ‘parikShINA’ and ‘pariNata’. When you
read the whole line the sound of the alliteration creates a pleasant
feeling. Such beauties are the specialities of great poets.

Note by VK: At this point I checked all the slokas of Soundarya-lahari. Almost all
of them have in their second and fourth lines
such alliterations or similar-sounding words which create the lilting effect
which the Paramacharya mentioned even earlier.
Just a few examples:
Sloka 1: Na cedevam devam devo; praNantum stotum;
Sloka 7: parikShINA … pariNata…;
purastAd AstAm, … puramathithuH ;
Sloka 17: saha janani sanchintayati;
Vacobhir-vAgdevI-vadana;
Sloka 97: patnIm, padmAm; hareH, hara-sahacarIm;
Bhramayasi, parabrahma-mahiShI.

- 22 –

(Digest of pp.861-866 of Deivathin Kural Vol.6, 4th imprn)

 The third line of the seventh sloka is:
‘dhanur-bANAn pAshaM sRNimapi dadhAnA karatalaiH’.

‘Holding by the hands the bow, the arrows, the noose and the
goad’ is the meaning. ‘sRNi’ means ‘ankusha’, the goad. These four
are the specifics that determine now the deity of dedication in this
stotra. And so we may be certain now that the deity that is being
praised is the deity of the ShrI vidyA mantra, namely lalitA-tripura-
sundari or Kameshwari. If we are not very ‘technical’ about it, it
is also the same as Raja-Rajeshwari. When ambaaL is in this form,
She has four hands, with the noose and goad in the two upper
hands and the bow and arrows in the two lower hands. Manmatha,
the God of Love has the same bow of sugarcane and the same
arrows of flowers.

There are two things: rAga (attachment and liking);

and dvesha (hate and dislike). The former gives rise
to kAma (desire) and the latter gives rise to krodha (anger). Desire
and anger have to be kept in control. Of course all these are born
out of the great divine mAyic play of ambaaL. And by the same
leelA of ambAL, they disappear by Her Grace (anugraha). The very
thought that they will so disappear by Her Grace will help us fight
against them.
‘rAga-swarUpa-pAshADhyA’ , meaning, She who holds the
noose, which is ‘rAga’ in physical form -- is one of Her many
names in the lalitA-sahasranAma. Similarly, another name is
‘krodhA-karAnkushojjvalA’, meaning, She who shines by the goad,
which is ‘krodha’ in physical form.

Of the twin of Desire and Anger, desire has the form of

ambaaL’s noose (pAshaM). When you talk of ‘yama-pAshaM’ it is the
noose. When you talk of mother’s pAsham (tAip-pAshaM, in Tamil)
it is her attachment and affection and therefore her concern, her
desire (AshA). It is the desire that binds us. It binds us like a rope.

Anger has the form of ambaaL’s goad. Anger pierces you like
a goad. But it does not pierce the other man on whom you are
angry. He may go away just like that, indifferently. Our anger
pierces only ourselves. The pierce of the goad will be felt by us only.
And we hurt ourselves. Modern science tells us how energy is
wasted during anger and how much. What is more interesting is the
further scientific fact – with which our scriptures agree – that
whereas we exhibit anger (krodhaM) at something we don’t like and
thus waste energy, the energy loss is more while we like something,
desire it and happily indulge in that desire (kAmaM). In fact,
Desire is the ‘hita-shatru’ – enemy in the disguise of a friend.

The words ‘pAsham’ and ‘ankusham’ both ring a bell and bring
the ‘elephant’ to our minds. The elephant is always tethered by a
heavy chain to an anchor. The chain is actually a ‘rope of
attachment’ (pAshak-kayiru, in Tamil) for the elephant. The twins
‘kAma’ and ‘krodha’ are elephant-like in their strength; so they
have to be controlled with effort in the same way an elephant is
controlled by a ‘pAsham’ (rope) and ‘ankusham’ (goad). The man
who rides and monitors the elphant uses the goad to control
it. The elephant-like evils of Desire and Anger are both in the
mind. So it is the mind that has to be controlled. In fact in
Sivanandalahari (sloka 96) our Acharya compares the human mind
to a ‘madhepa’, meaning, a mad elephant.

Our ambaaL is always shown with a pAsham (noose)

and ankusham (goad). This itself is Her leelA. They
are Her important accessories. This is one way of looking at it.

Another way is this. She shows pAsham (affection,

attachment) to us; so with the ‘pAsham’ in her hand she binds us
and pulls us away from all our worldly ‘pAshams’ (attachments) and
makes us come back to Her with the cry ‘Oh Mother!’. And that
gives us the attachment to the attachmentless Divine. ‘PatratrAn
patru’ (in the language of Valluvar, in Tamil)! Again, when we fall
into the Anger mode, She brings her ‘ankusham’ (goad) on us and
subdues our anger, by that very ankusham which stands in her
hand as the personification of Anger (krodham) ! When Desire is
unfulfilled it turns into Anger. The same Desire and Anger,
in Her hands, in the form of the noose and the goad, become the
cure for the two evils in human minds.

Though our sloka in the Soundaryalahari mentions ‘bow’ and

‘arrow’ first and then mentions the ‘noose’ and ‘goad’, it is the
‘noose and goad’ that are special to ambAL. Manmatha the God of
Love has the same bow and arrows both of which he uses to get
mankind downward into sensuality. His bow draws man’s mind into
sensuousness and his five arrows affect the five organs of
cognition.
But the same bow and five arrows in the hands of ambaaL work
in a positive way as is vindicated by two names (that appear just
immediately after the two names about rAga and krodha I
mentioned a little while ago) in lalitA-sahasranAma, namely,
‘mano-rupekshhu-kodanDA’ and ‘pancha-tanmAtra-sAyakA’.

The former means: ‘(She who has) the bow of sugarcane, the
sugarcane being the figuration of the mind’. The latter name
means: ‘(She who has) the five arrows that are the figurations of
the five tanmAtras (= subtle principles behind the senses)’.
The same sugarcane bow, which in Manmatha’s hands, draws
man downward into sensuality, in Her hands, leads us upward by
producing the ‘desire’ for moksha. The same five arrows of flowers,
which in Manmatha’s hands, lead man’s five senses outward toward
sense objects, in ambaal’s hands, makes us desire, to see Her
divine form, to hear the melody of music in devotion to Her, to
taste the sweetness of the nectar flowing from Her Grace, to smell
the fragrance of the flowers that adorned Her, and to feel the touch
of Her lotus feet.

- 23 –

(Digest of pp.866-869 of Deivathin Kural Vol.6, 4th imprn)

Just a change of place of the weapons changes their purpose

and effects! The same bow and arrows, that, in the hands of the
God of Love, were the cause of man’s downfall into the sensual
world, become, in the hands of the Mother Divine, the switches for
turning our mind and senses towards the Eternal Bliss of Her
Presence. It is something like the knife in the hands of the thief;
if the same knife were in our hands, he runs away! When we submit
to that magical switch of Hers, we overflow with bhakti; and this
together with the outpouring of Her Grace drenches us in the flood
of that spiritual Bliss, and we forget ourselves as separate entities.
When we delude ourselves as separate it is mAyA ; this is the worst
state of existence. When we forget ourselves as separate it is
Knowledge; it is the best state.

Thus when we see that a change of place transforms the worst

into the best, we may learn a lesson. Why not transfer all
the beautifications and dressing-up that we do for ourselves into
ornamentations and dresses for ambaal, thereby transforming their
effect? When we decorate ourselves it BRINGS IN the Ego. When we
decorate Her, it BRINGS DOWN our Ego. Decoration in Sanskrit is
‘alankAram’; and ego is ‘ahamkAram’. If we do the ‘alankAram’ to
Her, our ‘ahamkAram’ is gone !

In short, the flower-arrows in ambaal’s hands grace us with

the needed sense-control and the sugar-cane bow in Her hands
bestows on us control of our mind. Nothing else is needed
for Enlightenment ! As Muka-kavi says in Pancha-shati,
‘Mother! Whereas You sparked desire in Shiva Himself who had
burnt the Lord of Desire to ashes, the same You, in our case,
eradicate desires in the desire-filled Jivas’.

Mind and the five senses are together counted as six

instruments for the human being. Instruments are called ‘karaNas’
in Sanskrit. The six ‘karaNas’ of man are like the ‘caraNas’ (feet) of
a bee. So the jIva itself is nothing but a six-footed bee with six
instruments of action. The analogy becomes apt when we think of
the bee merging into the depths of a flower with all its (six) feet
stuck in that depth. For, the jIva has to work its way to stick its
six instruments out into the lotus of the divine feet of the Mother.
This is the idea which our Acharya himself later builds into Sloka
90 of Soundaryalahari: ‘nimajjan majjIvaH karaNa-caraNaH shhaT-
caraNatAm’, meaning, ‘plunging (into Your lotus feet), may this jIva
of mine with its six instruments as the feet (become) the six-
legged bee’ .

The important thing to note here is what has not been said.
It is not said that the mind and the five senses should submit
themselves to the bow and arrows of ambaal. It is only said that
they should dissolve themselves into the divine feet. Recall from
sloka 4 that ‘She need not give abhaya and vara by Her hands; Her
feet themselves are capable of doing that’. In this sloka 7, instead
of the vara and abhaya mudras in the two hands, the bow and
arrows are mentioned. They have been said to give the mind-
control and the sense-control. But one may question: Why can’t
these controls be also a Grace from Her feet? That is why it has
been said that the mind and the five senses should merge in the
lotus of Her feet as a bee gets lost inside the flower. The noose and
the goad in the other two hands would then be not necessary at all
to quell the Desire and Anger in the human mind.

But then, the question arises: Why four hands, instead of just
two?
(These things are not amenable to logic, said the Paramacharya earlier. But here he
does not repeat himself. VK)

That the four hands add to the beauty of this beauty Queen is
to say it naively. But remember She is the Queen of the Universe.
The majesty of that status is shown by the bow and arrow in the
two forehands. But She is also the Benefactor of the bliss of
Moksha; therefore She is the Queen of the Empire of
Enlightenment (jnAna-sAmrAjyam). Raga (Attachment) and dvesha
(hatred, enmity) are two arch-villains that constitute the obstacle
to moksha. These two are killed by the noose and the goad
in Her other two hands, thus establishing that She is the Queen of
‘jnAna-sAmrAjyam’.

The bow and the arrows in the forehands has also another
significance. What we have to surrender to Her feet, namely our
mind and the senses, She draws by Her own initiative to Herself;
the bow draws the mind and the arrows the senses, to Herself. It is
as if a loving mother says to her child: ‘Dear child, why do you have
to fall at my feet; I will take you onto my lap’!

This whole sloka is a fit sloka for meditation. It reminds us

that the bow and arrows that turned the Ishwara Himself – the
Supreme who is nothing but a bundle of Knowledge, cit – into a
creation-mode through the artifice of making Him fall in love with
Ishwari, who thereby became Shiva-kAma-sundari; that same bow
and arrows now draw the medley of minds and senses of the jIvas
and keep them under its control, thus protecting them (spiritually).
In fact the bottom line is that even this action of ‘drawing’ and
‘protecting’ is not done by the bow and arrows but by just Her feet.
 Indeed weapons in the hands of Gods and Goddesses are
powerful not because they are weapons but because they are given
that Power by the supreme shakti, that is, ambaaL. What She is
said to do by Her weapons and other instruments is all just Her
Will. She wills it and it is done. What a mysterious play! Just catch
hold of Her feet. That is enough. She wills to shower Her Grace and
there is a downpour of abhaya (fearlessness), vara (boon), control
of the five senses, control of the mind, and what-have-you!. As a
cosmic play, She may use Her weapons, or She may not; She may
show mudrAs or She may not.

- 24 –

(Digest of pp.869-883 of Deivathin Kural Vol.6, 4th imprn)

Having described Her four arms and what She held in them,
having portrayed Her general physical features including the
autumnal full moon of the divine face, the sloka 7 ends with the
svarUpa-lakshaNa (Inherent Definition) of ambaal. This is the core
of the core. She is the personification of the ‘I – ness’ of the
Absolute Brahman. I have talked about it earlier. In other words
She is the cit-shakti Itself. She is jnAna in form. She is jnAna-
ambaaL.
‘purastAd AstAm naH’ – May She appear before us.
May She become cognizable for us. Note the use of the word ‘us’
(‘naH’) here. Our Acharya is praying for us all. It is not
‘me’, but ‘us’. The purpose of the graphic description in this sloka
is for us to keep Her before our mental vision.

There is a Tamil stotra called abhirAmi-antAdi. This is a stotra by a

great devotee abhirAmi-bhattar on the Goddess known by the name of
abhirAmi in TirukkaDavUr. The form of abhirAmi has four hands with vara
and abhaya in the two forehands and lotus and bead-necklace (aksha-mAlA)
in the other two hands. The stotra has 100 verses. Right in the second verse
the author describes how the Goddess gave darshan to him, as having in
Her four hands, the bow, the arrows, the noose and the goad. In the last
verse of his poem he gives the same description of the Goddess.

The next sloka of Soundaryalahari (Sloka No.8) describes her

location, her own world in the Cosmic Geography. Just as Shiva
has Kailas, VishNu has Vaikuntham, She has Her own, but
there are actually two locations for Her. One is the central peak,
called the peak of Meru.The other is called the City of ShrI (ShrI-
puram or ShriI-nagaram) in the Ocean of Nectar (amRta-sAgaram).
But the descriptions of the residence of ambaal in either of them
is the same. This sloka (No.8) – ‘sudhA-sindhor-madhye …’ gives
the description of the ShrI-nagaram. Right in the centre of
the Oceanof Nectar; surrounded by the forest of five kinds of divine
trees; in the island called maNi-dvIpam; therein in the Garden of
kadamba trees; in the palace of gems called cintAmaNi. right on
the seat of the five brahmAs;

(Re: the five brahmAs, see DPDS – 10. –VK)

And right there, She is seated, as an inundation of Bliss that

is of pure Cit, Knowledge. This is what one has to visualize in one’s
meditation.

After this sloka come two slokas, nos.9 and 10, wherein we
are told how to propitiate ambaal through the Kundalini Yoga and
mantra yoga. Sloka 9 describes how one achieves the bliss of
advaita by moving the Kundalini shakti through the six chakras
(also called lotuses). From bottom up, in these chakras, the
kundalini shakti is in the form of the five elemental principles –
earth, water, fire, air, and space and then in the sixth, as the mind
principle. The nADi (nerve, approximately) which has all these
chakras is called the sushhumnA nADi.
When Kundalini is taken up via this nADi through all these
chakras and finally is unionised with the shiva-tattva in the
thousand-petalled lotus at the top of the head, that is when She
causes the realisation of the bliss of advaita. What is in the micro
is also in the macro. When ambaaL is in her virAT (universal
expansion) state, the five elemental principles and their origin, the
mahat principle, are all in the experience of a yogi who sees them
in the kundalini chakras. And that very mahat, which is the
Cosmic Mind, merges itself in the brahman, namely, the shivam in
the sahasrAra (thousand-petalled) chakra, thus causing the advaita-
siddhi.
 This experience of the ‘rasa’ (flavour) of advaita is actually the
experience of the taste of nectar, says the next sloka (#10). When
advaita is ‘experienced’ there cannot be two things: one, ‘the taste’
and two, the One that gives that taste, namely ambAL; and much
less another thing called a jIva. So the word ‘experience’ is just a
‘formality’ (‘upacAram’ in Sanskrit) for saying what cannot be said
formally. However, just before that ‘experience’ and after it, there
is something like a sentiment similar to an ‘experience’, the
benefactor of that experience and the recipient of that experience
– in fact, a triad or ‘tripuTi’.
I talked of lotuses earlier. They are not lotus flowers of our
familiar village pond. The lotus flower of a pond blooms only in
sunlight. In moonlight they close up. On contact of the heat of fire
they disintegrate. On the other hand, in these kundalini lotuses,
whether it is agni-khaNDam, sUrya-khaNDam, or candra-khaNDam,
the lotuses corresponding to the khaNDam blossoms, when the
kundalini reaches there. And in the end, the full moon itself blooms
the thousand petalled lotus at the top of the head. And the nectar
of moonlight flows from the moon.

That is the ‘rasa’, the flavour, the juice, the essence. Who is
giving that ‘rasa’? It is the ambaal. Her divine feet is there in the
reflection of the moon as the Guru’s Grace. That is where indeed
the nectar flows from. That it flows from the moon is only a way of
saying. The one who receives and realises the flow of that nectar-
rasa is the jIva. But the advaita bhAvanA (attitude) that She is
Herself the ‘rasa’ and She is also the ‘rasAsvAda’, the taster of the
‘rasa’ – this feeling will also be there.

Maybe you are all thinking : ‘(The Speaker) is neither going

into the subject of Kundalini, nor is allowing us to go near it. How,
in the world, can we ever have such profound experiences? At
least he (the speaker) could have gone on without mentioning
these!’

Well, it is not necessary to have them as the Kundalini yoga.

…

-25-
 (Digest of pp.883-887 of Deivathin kural)

Note: This is a difficult part. So I have given almost

a close translation rather than a ‘Digest’. - VK

It is not necessary to go the Kundalini way. Whatever path

you take, whatever method of upAsanA (spiritual worship) you
follow, without having to go through the regimen of the kundalini
yoga, if you sincerely follow any one path with an one-pointed
faith, you will, when you reach a certain advanced stage, get those
breathing-in and breathing-out experiences exactly as you would,
in a yoga sAdhanA, all by itself. You may not even feel it. It will get
transformed by itself. In a still more advanced stage, when we are
in one-ness with the object of our upAsanA, the breathing may even
be stationary in the kumbhaka state.

In ordinary mundane activities of ours we usually exhale by

the left nostril. On the other hand, the same exhaling, if you
carefully observe it, will come by the right nostril, when you have
just had a noble elevating experience of peace like the darshan of
a deity or of a saintly sage. At a higher stage, the exhaling will be
equal in both nostrils, to the extent that, it will then be only one
step short of staying in the kumbhaka state, but at the same time,
without any tendency to suffocate, the whole system being light
and comfortable – all these changes in the breathing will certainly
occur.
And thus, at the end, one may even reach the penultimate
state to advaita-siddhi, namely, the movement of breath reaches
the top, touches the divine feet of ambaal and the nectar starts
flowing! Even in our ordinary day-to-day life, if we have an
extraordinary experiencee of happiness, we sometimes suffocate
and swoon; that is actually a reflection of the taste of kumbhakam.
That also is a fragment of a fragment of the experience
of the sprouting of the nectar at the top of the head !

I am telling you all this just to point out that even in the path
of bhakti such superlative experiences do occur.
Just have a look at the great devotional songs and poems of
confirmed devotees of God, like the shaiva saints of Tamilnadu,
the vaishnava Alvars, the devotees
from Maharashtra, Bengal, North India, Sufi saints, and also of
Christianity. All these songs will only flash the many yogic
experiences and spiritual experiences of enlightenment.

It is not just yoga and jnAna. We should also mention the

experience of Love, premA. When we talked of fundamentals like
ichA-shakti, Kameshvara and Kameshvari, it is all very subtle and
pure Love. The word ‘kAmam’ brings to our mind various
connotations. It may be thought that the fact of a sannyasi talking
about it strikes a discordant note. But in reality, in terms of an
esoteric context there is no fault there. It only indicates by
symbols that Shakti intertwined with the substratum
of Peace is what creates ‘Creation’. There is nothing wrong here.
That is why ambaal brings the experience of premA (Love) along
with those of yoga and of jnAna, to many great people, at the very
end of their sAdhanA.

In the evolution of the Origin into multiplicity, the very first

thing that happens is the icchA (Wish, Desire) and the Love-pair.
So also, at the very end of the sAdhanA for the involution of the
jIva into the Source, the sAdhakA goes through the nAyikA stage
just before the last stage of the Union with the Supreme. That is
the stage of identity with Shakti. That is when there is an
anguish for union with the nAyaka, that is, Shivam. It is in that
anguish one surrenders totally with the attitude: “I am incapable
of doing anything. It is all Your Wish”.

Then even that desire to merge in Shiva disappears and there

remains only the Will of the Lord. In other words, the involution
that the jIva made with deliberate effort merges in that first
evolution of Shiva. At that point, as far as that jIva is concerned,
Shiva Himself, without expanding in evolution, involutes within
Himself and receives the jIva into Him. Think of a flood of flowing
water. Put some object into it. The waves will toss it back and
forth and push it over to the bank. This is natural. But when there
is a great vortex in the current, it takes the object into itself and
consumes it. This is what happens here also.

(In the above paragraph Ra Ganapathi in his Tamil version

does not use any Tamil or Indian language word
for ‘Involution’ and ‘Evolution’.
 Obviously, the Paramacharya himself must have used
these english words only. – VK)

The first ‘wish’ of Shiva, and the last ‘wish’ of the jIva
together coalesce into a symbolic Love here! We can get
confirmations for this from the songs of great devotees across the
world and acoss religions. The songs of Manickavasagar and
Mirabhai have excellent parallels in the songs of Sufi Saints and
Christian mystics. It is all an experience of Yoga, jnAna and
PremA.

Though we have said that it is the ‘wish of Shiva’ and ‘wish

of jIva’ , it is all only the cit-movement of ambaal only. Only when
the complete merger has taken place it is shivam. So when we say
that He takes something into Him, that action itself is Hers only.

I just talked about the highest yoga-experiences that occur in

the path of bhakti. Without going into yogic sAdhanA or tAntric
sAdhanA, if one follows the bhakti path with the attitude: “All this
is beyond me, Oh Mother, You are my Refuge”, then even the self-
pride that ‘I am doing a great sAdhanA’ will not arise. The Mother
Herself will lift up even the lowliest and grant him thehighest
experience.

One might feel let down that he cannot get that flow of nectar
from the full moonlight-glow that occurs when the prANa-shakti
reaches the thousand-petalled lotus called sahasrAra. One need not
regret the absence of this experience. ‘pariNata-candra-
vadanA’ says the sloka 7. That full-moon-face is easy to be kept in
mind. Stick to it. Think of the nectar flowing from the graceful
glance from those eyes and the nectar of the blissful smile of
that face . She gives you what you thought about and grants you
the internal light of the moon and an internal flow of nectar.

(Digest of pp.887-892 of Deivathin Kural)

Let those who have the capacity to go through the path of

Kundalini yoga go that way. For us,the easier bhakti path which
holds doggedly to The Mother is enough. What they can get, Shewill
give the same to us. Maybe She will take us also to that path, after
a certain stage and give us those experiences. Maybe She will also
tell some of them who have gone through that difficult terrain,
“Enough of this” and bring them back to stay quiet in a
total attitude of surrender.

Right in the sloka (No.10) where it talks about the flow of

amrita in the nADis, let us see how the sloka winds up. It does not
wind up with the idea that the eternal flow of nectar at the point
where the prANa Shakti reaches the head, brings the non-dual
union of the jIva with the Absolute; but it ends up by saying: “the
Kundalini in the form of that prANa Shakti descends
through Chakra after Chakra and winds itself up in
the mUlAdhAra Chakra, where it again goes to sleep”.
It is the winding and whirling up that gave it the name of
‘Kundalini’. When a snake sleeps it winds and whirls up. In fact all
animals do it. They don’t stretch their limbs and sleep. Some
winding up will be there. But it is the snake that winds up totally
in the form of a kunDala (ear ornament).The parAShakti whose
power is infinite, exhibits Herself in each of us only a fragment of
a fragment. All the remaining power of the parAShakti is the
sleeping Kundalini.

Well. Instead of continuing the talk of the flow of amrita and

the blissful sensation of it, I have now come down to the
talk of the sleeping state of ambaal in us commonfolk. What is the
meaning of this kind of ending such a profound discussion? Yes,
there is a meaning. So long as the thought that ‘I have done a great
yoga-sAdhanA’ is there, even great yogis will have to tumble down
to the normal ground-level state. And so, mark it, even if one goes
high up to the kundalini yoga stage, the only key that will unlock
the door is the attitude of surrender which says: ‘It is not me; It is
You, Oh Mother’!

In the next sloka (# 11), the Shri Chakram (also called the
Shri Yantram) is described. The very mention of ‘ShrI VidyA pUjA’
implies the pUjA of Shri Chakram. Every deity has a Yantram
exclusively associated with it. But those who do Shiva pUjA and or
VishNu pUjA do not usually keep the corresponding Yantrams in
the pUjA. Maybe in temples under the various altars of the deities
the corresponding Yantrams would have been formally installed.
But in households where Shiva or VishNu pUja is done only the
BANa lingam or the SalagrAmam is kept, but not the Yantram. In
the panchAyatana pUjA which includes worship of ambaaL one
keeps the stone called ‘svarNa-rekhA-ShilA’. But when you worship
ambaal alone, you don’t keep that ‘ShilA’. Only Shri Chakram is
kept. In some places along with the Chakram, an image with hands
and feet may also be kept.

The regimen of worship for any deity has both ‘mantra’ and
‘Yantra’ associated with it. A certain sequence of sounds, repeated
often and often gets the beatification of the presence of that
devatA (divinity) prescribed by it. Just as each devatA has a
physical form with limbs, so also each devatA has a form in a
stringed sequence of sounds. It is called the sound-form, just as
the recitation of mantras aims at the mantra-form.
In addition there is the Yantra-form for each devatA. The form
has lines, triangles, enclosures, circular or otherwise; these are not
just geometrical figures. Each of them has a meaning and
significance. They have extraordinary power. Each Yantram is set
to absorb and bring into focus the paramAtmA in the form of that
devatA. In addition to the repeated mental recitation of the
mantra, one does pUja to the Yantram also. Within the triangles of
the Yantras and other enclosures, the seed-syllables (bIja-aksharas)
corresponding to the mantra pertaining to the devata would be
inscribed. The very devatA that is the life of an idol with arms and
feet is also considered to be brought alive in the
corresponding Yantram, In fact the Yantram is even more
comprehensive; for it includes the native residence of the devatA
and all its accessory deities within itself.

The Mother Goddess, whom we call ambaal, has many forms

like Meenakshi, durgA, Bhuvaneshvari, ShAradAmbikA etc. Each of
these has its own Yantram. But it is very common that even the
worshippers of these forms do only the Shri Chakra pUjA, rather
than the pUjA of the particular mUrti (form). This is so not only in
houses, but in temples also. Famous durgA temples have only Shri
Chakra installed therein. Sringeri has ShAradAmbAl as the main
mUrti; however the Yantra PujA is for Shri Chakram. All this goes
to show the importance of the Shri Chakram.
 Lines, circles, squares, figures formed by these – all these
configured into a Chakra along with a centre point (madhya-bindu),
is called a Yantram. Only such a design has the power to bring into
focus the power of the particular devatA – in fact it is an infinite
power –and so may be called (with a smile) a ‘Divine Design’. (This
is Paramacharya’s own word). These designs collect and absorb
divine energy and have the power to radiate that energy .

In the Shri Chakra, the central portion is circular. There are

nine triangles there. They criss cross one another, thus producing
forty-three triangles. The central dot is also considered to be one
triangle. Together the triangles number forty-four. These forty-four
triangles are classified into six AvaraNas. The straightforward
meaning of this word ‘AvaraNa’ is ‘what hides’. Here it should be
taken to mean track, corridor, row, or prAkAra in Sanskrit. If
several people crowd around one individual, the latter is naturally
‘hidden’. So they form an AvaraNam around him. The central dot
is also taken as one AvaraNam just as it is taken also as a triangle.
In fact around it the other forty-three triangles constitute
five AvaraNas. Together with it we talk of six AvaraNas. Outside of
these six AvaraNas annd forty-four triangles, there are three
rounds or corridors. They constitute three more AvaraNas and thus
we have nine AvaraNas in all. You would have heard of Dikshidar’s
‘nava-AvaraNa’ compositions in music. The ShAstras describe and
enunciate who lives in what AvaraNa, what is the principle
involved, who is the adhi-devatA, what kind of anugraha (Grace)
they can bestow, what mudrA is to be shown to them and so
on. The compositions of Dikshidar go through all this in brief.

Out of the outermost three AvaraNas (rounds) of the total

nine, the two inner are made up of lotus petals arranged in two
circles. The ninth AvaraNa is a design looking like three
compound walls; but now it is not a circular structure but of square
design. The whole thing is a unique design with an infinite divine
potential.

But beware. One has to be careful.

-27-
(Digest of pages 892-898, Deivathin Kural (in Tamil), Vol.6, 4th imprn)

A Yantra means that every bit of it whether a line or a circle or an

angle, has to be of the right size and proportioin as prescribed. It
cannot err even a little this way or that way. Just as a mantra, with
a wrong incantation, produces contrary effects, so also a small
mistake in the design of the Yantra can cause havoc. In the Shri
yantra again, if the apex of the central triangle faces west instead
of east, as it should, results can just be the opposite. So when you
sit opposite to it for the worship, the apex should be on the side
nearer to you and not on the farther side. One has to be really more
careful with the pUja of a Yantram than that of an idol (vigraha), in
terms of the ritualistic do’s and don’ts. In modern times many have
turned over to Shri Cakra pUjA in their homes, a few merely for the
pride of it, another few because it is the fashion, and yet another
few out of ignorance. But the injunctions are not being followed
properly. Consequently, loss of peace is on the increase.

It is not enough to just wish for great observances. We should be

able to observe the shastraic injunctions correctly. We should be
able to perform exactly as was demonstrated to us and passed on
to us by our elders. Only then we will reap the right benefits.
Certainly Shri Chakra has been eulogised in the Shastras to the
sky. But the very same ShAstras have also prescribed a certain
regimen for such pUjA. By taking the attitude ‘I will do my
personalized pUjA in my own way’ not only will you miss the
promised or expected results, but actually it will turn out to be
counter-productive.

A Yantra is not just the residing seat of a devatA; it is the devatA

itself. It is not just a representation, or a copy. It is not a substitute
for the devatA. It is the devatA itself. It is the presentation of the
devatA and not a re-presentation. More so in the case of
ambaal. For, Her Divine Presence is very special in Her Yantra. It
is because of this that ambaal-pUjA is mostly done to
Her Yantra than to Her most beautiful physical form.

[At this point, Ra Ganapathi, (the Boswell of Paramacharya),

adds the following note:
Usually we talk greatly of the ‘name’ and ‘form’ of devatAs.
But generally, in the case of feminine deities,
the ‘name’ takes a lesser role. And in the case of ShrI Vidya mantras,
 the name is not there at all. Only the seed syllables are dominant.
Again, though the devatA of Shri Vidya, namely Tripurasundari,
is as shown by her name itself of very beautiful form,
instead of the worship of her form
This question was asked of the Paramacharya .
He expressed concurrence with the above statement
and joined in expressing his own astonishment that this is so.
But he did not choose to give any explanation. ]

In addition to the two natural locations for Her, namely,

the Ocean of Nectar and the Meru peak, one should add
Her Yantram as another place of Her permanent residence. No, no,
I just committed two errors. The Shri Chakra is not
just Her residence. The Shri Chakra is Herself ! This was the first
error. The second one is that the Shri Chakra is not like
the Ocean of Nectar or the Meru peak where She is said to reside.
Even in those two places, She resides only in the ShriChakra,
though now magnified million times.

When She is in the Meru peak, the AvaraNas are piled up peak upon
peak in a three-dimensional manner. It will be in the form of an
upright cone. Such a three dimensional configuration of Shri
Chakra is called ‘Meru-prastAram’. People call it just ‘Meru’
colloquially. When the Chakra is two dimensional it is said to be
‘bhU-prastAram’. A mixture of the two, where the beginning
AvaraNas rise higher and higher, but later the latter AvaraNas are
all in the same plane, is called ‘ardha-Meru’ (ardha means ‘semi’).
A pUrNa-Meru is that which has all the AvaraNas in the Meru-
prastara style. In our Mutt at Kanchipuram and in
Tiruvidaimarudur MukAmbal sannadhi, what you find is pUrNa-
Meru. In Mangadu it is ardha-meru. In the Kamakoshtam at
Kanchipuram it is bhU-prastAram.

