Saundarya Lahari
Saundarya Lahari
SAUNDARYA LAHARI - VERSE 66
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SAUNDARYA LAHARI
VERSE 66
A LINE OF SEPARATION
THE PRIMACY OF PARTICIPATION PASSES TO ONTOLOGY
विपञ्च्या गायन्ती विविध-मपदानं पशुपते-
स्त्वयारब्धे वक्तुं चलितशिरसा साधुवचने ।
तदीयै-र्माधुर्यै-रपलपित-तन्त्रीकलरवां
निजां वीणां वाणीं निचुलयति चोलेन निभृतम्
vipancya gayanti vividham apadanam pashupates
tvaya´rabdhe vaktum calita sirasa sadhu vacane
tadiyair madhuryair apalapita tantri kalaravam
nijam vinam vani niculayati colena nibhrtam
tvaya´rabdhe vaktum calita sirasa sadhu vacane
tadiyair madhuryair apalapita tantri kalaravam
nijam vinam vani niculayati colena nibhrtam
Starting as You do to sing with Your vina, with head movements,
Of the varied exploits of the Lord of Beasts, You, as the Goddess of the Word
The one of lovely speech, You promptly cover up to silence
Your instrument as mocking the sweetness thereof by sounds of strings.
Of the varied exploits of the Lord of Beasts, You, as the Goddess of the Word
The one of lovely speech, You promptly cover up to silence
Your instrument as mocking the sweetness thereof by sounds of strings.
Starting as You do to sing with Your vina, with head movements,
Of the varied exploits of the Lord of Beasts, You, as the Goddess of the Word
The one of lovely speech, You promptly cover up to silence
Your instrument as mocking the sweetness thereof by sounds of strings.
Of the varied exploits of the Lord of Beasts, You, as the Goddess of the Word
The one of lovely speech, You promptly cover up to silence
Your instrument as mocking the sweetness thereof by sounds of strings.
In Verse 66 we are still in a general setting where the greatness of Shiva is being praised by Parvati. She is starting to sing to the accompaniment of her favourite instrument, the vina, which is seen to be inseparably associated with her wherever she is represented in the traditional style. She and her instrument are to be treated as belonging together to one and the same context. Although she starts to sing accompanied by the vina, which is held horizontally at right angles to the body, she soon decides that its accompaniment does not come up to expectation. This is seen to be an afterthought.
Two movements are specifically referred to in this situation, in which vocal as well as an instrumental music start together. The first is when, almost abruptly, the Goddess stops playing her instrument, putting it out of commission. The second movement is the nodding her head in approval of the music. The two have to be treated together. The voice of the Goddess is here praised as being of a very superior quality.
We are asked to extract whatever meaning we possibly can, given this data, but this meaning must also necessarily enhance the absolute beauty-value of the Goddess. This is an overall requirement in every verse. It is easy to see that no Tantric viewpoint or doctrine is meant to be brought into the light by the situation depicted here. Tantra Sastra, as we know it, is not especially interested in music, nor is it a teaching in which a vina is to be silenced in favour of glorifying vocal music, as is evidently intended here. The above limitations make it almost inevitable for us to rely on some doctrine of Advaita Vedanta as the main theme which the Goddess´s abrupt change of mind is intended to reveal. We therefore surmise that this situation is meant to bring out a double-sided method peculiar to Vedanta when it wishes to abolish, dissolve, or transcend the duality implied in any paradox. Paradox first recognizes two truths. Vedanta abolishes paradox finally, not by recognizing the contradiction, but by absorbing the contradiction into a unitive vision, by a higher intuitive way of thinking. We shall not be reading too much into the context here if we say that it is a schematic structural pattern that is to be presupposed as guiding the poetic imagination of Sankara, while, as always, his intention is to underline an Advaitic doctrine conforming to the methodology proper to Vedanta.
Instrumental music from a vina placed horizontally across the figure of the Goddess represents the arithmetic or mechanistic aspect of inert life in the universe, while she herself represents the vertical axis. Her nods approving her own vocal music represent something like saying "yes, yes" or a double assertion, Translated into philosophical terms, this would amount to saying, "What exists thus really exists and can never be abolished." The horizontal, mechanistic world is to be recognized as real enough initially; but when philosophical thought gains ground, it would abolish itself and become absorbed into the vertical axis. The relation between the two parameters or correlates is the same as what Descartes would say exists between res cogitans and res extensa. The latter is space-like and the former time-like, understood in terms of pure duration.
It is permitted to think, in terms of Cartesian or Bergsonian philosophy, that one attains the Absolute. Sankara´s doctrine is not basically different. That which does not exist is abolished by double negation. By double assertion, the picture of the Absolute emerges in terms of a highly significant value, which is the Beauty of the Goddess here. The more she appreciates the beauty of her own voice, the more it becomes evident to her that the instrument, with its poor twanging imitations by the sound of metallic wires, cannot add anything to the richness that her own voice can give to music in a fully real sense. Although the instrument is dear to her, she does not hesitate for a moment to cover it with a shawl, perhaps one of a dark colour, which is a form of double negation applied to the arithmetical side of the total situation representing the Absolute as a value. Paradox thus stands abolished, dissolved or transcended. Each approving nod of the head of the Goddess describes an implied figure-eight which we can see through the transparency of the total formless space-time situation, reflecting the structure that properly belongs to the content of the Absolute. The change of mind only introduces a dynamic touch to this otherwise static picture; which Bergson would perhaps distinguish by his term schéma moteur, as against the mere schema of conceptualists or rationalists like Kant or Descartes. The quickness with which the Goddess covers her vina reflects a dynamism which is not meant to be of a gradual or hesitant order. Higher intuition comes, not by instalments, but by split-second understanding.
The overall situation can be summed up in the following words: "The Goddess of the Word, finding that her speech is superior to its own mechanistic imitation, changes her mind quickly and silences her instrument because the imitation cannot add anything that is not already there to the original. Speech is better than just sound, which is included in it already".
We could note also that Kalidasa, in the “Meghaduta”, has a picture of the wife of a yaksha (divine being) who is separated from her husband and trying to play the vina to pass her unhappy hours in a cavern in the Himalayas, where she is destined to live in loneliness. There the version is similar but slightly different. She is unable to play the vina because of her tears, which come from the richer content of her memories stimulated by vocally articulated words of music. Here, it is a more neutral way of abolishing paradox. In both cases, it is the glory of the husband that is the subject matter of the music. The pangs of separation are not found in the Goddess here, unless slightly reflected in the quickness of the gesture of silencing her instrument. The vina could be thought of as being a dear and inseparable companion, having the effect of consoling her loneliness, like a baby in the arms of a mother.
(Bergson's schéma moteur - an analysis of Bergson’s motor schemes shows how there is a logic within the body, one that informs the recognition of images, and thence perception and memory. But for Bergson, this logic of the body is entirely explicit, and is distinct from the implicit logic that we find in thinking. ED.)
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ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.
WORD FOR WORD
Vipancya gayanti - You sing by the vina.
Vividham apadanam pashupateh - varied exploits of Shiva Pashupati.
Tvaya arabhde vaktum calita shirasa sadhu vachanam - by You begun to utter with head-nods the good words.
Tadiyair madhuraih - of such the sweetness.
Apalapita tantri karalavam - string-sound thus insulted by You.
Nijam vinam vani - Her proper Vina, the Goddess of the Word.
Niculayati colena nibhrtam - cover with a cover so as to silence.
Vipancya gayanti - You sing by the vina.
Vividham apadanam pashupateh - varied exploits of Shiva Pashupati.
Tvaya arabhde vaktum calita shirasa sadhu vachanam - by You begun to utter with head-nods the good words.
Tadiyair madhuraih - of such the sweetness.
Apalapita tantri karalavam - string-sound thus insulted by You.
Nijam vinam vani - Her proper Vina, the Goddess of the Word.
Niculayati colena nibhrtam - cover with a cover so as to silence.
The relationship between Shiva and the Devi is dealt with here.
Shiva is approached hierophantically in this verse, from the negative side.
(He is called Pashupati - the Lord of Beasts - which has a negative, denominator reference to a prehistoric context where Shiva was a wild hunter-god belonging to the primitive Pre-Aryan Indian world.
This also emphasizes Shiva's position as an "akula" - from "kula" - a family or clan, and "a-" - without; in other words an outcast(e). ED)
A popular print of Saraswati.
So the Devi sits with Her vina (stringed instrument) to sing the praises of Shiva, Lord of Beasts.
