SAUNDARYA LAHARI
VERSE 25
ABSOLUTE NON-DUAL WORSHIP CANCELED WITH VEDIC DUALISTIC WORSHIP
THE ABSOLUTE, BOTH TRANSCENDANT AND IMMANENT
ALPHA AND OMEGA MODES ARE REVERSIBLE
TRANSCENDING THE THREE MODES
THE ABSOLUTE, BOTH TRANSCENDANT AND IMMANENT
ALPHA AND OMEGA MODES ARE REVERSIBLE
TRANSCENDING THE THREE MODES
त्रयाणां देवानां त्रिगुण-जनितानां तव शिवे
भवेत् पूजा पूजा तव चरणयो-र्या विरचिता ।
तथा हि त्वत्पादोद्वहन-मणिपीठस्य निकटे
स्थिता ह्येते-शश्वन्मुकुलित करोत्तंस-मकुटाः
भवेत् पूजा पूजा तव चरणयो-र्या विरचिता ।
तथा हि त्वत्पादोद्वहन-मणिपीठस्य निकटे
स्थिता ह्येते-शश्वन्मुकुलित करोत्तंस-मकुटाः
trayanam devanam triguna janitanam tava sive
bhavet puja puja tava caranayor ya viracita
tatha hi tvad padodvahana manipithasya nikate
sthita hy ete sasvan mukulita karottamsa makutah
bhavet puja puja tava caranayor ya viracita
tatha hi tvad padodvahana manipithasya nikate
sthita hy ete sasvan mukulita karottamsa makutah
Of the three gods, who are originated from your three nature modalities,
Their worship of you, o consort of Shiva, would alone be worship
Offered to your twin feet; it is indeed thus when they do so,
Standing eternally beside your gem-decked footstool, joining bud-like their hands well above their crowns.
Their worship of you, o consort of Shiva, would alone be worship
Offered to your twin feet; it is indeed thus when they do so,
Standing eternally beside your gem-decked footstool, joining bud-like their hands well above their crowns.
There are two alternate grades of worship seen referred to within the limits of this verse. The gods Brahma,Vishnu and Shiva are represented in the first half of the verse as worshipping in a manner proper enough, but which is not sufficient in the light of the alternative kind of worship mentioned in the second half. When life-interests fall within the range or amplitude of hedonistic or relativistic interests, they can be said to be performing a proper or correct worship according to Vedic norms. But there is an epistemological, methodological and axiological difference when the same adoration is performed as described in the latter half of this verse, where the three gods are represented as standing round a footstool, raising their worshipful hands to the highest Omega Point. They are reaching fully from hierophantic levels to the limits of the hypostatic.
The correctness of the puja or worship depends on the fact that it is performed by the representatives of the three values within which life moves within a Vedic frame of reference, and it cannot be called anything other than a proper puja. But it is not enough if they just get pass marks in the examination. There is still scope for further revision of this correct puja, so as to transcend values limited to the nature modalities recognizable as the three gunas or "nature modalities". It is Vedic ritualism that, limited to the world of values, comes under the category of hedonistic pleasure. Heaven is filled with such items of value, and heavenly values form a system wherein the three gods also belong, as generated out of these incipient nature modalities. Thus, in this verse, they are called triguna janitanam - born as effects from the three nature modalities.
Brahma is the sattvik god of orthodox Vedic values and Vishnu represents the action proper to a king or ruler, which brings up the middle stratum of the setup, as we have seen in the first and second verses of this poem. As for Shiva, he is known to be an akula - a man of no social status in the context of Vedism. His antagonism to Vedic sacrifices is proved by his not being invited to the sacrifice made by his father in law, Daksha. Protesting against this insult, the daughter of Daksha, Shiva's wife, burns herself in the sacrificial flames. Shiva thus belongs to the side opposite to that of Brahma, and his function is also diametrically opposed to the function of creation represented by Brahma.
To picture the situation in this verse, we could imagine a crystal globe within which the curved figures of these three gods are seen to be bending with a horizontal elliptical distortion as they are offering their adoration to the central principle of beauty. This is the proper Vedic attitude, where the hedonistic values of the three gunas are still operative. Sometimes such a setup is referred to as sagunabrahman or aparabrahman, which is the lower, immanent value to be equated to Brahman.
Vedanta does not think in terms of heavenly values, because the alternating process of samsara does not stop completely when one goes to heaven. One returns to the same worlds of hedonistic values when one descends again from heaven to live comfortably in suburbia on earth. This is brought out in many places in the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. The Vedantin believes in a full dose of absolutism which will cure one once and for all from a recrudescence or lapse into the same malarial relativistic love of pleasure, whether in heaven or on earth. Emancipation, without any possibility of relapse, is the model held up by Upanishadic teaching: one should not be born again, irrespective of heavenly or earthly values. Such values have to be transcended though not rejected. Nobody should think that a comfortable life should be wilfully avoided in favour of austerities that might torture the life within us.