The Shri Chakra, ShrI VidyA, ShrI MatA, ShrI puram all pertain to
the devI, the Mother Goddess, LalitA-tripurasundari. The
prefix ShrI is the prefix usually given for respect and has no extra
connotation of Lakshmi, the Goddess of Prosperity and Wealth.
The Chakras and the mantras associated with other devatAs are
distinguished by by their name itself carrying the name of the
devatA – as in, Shiva-Chakram, Sudarshana-Yantram,
ShhaDakshhara-Chakram, etc. Only in the case of LalitA-
tripurasundari, the Chakram, the Yantram are known as
The Chakram, The Yantram, The Mantram.

The Shri Chakram depicts the advaitic identity of Shiva and

Shakti. That is why the two kinds of Chakras of Shiva and Shakti
are intertwined. The (four) triangles with the apex upward are
known as Shiva cakras and the (five) triangles with apex downward
are known as Shakti Chakras. The angles at which these interesect,
the lotus petals on the outer corridors, the circular lines, the
square design at the outermost, all have specific prescriptions;
these are given in Shloka 11.
All this is not to be read or studied like reading fiction or for
acadmeic interest. They have to be seriously learnt straight from a
Guru. They have to be preserved as such. I did not want to omit
them completely and therefore I just touched upon these. But don’t
take them lightly !

-28-

(Digest of pp.898-903 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th imprn.)

Shloka 12 talks about the extraordinary beauty and charm of

the Devi. With a poetic excellence it says: “Much has been said in
detail and with precision about Your Yantra – the lines, the planes,
the circles and the squares. But to describe You and Your physical
feature excellences, it doesn’t seem to be possible. No poet has ever
succeeded in that task!”.

BrahmA is the Adi-kavi, the most ancient poet. The

Bhagavatam refers to him in this fashion in the very first Shloka.
The Goddess of Learning, Sarasvati, is his Shakti. Who can
therefore be a greater poet? He has composed stotras on every
devatA you can imagine. All the divines usually go to him for
redress of their grievances. He takes them to the concerned God,
either Shiva, or Vishnu or Devi, etc. Every time he sings praise of
the particular God whom they are approaching for help. His stotra
on ambaal in the work called sapta-shati is famous. But even he
could not describe the beauty of ambaal as it is. The first half of
Shloka 12 goes as follows:

tvadIyam soundaryam tuhina-giri-kanye tulayitum

kavIndrAH kalpante kathamapi virinchi-prabhRtayaH /

tuhina-giri-kanye: Oh Goddess, Daughter of the Himalayas

tulayitum: to weigh (or assess)
tvadIyam: Your
soundaryam: beauty
kavIndrAH: great poets
virinchi-prabhRtayaH: (like) Brahma and others
kalpante: (only) imagine
kathamapi: somehow (in feeble ways).

Virinchi means BrahmA. prabHRtayaH: and the others of the

kind. They tried to describe Your beauty ‘tvadIyam soundaryam’.
The word ‘tulA’ stands for a pair of weighing scales. In one pan of
the scales we put the object to be weighed and in the other pan we
place the ‘weight’ whose weight we know. In other words when we
don’t know the weight of something we calculate it by comparing
it with something whose weight we know. So when you don’t know
how to describe the beauty of ambaal, what we do is to look for
something whose beauty we know. Such a ‘weight’ we know is
known by the name of ‘analogy’ or ‘example’. The face is like the
moon, the eyes are like lotuses, the hair on the head is like a
beehive – all these are examples and analogies, which help us to
comprehend the ‘weight’ of the beauty of ambaal, in terms of
known ‘weights’.

So what the poets do is to imagine newer and newer

examples with great effort. This effort of imagination by the poet
is denoted by the word ‘kalpante’ in the Shloka. ‘kalpanA’ is
imagination. They only imagine an example. They are not able to
arrive at the real thing, is what the Shloka says. The fact they are
not able to do it, is gracefully hinted at by the Shloka in the words
‘kathamapi kalpante’.

The Yantra-form of the Goddess has been outlined with

precision. But Her physical form eludes imagination. Attempts by
even the great Brahma and others to find suitable examples have
only failed.

To describe the form, somebody should have seen it in full.

Has anybody seen it? No. Of course it is not right to say
that She has never been seen at all. Because we have several poet-
devotees who have had a flash of Her and in the wake of that flash
have composed wonderful devotional poetry. Even in the case of
the greatest of devotees, to whom She might have given darshan,
maybe one got to see Her lotus feet, another the Graceful eyes, and
another the bewitching smile in the face. Like that some part
of Her may have caught the eyes of even these devotees; but never
the full form!

Then who has seen Her full beauty? Only the Lord, Her
husband, Lord Shiva. Indeed She took this very beautiful form in
order that He may be involved in the leelA of Creation. And
thus She became Tripura-sundari, the beautiful. So Her physical
form has been totally dedicated to Him. Though Her full beauty is
not visible for our perception Her fullest Grace and Compassion are
available for every one of us.

That Her full beauty is perceptible only to Her Lord is not said
in so many blunt words. It is nicely couched in a subtle poetic
extravaganza which comes in the next two lines of the same
Shloka. (Shloka #12):

Yad-AlokautsukyAd-amara-lalanA yAnti manasA

tapobhir-dushhprApAm-api girisha-sAyujya-padavIm //12
//

yat : (of) which (beauty) (This goes with ‘Your beauty’ in the
first half).
amara-lalanAH : the divine damsels
Aloka-autsukyAt : because of their curiosity to have a
complete look
yAnti : reach
manasA : mentally
girisha-sAyujya-padavIm : the unity status with Lord Shiva
dushhprApAm : that is inaccessible
 tapobhir-api : even by great penances.

The divine damsels who are particularly thought of here are

the famous quadret: RambhA, Urvashi, tilottamA and MenakA.
They are supposed to be superlatively beautiful. Even they, having
seen a little of the beauty of ambaaL, have considered themselves
insignificant, in relation to ambaal’s beauty. They are naturally
curious to get a look at the complete beauty of Mother Goddess.
But they also know they cannot have that complete picture,
because the Goddess is totally dedicated to the Lord and Her
complete beauty is not perceptible to any one else. So what do they
do? Only the Lord knows Her fullest beauty. So they want to be
one with Him, the Lord Shiva. This is the Shiva-sAyujya-padavI.
Then and only then, they can have an idea of the complete beauty
of ambaaL.

But that Shiva-sAyujya status is not so easy to obtain. And

what exactly is this sAyujya?

-29-

(Digest of pp.903 - 909 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th imprn.)

To reach the world of the ishhTa-devatA (Chosen favourite

deity) and live in that world is called sAlokya-padavI. The next
stage is the sAmIpya stage. This is the stage where one lives in the
beatific presence of that God. The next stage which is sArUpyam is
the process of becoming that very form by continuously meditating
on the form. The ultimate is the sAyujya-padavI where one
becomes in essence the object of one’s adoration. This is an
identity status, both in form and essence.

There are devotees of Shiva who seek that sAyujya padavI in

their unquenchable thirst for becoming one with the Lord. In their
case the sAyujyam is an end in itself. On the other hand, the divine
damsels (go back to Shloka 12) who are seeking that sAyujya status
with Lord Shiva do not seek it as an end, but as a means to be able
to see the beauty of the Supreme Goddess. It is an irony that in the
hands of these damsels even the greatest goal (sAdhyam) of shiva-
sAyujya status has become a sAdhanA (means) for the sadhyam
(that is, that which is sought, and therefore, a further goal), the
darshan of the fullest beauty of ambaal!

Well, just because these damsels have sought that status is it

going to be within their reach? It is something which is
inaccessible even for the hardest penance. These damsels know
only to disturb and destroy the penances of the rishis. The sense-
control needed for the hard penance is beyond their reach. So what
do they do? They only try to achieve it mentally. But that status
indeed is not reachable even by the mind. ‘yan manasA na manute’
says the Upanishad, meaning, ‘What cannot be thought of even by
the mind’. The bottomline therefore is, even they cannot
ultimately know the beauty of ambaal!

It is to be noted that this shloka, which elevates the beauty

(soundaryam) of ambaal to its apex, is actually in the midst of the
first part, that is Ananda-lahari.

Another shloka (#14) describes ambaal as the personification

of Time (kAlam).There are six seasons in a year. These 360 days of
the year are the 360 rays of light emanating from the infinite Light
of Shakti. Each of the Chakras represents one of these seasons and
there are as many rays there as there are days in the corresponding
season.For instance, in the mUlAdhAra Chakra, there are fifty-six
rays, corresponding to the fifty six days of vasanta-ritu (the spring
season). She thus contracts Herself as a ritu in Time and stays as
such in that Chakra. In reality She transcends Time; She is
kAlAtItA. It is in that transcendent state, She manifests as the
divine Feet in the thousand-petalled Chakra, beyond the
six Chakras. The pair of Her lotus feet – ‘tava padAmbuja-yugam’ -
- is there in that sahasrAra Chakram.

Amidst the Anandalahari shlokas I will now pick up one shloka

(#15) which depicts Her, not in Her lalitA form, but in another form
consistent with the ShrI VidyA tantra.

Sharat-jyotsnA shuddhAM shashi-yuta-jaTA-jUTA-makuTAM

vara-trAsa-trANa-sphaTika-ghuTikA-pustaka-karAM /
sakRn-na tvA natvA katham-iva satAM sannidadhate
 madhu-kshhIra-drAkshhA-madhurima-
dhurINAH paNitayaH//

satAM: For (those) noble ones,

sakRt : just once
natva: having prostrated
tva : to You
Sharat-jyotsnA-shuddhAM : who is as pure and white as the
autumnal moonlight
shashi-yuta-jaTA-jUTA-makuTAM: who has the crown of
matted hair that includes the moon, and
vara-trAsa-trANa-sphaTika-ghuTikA-pustaka-karAM: who
holds in the (four) hands, the boon mudrA, the fear-protection
mudrA, the crystal bead necklace, and the book
Katham-iva : why (would)
paNitayaH : the speech capabilities
madhu-kshhIra-drAkshhA-madhurima-dhurINAH: which are
pregnant with the sweetness of honey, milk and grapes
na sannidadhate: not accrue?

Here the Goddess depicted is the the Goddess of Speech, (vAg-

devi or Sarasvati), but without Her usual VINA in Her hand.

The word ‘sharad’ becomes very apt when one refers to

Goddess Sarasvati. It is in sharad-ritu (the autumnal season) that
we do pUjA to Sarasvati. She is called ShAradA because of that. Our
Acharya had a special affinity to the ShAradA name. Sarasvati is
very important to him because we know he reached the peak of
excellence in scholarship.

ShAradA is one of the more important names of Sarasvati. It

indicates simultaneously the perfect purity of whiteness and the
cool Grace that combines pleasantness and goodness. Very often
‘sha’ and ‘sa’ get interchanged in tradition. In north India there is
the custom of referring to ShAradA as SaradA. The latter word
means, SAra-dA, the One who graces you with the essence (sAram)
of Knowledge.This may be another reason why the Acharya had an
affinity toward the name. The name of the deity he installed in
Sringeri is ShAradAmbAL. In spite of the fact that he had a liking
towards this name, just as he never mentioned
either lalitA or Tripura-sundari in this stotra, he did not also
mention ShAradA. Still, by the words ‘Sharad-jyotsnA’ in the
beginning of this shloka, he reminds us of ShAradAmbAl.

The second line of the shloka talks about the four hands. Two
of the hands show the vara (boon) and abhaya (fearlessness)
mudrAs. Earlier it was said in shloka 4 that all others other
thanLalitAmbAL show the vara-abhaya mudrAs. So in this shloka
he presents Saraswati with the vara-abhaya mudrAs. The dual word
‘trAsa-trANa’ indicates the ‘abhaya’. For
‘trAsa’ means ‘fear’ and ‘trANa’ means protection. Protection
from fear is just ‘abhaya’, fearlessness.

SphaTika-ghuTikA is the crystal bead necklace. In Sanskrit

it is called ‘aksha-mAlA’. This is the same as ‘akshara-
mAlA’. The akshharas are the alphabets. The 51 letters of the
Sanskrit alphabet from ‘a’ to ‘kshha’ correspond each by each to
the beads in the necklace; that is why it is called ‘akshara-mAlA’,
also called ‘aksha-mAlA’. Here I have to tell you a very important
component of the ShAkta tradition and scriptures.

-30-

(Digest of pp.909 - 915 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th imprn.)

The aksharas, alphabets, are very important for ShAktam.

Each letter has a basic sound principle associated with it. The very
creation is by the vibration of sound waves. The elemental
principle of ‘AkAsha’ produces, through vibration, subtle sounds,
and from these sounds creation starts, from that the mantras, and
the vedas that are full of mantras. The subtle principle underlying
AkAsha, that is, the tanmAtra associated with AkAsha, is ‘sound’
. The key concept in ShAktam is the cycle of evolution and
involution and so, the sound principle runs as its life-line. On one
side Shaktam has the artha-prapancham, the universe of
matter, where the fundamental principles are Shiva-tattvam,
Shakti-tattvam, sadAshiva-tattvam, Ishvara-tattvam and
shuddha-vidyA tattvam – which take you through the evolutionary
stage from the para-brahman to the universe of matter and being.
On the other side there is the sabda-prapancham, the unvierse of
sound. It starts from the most subtle one called ‘parA’. Including
this there are five ‘sound’ (shabda) principles. After ‘parA’ there is
‘pashyantI’, then ‘madhyamA’.

The subtle sound ‘parA’ cannot be heard by human ear and

cannot be vocalised by human voice. It is in fact the root source,
the substratum, of all sounds. When that gets a little focussed –
just a little – and materialised, it becomes ‘pashyantI’. In other
words, what was ‘without purpose’ and was just plain and simple
sound-root, namely, ‘parA’ , became inclined towards being heard
and being spoken and so in that direction ‘solidified’ slightly and
thus ‘pashyantI’ arose. So ‘pashyantI’ has a purpose!. The very
word itself means ‘seeing’, ‘looking forward’. ‘parA’ had no
purpose; but when the ‘purpose’ arises, it becomes ‘pashyantI’.

Next comes the actual subtle sound, called ‘madhyamA’. This

is not produced by any human voice. It arises by itself. This is
therefore midway between the subtle sound of ‘pashyantI’ and the
actual sound of the human voice, which is physical. Hence the
name ‘madhyamA’, which means ‘what is in the middle’. This is a
self-generated sound. It is therefore also called ‘anAhata’. ‘Ahata’
means ‘what is forced or externally generated’. That which is not
forced or not generated externally, is the ‘anAhata’ sound.

All that is externally generated is ‘Ahata’. In this category

come all sounds, that human voice produces, by the vibration of
air through the larynx, and all instrumental noises produced by the
blow of air or by beat of drum or by the friction of matter with
matter, metal with metal.

After parA, pashyantI, and ‘madhyamA’ comes the speech

that man produces with effort. This is called ‘vaikharI’. This is
classified into two: just mere noise is called ‘dhvani’ --- when a
child cries, or when we just laaugh loudly or weep aloud; that which
is recognisable as ‘such and such a sound’ is called ‘varNa’. This
‘varNa’ is the akshhara or the alphabet. There are 51
specified akshharas.
 The five principles of the artha-prapancham are usually
equated with the five sound principles. In fact the latter are more
important, because it is by the vibration of these sounds that the
artha-universe began.

Now let us come to the five elemental principles in which

Ambaal manifests Herself in the kundalini cakras. Starting from
mulAdhAra, upwards to the vishuddhi Chakra, the tattvas of earth,
water, fire, air and AkAsha are proceeding from
the concrete to the subtle ones. This is the artha-prapancham.
The five elemental sound principles are also manifested in the
kundalini Chakras, but in the reverse order. It is in the
mulAdhAra Chakra that the most fundamental sound
energy ‘parA’ is present. So from the mulAdhAra to vishuddhi,
they go from the subtle to the concrete, thus ending up with the
most concrete one of the human voice, namely, the ‘varNa’
category of vaikhari.

The 51 sounds of the alphabet are called ‘mAtRkAs’. The word

‘mAtRkA’ means ‘mother’. An young mother who moves and
mingles with us in our own childish world is called ‘mAtRkA’. A
royal mother with a higher status is called ‘mAtA’. She is the
‘mahA-rAjnI’ of LalitA-sahsranAma. But She is also the ‘mAtRkA-
varna-rUpiNI’, meaning She is in the form of the varnas
(=aksharas) or the mAtRkAs. In ShAkta scriptures the aksha-
mAlA and the book are indicative of the shabda-prapancham. That
is why ambaal is holding them in the other two hands.

The ShrI vidyA mantras are made up of pure aksharas only.

It is the Mother Goddess Herself who takes the forms of these
sounds. Those who do the mantra-japa are being blessed
by Herthrough these sounds. Her Grace makes even the kundalini
yoga achievable by the vibrations of the nADIs at the japa of the
mantras. We, in addition, get many of our other desires fulfilled.
Not only this. By repeating these sound vibrations we get even the
darshan of Her physical form.Thus Her entire leelA takes place in
this universe of sounds and sound vibrations. All that I said now is
about the akshharas only.
 When we combine these akshharas in various combinations
we get the various words and nAmas and also the stotras. In fact
even the Vedas arose like this.

In the ShrI vidyA mantra there are three ‘kUTas’, spheres of

influence. The first one is called ‘vAgbhava-kUTam’. It means that
it arises from ‘vAk’, speech. The entire mantra is the form of
ambaaL. And in that form, the face is ‘vAgbhava-kUTam’. In the
scriptures and stotras of ShAktam, it is very often said
that She gives ‘excellence of speech’ to Her devotees. In this very
sloka (#15) that is what it says. Why all this importance to this
Grace of the Goddess? Let me explain

(Digest of pp.915-920 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th imprn.)

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

human species. As a special gift from Her it must be really
important for us. If we have any good sense in us we would use it
only for noble purposes. The shakti of speech that She has given
us should be used only to reach Her again.

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

greatness lies in using it, not just to get great experiences
for oneself but for further transmitting them to others also. This
can be done only by the faculty of speech. It is for such sharing
that the parA-shakti has given us, Her children, this unique
faculty. What greater benefit could there be in life for the power of
speech?

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

to it a number of strict injunctions to be followed. On the other
hand a poet perhaps is able to give a similar thing in the form of
pleasing enjoyable music. It is the Grace of ambaal that has made
such a thing possible by endowing us all with the faculty of speech.
That is why we praise vAk-Shakti. It is LalitAmbika who graces us
thus and this shloka says She does it in the form of vAg-devi, that
is Sarasvati. Just once if we bow down to Her, good souls get the
excellence of the faculty from Her.
 Note however that ‘satAm’ is the word used. Not everybody
but only those noble souls who can be classified as ‘sAdhu’ would
be endowed. The excellence of speech is compared to the
excellence of sweetness of three kinds: honey, milk and grapes.
They can be easily swallowed and digested. On the spiritual side,
the speech faculty would help them receive messages full of sense
and assimilate them in their innermost hearts; and all this by just
one prostration. Instead of saying in prosaic words that ‘they will
be endowed with such faculties’ the poet in the Acharya says: Why
would not they be endowed with such faculties?’

Just a word about the play with the sound of the word
‘natvA’. It is used two times. One time to mean ‘natvA’, that is,
(having) prostrated; and another time to mean ‘na tvA’ meaning,
‘not – You’. Here it is two words ‘na’ and ‘tvA’ . The word ‘na’ goes
with ‘sannidadhe’ (endowed, graced) so that it gives the meaning:
(Why would they) be not endowed. The ‘You’ goes with the earlier
word ‘natvA’ thus meaning prostrated to You.

kavIndrANAM cetaH kamala-vana-bAlAtapa-ruciM

bhajante ye santaH katicid-aruNAm-eva bhavatIM /
virinchi-preyasyAs-taruNatara-sRGgAra-laharI-
gabhIrAbhir-vAgbhir-vidadhati satAM ranjanam-amI // 16
//

ye katicit santaH : Those few righteous persons who

bhajante : worship
aruNAm eva bhavatIM: You who are nothing but aruNA , that
is, the colour of crimson personified
bAlAtapa-ruchiM: (and) who are the rising Sun to
kavIndrANAM cetaH kamala-vana: the forest of lotuses (in
the form of) the minds of great poets,
amI : they
ranjanaM vidadhati: give rapturing excitement
satAM ; to the noble souls
gabhIrAbhir-vAgbhiH: by majestic and profound words
taruNa-tara-sRGgAra-laharI : that is a flood of love which is
youthfully fresh
virinchi-preyasyAH : from the beloved of Brahma, i.e., from
Sarasvati.
 In the previous shloka the talk was about the all-
white vAgdevI. The same Sarasvati is now talked about in her
dynamic (rajo-guNa) form. Just before sunrise, it is all crimson in
the east and we call it the rising of aruNa. The word aruNa means
‘crimson-red’. The charioteer of the Sun is of that colour; so he is
called aruNa. Here aruNA is the personification of the crimson
colour and this is Sarasvati in Her rajo-guNa form. When She is
meditated in this form She gives the speech-excellence, where
love is dominant. Love belongs to rajo-guNa. It is therefore usually
symbolised as crimson. So it is quite fitting that aruNA-devi
graces one with Love.

But mark it. It is not the usual natural romantic love of the
worldly kind. It is the esoteric Love of the partnership of
Kameshvara and Kameshvari. Those who can comprehend it in
that light are the righteous ones (santaH).
In the previous shloka, one is said to obtain poetic excellence by
worshipping the all-white pure Sarasvati. The poetry that springs
out of this grace would also be white, sAtvic and would have
the consequence of giving wisdom and
dispassion. Such a wisdom and dispassion can be experienced as
an expression of Love. That occurs only to the noble souls (satAM)
. It is to their satisfaction that the devotees of Sarasvati sing. It
is these noble souls who were said (in the previous shloka) to
obtain the sweetness of speech, equal in sweetness
to madhu (honey), kshIra (milk) and drAkshA (grapes). And in
this shloka the same noble souls are being joyfully entertained by
the worshippers of Sarasvati, the Crimson (aruNA): ‘vidadhati
satAm ranjanam amI’. Those who were ‘poets’ in the previous
shloka, have now become ‘connoisiurs’ !

The poets of the previous shloka were those noble persons

who obtain the proficiency for poetry from ambAL. Among those
noble persons those who reach the nAyikA-bhava (attitude of the
beloved) towards the Almighty are only a few (‘katicit’); these are
the ones who can sing of Her Love in the proper manner.
The ecstasy they enjoy and give in singing is called
‘ranjanaM’. There is a pun on this word here. It is made up of two
words ‘ram’ and ‘janam’. The consonant ‘ra’ itself denotes ‘red’.
 It stands for two kinds of fires. One is the ordinary one; and the
other is the fire of love (kAmAgni). ‘ram’ + ‘janam’ means that
which causes red. It means ‘to cause love that is red’. The redness
here indicates ripeness. When a fruit is ripe it is deep red. The
‘reddening’ of the mind is to make it fully mature and ripe for
receiving the Fullness that is God. The noble persons who are now
singing by the Grace of ambaal in the form of arunA (red
Sarasvati), are mature enough to produce the esoteric ‘redness’ of
‘ram’. So the poetry comes out of them in a wave of Love
(ShRngAra-lahari). They are actually deep and profound words
(gabhIrAbhir-vAgbhIh). On the surface they appear to be love and
romance. But deep within it, there are gems of philosophy there.

Goddess Kameshvari has herself the name ‘aruNA’.

Recall Her dhyAna-shloka: ‘aruNAM karuNA-tarangitAkshhIM’.
Here our Acharya is actually invoking the eight armed Goddess:
with bow, arrow, noose and spear (that go with Kameshvari) in
four of the hands and with varam, abhayam, aksha-mAlA and
book (that go with Sarasvati) in the other four hands. This is the
aruNa-Sarasvati with eight hands, talked about by our elders.

32
(Digest of pp.921-924 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th imprn.)

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

‘sArasvata-siddhi’ (the siddhi of all Speech and Learning)
obtained by the contemplation of LalitA-Tripurasundari
surrounded by the vAg-devatAs (the Gods of speech). The name
‘vAg-devatA’, if used in the singular, denotes Sarasvati Herself.
When it is used in the plural, it denotes eight divinities. They are
assigned as follows to the various aksharas (letters of the
alphabet):
One for the sixteen vowels;
One for the five letters starting with ka;
Similarly one for each set of five letters starting respectively
with cha, Ta, ta, and pa;
One for ya, ra, la and va;
One for sha, shha, sa, ha, La, kshha.
 Thus there are eight vAg-devatAs for the 51 letters of the
Sanskrit alphabet.The first of these is called ‘vashinI’. Therefore
all the eight are called ‘vashinI, etc. devatAs’ (vashinyAdi devatAH)
or simply, ‘vashinI devatAs’. These are the ones who sang the
Lalita-sahasranAma at the behest of ambaal Herself. In the
seventh AvaraNa (always you count from outside)
of the ShrI Chakra, there are eight triangles; that is where these
eight devatAs are seated, surrounding ambaaL.

(Unfortunately for us the Paramacharya does not quote

the shloka #17 and give his word-by-word meanings,
though he explains most of it
For the sake of completeness I give below
the shloka and supply a word-by-word meaning
from what I understand from His Holiness’s discourse
and from other sources. VK)

savithrIbhir-vAcAM shashi-maNi-shilA-bhanga-rucibhiH
vashinyAdyAbhis-tvAM saha janani samcintayati yaH /
sa kartA kAvyAnAm bhavati mahatAM bhangi-rucibhiH
vacobhir-vAg-devI-vadana-kamalA-moda-madhuraiH // 17 //

yaH samcintayati : He who reflects on

tvAM : You
janani : Oh Mother,
vashinyAdyAbhiH saha : along with the vashinI-devatAs
vAcAM savithrIbhiH : who are the Generators of Speech
shashi-maNi-shilA-bhanga-rucibhiH : who have the colour of
the broken moonstone gem,
saH : he
mahatAm kAvyAnAM kartA bhavati : becomes the author of
great poetic compositions
vacobhiH ; through words
bhangi-rucibhiH : (which have) the taste of art and wit
vAgdevI-vadana-kamalA-moda-madhuraiH : (and which have)
the sweet fragrance of the lotus face of vAg-devI (Sarasvati).

(I now continue the Paramacharya’s comments – VK)

 These eight vAg-devatAs constitute the Mothers of speech.
That is why the shloka No.17 which prays for excellence in speech
begins with ‘savithrIbhir vAcAM’ . In traditional literature there is
a gem known as ‘chandrakAnta gem’ which is crystal-like and
which will melt in moonlight. The vAg-devatAs have that kind of
crystal colour in which moon reflects in a dazzling manner. In one
shloka ambaal was depicted as pure white like the moonlight
(sharat-jyotsnA shuddhAm - #15). In another She is aruNA, red
(#16). In this shloka (#17) the aruNa, that is ambaal, is sitting
surrounded by the vAg-devatAs, majestically like a Queen with
all Her attendants. Whoever can meditate on this scene
(sancintayati yah) gets the literary capacity
and competence to compose great epic poems. In fact he gets the
fluency and the power of speech which only great writers have.
And the shloka uses a specific word here: ‘mahatAm
bhangi rucibhiH’ . The word ‘ruci’ means ‘taste’, or ‘flavour’.
‘Taste’ certainly has an association with the tongue and the food
which it ‘tastes’. But the shloka adds on to this the ‘flavour’ by
the nose also. The food ‘taste’ was indicated by the last line of
shloka (#15) where it was said that the speech prompted by ambAL
has the taste of ‘honey, milk and grapes’. Now in this shloka that
speech is likened to a profound flavour, not of any ordinary one,
but of that which emanates from the lotus face of Her who is the
single vAgdevI integrating all the eight vAgdevIs! Not only that.
We can infer from this that it is not simply the speech that
emanates through the poetry of the devotee has the divine
flavour; the people who read and recite that poetry would also get
that divine flavour.!!
The fact that ambaaL graces and bestows the faculty of speech
is mentioned in the latter part of Soundaryalahari several times.
Shloka #75 says that, fed by Her breast milk one
is endowed with magnificient poetic capabilities. Shloka 99 says
that the SArasvata-Grace that She endows makes even Brahma,
the pati of Sarasvati, envious. The holy water that washes Her feet
can make even the dumb to sing poems (Shloka 98). Obviously our
Acharya takes pleasure in talking about this aspect of ambaaL’s
Grace. Maybe he wants us all to read and recite his stotras, thereby
get the Grace of the Mother and also get the vAk-siddhi (speech
excellence) that She will certainly grant. That is why, it
appears, he is never tired of repeating this.
 The word ‘shashi-maNi-shilA’ means ‘moon-gem-stone’
literally. Because of the fact that the dark patch on the moon
appears like a rabbit (‘shasha’ in Sanskrit), the moon is known by
the word ‘shashi’. The word ‘hima-kara’ also denotes the moon,
meaning thereby that there flows icy water from the moon. So
‘hima-kara-shilA’ also represents the same moonstone gem
, known as ‘chandrakAnta stone’ in Tamil. ‘sudhA’ is nectar and
‘sudhAkara’ is also the name of the moon, because it is also said
that there flows nectar from it. Just as it was said that the
attendants of ambaal have the colour of the moonstone
(#17: shashi-maNi-shilA), it is said in shloka #20, that he who can
meditate on ambaal Herself in the form made up of the moonstone
(hima-kara-shilA), She who is the daughter of hima-giri
(Himalayas) and is therefore ‘hima-giri-sutA’, will pour ‘sudhA’ on
him, ‘sudhA’ meaning nectar and ‘sutA’ meaning daughter. In fact
it says more.

33
(Digest of pp.925-929 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th imprn.)

kirantIm-angebhyaH kiraNa-nikurumbA-mRta-rasaM
hRdi tvAm-Adhatte hima-kara-shilA-mUrtim-iva yaH /
sa sarpANAM darpaM shamayati shakuntAdhipa iva
jvara-plushhTAn dRshhTyA sukhayati sudhA-dhAra-sirayA // 20
//

saH yaH : He who

Adhatte : establishes
tvAM : You
hRdi : in (his) heart
hima-kara-shilA-mUrtim-iva: as the form made of moonstem
gem
kirantIM : which shoots forth
angebhyaH : from all its parts
kiraNa-nikurumbA-mRta-rasaM : the nectar essence through
clusters of its rays,
shamayati : cools down
sarpANAM darpaM : the energy of snakes
shakuntAdhipa iva : like Garuda
sukhayati : (and) relieves
 dRshhTyA : by just an eye-glance
sudhA-dhAra-sirayA : (that is) full (as it were) of the flow of
nectar
jvara-plushhTAN : those who are suffering the deadly heat of
fever.

The importance of this shloka is in its impact on the

eradication of disease. All kinds of diseases afflict people. People
who come to those of us like me, mostly come to pray to us for
removal of this sickness or that. In fact that tells me how many
different kinds of illnesses and afflictions are there in the world.
Our Acharya certainly would know all that and for sure he would
have known the remedies for all of them. But he must have
thought of posterity on these lines: “They cannot think of me as
God. Even those who grant the avatarhood, would think of me only
as a jnana-avatar and so would think of praying to me only
for jnAna and vairagya (dispassion)”.

When people of modern times physically see a spiritually

great person, they get to know many of his characteristics and
activities. So, in addition to thinking of him as a jnAni or saint,
they also think of him as father, as mother, child, doctor, a go-
getter for a job or a marriage alliance, and what not; they pray for
all these and get the anugraha. But when one is no more, he is
only thought of as a jnAni and only as a benefactor of
enlightenment and nothing more. Of course, if he is considered a
siddha, he is prayed to for material welfare even after his physical
frame is no more. And we think of our Acharya only as a jnAni. So
he must have naturally thought “Let me leave some stotras for
posterity so that they get their sicknesses removed by recitations
of these”. He left behind him a ‘Subrahmanya bhujangam’ for this
very purpose. And in this Soundarya lahari too, there are several
shlokas mainly for eradication of disease.

