SAUNDARYA LAHARI
VERSE 8
AN INNER BEAUTY UNIT INVERSION
A VERTICAL TRANSFORMATION
सुधासिन्धोर्मध्ये सुरविट-पिवाटी-परिवृते
मणिद्वीपे नीपो-पवनवति चिन्तामणि गृहे ।
शिवकारे मञ्चे परमशिव-पर्यङ्क निलयाम्
भजन्ति त्वां धन्याः कतिचन चिदानन्द-लहरीम्
मणिद्वीपे नीपो-पवनवति चिन्तामणि गृहे ।
शिवकारे मञ्चे परमशिव-पर्यङ्क निलयाम्
भजन्ति त्वां धन्याः कतिचन चिदानन्द-लहरीम्
sudha sindhor maddhye suravitapi parivrte
mani dvipe nipopavanavati cintamani grhe
sivakare mance paramasiva paryanka nilayam
bhajanti tvam dhanyah kati ca na cidananda laharim
mani dvipe nipopavanavati cintamani grhe
sivakare mance paramasiva paryanka nilayam
bhajanti tvam dhanyah kati ca na cidananda laharim
Seated on a couch of Shiva form and having the Supreme Shiva for cushion,
Placed within a mansion wafted round by the perfume of blossoms of Kadamba trees,
Located within a celestial grove on a pearly-gem island in the midst of a nectar ocean,
Some fortunate ones contemplate you as the upsurging billow of mental joy.
Placed within a mansion wafted round by the perfume of blossoms of Kadamba trees,
Located within a celestial grove on a pearly-gem island in the midst of a nectar ocean,
Some fortunate ones contemplate you as the upsurging billow of mental joy.
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It is natural for wisdom seekers to aspire for a quiet place, far from the ignoble strife of common human life. This desire only means that they want to keep company with themselves, seeking a happiness that is more than the pleasure that could be derived from society. In aspiring thus for loneliness, some aspirants might think of a cave in the Himalayas, as Shiva is intent on finding in Verse 78. Others think of an island situated far away from disturbing contacts. We have already had a hint about this kind of natural aspiration in the third verse, where a city of light placed in mid-ocean corresponds to the dear dream of an ignorant man who strongly feels that he needs the consolation of wisdom or philosophy. This same idea is carried over for elaboration in this verse where the third line alludes to a "pearly-gem island in the midst of a nectar ocean". It describes in greater detail a Mandala-like structure in which the Goddess is seated in dignity and grandeur on a couch. The island evidently has a well-furnished and well-ordered household situated in a mansion, surrounded by many varieties of trees laden with fragrant blossoms and ripe fruits. The grove itself is a holy place. The water of the ocean is not the usual salt water, but consists of rich life-giving nectar in great abundance. Poverty or indigence cannot touch such a place.
There are three familiar words in the context of Yantra, Mantra and Tantra, which are Mandala, Chakra and Adhara. In Tibetan Mandalas we find four walls or steps leading to four doors. A Chakra would rather suggest a space enclosed by concentric circles, some more peripheral than others and generally three in number. The term Adhara is more specifically used in yogic literature proper. There are six of them, excluding the Muladhara and the Sahasrara which bring up the lower and upper limits. We can see, by glancing at the succeeding verses, that this verse prepares the ground for viewing these contemplative units within the consciousness of the yogi in a more compactly understood form, marking specific states of consciousness as they could vary vertically or horizontally in a series, or in a hierarchy of sets or subsets. We shall have occasion to go into such details when we come to the verses dealing with them.
For the present, we must note here that it is the state of mind within the consciousness of a yogi, meditating with shut eyes, which is the subject here. This island thus represents rather a state of consciousness than a bit of geographical land. India itself is sometimes referred to as jambu dvipa (an island of black berries) for contemplative reasons outside of mere geographical considerations. The yogi thus meditating on the personification of Beauty within the scope of his own wisdom-awareness, in the first instance finds the most precious personification of Absolute Beauty seated comfortably on a couch.
She is far removed from indigence or want. A yogi who feels that he is poor cannot meditate freely on the highest of values beyond all riches, which is represented by Absolute Wisdom. It is for this reason that the seat of the Goddess here is at the very core of a situation from which all the sense of necessity of everyday life is excluded. There is a level on the negative side of the lower cone where necessity can have its place, but the island here is to be imagined as occupying the position just between the bases of the two cones, placed slightly apart in close juxtaposition.