Transcending inclusively without contradiction is the Advaitic doctrine that is being underlined here. The two alternative pictures of worship in this verse are to be comparatively understood. The former represents the Vedic setup within the scope of the three modalities - the pure: sattva; the active: rajas; and the tragic: tamas - which are still fully operative. The gods themselves, or at least their crowns, as they bend over the beauty-principle at their centre, have a generic relationship with the three modalities at the lower point of reference. The crown is the limit of the effect side while their own feet mark the cause or source as streaming out of the three modality-principles of nature. The Vedantic alternative to this slightly horizontal version is to be imagined as an ellipse accentuated vertically, like a rugby football, with the narrow end upward. While the Vedic setup is good enough, this is still better. It is like saying that it is very good to pass the B.A. examination, but it is better to pass the M.A.. This justifies the expression : "it is indeed so, despite this" in the third line.
The Bhagavad Gita brings out this same idea in Chapter 12, where it discusses saguna, or lower worship of Brahman, as against nirguna worship that transcends the three nature-modalities (triguna atita). There is a further clear reference in the Gita, making this point unequivocally clear, when Arjuna is told by Krishna that the Vedas are under the sway of values within the scope of the three gunas (traiguna visaya). Arjuna is asked to transcend Vedic values in favour of the more correct Advaitic position of the Gita teaching.
In the last line, the gods are eternally standing, bent in adoration beside the gem-decked footstool at the bottom or Alpha Point. At the same time, with their bud-like hand-gestures, they are directing their adoration to the Omega Point, with their palms joined together like a lotus "well above their crowns". This is how hedonism and relativism are to be transcended by the full blast of absolutism held up as a model in these verses.
The lower form is not excluded, but it is fully inclusively transcended. One should not purposely choose a bed of nails if a spring cot is available, or live among scorpions and serpents in a forest, if the place could be made less distracting for meditation. Rajasa tyaga (wilful rejection) is not true renunciation as understood in the correct yogic context of Vedanta. The theory of the three modalities is fully expounded in the Gita in Chapter 14, called gunatraya vibhaga yoga ( the unitive way of transcending the three nature-modalities).
The word "alone" in the second line would seem to suggest that such worship might be superior to the second alternative mentioned later but, if we respect the sense, we could infer that such a worship would alone be correct in the context to which all worship belongs, because worship itself becomes extraneous in the context of Vedanta. The difference is as between being dressed properly and being completely unconscious of proper dress convention at all.
The "twin feet" of the third line could be placed structurally at the centre of the total situation. Passing on to the fourth line, however, the gem-decked footstool would represent the feet, but with greater ontological richness, though this negative aspect is only to be cancelled out against the bud-like hands of the gods held above their crowns. The word "eternally" suggests the heightened absolutist context of the second, Vedantic, alternative recommended here. The reference to gems in the footstool is to raise its value as a hierophantic presence.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.
WORD FOR WORD
Trayanam devanam - of the three gods
Triguna janitanam - originated from the three nature modalities
Tava sive - of Yours, o consort of Shiva
Bhavat puja puja - their worship of You would alone be worship
Tava caranayor ya viracita - as offered to Your twin feet
Tatha hi - in spite of it being so
Tvad padodvahana mani pithasya nikate - standing beside Your gem-bedecked footstool
Sthita hi - standing indeed
Ete sasvat - eternally these
Mukulita karottamsa makutah - joining bud-like their palms well above their crowns
Trayanam devanam - of the three gods
Triguna janitanam - originated from the three nature modalities
Tava sive - of Yours, o consort of Shiva
Bhavat puja puja - their worship of You would alone be worship
Tava caranayor ya viracita - as offered to Your twin feet
Tatha hi - in spite of it being so
Tvad padodvahana mani pithasya nikate - standing beside Your gem-bedecked footstool
Sthita hi - standing indeed
Ete sasvat - eternally these
Mukulita karottamsa makutah - joining bud-like their palms well above their crowns
Absolute worship transcends both ontological and teleological values.
The Goddess above is teleological.
The footstool is ontological.
The Goddess above is teleological.
The footstool is ontological.
Absolute worship transcends both ontological and teleological values.
Teleological is the Devi above.
Ontological is the footstool below.
Teleological is the Devi above.
Ontological is the footstool below.
The gods join their hands above their heads like buds.
The three Vedic gods worship the Devi, with their hands folded above their crowns.
"The gods, born of the three Gunas, do worship at Thy pearly footstool".
"Puja-puja": that is the real Puja (worship), which is offered at the feet of the Devi.
They are standing there eternally, because the Devi is eternal.