The whole of Soundaryalahari, as I already said, is a mantra-

shAstra. Each of its shlokas can give certain specific results when
it is used for a mantra-japam. For instance, there are shlokas for
Learning and Education (Sarasvati’s Grace of VidyA) : Shloka
nos. 3, 12, 15, 16, 17, 60, 64, 75, 96, 98, 99;
 Wealth and Prosperity (lakshmi’s Grace) : Shloka nos.23, 45,
71, 91,99;
Grace of both Sarasvati and Lakshmi: 96, 99;
Proficiency in music: 66, 69
Being blessed with a son : 6, 11, 46, 98
A long-gone relative to return from his journeys: 9
parakAya-pravesham (to jump into another body) : 30, 84
Warding off evil spirits: 24, 37, 85, 90
To counter the bad influence of planets: 48
jnAna, mukti and sac-chid-Ananda: 27, 63, 73, 84, 97, 99.

[Please let it be noted that the Paramacharya

only listed the various results that accrue from the shlokas.
Specific numbers of shlokas associated with the specific
results
are reproduced here from a note
appended by Ra. Ganapathi.—VK]

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

desiring any particular favour, one gets the realisation of either
the saguNa-brahman or the nirguna-brahman, depending on the
attitude of the devotee. Even if one has a desire to be fulfilled, each
shloka will give its own reward. The first shloka and the last shloka
are known to be ‘sarva-siddhi-pradam’ and they will fulfill all
one’s desires.

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

results will accrue from reciting them. I say ‘infer’ because, they
may not bluntly say what results will accrue. Shlokas which bluntly
say so are few, like the ones we saw earlier (shloka 17) and the
present shloka (#20). Even here, the statement is only that if such
and such an upAsanA is done such and such a result will
accrue. Only later commentators, who came in the sishya-
paramparA (lineage of disciples) of our Acharya have listed the
specifications of the upAsanA, how they should be done, what
yantra to be used, how many days the pUjA or japam should be
done and similar requirements.

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

shlokas the results that will accrue. Ashamed at the excellence of
speech of ambaal Herself Sarasvati winds up Her play on
the VINA (# 66). The three lines on the neck of ambaal are the
boundary lines between the three kinds of rAga-categories, so that
they may not mix with each other, says Shloka 69. It is clear that
a japam of either of these two shlokas will result in proficiency of
music.

Shloka #28 has the thought that even after drinking the
nectar the divines do not live beyond the deluge (pralaya), whereas
Lord Shiva, even after drinking the deadly poison, continues to
live. It is easy to infer that by doing a mantra japam of this shloka,
one gets a long life, poison or no poison.

But there are many more shlokas where we cannot in any

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

34
(Digest of pp.929-935 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th imprn.)

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

any way infer what results will accrue from a mantra-japam of the
shloka. Shloka 35, for instance, says that ambaal lives in the six
chakras as the five elements and the mind. It is said that this
shloka has the effect of curing tuberculosis. Obviously there seems
to be no connection. Like this there are several shlokas where the
meaning and the results said to accrue from it are totally
disconnected. It all means that the vibrations of the sounds
created,the words themselves, not their meanings, have that
effect. We may make a doll in the shape of a red chili, with sugar
as the material base; the outer will look like a hot chili, whereas
the whole material is sweet. In the same way the meanings of the
words may be something, but the power of the words as a mantra
may be something else.

Also, the same shloka may give different, almost

contradictory, results for different persons. Shloka no.84
(ShrutInAM mUrdhAno) has been said to give the power of leaving
one’s own body and getting into the body of another. But the same
shloka has also been earmarked as a sAdhaNA for moksha!. One
has to remember, in such cases, it is the attitude of the devotee in
question that comes into play. The attitude of the upAsakA (the
practitioner of the sAdhanA) has a value. Depending on the needs
and desires of the upAsaka, the results will vary. Honey can induce
sleep in some one who is habitually a non-sleeper; and the same
honey, in the case of a lazy and constant dozer, may produce
wakefulness and alertness. Thus the same shloka might give
different results depending on the mental make-up of the user.
Shloka 63 (“smita-jyotsnA-jAlaM”) is a sAdhanA shloka for the
merging of jIva in brahman; but if one does not want this high
noble effect, it will give the other effect of attracting people to
oneself! Again, Shloka 73 which talks about the breast feeding of
ambaal’s milk and the consequent effects on Ganesha and
Subrahmanya can lead to two different results: if the goal is jnAna,
the mantra-japam of this shloka with that as goal, will lead step by
step from the blessedness of celibacy all the way up to the
obtaining of brahma-jnAna; on the other hand if the same shloka is
used as a mantra by a lactating mother who is lacking the
necessary breast-milk, she will have her problem solved.

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

of lemons for the Goddess. It can be used to give a lemonish touch
to an edible combination of vegetables. It can be used as dirt
remover while cleaning vessels. It can be used for a medicinal
purpose. It may also be used in occult practices. In the same way,
the effect of a word or word-vibrations can vary over a wide
spectrum. That is why, the ideal way is to have the attitude: “I
don’t want this or that. Whatever you think as good for me, Oh
Mother, give me that. Even if you don’t want to give anything, let
me do the recitation for just the love of it”.

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

recitation. For instance, the shloka #44 beginning with “tanotu
kshhemaM nas-tava vadana soundaryalahari” gives a general
cure for all ailments and sicknesses. Specific cures for specific
diseases of the body have also been noted for several shlokas. Each
of these only trumpets the power of shabda ( sound ). There is a
shloka for the cure of diseases of the eye and the ear. “Your eyes
have an extent up to the ears” says the shloka (#52) “gate
karNApyarNam ... ime netre”. Just by thinking that ambaal’s eyes
extend up to the ears, the power of sound is so much that the
diseases of both the eyes and ears are cured! Here it appears there
is some kind of correlation between the effects of sound and the
meanings of the words which make the sound. In another shloka
(#58), though both these (eyes and ears) are mentioned, the effect
is said to be ‘cure of all diseases’. What is the logic behind this?
You cannot answer the question. We have only to say “Sound value
is such”!
We started all this account from Shloka #20 which contains
the mantra for two kinds of ailment – one, a poisonous bite and
two, fever.Let us go to that shloka now.

AmbaaL is thought of as having a form that shoots

forth amRita-rasa (nectar essence) through the rays emanating
from every part of Her body. Hers is that kind of form which is
crystal-like in colour that reflects moonlight with a cool and
delightful shine; it is a colourless colour. And nectar springs forth
from every spot of that form. The very thought of this divine feat
gives us a cooling effect. One who meditates on this himself gets
the qualities of nectar. What is the opposite of
nectar? Poison. That is why no poison, no snake can touch him!.

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

Garuda. Actually there are two opposites of a snake. One is Garuda;
the other is a peacock. Lord Vishnu has Garuda as his vehicle and
Lord Subrahmanya has peacock as his vehicle. But the same
Vishnu is also reclining on the snake. And Subramanya is Himself
called Nagaraja (the King of snakes). All this looks self-
contradictory.

The snake has two facets. When it sleeps as the

kundalini shakti in a person it only promotes lust. Even the
little prANic energy in them is lost in that lust. Therefore the
snake in that situation is said to be poisonous and evil. It is this
poison that Garuda and the peacock destroy. When the poison is
eradicated, the same snake of the kundalini, when it rises to
the sahsrAra cakra, it pours forth nectar! Now it is a
‘good’ snake - not the corresponding Tamil word, which means a
deadly snake! The fact that energy is lost because of lust is
accepted by all. But the same energy becomes immortal energy
(nectar-flow) by yoga is not generally accepted by people; and that
too, by the people, who have never done the experiment!

- 35
(Digest of pp.935-942 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th imprn.)

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

lust becomes the powerful nectar by yoga. Whereas the former is
understood by every one easily, the latter fact is always questioned
and debated. The difficulty in the belief comes from the
observation that even great yogis that we hear about, ultimately,
maybe after a few hundreds of years, die. What is missed
in the understanding here is the fact that the nectar-flow that
yoga talks about and the nectar-drink that the divines are said to
have partaken are both different, totally different. That divine
drink of ‘amRit’ has nothing to do with any spiritual uplift or the
progress of the soul.

The divine drink of nectar that emanated from the churning

of the milk ocean is just like one more medicine. It has no power
to take care of the resident of the body, the Atman. It only takes
care of the body and protects it from becoming old and from
decaying. Have you ever heard that the devas like Indra and others
who drank that amRit have become Realised Souls? Their only
goal has been endless sensual enjoyment. At least for the human
species, sensual enjoyment tires one out after some time since the
body ages; so a human being has every chance of turning to
something more permanent, something spiritual. The devas on the
other hand have no way of learning by experience that sensual
enjoyment is not the end of it all.

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

cause the non-decay of the body and nothing more, I
am sure real yogis would not have gone the path of the kundalini
yoga. After all they were after an eternal bliss, not an eternal body.
The flow of amRit from the thousand petalled lotus seat in the
sahasrAra-chakra is just a step prior to the Realisation of
advaita. In addition to that it certainly can give to the body, so
long as it lasts, an enviable health. But it is mainly intended to
shower the divine unlimited bliss. A yogi devoted to the ShAkta
tradition may not discard the body and the universe as mAyA, in
the same way as a jnAni would do. He would only look at everything
as the leelA of ambaal. Therefore so long as he wants it, he is given
the power to watch this leelA of ambaal. But in due course of time,
maybe several hundreds of years, it will strike him to want to
merge with that Ultimate. And at that time his body will also fall.

I told you of two kinds of serpent: the good one and the bad
one. The former is what gives the nectar. The latter gives only
poison. It is this latter one that is destroyed by the peacock of Lord
Subrahmanya and the Garuda-vehicle of Lord Vishnu. When the
former (the good one, the nectar-showering serpent) is the form of
Subrahmanya, we say He is nAga-rAja, the King of snakes. It is the
same one that Lord Vishnu is having as his bed-rest. It is the same
one that Lord Nataraja is having around his raised foot. And it is
the same one who came as Patanjali and taught the yoga-shAstra,
where, even if the kundalini yoga is not particularly mentioned,
the kundalini that arises out of that yoga is of the serpent form.

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

snakes. That is the ‘nakulam’ or mongoose. One of the names of
ambaal is ‘nakuleshvari’. It is actually the name of ‘MantriNI’ the
chief Minister in the universal kingdom of Queen Lalita-ambaal.
The latter keeps only the portfolio of gracing the devotees and
delineates the other duties of administration of the entire universe
to MantrinI. The sahasranama name ‘mantriNI-nyasta-rAjya-
dhUH’ meaning, ‘She who has delineated the responsibility of the
burden of administration to MantriNi’ arises from this
fact. ‘ShyAmaLA’ and ‘Raja-mAtangI’ are other names of
this MantriNI. Meenakshi of Madurai is also the same. She is the
‘nakuleshvarI’, who shakes up the sleeping serpent-power in
the mUlAdhAra Chakra and opens up the treasury of the Atman to
us. The ‘mUlAdhAra’ has another name ‘kulam’. The kundalini
sleeps in the ‘kula-kunDa’. What wakes it up is the ‘nakuli’. This
word arises from ‘nakulam’ which should be broken up as ‘na
kulam’ to mean, ‘not kulam’, and therefore the opposite of
‘kulam’.

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

because he is also the one who brought the amRit to the serpents
after fighting even the King of the divines, Indra. That the serpents
could not partake of the amRit, is a different story. The fact that
Garuda is the opposite of the serpent and of its poison and has
connections with the story of the divine nectar is what is made
capital of in #20 of Soundaryalahari.

He who meditates on ambaal in Her moonstone form which

radiates rays of amRit, can conquer the poison of the serpent like
Garuda, the King of birds. Not only that; by his very look, such a
person eradicates, in anybody else, the poison of an extreme fever.
By meditating on the Goddess as the One who pours amRit, his own
body system gets the amRta-nADI, perhaps from the sahasrAra-
chakra and so his glance, his sight, itself is enough of a cure for
the poison of the fever.

The eight vAg-devatAs are themselves of the moonstone

colour. Their seat is in the eight triangular portions of the eight-
sided AvaraNa in the ShrI-chakra. This AvaraNa is itself called
‘sarva-roga-hara-chakram’, that is, the chakra that eradicates all
diseases. All of this is due to the effect of mantras.

Though the crystal colour of the moonstone is what is praised

above as the colour of ambAL to be meditated upon, the colour of
the devatA of ShrI-vidyA mantra is red or crimson. This colour of
the Goddess has been praised, two slokas earlier (#18) but since it
talks of ‘vashIkaram’ (captivation into submissiveness) I did not
want to mention it. But still I want to tell you how the redness is
important.

(Digest of pp.942-950 )

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

mention about attaining a most attractive form, captivating
women into submission by means of mantra, and such matters.
These should not be taken literally. What does it mean to bring
another into submission to you? It only means that you are already
submitting yourself to such practices. To appropriate a lot of
property simply means to allow oneself to be appropriated by that
thought of proprietorship. To want to bring somebody else
into submission implies that you are already submissive to such
thoughts. Thereafter there is no question of bhakti towards ambaal
or of surrendering to Her. Our Acharya would never have meant to
make us slaves to such mean desires.

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

that we can steer clear of such desires and aspirations. Just as all
rivers fall and get absorbed into the sea, so also all desires should
get absorbed in oneself, never to rise up again – says the Gita. That
is the kind of shAnti, Peace, that our Acharya would have
advocated. It is the captivation by oneself of all desires and the
absorption of all of them into oneself that the Acharya must have
meant by the power of ‘vashyaM’, meaning, ‘captivation into
submission’. All the three worlds become a woman who submits to
the jnAni in submission – this is the vashyam that he talks about
in Sloka No.19; not the captivation of a woman into submission for
lustful objectives.

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

colour of ambaal. It is the colour of the eastern sky when the sun
is just rising. Kameshvari is of that colour. What is so great about
it? There is some physics of light here and there is also the
philosophy of creation and dissolution. Red is at one end of the
spectrum. When a colour is visible it means the light wave
corresponding to that colour is the only thing that has not been
absorbed by the medium that transmits the light. Whatever colour
is reflected, that shows up; and whatever colours are absorbed,
they do not show up. When white shows up it means none of the
colours is absorbed, all of them are ‘reflected’ and they merge into
one colour, white. When dark shows up it means all the waves of
light are absorbed and there is no ‘reflection’.
Of the three gunas, shuddha-satvaM, or pure satvaM, is the
one that does not keep any of the three for itself and therefore it
is pure white, like milk. It is taken to be indicative of the para-
brahman, though the latter transcends all the colours and the
gunas. On the other side, the colour that keeps all the colours
within itself and does not let any reflection out is black and this is
the colour of ‘tamas’. It is pure Ignorance. The in-between guna is
rajas, the kriyA-shakti. It is red in colour because it is the first
colour that separates itself from the pure white sunlight and forms
the beginning of the projection of the other colours and
creations.

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

the entire spectrum and variety of creation -- all of them have come
from the parabrahman, through the first emanation of the ‘red’
Kameshvari. The ‘kriyA’ (Action) that projects the jIvas from
brahman, and the ‘kriyA’ that takes the jivas back to brahman –
both the kriyAs are those of the parA-shakti who rose up as the all-
red Kameshvari from the first ‘thought’ of the Ultimate.Therefore
‘red’ is indicative of Creation and is therefore the colour of Creator
BrahmA. The activity of life is all due to the flow of blood which is
‘red’ in colour. The Sanskrit word for blood is ‘rakta’ which also
means ‘red’. Creation is done by a poet also; so the poetic talent,
‘kavitvam’ is also taken to be ‘red.

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

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

(Note by VK: (1) The botanical name for ‘kundumani’

is Abrus precatorius.
The seeds of this contain
poisonous proteins.
(2) I am not able to get the English name
for ‘pAdirippazham’).

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

good for health, while the third is sweet as well as good for
health. In rajas also, there is the rajas that binds, the rajas that
keeps a goal of moksha and the rajas that lifts you up to moksha.
The ‘redness’ of Kameshvari is of the third type. It is that redness
which has to be meditated upon, says shloka #18, as the one that
engulfs all the region from the sky to the earth. The words ‘saraNi’
and ‘lahari’ both mean a flood. ‘ShrI’ stands for the beauty of
ambaal. ‘ShrI – saraNi’ mentioned in #18, is therefore nothing but
Her Soundarya-lahari, the flood of Beauty.
The mention of ambaal’s Supreme Beauty (Slokas 12 and 18)
in this part of Ananda-lahari, in spite of its yantra, mantra and
esoteric occupations, is to tell us that all this is to lead us on to
the darshan of that supreme beauty of ambaal’s form, described in
the latter part, namely, Soundaryalahari. That physical form of
course is contained in the ‘head-to-foot’ description; but the
redness that radiates from that form is a light that fills up the
universe!

--37—

(Digest of pp. 950-958 )

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

Lalita there is a long series of names which describe the divine
form from head to foot. Naturally the hands have a due place there.
But the hands and the weapons held in them are talked about even
before the head-to-foot description starts. The weapons are not
said to be just held, but they are built into an esoteric description.
The weapons pAsham, ankusham, bow and arrow are each given a
philosophical meaning. The ‘pAsham’ (noose) is called
‘rAgam’ (desire) there.

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

So She has the noose of Desire in Her hands. But the desire is not
the wrong desire, it is the desire that binds one to ambaal. At that
point there shoud be no hate or dvesham. That is why there is an
ankusham (goad). And then there are the bow and arrow to help us
bind our mind and senses to the Ultimate. Only after this the
darshan of ambaal in Her head to foot physical form will be
obtained. But even before that form is visible, what one sees is the
vast spread of the red colour everywhere. So the name that occurs
just before the first name in the head-to-foot description is
‘nijAruNa-prabhA-pUra-majjat-brahmANDa manDalA’, meaning,
‘She immerses the entire universe in Her crimson effulgence’. The
same idea is said in the second line of Shloka 18:
divaM sarvAM urvIM aruNima-nimagnAM.
In several places in the Soundaryalahari, we find the same
descriptions as in Lalita SahasranAma almost in the same words.

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

dvitIyaM tan-manye makuTa-ghaTitaM chandra-
kalashaM (Shloka 46);
 ashhTamI-chandra-vibhrAja-daLika-sthala-shobhitA (L.S.)

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

Dissolution:
nimeshonmeshAbhyAM praLayam-udayaM yAti
jagatI (Shloka 55);
unmeshha-nimishhotpanna-vipanna-bhuvanAvaLiH (L.S.).

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

equal the enchanting lips of ambaaL:

dantachhada-rucheH pravakshye sAdRshyam janayatu

phalaM vidruma-latA (Shloka 62);
nava-vidruma-bimba-shrI-nyakkAri-radanacchadA (Lalita-
sahasranama).

The jingling of the gems in the anklets of ambaal’s feet is

described in both almost in the same words:

Subaka-maNi-manjIra raNita- ... charaNa-kamalaM (Shloka

91);
sinjAni-maNi-manjIra-maNDita-shrI-padAmbujA (L.S.)

The idea that ambaaL’s very speech can beat the sweetness
of the vINA-music of Goddess Sarasvati, epitomised in the Lalita-
shasranama line
nija-sallApa-mAdhurya-vinirbhatsita-kacchapI,
is developed in a whole Shloka No.66 of Soundaryalahari.

While giving examples and analogies to various parts of the

form of ambaal, when it comes to the chin of ambAL, both the
Lalita sahasranama and the Soundaryalahari, say that it is devoid
of all analogies:
Katham-kAram brUmas-tava chubukam-aupamya-
rahitaM (Shloka 67);
anAkalita-sAdRshya-chubuka-shrI-virAjitA (L.S.)

Before the radiance of the pair of lotus feet of ambaal, the real
lotus pales into insignificance, according to the Lalita-
sahasranama line:
 pada-dvaya-prabhA-jAla-parAkRta-saroruhA.

This idea is developed elaborately in Shloka 87 where the

Acharya shows in how many ways the divine feet pales the lotus
into insignificance. Lotus withers away in snow. But ambaal, whose
house of birth as well as the house of marriage both are
in Himalayas, the feet are always excelling in snow. Lotus droops
during night; but the divine feet beam with freshness. The lotus
has the Goddess Lakshmi within it (and would not give it!), whereas
the divine feet of ambaal dispense wealth and prosperity (that is,
Lakshmi) to all who touch them. Thus the divine feet are always
one up, -- so ends the Shloka (#87) “himAnI hantavyaM ....”.

While the Acharya has done stotras on Vishnu and

Shiva giving a head-to-foot description of the deities, he has
shown great originality in the fund of his innovative descriptions
and analogies. Then why did he not do it here in the case of
ambaal? Why did he have to borrow from the Lalita Sahasranama?
It shows only the Acharya’s humility and the high pedestal on
which he places the Lalita-sahasranama.

Now let us follow the main trend of our coverage of

Soundaryalahari. In Shloka 21 he talks about the flood of absolute
bliss in brahman that is experienced by one who has reached the
apex in KunDalini yoga. This flood is legitimately called by him
‘AhlAda-lahari’. ‘AhlAda’ means happiness, joy, bliss.

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

meaningful Shloka, #22.

--38—

(Digest of pp. 958-963 )

The next shloka is of great interest. Even in the portion of

Anandalahari, which is supposed to be mainly the esoteric content
of the ShAkta scriptures, there are shlokas which reflect the pure
bhakti sentiment coupled with excelling poetry. One such shloka
is No.22. In this shloka one is lifted from the dvaita-bhakti to an
advaita-like stage where there is a symbiosis of bhakti, shakti and
jnAna.

bhavAni tvam dAse mayi vitara dRShhTiM sakaruNAM

iti stotuM vAnchan kathayati bhavAni tvam-iti yaH /
tadaiva tvaM tasmai dishasi nija-sAyujya-padavIM
mukunda-brahmendra-sphuTa-makuTa-nIrAjita-padAM //22
//

“bhavANi” – Oh Mother bhavAni. Bhava is the name of Shiva.

The Shakti of Bhava is BhavAni.
tvam vitara : Please (you) cast
dRShhTiM : (your) glance
sakaruNAM : (which is) coupled with Grace and Compassion
mayi : on me
dAse : (who is your) servant.
vAnchan : Wishing
iti stotuM : to praise thus,
yah: whoever
kathayati :says
bhavAni tvaM iti : “bhavAni tvaM” ,
tadaiva (= tadA + eva) : then and there, (that is, even
before you complete the remaining words “dAse mayi vitara
dRShhTiM sa karuNAM”)
tvaM : You
dishasi : grant, give
tasmai : to him
nija-sAyujya-padavIM : your own sAyujya status.
(We shall come to the fourth line of the stanza later)

The marvel here is, that the devotee has not yet said the full
prayer of his, namely: Oh Bhavani, You please cast on me,
your servant, your glance of compassion and grace. He has
just said: “Oh Bhavani, You” ! That itself is sufficient for the
Goddess to pour Her maximum Grace of Her
own sAyujya status on the devotee. This is the implication of
the words ‘tadA-eva’ in the beginning of the third line of the
stanza. The very moment one says ‘bhavAni tvaM’, he is
granted the Grace. How is this? And what is
this sAyujya status that is being granted?
(The sAyujya concept was described
in the first paragraph of DPDS – 29 - VK)
The sAyujya status is that which becomes one with the
Object of Adoration. But what is being said here is not the
oneness with the nirguNa-brahman. Why am I saying this?
Now go to the fourth line of the shloka.

Mukunda: vishnu
Brahma : creator brahma
Indra : Indra, the King of the divines
sphuTa-makuTa : the shining crown
nIrAjita-padAM : the feet which have been offered the
ceremonial waving (nIrAjana) of lights before them.

And thus, the last line means, in conjunction with the third
line, “Then and there, You give him your sAyujya status,
(which earns them) Your feet that have been given the
‘nIrAjana’ (waving of lights) by the Gods Vishnu, Brahma and
Indra who, by falling at Your feet, have had their shining
crowns touch your feet and thus have offered worship to it”.

It is the sAyujya status (the identity in form and

essence) that privileges the devotee to enjoy the worship of
even the Gods, through their ‘nIrAjana’ to the Divine Feet,
with which there is identity now.

If one reaches advaita-sAyujya (identity) with the Ultimate,

things will not be like this; for there is no ‘form’ there and
there are no feet to be worshipped! And then there will be no
gods in name and form. The advaita sAyujyam is the oneness
with the Ultimate nirguna-brahman where there is no
more universe. So what is said in this shloka is not
the sAyujya of advaita.

It is the supreme brahman which manifests itself as the First

Cause in terms of parAshakti. She is the Queen of this
Universe and She adminsiters this whole universe by Her own
agents such as Brahma and Indra. It is those
 divine agents who fall at Her feet in obeisance. It is in that
state that the individual soul (jIvAtma) becomes one with
the parAshakti in its sAyujyastatus. It is that sAyujya that is
spoken of here.

The interesting fact is that even the advaita shAstras do

speak of this state. Of course the goal of the advaita scriptures
is not this. The peaceful nirguNa state without any mention
of shakti or of any ‘action’ is the goal of advaita. But the
‘Ishvara’ that advaita talks of does ‘get into action’! It is He
(taking the place of ‘parAshakti’ of the shAkta schools) who
does all the leelA with the devotee. That is why, even though
the Ultimate is something in which there should be no talk of
‘the rise of desire’ or the ‘occurrence of determination
(sankalpa)’, the Upanishads do speak like ‘Whatever objects
He desires, they appear by His very desire’. (‘yam kAmam
kAmayate saH asya sankalpAd-eva samut-tishhTanti’ --
Chandogya U. VIII -2). This means just that He has the quality
of ‘aishvarya’, namely, the godliness of being parAshakti.

Even if the person goes via the path of jnAna and looks
forward to the advaitic union in nirguNa
brahman, the parAshakti catches hold of him, as it were, on
the way and makes him play along with Her in saguNa-
sAyujyam (identity with Ishvara, the aspect of brahman with
form) in the world of action! But the play does not end there.
He soars even higher spiritually. He is now in identity with
the parAshakti, the Director of the entire universe and all its
play. It is in that state he enjoys the bliss of union with
the saguNa Ultimate. It is a state where there is the apex of
Devotion and also the sense of advaita-jnAna – a perfectly
peaceful and blissful state.
--39—

(Digest of pp. 964 - 969 )

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

third line has something to do with jnAna, bhakti and shakti. It is
not the brahman-realisation spoken of in advaita.
 Now we shall take up the pun on the words ‘bhavAni tvaM’ in
the shloka. As soon as the devotee utters the words
‘bhavAni tvaM’ as a beginning for his full sentence:
‘bhavAni tvaM dAse mayi vitara dRshhTim sakaruNAM’ the
Goddess is ready to grant him the highly merited sAyujyam
(identity) with Her. What is so powerful in those two words
‘bhavAni tvaM’? This is where the poet has played with Sanskrit
grammar.

The word ‘bhavAni’ can be interpreted in two ways – one as a

noun, and another as a verb. The verbal root is ‘bhava’.
This itself gives the two meanings. When ‘bhava’ is a noun it is a
name of Lord Shiva. In this context ‘bhavAni’ would mean ‘the
consort of bhava’, that is, ambaal. ‘bhava’ as a verb would mean
‘be’ or ‘become’. In this context, ‘bhavAni’ would mean ‘Let me
become’ or ‘Let me be’. So ‘bhavAni tvaM’ would mean ‘May I
become You’. Remember that in Sanskrit a
sentence accommodates changing the order of the words in
the sentence without affecting the meaning.

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

devotee seeks the identity with Her by the two simple words
‘bhavAni tvaM’, She doesn’t wait for his further words; She simply
grants the sAyujya-status ‘then and there’ ! But the irony of it is,
he, the devotee, considers himself too low in the spiritual ladder
to merit anything great and he has no conception of what
honourable return from the Goddess awaits him. ‘Just a glance
towards this poor me, Oh Mother!’ – this is all what he pleads for.
Note that the poet uses the word ‘yah’, meaning, ‘whoever’. So the
devotee does not have to be a great ‘sAdhu’. He could be any one.
He may not even know that there is a status called ‘sAyujyam with
ambaaL’! The couple of words ‘bhavAni tvaM’ has such an effect
even on ordinary persons who recite it.

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

attitude of the devotee in the first line of the shloka. Of course it
is an attitude of duality, not advaita. But even to such a person
who only wants to be a servant of the Goddess, ambaal hands over
in a platter the very advaita itself. Certainly this is saguNa-
advaitam. But would She not also grant him, in due
course, thenirguNa-advaitam?

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

concept “dAsohaM”, (‘dAsaH + ahaM’) meaning, “I am your
servant”. ‘dAsa’ means servant. By the very fact that he was
steeped in that concept of “dAsohaM” all his life, he reached the
advaitic stage of “sohaM” (‘saH + ahaM’), which means, “I am He
(That)”. What this shloka says is that ambaal transforms every
one who comes to Her with the attitude of “dAsohaM”, to the apex
stage of “sohaM”! It is a stage which is difficult for countless
persons who struggle for the realisation of “aham brahmAsmi” and
for even still more who ceaselessly meditate on the words “tat-
tvaM-asi” of the guru. While many of them find it an inaccessible
ideal, it is granted even to the ordinary person
who sincerely comes to ambaal with the two words
“bhavAni tvaM” though with something else in mind.

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

considered ‘bhavAni tvaM’ as two words. But ‘bhavAni-tvaM’ can
also be considered as a single word. Then it means ‘the state of
being bhavAni or parA-shakti’. The structure of the single word is
something like ‘amaratvaM’ which means ‘the state of being
immortal’ and like ‘kavi-tvaM’ which means ‘poetic talent’. So the
moment the devotee says ‘bhavAni tvaM’ ambaal takes it as a
request for ‘bhavAni-tvaM’ and She grants the ‘bhavAni-tvaM’ to
him. In other words She gives Her own status, namely the status
of sAyujya with Her to him.

Remember the devotee has not even begun his petition

to Her. But even before He asks in full, She is ready to give him not
only what he asks but even more. Recall the “vAnchA-
samadhikaM” of shloka 4, where it was said that Her feet are
capable of gracing the devotee with ‘more than what is wished’!
At this point the Paramacharya
makes a very subtle comment about Adi Shankara,
which is exquisite. It also shows
the bhakti which he has towards
(the Acharya) Adi Shankara. I am giving the following
paragraph (almost) in exact translation,
 so that it can be enjoyed in the original. VK

When we see this, something remarkable strikes us. Suppose

somebody is a great scholar in a language and without any
knowledge-arrogance he is also a sincere devotee of the Goddess,
to the extent that he considers himself as nothing but a lowliest
servant of ambaal, -- all this is actually a description of the Acharya
himself -- such a one never ignores even the commonest of people,
but discovers a deep content even in their ordinary comments and
speeches. Such profound contents will certainly be granted to him
(at his stature) as an experience, by ambaal. But when he says that
such an experience will be given by ambaal even to the common
man, why would She not give it to him who has the greatness of
heart to see the profound in the profane! The stanza of KuraL (in
Tamil) which says: “From whomsoever whatsoever is heard, to see
the Truth in that is Knowledge” gets a new meaning here.
“Knowledge” may as well be taken to mean “Experiential
Knowledge”!

--40—

(Digest of pp. 970 - 973 )

In the Vaishnava tradition, they do not accept the

attributeless non-dual brahman, but they do talk about One-ness
with the state of the Almighty Mahavishnu, along with all His
powers. But even when they say this, out of deference to propriety,
they make an exception to what one can obtain. The exception is
‘LakshmI-patitvaM’, that is, ‘the state of being the spouse of
Lakshmi’. Naturally whatever powers and states of Mahavishnu you
may aspire for and actually get, becoming the spouse of Lakshmi
is taboo. In the same manner in the branch of philosophy called
‘ShivAdvaitam’, they talk of oneness with Lord Shiva, but they
make a similar exception, for the same reason of propriety. All this
is because, the destination in both these schools of philosophy is
a couple, such as ‘Narayana-Lakshmi’ or ‘Shiva-Parvati’. The very
fact that one has to make an exception throws a shade of doubt on
the other statements of objectives.
 One would like not to make any exception at all. That is where
this shloka (#22) opens the door for us. It says: ‘Don’t aspire to
become Narayana or Shiva; Don’t have your object of meditation
the divine form of Narayana or Shiva, with the purpose of becoming
one with it. Pray that you should become one with the form of
the Mother, that is ambaal or Lakshmi. In their capacity of
universal Mother, they will not only accept your prayers but will
also give you that identical oneness with them. That Lakshmi or
that ambaal are themselves internally in oneness with Vishnu and
Shiva respectively. So when a jIva merges in the Mother, the
Mother takes him along with Her and merges the jIva in either
the Vishnu-form or the Shiva-form, thus granting you the Vishnu-
sAyujyam or the Shiva-sAyujyam’. This shloka therefore gives the
right strategy for us to become one with the Almighty at the same
time not transgressing the elementary propriety of pati-patnI.