She is playing the vina horizontally.
There are many names for Shiva: why "Lord of Beasts" here? Because here the approach is from the denominator side.
An early image of the Lord of Beasts.
Even cavemen are capable of conceiving the vertical axis.
The roaring bull is their concept of value on the denominator side of love, sex and vitality, so here, with the name "The Lord of Beasts", there is a reference to a prehistoric negative religious context.
Shiva is married to the daughter of a demi-god, Daksha, a personification of the Himalayas.
(A note from the Glossary: Daksha was evidently a person of some status in Vedic society, and for that reason refused to give his daughter in marriage to Shiva because he was an akula (one without kula or clan), however, the marriage does take place mysteriously, in spite of Daksha's objections. Dakshayani, the daughter, later proves her loyalty to Shiva, whom Daksha continues to slight, by her death at Daksha's famous sacrifice which is held without inviting Shiva. ED)
Daksha gives a ritual celebration (yaga) and Shiva's wife goes to it, against the wishes of Shiva.
Her father insults Shiva and She kills Herself.
Shiva drinks poison, his neck turns blue, but he is otherwise unaffected. He then kills Daksha, cutting off his head.
(He also tramples and extinguishes the sacrificial fire of the Yaga or sacrifice, This typifies his role as one outside the context of Vedic ritual practices. This can be viewed in parallel with the statement of Shankara in Verse 1, where he calls himself an "akrta punya" - one of ungained merit" - in other words, one who does not take part in the ritual worship of the Devi by the three gods.
It is because of Shiva's asocial role, beyond the norms of traditional society, that he is the god of ascetics (sanyasis), and why his mythological puranas (legends) are part of the subject matter of the Saundarya Lahari. Advaita Vedanta and sanyasa are inseperable.
Sanyasa: The act of renunciation, especially of ritualistic Vedic religious life in favour of monastic life of austerity, where philosophy gains the foreground and has primacy in the life of the individual. ED)
(The Goddess negates her song by covering her vina and silencing it. Shiva - who is usually numerator - is here given a negative reference as he is called the Lord of Beasts. ED)
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(This structure is reproduced as it is found in the original manuscript. It is obscure and possibly incorrect. "Dakshi" presumably refers to Daksha. Much of the material relating to this verse is unsatisfactory. The main commentary is, however, clear and precise. ED.)
(This structure seems to mean that Shiva's action in furiously attacking Daksha, which could be viewed as evil in dualistic horiziontal terms, when viewed from the position of Shiva at the summit of the vertical axis have the status of Absolute Action, as described in the Darsana Mala. ED.)
(DARSANA MALA
VI. VISION OF ACTION
It is indeed the Self, though self-luminous
And detached, that through negativity
Does action bearing many forms,
Like the dream-agent in sleep.
And detached, that through negativity
Does action bearing many forms,
Like the dream-agent in sleep.
"I think, I speak, I grasp, I hear."
In forms such as these are actions accomplished
By the supreme Self, which is also
The Self of pure reason and the senses.
In forms such as these are actions accomplished
By the supreme Self, which is also
The Self of pure reason and the senses.
From the Self, not different from itself
There exists a certain undefinable specificatory power
By that power, all actions
Are falsely attributed to the actionless Self.
There exists a certain undefinable specificatory power
By that power, all actions
Are falsely attributed to the actionless Self.
The Self is always detached indeed.
One performs action as if attached due to ignorance.
The wise man, saying "I do nothing,"
Is not interested in action.
One performs action as if attached due to ignorance.
The wise man, saying "I do nothing,"
Is not interested in action.
The one Self alone as fire it burns,
As wind it blows,
As water it rains,
As earth it supports and as a river it flows.
As wind it blows,
As water it rains,
As earth it supports and as a river it flows.
The one Self alone, remaining actionless,
Moves as upward and downward vital tendencies
Within the nervous centres, indeed,
It beats, murmurs and pulsates.
Moves as upward and downward vital tendencies
Within the nervous centres, indeed,
It beats, murmurs and pulsates.
Here in this visible world, as what exists,
Grows, transforms, decreases and attains its end-
As subject to six forms of becoming-
That is no other than the actionless Self.
Grows, transforms, decreases and attains its end-
As subject to six forms of becoming-
That is no other than the actionless Self.
By means of the inner organs and the senses
Actions become Self-accomplished.
However, the wise man knows,
"I am the unattached, inner well-founded one"
Actions become Self-accomplished.
However, the wise man knows,
"I am the unattached, inner well-founded one"
Because of being an object of experience,
Even the "I" is a conditioning factor,
Superimposed like the mother-of-pearl gleam.
Above everything else, today and tomorrow one alone is.)
Even the "I" is a conditioning factor,
Superimposed like the mother-of-pearl gleam.
Above everything else, today and tomorrow one alone is.)
The Devi shakes Her head in appreciation as She sings.
"By the beautiful shaking of the head and living words, the strings of the vina are insulted".
"By the beautiful shaking of the head and living words, the strings of the vina are insulted".
Shiva is hypostatic and positive in his origin, but in this verse, he is approached hierophantically, from the negative side - he is called pashupati - the Lord of Beasts - which has a denominator reference.
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(The above structures are unclear and without any accompanying explanation in the original manuscript. ED.)
A song of praise for Shiva is being sung by the Devi, who is shaking Her head.
The shaking of the head absorbs the numerator words.
The covering of the vina absorbs the Devi.
(Note that the words of the song are numerator; the notes of the vina are denominator. ED)
All spirituality is a cancellation of these two factors or aspects of the Devi into the neutral Absolute.
She puts Her own shawl on the vina - this is double negation.
Here we arrive at something positive through double negation.
The Devi covers the vina to silence it.
This is like covering a baby to get it to be quiet and go to sleep.
This is like covering a baby to get it to be quiet and go to sleep.
This means that, structurally, the horizontal factor sinks down to the negative Alpha Point.
(The structure clearly says: "below the Alpha Point" and the text says "to the negative Alpha Point". It probably does not matter all that much which. ED)
This process occurs throughout the work: the horizontal function is first removed - like removing the inside brackets in an equation - to reveal the pure negative aspect of the Devi.
Structuralism is a language reserved for great minds - and all great minds indulge in it.
"I am singing, and my song is both from the Numerator and Denominator sides": but the vina (stringed instrument) is only from the Denominator side, so she covers it to silence it.
"Shut up!" is the secret. There is a line between percepts and concepts, the vina is only half the situation, but the Devi is both sides.
"Shut up!" is the secret. There is a line between percepts and concepts, the vina is only half the situation, but the Devi is both sides.
The vina fills only half the circle, while the Devi fills the whole circle.
Nama-Rupa (name and form) cancel out into the Absolute.
GANESHA (NEGATIVE) AND SUBRAHMANYA (POSITIVE) TOGETHER MAKE UP THE ABSOLUTE.
The string is horizontal music.
THE HORIZONTAL IS ONTOLOGICALLY RICH AND TELEOLOGICALLY POOR.
The Devi is numerator, the strings are denominator.
SAUNDARYA LAHARI - VERSE 67
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SAUNDARYA LAHARI
VERSE 67
THE FATHER'S TOUCHING OF THE DEVI'S CHIN IS STATIC
THE HUSBAND'S TOUCH IS A DYNAMIC FIGURE-8
THE HUSBAND'S TOUCH IS A DYNAMIC FIGURE-8
करग्रेण स्पृष्टं तुहिनगिरिणा वत्सलतया
गिरिशेनो-दस्तं मुहुरधरपानाकुलतया ।
करग्राह्यं शम्भोर्मुखमुकुरवृन्तं गिरिसुते
कथङ्करं ब्रूम-स्तव चुबुकमोपम्यरहितम्
गिरिशेनो-दस्तं मुहुरधरपानाकुलतया ।
करग्राह्यं शम्भोर्मुखमुकुरवृन्तं गिरिसुते
कथङ्करं ब्रूम-स्तव चुबुकमोपम्यरहितम्
karagrena sprstam tuhinagirina valsalataya
girisenodastam muhur adhara panakulataya
kara grahyam sambhor mukhamukura vrntam girisute
katham karam brumas tava cubukam aupamya rahitam
girisenodastam muhur adhara panakulataya
kara grahyam sambhor mukhamukura vrntam girisute
katham karam brumas tava cubukam aupamya rahitam
Affectionately touched by the tip of the hand of the Mountain king,
And lifted again and again by that Shiva out of desire
To drink of the lips thereof, that which makes the handle
For Your face-mirror, how could we ever speak of it, Your peerless chin.