The walls of the mansion could be considered a square or four-sided orthogonal figure, but the island itself should preferably be imagined as a circle, because contemplation within consciousness is comparable to a torch in misty darkness, which clarifies only a globe of light around it.
A burning lamp sheds its umbra and penumbra in circles. In spite of this circular, or rather global, shape in consciousness, when we think of the neutral level at which the mansion here is to be located, a square motif is not to be ruled out, because the world here is one that is viewed through lattices or matrices, as in graph paper. Television techniques and cybernetic matrices, as also gratings, microscopically studied, reveal a square shape based on the principle of orthogonality. The impossibility of squaring a circle in mathematics also indicates that the square fits into an actual context of full horizontality, while the circle is more contemplative. Reference to actuality of this kind brings the status of the Goddess into a fully realistic perspective. Vedanta is not, as some people wrongly think, a form of idealism. The idea of the universal concrete is to be respected to its very limit, as when the Chandogya Upanishad says that the nail scissors are made of steel without graduation in the homogeneity of its substance. Just as the steel completely fills the shape of the nail scissors, so Brahman fills the whole universe. The soul of man is supposed to fit, by both its existence and its essence, like the steel to the very tip of the hard nail scissors, or as a razor fits tightly in its leather case. Nothing should be explained away as not being real or being merely mental.
Thus a square mansion placed within a circular island is not repugnant to the ideal doctrine of Advaita Vedanta, as understood through Sankara's commentaries. The numerous criticisms of Sankara's Advaita as tending to treat the world as unreal, are seen to be false when correctly understood in this way.
There is one special particularity in this verse which has to be examined more closely. The very first line seems to suggest that Shiva became a couch and that a superior grade of the same Shiva (Paramashiva) became a cushion for his wife to sit on. This offers a puzzle and an enigma which has to be explained before we proceed.
In the common prayer of Christianity, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven", reference is made to two worlds placed at the two limits of the same vertical parameter. Heaven is hypostatic, at the positive limit, while the earth is its hierophantic counterpart at the negative limit. What is there as a value is also here as a value, but there lurks within these two sets of values a subtle inversion which makes the one-to-one correspondence topsy turvy. Ancient Hermetic symbolism, as in the Tarot cards, alludes to this structural secret of "topsy-turvydom" by the picture of a man hanging head downwards. There is an inversion involved in the very structure of space, which is referred to as "mirror reflection" horizontally and "handedness" vertically. These are two kinds of symmetries that have been noted by physicists within the basic structure of space. Ontological existence and teleological subsistence have to belong together within the total scope of absolute space. Here a subtle ambivalence, a reciprocity, a compensation and a complementarity become evident. Existence and essence belong to two dichotomous poles of the total situation. What is called the phenomenological epoche or ghost is to be contained within brackets, so as to enclose the value content within the inverted curves of the two brackets which, facing opposite ways, are turned obversely and conversely. A blind man might take a water jug and, holding it upside down, say that it is useless because it has hole at the bottom. He might then touch the top and say that nothing can be poured into it. Though the Absolute has to be contained as a value within consciousness, it has to avoid falling into the double errors of tautology and contradiction. This epistemological requirement is referred to as impossibility (asambhava) and tautology (atmasraya). (See Narayana Guru's "Darsana Mala", Chapter 2, Verse 6.)
The difference between existence and essence, which has been the subject matter of much disputation between modern existentialists and the earlier scholastic philosophers who emphasized essence, is a problem that has been faced and solved by Vedantic tradition long ago. When Vedanta refers to sat-cit-ananda, the first term, sat, refers to existence or ontological reality, while the term ananda corresponds to the essence of God as known in Western theology. It is between these two limits that logic, cit, rules supreme. In scrutinizing the meaning of satyam jnanam anantam brahma, Sankara takes much trouble in his commentary to point out that sat is neutralized by cit in its meaning-content, and cit is again modified by ananda in its meaning-content.
Thus between sat-chit-ananda there is what Bergson would call a "back-to-back correction" which we must apply to the situation. According to this correction, Bergson would even go so far as to say that accidents do not happen to us, but that "we happen to accidents". If this enigma could be understood, the enigma here of Shiva becoming a cushion would be considered as quite in keeping with the views of such a modern pragmatist philosopher as Henri Bergson.