To say it shortly, first you become the mother then the father.
So first it is the oneness of filial affection. When the mother
becomes one with the father, it is the apex of all bhakti attitudes,
namely the attitude of nAyikA. And that is what takes us to the
ultimate advaita – so say the great rishis and saints who have gone
through it all! Go back now and enjoy the imagery in shloka No.12,
where the divine damsels in order to understand the beauty of
ambaal, imagine their oneness with Lord Shiva and expect to get
a glimpse of the full beauty of ambaa.

Thus in this single shloka, the Acharya has brought in

advaitam and dvaitam, philosophy as well as a delightful pun,
service to the Lord as well as the concept of the nAyikA (beloved
of the Lord) bhAva -- all blended together.

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

shloka. This is in the fourth line. It talks about the Divinities like
Vishnu, BrahmA and Indra falling at the feet of the Goddess and
the divine feet get the nIrAjana (Reverential waving of Lights) from
such great Gods. In fact Soundaryalahari has three
such nIrAjanas. One in this shloka, one in shloka 30 and one in
the very last shloka (#100).
 The situation in #30 is not the accidental utterance of words
of Shloka 22, which meant identification with the Absolute in the
generous interpretation of the poet. There it is not just any one,
‘yah’. He is not even just a devotee and a scholar. It is far more
than that. He has risen above the ‘dAsohaM’ stage and has reached
the ‘sohaM’ stage. It is the stage where the conviction that ‘I am
one with You’ (= ‘tvAm-aham iti sadA bhAvayati yah’). He lives in
that continuous identification with the Absolute. To such a one,
says the Acharya (in #30), even the Cosmic Fire of Dissolution is
just a nIrAjana (waving of Lights) only. Because it is so to the
Mother Goddess. And it is therefore also so to one who has
continually identified with Her.

The third ‘nIrAjana’ comes in the very last shloka where the
Acharya offers this Soundaryalahari itself as a waving of Lights to
that Sun-like Light, that is the ambaa Herself in Her capacity as
the Source of all Speech and Learning. The words of the
Soundaryalahari are words which emanated from Her. So Her own
words form the nIrAjana to Her.

These three nIrAjanas can be classified as one for Creation,

one for Sustenance and one for Dissolution. But not in that
order. They come in the order: Sustenance, Dissolution and
Creation. The devi-praNava is ‘umA’. The letters come in the order:
‘u’ (which is the letter for Sustenance, for it represents Vishnu );
‘ma’ (which is the letter for Dissolution, for it represents Rudra)
and ‘a’(which is the letter for Creation, for it represents BrahmA).
The first nIrAjana talks about the worship by Vishnu, BrahmA and
Indra. It is significant that this listing of the divines begins with
Vishnu, thus indicating that we are talking about
the nIrAjana meant as an offering of the Sustenance function.
The second nIrAjana (#30) corresponds to the Dissolution function
is already built into the very words ‘the conflagration of Cosmic
Dissolution proves only to be the nIrAjana’ (“mahA-samvartAgnir-
viracayati nIrAjana-vidhiM”).

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

Creation function? I shall explain this now.
 (Digest of pp.974- 979 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

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

third nIrAjanaM of the whole work, has a specific reason. The
Acharya says that the entire work is actually Hers, and therefore it
is fitting, he says, to visualise the work itself as a nIrAjanaM to the
goddess. Mother Goddess created this universe out of Her own
wish and imagination. In the same way though the poet may have
created this work, the words are actually Hers and so She is the
Origin for the work. So from that Infinite source of Light, a
fragment of a lighted camphor is taken out and used
as nIrAjanaMto Her, through this work. In other words the whole
work shows only a fragment of Her Infiniteness. And that is why
the third nIrAjanaM (Shloka 100) corresponds to Creation. Thus
Soundaryalahari has three wonderful nIrAjanaMs built into it.

Let us now come back to shloka 22, where the

first nIrAjanaM is taking place. The nIrAjanaM here is nothing but
the dazzle of the crowns in the heads of BrahmA, VishNu and Indra.

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

of the Divine Triad. If you are talking of the divine cosmic
functions, the triad must include Rudra, certainly. But the
purpose here is different. It is to show the supremacy of Mother
Goddess over everything. The three divines mentioned here
are, Indra, the King who maintains the divine world, Vishnu, the
One who maintains the entire world, and Brahma, the One Creator
to whom all the divines and all the universe make their first appeal,
whenever there is a universal crisis. So the maintenance of the
created world is the thing in question here. That is why I told you
earlier that this nIrAjanaM is the ‘sthiti-nIrAjanaM’ (the waving of
lights corresponding to the Sustenance function). For that very
reason also, Rudra, the God of Dissolution function, is not
mentioned.

Further there is an esoteric purpose. The

attributeless brahman transcends the three qualities satva,
rajas and tamas. Of these three, the first is usally associated with
the Sustenance Function and with Vishnu. The second, with the
Creation function and BrahmA. The third is associated with the
Dissolution function and with Rudra. In the case of jIva, the same
three are the waking state (where we do the maintenanace function
of carrying on the activities of life), the dream state (wherein we,
out of our own mind, create endless varieties) and the deep sleep
state (wherein all is quiet and is dissolved). But even in that deep
sleep state, there is a life within, which is unaffected by any of the
three; that is the turIyaM, familiarly called ‘caturthaM’ (the
fourth) in Mandukya Upanishad. The three states of awareness –
waking, dream, sleep – pertain to the jIva; therefore it is what
happens in the microcosm (the ‘pinDa’). The three states of
Creation, Sustenance and Dissolution, pertain to the Ishvara; this
is what happens in the macrocosm (the ‘aNDa’).

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

attributeless brahman, which is the substratum behind the saguNa-
brahman, that is Ishvara, is the very same ‘turIyam’ that lies as
the ‘Atman’ , the substratum of the three states of the jIva.

Why did I get into all this metaphysics? It is to tell you that
the ‘samhAra’ state, namely ‘Dissolution’ is what is nearest to
the turIya, the Brahman. Neither in the jAgrat (waking) nor in
the svapna (dream) is the jIva as restful and unperturbed as in
the turIya-samAdhi state. But he is so in the sushhupti (deep
sleep) state. But again that calm that he
obtains in the sushhupti state is not an ‘experiential’ calm. It is
so only in the ‘samAdhi’ state. That is of course true. However,
when compared to the jAgrat and svapna states,
the sushhupti state is the one nearest to the turIya-samAdhi state.
In the Cosmic level also, it is the samhAra-rudra that is nearer to
the peace of para-brahman than the Creator BrahmA or the
Maintainer Vishnu. It is that para-brahman that is called ‘Shivam’
in the ShAkta literature. Rudra is samhAra-mUrti, Ishvara is
the tirodhAna-mUrti who is responsible for the mAyA phenomenon
and SadAshiva is the anugraha-mUrti, responsible for the grant of
moksha. And then beyond the three there is the para-brahman that
is shivaM. In spite of this classification, in general parlance and
tradition, rudra, Ishvara, SadAshiva and Shivam are usually
identified as the same whereas the creator brahmA and the sthiti-
kartA Vishnu are taken only as brahmA and VishNu.
 What we have said about Shiva also applies to Mother
Goddess. The parA-shakti which is the fullest dynamic expression
(shakti) of para-brahman, is usually talked about as identical with
Parvati, the consort of Rudra but not Sarasvati or Lakshmi. Even
in Soundaryalahari She is addressed as ‘hima-giri-sute’ or ‘tuhina-
giri-tanaye’ and not as Sarasvati or Lakshmi.
The bottomline of it all is this. It is only for Rudra there is an
identity with Shiva; not for the murtis BrahmA or VishNu. Here the
context is the nIrAjanaM in the form of the crowns falling at the
feet of ambaa. And in this context it was not decent to bring in
Shiva or Rudrain this part of Soundaryalahari where the emphasis
is on philosophy and tantra. In the later part, where there is a free
licence for poetic imagination, we have instances where even Shiva
falls at the feet of the Goddess, the context however being that of
Love.

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

that even in this first part, in shloka 25, it says: “It is enough to
make one offering at Your feet. That itself is equivalent to an
offering to the divine triad. Because they have placed their heads
at your feet in obeisance, the offering at your feet to your feet is
also automatically made to those three.”
But a careful study of shloka 25 tells a different story.

- 42 –

(Digest of pp.978 - 981 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th imprn.)

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

#22. And that led me on to shloka #25, which we shall scrutinise
now in order to understand that, in keeping with the esoteric
nature of Anandalahari, the subtlety of the pati-patni relationship
between the murtis of shiva and ambaa has not been damaged
there. For there is not even a loophole therein to bring the
identity of Rudra and Shiva.
(Note: Though the Paramacharya does not get into
Shloka #25 in detail, in order for us to understand
the key point he makes about it, I give below
my own word-by-word translation of #25,
 for the benefit of readers. VK)

trayANAM devAnAM triguNa-janitAnAM tava shive

bhavet-pUjA pUjA tava caraNayor-yA viracitA /
tathA hi tvat-pAdodvahana-maNipIThasya nikaTe
sthitA hyete shashvan-mukullita-karottamsa-makuTAH //
25 //

yA pUjA : The worship

viracitA : done
tava caraNayoH : at They Feet
bhavet : becomes, as it were,
pUjA : the worship
trayANAmM devAnAM : of all the three deities (Brahma,
Vishnu and Rudra)
tava triguNa-janitAnAM : who were born of Thy three guNas
tathA hi: Indeed it is this way.
Ete : These gods
sthitAH shashvat ; are stationed, ever,
maNipIThasya nikaTe : in proximity to the seat of gems
tvat-padodvahana : that bear Thy feet
mukulita-karottamsa-makuTAH: with their joined palms
held (in salutation to Thee) above their diademed heads

[Now we shall go back to

the Paramacharya’s explanations: VK)

The three divinities mentioned here are referred to as

“triguNa-janitAnAM”, meaning, ‘those who have their origins in
Thy three guNas, satva, rajas and tamas’. Rudra is the only one
who has the tamas as the source. Since he is said to ‘be born’
(janitAnAM) of tamas, it is tantamount to saying that he is ‘born’
of Her and therefore He is Her offspring. And this justifies his
falling at Her feet. Since the topic here is to say that the pUjA of
the Divine Triad (born of Her guNas) is actually embedded
(included, implied) in the pUjA of Mother Goddess, the deity
Rudra, who is generally equated with Shiva, has to be included
here. But whenever one wants to develop the theme that even
great divines worship the devI, (as in shloka 22) one uses
Mukunda, BrahmA and Indra without mentioning any of the
names Rudra, Shiva or Ishvara which names are identified with
Shiva. All the divines disappear in the Grand Dissolution, while
the one who doesn’t disappear even at the time of the Dissolution,
is not here at the scene of falling at the feet!

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

regarding the nIrAjanaM corresponding to the Grand
Dissolution (mahA-pralaya) (shloka 30).
(Again, as before, I give below the shloka #30
and its meaning, though the Paramacharya
does not choose to give the word-by-word meaning: VK)

svadehodbhUtAbhir-ghRNibhir-aNimAdyAbhir-abhito
nishhevye nitye tvAm-aham-iti sadA bhAvayati yaH /
kim AshcaryaM tasya trinayana-samRddhiM tRNayatA
mahA-samvartAgnir-viracayati nIrAjana-vidhiM //30//

nitye : Oh the Eternal One,

nishhevye : Oh the One adored by all,
yah : He who
sadA : always
bhAvayati : thinks of (meditates on)
tvAM : You
abhitaH : (You, who are) surrounded
ghRNibhiH : by rays
svadehodbhUtAbhiH : emanating from one’s own body
aNimAdhyAbhiH : such as aNimA and the like,
aham iti : as “I”,
kim Ashcaryam : What wonder is there (meaning, No wonder)
that
tasya : for him
triNayatA : (who) makes into insignificance
trinayana-samRddhiM : the glory of the three eyed (Shiva),
mahA-samvartAgniH : The Great Fire of Dissolution
viracayati : is (only) a performance of
nIrAjana-vidhiM : the rite of waving of Lights.

The content here is this: Those who meditate with

a complete (advaitic) identification with ambaa, are themselves
offered the nIrAjanaM by the Fire of the Grand Dissolution. But in
an earlier shloka, (#26), it is said that BrahmA, Vishnu and all other
divines disappear at the time of that mahA-pralaya, but Shiva
alone remains, sporting with Her. The question now arises: How
come, in shloka 30, it talks as if the ‘tvAm-aham’ worshippers (that
is, those who have identified themselves with Mother Goddess)
survive during the Great Dissolution and receive the nIrAjanaMof
the mahA-pralaya?

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

different from ambaa, they would have certainly been destroyed in
the Dissolution. But they are in advaitic oneness with ambaa. They
are the ‘tvAm-aham’ upAsakas. They are the ‘I am one with You’
entitites. In other words they are one with the devi. Of course
this devi is not the attributeless (nirguNa) one. How can there be
a nIrAjanaM for the nirguNa? The first line of
Shloka 30 means ‘You who are surrounded by divine powers
like aNimA, which are all rays emanating from Your own body’.
This itself says we are talking of the saguNa form only here. The
identity or oneness (sAyujyaM) that is talked about here is the
same as the ‘bhavAni-tvam’ idea of shloka 22.

But again one may question: ‘Then, why are they talked about
as separate and as if they are separately receiving the nIrAjanaM of
the Fire of Dissolution?’. Though they may, in their identity with
the Mother, have a feeling that they are themselves doing the play
of Dissolution, along with that, there will be a symbiotic feeling of
appreciation and bliss at the sight of the divine leelA taking place
right before them.

Let us note clearly that never can a jIvAtmA attain the

identity of being the doer of Creation, Sustenance and Dissolution.
To be in that kind of complete oneness with the saguNa-
brahmanin total advaitic identification is an impossibility. The
peak of experience can only be the ‘feeling’ as if it is itself doing
the activities of the saguNa-brahman. The feeling can be very deep
and profound. But never can it become the original. In order to
compensate for this gap in complete identification, one is graced
by Ishvara with this apex-like experience of being witness to the
divine deeds. In fact, let me venture to say, that the very purpose
of being a saguNa brahman may well be to grant this experience
to that single one in a million!

- 43 –

(Digest of pp.982 - 987 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th imprn.)

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

duality and non-duality is probably for the purpose of making them
see the Cosmic Play of Dissolution. Naturally such people will not
be engulfed in that play of Dissolution, because they are
themselves privileged spectators of the play! These are the “I-am-
one-with-You” people (of shloka 30). Even when it is said in shloka
26 that He (Shiva) is the only one who survives the praLaya, the “I-
am-one-with-You” people who are those in identification with
Shakti are, by the very reason of their being very privileged
spectators of the Pralaya, are not consumed by the pralaya. They
are one with Her. There is no contradiction between the shlokas.

This concept of ‘being consumed by pralaya’ needs further

clarification. Though we use the word ‘Shiva’ generally, so long as
He is the ‘Kameshvara’ or the attributeless ‘shivam’ He cannot be
consumed by pralaya. But when He is one of the divine triad, as
the Rudra in charge of Dissolution, or the Maheshvara in charge of
the ‘tirodhAna’ function, or the SadAshiva of the ‘anugraha’
function, he will not be there after the pralaya, because there is no
pancha-kRtyam (the five Cosmic Functions) once the pralaya is
over. The Kameshvara who is non-distinct from ambaa, and
the nirguNa-shivam which is the substratum of them both are the
only ones which are there. The eternal truth and existence of
nirguNa-satyaM need not have to be re-emphasized or re-
affirmed. So when we talk of who survives the pralaya it is only
ambaa and the Kameshvara-shiva who is One with Her. This is
what is referred to in Shloka 26 when it says “viharati sati tvat-
patirasau” (meaning, ‘Your husband alone is in the play’). Read
along with the word “para-brahma-mahishhi” (Shloka 97), we
should have meant only the para-brahman by the word ‘tvat-
patiH’ in #26. But in the case of para-brahman, there is no question
of any action like ‘playing or sporting’ (“viharati”); that is why the
interpretation of ‘Kameshvara-shiva’ (who is non-distinct from
ambaa) for “tvat-patiH” in Shloka 26.

In the shloka where it talks of the ‘I-am-one-with-You’-people it

says even the ‘wealth or prosperity’ of Shiva Himself is nothing
before them. With great gymnastics of sound effect it says:
“trinayana-samRddhiM triNayataH” (that is, even the majesty of
the three-eyed One is like straw before the wind). Why was it said
like this? Shiva might be Ishvara; but the ‘aishvarya’ (Wealth) that
gave Him that name, came from the parA-shakti. Without Her
action, there is no Shiva, no Wealth of any kind for Him. Even if
there was anything in terms of authority or jurisdiction, He shares
it with so many other divinities to each of whom She has allotted
responsibilities as well as the associated authority and wealth of
Power. On the other hand, the ‘I-am-one-with-You’ people are one
with Her and so they enjoy all Her aishvarya in fullness. So they
are the greater ones!

I must warn you here. Let us not be carried away by this poetic
devotional exaggeration. There is no separate identity for either of
Ishvara and devi. In fact what is Hers is His and what is His is Hers.

A final subtle point. I just talked about the greatness of the ‘I-am-
one-with-You’-people. But notice that they are not saying ‘You are
one with me’; that is where there is also a modesty revealed. One
of the mahA-vakyas is ‘aham brahma asmi’ that is, ‘I am brahman’.
Another is: ‘ayam Atma brahman’, that is, ‘This Atman, in other
words, what is cognised as jIvAtman, is nothing but brahman’.
These two mahA-vAkyas and the essence of ‘I-am-one-with-You’ of
shloka 30 are all the same. However, those who look only at the
word-sequence of the mahAvAkyas, are likely to misunderstand
them as saying : “The person who is in this jIva-bhava is calling
himself brahman’ – instead of correctly understanding: “It is
brahman that is this jivAtma”.

But when the mahAvakya comes forth from the mouth of the
Guru it creates no such confusion. Because it says: “That is what
you are” and clearly implies ‘That has become you’. In fact
it indicates “Without you there is nothing to be called ‘I’”. And
thus modesty is automatically oozing out here. This is what the
conviction ‘I am one with You’ also disseminates. Along with it,
there is also the grandeur of the association with the aishvarya of
the Almighty. All these ideas have gone into the Acharya’s
expressive line ‘trinayana-samRddhiM triNayataH’.

The bottom line is this: The jIva which is in identity with the
Mother Goddess and the Lord who is non-distinct from Her, both
are ever there.

I referred to shloka 26 above. It talks about how when everything

and every one gets dissolved in the pralaya, only the Lord Shiva
along with ambaa are remaining in sport. It mentions the
disappearance of the others one by one. The Creator BrahmA
reaches his end. Vishnu arrives at a dead stop. The God
of Death (“kInAsha”) himself dies (“ vinAshaM bajati”). The
Divine Treasurer (“dhanadaH”) also perishes without any help
from all his wealth (“nidhanam yaati”). Notice the gymnastics in
the poetry here, which describes the gymnastic sport of the divine
couple during the process of Dissolution of the Universe. Even
during such a great pralaya (mahA-samhAra), ambaa’s spouse
(“patiH”) alone survives! Reason: Your tATanka-mahimA. This is
what is taken up in shloka 28.

- 44 –

(Digest of pp.987 -993 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th imprn.)

sudhAm-apy-AsvAdya prati-bhaya-jarA-mRtyu hariNIM

vipadyante vishve vidhi shatamakhAdyA divishhadaH /
karALaM yat kshhvelaM kabaLitavataH kAla-kalanA
na shambhos-tan-mUlaM tava janani tATangka-mahimA // 28 //

AsvAdya api : Even after having consumed

sudhAm : the nectar
prati-bhaya-jarA-mRtyu-hariNIM : (which) eradicates the dreadful
old age and death
vishve divishhadaH : all the divines
vidhi-shatamakhAkhyAH : like BrahmA, Indra and others
vipadyante : meet their end (at the time of pralaya).
Yat : (But) the fact that
shambhoH : for Lord Shiva
kabalitavataH : who had consumed
karALaM kshhvelaM : the terrible poison (of KalakuTa)
kAla-kalanA na : there is no submission to Time
tan-mUlaM : has its reason (in)
janani : Oh Mother
tava tATangka-mahimA : the Glory of Your ear-ornament
(tATangka).

We have always been led to believe that some one who has
consumed he most dreadful poison has to meet his end, whereas
some one who has taken the nectar will be immortal. What is
happening here is exactly the reverse. All the divines who had
partaken of the nectar have all to disappear at the Deluge whereas
the Lord who has consumed the most dreadful hAlAhala, is
standing as the lonely survivor after the Deluge.

What is more, this partition of the Lord on the one side and all the
other divines on the other side is also happening in the context of
Service to the Mother Goddess. Mukunda, Brahma and Indra and
all those divines fall at Her feet with their crowns touching Her feet
(#22), while the crownless dweller of the burial ground is
distinguished as unique. The punchline of this remark is that
those who fell at Her feet are destroyed in the praLaya, but
He who did not so prostrate before Her is unaffected by the
praLaya!

There is even another shloka (#29) which says that She runs
to welcome the one who did not serve, and while so
running, tramples on the crowns of those that chose to serve Her
and fall at Her feet!
[Since the Paramacharya elaborates rather lengthily
on this reference to shloka 29 here,
I am giving it here with meanings and all,
though he has not yet finished his discussion of #28. VK ]

kirITaM vairinchaM parihara puraH kaiTabha-bhidaH

kaThore koTIre skhalasi jahi jambhAri-makuTaM /
praNamreshh-veteshhu prasabham-upayAtasya bhavanaM
bhavasyA-bhyutthAne tava parijanoktir-vijayate // 29 //
vijayate : Remarkable (= to be noted) are
tava parijanoktiH : the words of your maids-in-attendance,
abhyuthAne : at the hasty stir to welcome
bhavasya : Lord Shiva
upayAtasya : (who) had come
bhavanaM : home
prasabham : suddenly, unannounced.
praNamreshhu eteshhu : “Amidst all these prostrating (divines)
parihara : avoid
vairincham kirITam : the crown of Creator Brahma;
purah : in front (of you)
skhalasi : you are trampling (over)
kaThore koTire : the heavy crown
kaitabha-bhidaH : of ‘the enemy of Kaitabha’ ( = ‘Vishnu’)
jahi : (also) avoid
jambhAri makuTam : the crown of ‘the enemy of jambha’ (=
‘Indra’)”.

Among the many names of the Creator Brahma, the Acharya most
often uses the name ‘virinchi’ (See shlokas nos.1, 2 and 12 for
example). The word ‘rinchati’ means ‘creates’ . The prefix ‘vi’
before the word adds a special effect to that action indicated by
‘rinchati’. In other words, Creator Brahma does the creation work
most effectively and with dedication. Therefore he is ‘virinchi.

‘Kaitabha-bhit’ denotes the One who vanquished the asura

Kaitabha; therefore it is Vishnu. When He was in yoga-nidrA, the
asuras Madhu and Kaitabha attacked the Lord BrahmA, patent in
the region of the divine navel of Lord Vishnu. And Brahma sang a
song of praise of lord Vishnu so that He may wake up. The Lord
obliged by shaking up the Goddess Yoga-nidrA, and vanquished
the two asuras. Goddess Yoga-NidrA is none else but the Mother
Goddess. It is quite fitting therefore that Vishnu is
remembered here as Kaitabha-vid; because it is Kaitabha that
connects Vishnu, Brahma and parA-shakti in the same cosmic
event.
His (Vishnu’s) crown is not just an ordinary one. It is solid, not
hollow in its material. Why is it solid? The reason comes in the
stotra called ‘Vishnu-pAdAdi-keshAnta-stotra’ of the Acharya
himself. “kRta-makuTa-mahAdeva-linga-pratishhTe’ meaning
thereby that the crown of Vishnu is in the form of a shiva-linga.
Now comes the ironical situation!. It is this crown that the maids-
in-attendance of ambaa are wanting her not to trample over. It is
the shiva-linga-formed crown on the head of Vishnu that is now at
the feet of ambaa! And that is what She is about to trample, in her
hurry to welcome Her Lord, when He arrives home suddenly. When
Bhakti and Love are in full flood, as in the case of Kannappar’s
behaviour, none can default any action, even if it looks like one
that is faulty!

The context in which this happens is still more interesting. Bhava

is returning to his bhavanam – this is the context. Bhava means
Shiva. Bhavanam means home. He is returning home unexpectedly
and ambaa, as soon as She became aware of this, She hastens to
welcome Him – in the tradition of a traditional pati-vratA.
‘prasabhaM’ means in great haste and excitement’. And here
comes a word ‘abhyuthAnaM’ that has great significance.

‘abhyuthAnaM adharmasya’ – does it not ring a bell? It is the

Lord’s promise in the Gita, that he will come whenever there is a
damage to dharma. In that context, ‘abhyuthAnam’ means ‘rising
to the occasion’. But now Soundaryalahari adds another meaning
to that word ‘abhyuthAnaM’. It also means ‘rising
to welcome’ or ‘welcoming’. This sets up an interesting thought
in my mind. Why not we appropriate this meaning in the shloka of
the Gita also. Then it would mean:
abhyuthAnam adharmasya = the welcome offered by adharma.
In other words, to make the Lord come down as an avatar, a
welcome strategy would be adharma. It was the adharma of a
Ravana, of a Hiranyakashipu, of a Kamsa that brought in three
great avatars of the Lord!. But let us not carry the analogy too far.
We should also remember what finally happened to these carriers
of the welcome banner!

We have strayed too far from the shloka 28, which was our main
discussion point. Let us go back to it now.

- 45 –
 (Digest of pp.996-1000, 1015 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

The feat that Shiva survives even the kAla-kUTa poison,

that stays in his throat is the glory of the ear-ornament of ambaa
– this is the content of Shloka 28. In other words Shivaa (meaning,
ambaa) is the medicine for Shiva. This thought goes back to the
Vedas. In the Rudram chapter of Krishna Yajur veda, the
2nd mantram of the 10th anuvAkam says: Oh Rudra!, You have a
form which includes the most auspicious form of parAshakti, which
is a cure for the entire universe and which is in total unison with
your form, let that bless us to live a full life. In other words, it says
there are two bodies for the Lord; when it shows up as Rudra it is
frightening (“ghora”). When it shows up as Shiva it
is “auspicious”, because He has also this other body which is the
one in unison with Shivaa (ambaa).

[Note by VK: The Paramacharya does not usually

quote vedic passages in public during his speeches,
though he may give the purport of such passages.
This is the mantram that he is referring to:
yA te rudra shivaa tanuuH shivaa vishvAha bheshhajI /
shivaa rudrasya bheshhajI tayaa no mRDa jIvase //]

In the world of duality, there is good as well as bad. Both come

from the same Absolute Reality that is God. It is not as if one comes
from God and the other comes from Satan. This is not acceptable
to our scriptures. The same Almighty is the Rudra of destruction
and is also the most compassionate, most peaceful Shiva.

When we talk of the ‘ghora’ form, the word ‘ghora’ includes

all that is bad like ‘anger’, ‘sorrow’ etc., though the direct meaning
of ‘ghora’ is ‘frightful’. The opposite form called ‘aghora-
mUrti’ includes all that is good. When we look at worldly life, we
have the feeling it is ‘bad’ that is predominant. That is why our
elders call this ‘samsAra’ a ‘ghora-samsAra’. But it is not totally
‘ghoram’ nor does it end as ‘ghoram’. Now and then some peace,
some happiness is mixed up with it. This is like a medicine which
is graced to us by the Lord. Probably it is divine will that this
worldly life has to be a mixed life of good and bad. Maybe ‘bad’ is
intended to be more in abundance, so that we would all want to get
away from this and reach our Real Nature of Atman. I said ‘Maybe’
because how can anybody know what was the ‘divine intention’?

Just as there are medicines for diseases, for this

‘ghora’ events of life, there is a medicine of ‘shivam’! But even that
does not cure the illness totally. We get hungry and we eat to
satisfy the hunger. But hunger is not for ever satisfied! Again we
get hungry and again we have to eat! So also the ‘ghora’ part
of life comes again and again and the shivam part gives us the
medicine every time. That medicine is called ‘SHIVAA’ -- say the
vedas. They say: “Oh Lord! Do you know what converts your Rudra-
body into the ‘shiva-body’? It is the ‘extended shiva’, namely
‘SHIVAA’. Therefore ‘SHIVAA’ is also the universal cure for
everything!” This is the declaration of the mantram from Rudram
referred to above.

The matter does not end there. She is not just “vishva-
bheshhajI” . The Shruti continues: “She is also ‘Rudrasya
bheshhajI’, the medicine that will bring down the
‘roudra’ (=frightening) nature of Rudra and transform it into a
‘karuNa’ (= compassionate) nature”.

Indeed we think that Shivaa is just the consort of Shiva and

that is why She has been called Shivaa. But the above words of the
vedas go to the extent of saying that only when the medicine of
‘Shivaa’ is applied to Rudra, Rudra becomes ‘Shiva’ ! It is further
confirmed by the fact that the auspicious form of Rudra is not
referred to by the masculine term ‘Shiva tanuu’ (the Shiva body)
but it is declared to be the feminine word ‘Shivaa tanuu’. Thus
the body is the one coming from the Mother concept. So the
attitude is that of the mother, and the physical form is the father’s.
It is the Shivaa bheshhajI that converts Rudra into Shiva.

The incident of Shiva drinking the poison that came out from
the Ocean of Milk, and retaining it in his throat, for the purpose
of saving those of the world outside, namely all the divines and
those in his Cosmic stomach, namely the entire universe, is
graphically pictured in a Sivanandalahari shloka (#32), wherein the
poet-author (The Acharya) wonders “Was it a ‘siddha-gulika’that
you put into your mouth?”. Siddha-gulika refers to a medicine
from the Siddha-vaidya-shAstra. It is interesting to note that this
links well with the ‘bheshhajI’’-word (bheshhaja –
medicine; bheshhajI – Doctor) that is being used here in the veda-
mantra.

This idea that the Lord has within Himself another body which
is wholly that of Shivaa and the usual idea that the Lord has
an ardha-nArishvara (half-male, half-female) form are together
combined in another shloka (#23) where ambaa is branded as one
who has appropriated for Herself the entire body of Her husband! :

tvayA hRtvA vAmaM vapur-aparitRptena manasA

sharIrArdhaM shambhor-aparaM api shangke hRtam abhUt
/
yad-etat-tvad-rUpaM sakalam aruNAbhaM trinayanaM
kuchAbhyAm AnamraM kuTila-shashi-chUDAla-
makuTaM //23//

yad-etad : The fact that

tvad-rUpaM : this form of Yours
sakalam aruNAbhaM : is fully red
trinayanam : (and) having three eyes
kuchAbhyAm Anamram : (and) is bent because of the breasts
kuTila-shashi-chUDAla-makuTaM : incomplete-moon-hair
dress-crown , meaning, (and) having a crown of hairdo with
the half moon in it,
shangke : makes me doubt (that)
vAmaM vapuH hRtvA : having taken the left side of the body
aparitRptena manasA : but not being satisfied (with it),
aparaM sharIrArdhaM : another half of the body
shambhoH : of Shiva
api : also
hRtaM abhUt : has been appropriated
tvayA : by You

Digest of pp.1015 -1027 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,

4th imprn.)
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 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 Shehave 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 crystal-white 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
crimson-red’ 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-shashi-chUDAla-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 rudra-prashna, the
dhyAna-shloka beginning with “ApAtALa-
nabhasthalAntha ...” the second line describes Him as “jyoti-
sphATika-linga-mouli-vilasat-pUrnendu ..” 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!