And lifted again and again by that Shiva out of desire
To drink of the lips thereof, that which makes the handle
For Your face-mirror, how could we ever speak of it, Your peerless chin.
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In Verse 67 the beauty of the chin of the Goddess is the central locus. This region of the face has an appeal both to the father of Parvati as well as to her beloved husband. Her father is referred to here as touching the chin with tender parental affection. The husband, although he is interested in the more erotic act of kissing the Goddess on her lips to enjoy the bliss it can give him, is here referred to as treating the face of the Goddess as a mirror, for which her chin is something like a handle. He lifts this handle so that it could assume a verticalized position as he approaches the face, which is only a reflection of his own face in essence. As he looks into it to enjoy the counterpart, as it were, of his own beauty, the reflected version is essentially the same Absolute Beauty. The duality of husband and wife is thus seen to be abolished, and herein lies the Advaitic doctrine hidden from superficial view. The touch of the father gives the chin a hypostatic dignity. The lifting of the “handle of the mirror” gives it a status of equality or parity of subject and object, one of which alone could be real, in keeping with the Advaitic doctrine. The reflection is just an appearance derived from the real. The resultant beauty, however, is not vitiated by any unilateral consideration of reality, but is the “Real of reals” as a value, and thus becomes unique, as stated in the last line.
The first half of this verse contrasts the way in which the father and the husband touch the chin of their beloved. We notice that what is lost in actuality is gained in virtuality. The father only touches the daughter with the tip of his fingers. While this actual contact is minimal, the contact made by the husband is only figurative and thus there is no actual contact at all, in principle. What is underlined here is Shiva´s intention to drink of the lips. There is no actual contact here, either. Even if it had been depicted, it would only have been contact with the mirror surface intervening between them. Thus the union of Shiva and Parvati is fully real but not physical in the factual everyday sense. Dialectical counterparts can operate only on a ground which knows no duality between subject and object.
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ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.
WORD FOR WORD
Kara grena sprshtam - touched by the tip of the hand
Tuhina girina - by the high mountain lord
Vatsalataya - by affection.
Giri Shena dastam muhuh - lifted again and again by the mountain lord
Adhara pana kulataya - by the painful yearning for the drinking of lips
Kara grahyam shambhoh - by the lord capable of being held
Mukha mukura vrantam - handle of the mirror of the face
Giri sute - o daughter of the mountain
Katham karam brumah - how can we say
Tava cubukam aupamya rahitam - your lower face (or kiss) without compare.
Kara grena sprshtam - touched by the tip of the hand
Tuhina girina - by the high mountain lord
Vatsalataya - by affection.
Giri Shena dastam muhuh - lifted again and again by the mountain lord
Adhara pana kulataya - by the painful yearning for the drinking of lips
Kara grahyam shambhoh - by the lord capable of being held
Mukha mukura vrantam - handle of the mirror of the face
Giri sute - o daughter of the mountain
Katham karam brumah - how can we say
Tava cubukam aupamya rahitam - your lower face (or kiss) without compare.
(We may note that in this verse, Shiva is not called, as previously, "The Lord of Beasts" but Shambho, often taken to mean "Abode of Joy" or "Giver of Joy" , but here translated as "The Lord capable of being held." ED)
An alternative version:
TRANSLATION:
1) Touches with the tip of the hand
2) By the...Mountain Lord (Illegible)
3) By affection
4) Again and again by the Mountain Lord
5) By the painful yearning for the drinking,
or: of lips I desire to kiss, Goddess
6) By the Lord capable of being held
7) The handle of the mirror of the face
8) O Daughter of the Mountain (Suté means" Goddess")
9) Katham = how. How to describe the Absolute Value
10) Of one lower face (a lot of this is ILLEGIBLE. ED )
2) By the...Mountain Lord (Illegible)
3) By affection
4) Again and again by the Mountain Lord
5) By the painful yearning for the drinking,
or: of lips I desire to kiss, Goddess
6) By the Lord capable of being held
7) The handle of the mirror of the face
8) O Daughter of the Mountain (Suté means" Goddess")
9) Katham = how. How to describe the Absolute Value
10) Of one lower face (a lot of this is ILLEGIBLE. ED )
Length, breadth, thickness, make a pyramid. (This is unclear. ED)
This is Protolinguistics without using the name of a colour.
The colour-solid is to be used as a frame of reference.
Concepts are in the upper cone of the structure - percepts in the lower cone.
Cancellation between the two is the subject of this verse.
This god, the Lord of the Himalayas, the Devi's father, touches the handle of the mirror.
This is a pure vertical motion - it is electromagnetic.
Why move the handle up and down?
This is a pure vertical motion - it is electromagnetic.
Why move the handle up and down?
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.This is an incomparable Absolute.
An indirect contact, such as that between the Devi and Shiva, means "spiritual".
(They cancel out through the mirror. ED).
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When a woman looks into a mirror she sees God.
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THE COLOUR SOLID
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PROTOLINGUISTICS - THE COLOUR SOLID IS THE FRAME OF REFERENCE
Pure motion is vertical as opposed to mere horizontal movement, which is vulgar.
Shiva lifts the mirror but does not hold it - this is pure motion.
Shiva lifts the mirror but does not hold it - this is pure motion.
The principle of Absolute Beauty for wisdom seekers is the fourth dimension of the space-time continuum (see Bergson's "Durée et Simultanéité").
(Einstein’s theory of special relativity created a fundamental link between space and time. The universe can be viewed as having three space dimensions — up/down, left/right, forward/backward — and one time dimension. This 4-dimensional space is referred to as the space-time continuum.
Space-time is usually interpreted with space as existing in three dimensions and time playing the role of a fourth dimension that is of a different sort from the spatial dimensions. From a Euclidian perspective, the universe has three dimensions of space and one of time. Time can devour space and space time, both according to Descartes as well as in the overall context of Einsteinian space-time relationships. ED)
(THESE PAGES OF THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT IN THE GURU'S HAND HAVE TO BE REPRODUCED FACSIMILE AS THEY ARE AMBIGUOUS AND WE WOULD HESITATE TO GIVE MORE THAN TENTATIVE EXPLANATIONS. ED.)
"Your kiss cannot be compared to anything because of being Absolute".
"Where Shiva touches the handle of thy face -the mirror used for..."
"Your face is a mirror...". When Shiva touches the handle, it is to participate in the denominator beauty of the Devi.
The poet says there is no figure of speech to describe the chin, because the meeting point between Numerator and Denominator - the handle of the mirror, the Devi's face, in which He sees a reflection of Himself - is too ineffable.
Shiva takes the trouble of descending the vertical axis and touching the Denominator.
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The handle of the face is touched by the finger of Shiva.
Thus they must have the same epistemological status.
The chin of Her face is the handle and the lower lip is what Shiva wants to kiss.
"Again and again the Mountain Lord lifts..." - this is pure vertical motion.
"And how can we describe this ineffable participation between the Numerator and the Denominator?"
(Or try to describe the "parts" which participate.)
"And how can we describe this ineffable participation between the Numerator and the Denominator?"
(Or try to describe the "parts" which participate.)
We have here complete Vedanta, structurally understood: the father sees his daughter in the normal, horizontal way; but Shiva sees his own Self reflected in her face, vertically.
One is static, the other dynamic.
The Devi is the Denominator side of Shiva, as he recognizes.
This is complete cancellation of Numerator and Denominator.
There are two levels to a woman, inner and outer: rejection outside, enjoyment inside.
This is the paradox in religion.
This is the paradox in religion.