The hypostatic value of Shiva, when transformed on the denominator side, would become a couch or cushion. What is there is also here in a transformed or translated form, one as teleological essence and the other as ontological existence. As we have indicated already, Shiva comes down from the peak called Kailasa, looking for a cavern for his austerities. He descends from the top of the structure to the middle of the parameter. The Goddess, on the other hand, has her reference at the bottom of the negative parameter. She ascends to the structural mid-region, and thus goes beyond all necessity into the neutral ground between the base sections of the two cones, where the palace on a gem-set island in a nectar ocean is to be placed contemplatively by the votary. If this verse is read with this kind of double perspective in one's mind, most of the enigmas become self-explained. The fortunate contemplative of the last line gives us a standpoint in which we are to place the Absolute Goddess of Beauty at the Bindusthana or core of the contemplative situation to serve the purpose of fruitful yogic meditation. Shiva has only a conceptual status; it is his name that is more important than his form. Transposed to the negative side, he becomes a value that helps contemplative verticality to be promoted within consciousness. A couch and a cushion are objects which have their everyday value, which should not be excluded from the contemplative set of values. The fragrant blossoms of special sacred trees and the sanctity of the grove itself, referred to in the second and third lines, could easily be fitted into the structural context at the mid-region, when we remember that they belong to the world of intentionality and not actuality. Cleanliness and godliness are sometimes used interchangeably. The sweet smell of flowers and a grove of trees are presences or influences which give to life an interest and a zest, lifting or merging it within higher or lower stratifications of the total setup of values. The peripheral trees, forming a circle, are more existential than essential; while the central trees, with the perfume of blossoms wafted by the breeze, mark an essential, hypostatic level. While heavenly kadamba trees, which are actual, are referred to in the context of perfumed blossoms; gems are mentioned in the lower stratification. Their values are to be treated as interchangeable, whether they are placed hypostatically or hierophantically. When cancelled out vertically, they give homogeneity to Absolute Value, in which gem beauty and flower perfumes enter as equal partners, to cause the upsurging billow of mental joy referred to in the last line. When sivakare mance is taken to mean that the gods become the legs of the couch of the Devi, there is evidently a challenge staring us in the face. The pictorial representations by Mogul and Rajput schools of painting, printed in the edition of professor Brown of Harvard, do recognize that the transformation of the gods into the legs of a cot is meant seriously by Sankara, but to this day, no justification of such a transformation has been suggested, at least to the knowledge of the author, by the commentators of this work. We believe, therefore, that only through a protolinguistic structural approach could such a transformation be even barely understood. A similar image of the gods becoming the legs of the throne of Prajapati can be found in the Atharva Veda.
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(A mirror image is a horizontal, two-dimensional left-right counterpart of the original; handedness is the three-dimensional inversion involved between, say, a right- and left-handed glove. ED)
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ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.
This is a Yogi's vision of Beauty as an island.
The island is located in the yogi's mind .
The Bindusthana (central locus of meditation) is an island.
WORD FOR WORD
sudha sindhor madhye - in the midst of an ocean of nectar
suravit api vati pari vrte - surrounded by celestial trees
mani dvipe - on a pearly-gem island
nipopavana vati - having within her precincts a grove of Kadamba trees
cintamani grihe - in a house made of contemplative gems
siva kare mance - on a couch of Shiva-form
paramasiva paryanka nilayam - with Supreme Shiva for cushion
bhajanti tvam dhanyaha - those rare fortunate ones worship you
kati ca na cidananda laharim - as the upsurging billow of mental joy.
sudha sindhor madhye - in the midst of an ocean of nectar
suravit api vati pari vrte - surrounded by celestial trees
mani dvipe - on a pearly-gem island
nipopavana vati - having within her precincts a grove of Kadamba trees
cintamani grihe - in a house made of contemplative gems
siva kare mance - on a couch of Shiva-form
paramasiva paryanka nilayam - with Supreme Shiva for cushion
bhajanti tvam dhanyaha - those rare fortunate ones worship you
kati ca na cidananda laharim - as the upsurging billow of mental joy.