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 “tArA-

nAyaka-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 commonfolk 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 commonfolk and creates a ‘nindA-
stuti’!

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 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 raises his 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 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

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 everything must 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 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 evcery 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 stuff 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 scolding 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 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 dare not
send in undesirable things.

“praNAmas-samveshaH” : Let my very sleeping be a namaskara

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, namakara 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 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,

4th imprn.)

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 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 Atma-
nivedanaM, 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 pradakshhiNa; 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, jIvan-mukti.
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!

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 shlokas (#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 virAt-svarUpa (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 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 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

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 SaguNa-

brahman. 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 kArya-shakti 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 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 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 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,

4th imprn.)

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

bhAva (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
SheshI. 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 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 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 by VK: 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 and the
effects, namely, all that is animate and inanimate, 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. 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 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.
[VK : See DPDS – 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.

(Digest of pp.1050 -1055 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,

4th imprn.)

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 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: “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 Sankhya 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 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,

4th imprn.)

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

vyApakatvaM (Her pervasion of everything) always in our memory.
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, that Mind itself is ambaaL, thenwe
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” - SSpace 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 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 (Ananda-mUlaM). 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 cit and Anandacannot 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
‘parama-hamsa’ 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 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 Ananda-
lahari.

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 –
tANDava-dance] 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 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

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 nine-faceted (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 “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 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 ‘care-taking 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 - VK)

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

Him has also a sannadhi 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 Anandalahari
portion of Soundaryalahari ends.

-54-

(Digest of pp.1072 - 1085 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,

4th imprn.)

(Note by VK: 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 ShrI-chakra. 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

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 are 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 in 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 ‘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 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

Almost all the Agamas, Tantras and Samhitas 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-ghaTanA-
svatantraM te tantraM kshhiti-talaM avAtItarad-idaM //31//

pashu-patiH – Lord Shiva

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 non-participating 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.

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 Anandalahari 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 Anandalahari

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 Anandalahari 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 to
the end of Anandalahari looking forward to that goal of viewing the
delightful physical form of ambaaL.

The Acharya ends the Anandalahari 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.

(Digest of pp.1091- 1098 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,

4th imprn.)

“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
Anandalahari 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)?

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 No.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 jnAna-sambandhar, 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 Anandalahari 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 multi-coloured rainbow: This is the ‘nIDeyac-
chAyAcchuraNa-shabalam’. This 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.

But why imagine refraction? One can also imagine it to be

reflection. Instead of taking that the light of the Sun falls on the
cool rays of the moon and in that flow of cool snow it becomes the
multicoloured rainbow, one can also imagine that there are several
suns whose lights are in various colours and they get reflected in
the mirror-like crescent moon and produces the rainbow effect.

In fact the poet here implies that it is not just his imagination; this
is what anybody would say if he wants to describe the
multicoloured radiance from the gems of the golden crown on the
head of the Goddess.
Another point which comes out here is the modesty of the Acharya
in underplaying himself and speaking so highly of others who
might be in his position of describing the Devi’s glory. The
modesty with which he begins this very first shloka of the
Soundarylahari part goes on till the very end.

57
(Digest of pp.1107- 1114 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

tanotu kshhemaM naH tava vadana-soundarya-laharI

parIvAha-srotaH saraNiriva sImanta-saraNiH /
vahantI sindUraM prabala-kabarI-bhAra-timira-
dvishhAM bRndaiH bandhIkRtam-iva navInArka-kiraNaM //44//

[Since the word-by-word meaning is

automatically coming out of
the Paramcharya’s explanations,
it is not given here separately. VK]
This shloka has an added significance since it has contributed to
the title of the stotra ‘soundarya-laharI’.
“naH kshhemaM tanotu” : Let there devolve auspiciousness on all
of us. Thus begins the shloka auspiciously. What is supposed to
devolve the auspiciousness?
“sImanta-saraNiH” : The line of the parting of hair (on the head).
‘SImanta’ is the parting of hair. ‘saraNiH’ means path, route, line,
wave, flow. The particular meaning will depend on the context.
Here it is ‘line’. The word ‘SImanta-unnayanaM’ denotes a special
ritual that is done for pregnant women for the benefit of the
foetus. The ritual consists of drawing a line along the sImantaM of
the woman with the chanting of certain mantras. This is good for
the foetus. The word sImantaM is a union of ‘sImA’ and
‘antaM’. SImA means boundary, here, the boundary that parts the
two sides of the hair. Its ‘antam’ is the end of that boundary.
Technically it should have been ‘sImAntaM’ but the middle long ‘a’
has been shortened. This is actually an exception to the usual
grammatical rule. A similar exception, but in the opposite
direction, takes place in the name ‘VishvAmitra’ where it should
have been only ‘Vishvamitra’, thus meaning, friend of the world.
On the other hand as ‘VishvAmitra’ (‘Vishva’ + ‘amitra’) it now
means ‘the enemy of the world’. Again this is an unusual
grammatical exception.

So ‘SImantaM’ means ‘the end of the boundary or border’. Of what

is it the border or boundary? For a human body there are two
boundaries. One is the foot and the other is the head. In the
boundary that is the head, the line of parting of the hair goes up to
the position of ‘brahmarandra’ and ends there. So it is called ‘the
end of the boundary’ or ‘sImantaM’.
Goddess Mahalakshmi permanently resides in five places. A lotus,
the frontal lobe of an elephant, the hind part of a cow, the spine
on the back of a bilwa leaf, and the sImantaM of a sumangali.

It is interesting to note that the Acharya has used “vadana-

soundarya-laharI’ (waves of beauty of the face) in this shloka and
this has become the title of the whole stotra. We do not know who
made it the title, but what we may conclude is that it is quite apt.
What is further interesting is the fact that this beauty-wave occurs
in the shloka where the sImanta of the Devi is talked about. It is
this flood of facial beauty that should bring us the auspiciousness
that we need. ‘tanotu kshhemaM naH tava vadana-soundarya-
laharI’.

Now let us find out what is so special about the sImanta here.
“vahantI sindUraM” : It (the sImantaM : the parting in the hair)
bears the vermilion. The word ‘sindUraM’ also means ‘red lead’
which is used for medicinal purposes in Siddha medicine. In North
India almost all Ganesha deities would be totally soaked in
this sindUraM. And in the same way they would do it for the
Anjaneya deity also. Maybe the indication is that the beginning and
the end are the same!

In traditional books, kumkumaM is spoken of

as sindUraM. The Veda-mAtA (Mother Goddess representing
Shruti) bows down in obeisance to ambaa. It is
the kumkumaM from the sImantam of Veda-mAtA that has
sprinkled itself on the feet of ambaa. This idea occurs in LalitA-
sahasranAma. ‘SImanta-sindUri’ is the expression there. It is in the
parting of the hair that kumkumaM is applied. On the forehead
however, that is, between the eyebrows where one applies
the ‘tilakam’ what is applied is ‘kastUri-tilakam’ -- this is what
one gathers from the sahasranAma. Recall the name: “mukha-
chandra-kaLankAbha-mRga-nAbhi-visheshhakA”. It says, just as
there is a spot (kaLanka) on the disc of the moon, so also is
the kastUri-dot on the face of ambaa. This name occurs (in
the sahasranAma) between the name that describes
the forehead (aLika-sthala) and the name that describes the
eyebrows (cillikA). Therefore it is clear that the name ‘mukha-
chandra- kaLankAbha- ...’ describes the centre of the
eyebrows. So kumkumaM at the parting of the hair (SImanta-
sindUri) as well as the kumkumaM at the centre of the eyebrows –
both are called ‘sindUraM’ by the Acharya.

According to the shAstras, the place where sumangalis (women

with living husbands) have to adorn the kumkumaM is the parting
of the hair, at the place where it starts from the forehead. The
practice of adorning the centre of the eyebrows is only a cosmetic
addition. It is at the centre of the eyebrows where
one concentrates the Supreme. It is in that manner one wears
the vibhUti or sandal-paste, etc. at that spot; so also kumkumaM is
also applied there. Whatever it be, the characteristic of a sumangali
is only the kumkumaM at the parting of the hair.
Women of olden days applied the kumkumaM first at the parting
of the hair and then only on the forehead between the eyebrows.

The location of the central parting of the hair is a kind of

residential address of the Goddess Bhagya-lakshmi of Prosperity.
Goddess ambaa has the kumkumaM along the entire parting of the
hair. That is what this shloka says. ‘SImanta-saraNI’ means only
that. In fact as the shloka goes, it appears that there is a round
spot of kumkumaM at the point where this ‘saraNI’ (the path)
starts at the top of the forehead and thereafter along the path of
the parting, it goes as a streak of red. There is no greater bliss than
the pleasure of visualising ambaa with this SImanta-sindhuram. In
other words the place of residence of mahAlakshmi has been
decorated with kumkumaM. In fact there is much more in this.

58
(Digest of pp.1115 -1119 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

[Note by VK: The delightful commentary in Tamil

of the Paramacharya on this shloka, #44,
has been really a difficult one for me
to present in English (in DPDS – 57, 58 and 59).
The superb majesty of his discourse
should be enjoyed in the original]

In the Assembly of ambaa, on both sides of Her, Lakshmi and

Saraswati are said to be fanning Her. This is what the name “sa-
cAmara-ramA-vANI-savya-dakshhiNa-sevitA” says in the Lalita-
sahasranAma. Instead of having them as Her assistants, She has
them both as Her very eyes – this is what the name “kAmAkshhi”
means. “kA” means Saraswati and “mA” means Lakshmi. And
“akshha” means ‘eye’. So “kAmAkshhi” is the One who has ‘kA’
and ‘mA’ as Her eyes!

Later, shloka 64 says that Saraswati dwells in Her tongue. In fact,

the grace of ambaa in bestowing power of expression to devotees
is well known. That is why Saraswati is spoken of as dwelling
in Her own tongue. And the poet in the Acharya plays gymnastics
with the word japa in that shloka, where it says: Your tongue defies
the japa (hibiscus) flowers in its redness because it is constantly
engaged in the Japa (mantra-repetition) that gives expression to
the glories of Lord Shiva; the redness of Her tongue is so intense
that the Goddess of Speech, Saraswati, who dwells therein, gets
Her crystal-like white complexion changed into the colour of a ruby
(noted for its reddishness). We already saw in Shloka 16 that poets
have spoken of Her as ‘shRngAra-laharI’ in Her form as the ‘red’
Saraswati (aruNa-saraswati).

Thus, of the two fanning divines, one of them, Saraswati, is

elevated to the position of residing in the divine tongue of ambaa.
So, the other of them, namely Lakshmi, is now elevated in this
shloka (#44), to even a higher position, namely, the top of the
divine head itself. Lakshmi resides in the sImanta of ambaa; and it
is that Lakshmi who is decorated with the kumkuma-
ornamentation of redness.

So the parting of the hair goes like a white streak amidst the jet
black forest of hair (‘cikura-nikurumbaM’ of shloka 43) which
looks like waves of blue-black on either side of it. It is the
whiteness of the sImanta (parting line) that is usual; but here
ambaa’s sImantaM has been made reddish by the sindUraM. So the
blackness of the locks of hair on either side and the redness of the
parting line make the imagination of the poet run riot. Many of us
do not appreciate such poetic licence, because of our
preoccupation with the utilitarian value of everything we see or
experience. But a poet does not just see beauty; he invents original
analogies and that is what makes us enjoy both the poetry and the
devotional sentiment built into it.

‘prabala-kabarI-bhAra-timira-dvishhAM bRndair-bandhIkRtaM
iva navInArka-kiraNaM’ -- these are the words.

‘arka’ is the Sun. ‘arka-kiraNaM’ means the Sun’s ray. ‘navIna’ is

new. So ‘navIna-arka-kiraNaM’ means the rays of the rising
Sun. Certainly it is reddish. Only when the Sun comes up higher
and higher it loses its redness of appearance and becomes pure
white. But at the point of rising it is red. The Acharya sees
the sImanta-sindUraM on the divine head as one of the red rays of
the rising Sun. At the beginning of the parting, namely at the top
of the forehead, the sindUraM is a big dot (red) and so is the Sun
itself (rising) and the saraNi, namely the line of parting, is the red
ray emanating from that Sun.

‘prabala-kabarI-bhAra-timira-dvishhAM bRndair-bandhIkRtaM’.
Does this not sound like a cluttering chatter of teeth? Why this
hard construction ? The very words speak of a thunderous noise of
battle. Who is battling with whom? The talk is about the sImanta-
saraNi. Then who is warring with it?

‘kabarI-bhAra-timiraM’ means the darkness shown by the jet black

dense hair. The adjective ‘prabala’ prefixed to it, indicates a
further strength to that darkness. When something is ‘strong’ it
can be expected to be aggressive also, in the worldly ways of
thinking. So whom will this darkness challenge or contest? Only
Light. What is opposed to darkness is light. It is
the sun whichdispels the darkness of the night and brings the
day. It is not even just the sun; it is the morning sun that night
considers as the harbinger of its
doom. Because darkness never ‘sees’ the full Sun. As soon as the
first ray of the morning sun appears, darkness has to wind up and
run.

And here, while darkness is in the form of ambaa’s hair, the

morning sun has appeared in the form of the sindUraM on the top
of the forehead. It is the crimson ray of the morning sun that is
represented by the sindUraM-coloured parting of the hair. And it is
this parting that prevents the darkness on either side to become
one large mass of darkness. Further, it is the darkness of the hair
that has been pampered by oil, shampoo, and flowers – as has been
indicated by the words ‘ghana-snigdha-shlakshhNaM’ (luxuriant,
soft and oily) in shloka #43. Because it has been ‘pampered’ it has
become ‘prabala’ (exceedingly strong) now. And that gives it the
courage to dare challenge the redness of the sImantaM!
59
(Digest of pp.1122 -1128 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)
Darkness of night is the dominating factor all night. But the
moment the rising sun with its crimson rays shows
up, darkness has to flee. It has always been the unfulfilled
ambition of ‘darkness’ to settle this score with the young sun. And
here is ambaa having all the world’s darkness, as it
were, collected in her hair. But She has also brought the young
sun in the form of the sindUra-spot right in the midst of this dark
forest of hair. It is a life-time opportunity for darkness. With gusto
it swallows all the rays emanating from that sun, for once. But still
there is one single ray of crimson which goes straight across the
centre of all this dark hair. It is that crimson which gives a
decorating hue to the black hair. And it is the jet black background
which brings out the majesty of the crimson parting of hair.

Thus we can see darkness having vanquished all but one ray of the
bright rising sun. Why did it not go all the way by its challenge and
overpower that one remaining ray also? But for that single ray
remaining in its place, how would it be established that darkness
had vanquished the bright sun and its rays? It is the one remaining
ray of the sun that tells us that the other rays have been
vanquished.

[Note by VK: Though the Paramacharya did not say this,

I can hear him saying: “Don’t you remember,
in the Sundara Kanda, every time Hanuman vanquishes
an entire army, he spares one person,
so that he may go back to Ravana
and say what happened in the battle”!]

“dvishhAM bRndaiH” means ‘by the gangs of enemies’. It

is from the root ‘dvishh’ that the word ‘dveshha’, meaning ‘hate’
is derived. “bRndaM” means a crowd, a gang. The crowd of hair on
ambaa’s head flows wave after wave and so looks like armies of
black ready for fight. “bandIkRtam-iva” means ‘as if imprisoned’.
It is the rising sun in the form of the sImanta-sindUraM that is
imprisoned here by the armies of black hair.The word
“bandIkRtaM” is significant. Not only have all the crimson rays of
the rising sun been vanquished, but even that one remaining ray
has been imprisoned by the dark army surrounding it on either side
so densely that it cannot move this way or that way!
Incidentally, if one wants divine presence, the parting of the hair
has to be straight in the centre – not this side or that side – of the
hair on the head. And the sindUraM has to come from pure
turmeric, not from any other artificial source.

Among the many meanings of “bandhaM” one is ‘imprisonment’.

The meaning of “bandIkRtaM” is ‘be imprisoned’. The difference
is between the active and the passive. So here ‘bandIkRtaM iva’
means ‘as if imprisoned’.

Well, what has all this – fight between darkness and light -- to
do in the devotional stotra “soundarya-laharI”? In shloka 43, it
was said that Her black braid of luxuriant locks of hair itself will
eradicate the dense darkness of ignorance in us. In the
same way he says in this shloka that the sImantaM (parting of
hair) which in a sense has been imprisoned by the black forest of
hair on either side, will grace us with all prosperity. In fact the
sImantam is the residence of Lakshmi the Goddess of Prosperity.
Its ‘imprisonment’ is only an imagination; ‘bandIkRtam-iva’ – as if
imprisoned – is the word. Now we shall see the other side of this
sImantaM. We shall indeed see its greatness. I began with what
appeared to be its negative side because I wanted to end up this
shloka with the positive side. The Acharya of course begins this
shloka only with the positive.
Now look at the first two lines:
tanotu kshhemaM naH tava vadana-soundarya-laharI
parIvAha-srotaH saraNiH iva sImanta-saraNiH /

Great poets do not waste their words. So when our Acharya uses
‘laharI’, ‘parIvAhaM’, ‘srotas’ and ‘saraNI’, which all convey more
or less the same meaning ‘flood’, there should be something deeper
in it. Yes, there is a deeper point. There are shades of
differences in the meaning. ‘laharI’ is the bubbling, wavy and
noisy water-flow. ‘parIvAhaM’ is the real flood of water which
simply marches forward. ‘srotas’ could even be a silent rivulet.
‘saraNI’ is a straight flow of water, like that in an artificial canal.
What starts as a ‘laharI’ , widens up into a ‘parIvAhaM’ and then
flows like a controlled river ‘srotas’ between two banks and finally
is channelised into a canal ‘saraNI’.
This is how ambaaL’s beauty starts from Her face as a laharI and
spreads like a pravAha. When it touches the top of the forehead it
becomes a srotas. The banks on either side of this srotas is the hair
on either side of the sImantaM. Actually the flood of beauty cannot
be dammed by the forest of hair. What is the greatness of ambaaL’s
beauty if one can dam it by holding it between two banks? ‘vaktra-
lakshmI-parIvAhaM’ (the flood of beautiful brilliance) says lalitA-
sahasranAmaM. The brilliance starts from the face and overflows
as a flood into the locks of hair on the head but is contained in the
form of a ‘saraNi’ – sImanta-saraNi – between the dense forest of
hair on either side. It is this brilliance (lAvaNya) of the Mother
Goddess that bestows prosperity and happiness to all Her devotees.
And since it all starts from the face, he calls it ‘vadana-soundarya-
laharI’. And legitimately, the whole work has been named – we do
not know by whom – Soundarya-laharI.

This shloka ‘tanotu kshhemaM naH’ properly meditated on, will

bring us divine help in controlling our mind and all its evil
tendencies – ‘dvishhAm bRndaiH’ – by which we are
all imprisoned – ‘bandIkRtaM’.

60
(Digest of pp.1130 -1140 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

Here comes one shloka (#46) where the Acharya has done delightful
innovation with the simple idea of the ‘moon-like divine face’.

lalATaM lAvaNya-dyuti-vimalaM AbhAti tava yat

dvitIyaM tan-manye makuTa-ghaTitaM candra-shakalaM /
viparyAsa-nyAsAd-ubhayam-api sambhUya ca mithaH
sudhA-lepa-syUtiH pariNamati rAkA-himakaraH // 46 //

‘lalATaM’ is the forehead. ‘lAvaNya-dyuti’ is the beautiful Light.

‘vimala’ means faultless. “AbhAti”, shines. So the first two lines
mean: The forehead that shines in the pure brilliance of
its divine beauty may be thought of (‘manye’ – I think) as the
second form of the crescent moon of your crown. ‘makuTa-
ghaTitam candra-shakalaM’ means the crescent moon that
ornaments the crown. In other words what is said is that there is
the cresecent moon on ambaa’s head.

Traditionally, we all know that both Ishvara and Ambaa have only
the third day moon on their head, not the half moon or ashhTamI-
candra.In all images of both these deities we could have noticed
that the third day moon (the figure of the moon on the third day
of its appearance) embedded in their head, would be showing the
sharp corners of the curves on both sides as two dots. If it is
the ashhTamI-candra (the half moon ) that is depicted, we would
also see the diameter joining those end points. In a crescent
moon this diameter would not show nor would the remaining
portions of the moon – though we can imagine the full figure of the
moon by mentally completing the crescent into a full moon. It
requires quite an imagination to visualise this. But the key to this
is the pair of sharp corners in which the crescent ends.

On the other hand the semi-circular forehead of Ambaa is actually

a half-moon. No portion of the half-moon is missing here. In the
sahasranAma also it is said of her forehead (aLika-sthala)
:“ashTamI-candra-vibhrAjad-aLika-sthala-shobitA”.

Thus we have a cresent moon above, and also below it in the form
of the forehead the half moon. Now comes the fun in the third and
fourth lines:
“ubhayam api” – these two. The half moon in the crown and the
half moon in the forehead.
“mithaH” – mutually, with respect to each other.
“viparyAsa-nyAsAt” – joined in the reverse order. “viparyAsa”
means ‘the opposite order’.
They have to be joined in the reverse order because, the half moon
in the crown is in the form of the lower half of a full moon and the
half moon of the forehead is of the form of the upper half of a full
moon.

So we have to join them in the reverse order. “sambhUya” means

‘attached’. What is the means of attaching them? It is the “sudhA-
lepa-syUtiH” of the moon itself. “sudhA” means ‘nectar’. “lepa” is
‘paste’ or ‘gum’. “syUtiH” means stitching or sewing. In fact the
English word ‘sew’ comes from ‘syUtiH’ of Sanskrit. Thus if one
attaches the half moon on the head of ambaa and the half moon of
her forehead, with the former as the lower part and the latter as
the upper part, and use the nectar which oozes out of the moon for
pasting them then the full moon itself shines! “rAkAhimakaraH
pariNamati”!

The next shloka (#47) is more complicated. But it is the

complication and the poetic inventiveness that make us
stay long at the shloka and therefore longer in the thought of
ambaa.

Bhruvau bhugne kimcit bhuvana-bhaya-bhanga-vyasanini

tvadIye netrAbhyAM madhukara-rucibhyAM dhRta-guNaM /
dhanur-manye savyetara-kara-gRhItaM ratipateH
prakoshhTe mushhTau ca sthagayati nigUDhAntaram-ume // 47
//

“bhruvau kimcit bhugne” : ‘frowning a little’. ‘bhruvau’ means

the pair of eyebrows. When the eyebrows are contracted either in
anger or in thought, we are said to frown. Incidentally, the
Sanskrit word ‘bhrU’ must have originated the English word ‘brow’
and also the tamil word ‘puruvaM’, all meaning ‘eyebrow’! Here we
are talking about the eyebrows of ambaa. If the frowning is
complete, the natural bend in the eyebrows disappears and they
align themselves in a straight line. Here ambaaL’s eyebrows are not
contracted in anger, but they are more ‘bent’ than normal; that is
why, the word ‘kimcit’ is used. She is frowning in the thought of
encountering a fear for Her children, namely, us, the people of the
world.

The words ‘bhuvana-bhaya-bhanga-vyasanini’ mean ‘sorrowed (by

compassion) with the worry of the need to destroy the fear (of
samsara) of all the world’. She is a flood of bliss, certainly – Ananda-
lahari. But She is constantly thinking about how to redeem this
world from its endless misery of ignorance and consequent
suffering in samsara. It was Her snap-of-the-finger
decision once that created the five Cosmic functionaries for the
good of the world; cf. “kshhaNa-calitayoH bhrU-latikayoH” - ‘by a
movement of Thy creeper-like brows’ - of shloka #24.
Of course it is not explicitly stated that Her frowning is because of
Her worry about the world. It could even be
because of Her alertness at the onset of a ‘bhaya’, danger to Her
beloved children of the world. If She is intending to eradicate the
fear from people even before the danger occurred, then ‘bhuvana-
bhaya-bhanga-vyasanini’ does not fit here. Only when the
situation is confronted with a danger, and a consequent fear in the
people, only then the ‘bhanga’ (destroying) of that ‘bhaya’ makes
sense. We can go on analysing the verse-line in this manner
endlessly. That is the beauty of the poetry in this shloka!

But note, whether it is sorrow or anger that is the cause of the

frowning, it is not a thing for enjoyment; on the other hand, the
Acharya here seems to be enjoying the scene with all his heart. So
the contracting of the eyebrows is not the usual kind. It is more
profound than that. And that is the content of the other three lines
of the shloka. In short, the words ‘dhanur-manye’ of the third line
are the key to this puzzle. ‘I think it is the bow’, says he. That is,
the two eyebrows are thought of as one bow. But the wonder here
is that both the eyebrows are considered not as two bows but one
single bow. ‘dhanur-manye’ –in the singular. Then what about the
gap between the two eyebrows, where there is no growth of hair?
Actually there should not be; for, as a Tamil preoverb goes, if the
brows meet, it harbingers destruction of everything – “kUDina
puruvam kuDiyaik-keDukkuM”.

So then how come, the two eyebrows are compared to a single bow?
Whose bow? Is it just a comparison? What is great
about all this except some poetic gymnastics? We shall see.

Digest of pp.1141 - 1151 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,

4th imprn.)
(Shloka #47 continued)

The Acharya does not see the two eyebrows of ambaa as two
bows. He conceives of both of them as one bow – not as one arc
from bottom to top, but as two arcs of the same bow. It appears as
if a skilful archer is at the point of stringing his arrow through the
bow, everything is in tension, and one can see even the little
vibration as a wave of the two arcs. Thus the two eyebrows together
constitute a single bow. But mark it! At the centre, there is a gap.
Between the eyebrows, just above where the nose begins, there is
a gap in what appears as the bow. Not only there is this gap in the
bow, but the bow string also has a gap; for in the same shloka the
Acharya is saying in the second line that the two honey-beetle-
like black eyes of ambaaL and their brilliance constitute the
bowstring. And this bowstring has a gap in the middle because
there is the nose-ridge that is dividing it. If both the bow and the
bowstring have gaps right in the middle, then where is the bow,
where is the string? Then the whole analogy will crumble.

So we have to probe a little more deeply. The bow is Manmatha’s

bow – “ratipateH dhanuH”. What is the authority or rationale for
thinking of it as Manmatha’s bow? The rationale is:

“tvaDIye netrAbhyAM madhukara-rucibhyAM dRta-guNaM”.

dRta-guNaM: with the bow-string held

tvadIye netrAbhyAM: by Your eyes
madhukara-rucibhyAM : that shine and move about like honey
bees

The two black honey-bee-like eyes of ambaaL are radiating a

brilliance, which is not static, but is superlatively dynamic; they
are moving this side and that side fast enough to cover all the
beings in the world so that the dRshhTi of ambaaL may shower
grace and compassion on them. This fast movement of the honey-
bees (eyes) gives the visual illusion of an infinite line of black
sparkling dots and that is what makes the bowstring! And
remember, only Manmatha has such a bow-string made up of
honey-bees. And that is why ‘ratipateH dhanuH’ is not
unreasonable in this context. And whom is he (manmatha) aiming
at by this bow and arrow? Obviously Lord Shiva. Any time He is
prone to go away and sit in isolation as Dakshinamurti. Then who
will be there with Mother Goddess to look after the world? It was
She who put Him in this seat of ‘One of the Triad’, with a specific
duty and also as Ishvara and Sadashiva with duties of anugraha and
tirodhana.
We are still to untangle the problem of the bow and bowstring not
falling apart in the middle since they appear to have gaps in the
middle. The solution of the riddle is found in the words (fourth line
and part of the third line):
“savyetara-kara-gRhItaM prakoshhTe mushhTau ca sthagayati
nigUDhAntaraM ume”
‘prakoshhTa’ is wrist. ‘mushhTi’ is clenched fist. ‘sthagayathi’
means ‘hides’. ‘nigUDHa’ : ‘not visible’. ‘antara’ : interspace. So
far we have arrived at the following meaning: “By the wrist and
clenched fist is hidden an interspace, that is (therefore) not visible.

Let us now visualize the imagery which the poet is bringing before
us. An archer (here, it is Manmatha) is holding the bow. The hand
holding the bow will have its clenched fist in the middle of the bow
and thus it is the fist that is hiding the middle of the bow.
Similarly the other hand will have its wrist in front of the middle
of the bowstring and thus will hide that middle. Thus if we do not
further think about it, both the bow and the bowstring will have a
vacant space in their middle. And a little more observation will
tell us that it is the wrist and the fist that are filling up the
corresponding hidden space and so neither the bow nor the
bowstring is in two pieces. This is how the pair of eyebrows of
ambaaL with the vacant (browless) middle and the two eyes with
the nasal ridge in the middle exhibit a bow and bowstring with
their middle hidden by the fist and the wrist respectively.

Now we have to further enquire which hand is doing what. The

words “savya-itara-gRhItaM” (meaning, held by the other-than-
right hand) tell that story. Even in the very next shloka which
talks about the right and left eyes of ambaa as the Sun and Moon
respectively, “savya” is used for ‘right’ , though “savya” also
means ‘left’ in most other places.

Incidentally, there are some Sanskrit words which have valid

contradictory meanings for the same word. “chhAyA” stands for
both shadow and light. “nyAsa” means ‘abandonment’ as well as
‘seizure’. “shiti” means both ‘black’ and ‘white’.

In this shloka it is important to understand which hand is holding

the bow and which hand is ready to shoot off the arrow. Recall also
that Manmatha is also capable of shooting arrows with left hand
just as Arjuna is. But if he is shooting the arrow with the left hand
the bow will be in his right hand. We are watching this, standing
before ambaaL.

First understand that Manmatha has to be in a horizontal lying

posture a little below the level of the eyebrows of ambaal to shoot
the arrow upward; because the line of eyes (bowstring) is below and
the central stem of the bow (line of eyebrows) is above. Now if
Manmatha is holding the bow (of eyebrows) in his right hand and
we are looking at it from his left ( because on his right is ambaal’s
face, so we cannot be looking from that side), the two things that
are in our view at the middle portion of the whole system are:
one, his right fist closing in on the middle of the bow and two, his
right forearm on the farther side from us. What we see of the fist
is only the fingers closing in on the middle of the bow, but they
cannot completely hide the bow as much as they would if we were
seeing from the other side. From the other side we would have seen
only the back portion of the palm and that would have completely
hidden what he is holding. Again, coming to the right forearm
hiding the middle of the bowstring, there is no chance at all for
such hiding, for the forearm is on the farther side.

On the other hand, if he were holding the bow by his left hand the
back portion of the clenched fist would be completely, really
completely hiding the middle of the bow; not only that, the forearm
(the prakoshhTa) being between us (the viewer) and the bowstring,
would be completely hiding the middle of the bowstring. And this
is exactly what is happening. The interspace between the
eyebrows of ambaal is hidden – in the poet’s imagery, by
manmatha’s prakoshhTa (forearm and wrist) - and the nasal ridge
causing the discontinuity in the line of the moving eyes – in the
poet’s imagery, this is hidden by the mushhTi (clenched fist).

This, I think, is what the shloka depicts in the last two lines of this
four-line verse! But don’t think that it is all only poetical
gymnastics only. There is a great significance for this shloka
beyond the gymnastics of its imagery.
 - 62
(Digest of pp.1152 - 1158 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

Among the several great achievements of ambaaL is the fact

that She gave life to Manmatha who was earlier burnt to ashes by
the Lord Himself. She did it so that the play of Creation could go
on. But then She also was concerned about the welfare of the
created world. The waywardness and indiscipline of people of
the world, did bother Her. As the Mother of the
Universe She wanted the Father also should join Her in the activity
of redeeming the millions of the world. Instead of helping Her in
this direction He, the Lord, had the propensity to retire into
seclusion for penance. She knitted her eyebrows at the thought of
this.

