SAUNDARYA LAHARI
VERSE 56
PARTICIPATION OF THE EYES AND EARS
THE PLAY BETWEEN VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL FIGURES-OF-EIGHT
THE PLAY BETWEEN VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL FIGURES-OF-EIGHT
तवापर्णे कर्णे जपनयन पैशुन्य चकिता
निलीयन्ते तोये नियत मनिमेषाः शफरिकाः ।
इयं च श्री-र्बद्धच्छदपुटकवाटं कुवलयं
जहाति प्रत्यूषे निशि च विघतय्य प्रविशति॥
निलीयन्ते तोये नियत मनिमेषाः शफरिकाः ।
इयं च श्री-र्बद्धच्छदपुटकवाटं कुवलयं
जहाति प्रत्यूषे निशि च विघतय्य प्रविशति॥
tavaparne karnejapa nayana paisunya cakita
niliyante toye niyatam animesas sapharika
iyam ca srir baddhachadaputa kavatam kuvalayam
jahati pratyuse nisi ca vighatayya pravisati
niliyante toye niyatam animesas sapharika
iyam ca srir baddhachadaputa kavatam kuvalayam
jahati pratyuse nisi ca vighatayya pravisati
O Aparna, afraid of the gossip carried to Your ear bases by Your lengthened eyes
Surely they lie merged unwinking in water like the female sapharika fish
This Lakshmi too, leaves behind at dawn the closed petal doors of water lilies,
And at dusk, forcing them open, She re-enters therein.
Surely they lie merged unwinking in water like the female sapharika fish
This Lakshmi too, leaves behind at dawn the closed petal doors of water lilies,
And at dusk, forcing them open, She re-enters therein.
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There are two complementary structural and dynamic images in this verse. The first picture refers to a horizontal dynamism, while the second refers to a figure-of-eight dynamism in which the verticalized version is presented in stronger relief. Both belong to the same background of Absolute Beauty. Breaking the surface sheen of certain placid and gently flowing rivers, one sometimes sees species of silvery fish that jump into the air and add a lively gleam to the situation. Here we have a case of participation between numerator and denominator across the bounds of a horizontal axis of reference. Kalidasa in “Shakuntala” speaks of the thin oily gleam remaining on the flat stones in the pond in Kanva Ashram to indicate the same line of demarcation between the plus and minus sides of a horizontal partition within the core of the total structure of the absolute beauty of reality.
The second picture in this verse depicts Lakshmi finding herself shut out of her chamber at dawn; she is thus obliged to re-enter by forcing the petal doors of the blue water lily, which opens only at dusk, responding to moonlight rather than sunlight like the other varieties of lotus. A bee caught within a lotus at dusk can come out only in the morning. Here the converse is true of Lakshmi, who is shut out of her apartment to wander and probably to spend the whole of her day in the company of merchants and money-makers in the marketplace.
So there are two contrasts to be kept in mind in this verse. One is the contemptible frivolity of the sapharika fish, frolicking below the horizontal water level or sometimes above it. Then there is Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth, who is not sufficiently dignified to make her equal to the absolute Parvati. Parvati is here called aparna (leafless), suggestive of an austere attitude of mind analogous to a leafless tree; as in the case of some women who observe fasting at certain periods because of their very austere contemplative state of mind. The two contrasting figure-eight movements, involving two kinds of participation within a fourfold frame of reference within the purview of absolute Beauty, are to be inserted together and dynamically visualized in living terms with all the modalities or phases natural to them both. This structural dynamism has been treated in plainer terms by Narayana Guru in his “Atmopadesa Satakam” (Verses 33, 54, 56, 68 and 83). There is a common Cartesian correlation to be used here to make these two pictures fit into the same pattern.