SAUNDARYA LAHARI - VERSE 68
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SAUNDARYA LAHARI
VERSE 68
CONTRAST ENHANCES BEAUTY
MUDDY PUTS CLEAR IN RELIEF
A MERGING OF THE TWO SIDES OF THE SITUATION
MUDDY PUTS CLEAR IN RELIEF
A MERGING OF THE TWO SIDES OF THE SITUATION
भुजाश्लेषान्नित्यं पुरदमयितुः कन्टकवती
तव ग्रीवा धत्ते मुखकमलनाल-श्रियमियम् ।
स्वतः श्वेता काला गरु बहुल-जम्बालमलिना
मृणालीलालित्यं वहति यदधो हारलतिका
तव ग्रीवा धत्ते मुखकमलनाल-श्रियमियम् ।
स्वतः श्वेता काला गरु बहुल-जम्बालमलिना
मृणालीलालित्यं वहति यदधो हारलतिका
bhujaslesan nityam pura damayituh kantakavati
tava griva dhatte mukha kamala nala sriyam iyam
svatah sveta kalagaru bahula jambala malina
mrnali lalityam vahati yad adho hara latika
tava griva dhatte mukha kamala nala sriyam iyam
svatah sveta kalagaru bahula jambala malina
mrnali lalityam vahati yad adho hara latika
Incessantly embraced by the arms of the City-Burner,
And thrilled to thorny bristling of the hair of Your neck,
It shows a lotus-stalk grace, smudged by excess of dark cosmetic paste
By itself it retains beneath the creeper-tendril suppleness of the pearly necklace lotus-core
And thrilled to thorny bristling of the hair of Your neck,
It shows a lotus-stalk grace, smudged by excess of dark cosmetic paste
By itself it retains beneath the creeper-tendril suppleness of the pearly necklace lotus-core
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The erotic advances made by Shiva toward Parvati are of a subtle and ineffable order. We have seen, even from the second verse that the realism, if any, in these verses has to be understood as belonging to the world of fine particles. Shiva is represented in the opening verse of one of Kalidasa´s plays (Malavikagnimitra) as having his body intimately mixed up with that of his wife, Parvati, but in spite of such a communion, still remaining the best of ascetics It is reasonable to expect that Sankara respects the same Sanskritic tradition. Therefore, it is important for us to extract the meaning of this verse in such a way as not to do violence to any of the tacit conventions respected by Sankara.
We have to establish the meaning here on a very thin schematic and conceptual ground, where name and form are just able to participate with each other in terms of light, shade and line. The corresponding conceptions have in turn to belong to a world of discourse rather than of brute fact. Such a ground would fit in with the verses that follow, as well as establish a continuity with the previous verses.
In Verse 67 we saw the father and the husband treat the chin of the Goddess with a certain aloofness because the chin is neither matter nor mind, but something participating both ways. To Shiva it was figurative; while to her father it was existent, though his participation was of a very light order. All these details are important for us to remember so that the Advaitic doctrine hidden under this living pictorial language could be correctly appreciated.
The incessant embrace in the first line, producing horripilation or “a thorny bristling” of the hair of the neck of the Goddess, is to be understood in terms of a thrilling sense of inner bliss, more akin to salvation than to ordinary erotic play. The best eroticism is one in which this kind of two-sided participation is perfectly balanced between subject and object, matter and mind. Unilateral stress on one or the other can only spoil the case of both. Therefore, we have to place ourselves sympathetically on a sort of middle ground and understand that the bristling of the hair only represents the exalted nature of the thrill enjoyed by the Goddess. On the side of Shiva, it is to be noted that he is not thinking in terms of an ordinary sex act lasting only a short time, but he is engaged in an everlasting embrace. This is a revised form of erotic relationship in keeping with mystical eroticism rather than merely sexual eroticism. Kalidasa's “Kumarasambhava”, in the last canto, also describes Shiva as everlastingly remaining in the bedroom of Parvati. Any value could be treated sub specie aeternitatis in this manner.
The lotus plant is dear to Sanskrit poets and to wise philosophers who want to use it as an analogy for all laudable spiritual attributes , especially as seen from an ontological perspective. The lotus plant is noted for its tenderness, purity and beauty of colour and especially for its inner thread-like core (mrnala tantu) made of vascular bundles forming gleaming supple strands within the stalk, as well as for its fragrance and the patches of brown and pink when the petals are half-open. These are items offered by the lotus which the Sanskrit poet loves to work upon in his essentially contemplative poetry. In the case of erotic mystical poetry, the wonder of the lotus plant and its virtue are a source never expended and constantly to be drawn upon, age after age; not given up even in the present-day literature of vernaculars based on Sanskrit. The stalk of the lotus has on it the very bristles that are referred to in this verse. They may not be beautiful to an ordinary poet, but for Sankara, to whom good and bad have to reveal the same beauty-value, even the thorny hair of the lotus becomes a precious analogy. Eroticism between the God and Goddess refers to the context of an eternal bliss that can induce samadhi in a votary who can meditate on the subject correctly.
In the third line, we find a reference to beauty smudged by dark cosmetic pastes. This blemish, instead of detracting from the beauty, only enhances it, according to the Advaitic poet, as we have already explained in a previous verse. Shakuntala is more beautiful wearing her bark garment than dressed in rustling silks and living in the King's palace. Contrast is at the core of the Absolute, and only when it is cancelled-out effectively could the absolute beauty-value emerge to view. This doctrine should give a key to justify these laboured analogies that would otherwise seem to be artificially pressed into the service of this kind of poetry, making it merely mechanistic and metaphysical in an objectionable sense.
The mud or dross in which the lotus plant has to live gives it a status that belongs to it by natural necessity. Even frailties, when they are fully human, could not be treated finally as frailties at all. Human nature has room for many natural deficiencies, and the totality of all such cancel out in a tragic hero, such as Othello, giving an absolutist touch to his character which remains fully human in spite of defects like passion or jealousy. It is when such passions do not cancel out against the overall nobility of the character that the situation can become an anticlimax.
The Absolute is a “thing-in-itself”, but this quality of being “in itself” implies its dialectical counterpart to set it off in proper relief, without which it cannot be appreciated at all. In the name of such an appreciation of beauty, the contrast insisted upon here is fully justified. Furthermore, we have to note that the poet intends to descend step-by-step into beauty items at the core of the personality of the Goddess herself, which are not the same as their counterparts at the peripheral limits. The elephant skin that Shiva is supposed to wear, while remaining the pure spirit dancing vertically at the core of the universe, contains the same type of ideogram as here. In this verse the thing-in-itself is compared to a pearly necklace showing beneath an excess of dark cosmetic paste . Peripherally, there is what is extraneous to the thing-in-itself, which is not to be omitted in a complete and realistic picture of beauty in the context of the Absolute. Evil is not to be explained away, but is to be transcended after it has been given its proper place in the total scheme. The pearly necklace reveals a fully verticalized beauty-factor, whereas the thorny bristles represent the horizontalized version of the same. The variation is between interiority and peripherality, as also verticality and horizontality. Absolute beauty has to be viewed in its four-fold polyvalent relief to have that overwhelming character which is called lahari in this work.
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(Samadhi - attaining final loneliness or peace; passing into the peace beyond, the term and goal of intelligent humanity; contemplative calmness. ED)
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ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.
WORD FOR WORD
Bhujashleshan - by being embraced by arms
Nityam pura damayituh - ever (incessantly) of the City-Burner
Kantakavati - thrilled to thorny bristling
Tava griva dhatte - Your neck shows
Mukha kamala nala shriyam - a lotus-stalk grace
Iyam svatah shveta - this, by itself white
Kala garu bahula jambala malina - smudged by excess of black cosmetic paste
Mrnali lalityam vahati - the lotus creeper suppleness
Yad adah - beneath the same
Hara latika - a garland of pearls
Bhujashleshan - by being embraced by arms
Nityam pura damayituh - ever (incessantly) of the City-Burner
Kantakavati - thrilled to thorny bristling
Tava griva dhatte - Your neck shows
Mukha kamala nala shriyam - a lotus-stalk grace
Iyam svatah shveta - this, by itself white
Kala garu bahula jambala malina - smudged by excess of black cosmetic paste
Mrnali lalityam vahati - the lotus creeper suppleness
Yad adah - beneath the same
Hara latika - a garland of pearls
WORD FOR WORD
1) Bhuja shleshas - by arm embrace
2) Nityam pura damayituh - always of the three city burner
3) Kanta kavati - made thorny
4) Tava griva dhatte - Your neck bears
5) Mukha kamala nala shriyam - the auspicious richness of the stalk for the lotus face
6) Ayam svatah shveta - this naturally white (thing), this intrinsically white object.
7) Kala guru bahula jambala malina - dirty by the excessive contact with the karakil. (cosmetic paste)
8) Mrnali lalityam vahati - the rich beauty of the lotus flower receptacle.
9) Yad adha - in the lower part of the neck
10) Hara latika - garland of pearls
2) Nityam pura damayituh - always of the three city burner
3) Kanta kavati - made thorny
4) Tava griva dhatte - Your neck bears
5) Mukha kamala nala shriyam - the auspicious richness of the stalk for the lotus face
6) Ayam svatah shveta - this naturally white (thing), this intrinsically white object.
7) Kala guru bahula jambala malina - dirty by the excessive contact with the karakil. (cosmetic paste)
8) Mrnali lalityam vahati - the rich beauty of the lotus flower receptacle.