That very frown of Hers became an encouraging factor for

Manmatha who was now alive by Her Grace. Making Her own
knitted eyebrows his bow, He came to Her help. He assured Her
that he (Manmatha) will keep the bow (of Her
eyebrows) in readiness so that the very moment Lord Shiva shows
any propensity to retire into aloofness, he can release his arrow
and change His mind. During that earlier occurrence when he tried
this he was burnt to ashes by the Lord; this happened because He
was at that time trying it on his own, with a great air of confidence
built by his own ego. But now, in all humility, he says that he will
take refuge in Her own face and use Her own eyebrows and eyes
for his equipment of bow and bowstring. By the very fact that it is
now Her own divine act, it won’t result in failure as in the earlier
case!

Thus it is the frown of the eyebrows that causes everything. It is

at the control of that frown that the entire Universe and its divine
functionaries are all functioning. No doubt therefore, that if we
take refuge in the same eyebrows by meditating on them, the bad
influence of manmatha will not be on us!
--------------------------------------------------
Now the Acharya comes, in the description of ambaaL from head
to foot, to Her eyes. In the previous shloka (#47) itself, there was a
casual mention of the black honey-bee-like eyes. But in that shloka
the dominant factor was the eyebrows. Now we come to the eyes
proper. This shloka #48 talks about the three eyes of ambaal and
the importance of the third eye.

ahas-sUte savyaM tava nayanaM arkAtmakatayA

triyAmAM vAmaM te sRjati rajanI-nAyakatayA /
tRtIyA te dRshhTiH dara-dalita-hemAmbuja-ruciH
samAdhatte sandhyAM divasa-nicayor-antaracarIM //48 //

tava: Your
savyaM nayanaM: right eye
sUte: causes
ahaH: the day
arkAtmakatayA: it being of the form of the Sun, (or) possessing
the definitive characteristic of the Sun
rajanI-nAyakatayA: Being of the form of the Moon (the Lord of
night)
te vAmaM (nayanaM): Your left eye
sRjati: creates
triyAmaM: the night.
te: Your
tRtIyA dRshhTiH: third eye
dara-dalita-hemAmbuja-ruciH: (which resembles) the red golden
lotus slightly in bloom
samAdhatte: beautifully generates
sandhyAM: the two sandhyAs, i.e. the two twilights
antaracarIM: which come in between
divasa-nishayoH: day and night.

The eye-balls of the right and left eyes of ambaaL are like black
honey-bees. The third eye however is different; it is crimson-red
like melted gold. This is the agni-netra of the Mother. The first two
eyes are, according to all shAstras and purANas – except of course
the Purushha-sUkta – the Sun and the Moon. The central eye,
usually referred to as ‘lalATa-netra’ is agni, Fire.

The first line says: Because your right eye is of the form of the Sun,
it generates the day-time. Note that the word ‘savyaM’ is used here
for ‘right’ as opposed to ‘vAmaM’ for left (see the second line).
‘hemAmbuja’ is golden lotus. The Meenakshi temple
in Madurai has the sacred tank called the tank of the golden lotus.
It is ambaal’s third eye that is the golden lotus there.

It is interesting to note that while the two eyes denote the

progenitors of ‘day’ and ‘night’, the third eye – which is between
the two eyes –must generate the intervening time (sandhyA)
between day and night. And, incidentally, this shloka therefore
establishes that ambaaL is Time itself; ‘kAla-svarUpiNi’.

The Mother does not stop by just creating ‘day’, ‘night’ and the
two sandhyAs. The three Cosmic Functionaries who take care of
the triple acts of creation, protection and dissolution, are created
by Her (shloka #53). Without distinguishing between the colours of
the three eyes, the lines of red, white and black are depicted
as rajas, satva and tamas and these originate the three
functionaries, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, who, at Her bidding, do
the acts of creation, protection and dissolution.

But Shloka 55 presents the Compassionate aspect of the Mother

and compensates for the possible impression of Her as the ultimate
progenitor of Destruction at the Dissolution time. “If You close
Your eyes, the world gets destroyed. And when You open them, the
world is created again. The presently created world should not be
destroyed – that is what Your Mother instinct feels. That is why
perhaps, Oh Mother, You are not winking Your eyes” says the
Acharya in the 55th shloka – thus echoing the general
understanding in the Hindu world that the divines don’t wink their
eyes at all.

In another shloka #54, the three colours white, red and black which
stand for satva, rajas and tamas are presented from a different
perspective. The river Ganga is white. It
comes from Shiva’smatted hair. Yamuna river is black, because it
has an inseparable relationship with Krishna. The third one is
Saraswati which is invisible but flows under Ganga and Yamuna as
an underground current. In stead of Saraswati, the Acharya takes
the Sone river, which is red. The meaning of SoNa is red. If Ganga is
taken as Shiva and Yamuna is taken as Vishnu, then the
SoNa river is to be taken as ambaaL. It is ambaal’s favourite son
Vighneshvara who presents Himself as the red Sona-bhadra stones
that are available in plenty in the Sone river-bed. The three lines,
white, black and red, in ambaal’s eyes represent the Triveni
of Ganga, Yamuna and SoNa. Therefore it is ‘anaghA’ that is,
sinless. The dRshhTi, glance that emanates from that ‘sinless’
confluence of the three great rivers will eradicate all our sins. “Let
it sanctify us”, winds up the Acharya, as a prayer that benefits, in
his usual style, not only the one who says this but all of us!

63
(Digest of pp.1159 - 1163 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

Here is a shloka which combines, by a poetic artifice

of metaphorical meanings, the divine glance of ambaaL with
several (actually, eight) meritorious locations (kshetras) in
the land of Bharat.

vishAlA kalyANI spuTa-rucir-ayodhyA kuvalayaiH

kRpAdhArA’dhArA kimapi madhurA’’bhogavatikA /
avantI dRshhTis-te bahu-nagara-vistAra-vijayA
dhruvaM tat-tan-nAma-vyavaharaNa-yogyA vijayate // 49 //

te dRshhTiH : Your eye-glance

vijayate : excels in glory (with qualities of being ---)
vishAlA: broad,
kalyANI : auspicious,
ayodhyA kuvalayaiH : invincible (even) by the blue lilies
spuTa-ruciH : (in) brilliant clarity,
AdhArA kRpAdhArA :the basis for the flood of compassion,
kimapi madhurA: indescribably sweet,
bhogavatikA: pleasurable,
avantI : protective, and
bahunagara-vistAra-vijayA : with victories spread over several
cities,
tat-tan-nAma-vyavaharaNa-yogyA : well befitting the names of
cities indicated by those qualities,
dhruvaM : certainly.
Of these, the four names ‘ayodhyA’, ‘dhArA’ (Bhoja’s capital),
‘madhurA’, ‘avantI’ (Ujjain) are well known as the names of cities.
‘VishAlA’ (coming at the beginning of the verse) is also one such;
it is the other name of Badrinath. Recall the slogan-cry of devotees:
‘Jai bhadri-vishAl’! In the Valmiki Ramayana when Rama and
Lakshmana are taken by Vishvamitra to Mithila, on the way they
pass through the city of ‘VishAlA’.
In the Kannada region, there is a ‘KalyANi’ in the district of Bidar.
In the days of the Acharya that region was called ‘Kuntala’, with
its capital at Kalyani. In later days when the Chalukya dynasty of
Vatapi came to an end, but again emerged as a powerful influence,
it came to be known as the ‘Kalyani Chalukya dynasty’.

BhogavatI is another city. This is known as ‘kambath’ in Gujarat.

The Englishmen called it Cambay. That is why the name of ‘Gulf of
Cambay’ came up.
VijayA is another city. It is not the Vijayanagar of Hampi in Bellary
District of Karnataka. Nor is it the Vijayanagaram of Srikakulam
District of Andhra, where the famous Gajapati kings ruled. In order
to distinguish these two Vijayanagara’s, the Hampi Vijayanagara
was called ‘Vijaya’ and the Andhra Vijayanagara was called ‘Viziya’
by later English Historians. It was the Hampi Vijayanagara that
became the seat of the famous Vijayanagara Empire in later days;
because the city was named ‘VidyA-nagara’ by Bhukkaraya. But
that was in the 14th century. Neither this nor the Andhra Viziya
was there at the time of the Acharya. So the ‘Vijaya’ that he has
immortalised in this verse must be something else, probably the
Kurukshetra of the Mahabharata. The last shloka of the Gita says:
“Where there are Krishna and Arjuna, there rules Vijaya also”!. It
may be this Vijaya is referring to Kurukshetra. It is interesting to
note that Arjuna was himself also known as ‘Vijaya’.

These eight cities are not ordinary places. The relationship of

ambaaL to them all is because of the fact that Her eye-
glance (dRshhTi) while falling on the entire universe fell in
addition with an extra force on these eight places. And, to boot,
the meanings embedded in the names of these eight cities, also fit
as a characteristic of the dRshhTi of ambaaL. This is shown by the
extra meaning imbedded in these words in addition to them being
simple proper names of cities.
The Commentators wax eloquent on the precise meanings of
‘vishAlA dRshhTi’, kalyANI dRshhTi’ and so on for all the eight
epithets for the glance of ambaaL. I do not remember them all. But
let me now tell you generally what all this means.

At this point, Ra. Ganapathy, the writer of these records,

supplies the following footnote.
“Lakshmidhara’s bhashya on Soundaryalahari
describes these eight kinds of eye-glances thus.
‘vishAlA dRshhTi’ shows an inner satisfaction.
‘kalyANI’ shows the miraculous nature of the dRshhTi.
‘ayodhyA’ is the smile shown by the very eyeballs.
‘dhArA’ is that enchanting glance of the lover.
‘madhurA’ is what is shown by contracted eyes.
‘bhogavatI’ is the glance shown by friendly affection.
‘avantI’ is the innocent look.
‘vijayA’ is the side glance emanating from the position of
the eyeball moving to the extreme corner of the eye”.

The breadth of coverage of the glance of ambaal is vast and so it

is vishAlA. It also generates auspiciousness for the whole world; so
it is kalyANI.
Now let us come to ‘ayodhyA’. This name could have come to the
capital of the state ruled by the Ikshvaku kings by one of two
reasons. Their headquarters must have been so well protected by
moats and fortresses that they were invincible. Or perhaps, they
were considered so invulnerable that nobody came to fight with
them. On both contacts their place is ‘ayodhyA’! But the point here
is, in what way the name fits ambaal’s eye-glance? First of
all, dRshhTi itself is a word for ‘eyes’. Poetic liberty with ‘eyes’
compares it with blue lilies. Going one step higher, poetic licence
even plays havoc with the roles of ‘upamAna’ (example) and
‘upameya’ (that which is exemplified); thus they interchange the
roles of ‘upamAna’ and ‘upameya’. In the current context, it is
not uncommon to say ‘the eyes which belittle the blue lilies’. And
then one gets to be more aggressive and says ‘ in the war of
comparison, the eyes are the winners over the blue lilies’. It is in
this strain the Acharya says ‘eyes which are invincible by the blue
lilies’. And this invincibility is what is built into the word
‘ayodhyA’!

It is ambaal’s eye-glance that bestows the rain of compassion, that

is, it is the basis (‘AdhAra’) for the rain (‘dhArA’) of compassion
(‘kRpA’). Therefore it is ‘kRpA-dhArA AdhArA’, thereby doubling
the use of the sound ‘dhArA’ which is the name of the famous
capital of Bhoja. And does it not indicate also the generosity of
King Bhoja whose awards always excelled in their profusion
because they were always given with both hands rather than a
single hand, thus doubling the size of the benefaction?
64
(Digest of pp.1164 -1174 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

Sweetness is the innate characteristic of ambaal’s form. So how sweet would be

her dRshhTi, in particular! Therefore it is ‘madhurA’. The corresponding city
in North India is Mathura. But here it is the ‘Madhura’ of the Tamil region.

‘Bhogavati’ is said to be a place in Prayag (modern Allahabad). But the shloka

talks about ‘nagaras’ only. So a part of Prayag cannot be what he is referring to.
Also Bhogavati is also the name of a city in the nether-world and also the name
of Ganga which flows in the three worlds. But the Acharya is talking here only
about cities on Earth, none of these would be the Bhogavati that he is referring to.
So it must refer to only Cumbath in Gujarat, which has however lost its good old
name of Bhogavati!

Well, how does that name fit as a description of ambaal’s eye-glance? The word
means ‘deserving of experience’. If only ambaal’s glance can fall on us, what
greater experience can we think of, other than the bliss such a glance will bestow
on us?

‘avantI’ means that which protects. It is ambaal’s eye-glance that is a great force
of protection for us. The city named Ujjain also has the name ‘avantI’. In fact the
name once belonged to both the city as well as the kingdom of which it was the
capitol. Later, in order to avoid confusion, the kingdom continued to be called
‘avantI’ while the capitol was named ‘Ujjain’. Later it appears that the capitol was
also called ‘VishAlA’.

A final observation. Ambaal’s dRshhTi certainly falls on the whole universe and
therefore on all the cities of the world. But these eight have been highlighted
because the divine glance has all the qualities indicated by the names of these cities;
and that is what makes the poet in the Acharya express his delight through this
shloka.

The next shloka (#50) makes a direct connection between poetic talent and
ambaal’s eyes, by bringing in a comparison between Her third eye and the other
two eyes:

kavInAM sandarbha-stabaka-makarandaika-rasikaM
kaTAkshha-vyAkshhepa-bhramara-kalabhau karNa-yugalaM /
amuncantau dRshhTvA tava nava-rasAsvAda-taralau
asUyA samsargAd-alika-nayanaM kimcid-aruNaM // 50 //

dRshhTvA: Having seen

tava: Your
kaTAkshha-vyAkshhepa-bhramara-kalabhau : (side-glance – pretext – honeybees –
young) two eyes resembling the young of honey-bees,on the pretext of (casting)
side-glances
amuncantau: not leaving
karNa-yugalaM : the two ears
sandarbha-stabaka-makrand-aika-rasikaM : (poetry – bouquet – honey – exclusive
– tasting) which enjoy the exclusive taste of honey dripping from the bouquet of
poetic sentiments
kavInAM : of the poets
nava-rasa-AsvAda-taralau : and eager in tasting the nine rasas
alika-nayanaM : the third eye (on the forehead)
asUyA-samsargAt: out of jealous hostility
kimcid-aruNaM : (has become) slightly reddish.

The key word here is ‘asUyA-samsargAt’ . Where came this hostility? Why? To
whom? These are the interesting subtleties of the Acharya’s composition in this
shloka. The redness of the third eye is usually attributed by poets to the traditional
association of agni (fire) with the third eye, just as the other two eyes are associated
with the Sun and the Moon. But the eye that goes with the Sun should then be
associated with heat and the other eye with the coolness of the Moon. That way
there will be a distinction between the two eyes. The Acharya naturally wanted to
deviate from this stereotyped analogy of the three eyes to the Sun,
the Moon and agni. He assumes therefore that all three eyes were naturally of the
same colour originally, but now because of the feeling of jealousy on the part of
the third eye towards the other two eyes, it became red!
And, he gives a legitimate reason for this jealousy. The word ‘sandarbha’ means
‘opportunity’ or ‘circumstance’. In the context of this shloka it means that kind of
exquisite poetry which coordinates characters, events, circumstances,
words, flight of imagination, metre, and everything connected with
poetry. When poets make a bouquet out of such excellent poetry, all the nine
sentiments – rasas – flow out like honey. This is the honey that is exclusively
enjoyed by the ears of ambaaL. Her eyes are themselves long and when the side
glances are there, the ends of the eyes reach the ears! And that is how the eyes
partake of the poetic honey that has already been poured into those ears by poets.
Enjoying this taste of honey the eyes would not leave the ears (‘amuncantau’).
Since the eyeballs are so fascinated by that enjoyment, they do not come off from
the ears; they are compared to the young ones of honey-bees which get stuck in the
depths of the honey-full stems of flowers!

But here, in the poet’s imagination, ambaaL is playing a trick

with Her devotees. She has a duty of pouring out compassion and grace on the
people of the world. If She is only enjoying the flattering stotras poured into Her
ears to such an extent that even Her eyes get stuck in extending their side-glances
up to the ears, then She will be failing in Her duty of compassion to the rest of the
world. Hence the use of the words ‘kaTAkshha-vyAkshhepa’. On the pretext of a
side-glance She is allowing Her eyeballs to move sideways up to the ears. This side-
glance pretext is for the world to be blessed with Her infinite compassion. In other
words She is achieving both by Her side-glance – one is pouring out Her Grace on
the world and two, the eyes themselves are sharing with the ears the honey-taste
of the poetic fancies that reach the ears.

What are these poetic fancies? They are all about the Lord. But this idea is not
there in this particular shloka. By sheer habit I just used the words ‘about the
Lord’. But it is not all mine. In shlokas 60 and 66, where Saraswati Herself is
singing praises and Mother Lalita is listening with enjoyment, it is said ‘vividham-
apadAnaM pashupateH’, meaning ‘the varied leelas of Lord Shiva’.

Another shloka which talks about the fact that Mother Lalita is enjoyhing the
music of Sarasvati is shloka #60. There are two “lahari’s” in this shloka.
“sarasvatyAs-sUktIH amRta-laharI kaushalaharIH” are the beginning words. We
have already seen various “lahari’s”: Ananda-lahari; Soundarya-lahari;
cidAnanda-lahari; shRngAra-lahari. In this shloka (#60) though it looks like there
are two “lahari’s”, in actual fact there is only one, namely, “amRta-lahari”. The
other one, “kaushala-hari” is not a “lahari”. It means that which captivates the
“kaushala” (talent). The content of the first line of shloka #60 is to say that the
words (actually, prayers – sUktis) of Sarasvati capture even the flooding flow of
nectar (amRta-lahari). Earlier in shloka #50, it was said that the ears store up the
honey of praises from poets. Here the same ears are said to be the small receptacles
(chuLuka-pAtraM) of those prayers given out by no less than the Goddess of
Learning Herself. When the ears are so personified, the clang of the ear ornaments
(kuNDala-gaNaH) when Mother Lalita nods Her head in appreciation, is said to
be the cries of ‘hear hear’ of those ears in appreciation of Sarasvati’s praises.

65
(Digest of pp.1174 -1179 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

After having described how the eyes enjoy the nine rasas poured
out by poets into the ears of the Mother, now the Acharya tells us
how the eyes themselves show the dance of the nine rasas:

Shive shRngArArdrA tad-itara-jane kutsana-parA

saroshhA gangAyAM girisha-carite vismayavatI /
harAhibhyo bhItA sarasiruha-soubhAgya-jananI
sakhIshhu smerA te mayi janani dRshhTis-sakaruNA // 51 //

It is the eyes that can show all the different rasas that reflect the
status of the mind. The ears are simply of no use for this task. The
lips of course can reflect anger (by twitching in a certain
way) and sorrow (by twitching in a different way). Sometimes they
also show happiness by showing a slight movement peculiar to a
smile. But the one organ in the body which shows out all the
attitudes that exist internally is the eye. Whether it is love,
disgust, anger, wonder, fear, courage, comic mirth, compassion, or
serenity, for all these the eye is the indicator. In dramatics
the rasaof compassion is also shown by the sorrowful eye, but
the rasa of divine compassion (karuNA) is recognised in dance
forms only by the eye. The artist when bringing to life his picture
or painting, takes the greatest care on his depiction of the eyes for
it is through them that he brings out the state of mind of his
subject. A slight alteration in the presentation of the eyeballs will
change the entire bhAva of the painting. Equal care has to be taken
of the eyes by the actor or actress in a play. All this world is a play
of the Mother. And She showers all the rasas through Her eyes.
And that is what is taken up in this shloka.
In what context is the shRngAra rasa (the sentiment of Love)
dominant? Naturally in Her relationship with the Lord. ‘Shive
shRngArAdrA’: The eyes are wet by the rasa of Love towards Shiva.
His crystal whiteness is flooded by Her redness and thus draws Him
into the shRngAra rasa – as is talked about in shloka 92.

The expression of Love is something that attracts. The opposite of

this is not the fear or terror (raudra rasa) that is generated by
anger. Anger has always a reason. Love is blind. So Love has no
reason or rhyme. The opposite of it is the bhIbatsa rasa (the
sentiment of disgust) that also has no reason. We have many
things in us that are disgusting – both physically and mentally. But
ambaa the Universal Mother takes all of us in Her arms. How
can She have any rasa of disgust? Yes, She has – when
some male other than Her Lord, comes to Her not as Her child, but
as an adult. Even Lord Shiva came to Her in disguise once, with
tales of blame on Shiva and that is the time when She exhibits
the bhIbatsa rasa as exquisitely described by Kalidasa. By just
closing the eyes also, She may exhibit the disgust.

“tad-itara-jane kutsana-parA”: “tad-itara” means ‘other than He

(Shiva)’. ‘kutsana-parA’ means ‘full of disgust’. ‘jane’: in the
people. ‘kutsana’ is the same as ‘bhIbatsa’.

When does She show Her ‘raudra’ rasa – the rasa of extreme
anger? “saroshhA gangAyAM”. ‘rosha’ and ‘roudra’ are the same.
When the Lord is keeping another woman right on the top of His
head – that is what Shiva is doing with GangA – She is naturally
angry. He gave Her only half His body; whereas the other woman is
sitting on his head! She is not angry with Him; She is a pati-vratA.
But She shows Her anger on GangA! By a poetic ruse the Acharya
here gives Her the feeling of an ordinary human female!

‘adbhuta’ is another rasa. It is the wonder expressed at something

extra-ordinary. “girisha-carite vismaya-vatI”: ‘vismaya’ is
wonder. ‘GirIsha’ and ‘Girisha’ are both names of Lord Shiva.
‘GirIsha’ is ‘Giri-Isha’, that is, the Lord of the Kailas mountain.
‘Girisha’ means the One who resides in Kailas mountain. His
history is full of wonders and miracles. The destruction of Tripura,
the burning of Manmatha, the vanquishing of GajAsura, the
silencing of Kala, the killing of the asura ‘andhaka’, the
consumption of the HalAhala poison, the roaming about as a
mendicant (BikshhATanaM), the tANDava dance of Nataraja, and
the 64 leelas in the kshhetra of HalAsya (Madurai) – all these and
many more! That the Actionless (‘nishh-kriyaH’) Ultimate got
involved in all these numerous actions was itself due to ambaa -
- that is why the Soundaryalahari started. She wonders at the
Leela-actions of the Lord and we wonder at Her miraculous
prompting that made Him do all the actions!

The next is ‘bhayAnakaM’, the rasa that expresses fear. She as the
Universal Mother is ‘abhaya-vara-pradA’, the dispenser of
abhaya, fearlessness and vara, boon. How can She have fear?
Yes, She has. The poet in the Acharya says She is ‘harAhibhyo
bhItA’ – afraid of the snakes on the person of the Lord! Actually the
very snake depicted around a Shiva-linga is Herself – in the form
of the KunDalini in every jIva. And still She is ‘afraid’ of Shiva’s
snakes! This is another divine play!

The rasa of ‘vIra’, that is, courage, is certainly visible in Her great
leelas of the destruction of MahishhAsura and BaNDAsura, where
She could be seen as the very personification of ‘vIraM’. But the
Acharya could not possibly bring himself to link Her vIraM with
such destructive episodes. Instead he says ‘sarasIruha-soubhAgya-
jananI’ – the One who generates the brilliance of the lotus. Lotus-
brilliance is red. Redness indicates the rasa of ‘vIraM’. In fact he
could have said that She excels the brilliance of the lotus. For he
does not want even that slight hint of a competition or battle
implied in the word ‘excels’. So he says She ‘generates’ (‘jananI’)
the brilliant redness of the lotus.

One more observation about the word ‘jananI’. There is also an

alternate reading as ‘jayinI’. This means ‘the One who wins’.
Her eye certainly wins the brilliance of the lotus. In this reading,
the concept of ‘winning’ is explicitly stated. Whether it is winning
or generating, what is significant here is that it is the very eyes of
the Mother that do these actions directly. So far the ‘rasas’ that
we have seen earlier – like anger, fear, wonder, etc. – are all only
shown as a reaction to something else by the eyes. Whereas, this
‘vIra rasa’ is not a reaction by the eyes, it is an action performed
by the very eyes!

“sakhIshhu smerA” -- humorous among Her friends. The

mischievous look that She would exhibit in Her humorous
conversations with friends is what is enjoyed by the Acharya here.

The remaining of the nine rasas are: ‘shoka’ that is sorrow which
is also exhibited as ‘karuNA’ (divine compassion) and ‘shAnta’
that is serenity.

(Digest of pp.1180 -1185 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,

4th imprn.)

The next rasa is karuNa-rasa, that is, the rasa of pitiability and
miserability. This is also called shoka-rasa, the rasa of sorrow
and misery. But the Acharya does not want to depict ambaa in
this rasa. Earlier in shloka 47 also, when he used the words
“bhuvana-bhaya-bhanga-vyasanini”, though She was shown to
have had feelings of sorrow (“vyasanini”) for the people of the
world, it was more because of Her karuNA (divine compassion) that
She was sad, than because of the ‘bhuvana-bhaya’, the horror of
samsAra of the people. She wanted to help them rid of this
‘bhuvana-bhaya’ and so She was intent on ‘bhuvana-bhaya-
bhanga’, namely the destruction of the fear of the world; and thus
it was more an expression of karuNA (compassion)
than karuNA (=shoka, sorrow). In the same way here also it is
the karuNA-rasa that exhibits itself; thus the shoka-rasa is only
shown by implication from the rasa of divine compassion, that
comes out of the words “te mayi janani dRshhTis-sakruNA” –
meaning, Oh Mother, Your glances that show different rasas, are
full of compassion when falling on me.

Note the use of the word “mayi” (on me), here. All along the
Acharya was using the word “naH” (to us, on us), whenever he was
asking for the Grace or blessing to descend from the divine. But
now the matter is so personal that he makes himself the
representative of the entire world, and asks for the Grace to
descend on him, and through him to every reader of this shloka.
All the other rasas can be objectified as operating on a third
person, but the KaruNA-rasa has to be received as a divine blessing
by each and every one.

The shloka is over. But we have covered only 8 rasas so far. Where
is the ninth rasa, shAntaM – that of peace and
serenity? The rasa that is a unification of all these eight rasas
into one is the shAnta rasa. It is the basic rasa from which all
others emerge! It is the Shiva rasa. The first word “shive” in this
shloka denotes that. In the beginning of Soundaryalahari, in the
very first shloka, we were told that without Shakti, ShivaM is
nothing but shAntaM. This shloka begins with “shive” and thereby
indicates that it is that shAnta state that became dynamic and
evolved into the other eight rasas. The whole stotra of
Soundaryalahari depicts ambaaL as the ‘kArya-brahman’; so the
shAnta state of Hers where there is no action has been only
subtly indicated here.

Another interesting observation!. The stotra itself begins with

‘Shiva’. This shloka, which is exactly in the middle of the whole
stotra – it is the beginning of the 51st shloka – begins with ‘shive’.
Thus Shakti occurs in the very centre of the whole stotra, just as
the shiva mantra occurs in the middle of the four vedas.

There is another tradition in the science of ‘alankAra’ however on

the concept of shAnta-rasa. According to this tradition, there are
only eight rasas. ShAntaM is not a rasa at all. Experience,
experiencer, feeling, excitement – all these and their original
sources together constitute what is called a rasa. But in the state
of shAnta, all these have no place; for they are all dormant therein.
Then how can we call it a rasa? But there is quite an opposite
tradition in the same ‘alankAra’ school of experts. They have
detailed in their writings what originates the shAnta rasa, what
would be its background, what are the symptoms, and what are the
accessories for this rasa and so forth. They call shAnta
rasa the ‘rasa of all rasas’!

But the argument about there being only eight rasas doesn’t seem
to be acceptable to the Acharya; for he has used the words “nava-
rasAsvAda-taralau” (shloka 50), “nava-rasa-mahA-tANDava”
(shloka 41).
There is also a tradition where not only shAntaM is the ninth rasa but
there is one more rasa added to the list, namely ‘vAtsalya’. Acharya’s
words “mayi janani dRshhTis-sakaruNA” (May your glance, Oh Mother, be
on me!) remind us that She is the Mother Supreme and this manner of the
Acharya making himself a child of the Mother, is exactly what brings the
vAtsalya rasa also! Thus the Acharya has explicitly mentioned eight rasas
and implicitly brought in the other two rasas – all in reference to that
single organ, the eyes of the divine!

There is a lot of beauty implicit in Soundaryalahari. One of these

is the mention of ‘Meenakshi’. This also concerns the ‘eye’.
‘Meenakshi’ itself means the ‘fish-eyed’. Her very fame from
ancient times has always been centred upon the beauty of her eyes.
Of such a great Devi, apparently neither of the two great works on
Devi have spoken. These two are Lalitasahasranama and
Soundaryalahari. But this is only a first impression. If we carefully
look into these works, we would come to know there is no necessity
to default them for this.

For, though there is no explicit mention, Meenakshi is implicitly

mentioned in Lalitasahasranama. In fact it is this very implicitness
that adds a a greater importance to that. “vaktra-lakshmI-
parIvAha-calan-mInAbha-locanA” is one of the names in the
sahasranama. ‘vaktra-lakshmI’ means the brilliance of ambaal’s
face. It is like a great flood (parIvAha). When the dalliance of the
face runs as a flood of water, there ought to be fish in that flood!
Where are the fishes? The long long eyes of ambaa are the fishes.
‘locana’ means ‘eye’. (‘lokana’ means ‘sight’ or ‘glance’. By the
very fact that it is ‘seen’, the world is called ‘loka’). The ‘locana’
that resembles ‘a fish’ generates the word ‘mInAbha-locanaM’.
Instead of saying ‘MinAkshhI’ explicitly, it is mentioned as
‘MinAbha-locanA’. Well, that takes care of one ‘default’!

In Soundaryalahari, where the shloka 49 talked about the

relationship of Her eyes to various cities, ‘madhura’ occurs. So by
giving the name of the city of Minakshi, we may take it Minakshi
has been mentioned. In addition to this there is shloka 56.

67
 (Digest of pp.1186 -1188 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

The first two lines of Shloka 56 are:

tavAparNe karNe japa-nayana-paishunya-chakitAH

nilIyante toye niyatam-animeshhAH shapharikAH /

tavAparNe has to be broken as tava aparNe. aparNA is the name

of ambaa. The name aparNA means ‘She who did not even eat the
leaves’. In her manifestation as the daughter of the Mountain King,
when She was doing penance in order to be wedded to Lord Shiva,
She adopted such a terrific self-discipline, wherein, She did not
even have the fallen leaves as Her food.
aparNe: Oh Goddess, who has the name aparNA,
niyataM : certainly,
shapharikAH: the female fishes
nilIyante : hide themselves
toye: in water
japa-nayana-paishunya-chakitAH: (talking – eyes – tell-tale –
trembling) trembling in fear that Your eyes (that extend up to the
ear) are perhaps carrying tales of slander (about them)
tava karNe: to Your ears.

Why do fish never swim in the upper regions of the ocean and
instead always stay in deep waters? The Acharya here imagines an
interesting reason. They see ambaal’s eyes which extend up
to Her ears. She is always rolling Her eyes on all sides in order that
not a single being in the universe misses Her blessed glance of
protection. And so they now and then reach the extremities of the
eye and appear as if they are touching the ears! And the fishes
think that is when the eyes say something secretive into the
divine ears. They think defensively that the devi’s eyes are perhaps
telling tales about them (the fishes); because they always think that
the fish-eyed looks of the devi are only competing with them as
rivals in terms of fast movements. And naturally they are afraid
the devi might take it on them and therefore they
stay in deep water! They know that if they are really put to test
they will lose in competition with ambaal’s eyes both in the beauty
as well as in fast movement.
In the Meenakshi temple at Madurai, there is the tank called ‘The
tank of the Golden Lotus’. There are no fishes in that tank. The
folklore is that they don’t come there because they know they
cannot compete with the beauty of the
eyes of Goddess Meenakshi. Thus the Acharya in making a
comparison of ambaal’s eyes with fishes and in painting a picture
for us of the fishes not wanting to show up before Her, has really
subtly hinted to us of Goddess Meenakshi in this shloka!

This takes care of the other ‘default’ – namely, that in

Soundaryalahari, where is the mention of Meenakshi?