It is especially to be noted that it is implied that the sapharika fish behave with great restraint because they are being watched closely by the all-seeing eyes of the Absolute Goddess who, being steeped in austere contemplation of Shiva, cannot tolerate frivolity from the younger handmaidens of her retinue. The transmission of gossip takes place through concepts rather than percepts, and what escapes the direct regard of the Goddess is supplemented by hearsay factors that reach the higher intelligible levels implied in the austere meditation normal to the Goddess. In the last line, Lakshmi, who is excluded from her own lotus apartment at dawn, is required to use force to enter at dusk. A spirit like Lakshmi cannot enter the negative side if she does not do it sufficiently early. She takes some trouble to open it, not really forcing it. Why it does not open by itself, and how much force she has to use, are left unsaid. She has to take some kind of action. There are certain vigils in which spirits wander freely, but they have to return before the cock crows, as with Hamlet's ghost.
There are two operations facing opposite ways, like inverted brackets, in this verse; which is perhaps all that we have to understand by Lakshmi´s act of forcibly re-entering her blue lotus apartment at dusk. Between the two kinds of lotuses, the common kamala that opens in daylight, responding to the sun, and the blue kuvalaya or kamuda of this verse which opens at night, responding to the moon, there is a certain alternating symmetry or reciprocity, as between the overt and the innate aspects of beauty-value. The gleaming silvery fish participate across the horizontal axis just as the personification of the value of wealth does at a more negative level. Both of these pictures conform to the same structural dynamism.
From Shakuntala:
'Corn is (seen) falling from the parrot-granary-mouth of the tree hollow.
By confidence, fawns are not dispersing as they are seen to remain, enduring noise.
There is a thin film of oil under the trees, bearing evidence of ingudi nuts having been cracked on stones,
And the path to the water-source is seen traced by markings from water-drops from the tips of bark garments.'
(I, 13)
From Narayana Guru's Atmopadesa Satakam:
Verse 33:
Awareness, in order to find its proper state,
Itself the earth and other manifestations became;
In inverted state thus, now mounting, now changing over
Like a circulating fire-faggot it keeps turning round.
Verse 54:
The waking state, it obtains not in sleep
And sleep again does not attain consciousness
When awake: day by day these twain are born
Of Maya's womb and keep alternating on.
Verse 56:
Like waves instantly arising on the ocean
Each body one after one rises to subside again:
Where, alas, is the term for this? Know this as action
Taking place perpetually in awareness-ocean's prime source.
Verse 68:
As the ego sense enters into the double snake-rope-like scheme
Now as knowledge and now as the limited body agent,
It becomes sacred at one time or profane again
Thus, should he understand, the intuitive man.
Verse 83:
It breaks up, stays on, rises or changes over,
Again to continue, such is the nature
Of the body here; watching these three from on high
The Self, the uncleft one, it ever changeless remains.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.
Some little fish are playing in the water, near the ears of the Devi.
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They are afraid of the eyes of the Goddess, which are long and gleaming and shaped like a fish.
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This gleam is of permanent beauty and these big eyes are near the ears, telling the Devi that the little fish also want to emulate the beauty of these large fish-shaped eyes.
The little fish are hiding, afraid that the eyes of the Devi might carry tales of their foolishness to Her ears.
The subject is Absolute Beauty - the pundits forget this.
Where is this water in which the small fish swim?
They never shut their eyes.
Why small and big fish? Why a lotus which opens at night?
Does the Devi like to open her eyes?
Where is this water in which the small fish swim?
They never shut their eyes.
Why small and big fish? Why a lotus which opens at night?
Does the Devi like to open her eyes?
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In the previous verse the Devi´s eye has black, white and red colours in order to purify us - and these colours are separated.
In this verse there are small, young, female fish, afraid of the eyes, which are themselves like fish and go near the ears of the Devi, telling tales on the little ones.
This reflects the subconscious of the Devi at night, who is attended by many young attendants: there is a senior attendant who will tell on them.
The goddess herself is awake day and night - she is Absolute - she cannot even wink her eyes.
All these little fish are nurses who have to attend on the Devi.
This verse requires a lot of explanation.
All these little fish are nurses who have to attend on the Devi.
This verse requires a lot of explanation.
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The little fish are below the horizontal axis.
They are a pluralistic version of the large fish (the Devi's eyes): they are disciples of the Absolute Devi.