9) Yad adha - in the lower part of the neck
10) Hara latika - garland of pearls
Now Shiva will embrace the Goddess physically.
Another version:
TRANSLATION
By the embrace with the arms of the Devi.
Always by the God who burns the three cities.
By arm embrace.
Always, ever, by the burner of three cities. (City-burner).
Neck thorny.
Your neck bears, supports.
The auspicious riches of the stalk for the lotus face.
This intrinsically white.... (Illegible)
Dirty by excessive contact with karakil (cosmetic paste)
Always by the God who burns the three cities.
By arm embrace.
Always, ever, by the burner of three cities. (City-burner).
Neck thorny.
Your neck bears, supports.
The auspicious riches of the stalk for the lotus face.
This intrinsically white.... (Illegible)
Dirty by excessive contact with karakil (cosmetic paste)
(Each of the figure-8's represents a dynamism - presumably the cancellation between Shiva and the Devi. This structure is obscure. It is possible that the figure-8's represent the cancellations between Shiva and the Devi in each individual verse of the Saundarya Lahari, surrounding the central cancellation between these two factors. This is purely speculation on our part. ED)
Another version:
TRANSLATION
By the burner of the three cities at all times
Having little thorns due to hairs standing on end
Your neck gives
The beauty of the lotus stalk of Your face
These which are by nature white
Becoming dirty by...
Bears the resemblance of a lotus flower receptacle
The pearl necklace below.
By the burner of the three cities at all times
Having little thorns due to hairs standing on end
Your neck gives
The beauty of the lotus stalk of Your face
These which are by nature white
Becoming dirty by...
Bears the resemblance of a lotus flower receptacle
The pearl necklace below.
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Shiva is always embracing the Devi at the neck.
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"Eternally" - this is meant to bring out the Absolute touch.
This is not a real, physical thing - but the union of masculine and feminine factors.
This is not a real, physical thing - but the union of masculine and feminine factors.
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The hair standing on end represents an Absolute emotion: the wonder of the numerator Absolute - Shiva, the Burner of Three Cities descending.
(Note that Shiva is the Lord of Beasts in Verse 66, before becoming the City-Burner in this verse. ED)
The higher pole on the vertical axis is the face of the Devi, and the lower pole is the string of pearls with the thin central thread of the lotus-stalk (mrinala tantu) as parameter.
The pearls are pure, but they are in mud - the "dark cosmetic paste", which is like the mud from which the lotus grows - and hierophantic and negative; if they were bright, they would be hypostatic.
(This detail - the mud the lotus grows from - emphasizes the negativity which is the ground of the Devi. The two factors - pearls and mud - are counterparts. It should maybe also be kept in mind that pearls are traditionally to be found in the skull of an elephant. The elephant is huge, heavy and dark - a negative factor. The Guru said that space was like sitting inside an elephant. ED)
"Full of thorns" means - "don't touch!"
There is a tragic double feeling here.
(Attraction and repulsion. She repels horizontal advances and feels vertical attraction to Shiva. ED)
Anyway, She does not want anyone to come horizontally and embrace Her.
Where horizontal meets vertical, there is an intermediate zone.
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This is all geometry, if you teach geometry and call it poetry, how many people will come to your class?
Two bright parts - hypostatic and hierophantic - positive and negative, are connected by the stalk.
- there is no tragedy and no comedy; everything cancels out.
- there is no tragedy and no comedy; everything cancels out.
They are the two poles of a parameter which is indeterminate at their meeting point.
The details of reality are not always respected by the poets.
The meaning here can only be found relationally.
The thorny bristling in the lotus is like the special thrill felt by Parvati when first embraced.
Underneath there is the vertical axis of the lotus-stalk fibre.
Horizontally, there is rejection: "Leave me alone", represented by the thorns; but vertically she is satisfied and related in an absolute manner to her husband.
Nityam means she is "eternally" embraced: show a lotus pond with bees embracing lotus plants; shift to the crescent moon and a snake-garlanded Shiva.
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Anyway, there are four layers of meaning:
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1) Bristles
2) Pearly necklace
3) Shiva's moonlight
4) (blank) (Possibly the thin lotus-stalk. ED)
2) Pearly necklace
3) Shiva's moonlight
4) (blank) (Possibly the thin lotus-stalk. ED)
There are two pictures here; one is a realistic comparison to a lotus plant, half-glistening, half-smudged with mud.
(The other is presumably her neck with a pearl necklace, corresponding to the circle of stamens at the heart of the flower. ED)
Mrnali lalityam vahati - the lotus creeper suppleness
Mrinala is the imperishable central fibre of the lotus.
Mrinala is the imperishable central fibre of the lotus.
SAUNDARYA LAHARI - VERSE 69
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SAUNDARYA LAHARI
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VERSE 69
GOOD MUSIC IS BASED ON 3 SUBTLE LEVELS/VARIATIONS, WHICH ARE VERTICAL
गले रेखास्तिस्रो गति गमक गीतैक निपुणे
विवाह-व्यानद्ध-प्रगुणगुण-सङ्ख्या प्रतिभुवः ।
विराजन्ते नानाविध-मधुर-रागाकर-भुवां
त्रयाणां ग्रामाणां स्थिति-नियम-सीमान इव ते
gale rekhas tisro gatigamaka gitaika nipune
vivahavyanaddha pragunaguna samkhya pratibhuvah
virajante nanavidha madhura ragakara bhuvam
trayanam gramanam sthiti niyama simana iva te
vivahavyanaddha pragunaguna samkhya pratibhuvah
virajante nanavidha madhura ragakara bhuvam
trayanam gramanam sthiti niyama simana iva te
Those three lines on Your neck, O One fully expert in time, syncopation and melody;
They are the counter-grounds of Your marital thread of strands and sub-strands,
As they do shine as the ground wherein is born many a melody;
Giving position, regulation and limitation for the three groups of musical keys.
They are the counter-grounds of Your marital thread of strands and sub-strands,
As they do shine as the ground wherein is born many a melody;
Giving position, regulation and limitation for the three groups of musical keys.
The transition from the delicate lotus-core strands of shining pearl-like vascular bundles to horizontal lines on the neck of the Goddess give us a new perspective in Verse 69. We are still in the context of music and of words.
The Goddess' nods of appreciation of her own performance in praise of Shiva could still be treated as the subject matter of this verse, but we enter here into the domain of musical theory, just as we entered into semantics in Verses 15 through 17.
The beauty of music depends upon gati, gamaka and gita, which we have translated as “time, syncopation and melody”. Indian musical theory differs from that of the West, and without going into the merits of these three items it would be difficult for us to say if they complete the list. Music has to conform to some rules, as in a game. Every game has to have two rival sides. Random kicking of a football on a field by boys not divided into two teams interests nobody. Beauty thus has to be an emergent factor when two counterparts enter into intimate interplay.
Here we have to recognize the black ceremonial string that husbands tie around the necks of their wives at their wedding. Three strands of such a string could easily be considered permissible, even if not always considered obligatory. Sankara gives these three black strands a first-dimensional status in the picture that he is presenting in this verse. Each of these three black sub-strands coming from the numerator side as a decoration added onto the beauty of the Goddess in herself, is here represented as having a corresponding fold of skin on the neck of the Goddess. As she nods to appreciate the beauty of her own song of praise for Shiva, these folds could be imagined as becoming alternately accentuated or lightly marked.
The beating of time refers to the most horizontally factual quality in music. It is like a band across the spectrum. The lowest and the most definite of horizontal lines is to be marked first on the neck of the Goddess. Syncopation is a musical device employed by experts in which they can play with fractional variations in the beat, to be recovered in the next or successive beats. Time is not so strictly respected here. When we come to melody, the horizontal reference to time can be relaxed to a further degree. An expert singer can take full liberties here so as to reveal his creative genius, sometimes throwing to the wind cheap conventions which only amateurs are expected to respect to the letter. The three lines, therefore, show three degrees of necessity or freedom, to the requirements of which the creative artist in music should conform.
There are approximately a hundred different modes in Indian music called ragas. Among these there are melakartas (chief modes) and janyas which are sub-varieties of the main modes. This explains the reference to strands and sub-strands in this verse.
Good music results when the limiting considerations are respected or transcended, according to the genius of the particular musician. It is possible, as suggested in the third line, to see in visible form the subtle incipient movements which are at the basis of creative musical expression. They have these bright lines for their common locus.
