SAUNDARYA LAHARI - VERSE 93

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SAUNDARYA LAHARI

 

 

VERSE 93

TRANSPARENT BUT FIRM ONTOLOGICAL INNOCENCE IN A GIRL

 

अराला केशेषु प्रकृति सरला मन्दहसिते
शिरीषाभा चित्ते दृषदुपलशोभा कुचतटे ।
भृशं तन्वी मध्ये पृथु-रुरसिजारोह विषये
जगत्त्रतुं शम्भो-र्जयति करुणा काचिदरुणा

 

arala kesesu prakrti sarala mandahasite
sirisabha citte drsad upala sobha kucatale
bhrsam tanvi maddhye prthur urasijaroha visaye
jagad tratum sambhor jayati karuna kacid aruna
 
Curly in hair and naturally simple in smile, with a magenta-flower-supple mind
Bust firm like a kitchen mashing stone, extremely slender at waist,
With solid shoulders and hips, thus Shiva's world to save,
She reigns supreme, a certain kindliness called magenta.
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In Verse 93 we have the picture of a common girl whose beauty is plain and straightforward with nothing glamorous about it. This does not, however, detract from its absolute quality, which we have to try and discern in and through the common earthy touches and straightforward simplicity with which her beauty is here described . Great painters sometimes produce pictures of a simple girl holding an apple or a rose in her hand and can succeed in giving just those touches which will make such paintings have an eternal value to those who can genuinely appreciate art. Good art requires people to appreciate it.
 
The bust is here seen to be compared to a kitchen utensil instead of a heavenly lotus. Her hips and shoulders are firm because she must be a kind of peasant girl used to hard work. The simplicity of her mind is transparently revealed by her smile. She is capable of being extremely sympathetic, having, as is stated here, “a magenta-flower-supple mind”. Her function, as stated in the third line, is the most important one that we could think of: that is, to save what Shiva would otherwise destroy. Thus, she represents in herself a concentrated negative value capable of supplying an adequate denominator to the positive forces of destruction that might endanger the whole world at a given moment. The common touch in her looks is therefore not to be despised. She is not represented as wearing any jewels or decorations, but her matter-of-fact plainness is in itself of sufficient beauty for her to never doubt its value for a moment.
 
Her only embellishment is the colour magenta, which uni­formly overcovers and pervades her personality. Magenta being an absolute colour among colours, by addition or subtraction from which any other tint, shade or brilliance, whether chro­matic or achromatic, is derivable. She needs no further coatings of paint or thinning of what is there already. An inner brilliance, fully saturating the colour effect from inside, could be presupposed by us, because in the last line she is said to reign supreme as the very personification of kindliness expressed through her mere magenta presence, sufficient unto itself.
 
Kindliness as a quality can be thought of as having a capital letter, raising it fully to the status of an absolute value, at least as dignified as that which Shiva, from his own theoretical side, could represent when his person is looked upon as distinct from that of the Devi. Separating the two principles, however, is not correct. One has rather to say that the beauty of the Goddess is the same as that of Shiva and vice-versa. The slightly ontological bias of Vedantic methodology can, however, be permitted to tilt the delicate balance involved here, in the present series at least, in favour of the Goddess instead of the God. This is only a methodological necessity. Doctrinally, the same Advaita remains valid.
 
 
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ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.

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WORD FOR WORD
Arala kesheshu - curly of hair
Prakrti sarala manda hasite - with smile of natural simplicity
Shirishabha chitte - with a mind having the magenta-flower-supple glory in Her mental state
Drshad upala shobha kuchatate - at the bust region like a kitchen mashing-stone
Bhrsham tanvi maddhye - extremely slender of waist
Prthur urasi jaroha vishaye - sleek in respect of Your bust and hip, with solid shoulders and hips
Jagat tratum shambhohi - to save Shiva's world
Jayati - she triumphs
Kauna kachid - a certain kindliness
Aruna - (called) magenta
 
Sankara gives the servant girl the last of glorious places as the Absolute Goddess.
She is a plain girl, no flourishes or decoration: Sankara should be worshipped for saying this.
 
 
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Fill your mind completely with overwhelming Absolute Beauty and you are a mystic.

All appreciation of beauty and all mysticism is erotic.

 

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There is nothing closer to the Absolute than a sixteen-year-old girl.
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Great painters sometimes produce pictures of a simple girl holding an apple or a rose in her hand and can succeed in giving just those touches which will make such paintings have an eternal value to those who can genuinely appreciate art.
 
The Taj Mahal is decorated, but a hut is also beautiful.
She is saving some value from the Denominator side, not found in Shiva: that value is called Karuna or compassion, and she is also Aruna, or magenta (a universal beauty-factor), inside.

"Shiva's world to save.." by supplying Karuna on the Denominator side.
The firmness of the breasts reflects the ontological richness of the personality - this is existential richness.

 

A woman is a complete psyche.

Biologically, the female is the type, the male a sub-type.

All aesthetics is erotic.