They are a pluralistic version of the large fish (the Devi's eyes): they are disciples of the Absolute Devi.
Nothing must go wrong in the universe, so there are night-attendants.
"Our intention is good" say the little fish who are Her disciples.
This is the relation of the one to the many.
They represent the Devi herself, they are her disciples.
"Our intention is good" say the little fish who are Her disciples.
This is the relation of the one to the many.
They represent the Devi herself, they are her disciples.
The one eye is monotheism.
The many little fish, or eyes, are plurality. Put them together: you get the paradox of the one and the many.
The many little fish, or eyes, are plurality. Put them together: you get the paradox of the one and the many.
(This refers to the paradoxes of Zeno, Parmenides etc. and their treatment by Bertrand Russell et al. and also the "quantum Zeno effect" in modern physics.
Zeno's argument is as follows:
Zeno attempts to show that there could not be more than one thing, on pain of contradiction. Assume then that there are many things; he argues that they are both ‘limited’ and ‘unlimited’, a contradiction. First, he says that any collection must contain some definite number of things, neither more nor fewer. But if you have a definite number of things, he concludes, you must have a finite—‘limited’—number of them; he implicitly assumes that to have infinitely many things is to have an ‘indefinite’ number of them. But second, imagine any collection of ‘many’ things arranged in space—imagine them lined up in one dimension for definiteness. Between any two of them, he claims, is a third; and in between these three elements another two; and another four between these five; and so on without end. Therefore the limited collection is also ‘unlimited’, which is a contradiction, and hence our original assumption must be false: there are not many things after all. At least, so Zeno's reasoning runs.
Infinite processes remained theoretically troublesome in mathematics until the late 19th century. The epsilon-delta version of Weierstrass and Cauchy gives a rigorous formulation of the logic and calculus involved. These works resolved the mathematics involving infinite processes. ED)
Lakshmi enters into the blue lotus and comes out - this clinches the point.
The door of Lakshmi´s lotus closes in the daytime and opens at night
- so she goes to the hypostatic, positive, side in the daytime and comes back to the Denominator negative side at night.
The door of Lakshmi´s lotus closes in the daytime and opens at night
- so she goes to the hypostatic, positive, side in the daytime and comes back to the Denominator negative side at night.
(Lakshmi is the consort of Vishnu; the personification of the principle of plenty and prosperity. She is lotus-born and with four arms; one of the first results of the churning of the ocean of good and evil, symbolising a central human value when looked at from the utilitarian point of view. After the highly negative and lifeless values of decadent Buddhist periods, Lakshmi or Sri as a principle of good or Godhead gained popularity in India which she holds to the present day, often suggesting even a sloppy love of comfort in certain pleasure-loving minds. ED)
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This is a vertical movement.
A blue lotus loves the moonlight and blooms at night.
It opens its petals at night to receive Lakshmi and in the morning she leaves again.
A blue lotus loves the moonlight and blooms at night.
It opens its petals at night to receive Lakshmi and in the morning she leaves again.
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This flower behaves in the opposite fashion to other lotuses.
The two lotuses produce a figure-eight inside the crystal.
The two lotuses produce a figure-eight inside the crystal.
The vertical axis functions only at dusk and sunrise.
The opening of the bud of the blue lotus is not an "event" or a "function", but is mathematical and beautifully full of intentionality.
(Intentionality is a philosophical concept defined by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as "the power of minds to be about, to represent, or to stand for, things, properties and states of affairs" The term refers to the ability of the mind to form representations and should not be confused with intention.
The opening and closing of the lotuses might perhaps be said to take place in an eternal present or eternal here and now.
According to physics all particles in the universe are in contact with all other particles at all times and simultaneously.
The laws of quantum physics seem to suggest that particles spend much of their time in a ghostly state, lacking even basic properties such as a definite location and instead existing everywhere and nowhere at once.
Eternal return (also known as "eternal recurrence") is a concept that the universe has been recurring, and will continue to recur, in a self-similar form an infinite number of times across infinite time or space.