In the last line, the “position” involving the time factor, the “regulation”, which would refer to syncopation, and the “limitation” of the notes of the particular mode or raga, proper to each creative type of music, which give to each of the three main types of music (trayanam gramanam), whatever specific beauty they might possess, are put in a one-to-one correspondence with each other. Thus a complete theory of Absolute Beauty in music is covered by Sankara in this verse. Music thus helps us to distinguish further details within the structure of absolute Beauty within the domain of the Word and its meaning. Here again we have to notice how the visible and the intelligible are put together with a one-to-one correspondence between them. Medium and message thus meet and cancel out into sheer musical enjoyability.
We have translated sthiti as “position”, niyama as “regulation” and sima as “limitation”. There is also reference to the three gramas (trayanam gramanam), which we have translated as “the three groups of musical keys”. Each of the keys is limited to certain scales which give them their character.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM
The thread (mangalasutra) is of three strands (This is to be compared to the three gunas).
The three folds in the neck are existential. Swaram, Layam, Ragam. (A swara is a note in the octave, equivalent to do, re, mi etc. in the West; laya means rhythm or tempo; a raga is a melodic mode. ED)
WORD FOR WORD
Gale rekhas tisrah - the three lines on Your neck
Gati gamaka gitaika nipune - o One fully expert in time, syncopation and melody.
Viva havya anaddha praguna guna samkhya prati bhuvah - they are the counterground of the marital thread of strands and sub-strands
Virajante - they shine in glory
Nana vidha madhura raga kara bhuvam - as the ground wherein is born many a melody
Trayanam gramanam - of the three groups of musical keys
Sthiti niyama simana - as factors of position, regulation and limitation
Iva te - as they are
Gale rekhas tisrah - the three lines on Your neck
Gati gamaka gitaika nipune - o One fully expert in time, syncopation and melody.
Viva havya anaddha praguna guna samkhya prati bhuvah - they are the counterground of the marital thread of strands and sub-strands
Virajante - they shine in glory
Nana vidha madhura raga kara bhuvam - as the ground wherein is born many a melody
Trayanam gramanam - of the three groups of musical keys
Sthiti niyama simana - as factors of position, regulation and limitation
Iva te - as they are
WORD FOR WORD
Gale rekhas tisro - the three lines of Your neck.
Gati gamaka gita ika nipune - tempo, choke, cadence, syncopation, note of song - experts
Viva havya nadha pra guna guna samkhya prati bhuvah - at the time of marriage of the (three) sets of gunas, forming the plus side, the basic counterground
Virajante - they shine triumphant
Nana vidha madhura raga kara bhuvam - the fertile (three) fields for varied sweet ragas (modes major or minor, etc.)
Trayanam gramanam - of the three ensembles
Sthiti niyama simanam - of the state of existence the limits
Iva te - they are like
Gati gamaka gita ika nipune - tempo, choke, cadence, syncopation, note of song - experts
Viva havya nadha pra guna guna samkhya prati bhuvah - at the time of marriage of the (three) sets of gunas, forming the plus side, the basic counterground
Virajante - they shine triumphant
Nana vidha madhura raga kara bhuvam - the fertile (three) fields for varied sweet ragas (modes major or minor, etc.)
Trayanam gramanam - of the three ensembles
Sthiti niyama simanam - of the state of existence the limits
Iva te - they are like
(Much of the material below is from fragmentary notes and jottings in the Guru's own handwriting and rather obscure. ED)
("Choke" seems an odd choice of words, but the notes were taken by a Western musician and may be his interpretation of "syncopation." In any case, the general meaning is clear. ED)
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"At the time of the marriage of the higher aspects of music to the lower, these three values - three sets of gunas, following the style of the basic centre ground, they shine triumphant, the fertile fields of..." (3 ?)
(The three gunas (modalities of nature) are related to the three lines, the three strands of Her marital thread and the three groups of musical keys etc. This is a very complex description of music. In a later verse, the three lines on the Devi's stomach are also described. ED)
"For varied ragas of the three ensembles of the state of existence the limits...". (?)
Note that the above structure has the shape of a Vina.
(The above structure appears to refer to 1) above, the lines on the neck as counterparts of time, syncopation and melody and 2) below, the strands of the marital thread and the three "gramas" or groups of musical keys. See our tentative structure below. ED)
Drop out, tune in.
Inner space, mind expansion, back to back.
Inner space, mind expansion, back to back.
(Sic - in the Guru's own handwriting - inexplicable. ED.)
(The above structure may be also fairly tentative. ED)
Another version:
TRANSLATION
The three lines on Your neck, showing expertness of movement (quick or slow), vitality and sweetness of melody,
When conjoined to its counterpart, forming (three) fertile grounds
For each of the triune modalities, (they do) shine triumphant,
Constituting the counter-ground of the three ensembles, limiting their stable state.
When conjoined to its counterpart, forming (three) fertile grounds
For each of the triune modalities, (they do) shine triumphant,
Constituting the counter-ground of the three ensembles, limiting their stable state.
Saundarya - beauty ...LAHARI
Sankara - acharya
Devi as Absolute.
Architectonic music (?)
Sankara - acharya
Devi as Absolute.
Architectonic music (?)
(The above four lines are obscure.
Saundarya Lahari - "saundarya" means "beauty" and "lahari" means, roughly, "an upsurging inner billow".
Sankara is an "acharya" or wisdom teacher, so what he has to say is authoritative.
The structure below describes the Devi as the Absolute.
The French expression, "Architectonique Musicale" refers to the structure of music, which is the subject of this verse. ED)
(In the above structure the three sets of ensembles are related to the structure of other verses through the three gunas, sattva, rajas and tamas. It refers to some other context or verse which is not indicated in the original manuscript. ED)
Music and notes can be divided into three sets of ensembles.
These three produce all the different ragas ("modes"- very roughly translated. ED) on the Numerator side.
All music depends on the use of the three gamuts within the octave.
There are three lines on the neck of the Devi, which vibrate.
These three produce all the different ragas ("modes"- very roughly translated. ED) on the Numerator side.
All music depends on the use of the three gamuts within the octave.
There are three lines on the neck of the Devi, which vibrate.
When Shiva married the Devi, he put around Her neck a black thread - basic and ontological - made up of three strands. (This is the Indian equivalent of a wedding ring. ED)
So the vina (stringed instrument) is also divided into a three-fold ground system.
(It may be relevant that, like the 24 frets of the Vina, the human backbone has 24 divisions. According to anatomy, the backbone has three groups of vertebrae: 7 cervical, 12 thoracic and 5 lumbar vertebrae. The three Gunas and the three functions of creation, preservation and destruction must be kept in mind and related to the three "gati gamaka gitaika nipune" - "O One fully expert in time, syncopation and melody", as also to "trayanam gramanam - the three groups of musical keys."
There are many subtle allusions and suggestions in these verses. ED)
There is 1-1 correspondence between the notes of music on the Numerator and the ground of music on the Denominator.
"You can sing whatever songs You like, but the origin of the songs must belong to the husband, Shiva."
There is a "marriage" between the notes and their ground.
There is a "marriage" between the notes and their ground.
"The three lines in Your neck…": a beautiful woman is said traditionally to have three lines on her neck, representing the three gunas (nature modalities). Shiva is beyond these on the Numerator side.
Conceptual and perceptual aspects are again brought together.
Let her play the Vina and frolic on the three lines.
The marital string is intended to underline the participation between Numerator and Denominator.
She is singing in praise of her husband - when the numerator of Her husband, Shiva, is supplied, the situation becomes sublime.
The black string is the conceptual version of the three types of musical keys.
There are three folds in the Devi's neck: syncopation, measure and melody.
There are three strands in Her bridal thread - this is Her link with Shiva.
The lines are Denominator
The threads are Numerator.
There are three traits of music
three strands in Her marital thread
three folds in Her neck.
three strands in Her marital thread
three folds in Her neck.
(The manuscript says "3 folds in her stomach" not "neck". As is seen in other verses, there are also, traditionally, 3 folds in a beautiful woman's stomach. These triune structural factors reappear in many places - as Gunas, as lines in the neck, as lines on the stomach in Verse 80 etc.
VERSE 80
O Goddess, having made Your twin breasts gain the beauty of gold pots,
Rubbing at the upper arms, bursting the bodice and presently perspiring,
The God of Love, now wanting to save your threefold waist from breaking, saying: "enough"
With three strands of a wild creeper, he presently binds.