A Mandala comes in here, also seen in conics.
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Here, we have a conic section as a Mandala.
The Omega Point has two degrees: Shiva and Parama (Supreme) Shiva.
There is one-to-one correspondence between Numerator and Denominator.
The ocean of value is plenitude itself: Ananda or bliss
- the crystal is formed therein for our meditation..
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Above is the same Mandala, seen from above.
Vertical transformations take place in this verse.
Shiva is made into a cot, and the Supreme Shiva (Paramashiva), who is even higher at the positive pole of the vertical axis, is called a cushion on the cot.
The cot is stable - the numerator Shiva is here changed into a denominator cot.
The cot and cushion are for the Devi to sit on.
An earlier, tentative, version:
TRANSLATION
mid ambrosial nectar ocean
by grove of celestial arbours surrounded, within a gem island
in a mansion of thought, with a garden of Kadamba trees around
in a cot representing Shiva form
placed on a cushion of Paramashiva
they adore
certain persons of religious merit adore You
as the upsurging billow of the bliss of understanding
What is true of the Numerator side is not true of the Denominator
- this is the secret.
Sartre rejected essence, which belongs on the numerator side, in favour of existence on the negative side, but the transfer from Numerator to Denominator is not an easy one.
(Jean-Paul Sartre 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980, was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism, and one of the leading figures in 20th Century French philosophy and Marxism. ED)
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Existence and essence belong to the same Absolute - and the Absolute is a flux, flowing in one direction or another.
You can reverse the current, and thus revise the direction.
Numerator values are not of the same nature as denominator values, although they are reciprocal parts of the same whole.
What is a value in the Numerator can become transformed in the Denominator into a complementary factor.
In the previous verse, the Devi is seen as positive or Numerator - as Purushika.
Here, Shiva is brought to the Denominator
MATTER FOR THE FILM
There is one-one correspondence between Numerator and Denominator.
Conic sections are implied; the footstool is interchangeable with Shiva:
how to justify this? See VERSES 22, 27, 25, 30.
Method: A Pujari (priest), who waves ritual lights here and there and then downwards, showing you how to see the Numerator and Denominator as the same, with an intersubjective and transphysical relation between them.
Applications of these lights have somehow to be shown.
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This verse describes a beautiful woman in a garden, surrounded by Kadamba trees.
Placed in the midst of a nectar-ocean is the abode of the Devi, a fool's paradise for the audience to melt into; a place of luxury.
The Devi is to be presented, not as a sanyasini (female ascetic), but as a full-blooded, buxom, healthy woman.
The point is that numerator and denominator factors - back-to-back and by double correction - are interchangeable. This is a secret.
The footstool is as good as Shiva. This is also found in the Tarot: that which is above is analogous to what is below, etc., and both are component and integral parts of the whole.
Inversion in the Tarot - the Hanged Man.
In the Gita, the inverted tree refers to the same great secret of inversion.
This is represented by the Pujari priest (a performer of Puja - ritual worship) and his waving of lights. (This is the secret of temple ritual).
Here, bring in some Tantra, as also the throwing of baskets of flowers for so long that the Pujari falls down for some time as if dead from overwhelming devotion.
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Another version:
TRANSLATION
Some lucky men contemplate thee as the upsurging billow of mental joy
Seated on a couch of Shiva form and having the supreme Shiva for cushion
Placed in a mansion wafted round by perfumed blossoms of Kadamba trees
In a pearly-gem island, mid-ocean placed.
Some lucky men contemplate thee as the upsurging billow of mental joy
Seated on a couch of Shiva form and having the supreme Shiva for cushion
Placed in a mansion wafted round by perfumed blossoms of Kadamba trees
In a pearly-gem island, mid-ocean placed.
COMMENTARY
One should imagine several concentric circles and try to place the supreme value of Absolute Beauty at the very core.
One should imagine several concentric circles and try to place the supreme value of Absolute Beauty at the very core.
One should then introduce the Shiva principle as having its ontological counterpart representing the basis of existence on which any value has to make meaning.
Shiva as an Absolute Value has Parama Shiva (the supreme Shiva) co-existing with him as a value-factor, thinkable both hypostatically and hierophantically with reference to a vertical parameter traversing the plus and minus levels of the total situation analogically pictured here.
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The four-legged couch lends its existential stability as a value for the goddess here and the cushion is only a more easy or thinner version of the same Shiva principle, upgraded teleologically.
Beauty is justly placed at the centre of a circle representing the infinite plenitude of immortal bliss which contemplation of the value of Absolute Beauty must necessarily bring.
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The celestial trees form the most peripheral circle of the island and the core is surrounded by an inner circle of more ineffable or subtler values, analogous to the perfume of the Kadamba trees (said to be the favourite of Parvati in Sanskrit traditions, the actual species is of no importance).
The couch must be supposed to have four legs to give it stability and support and it is suggested that Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra and Ishvara are the supporting legs.
The analogy need not be stretched so far, but elementals are implied here as vertical principles supporting the notion of the negative factor of Absolute Beauty as a value.
Brahma and other gods have an ontological reference besides their hypostatic status in the Vedic heaven.
The pearl-gem island and mansion consisting of thought suggest subjective consciousness centrally, while peripherally the celestial trees represent universal concrete values.
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STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS
The structural analysis of this verse involves both solid and plane geometric constructions.
The structural analysis of this verse involves both solid and plane geometric constructions.
Three-dimensional solids with conics must be kept in mind and one normal conic section representing the horizontal reference of workaday realistic value has to be inserted between two cones placed base-to-base for purposes of double reference and correction back to back.
These structural and epistemological features have been explained at length in various parts of our previous writings.
The Colour Solid.
The colour solid with the Chakras (wheels) with triangles having apexes pointing upward or downward is an attempt by the Tantra Shastra to schematise protolinguistically the contemplative values and existent and subsistent factors involved.
Ontology here counts above teleology, and it is Shiva and Parama Shiva that have been reduced to the universal concrete status of cushions or cots.
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The vertical parameter passing through the centre and apexes of the two inverted cones is the non-dual correlating principle integrating physical value factors with metaphysical ones in the structural totality of the Absolute.
Other implications in this are clarified in the diagrams above.
Other implications in this are clarified in the diagrams above.
Kalidasa has woven a fabric, showing that the ideal of feminine beauty emerges out of this quantitative (horizontal) mass called the Himalayas.
Kalidasa has done this with Parvati - daughter of the Himalayas - providing a consort for Shiva, who is admired by the Munis (sages).
All of this must be presented in the first twenty minutes of the film.
All of this must be presented in the first twenty minutes of the film.
The Colloquy of the Gods refers to Uma Haimavati, "Uma, the daughter of the snow mountains" - note that "Uma" means "light" or "splendour" - see Kena Upanishad at the bottom of this page.)
The beauty of a woman is the best way to give content to the Absolute.
It provides an inspiring standard by which to regulate our lives.
It provides an inspiring standard by which to regulate our lives.
A woman represents the counterpart of man - abstract and generalize for a woman who worships her husband like a god -
she becomes the Self, he becomes the Non-Self.
She is so directly related to nature that there is a one-to-one correspondance between the cosmos and the micro-cosmos. (See the Kural).
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(Tirukkuṟaḷ also known as the Kural, sometimes spelt Thirukkural, is a classic of 1330 rhyming Tamil couplets or kurals. Sometimes known as the Tamil Veda. It was authored by Thiruvalluvar, a poet who is said to have lived anytime between the 2nd century BC and 5th century AD. ED)).
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Another version:
TRANSLATION
Some lucky men contemplate thee as the upsurging billow of mental joy
Seated on a couch of Shiva-form (Shiva is reduced to a hierophantic character, i.e. a couch.)
Some lucky men contemplate thee as the upsurging billow of mental joy
Seated on a couch of Shiva-form (Shiva is reduced to a hierophantic character, i.e. a couch.)
And having the Supreme Shiva for cushion
Placed in a mansion wafted round by the perfumed blossoms of Kadamba trees
In a pearly-gem island mid nectar-ocean placed.
Placed in a mansion wafted round by the perfumed blossoms of Kadamba trees
In a pearly-gem island mid nectar-ocean placed.
One should imagine several concentric circles having Absolute Beauty at the central core.
The four legs of the couch lend ontological stability to the Goddess.
The celestial trees represent the peripheral circle of the core (the outer circle).
The couch must have four supporting legs, perhaps Brahma, Vishnu, etc., representing the elementals.
There is a pearl-gem island and a mansion of thought.
The four legs of the couch lend ontological stability to the Goddess.
The celestial trees represent the peripheral circle of the core (the outer circle).
The couch must have four supporting legs, perhaps Brahma, Vishnu, etc., representing the elementals.
There is a pearl-gem island and a mansion of thought.
Chidananda Lahari means an upsurging of mental bliss.
Derive woman from the Himalayas.
The Shiva form and the Supreme Shiva, as couch and cushion, are ontological factors of stable existence which have a one - one correspondence with the hypostatic Shiva and the Supreme Shiva principles.
One should then represent the Shiva principle as having its ontological counterpart representing the basis of existence on which any value has to take meaning.
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Shiva as an Absolute Value has a Parama or supreme Shiva co-existing with Him as a value factor, thinkable both hypostatically and hierophantically, with reference to a vertical parameter, having thus the plus and minus levels of the total situation analogically pictured here.
The cushion is only a more easy or shinier value version of the same Shiva Principle as the couch, upgraded teleologically rather than ontologically.
Beauty is justly placed at the centre of the circle, representing the infinite plenitude of immortal bliss which the contemplation of Absolute Beauty must necessarily bring.
Celestial trees form the outer circle, and the inner is of ineffable or subtler values analogous to the Kadamba trees, said to be the favourite of Parvati.
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It is suggested that Brahma, Rudra, Vishnu and Ishvara are the supporting legs.
The Elementals (the gods) are implied here as verticalized principles supporting the notion of the negative factor of Absolute real Beauty as a value.
The Elementals (the gods) are implied here as verticalized principles supporting the notion of the negative factor of Absolute real Beauty as a value.
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The pearly-gem island and mansion of thought suggest subjective consciousness centrally, while perceptually the celestial trees represent universal concrete values.
The above structure is provisional and may need revision.
People wrongly say that Sankara was the "Dravida Sishyu" (as mentioned in Verse 75) only through the 41st verse.
Sankara says "I am a Dravida Shishyu", and "I am a Vidyarthi" or seeker of wisdom.
In Verse 75, by drinking the milk of Saraswati, he becomes a great poet:
Verse 75:
"Your breast milk, I consider, O Maiden born to the Earth- Supporting Lord,
As if it were word-wisdom's ocean of nectar, flooding from out of Your heart
Offered by one who is kind, which, on tasting,
This Dravidian child, amidst superior poets, is born a composer of charming verse."
As if it were word-wisdom's ocean of nectar, flooding from out of Your heart
Offered by one who is kind, which, on tasting,
This Dravidian child, amidst superior poets, is born a composer of charming verse."
("Dravida" - Dravidian - in this context, implies South Indian, dark-skinned, humble, low-caste - as contrasted with the vidyarthyi - a wisdom-seeker who is by implication an upper-caste person or brahmin. ED
Even today, according to traditional laws (smriti) it is all right to kill a shudra (low-caste person) for repeating the Vedas of the Aryans.
(Guru explains the background of the Mahabharata war.)
Krishna goes personally to the Pandavas, lends qualitative strength to the.....
(this passage is obscure and incomplete in the original manuscript.ED)
The change from Ananda Lahari to Saundarya Lahari after Verse 41 is of an epistemological nature. The same subject can be treated as a Mandala (Ananda Lahari - up to Verse 41 ) or realistically as Beauty (Saundarya Lahari - after Verse 41).
This Verse 8 with its mandalas sets the style for the rest of the verses up to 41.
The Indian philosophical tradition and Mother temples come as a result of the mixture between Aryans and Dravidians.
Sankara calls himself "Dravida Shishyu" because he is the follower of a primitive Goddess.
The Mandala structure exists through the first 41 verses.
Sankara incorporates Tantra Shastra, the Vedas and Buddhism, and restates them all in terms of Vedanta.
Dravida Shishyu (the "Dravidian child") and the Vidyarthi (the wisdom seeker) are shown worshipping Saraswati (a revalued Kali), the Goddess of Wisdom, representing the final stage of the Goddess acceptable to Vedanta.
Saraswati.
Narayana Guru also established a Saraswati Temple.
HINDUISM IS A WOMAN
- so a woman's beauty is idealized, as in Sankara.