Physical processes at the microscopic level are believed to be either entirely or mostly time-symmetric: if the direction of time were to reverse, the theoretical statements that describe them would remain true.
This is only the tip of the iceberg of the ramifications of speculation to which this verse gives rise. Not easy, but fascinating. ED)
Guru: "I promise I shall never come near the beautiful women of Ooty and make love to them, I don't deserve that; why should I claim the friendship of anyone": you can abolish yourself and therein lies the joy.
Heloïse says to her lover, Abelard: "Don't give me any more than the least of your disciples: but don't omit me from the vertical relationship nor from the teaching either."
Narayana Guru said that the Devi should not bless him with twelve hands, but only with one: "You want only one hand to bless me".
Here we have a black-box structure with a mesh structure in perspective and logarithmic spirals.
(In science and engineering, a black box is a device, system or object which can be viewed solely in terms of its input, output and transfer characteristics without any knowledge of its internal workings, that is, its implementation is "opaque" (black). ED)
There must be a small vertical figure for Lakshmi, and a longer horizontal one for the Devi.
There must also be polar co-ordinates and ramified sets with the Devi and Lakshmi superimposed.
(This is a reference to Bourbaki's theory of sets: In mathematics, ramification is a geometric term used for 'branching out', in the way that the square root function, for complex numbers, can be seen to have two branches differing in sign. ED)
The colour solid exists inside you.
(The colour solid is a three-dimensional representation of a colour wheel. C.f. the introduction to the Science of the Absolute, where the fundamentals of structural methodology are outlined. ED)
The colour solid.
The eye follows the ear.
The Devi's eye follows the silver Sapharika fish.When She looks at them angrily, they become silent.
(They are young girls afraid of the gossip entrusted to the Devi).
The Devi's eye follows the silver Sapharika fish.When She looks at them angrily, they become silent.
(They are young girls afraid of the gossip entrusted to the Devi).
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Parna means "leaf"
A-parna means "no leaf
A-parna means "no leaf
Aparna is a name for the Devi, used in this verse to emphasize Her austerity.
"tavaparne karnejapa nayana paisunya cakita"
(Parvati is referred to as Aparna, meaning 'One who took no sustenance', because of Her fasting and austerities. ED)
In the gossip at the foot of the ears, the conceptual participates with the perceptual by circulation.
The sapharika fish - a vertical change and a horizontal change.
This means an underlying structure is going to be revealed.
The horizontal movement of the eyes becomes two gleaming lines.
Lakshmi wanders in the daytime in Ooty.
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There are two figure-8's: one is horizontal at the eyes; one is vertical for Lakshmi.
Aparna means "leafless like a twig or branch"; ramified sets are implied here (See above).
Aparna means "leafless like a twig or branch"; ramified sets are implied here (See above).
Ramified sets.
There are two sets of values shown here - one intellectual in the eyes of the Devi, another more ordinary, concerning wealth and everyday phenomena.
The Devi is horizontal here because vitality is an essential ingredient: the horizontal is not bad when it is very, very thin.
Gossip is also horizontal.
Think of polar co-ordinates inside a black box: the structure of thought conforms to a geometric figure.
The structure of the machine and the structure of your brain have something in common.
Travel from the eyes to a river with fish jumping; then back.
Then show a lotus pond with Lakshmi coming out; these form two figure-8's.
Do not try to explain these verses didactically, go to Belsen and Whitney Brothers.
(? This reference is completely obscure; Belsen was a concentration camp; Whitney Brothers seems to be a furniture company. What this means, God alone knows. The original manuscript has this reference. The Guru very occasionally had a surreal sense of humour, is this an example? We would be gratified if any reader who has any suggestions on this subject would forward them to us. ED)
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This verse implies a black box structure with a mesh structure in perspective and logarithmic spirals.
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Mesh structure.
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Logarithmic structures.
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Polar coordinates.
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A ramified set.
Below is an example of the structural counterpart of the colour solid, here describing relativity, the horizontal plane may be imagined as a mesh, as in Nataraja Guru's structuralism:
