SAUNDARYA LAHARI
VERSE 28
THE NOUMENAL STATUS OF SHIVA
THE DIGNITY OF THE FOURTH DIMENSION
RENORMALISATION
RENORMALISATION
सुधामप्यास्वाद्य प्रति-भय-जरमृत्यु-हरिणीं
विपद्यन्ते विश्वे विधि-शतमखाद्या दिविषदः ।
करालं यत् क्ष्वेलं कबलितवतः कालकलना
न शम्भोस्तन्मूलं तव जननि ताटङ्क महिमा
विपद्यन्ते विश्वे विधि-शतमखाद्या दिविषदः ।
करालं यत् क्ष्वेलं कबलितवतः कालकलना
न शम्भोस्तन्मूलं तव जननि ताटङ्क महिमा
sudham apy asvadya pratibhaya jaramrtu harinim
vipadyante visve vidhisatamakhadya divisadaha
karalam yat kevalam kabalitavataha kalakalana
na sambhos tanmulam tava janani tatanka mahima
vipadyante visve vidhisatamakhadya divisadaha
karalam yat kevalam kabalitavataha kalakalana
na sambhos tanmulam tava janani tatanka mahima
Even on partaking of nectar, so potent against fear, old age and death -
They reach their doom, all such gods as Brahma and Indra.
On even swallowing that terrible super-poison, for Shiva, time's functioning is not operative;
The source here being the power of your marital string.
They reach their doom, all such gods as Brahma and Indra.
On even swallowing that terrible super-poison, for Shiva, time's functioning is not operative;
The source here being the power of your marital string.
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Time or duration is the central concept on which the status of Shiva is brought into relief as an eternal principle - beyond the reach even of the process of becoming - in his pure personal value, as against other gods who are all subject to nominal factors in a graded epistemological order. Magnetic fields operate on lesser levels with other dimensions than that of high voltage electricity. Shiva's function could become still more absolutist and cancel further vestiges of duality, until immobility and mobility exist together, beyond the taint of the weakness of the human mind to create its own paradoxes. Paradoxes vanish when pure absolutism becomes possible to the human mind, when it becomes as far removed as possible from relativistic and hedonistic considerations of visible or intelligible values. Shiva represents this high point where he reigns eternally supreme, for himself, in himself, by himself and through himself. This is the Advaitic doctrine that is intended to be underlined in this verse with the help of the different functionaries or demiurges, who also belong to the same setup when viewed from a perspective of lesser voltage, as it were, than what applies to Shiva himself.
The first two lines take cognizance of Brahma and Indra, the most flagrantly vitalistic demiurges, to whom good nourishing food and tonics are very important to make them continue in vitality and normal health. One can become sleek by drinking meat broth, but the next fever might wash down the drain all the health thus gained. Life has within its core a source of energy which can defy doctors' prescriptions and assert itself in spite of the grave mistakes that doctors may commit. In this sense, we could say that the patient continues to live in spite of the havoc caused by pills or medicines.
Nectar is the natural nourishment of the gods, but Shiva is capable of surviving even a super-poison and remaining in a fully operative form, according to his own function, which is a vertical and not a horizontal one. Transporting a lorry-load of building-stones from one place to another is an example of horizontal function, while the electromagnetic transmission of signals from ship to ship is an example of vertical function. The first must be kept up by crude fuel in a combustion engine, while the other belongs to a fourth-dimensional order. Between these two extremes of horizontal and vertical functionings we have to postulate the ordinary Shiva, of the same demiurge status as Indra or Brahma, to understand why the power of the marital string confers the final absolute status on Shiva, who would have evaporated had he only represented his usual function as a fourth-dimensional principle of positive becoming. But, by a process of double negation, operative at the positive limit, he is not only a "mover", but an "unmoved mover", as in the philosophy of Aristotle.
It is herein that lies something that counters the exaggeration of ascent by making Shiva again descend from his high world of intelligibles to a more normal position at the core of the total value-situation, represented here by the Devi. Normal food would represent negative entropy; this guarantees the neutralization of too rapid a metabolic process which would, in the case of childbirth for instance, kill the mother. Entropy has to counter negentropy to establish equilibrium, as in thermodynamics. In this sense the entropy of the universe tends to be zero. The total energy of the universe remains a constant according to the law of the conservation of energy. Here physics speaks nearly the same language as this verse. Killing human beings by too rapid a process of change through time is the function of the God of Death, called Kala, personifying Time with a capital letter.
Shiva represents a principle or a parameter cutting across the horizontal principle of death. He is beyond the reach of paradox as an "unmoved mover". It is in this sense that time is non-operative in the case of the absolutist Shiva.
If becoming is vertically positive, then its opposite, non-becoming, countering its own mobility, is a function having its reference at the negative vertical limit. Such a negative limit is the proper domain of the Goddess, although for normative purposes we could locate her position at the central O Point. Just as Shiva can ascend or descend from his normal position, Parvati can also ascend or descend between the O Point and the Alpha Point. When Shiva and Parvati operate as complementary, compensatory and reciprocal functions, they properly cancel each other out into the value implied in this verse. The power of the marital string, placed on the neck of the Goddess, has reference to its opposite whose source lies in the kind intention of Shiva and has a one-to-one correspondence with it. It represents a potent factor of intelligent function and whether the function is in the head or in the legs is not important. The limits of double negation could be at a level where it could operate most effectively. In respect of the Goddess, the lower limit is more intuitive and more effective than the functions that could be attributed to the head of Shiva. The one-to-one correspondence between the two opposite tendencies has to be respected, whether placed in the neck or in the feet. Duality is abolished where they are correctly cancelled out against each other. Topsy-turvydom, at first confusing to the beginner in structural language, has already been explained under Verse 8. How Shiva swallowed the super-poison is found in the story of the churning of the milk ocean, wherein also the female form of Vishnu, called Mohini, acts as a saving factor. Here, it is the marital string which is the principle of normalization.
(Entropy is a rough measure of randomness and disorder, or the absence of pattern in the structuring of a system. Negative entropy, or negentropy, roughly refers to the degree of order or organization within a closed system. ED)
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ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.
A woman's negative pull saves Shiva; he needs no nourishment.
(The Devi provides vertical cancellation, rather than horizontal food. ED)
In soap manufacture - the flow of soap is Shiva, cutting of flow into separate bars of soap is the Devi or Shakti.
(In other words, the Devi cuts the vertical flow of Shiva into horizontal slices. ED)
A quantum is formed.
Half-life is the Devi's trick
A quantum is formed.
Half-life is the Devi's trick
WORD FOR WORD
Sudham api asvadya - even on partaking of nectar
Pratibhaya jara amrtyu harinim - so potent against fear, old age and death
Vipadyante- they reach their doom
Visve - all
Vidhi satam akhadya - Brahma, Vishnu and others
Divishadaha - the gods
Karalam yat kshvelam - that fearful poison
Kabalitavataha - even on swallowing
Kala kalana na - time's becoming is not operative
Shambhoho - for Shiva
Tanmulam - the root of which
Tava janani tatanka mahima - (is ) Your marital string
Sudham api asvadya - even on partaking of nectar
Pratibhaya jara amrtyu harinim - so potent against fear, old age and death
Vipadyante- they reach their doom
Visve - all
Vidhi satam akhadya - Brahma, Vishnu and others
Divishadaha - the gods
Karalam yat kshvelam - that fearful poison
Kabalitavataha - even on swallowing
Kala kalana na - time's becoming is not operative
Shambhoho - for Shiva
Tanmulam - the root of which
Tava janani tatanka mahima - (is ) Your marital string
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The greatness of the Devi's neck-thread (a symbol of marriage - the equivalent of a wedding-ring in European culture.) saves Shiva, even when he drinks poison - even though the gods die, even when drinking only nectar.
The greatness of the Devi's neck-thread (a symbol of marriage - the equivalent of a wedding-ring in European culture.) saves Shiva, even when he drinks poison - even though the gods die, even when drinking only nectar.
Shiva does not die, nor does he die when drinking poison: this is double negation, a negation of a negation.
(According to myth, Halāhala is the name of a poison (as per Hindu mythology) created from the sea when Devas (Gods) and Asuras (Demons) churned it (see Samudra manthan) in order to obtain Amrita, the nectar of immortality. Shiva chose to consume the poison and thus drank it. His wife Parvati, alarmed, stopped it in his throat with her hands, thus earning him the name Viṣakaṇṭha (the one who held poison in his throat). ED)
The source of this negation is the Devi, with Her thread, representing ABSOLUTE Negation.
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The sacred thread saves Shiva.
This is double negation of evil by an essentially negative Goddess.
The power is at the Alpha Point.
This is double negation of evil by an essentially negative Goddess.
The power is at the Alpha Point.
Even after taking nourishing ambrosia, which keeps the gods from old age and fear, they have come near to danger; Indra, Brahma and all - they are subject to destruction - their functions will cease in the alternating creative - destructive phenomenology.
That dangerous poison-like thing - the most dangerous of poisons - is a negative factor.
Shiva takes it, but does not die, for the process of becoming does not cease, even when the peripheral functions are all destroyed.
"The force of becoming for him does not cease and for that very reason - because it did not defeat Shiva - You also, because You are the principle of motherhood, which is negative vertical, are not affected by the flow of time which cannot be reversed".
"O Goddess, the strength of Your sacred thread (which means that You are married to Shiva - in other words, You have a vertical relationship with him) is the greatness which allows You to continue, because Shiva cannot be destroyed".
Shiva, here, is seen as the one who swallowed all the poison of the world.
Time's arrow cannot be reversed, even scientists admit.
The vertical is like electricity, the horizontal is like magnetism.
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Because the Devi is affiliated to Shiva, She has to continue to function as the counterpart of the Numerator.
There is a very, very thin logic regarding the black thread around Her neck.
There is a very, very thin logic regarding the black thread around Her neck.
The point of this verse is this sacred thread around Parvati's neck: a perfect example of complementarity and reciprocity.
(Ambivalence - the first level, the actual, Subrahmaniam and Ganesha are ambivalent.
Reciprocity - the second level; Saraswati and Lakshmi.
Complementarity - the third level, the Devi with callosities - she wants to establish the final cancellation with Shiva, here, she is his complementary counterpart.
Cancellation - the fourth level, the final operation - Shiva and Shakti are united.
Parity - refers to the horizontal alone; bilateral symmetry. ED)
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The strength of the Devi's thread - it cannot be broken - is the greatness which allows Her to continue.
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Shiva has not died from the poison: and so, since he exists, Parvati must also continue to exist, because Shiva must have his counterpart in the Absolute.
We can also say that Shiva exists because he has his counterpart in the Devi. Each is necessary to the existence of the other.
The sacred thread is that which ties them together.
Shiva has not died from the poison: and so, since he exists, Parvati must also continue to exist, because Shiva must have his counterpart in the Absolute.
We can also say that Shiva exists because he has his counterpart in the Devi. Each is necessary to the existence of the other.
The sacred thread is that which ties them together.
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The thread around the Devi's neck is the factor which shows that She is Shiva-Shakti.
In India, this thread is only broken at the death of the husband - but the "strength" of Her thread is such that it is not broken.
The one depends on the other, but the Devi "has" the thread.
The thread around the Devi's neck is the factor which shows that She is Shiva-Shakti.
In India, this thread is only broken at the death of the husband - but the "strength" of Her thread is such that it is not broken.
The one depends on the other, but the Devi "has" the thread.
This verse has its key in the black thread around the Devi's neck.
"That thread links You nominally with Shiva, Your counterpart": this is the most important part of the verse, that is why it is saved until the last line.
"That thread links You nominally with Shiva, Your counterpart": this is the most important part of the verse, that is why it is saved until the last line.
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Even though they take nectar - luxurious numerator food - Brahma, Indra and others are destroyed at the time of dissolution.
Shiva, however, drinks the poison which threatens the universe and has only the blue lines on his neck as a result.
These lines are like the lines of a spectrum.
Even though they take nectar - luxurious numerator food - Brahma, Indra and others are destroyed at the time of dissolution.
Shiva, however, drinks the poison which threatens the universe and has only the blue lines on his neck as a result.
These lines are like the lines of a spectrum.
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Shiva and Parvati represent the vertical version of the universe, with the lines of Shiva's neck being something like the spectrum contained in the white light.
They are beyond good and evil - like Nietzsche.
Shiva here is not a goody-goody drinking nectar; the poison does not defeat him.
His power does not come alone - it is due to Parvati consenting to wear the sacred thread.
Shiva and Parvati represent the vertical version of the universe, with the lines of Shiva's neck being something like the spectrum contained in the white light.
They are beyond good and evil - like Nietzsche.
Shiva here is not a goody-goody drinking nectar; the poison does not defeat him.
His power does not come alone - it is due to Parvati consenting to wear the sacred thread.
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The Devi is saying: "At our very core we are one, it is great for You to be a tragic hero, but how could You do it without my support".
He is powerless without the support of the negative side.
Without the "little correction" of the negative side, he is only dancing like a fool.
The Devi is saying: "At our very core we are one, it is great for You to be a tragic hero, but how could You do it without my support".
He is powerless without the support of the negative side.
Without the "little correction" of the negative side, he is only dancing like a fool.
The author is extolling a principle of the Absolute here - a philosophical truth.
Without transcending good and evil, there is no Absolute.
Another version:
TRANSLATION
- Manna (nectar) having been eaten - (Numerator food)
- Countering fear, old age and death by cancellation (these foods of the Vedic gods make them immortal)
- Attain to ultimate (extreme) danger (all of them are subject to the ultimate danger of death)
- All inclusively
- Brahma, Indra and others (only Numerator gods of the bright side)
- The bright ones (You have to distinguish the bright gods - Vedic)
- That which is of tragic portent
- Great poison (so powerful in its death-dealing effect)
- One who has imbibed - (Shiva)
- There is no functioning of (mechanistic) time (not pure time)
- To Shiva (he is not in the process of becoming - he is absolute.)
- Because of this (there is no change in him, no becoming, although he has taken the poison.)
- Therefore, for You, o Mother (potentially, powerful to give birth)
- The greatness of Your sacred thread
- Manna (nectar) having been eaten - (Numerator food)
- Countering fear, old age and death by cancellation (these foods of the Vedic gods make them immortal)
- Attain to ultimate (extreme) danger (all of them are subject to the ultimate danger of death)
- All inclusively
- Brahma, Indra and others (only Numerator gods of the bright side)
- The bright ones (You have to distinguish the bright gods - Vedic)
- That which is of tragic portent
- Great poison (so powerful in its death-dealing effect)
- One who has imbibed - (Shiva)
- There is no functioning of (mechanistic) time (not pure time)
- To Shiva (he is not in the process of becoming - he is absolute.)
- Because of this (there is no change in him, no becoming, although he has taken the poison.)
- Therefore, for You, o Mother (potentially, powerful to give birth)
- The greatness of Your sacred thread
"If You do not go to bed and weep over this, then You do not yet
understand this, You are still learning." Guru.
Denominator value is the value of the square root of minus-one.
Shiva is here contrasted to all the other gods; they drink nectar and die, while he drinks poison and is immortal.
This is due to the marriage thread worn on the Devi's neck, through which she is related to Shiva.
The bottom half of the vertical axis has a great value.
Shiva is here contrasted to all the other gods; they drink nectar and die, while he drinks poison and is immortal.
This is due to the marriage thread worn on the Devi's neck, through which she is related to Shiva.
The bottom half of the vertical axis has a great value.
(This is the negative side represented by the Devi. ED)
Another version:
TRANSLATION
- Even after partaking of ambrosia (nectar)
- Potent against fear, old age and death
- They reach their (respective) doom (s)
- All
- Brahma, Indra and others (Vidhi, Satamakha)
- Gods (the bright ones of the Vedic heaven)
- That terrible
- Super-poison having swallowed
- Time's becoming is not operative
- For Shiva (Shambho)
- Having that as its source (or basic character) (i.e. the fact that he does not die)
- Yours, o Mother
- The glory of Your marital string
- Even after partaking of ambrosia (nectar)
- Potent against fear, old age and death
- They reach their (respective) doom (s)
- All
- Brahma, Indra and others (Vidhi, Satamakha)
- Gods (the bright ones of the Vedic heaven)
- That terrible
- Super-poison having swallowed
- Time's becoming is not operative
- For Shiva (Shambho)
- Having that as its source (or basic character) (i.e. the fact that he does not die)
- Yours, o Mother
- The glory of Your marital string
Shiva will not die, because there is a delicate, bracket-like relationship with the Devi, at the Alpha Point.
The poison is by double negation absorbed by the body of Shiva.
Shiva has the "no, no" of the negative limit, (neutrons) as well as the "yes, yes" of the positive (electrons).
The poison is by double negation absorbed by the body of Shiva.
Shiva has the "no, no" of the negative limit, (neutrons) as well as the "yes, yes" of the positive (electrons).
Just as electrons will evaporate without the neutrons, the structure of the universe has the Devi at the negative point and Shiva at the positive point - between these two limits we find the value.
Beauty is the value and it will not disappear.
There must be value in existence, even when everything else is abolished, and that value is beauty.
The negative limit is operative mathematically on the positive limit.
This tatanka (marital-string) is the symbol of an agreement in principle of an absolute relation between husband and wife.
(It is a vertical axis, like the Susumna Nadi of Yoga, or the fine filament of the lotus stalk, the Mrinala Tantu - they hold the universe together as the link between Shiva and the Devi. ED)
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The Devas, the other gods like Brahma and Vishnu, are respectable people who have their tea at four in the afternoon; the hippies are like Shiva, rolling on the ground after taking LSD.
The Devas, the other gods like Brahma and Vishnu, are respectable people who have their tea at four in the afternoon; the hippies are like Shiva, rolling on the ground after taking LSD.
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The process of becoming does not affect Shiva.
The neutron keeps the electron and the proton from evaporating.
The process of becoming does not affect Shiva.
The neutron keeps the electron and the proton from evaporating.
(The marital thread keeps Shiva from evaporating upwards into the world of ideas. ED)
Shiva is always ready to abolish himself, but the marriage thread prevents this.
This thread is like Max Planck's "H" - a constant.
Double negation - "Not, not" is more affirmative than a mere "Yes". Begin with Verse 27 as in the notes above, then go on to Verse 28.
Double Negation - show a man in a well kicking his feet in the water and saving himself. Let it be Eros: show the milk ocean churning and the drinking of poison.
Double Negation - show a man in a well kicking his feet in the water and saving himself. Let it be Eros: show the milk ocean churning and the drinking of poison.
(In propositional logic, double negation is the theorem that states that "If a statement is true, then it is not the case that the statement is not true." ED)
Half-life is the Devi's trick.
The Devi does nothing, the string is a contract respected by Shiva.
The status of Shiva is the thinnest of parameters - other gods have phenomenal status, nourished by negentropy (food).
Shiva is noumenal, he can feed on entropy.
NECTAR >< POISON
Scientists seem to have discovered that time can be reversed.
Shiva can even immobilise a sense of duration.
The marital string is a contract - like Max Planck's "H" - it keeps the world together
It is the negative side of the parameter.
This is Brahman normalised - sthanam.
Maya is no longer operative - balance is the main teaching of this series of verses.
By "H" or by half-life, nature never allows complete evaporation.
A certain quantum is preserved - a regulating principle of nature.
The fire of doom is on the Numerator, beyond the Devi, it will descend to cancel with the highest Denominator.
Woman's negative pull saves Shiva, he needs no nourishment.
This is like, for example, the manufacture of soap: there is a continuous length of soap on the moving carpet which is cut into individual bars - the flow of soap is Shiva, the cutting is Shakti - a quantum is formed.
This is like, for example, the manufacture of soap: there is a continuous length of soap on the moving carpet which is cut into individual bars - the flow of soap is Shiva, the cutting is Shakti - a quantum is formed.
Half-life is the Devi's trick.
(We are aware that this commentary repeats itself - this subject is so difficult that some repetition is not wasted - even after studying this for 45 years, as is the case with ED.)
The Devi does nothing, the string is a contract respected by Shiva.
The status of Shiva is the thinnest of parameters - other gods have phenomenal status, nourished by negentropy (food).
Shiva is noumenal, he can feed on entropy.
(The Editor does not understand this statement. The structure below MAY be correct. ED)
NEGENTROPY >< ENTROPY
(The Editor thinks that the structure below is correct - maybe not.)
Shiva transcends the duality between these two.
The light of Shiva shines by double negation, like shining black polished shoes.
The light of Shiva shines by double negation, like shining black polished shoes.
Scientists seem to have discovered that time can be reversed.
Shiva can even immobilise a sense of duration.
(Our universe appears to have a space-time structure in which all of time is laid-out in a "block universe", i.e., there is no actual "flow" of time, no movement of a "now" point. ED)
The marital string is a contract - like Max Planck's "H" - it keeps the world together
It is the negative side of the parameter.
This is Brahman normalised - sthanam.
Maya is no longer operative - balance is the main teaching of this series of verses.
By "H" or by half-life, nature never allows complete evaporation.
A certain quantum is preserved - a regulating principle of nature.
The fire of doom is on the Numerator, beyond the Devi, it will descend to cancel with the highest Denominator.