One more observation on this shloka before we move on . This is

about the word ‘animeshhAH’. It means ‘without winking the
eyes’. By the way, the word ‘nimeshha’ means a unit of time equal
to about one-fourth of a second. The Tamil word ‘nimishhaM’
meaning ‘a minute’ must have come from this ‘nimeshha’. That
ambaal does not wink Her eyes was effectively used by the Acharya
in just the previous shloka (#55). There he says that Creation and
Dissolution take place just during the winking of Her eyes. And so
in order to prevent this universe (that has been created at the
opening of Her eyelids) from dissolution She does not wink Her
eyes at all !. Here the general traditional belief that the divines do
not wink their eyes has been used by the Acharya as aremarkable
expression of Her protective feeling towards the whole universe.
But we can also look at it in another way. The fraction of a second
during which the winking takes place may deny the Compassionate
Divine Glance to Her children of the world; and maybe that is
why She does not wink Her eyes!

But how can the same non-winking of eyes apply to fish? Of course
there is the traditional belief that fishes by nature don’t
sleep. But again this belief has been elevated to a poetic
imagination by the Acharya visualising that the fish don’t wink
because they, being afraid of the effect of slander about them by
Her eyes, want to be alert all the time against any ‘attack’ by Her
even while they hide themselves in deep water!
Next comes one of the most touching shlokas (#57) of
Soundaryalahari. Here we have to melt our hearts in prayer. Maybe
this particular shloka was done by the Acharya when
He was overcome by Her KaruNA in all its fullness. But the
Acharya shows his humility even here. Instead of saying “Your
Grace has descended on me with all its overflowing fullness”, he
says, in talking of Her Grace, “Would it not also reach me?” Look
at the humility of our Acharya in spite of his being at the apex of
Bhakti, JnAna, Spiritual Power and Poetic Excellence!

Indeed all the great nAyanmars, and Alwars, when they sing about
their love of God vie with each other in expressing the sentiment
of humility coupled with grief and self-pity. “Oh Lord, Would you
not condescend to shower your grace on this poor little devotee
of Yours?” – this is the running theme in many of their
compositions. Our Acharya also does this. My own opinion is
this. These great giants of devotion do not have to belittle
themselves so much. They are all already realised souls. But they
sing in this strain because they want us ordinary folk to be able to
appeal to the Almighty in that strain. Ignorant as we are, we lack
that humility and we don’t even know how to pray. And that is why
they give us the very words to pray with that kind of humility. And
here, in this shloka #57, ambaal has prompted our Acharya to pray
to her in that style with superlative humility!

68
(Digest of pp.1190 - 1196 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

dRshA drAghIyasyA dara-dalita-nIlotpala-ruchA

davIyAmsaM dInaM snapaya kRpayA mAm-api shive /
anena-ayaM dhanyo bhavati na ca te hAnir-iyatA
vane vA harmye vA samakara-nipAto himakaraH //57 //

“dRshA” denotes ‘by the eye’ as also ‘by the glance’.

“drAghIyasyA” means ‘longer than anything’. The comparison is
with any thing else in the world. Therefore the expression ‘dRshA
drAghIyasyA’ connotes the eye-glance that can outreach any
distance. In other words ambaal’s glance falls on those even in the
farthest corners of the universe. And naturally it does not
distinguish among them; it falls on all of them equally.

“dara-dalita-nIlotpala-ruchA” : Usually ‘ruchi’ is taken to mean

the taste that the tongue feels. But the feeling of ‘light’ that is
associated with the eye-sense is also called ‘ruchi’. In shloka #48
earlier, the Acharya used ‘dara-dalita-hemAmbuja-ruchiH’ – the
‘ruchi’ corresponding to the golden lotus slightly in bloom – for
ambaal’s third eye. Thus the light of fire that comes from the third
eye is the golden lotus and the other two eyes are blue water-lilies
(‘nIlotpala’). The two sounds of ‘la’ in ‘nIlotpala’ give the soft
gentle touch of sweetness to the description. It befits the deity
whose name itself – ‘lalitA’ – contains the same two soft sounds of
‘la’. Just as an expert jewel-maker chooses the right colour and
nature of the gem-stones to be studded in his jewels so as to
maximise the attractiveness and majesty of the jewel that he
makes, the poet in the Acharya chooses his words meticulously to
fit the subject and produce the delightful sound effect!

The nIlotpala radiates cool beauty. The coolness compares to the

compassion that radiates from the graceful eye-glance of ambaal.
And it permeates the whole universe. This radiation is not the eye-
blinding brilliance of the golden lotus (hemAmbuja) – which belongs
to the third eye. The Lord’s opening of the third eye
is known to radiate terror. We have no instance of ambaal’s
opening of Her third eye. So what is prayed for here is
the nilotpala-glance of the right and left eyes.

Then there is the qualification ‘dara-dalita’ for

the nIlotpala. When the waterlily is fully closed but ready to
blossom, the cool shine of the moon falls on it and it starts to
open up. ‘dalita’ indicates the just-opened state of the petals of
the lily. ‘dara’ – meaning, ‘a little’ -- indicates that the blossoming
is not full but very little. If the lily opens out fully, it won’t give
the eye-shape. Nor is it totally a bud. Only a closed eye would look
like a lily-bud. And we know that ambaal never closes her eyelids!
She has to cast Her glance on all the world all the time!

Nor can we say Her eyes are fully open. Actually such a fully open
look from the eyes would not radiate compassion; only in anger the
eyes will radiate such a full stare. In a compassionate look, the
eyelids are half closed and half-open. In complete shAnta (Peace)
state the eyes will be almost closed though a little of it is
visible. So when ambaal casts Her graceful compassionate glance,
the eyes have the half-blossomed state of the nIlotpala. It is in this
state that the flower also has a subtle attraction, for what is inside
is not visible, but what is inside is also showing a little! A poet also
enjoys and revels in such a state where he dares not say something
explicitly but still is not totally implicit.

When you look at a nIlotpala petal, it shows up as blue in the

outer fringes but as you look more and more inside and follow it up
to its base, the blue colour fades and brightens up into white. This
happens even in the petals of a red lotus. Thus when
a nIlotpala flower shows up as a silken blue with a polished oily
surface, with no other colour spoiling the blueness, then it must
be only in its half-blossomed state. When it has fully blossomed,
the white colour at the bottom will begin to show up. Hence the
words ‘dalita’ ( just blossomed) and ‘dara’ (only a little). What an
accurate matching of words!

Now let us go to the second line of the shloka:

“davIyAmsaM dInaM snapaya kRpayA mAm-api shive”

Note that the first line had a number of words sounding with ‘da’.
‘dRshA’, ‘draghIyasyA’, ‘dara’, and ‘dalita’. And the same
flooding of words with ‘da’ continues even in the second line:
‘davIyAmsaM’ and ‘dInaM’. And again the sound effects of
‘drAghIyasyA’ and ‘davIyAmsaM’ are the same. All this is of course
gymnastics of words. That is only the tip of the iceberg. The
gymnastics of the contents of the words is thousand times more
superb.

‘davIyAmsaM’ is also a word denoting a degree of comparison just

as ‘drAghIyasyA’ was in the first line. ‘davIyAmsaM’ denotes
‘farther than anything’. So it indicates the person who is praying
is farthest removed from Her. ‘dInaM’ indicates lowliness,
pitiability, worthlessness,and a state of total fright. All these
meanings are together applicable here. The Acharya has put in this
word so as to have all its meanings relevant here.

Such a lowly person is to be bathed (snapaya) in the rain of

compassion from the Mother Goddess. But where is the rain of
compassion supposed to come from? It is not ‘from’; it is ‘by’. By
Her glance. By Her ‘kaTAkshha’ – glance of grace.

But if you look at the first line there doesn’t seem to be any need
for such a prayer. For ‘drAghIyasyA’ is the nature of Her eye-
glance; that means it is far-reaching and covers the entire
world. Not only it covers universally every one, but it does not also
make any distinction from person to person. So there is no reason
to assume that somebody has been left out.
Why then is this prayer ‘snapaya kRpayA’ – meaning, please deign
to bathe (this devotee) in Your compassion?
69
(Digest of pp.1197 -1205 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)
(Shloka 57 continued)

“snapaya kRpaya mAm-api shive” – ‘Bathe even me by Your grace,

Oh Mother’ : Why this prayer, when the first line of the shloka has
already assured us that ambaal’s compassionate glance is
‘drAghIyasyA’ , that is, it reaches the farthest corners and extends
to every one without any distinction? That is because this ‘lowly
one’ (dInaM) is davIyAmsaM (far removed even from the ordinary
range of people – in that sense, the lowliest). And the Acharya’s
stamp of humility comes out not only in these two words, but in
the additional word ‘mAM api’ – meaning, ‘even me’. He asks for
ambaal’s grace ‘even on this poor me’.

The whole thing implies “My Mother! You have probably kept me
so far removed from you, because I do not deserve the
universal kaTAkshhaM (divine glance of grace) that you bestow on
all. I am probably of such poor spiritual merit. But now I pray to
you. Would you not deign to cast your glance even on me?”!
“Please do not just glance, but really bathe me by a downpour of
your grace” (snapaya kRpayA).
Why this poor self-estimation? Obviously, the Acharya is praying
for all of us. We usually do not deign to rise to this pedestal of
humility when we pray to God. Because our ego prevents us from
becoming so humble. But the Acharya is teaching us how to pray.
It is said that Jesus took all our sins on himself and got himself
crucified on the Cross. Here the Acharya is speaking for us and
taking on himself all our faults as if they are his and pleads for
Divine Mother’s Grace to descend on him (for us) in the fullest
sense!

The Acharya usually prays for all of us; he uses the word “naH” (cf.
Shlokas 7 and 44). But in shloka #51, where he was referring to the
nine rasas oozing forth from Her eyes, he used “mayi” (on me),
which was a little puzzling to us. But the explanation for that
comes here. The Compassionate Glance mentioned there happens
to be the subject of this shloka #57. By itself Her divine glance is
‘dRAghIyas’, that is, reaches the farthest. Therefore nobody need
pray to Her for that Glance. But here the speaker (the Acharya)
considers himself the lowliest of all; so he has to pray for that
divine benefit of Her Glance. And that is why in shlokas 51 and 57
he uses “mayi” !

[Note by VK: In shlokas 22 and 51 also,

the Acharya uses the word “mayi”.
But the Paramacharya’s explanation
fits there also !]

The followers of the tradition of Shri Krishna Chaitanya, who follow

the dvaita-bhAva bhakti, are well known for their attitude of
extreme humility in their prayers to God. But in that kind of
modesty our Acharya excels them here!

“Well ! You have yourself accepted that you have been banished
from My Grace and that too deservingly, by your own admission.
Then why do you still pray to Me?” – ambaaL might ask. And the
Acharya, as if anticipating this possible rejoinder from ambaal,
puts in the third and fourth line of this shloka:
anena ayaM dhanyo bhavati na ca te hAnir-iyatA
vane vA harmye vA sama-kara-nipAto hima-karaH //
Though I am undeserving according to shastraic rules and
regulations, where comes a rule or restraint when pure love is the
principal matter? There are things which have an equanimous
relationship with everything else irrespective of norms and
regulations. In fact this kind of equanimous view is what the Gita
raises to the sky. There have been people of that kind; and there
are things of that kind. Take for instance the moon. It is always
‘hima-karaH’ – that which makes everything cool. The moon does
not make any distinction as to which place on earth should receive
its cool moonlight. Does he make any discrimination between a
high tower and a low pit? Whether it is a forest (“vane vA”) or a
mansion (“harmye vA”) he pours his moonlight equally. Neither
does he pour more of it in the quadrangle of the king’s palace nor
does he pour less of it in the shrubs of the thorny forest. He is
“samakara-nipAtaH” – that is, one who falls equally
everywhere. In the same way, can you not Oh Mother, dispense
your cool Grace on me, even though I am covered by the rough and
tough dirt of worldly sins!

In other words, all this argument is to say that the Mother Goddess
should not take into account my quality; She should have ‘sama-
dRshhTi’!

But then it appears the ambaal raises another question. “Suppose

the weight of your sins boomerangs back on my “kaTAkshha”
(divine Graceful Glance) itself? And the Acharya replies: “na ca te
hAnir-iyatA”. ‘iyatA’: by this. ‘te’: for you. ‘hAniH na’: there is no
loss. The additional word ‘ca’ makes the ‘te’ as ‘te ca’, meaning,
for you too.

Your dRshhTi, glance, will not be affected by the object on which

it falls. Just like the moon. Its light falls on all and sundry; but the
moon itself is not affected by any such object on which its light
falls. When the moon itself is not affected by the object that
benefits by it, what to speak of Your compassionate Glance. On
whomsoever it may fall, even though it be a faulty object such as
me, how can it affect Your dRshhTi? “na ca te hAnir-iyatA” – By
this you are not affected either.
When it is said that ‘for you too’ there is no loss, then there should
be something else mentioned which has necessitated that word
‘too’. Just as “you too” there has to be a ‘me’ on the other hand.
The answer is in the expression “anena ayaM dhanyo bhavati” –
This person (namely, I) also becomes blessed.

The moment Your compassionate Glance falls on someone, that

someone is blessed with infinite bliss. You also do not lose
anything. I get everything. That very undeservingness which
removed me farthest from you has now been more than
compensated by the beatific of Your dRshhTi.

The Acharya has composed this shloka only for us to get that
treasure of beatification of Her Grace. We all live in this world
seeking to decorate ourselves with fame, honour, position, power
and what not. But all this ‘alankAra’ (=decoration) is nothing
before what that ‘alankAra’ of Her benign Grace that can bring in
the ultimate jnAna to us in no time.

The shloka ends with ‘samakara-nipAto himakaraH’. By this he

pleads with ambaal for her equanimous view of all. It is this
very sama-darshana – that is the view which sees everything
as brahman along advaitic lines – that the poet MUka praises in
Shloka 48 of his ‘AryA-shatakaM’. Just as this Soundaryalahari
shloka talks of moonlight falling equally on the forest as well as
the mansion, MUka kavi compares ‘vipinaM’ (forest) and
‘bhavanaM’ (House) and says that one who has ambaal’s graceful
glance will consider both of these equanimously. Three things
bother man. Lust, Anger and Fear. Fear disappears by ambaal’s
Grace; even the forest becomes a home for him. Friend and Foe
become equal to him. In other words the anger in the enemy
disappears. And thirdly even an inert stone is not any lower in
esteem than the sweet lips of an young girl; in other words, lust
flies away from him. The bathing in Her Grace drives away all these
three and gives one the treasure of advaita.
The dhanya (blessedness) that this shloka talks about is the one
who has obtained the dhana (treasure) of that advaita.

Oh What a beautiful shloka! Deserves to be meditated on over and

over again!
 70
(Digest of pp.1205 -1210 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

There is a subtle matter of yoga-shAstra in shloka #61. In the

order of description of the divine form from head to foot, the
next, after the eyes, is the nose.

asau nAsAvamshaH tuhinagiri-vamsha-dhvaja-paTi

tvadIyo nedIyaH phalatu phalam-asmAkam-ucitaM /
vahaty-antar-muktAH shishira-kara-nishvAsa-galitaM /
samRddhyA yat-tAsAM bahir-api ca muktAmaNi-dharaH // 61 //

tuhina-giri-vamsha-dhvaja-paTi : (Snow-mountain - lineage – flag

) Oh Flag of the House of the Mountain of Snow,
asau tvadIyaH nedIyaH nAsAvamshaH : this nose of Yours, which
is more like the hollow bamboo staff of that flag --
phalatu : May it bestow
asmAkaM : on us
ucitaM phalaM : the appropriate fruit.
vahati : (it -- that is, the staff-like nose --) contains
antaH : in its inside,
muktAH : pearls.
yat tAsAM samRddhyA : for it is out of their abundance
bahir-api ca : that even on the outside
muktAmaNi-dharaH : (there appears) a nasal pendant, in the form
of one pearl,
shishira-kara-nishvAsa-galitaM : (moon-cooled – outgoing breath
– pushed out) pushed out, as it were, by the moon-cooled breath
of the left nostril.

It is natural for the bamboo to be hollow. Ambaal’s smooth nose

has also the hollows of the nostril. And it is natural for ambaal to
have nasal pendants. Here we are talking of pearl pendants –
cf. muktAmaNi-dharaH. In Madurai and Kanyakumari, the
diamond nasal pendant of the Goddess is famous. “tArA-kAnti
tiraskAri nAsAbharaNa-bhAsurA” is one of the names in Lalita
Sahasranama. It means She excels even the lustrous light of the
stars by means of the dalliance of Her nasal ornaments. A star
radiates light of all colours. The light of the star is also of the
diamond-type. So the ornament that is spoken of here in
the Lalitasahasranama must also be a diamond nasal
ornament. A pearl never radiates several colours. The tradition
of “pearl nasal pendant” (muthu-mookuthi – in Tamil) always
associated with ambaaL shows that perhaps at one time it was the
pearl pendant that must have been dominantly in vogue.

The fullness of both masculine and feminine beauty is usually

talked about in respect of Lord Krishna. So the deities
of Krishna always show a nasal pendant. There is a famous
shloka starting with the words “kasturi-tilakaM ....”
praising Krishna, in which you get the words “nAsAgre nava-
mouktikaM” – ‘brand new pearl ornament at the tip of the nose’ .

Here the Acharya’s citing of pearl pendant as the nasal ornament

for ambaaL contributes well to the metaphor of the bamboo flag-
staff. When a bamboo is of an excellent variety, there is an
ancient tradition (handled as such by poets respectfully) that
such a bamboo contains pearls inside it. A similar belief is there
with respect to the frontal globe (mastakaM) of an elephant and
also with respect to sugarcane. Indeed in shloka 74 of
Soundaryalahari the Acharya tells us that ambaal’s chest is
adorned with a necklace made of pearls got from the frontal globe
of Gajasura, slain by the Lord. In the present shloka, ambaal’s
nose which is, as it were, the hollow bamboo staff, is visualised to
contain pearls as per the tradition about the bamboo.

But wait! Tradition says there are pearls within the bamboo, not
outside it! Here the nasal pendant of ambaal is outside the nose.
Isn’t it a flaw in the analogy?

The Acharya takes care of this beautifully. It is through the

hollow of the nose (bamboo) that ambaal is exhaling her breath.
When air passes through the hollow of a bamboo there results the
music of the flute. Here the nasal breath exhales the pearls that
are inside and pushes them out as a nasal pendant! It is the
breath of the Almighty that is said to constitute the Vedas. The
ultimate content of the Vedas is Mukti, the final Release. ‘Mukti’
and ‘mukta’ (pearl) are handled by poets for purposes of rhyme.
Here the Acharya says that it is the mukti that is exhaled by
ambaal in the form of the mukta!

There is a further play of words in the use of ‘vamsha’. This word

means ‘bamboo’. Recall the shloka beginning with the words
‘vamshI-vibhUshhita-karAt’ in praise of Krishna. It means that
His hand is adorned by the flute of the bamboo. The same
‘vamsha’ also means ‘lineage’. So ambaal is addressed as the flag
of the lineage of the Mountain King – ‘tuhina-giri-vamsha-dvaja-
paTi’.

Now let us take up the Yoga matter, hidden in this shloka. The
breath that comes out of ambaal’s nose and that brings the pearls
outside is spoken of as coming out of the ‘left nostril’. But there
is no word in the shloka which directly means ‘left nostril’. The
only words are ‘shishira-kara-nishvAsa-galitaM’.

‘nishvAsa’ is exhalation;
‘uchvAsa’ is inhalation;
‘galita’ means ‘expelled (out)’.
‘shishira-kara’ is what indicates the left nostril, though its direct
meaning is just ‘the moon’. Note that ‘shishira’ and ‘hima’ mean
the same thing, namely, ‘cold’. Whenever the Acharya talks of the
moon in relation to ambAl, he uses ‘hima-kara’ or ‘shishira-kara’
meaning that which gives a soothing of cold. Thus ‘shishira-kara-
nishvAsa-galitaM’ means that which is exhaled by the ‘moon-
exhalation’. How this becomes the ‘left- nostril-
exhalation’ is the hidden secret of Yoga in this shloka.

According to yoga-shAstra, when the mind is drawn towards

desire or anger or the like, the inhalation is by the left nostril and
exhalation by the right. On the other hand, when the mind stays
deep in noble thoughts, the inhalation is by the right nostril and
exhalation by the left. When there is no thought passing through
the mind the breath stays as kumbhaka without exhalation or
inhalation. AmbaaL is always engrossed in the most
noble thought of compassion. So She inhales by the right nostril
and exhales by the left!
Now the chandra-nishvAsa (moon-exhalation) of ambaal is
explainable from Yoga. There are three nADis in the human body
through which the spiritual current passes. On the right of the
spinal column there is the ‘pingala’, on the left there is the ‘iDA’
and the central one is ‘sushhumnA’. Since there is identity
between JivAtmA and ParamAtmA, the names ‘moon’ for the left
eye, ‘sun’ for the right eye and ‘agni’ for the third eye translate
into the names ‘moon channel’ for ‘iDA’ on the left, and ‘sun
channel’ for ‘pingala’ on the right. Hence the meaning of
‘shishikara-nishvAsa’ is exhalation by the left nostril!

(Digest of pp.1211 -1217 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,

4th imprn.)

Smita-jyotsnA-jAlaM tava vadana-candrasya pibatAM

cakorANAm-AsId-ati-rasatayA canchu-jaDimA /
atas-te shItAmshor-amRta-laharIm-Amla-rucayaH
pibanti svac-chandaM nishi nishi bhRshaM kAncika-dhiyA // 63
//

This is another shloka of poetic charm, now dealing with the charm
that flows from ambaal’s smile. Earlier in shloka 42 She was said
to have the moon in Her crown. Now Her face (vadanaM) itself is
the moon (vadana-candra). VadanaM also means ‘mouth’. The root
word ‘vad’ is ‘to speak’. ‘Satyam vada’ – Speak the
truth. Therefore one can say that the primary meaning of ‘vadana’
is ‘mouth’. But here it is ‘vadana-candra’ – the moon-like face.
There is no expression like ‘moon–like mouth’!

Moonshine flows from the moon–like face. The moon in the sky
displays a dark spot on it. But ambaal’s face-moon (vadana-candra)
has, in its centre, arrays of sparkling teeth.

tava: Your
Vadana-candrasya : moon-like face
Smita-jyotsnA-jAlaM : (smile – moonlight – luminous sweep)
luminous sweep of the moonshine of your smile

In other words, it is the smile that illuminates as moonlight from

your face. Now what happens to this moonlight? The cakora bird
drinks it. There is a tradition in Sanskrit literature that
the cakora bird feeds on the nectar flowing from moonlight rays.

pibatAm cakorANAM : of the cakora birds which drank

Here the cakora birds have drunk the moonlight flowing from
ambaal’s face. What then happened to the cakora birds? They
became insensitized by saturation of the sweetness of the drink.

ati-rasatayA: by the extreme sweetness

canchu: the peaks
cakorANAM : of the cakora birds
jaTimA AsIt : became numb (were numbed).

Now how to correct this? The cakora birds were intelligent enough
to make the correction themselves.

ataH: Therefore (i.e., because of the numbness of their peak)

te : these cakoras
Amla-rucayaH: (seeking to have) a taste of the sour
bhRshaM : heavily
pibanti : drink
nishi nishi : night after night
amRta-laharIM : the wave of nectar (i.e., the moonlight)
shItAmshoH: of the cool-rayed moon,
svacchandaM : to their heart’s content
kAncika-dhiyA : taking it to be the sour antidote (for the satiation
of sweetness).

Usually it is the privilege of Sanskrit poets to take great pride in

fancying that the cakora birds drink the nectar flowing from
moonlight for their very sustenance. This certainly makes the
category of cakora birds unique among all birds or beings,
because they are the only ones which live on just moonlight. But
our Acharya soars higher, in his poetic fancy, over all other poets.
He makes the cakora birds even higher on the scale by saying that
they drink the grandest nectar that flows from ambaal’s smile. That
makes the ordinary moonlight nectar pale into insignificance
because it is, as depicted here, a sour drink when pitted against
the divine drink of moonlight flowing from the smile of ambaal’s
moonshine-face.

In the first part, Anandalahari, it was said that Lord Shiva is the
only one who survives even the pralaya whereas these divines who
partook of the nectar would all be consumed by that pralaya. And
the reason was said to be that ambaal Herself is the Nectar of
Consciousness, far superior to the material nectar and it is the
eternal association with Her that protects Him. Now we know that,
even superior to that material nectar churned out of the milk
ocean, there is the Nectar of the smile from Her moonshine face.
So higher than the Nectar of Consciousness (chaitanya-amritam)
is the nectar of Her Beauty (saundarya-amRtam), which is Her
form, nay, Her face; not even that, it is Her smile from that face.

All this the poet in the Acharya could have said simply
that Her smile is more fascinating in beauty than moonlight. On
the other hand he brought in the cakora bird, made moonlight the
tasteful food for the cakora and pronounced ambaal’s smile
sweeter than that taste. Putting together all these ideas, we see
that it is the wave of Consciousness (chaitanya-laharI) that
becomes a tasty food for the eyes by becoming the wave of ambaal’s
beauty (Soundarya-laharI) and becomes also a tastier-than-nectar
object for the tongue.
Thus Chaitanya (Consciousness), Soundarya (Beauty) and
Madhurya (Tasteful excellence) – all of these are in
essence Her shower of Love. It is that moonlight shower of Love
that we should be consuming, in the form
of cakoras, deliciously relishingthe moon light-food!

Maybe we are not able to ‘eat’ moonlight like the cakora. But we
take delight in eating our own food under moonlight, especially on
a full moon night. The moon then cools the very atmosphere that
surrounds us and makes it very pleasant to us. The full moon
is certainly very pleasant to all of us. But the Sun of Wisdom is
not so pleasant. Ignorance is darkness; wisdom is light. Though the
wisdom is given by jnAna-sUrya (the Sun of Wisdom), it may also
be unpleasantly hot, because it is the Sun that is giving it. On the
other hand the moon gives both light (of wisdom) and pleasant
experience. The Goddess of jnAna (JnAna-ambaal) removes our
Ignorance while at the same time being pleasant. In the Purushha
sUkta we are told that mind arose from the moon. So the mind
should be both cool and pleasant. That is why ambaal who is most
pleasant to us is always associated with the moon.
She Herself resides in the region of the moon. ‘Chandra-maNDala-
madhyagA’ says the sahasranAma. And that is again the reason
why the Pournami (full moon) day is important for ambaal and we
do special pUjA for ambaal on that day.

She wears the Moon on Her head. In the head of the Yogi She
descends as the full moon and pours out the nectar. For us laymen
also, our Acharya has brought to us the moonshine
of Hersmile.May we cherish and remember it for ever.
May we become the little cakoras drinking to our heart’s content
the nectar-shower of Her Grace!
72
(Digest of pp.1218 -1221 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

raNe jitvA daityAn-apahRta-shirastraiH kavacibhiH

nivRttaish-caNDAmsha-tripura-hara-nirmAlya-vimukhaiH /
vishAkh-endro-pendraiH shashi-vishada-karpUra-shakalA
vilIyante mAtas-tava vadana-tAmbUla-kabalAH //65 //

caNDAmsha-tripura-hara-nirmAlya-vimukhaiH: (Chanda’s share

- Shiva – leavings –looking away) : Rejecting the offering-
remnants of Shiva as the share of the devotee Chanda,
vishAkh-endro-pendraiH : the celestials KumAra, Indra and
Vishnu
jitvA : after having conquered
daityAn : the asuras
raNe : in battle,
nivRttaiH : return to you
mAtaH : Oh Mother,
apahRta-shirastraiH : with their head-dresses (helmets, etc.)
removed
kavacibhiH : but with their armour-jackets on,
tava vadana-tAmbUla-kabalAH : (eager to receive) as Your gracious
gift (Prasada) the betal rolls used by You
vilIyante : and chew them
shashi-vishada-karpUra-shakalAH : (until) they dissolve along
with the moon-white pieces of refined camphor contained
in them.

Just in the previous shloka (#64) the Acharya has said that Goddess
Saraswati who dwells on the tip of Her tongue, gets Her crystal-like
white complexion changed into the colour of a red ruby because of
the ruddiness of the tongue that defies the japa (habiscus) flowers
in its redness. I have already told you about this.
(Note by VK: See DPDS – 58)

Here this shloka talks about the symphony of red and white that
the betal-chewing gives to ambaal’s tongue. You may
ask wherefrom comes this whiteness. Betal-chewing only
produces a reddish tinge.

I take resort to the words “shashi-vishada-karpUra-shakalAH”.

Maybe the Acharya thought : “We only talked about the white
Saraswati at the tip of ambaal’s tongue becoming red. But while
writing bhashyas, and while composing stotras we have been
propitiating only ShAradA the white Goddess. Then why not
bring Her whiteness into ambaal’s tongue that dwells on the betal
rolls?”!

That the mouth is full of betal rolls is a characteristic attribute

that we use in all our descriptions of a sumangali. Even the
Sahasranama says of Her: “tAmbUla-pUrita-mukhI”, meaning, “The
One whose mouth is full of chewing betal”. Ambaal, who is
Auspiciousness personified should always be visualised by us only
this way.

There is nothing that can excel the leavings of her “tAmbUla” (betal
roll). It is called ‘tAmbUla-ucchishhTaM’ (betal-leavings). Only we
humans have to consider another human’s food-leavings as
something demeaning. That of ambaal is sacred. Our body is
nothing but meat. But the divine body is akshhara. It encompasses
all from “a” to “kshha”. That is why it is called ‘akshhara’, which
also means ‘immutable’. The divine body is nothing but all the
mantras personified; because no mantra goes outside of “a” to
“kshha”. Over and above all that, it is Love personified. And hence
it is that Her betal leavings are most sacred.

And who is receiving it? Not just a devotee, a poet or a rishi. Her
own son, KumAra; Her own devotee, Indra, who received Brahma-
vidyA from Her (refer Kenopanishad); and Her own masculine form
in the form of Vishnu. The Acharya has woven a really marvelous
dramatic scene in which these three receive Her betal leavings.

“senAnInAM aham skandaH”, says Krishna in the Gita. “I am

KumAra among the warriors of the world”. His trident (‘Vel’, in
Tamil) is victorious, wherever it appears. Its very name is shakti.
It is nothing but parA-shakti Herself. And it was this KumAra who
went as the chief of all the divine forces to wage war with the
enmies of the divines. Naturally the King of the divines, Indra, goes
along with Him. Vishnu has another name Upendra – because He
was born as a son (VAmana) to the same parents that bore
Indra. Thus these three, VishAka (KumAra), Indra, and Upendra
(Vishnu) are returning to Mother Goddess after their victory over
the asuras. The first thing that they look for is the gift of ambaal’s
betal leavings.

Earlier to the brith of KumAra, once the divines did win

over all the asuras. That was when they were all puffed up with
pride. They thought it was their own Power (shakti) that brought
them the victory. The parA-shakti made them realise how
incomplete their Power was, in each one of them. She put before
them a piece of straw which stood like a rock before all their
might. This story of their becoming just a speck of dust in the
presence of the supreme Shakti is told very graphically in
Kenopanishad. It was only after this that Indra, among them all,
immediately became very humble and he was taught the Brahma
Vidya by ambaaL.

KumAra, Indra and Vishnu very modestly want to offer their

victory over the asuras, at the feet of ambaal and partake as prasad,
of Her betal leavings. Ambaal usually revels in feeding others
rather than enjoying the food Herself. Different varieties of sweet
dishes are usually accepted by Her as offerings, not for Her own
sake, but for the sake of Her devotees. For Herself She is content
with the betal rolls!. But then, who eats all that food in Her house?
It is the Lord!—so that He may not go ‘begging’ for food in His style
as a ‘BikshhATana’ (the roaming mendicant). When the three
divines return from their victorious war, it was just the time when
the Lord had finished His dinner. But they (the celestials) did not
care for the Prasad of Lord Shiva – because they were heading
towards ambaal for Her betal leavings!