SAUNDARYA LAHARI - VERSE 70
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SAUNDARYA LAHARI
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VERSE 70
FOURFOLD ONE-ONE CORRESPONDENCE AT TWO LEVELS
मृणाली-मृद्वीनां तव भुजलतानां चतसृणां
चतुर्भिः सौन्द्रयं सरसिजभवः स्तौति वदनैः ।
नखेभ्यः सन्त्रस्यन् प्रथम-मथना दन्तकरिपोः
चतुर्णां शीर्षाणां सम-मभयहस्तार्पण-धिया
चतुर्भिः सौन्द्रयं सरसिजभवः स्तौति वदनैः ।
नखेभ्यः सन्त्रस्यन् प्रथम-मथना दन्तकरिपोः
चतुर्णां शीर्षाणां सम-मभयहस्तार्पण-धिया
mrnali mrdvinam tava bhuja latanam atarsnam
caturbhis saundaryam srasija bhava stauti vadanaih
nakhebhyas santrasyan prathama mathanad antaka ripos-
caturnam sirsanam samam abhaya hastarpana dhiya
caturbhis saundaryam srasija bhava stauti vadanaih
nakhebhyas santrasyan prathama mathanad antaka ripos-
caturnam sirsanam samam abhaya hastarpana dhiya
Of the lotus-core tender beauty of Your four-fold hands,
He sings the praise, the lotus-born god, trembling the while because of Shiva's nails
That once of yore nipped off his extra head, he (Brahma) intending now to pray for
Your refuge-granting hand-gesture for each of his remaining heads
He sings the praise, the lotus-born god, trembling the while because of Shiva's nails
That once of yore nipped off his extra head, he (Brahma) intending now to pray for
Your refuge-granting hand-gesture for each of his remaining heads
.
In Verse 70 we are still in the context of the Goddess of the Word. Brahma, the four-headed god of creation, is depicted here as praying for a protective gesture from the four hands of the Goddess. The reason for this prayer is that, according to mythology, he once tried to grow a fifth head facing vertically upwards to attain the glory of hypostatic levels where, as creator of the universe, he was not deemed fit to encroach. His proper place is below the horizontal line but, not knowing that it was Shiva to whom any value that was hypostatic and above the horizontal line properly belonged, Brahma had to pay the price for his inadvertent mistake by having his fifth head cruelly pinched off by Shiva. Mythologies are not to be taken literally, but are generally meant to express some basic spiritual verity which cannot otherwise be made clear. Here Brahma is seen in a more submissive and humiliated attitude, in which he is singing the praise of his own daughter, Sarasvati. Her four hands have a certain tenderness or suppleness, comparable to the pearly bright bundle of vascular strands at the core of the lotus stalk, which is an analogy meant to express the neutral, though material, status of a “thinking substance”. Because she is the wife of Shiva, her beauty can have this status. Her four arms can participate both ways, because Shiva is not a rival to her, but her husband, Brahma, as mere creator, can at best have the status of very fine pollen, or of fine creative biological particles, as explained in Verse 2.
There are three epistemological gradations strictly dividing each stratum in the total context, which have been clearly demarcated in the second verse and further qualified in some later verses. Brahma himself is lotus-born and his daughter is born one degree above the lotus' biological reality. The lotus' tendril-like leaves which have fourfold creeper-like arms are meant here to have a status of their own, not merely material, but consisting of a subtler form of “thinking substance”. Each of the four faces of Brahma belongs to one quadrant of a quaternion structure. With all of his four mouths he is engaged in praying for protection from his own daughter who is nearer to the logos or the nous than he could aspire to be. The four hands have thus a one-to-one correspondence with the four mouths from which prayers climb upward. This verse is, therefore, meant to reveal some structural correspondences and necessary stratifications between grades of ontological or teleological richness and poverty. What is gained on the side of existence is lost on the side of absolute value. When the four hands condescend to offer refuge to the four heads, there would be a cancellation of four against four, resulting in that Absolute intended to be revealed through this structural analysis of the ground of absolute Beauty.
In the second line, it is again a coincidence that Brahma himself is lotus-born and the Goddess is born one degree more removed from the lotus as a biological reality. The four arms of the Goddess participate both ways because Shiva is not her rival, but her husband.
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Brahma's building material is pollen dust - even finer than that are the ashes of Shiva.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.
WORD FOR WORD
Mrnali mrdvinam - like lotus very tender
Tava bhuja latanam chatashrnam - of Your four-branching arms.
Chaturbhih - of the four
Saundaryam - the beauty
Sarasija bhavah stauti - god Brahma praises
Vadanaih - by his faces
Nakhe bhyah santrasyan - being afraid of nails
Prathama mathanad antaka ripoh - of the enemy of death having, before been plucked
Chaturnam shirshanam - by the four (remaining) heads
Samam abhaya hastarpana dhiya - at the same time having in mind to make the gesture of protection from fear
Mrnali mrdvinam - like lotus very tender
Tava bhuja latanam chatashrnam - of Your four-branching arms.
Chaturbhih - of the four
Saundaryam - the beauty
Sarasija bhavah stauti - god Brahma praises
Vadanaih - by his faces
Nakhe bhyah santrasyan - being afraid of nails
Prathama mathanad antaka ripoh - of the enemy of death having, before been plucked
Chaturnam shirshanam - by the four (remaining) heads
Samam abhaya hastarpana dhiya - at the same time having in mind to make the gesture of protection from fear
.
(Shiva burns the universe and the resulting ashes are used by Brahma to create the new universe. This is a process that is happening constantly, forever and everywhere in an eternal here and now. ED)
Note that Shiva is here called "the enemy of death" (Earlier, he is "The Lord of Beasts","The City-Burner" etc. ED)
"Praising the protection of the Devi" - by praising, he compensates for the protection.
His head has been cut off to prevent him entering the hypostatic conceptual region above from the hierophantic or perceptual one below.
(See in the Upanishads for the source of 4 hands, heads etc.)
There seems to be some question as to where the Denominator factor is to be found in schematic representation.
Saraswati, as daughter of Brahma and wife of Shiva, has four hands.
The hands are four numerator factors.
The four mouths of Brahma praise the protection of the four hands of Saraswati - to protect each denominator head there must be a corresponding numerator hand.
When you say "Beauty", that means greatness, value, etc.; so you have to experience the flash of realization.
The cancellation of the two is Beauty.
Four intentional words (We suppose that "intentional words" refers to the words of praise Brahma is directing at Saraswati. ED) are cancelled by the hands of the Devi - kindness and cancellation in Beauty.
There is a tragedy between name and form, concept and percept.
The Devi bridges that gap.
The tower of Babel is the same story; just by building a tower, your spirituality is not complete.
God says: "This tower has no meaning to me - put together concepts and percepts and I will be satisfied."
If the Devi's hands are neutral on the Numerator side, it is because her behind is understood to be on the Denominator side.
"Let my four heads be neutralized and protected by your four hands."
The thinking substance, which is like a lotus-stalk: the Devi's (illegible)
(For Brahma's position in the structural schema, see Verse 1:
"The fine dust arising from your lotus feet
Brahma gathers up and the worlds creates.
Vishnu incessantly bears them up somehow with his thousand heads
And Shiva having shaken it up, accomplishes with it his ash-wearing rite." ED)
Brahma gathers up and the worlds creates.
Vishnu incessantly bears them up somehow with his thousand heads
And Shiva having shaken it up, accomplishes with it his ash-wearing rite." ED)
Another version:
WORD FOR WORD
Mrnali mrdvinam - of the lotus core tender
Tava bhuja latanam atasrnam - of Your fourfold creeper-like arms
Chaturbhih - of the 4
Saundaryam - beauty
Sarasija bhavah stauti - he praises the lotus-born (Brahma)
Vadanaih - by means of his faces
Nakhe bhyah santrasyan prathama mathanad antaka ripuh - by nails being ripped off once before by the enemy of death (Shiva), fearing his nails
Chaturnam shirshanam - for the (remaining ) four heads
Samam abhaya hastarpana dhiya - with 1/1 correspondence now intending to pray for refuge granting gesture (one for each head).
Mrnali mrdvinam - of the lotus core tender
Tava bhuja latanam atasrnam - of Your fourfold creeper-like arms
Chaturbhih - of the 4
Saundaryam - beauty
Sarasija bhavah stauti - he praises the lotus-born (Brahma)
Vadanaih - by means of his faces
Nakhe bhyah santrasyan prathama mathanad antaka ripuh - by nails being ripped off once before by the enemy of death (Shiva), fearing his nails
Chaturnam shirshanam - for the (remaining ) four heads
Samam abhaya hastarpana dhiya - with 1/1 correspondence now intending to pray for refuge granting gesture (one for each head).
