SAUNDARYA LAHARI - VERSE 99

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SAUNDARYA LAHARI

 

 

VERSE 99

CENTRALIZED FOURFOLD NORMALIZATION
OR CANCELLATION IN THE ABSOLUTE
 
सरस्वत्या लक्ष्म्या विधि हरि सपत्नो विहरते
रतेः पतिव्रत्यं शिथिलपति रम्येण वपुषा ।
चिरं जीवन्नेव क्षपित-पशुपाश-व्यतिकरः
परानन्दाभिख्यं रसयति रसं त्वद्भजनवान्
 
sarasvatya laksmya vidhi hari sapatno viharate
rateh pativratyam sithilayati ramyena vapusa
ciram jivanneva ksapita pasupasa vyatikarah
paranandabhikhyam rasayati rasam tvad bhajanavan
 
Sporting with Saraswati and with Lakshmi as co-consort with Brahma and Vishnu
While disrupting with his charming body the constancy of Rati to her lord,
With banished animality and bondage, living long,
He enjoys what is known as ultimate bliss, your supplicant.

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The ultimate Bliss referred to at the end of this verse is nothing other than what is known by various other names, such as salvation, emancipation, freedom, self-realization, nirvana, samadhi, and so on. Extreme ultimate felicity resides within the space of this verse. The main chessmen of this game are brought into a close-knit interplay. That it is a game that is implied here is revealed by the very first word, “sporting”, for which the Sanskrit is vihara (pleasing or recreative activity), where the goddesses are seen with the husbands that properly belong to each. They are not after the husbands of others, so they are within the limits of good behaviour. Everything is in perfect order and no rule or convention seems to be violated here, except in the second line where it is implied that somebody is spoiling the game that is natural between Kama and his wife, Rati. There is a whole passage called rati vilapa (the wailing of Rati) in the “Kumarasambhava” of Kalidasa, which could be read here to clarify the implications of “disrupting the constancy of Rati to her lord.” However degraded Rati might appear to be as the wife of a mere demiurge like Kama, who can only attain to an absolutist status when everything else is favourable for him on rare occasi­ons, justice would require that nobody should disrupt her right to conjugal enjoyment with her husband. In the passage describing the wailing of Rati, Kalidasa provides poetic justice by making vasanta (the Flowery Season), a friend of her husband Kama, to whom this wailing is addressed, respond consolingly, and somewhat mend the injustice under reference here. Sankara does not go into such details because he is not writing lengthy poems of the kind that Kalidasa undertook. The “he” of the last line suggests that there is some beneficiary of the wisdom taught in this work. The “I” of the previous verse has already hinted at who this person could be. It is not important who that person is in actuality. This verse just wants to say that there is a beneficiary and that the benefits could apply to anybody, including the reader, who could hope for a long life, without being subjected to animal instincts which could spell suffering and bondage, as stated in the second line. Such a person, by the peace of mind and harmony that they enjoy and the normality of even their physiological metabolism, could come to have a beautiful body, as the third line indicates. Yogis are seen to have such bodies, always with clear complexion and voices. When they become charming in such a sense the prolongation of their life will follow as a natural consequence. Life´s chief fulfilments, which are referred to as four in Sanskrit, namely, dharma (action according to necessary laws of nature, artha (wealth or benefits, or endowments), kama (right aspirations or desires) and moksha (salvation or ultimate happiness) are seen thus to be included in the scope of this verse by way of rounding off the contents before the conclusion that is to follow. We can easily see that it is not intended as a mere work on Tantra which, although it does not exclude salvation, gives lesser perfections a greater importance than this work does.
 
In the reference to co-consorts, “consort” is here meant to be treated as a partner, independently of sex. It could apply to a man or woman reader, or to a philosopher like Sankara. Abstraction and generalization, even in respect of the author or the beneficiary of this work, has been pushed to its ultimate possible limits here. Such abstraction and generalization can attain the Absolute, irrespective of the reader, or the author, or even the Goddess of this work. Sankara is thus able to treat the gods of the Hindu pantheon with a great deal of freedom.
 

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ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.

 

This is Sankara's signature. The supplicant is all that is left after the final cancellation of Positive and Negative - of Shiva and the Devi.
 

WORD FOR WORD
Sarasvatya lakshmya - in the company of Saraswati and Lakshmi
Vidhi hari sapatnah - co-consort with Brahma and Vishnu
Viharate - sports
Rateh pativratyam sithilayati - he disrupts the constancy of Rati to her lord
Ramyena vapusha - by a pleasing body
Chiram jivan iva - even living thus long
Kshapita pashu pasha vyati karah - with banished animality and bondage
Para ananda bhikhyam - of what is known as ultimate bliss
Rasayati -he enjoys
Rasam - the taste
Tvad bhajanavan - Your worshipper
 

See Kalidasa's Kumarasambhava, Chapters 1 and 2, where Rati weeps for Eros.


Kama has no limbs on the Denominator
Kama has limbs on the Numerator  and gets burned by Shiva.
 
This is Sankara's final signature. The supplicant is all that is left.
 
Nataraja Guru often said that he wanted to sign off by appearing on stage before a huge assembly of people and bowing to them, showing his bald head with "The End" written on it.