There were some women in ancient times who came from North India, were treated as Gurus and had temples made for themselves, or began Mother temples on the Kerala coast. The women had the money when they came down from the North.
They had certain hangers-on to manage their affairs and these men often became Brahmins.
(A reference to Phumala Bhagavati Temple on Ezhumalai island. The Guru was at this time staying at the Gurukula on Ezhumalai Island of the coast of Kerala in South India. ED)
Ezhumalai is the epicentre of this kind of spirituality.
It is a numinous presence, "a magic place".
In Verse 8, the Mandala of concentric circles begins, going on through Verse 40.
How does it happen that there are Sanskrit scholars among the peasants of Kerala?
It is explainable by the population movement from the North, along the coast, because there are paddy, coconut, fish and spices there.
They can thrive with no money.
Why does Sankara call himself a Dravidian and a Wisdom-Seeker - not an orthodox religious man?
There is a great tradition of Sanskrit pundits on the Kerala coast, by the will of the ordinary coolies.
In Verse 8, the verse talks of "cidananda lahari - an "upsurging billow of mental joy" - the first part of the poem up to Verse 41 is called "Ananda Lahari" - "lahari" meaning bliss or joy, an inner experience - this is subjective, with Mandalas.
After Verse 40 the poem is called "Saundarya Lahari" - "saundarya" meaning beauty, which is outside the mind - it becomes objective, describing the beauty of the Goddess.
A FILM SCENARIO FOR VERSE 8
The island is a gem at the centre of the ocean. Just show a real island, with a nice park, within a lake, actually seen. You can show one or two varieties.
The island is a gem at the centre of the ocean. Just show a real island, with a nice park, within a lake, actually seen. You can show one or two varieties.
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Then introduce the romantic element of a woman living there. Then reduce it into a Taoist painting - a first-degree reduction.
Then change the lake to a milk ocean, bring in Vishnu - here there must be some mythological pictures.
Then reduce further so that the island is a beautiful gem seen from far away, in a milk ocean.
Then reduce still further, playing with colours, finally reduce it to a Mandala - where it is a drawing, not the outline.
In the studio, show horizontal, vertical and conical cross-sections.
Cross-sections must have a real view and a celestial view = two views.
There is always a lower and a higher version..
Cross-sections must have a real view and a celestial view = two views.
There is always a lower and a higher version..
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The Goddess sits at the lower hierophantic and at the higher hypostatic levels - again, two conic sections - brings in the cushion.
Then conic sections give way to play with the 1st, 2nd, 3d and 4th dimensions, finally reducing to a single point of light bursting and becoming dim, like fireworks.
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There is a picture of a yogi meditating and the Chakras he sees must be shown in the form of Mandalas.
To take the viewer to the depths of the meaning, he must see each of the various steps.
This needs a group of artists to be trained in preparation of these Mandalas.
With Verse 8 a review of the Chakras begins. Begin to memorize two verses a day, to be recited each morning.
In this way the levels and correlations between the verses may be comprehensively absorbed.
There must be a professor who understands mathematics and an Indian swami who understands Vedanta, who will open the book and read in Sanskrit, devoting not more than one minute to each..
Galaxies - red shift - Universes expanding and contracting - Big Bang - Genesis - Rigveda 10, Hymn CXXIX etc. i.e. "In the Beginning" after showing some of these hypotheses, with some film taken from planetaria.
Red Shift.
The Big Bang.
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Then you come to the Himalayas - India - showing (then) a king in full regalia being worshipped - then fade out to the Himalayas, or vice-versa.
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Then show Vishnu, then Brahma; include some semi-divinities, showing a logarithmic spiral between the two.
Then we proceed to Shiva as Mahesvara.
Then we proceed to Shiva as Mahesvara.
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Then Apsaras, Kinnaras (the celestial flute-players).
Cosmology according to Eddington and Jeans.
Without the Trimurti (the three gods) you cannot understand.
Then cut to the Himalayas once again.
The Himalayas of the Kumarasambhava of Kalidasa: to bring out Parvati; the last trip was for Shiva.
The first 10 or 12 verses of the Kumarasambhava will give stratifications.
Create a world of fairies and divine gods as per Kumarasambhava.