The existential footstool is at the bottom of the vertical axis - it is the basis of ontology.
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"Puja-Puja" - that Puja offered by the three gods.
It is Absolute as opposed to relativistic worship.
One must transcend the three Gunas or nature modalities (this is implied).
It is Absolute as opposed to relativistic worship.
One must transcend the three Gunas or nature modalities (this is implied).
"Puja, puja" means that there is a real puja (ritual worship), as opposed to a relativistic puja: this is the revaluation of the verse.
Puja.
Another version:
TRANSLATION
- O Goddess, consort of Shiva
- The homage (puja) rendered to the three gods
- Who have their origin in Your three Gunas
"These gods of the Numerator side, who have their origin in the Devi's qualities (gunas) are continuously worshipping Your footstool as the real ontological source.
Real puja is that being done by the three gods who are standing by Your pearly footstool, with their hands raised to their crowns in adoration".
- O Goddess, consort of Shiva
- The homage (puja) rendered to the three gods
- Who have their origin in Your three Gunas
"These gods of the Numerator side, who have their origin in the Devi's qualities (gunas) are continuously worshipping Your footstool as the real ontological source.
Real puja is that being done by the three gods who are standing by Your pearly footstool, with their hands raised to their crowns in adoration".
The three Gunas are always operative in the Absolute.
The crowns are false - only the footstool (Existence, lower even than the Devi's feet) is held more important than the three hypostatic crowns.
The totality of the Absolute is represented as existence.
The footstool is the square root of minus-one - it is more important than the three gods.
Ontological value and beauty of the footstool are emphasized.
The verse says: "That puja at the stool is puja" and the stress is on existence, rather than subsistence.
Another version:
TRANSLATION
- Of the three divinities
- (Who are) born of the three gunas
- Which are Yours
- O Shivé (consort of Shiva)
- Would be the worship (the real worship) (puja puja)
- The worship
- Of Your twin feet
- That which is applied
- As such indeed
- What takes place near thy pearly footstool
(That puja which is applied to thy feet is indeed the puja)
- Standing as they do indeed
- These three gods eternally
- Their palms joined as final decoration of their crowns
- Of the three divinities
- (Who are) born of the three gunas
- Which are Yours
- O Shivé (consort of Shiva)
- Would be the worship (the real worship) (puja puja)
- The worship
- Of Your twin feet
- That which is applied
- As such indeed
- What takes place near thy pearly footstool
(That puja which is applied to thy feet is indeed the puja)
- Standing as they do indeed
- These three gods eternally
- Their palms joined as final decoration of their crowns
"By the hands of everlasting adoration raised to their crowns, in eternal worship of the footstool of the Devi - recognising their origin there".
The numerator gods are the effect, but they descend to the Denominator in permanent adoration of the existential footstool as the source of their power.
"SAT" (EXISTENCE) IS HERE REVEALED AS THE MOST IMPORTANT TERM OF VEDANTA.
"SAT" (EXISTENCE) IS HERE REVEALED AS THE MOST IMPORTANT TERM OF VEDANTA.
(Vedanta is a philosophy in which existence - concrete denominator value - is more important than essence - numerator, conceptual values. This is called satkaranavada - that mode of argument or doctrine which gives primacy to cause as against effect. Advaita Vedanta as understood by Sankara is essentially of the Satkarana-Vada tendency in its methodology.
This is in contrast to Satkarya-Vada: where primacy is given to effect as against cause. ED)
Phenomenology turns everything upside down and stresses existence rather than essence.
The knobs on the crowns of the three gods worship the footstool of the Devi.
Why not worship the Omega Point?
No, because that is only a theoretical reference point.
In Vedanta, it is Sat, existence, which is emphasized.
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FILM MATERIAL:
In the film, something of Kalidasa, the burning of Kama Deva (Eros) by Shiva should be shown, with reference to the Kumarasambhava.
(Kumarasambhava, ( Sanskrit: “Birth of Kumara”)is an epic poem by Kalidasa written in the 5th century CE. The work describes the courting of the ascetic god, Shiva, who is meditating in the mountains, by Parvati, the daughter of the Himalayas; the burning of Kama (the god of desire)—after his arrow struck Shiva—by the fire from Shiva’s third eye; the wedding and lovemaking of Shiva and Parvati; and the subsequent birth of Kumara (Skanda), the war god. The original poem is in eight cantos, but a sequel was added by an imitator. ED)
Then show the three gods, then explain all the peculiarities of structuralism - take 15 minutes to develop Mandalas and Chakras.
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Kama Deva, or Eros.
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Shiva being shot by Eros.
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Shiva burning up Eros.
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Kama Deva.
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The Devi and her footstool.
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Rati (Desire), the wife of Eros.
(how to make a two-minute film of this verse)
Sankara is not asking you to do puja to the Goddess.