And the Acharya excels here, by ascribing a reason to this action

of the three celestials.
73
(Digest of pp.1221 - 1226 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

The three celestials – KumAra, Indra and Vishnu – did not care for
Shiva’s prasAdam, because they were heading towards Ambaal’s
betal leavings. The Acharya excels here by ascribing an enjoyable
reason for this action of theirs. “chaNDAmsha-tripura-hara-
nirmAlya-vimukhaiH” –not having their mind on Shiva’s prasAdam
‘because it is the share of ChanDa’!. (‘tripura-hara’ is Shiva). The
first prasAdam of food left over by Shiva belongs rightfully to
ChanDa (ChanDikeshvara). This is the rule. All the world considers
this offering of Shiva’s prasAdam first to Chandikeshvara as our
foremost obligation and privilege. It is remarkable that ChanDa was
born in this human world just like us all, but rose later to become
the fifth deity after the primal four, namely, Shiva, Parvati,
Vighneshvara and Subrahmanya. In all Shiva temple festivals these
five deities are the ones that are taken out in procession. To
receive Shiva’s prasAdam after it has been offered first to this
saintly devotee, ChanDa, is truly a great blessing to all of us.

But to KumAra, the very offspring of Shiva Himself, to Vishnu who

shares half the form of Shiva in the manifestation as Shankara-
Narayana and to Indra the king of all the divine world, it must be
demeaning to receive Shiva’s prasAdam after it has been offered to
a human, ChanDa, however saintly he may be. All this is built into
the expression “chaNDAmsha-tripura-hara-nirmAlya-vimukhaiH”.
Here ‘vimukha’ can also be interpreted to mean ‘turning their faces
away from’.
Next comes their dress while presenting themselves before ambaal.
The head dress worn on the field or when they are on duty, by the
soldiers in the army, are usually taken off when they want to show
respect. Here the three celestials take off their head dress before
they enter the presence of ambaal.

But the question arises: Why did the Acharya say in shloka #25
that the crowns of Brahma, Vishnu and Indra are doing the
neerajana ceremony to Her divine feet at which they
were prostrating.?Why again did he say in shloka #29 that when
She started in haste to walk over to welcome the homecoming
Lord, She ran the risk of tumbling over the crowns of Brahma,
Vishnu and Indra, who were then prostrating at Her feet?
The situation in both cases is clear that they were prostrating
with the crowns still on their heads.

Well, the only explanation could be that in their intense mood of

devotion that overwhelmed them at those times, they just forgot
(!) the formality of the obligation to remove their crowns from their
heads in the august presence of ambaal.

Let us now come to the “tAmbUla-ucchishhTaM” – the betal

leavings. It has only been said that these three celestials consumed
or swallowed the betal prasAdam of ambaal. There is no mention,
however, of the fruit of such an action, or about what fruits will
accrue to the chewing of the betal leavings. Of course we can infer
that, to these war-lords who have come back victorious after a war
with the asuras, more victories are bound to accrue in the future
by the blessing of ambaal.

On the other hand, that the fruit of taking the ‘tAmbUla

ucchishhTaM’ of ambaal gives extraordinary poetic talent, is borne
out by the fact that three great poets – Kalidasa, Kalamegar, and
Mukar -- became great poets only by the power of the ‘tAmbUla-
prasAdam’ from ambaal. It was the mahAkAli of Ujjain,
AkhilAnDeshvari of Jambukesvaram and KamAkshhi of Kanchi,
respectively, whoblessed these three. Our Acharya himself
has composed a stotra called ‘ambAshhTakaM’ ,

[Note by VK:
 I am not able to locate this stotra.]

wherein he says that ambal’s betal leavings will endow one with
poetic talent that will ride higher than the stately gaits of a high-
class race-horse. The very style of that shloka, such as:

“kavitva-paripATI .... koTI-kulA-dadhika-tATImudhara-

mukhavITI-rasena tanutAM”

mimics the beat of the hoofs of the racing horse!

Whereas according to Soundaryalahari, what bestows the poetic

talent is (in shloka #75) Her breast milk, or (in shloka #98) the
water that has washed Her feet. Nowhere is it mentioned that the
‘tAmbUla-ucchishhTaM’ of ambaal would bestow poetic talent. In
shloka #98 it is said that the poetic talent that is usually granted
by the ‘tAmbUla-ucchishhTaM’ of Saraswati is already bestowed by
the ‘charana-tIrtha’, the water that has washed the feet of
ambaal. In that sense the ‘charaNa-tIrtha’ is placed higher in the
ladder of spiritual benefaction. The red paint on the feet makes the
water that washes it reddish as the betal juice. “kalita-alaktaka-
rasam” : the water that gets mixed up with the deep red of lac.
‘alaktaka’ is lac. ‘lAkshhaa’ is also lac. Both sanskrit words could
very well be the source of the English ‘lac’. And again ‘alaktaka’ is
what becomes ‘arakku’ in Tamil.

‘As a student when will I have the opportunity to drink

that charaNa-tIrtha?’ , wails our Acharya in that shloka. The words
‘prakRtyA mUkAnAm-api’ (meaning, even for those who are dumb
by nature) indicate that even the dumb (mUka) ones can become
great poets by that ‘charaNa-tIrtha’. The Acharya here is perhaps
seeing into the future, when one day there would exactly be such
a mUka-kavi!
74
(Digest of pp.1226 -1236 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

vipanchyA gAyantI vividham-apadAnaM pashupateH

tvayArabdhe vaktuM calita-shirasA sAdhu vacane /
tadIyair-mAdhuryair-apalapita-tantrI-kala-ravAM
nijAM vINAM vANI nichulayati cholena nibhRtaM // 66 //
There is a whole dramatic scene here. It takes place in the very
presence of ambaal. Ambaal is sitting totally relaxed and listening
to a music performance. Whose music? That of Saraswati Herself!
The word ‘VANI’ meaning, Saraswati, occurs in the fourth line of
the shloka. She is playing on the Veena. Simultaneously She is also
singing. The very Goddess of Arts, Music and all Knowledge is
performing. One can only imagine the infinite grandeur of the
sweet richness of such a performance.

‘VipanchI’ means Veena. ‘ParIvAdinI’ also means Veena. The

Veenas belonging to particular celestials have particular names.
Narada’s Veena is called ‘mahatI’. That of Tumburu is ‘KalAvatI’.
Saraswati’s is ‘KacchapI’. The word ‘kacchapa’ means tortoise. The
drum of Saraswati’s Veena is in the shape of a tortoise. Hence it is
called ‘kacchapI’. Prof.Sambamurti (of Madras University) says
that even today we can see it in the Phillipines, where they call it
‘katjapI’. In Lalita Sahasranamam we have the name: ‘nija-sallApa-
mAdhurya-vinirbhatsita-kacchapI’. It means ‘One whose speech is
more melodious than kacchapI, the Veena of Saraswati’. It is the
idea contained in this single line that has been elaborated by our
Acharya in a full shloka (#66) of Soundaryalahari and transformed
into a fascinating dramatic scene!

VipanchyA gAyantI: playing on the Veena.

But I translate it as ‘playing on the Veena and vocally

accompanying it also’. Why do I make this rendering? Because of
the words:

Vividham-apadAnaM pashupateH : Variegated anecdotes

pertaining to Lord Shiva.

How can these anecdotes be also performed by Saraswati without

being vocalised? The surest way to please ambaal is to sing the
praise of Her Lord. And the Glory of the Lord is endless. Saraswati
is singing and praising the infinite glories of Lord Shiva. Naturally
ambaal is enjoying both the music of the Veena and the singing of
the Lord’s glories.
Now let us come to the second line of the shloka.

Calita-shirasA : by the nodding head. Now and then She nods Her
head in approval and appreciation. A nodding of the head (‘shirah-
kampa’) can show more delicacy of appreciation than by an
applause of the hand (karaH-kampa). Whether it is in music, or in
writing, or in studies or in sports, one requires appreciation. And
reciprocally, it is the appreciation of the audience or the
respondent that provides further inspiration to the musician,
writer, student or sportsman. The same thing is happening here.
Ambaal is enjoying in appreciation and Saraswati is going on
playing on the Veena and singing.

tvayA-Arabdhe vaktum sAdhu vacane : When you started speaking

appreciative words.

It appears ambaal suddenly, instead of silently nodding Her head,

also began to applaud orally by saying a few appreciative words:
‘sAdhu, sAdhu’. These words mean ‘Good, Good’. They are the
Sanskrit equivalent of the English usage: ‘hear, hear’. But as soon
as these words were spoken by ambaal something dramatic
happened. This is the punchline of the story. It is in the third and
fourth lines of the shloka.

tadIyair-mAdhuryair-apalapita-tantrI-kala-ravAM : (By their –

sweetness – degraded – strings –music) Before the sweetness and
melody of those words the sweet sound of the Veena paled into
insignificance.

Just one or two words only must have come from ambaal.
‘tvayA Arabdhe’ means ‘just when you began to speak’. In our own
way of thinking there could be nothing sweeter and more
melodious than the music of Saraswati’s Veena; for She is the
Goddess of Music. If there could be something more pleasant it
must be Her own voice. But now the few words that stemmed forth
from ambaal, have transformed all that into nothing. Saraswati
stopped her singing when She realised the overpowering sweetness
of ambaal’s voice. Not only that. Her Veena-music also has been
over-powered. What did She do to Her Veena?
nijAM vINAM vANI niculayati cholena nibhRtaM :

vANI : Saraswati
niculayati : hides
nijAM vINAM : Her own Veena
cholena : by (its) cover, (in its case)
nibhRtaM : so that it will not show up.

Saraswati draws the cover on Her Veena and hides it! In other
words She accepts that Her Veena is nothing before the sweet voice
of ambaal and stops it then and there.

Ambaal, though She had all the musical sweetness in Her own
voice, intended to honour Saraswati by nodding Her head all along
and also saying the appreciative words ‘SAdhu’. But instead of
encouraging the performer to perform more, it resulted in the
performer bowing down and stopping the performance. This
incident brings into focus the greatness of both Saraswati and
ambaal.Saraswati hung down Her head in shame and stopped
singing. But what does the Veena do? Even after being stopped,
the music of the Veena has a characteristic reverberation
(anuraNanam, in Sanskrit; rIngAram in Tamil), due to the
resonating vibrations of the strings. So Saraswati quickly silences
it by hiding it under its own cover (‘cholena nibhRtaM’).

We can go on thus enjoying the scene by visualising it in various

ways, scene after scene in this drama.

Maybe it was different. Maybe ambaal was not appreciating the

music but was nodding Her head to the ‘vividham-apadAnaM
pashupateH’ -- the different stories of the glories of Lord Shiva --
maybe that was what was being enjoyed by Her in appreciation.
Suddenly Saraswati might have realised this, at the time when
ambaal opened Her mouth to say ‘SAdhu’.

There could be no end to such speculations of ours on the scene.

On the whole the shloka brings out the melodious sweetness
of Her voice, in addition to all the beauty of form that the other
shlokas have been revealing all along. There can be no doubt that
by meditating on this shloka one gains excellence both in music
and the composition of it.

75
(Digest of pp.1236 -1243 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

gale rekhAs-tisro gati-gamaka-gItaika-nipuNe

vivAha-vyAnaddha-praguNa-guNa-sankhyA-pratibhuvaH /
virAjante nAnAvidha-madhura-rAgAkara-bhuvAM
trayANAM grAmANAM sthiti-niyama-sImAna iva te // 69 //

The intensive knowledge in music and musical technicalities of the

Acharya is manifest in this shloka. The words ‘gati’, ‘gamakaM’,
‘gItaM’ and ‘grAmaM’ are technical words understood well only by
musicologists. One should actually refer to the latter part of
Bharata’s ‘nATya-shAstra’, ‘SangIta-ratnAkaraM’ of Sarangadeva
and ‘caturdaNDi-prakAshika’ of Venkata-makhi. I have only an
incomplete knowledge of these.

‘Gati’ is procedure or path. It denotes one of two kinds: ‘deshi’

and ‘mArgaM’. The former is more regimented like a train on its
rails. The latter keeps changing with the times and caters to latest
tastes.
‘GamakaM’ is undulation. It has five subtly different varieties in
it.
‘GItaM’ of course is song. But it is not just the text (sAhitya) of the
song; it also includes the svaras.
‘Eka-nipuNa’ is unequalled excellence. So ambaa is the ‘Gati-
gamaka-gItaika-nipuNA’ that is, unequalled Mistress of the
musical technicalities of ‘gati’, ‘gamakaM’ and ‘gItaM’.

‘GrAmaM’ –the word occurs in the fourth line of the shloka – means
the three-fold classification of rAgas, according to
the shadja, madhyama and gAndhAra svaras. As music arises in
the voice box of the body and as the voice box is situated in the
neck, the Acharya is saying that these three ‘grAmas’ are
manifesting themselves as the three lines in the neck of ambaal.
Of course all women would have these three lines or folds in their
neck. But that is because originally ambaal is having these three
lines in Her neck! Men have ‘Adam’s apple’ in their neck, which is
absent in women. The western story is that the original man ate
the Eden Garden apple and that started his involvement in the
samsAra of the world. The Indian story is that the Lord swallowed
the KAlakuTa poison which was, according to ambaal’s
request, stifled at the position of the throat of the Lord and that
is why the bulge is showing in all male human necks. Both the
stories only go to show that we all have the same origin and we are
all brothers born of the same Father, irrespective of the religion we
may profess. In one case the very nutritious apple that ‘keeps the
doctor away’ becomes the original source of this dreadful samsAra.
In the other case the dreadful poison sits there in the throat of the
Lord without harming anyone. Both are cosmic mysteries.

All forms of men are nothing but the Lord and all forms of women
are just ambaal. This is what the Adam’s apple of the male neck
and the three lines in the female neck tell us.

The great saint Appar has sung a song beginning with the words
‘mAdar piRaikkaNNiyAn’ in the kshetra of Tiruvaiyaru. He saw
the male and female forms of the elephant, chicken, peacock, swan
and parrot and had the spiritual experience of visualising all of
them as the divine couple, Shiva-Shakti. ‘kaNDen-avar
tiruppAdam, kaNDaRiyAdana kaNDen’, says he – ‘His divine feet
did I see; things that had never been visualised, did I witness’. If
we care to use our intelligence and look for the Divine around us
with intense Bhakti we can also have this darshan of Shiva-Shakti
always and everywhere.

Shiva is white; Shakti is red – that is the way we have explained

how the changeless White Shivam (Cause) sprouted out as the Red
Kameshvari (Effect). Just like this Shiva-Shakti, the white-red
coexistence can be seen in many of our worldly matters. In fact
once we begin to recognize this spectacle in all matters of this
world as well as of the other world, we would be amazed as if we
have had the very darshan of Shiva-Shakti. Particularly, what
pertains to the male is white and what pertains to the female is red
– this principle will help us get into the spiritual sAdhanA of
witnessing Shiva-Shakti all around us.
The ‘tejas’ of man is called ‘shuklaM’ (white) and that of woman is
called ‘shoNitaM’ (red). What he wears on his
forehead is white ‘vibhUti’ and what she wears is red
‘kunkumamM’. In the ‘nAmaM’ of the Vaishnavas, it is the white
part that belongs to the Lord, whereas the red part is that of the
Mother Goddess. In fact that is why it is called ‘Shri-chUrNaM’ –
the powder of the Goddess. What man dons is white ‘veshti’ and
what she does is the saree, which is ‘kusumbA’ (red). The word
‘kusumbA’ means saffron. That is the ideal colour for the wedding
saree (kUraip-puDavai). ‘aruNaruNa-kausumbaM’, where ambaal’s
saree is described as the reddest of the red.

Again, in this interplay of red and white, we have our own blood
which has both red cells and white cells. Just as in ambaal’s red,
the white of Shivam is merged, so also the red corpuscles of the
blood dominate the whiteness of the white corpuscles and show the
colour of blood as red!

In the ordinary decorative drawings (kolam, in Tamil) in front of

the house or the deity, though the kolam is in white, it is usually
bordered by red. For the same reason the markings on the outside
walls of temples are in red and white. Even though the inside deity
may be a Vishnu deity (whose colour is blue), the outside walls are
striped only with white and red.

If it is an abhishekam of the deities, we have milk and honey. If it

is the fragrance we have ‘pachaik-karpuram’ (which is green) and
saffron. If it is offering of flowers through an archana, we have
jasmine (white) and ‘arali’ (red). If it is food that is offered, we have
curd rice (called dadhyannam) and ‘sarkaraip-pongal’. Even with
the ordinary white idli, we combine the red chili powder or sambar!

Here the idli is bland and peacefully white; whereas the chili
powder that goes with it is fearfully red! White is Peace and Red is
Power and Action. So when we want to stop a war we show the
white flag. A revolutionary activity is manifested by a red flag. Thus
Shiva-Shakti is all around us in the forms of Peace and Rajas
(activity). But again, nor should we separate Shiva and Shakti as
two different entities; and that is what exactly is shown by the
symbiosis of red and white corpuscles in the blood. The white
corpuscles fight with the invasion of disease and the red ones
nurture us with oxygen. When there is bloodshed in a battle, it is
the red cross that brings relief and cure!

Even in the ordinary colour spectrum, it is red that shows up first

on the side of white. The opposite colour that is violet is on the
other extreme. It is this violet (linked with blue) that is the direct
opposite of the peaceful Shivam, that goes with Vishnu who
denotes Vishnu-mAyA sharing the colour with Vishnu-DurgA and
MahA-kALi. It is the Shiva-kAmeshvari that has contact with both
the Peace of Shiva on the one side and the dynamism of MAya on
the other side. For the same reason, in the
apex work of philosophy called ‘pAdukA-mantram’, the Light that
is the Cause of all that is gross as well as subtle is called ‘traipuram
mahas’ and when one talks of the unfoldment of the same as Jiva
and the Universe it is mentioned as “rakta-shukla-prabhA-
mishraM” -- red and white confluent effulgence – thereby
indicating both the outward dynamism of the Effect and the inward
Peace of the Cause.

(Digest of pp.1243-1248 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,

4th imprn.)

Shloka 69 continued:

The Shiva-factor and the Shakti-factor that are respectively

manifest in the male and the female, are most explicitly manifest
in the bulge of Adam’s apple in man and the three lines on the neck
of woman. These are the three lines that are referred to as “gale
rekhAs-tisraH” by the Acharya. The verse also allows us to
interpret it as showing that She is expert in all the three facets
‘gati’, ‘gamakam’ and ‘gItam’ of music. In addition to this implicit
indication, he explicitly says in the fourth line of the shloka: The
boundaries between the different ‘grAmas’ based on the ‘shadja’,
‘gAndhAra’ and ‘madhyama’ in music are what is shown by the
three lines on Thy neck – “trayANAM grAmANAM sthiti-niyama-
sImAna iva te (gale rekhAs-tisro virAjante)”.

Recall “trayANAM devAnAM triguNa-janitAnAM” from Shloka 25.

[See DPDS-45]. The triad of Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra were said
therein to have originated from the three guNas. Here the
‘trayANAM grAmANAM” also mentions along with it the three
guNas in line 2.

What is stated in line 2, namely, “vivAha-vyAnaddha-praguNa-

guNa-sankhyA-pratibhuvaH” that is, “A reminder of the strands
of the auspicious string made by twisting several threads and well
tied round the neck at the wedding ceremony”. This refers to the
most auspicious wedding of Goddess Parvati and the Lord. The
direct meanings however are:

vivAha-vyAnaddha : wedding – tied well.

guNa-sankhyA: consisting of a certain number of guNas.
praguNa : noble guNas.
pratibhuvaH: that which authenticates, guarantees.

These direct meanings do not add up to an easily

understood message. The “guNa-sankhyA” refers to the number
three, coming from the three guNas satva, rajas and tamas. But
when it comes to “praguNa” he is talking of ‘strands of string’,
because guNa also means ‘strand’. And ‘praguNa’ means
‘auspicious strands’. And this is what brings in the ‘mangala-
sUtra’ (auspicious marriage thread) that is tied at the time of the
wedding ceremony. In other words, it means that three noble
strands of string have been twisted to make the mangala sUtra for
the Goddess. And it is these three strands that are recalled –
‘pratibhuvaH’ – by the three lines on the neck of ambaa. Of course,
in addition, we can also interpret that the three lines implicitly
stand for the three guNas also.

There are those who say that the ‘pANi-grahaNaM’ (holding of the
hand) is the deciding religious rite for the wedding. The tying of
the mangala-sUtra may not be the tradition in many areas. But
the very fact that the Acharya has mentioned it here in connection
with the wedding of God and Goddess, gives it a unique
importance. The ‘holding of hand’ is an event that does not leave
any trace of itself after the event. On the other hand it is
the mangala-sUtra that permanently stands out as a
distinguishing mark of married status to women and is also
respected by all as such. At the time when the solar months of
Aquarius (mAshi, in Tamil) and Pisces (panguni, in Tamil) coalesce,
it is the mangala-sUtra that is greatly and duly worshipped by
women. Even in the Lalita Sahasranama, we have “kAmesha-
baddha-mAngalya-sUtra-shobhita-kandarA” – She whose neck is
adorned with the mangala-sUtra fastened thereon by Her consort
Kameshvara.

Another point. The Acharya says only ‘guNa’ meaning ‘strand of

thread’. In modern times, women replace the marriage thread by a
golden chain and a heavy tirumangalyam and rolling balls (kuNDu,
in Tamil) on either side of it. It is very inappropriate. The alleged
plea is that the string becomes dirty in due course of time. If you
coat it with turmeric every day it won’t become dirty.

There is a five-fold (pancakaM) mention of triads in this shloka:

The three lines on the divine neck, the three musical nuances
“gati, gamakaM and gItaM”, the three guNas, the three ‘grAmas’
of music and finally, the three strands of mangala-sUtra.

A sound musical tradition aims at the preservation of its age-old

purity. The classification in terms of ‘grAmas’ is not supposed to
be mixed up. It is to show the distinctness of the three ‘grAmas’
that the three lines on the divine neck are so distinct, says the
Acharya. All this emphasizes the need for a certain discipline in
following the music traditions.

When music is performed as “nAdopAsanA” (a dedicated worship

of ‘nAda-brahman’) with bhakti, then that music itself will lead to
Self-Realisation. When one merges in the disciplined musical
confluence of shruti and laya, that merger itself becomes the
merging in the Atman. ‘Entaro mahAnubhAvulu’ -- sang
Tyagaraja, the great ‘nAdopAsaka’ (the worshipper of ‘nAda-
brahman’) and he was one such great soul-experiencer
(mahAnubhAva) of the musical trinity. All three of the trinity were
great souls who attained this Self-Realisation through the path of
Devotional Music. Interestingly, all these three flourished in the
same time frame within the past one and a half centuries.

Incidentally, I have added a sixth triad to the five-fold triads (of

this shloka) that I spoke of earlier!
Though the three qualities of satva, rajas and tamas are only
three in number they give rise to an infinite number of quality-
combinations in the worldly characters that we experience. So also,
just from the seven svaras of music, with various permutations and
combinations according to the three ‘grAmas’, the musical world
has generated numerous rAgas. This is what is mentioned in
the shloka as “nAnAvidha-madhura-rAgAkara-bhuvAM” –
meaning, ‘those which generate the mine of
multifarious melodious rAgas’ . Here the word ‘those’ goes with
‘of the three grAmas’ (“trayANAm grAmANAM”) in the fourth line.

The word ‘rAga-Akara’ is significant. Just as a mine gives out gold

and gems as you dig deeper and deeper, so also the subtleties of
the seven svaras yield numerously different rAgas as you delve
deep. The word “Akara” means ‘mine’. The ocean yields gems
(ratnas) and that is why it is called ‘ratnAkara’. The commonly
used words “karuNakara” and “dayAkara” should mean only ‘a
mine of compassion and grace’ rather than ‘one who shows
compassion or grace’.

Again the word ‘madhura’ in “nAnAvidha-madhura-rAga-bhuvAM”

is also significant. ‘madhura’ means sweet and melodious. What is
not sweet or melodious should not form part of music. All this
meticulous use of words in this verse show how knowledgeable the
Acharya is in the subtleties of music and its
understanding. Obviously he was himself a ‘gati-gamaka-gIta-eka-
nipuNaH’ – Master of the musical technicalities of the procedure,
undulations and song of music!
77
(Digest of pp.1252-1265 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

Shloka #75 says further about the breast milk of ambaa. It

generates, says the shloka, everything superlatively noble – like
wisdom, compassion, beauty, knowledge, and the arts.
“sArasvatam iva”, meaning, everything for which Sarasvati is the
source. They all flow like a flood from the heart – “hRdayataH
payaH pArAvAraH”. It was that milk of wisdom, Oh Mother, that
you fed to that child of the Dramila country. And that child
became a noted poet among great composers – “kavInAM
prouDhAnAM ajani kamanIyaH kavayitA”.

“prouDha-kavi” means a poet rich with poetic talent. The

feminine word “prouDhA” denotes a girl who has attained
puberty. Just as the physical tejas attains maturity, a person
whose poetic talent has attained perfection and maturity is called
a “prouDha-kavi”. Ironically, a “prouDha-kavi” is also prone to be
proud! And in the poetry that flows from such a one there is likely
to be a mischievous air of superiority. It may not appeal to the
heart. But the milk of wisdom, which flows like a flood from this
ocean of ‘SArasvata’, generates poetic inspiration that captivates
the heart. By using the words “payaH pArAvAraH parivahati” – the
milk ocean flows like a flood – the Acharya has added one more
‘lahari’, namely, the lahari of breast milk that represents all that
is great in the Mother, to the various lahari’s mentioned
in Soundaryalahari -- cidAnanda-lahari, shRngAra-lahari, etc.
When this ‘kshhIra-lahari’ (the flood of milk) is tasted by
the dramila-shishu (Tamil child), the latter becomes a poet who
composes captivating songs that make him distinguished among
even ‘prouDha’ composers!

Now who was this ‘dramila-shishu’? The immediate feeling is that

it should be the well-known Sambandar, also known as ‘JnAna-
sambandar’ of the Tamil region, who flourished in the seventh
century A.D. But the Acharya’s time was in the sixth-fifth century
B.C., approximately.

[ Here the Paramacharya takes for granted

his own elaborate thesis-like discussion
on the date of Shankara,
that runs to hundreds of pages,
in his earlier discourses. These have been recorded
by Ra. Ganapati in the 5th volume of his book
‘Deivathin Kural’. So I am not able to enter into that topic here. VK]

The story about the child JnAna-sambandar is that the Mother

Goddess fed her breast milk to the three-year old child and the
child burst into ecstatic singing glorifying Lord Shiva and
Parvati. Commentators on Soundaryalahari opine that a similar
incident did happen in the case of the Acharya himself when he
was a child and therefore conclude that the ‘dramila-shishu’ refers
to the Acharya himself! Instead of saying ‘I have that experience’
he is saying it in third person, in all modesty. But even here one
can ask: How come the Acharya talks about his own poetic talent
in such superlative terms? Is this in keeping with his well-known
modesty? Well, the point to note here is that the matter is not
about poetic talent. The significant point is the glory of the milk
of wisdom that flows from ambaal. Actually the Acharya has
talked about himself as ‘the farthest of the lowly’ (daviyAmsaM
dInaM) in shloka #66. And the significance now is that even such
a ‘lowly’ person has reached poetic heights of excellence by the
divine milk of wisdom.

On the correct interpretation of ‘dramila-shishu’ there have been

controversies from very early times. Several commentators have
debated this issue. No definite conclusion has been accepted by
all. But let us not stay on that issue. What we need is not the
correct meaning of ‘dramila-shishu’ but the truth that we should
seek that wisdom that flows incessantly like milk from ambaal’s
grace!

shrutInAM mUrdhAno dadhati tava yau shekharatayA

mamApy-etau mAtaH shirasi dayayA dhehi caraNau /
yayoH pAdyaM pAthaH pashu-pati-jaTA-jUTa-taTinI
yayor-lAkshhA-lakshhmIH aruNa-hari-cUDAmaNi ruciH // 84 //

mAtaH : Oh Mother,
yau tava caraNau : Those feet of Yours (which)
shrutInAM mUrdhAnaH : the crests of the vedas (namely, the
Upanishads)
dadhati : bear
shekharatayA : as (their) head ornament,
yayoH : for which (feet)
pashu-pati-jaTA-JUTa-taTinI : the river (Ganga) in the matted
locks of hair of Lord Shiva
pAdyaM pAthaH : (become) the water-offerings at the feet,
yayoH : for which (feet)
aruNa-hari-cUDAmaNi-ruciH : the red brilliance of the diadem of
Vishnu
lAkshhA-lakshhmIH : (becomes the brilliance of red lac,
dhehi : please condescend to keep
etau : such feet
mama shirasi api : on my head, too
dayayA : out of compassion.

The description of Mother Goddess from head to foot finally comes

to the divine feet. The divine feet are requested to be placed on
this devotees’s (The Acharya’s) head. This is a kind of ‘Guru
DikshhA’, that is, spiritual initiation by the Guru. But it is not
openly said to be so. Because, such initiations always have to be
guarded as secret. Kenopanishad details how the Mother Goddess
appeared to the devas and gave spiritual initiation to Indra, their
King. The words ‘umA’ ‘haimavatI’, ‘strI’ ‘bahu-shobhamAnA’ used
in that narrative are the only instances where the Absolute is
specifically mentioned as manifesting as Guru in the vedas. The
deities ‘Shiva’ or ‘Vishnu’ are never mentioned in the Vedas in the
capacity of Guru. The two times Shivam and Vishnu are mentioned
are in Mandukyopanishad and Kathopanishad; but in both cases it
is a state that is described and not a Person. It is therefore in the
fitness of the wisdom of the vedas that the Acharya here describes
the divine feet of ambaa as the head ornament of the Upanishads!

The praise of the divine feet goes on for several shlokas.

In shloka 88, the Acharya asks: Mother, How did thy Consort, Lord
Shiva, with all His softness (“dayamAnena manasA”) towards
You, have the heart to place them with his hand on a hard granite
grinding stone at the marriage rite? -- “upayamana-kAle,
bAhubhyAm AdAya dRshhadi nyastaM”. The word “upayamana”
stands for a marriage ceremony. Just as ‘upanayana’ stands for
the rite that initiates a boy into the spiritual path, by initiating
him into the Gayatri, so also the ‘upayamana’ stands for the rite
that initiates a girl into married life. In this rite the bridegroom
places the feet of the bride on a granite pasting stone as a part of
the rite. The Mother Goddess Herself is considered here by the
Acharya as an ordinary bride going through the same marriage rite.

The act of placing the feet on a granite stone attains a spiritual

significance in the context of ambaal. For this we have to go to
Shivaananda-lahari shloka #80 where the Acharya asks: “Oh Lord!
Why are You dancing on this hard granite? On the auspicious day
of Pradosha why can’t You dance on a softer surface, in fact made
up of flower offerings? Is it because you have anticipated that I will
be born with a hard heart on this earth and You have to dwell and
dance in that hard rock-like heart?” Taking cue from this we can
now interpret this shloka #88 of Soundaryalahari as saying: “Oh
Mother, the Lord is having compassion towards You and wants to
train You to dance along with Him in the hard hearts of people of
this earth. That is why He is placing Your soft feet on the hard
granite as a preview for Your feet”!

It is those divine feet of ambaaL that have to be meditated on by

us for melting our hearts. There is no other way! Particularly it is
our ego that stands solidly like a rock between us and
mokshha. And that is why, for our sake, the Acharya has put in
the words “mama api” in shloka #84.

78
(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 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 (“rAga-aruNatayA”) 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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
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 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
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 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

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 para-brahman 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 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
“nitya-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-
brahma-mahishhI” 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-nissIma-mahimA’ (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 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 non-
living 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.

80
(Digest of pp.1295 -1306 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,
4th imprn.)

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
thisshloka #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 ‘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 vidhi-
sapatno 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 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 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 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.)

(Shloka 100 Continued).

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 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 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.

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

vinaya-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 I-ness 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 ‘phalafor 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 would be “dara-dalita-nIlotpalaM” (cf. #57) for
the others. His uncouth mouth will appear to surpass the beauty of
“vidruma-latA” or “bimba” (# 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 Soundarya-lahari (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
completed, in words of English which are Your own. May all
the Universes turn out to be happy. Aum tat sat.