.
Brahma was born of a lotus on the negative side and had his fifth head plucked off for trying to cross the tragic line - it was plucked off by Shiva's harsh nails.
(The "tragic line" is the horizontal axis separating the negative side, which is Brahma's proper ground as a creator god, from the positive, numerator side belonging to Shiva. ED)
.
.
But the Devi's lotus-born hands have a suppleness which allow Her to protect the remaining four heads of Brahma: this suppleness has been given Her by Shiva, inherited or taken from the mrnala filament the thin, milk-white central strand of the lotus-stalk.
(The lotus, a symbol of purity, having its roots in mud, is universal in the Indian tradition. Water slides off the waxy leaves of the lotus flower.
See the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 5, Verse 10:
"Placing all actions in the Absolute, having given
up attachment, he who acts is not affected by sin,
like a lotus leaf by water". ED)
.
The Devi thus participates between the two sides.
So it (The lotus filament. ED) has whiteness and suppleness - like the breasts.
Thus the nourishing breast comes from above.
So it (The lotus filament. ED) has whiteness and suppleness - like the breasts.
Thus the nourishing breast comes from above.
The head of the Devi is not mentioned.
Brahma remains below the horizontal line for fear of Shiva,
The one-to-one principle is operative here.
Brahma remains below the horizontal line for fear of Shiva,
The one-to-one principle is operative here.
(There is one-to-one correspondance between his four heads on the negative side and Saraswati's hands on the positive side. ED)
"Praising the protection of the Devi" - by praising, he compensates for the protection.
Brahma's four heads.
A popular image of Brahma.
Saraswati, his daughter.
His head has been cut off to prevent him entering the hypostatic conceptual region above from the hierophantic or perceptual one below.
(See in the Upanishads for the source of 4 hands, heads etc.)
(The God Brahma - as opposed to BrahmaN (the Absolute) does not, to our very limited knowledge, appear in any of the major Upanishads. However, there is a reference to Brahma "appearing in the Upanishads" in a few places, but we have not been able to track down a specific source, so far.
Brahma's consort is Saraswati (in some myths, she is his daughter, in others his wife. This is typical of Hindu myth-making). Unlike most other Hindu gods, Brahmā holds no weapons. According to some traditions, one of his hands holds a sceptre; another holds a book. Brahmā also holds a string of 108 prayer beads called the 'akṣamālā' (literally "garland of eyes"), which he uses to keep track of the Universe's time. He is also shown holding the Vedas. There are several other versions of his attributes.
Traditionally, the four faces are sometimes taken to symbolize the four Vedas (Rig, Sāma, Yajur and Atharva) and his four arms to represent the four cardinal directions: east, south, west, and north. There is also a tradition that the fifth head which Shiva removed symbolized lust or ego. Some sources say his fifth head was nipped off for lying. ED)
Another version:
TRANSLATION
Lotus-stalk tenderness of Thine...
Like the lotus stalk, very tender
Of Your four-branching arms
Of the four/the beauty / of each of the four
The Brahma praises (the god Brahma)
By his faces (by means of his mouths)
Being afraid of nails / by nails trembling (shaking with fear)...of the nails which plucked the fifth head
Of the enemy of Shiva having before plucked, by first plucking by Shiva, by the four heads remaining.
At the same time having in mind to make the gesture of protection from fear.
Equal protection offering
(By way of equal protection offering).
Like the lotus stalk, very tender
Of Your four-branching arms
Of the four/the beauty / of each of the four
The Brahma praises (the god Brahma)
By his faces (by means of his mouths)
Being afraid of nails / by nails trembling (shaking with fear)...of the nails which plucked the fifth head
Of the enemy of Shiva having before plucked, by first plucking by Shiva, by the four heads remaining.
At the same time having in mind to make the gesture of protection from fear.
Equal protection offering
(By way of equal protection offering).
.
108 EQUALS TWO SQUARES PLUS THREE CUBES
(Brahma traditionally carries a rosary of 108 beads. The number 108 is highly significant in the Indian tradition as well as mathematically.
In order to establish that many elements of the Indian tradition have a remarkable validity in terms of a scientific methodology, as an example, see below a mathematical analysis of this interesting number.
108 (or nine dozen) is an abundant number and a semiperfect number. It is a tetranacci number.
108 is the hyperfactorial of 3 since it is of the form 
.
108 is divisible by the value of its φ function, which is 36. 108 is also divisible by the total number of its divisors (12), hence it is a refactorable number.
In Euclidean space, the interior angles of a regular pentagon measure 108 degrees each.
There are 108 free polyominoes of order 7.
In base 10, it is a Harshad number and a self number.
The equation 
results in the golden ratio.
ED)
There seems to be some question as to where the Denominator factor is to be found in schematic representation.
More versions:
TRANSLATION
By four lotus-stalk tender arms of thine
Of each of the four the beauty
Brahma praises
By his faces
By nails trembling
By first plucking by Shiva
By way of equal protection offering
By four lotus-stalk tender arms of thine
Of each of the four the beauty
Brahma praises
By his faces
By nails trembling
By first plucking by Shiva
By way of equal protection offering
TRANSLATION
By the four lotus-stalk tender arms of thine
Of each of the four heads
Brahma praises by his faces, by nails trembling
First head is plucked by Shiva
By the four heads by you equal, protect, offering.
By way of equal protection offering...
By the four lotus-stalk tender arms of thine
Of each of the four heads
Brahma praises by his faces, by nails trembling
First head is plucked by Shiva
By the four heads by you equal, protect, offering.
By way of equal protection offering...
.
Brahma had five heads, but one of them was plucked off.
But what is the meaning of all this mythology?
What does he tell us about Absolute Beauty?
But what is the meaning of all this mythology?
What does he tell us about Absolute Beauty?
He had used his fifth head to enter Shiva's conceptual region - Shiva cut it off with a kind of hydrogen-jet laser ray.
So Brahma became afraid and stayed below the horizontal axis.
So Brahma became afraid and stayed below the horizontal axis.
Saraswati, as daughter of Brahma and wife of Shiva, has four hands.
The hands are four numerator factors.
The four mouths of Brahma praise the protection of the four hands of Saraswati - to protect each denominator head there must be a corresponding numerator hand.
When you say "Beauty", that means greatness, value, etc.; so you have to experience the flash of realization.
This is a view from the perspective of intentionality more than actuality.
The prayers of Brahma correspond to the protection of Devi - they cancel out.
The prayers of Brahma correspond to the protection of Devi - they cancel out.
This is intentionality, in the world of phenomenology.
He salutes the four hands of Saraswati, praising her with his four mouths - there is one-to-one parity.
He salutes the four hands of Saraswati, praising her with his four mouths - there is one-to-one parity.
(The use of the term "parity" is controversial here: parity is usually contrasted with handedness and treated as a horizontal relationship, as in the definitions below, taken, among many similar, from other parts of the commentary:
"Parity could imply a right-handed and a left-handed spin, twist or mirror asymmetry."
"Parity - refers to the horizontal alone; bilateral symmetry."
"Parity is horizontal and at a given level."
The manuscript definitely reads "parity" - an error in note-taking seems unlikely.
However, all the structural diagrams show a vertical relationship between the heads of Brahma and the hands of the Devi.
Maybe some subtlety of methodology escapes ED.)
The cancellation of the two is Beauty.
Four intentional words (We suppose that "intentional words" refers to the words of praise Brahma is directing at Saraswati. ED) are cancelled by the hands of the Devi - kindness and cancellation in Beauty.
Brahma has his fifth head nipped off.
Mrnala (lotus-stalk) arms are neither conceptual nor perceptual.
There is a tragedy between name and form, concept and percept.
The Devi bridges that gap.
The tower of Babel is the same story; just by building a tower, your spirituality is not complete.
God says: "This tower has no meaning to me - put together concepts and percepts and I will be satisfied."
.
.
Brahma is too much of substance, which is negative, to cross the tragic line up onto the positive side.
If the Devi's hands are neutral on the Numerator side, it is because her behind is understood to be on the Denominator side.
"Let my four heads be neutralized and protected by your four hands."
The thinking substance, which is like a lotus-stalk: the Devi's (illegible)
Shiva has four heads on the positive side. (? ED)
Brahma has four heads because Shiva plucks of the fifth when Brahma crosses the horizontal axis.
Brahma has four heads because Shiva plucks of the fifth when Brahma crosses the horizontal axis.
.