The puja of the three gods is the real puja - standing by Your footstool with their hands fixed on their crowns.
(This is a language based on the Vedic mystical language, you have to understand this if you want to understand these verses.)
They do not put a glorious crown on the head of the Devi - the footstool represents the ontological basis of reality.
This is the point of Vedanta, as revalued in this verse.
In Europe, the language of phenomenology is somewhat similar to this.
Vedanta already has the phenomenological aspect in view.
Revaluation consists of hypostatic gods worshipping the ontological basis found in the footstool.
This verse gives the frame of reference for Vedanta.
Now there are many, many pages to be read.
Now there are many, many pages to be read.
The film should show the participation of Veda and Vedanta - of the Conditioned and the Unconditioned.
The three gods, eliminated in the previous verse, reappear again in this verse.
They are put outside as worshippers of the Goddess.
The phenomenal world is put in the Denominator, doing the puja of the gods to the Numerator Devi. The negative worships the positive.
Another version:
TRANSLATION
- Of the three gods
- Born of the three modes - (triguna)
- Yours, O Parvati
- Only that worship would be worship (puja puja)
- Of Your twin feet
- That which is thus performed
- That is so indeed
- Near the pearly footstool bearing Your feet
- Standing as they are indeed
- There eternally
- With hands held worshipfully joined above their crowns
- Of the three gods
- Born of the three modes - (triguna)
- Yours, O Parvati
- Only that worship would be worship (puja puja)
- Of Your twin feet
- That which is thus performed
- That is so indeed
- Near the pearly footstool bearing Your feet
- Standing as they are indeed
- There eternally
- With hands held worshipfully joined above their crowns
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They can see the footstool and thus the way they have to worship the Absolute, since they are relativists.
There is participation between the physical, the relative and the conceptual.
There is participation between the physical, the relative and the conceptual.
The relative is more horizontal than the conceptual, but the two do participate.
They participate through the footstool.
They participate through the footstool.
Three gunas (nature-modalities) are hiding in the feet of the Goddess and the three gods are born from these.
The conditioned worships the unconditioned.
This is the proper relationship between the lower and the higher Brahman.
The overlapping has to be established for the puja to be meaningful.
Through ontology, we can proceed to teleology.
Through ontology, we can proceed to teleology.
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Go from what you know to what you do not.
Go from what you know to what you do not.
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Various forms of puja.
The point here is that the puja of the Vedic Gods to the Absolute Goddess is the real puja.
This is a revaluation. Vedic teaching reaches the culminating point of Vedanta. In the film, some guru has to teach wisdom to the Vedic Gods.
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Vedanta is more than religion or philosophy - it is lifted above them.
Vedanta is more than religion or philosophy - it is lifted above them.
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First we have to make the most ontological contact with the footstool of the Devi - that is holy enough for You.
First we have to make the most ontological contact with the footstool of the Devi - that is holy enough for You.
Her feet represent an absolute value and the pearly footstool gives an idea of the value of the feet that rest upon it.
The Vedic Gods have got everything except tyaga (renunciation or detachment from the merely glamorous aspect of life, or relinquishment of ends and benefit-motivation in active life).
(Tyaga is fundamental to Vedanta, as described in the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18:
"Hear now from Me, 0 Best of the Bharatas (Arjuna), the
settled conclusion about relinquishment (tyaga), (which)
relinquishment indeed, 0 Best of Men (Arjuna), has been
well known as of three kinds:
the act of sacrifice, gift and austerity should not be
relinquished; each should indeed be observed; sacrifice,
gift and austerity are the purifiers of rational men;
but even these actions should be done leaving out
attachment and desire for result; this, 0 Partha
(Arjuna), is My decided and best conviction."
(Verses 4, 5, and 6)
ED)
The three gods can understand this by worship of the footstool.
The highest part of the Vedas tries to catch up with the lowest part of Vedanta.
Sadashiva (the supreme Shiva) is the highest Omega Point, but has to be cancelled against the Devi at the Alpha Point.
There is a footstool, not a throne here, it is ontological.
It is jeweled, which confers dignity on it.
This is the cancellation between hierophany and hypostasy.
It is jeweled, which confers dignity on it.
This is the cancellation between hierophany and hypostasy.
See in the Gita, there is a tree with roots below and above..
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The twin feet are above, the stool is below.
These are ensembles - see Cantor.
There is one-one correspondence.
(Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor was a German Mathematician, best known as the inventor of set theory, which has become a fundamental theory in mathematics. Cantor established the importance of one-to-one-correspondence between the members of two sets, defined infinite and well-ordered sets , and proved that the real numbers are "more numerous" than the natural numbers . In fact, Cantor's method of proof of this theorem implies the existence of an "infinity of infinities". ED)