The Himalayas of the Kumarasambhava of Kalidasa: to bring out Parvati; the last trip was for Shiva.
The first 10 or 12 verses of the Kumarasambhava will give stratifications.
Create a world of fairies and divine gods as per Kumarasambhava.
Finally bring the life of a certain tribe of simple people.
The object will be to create the Devi.
The object will be to create the Devi.
Show the Colloquy of the Gods (See bottom of this page) - after the Kumarasambhava.
The numerator functions of the gods must be shown.
The gods must be a wonder in the Numerator, finally being filled to give Saundarya Lahari.
The numerator functions of the gods must be shown.
The gods must be a wonder in the Numerator, finally being filled to give Saundarya Lahari.
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There is a series of subjects dealt with in these first verses:
VERSE 1 - The Paradox is posed
VERSE 2 - A double action spiral, back to back, with three zones on the vertical axis.
VERSE 3 - A quadrant of value, on the part of four types of people: The dull-witted, the destitute, those submerged in the world of births, etc. Each person has one of these three value-worlds.
VERSE 4 - Stresses the importance of the feet of the Devi - "I do not care for all your gods" - The bottom of the vertical axis is important as the square root of minus-one.
VERSE 5 - Eros, as horizontal, is brought in, also virtual beauty, not yet verticalized. (Read the Puranas (legends) and find out where Vishnu took the form of a woman).
VERSE 6 - Ananga (Eros, "the limbless one") = Beauty. Ananga rules. Although he is a passion, he still rules. (See Othello).
VERSE 7 - A picture of the Devi - very slim of waist - a kind of double structure - the slim waist is to show there is no real existence, there is only a slim horizontal parameter.
VERSE 8 - There is a progressive building up of schemas until we come to Verse 8 which is a circle or Mandala. Conics and Mandalas are introduced.
VERSE 9 - "Broken through..." - earth consciousness becomes a flame, breaking through the various stratifications.
Alpha and Omega are sleeping together - but not in a bedroom. Kundalini Shakti is bursting through.
Alpha and Omega are sleeping together - but not in a bedroom. Kundalini Shakti is bursting through.
VERSE 10 - A serpent of three and a half coils - this must be some of the basic Chakras.
In VERSE 6 half of the Devi's body is filled with eroticism; eroticism is normal bliss. You cannot throw eroticism out of the picture as Christianity does. The Absolutist picture gives Eros a place in the Devi's legs.
In VERSE 7, the Devi as "Purushika" (a bold, virago-like figure, the counterpart of Shiva) : do not try and copulate forcefully with Her: the Absolute cannot be defeated.
In VERSE 8, the Yogi has to meditate on something: a gem-island.
In VERSE 9, stable positions of cancellation ascend on a vertical axis.
In VERSE 10, there are two "trees of Porphyry"- one spreading upwards, the other downwards.
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(THERE IS A POSSIBLE AMBIGUITY IN THIS STRUCTURE, IT SHOULD BE COMPARED TO OTHER STRUCTURES OF VERSE 8. ED)
On the Denominator we have:
A couch of Shiva-form.
Name is hypostatic, form is hierophantic.
The cushion is Shiva himself.
A couch of Shiva-form.
Name is hypostatic, form is hierophantic.
The cushion is Shiva himself.
On the Numerator we have:
The perfume of Kadamba trees.
The perfume of Kadamba trees.
At the horizontal limits we have a nectar ocean.
"some fortunate ones..." means those trained in meditation - that is, those who place themselves in the same frame of reference - c.f. Bergson.
Ambrosia is mother's milk - an absolute necessity.
Jewels are interesting and beautiful.
Trees and flowers
This is a yogi's view of Beauty as an island.
The island is located in the yogi's mind.
The island is the Bindhusthana (locus).
The island is located in the yogi's mind.
The island is the Bindhusthana (locus).
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THE COLLOQUY OF THE GODS
FROM KENA UPANISHAD
Once upon a time, Brahman, the Spirit Supreme, won a victory for the gods. And the gods thought in their pride, 'We alone attained this victory, ours alone is the glory;
Brahman saw it and appeared to them, but they knew him not. 'Who is that being that fills us with wonder?' they cried.
And they spoke to Agni, the god of fire: '0 god all-knowing, go and see who is that being that fills us with wonder.'
Agni ran towards him and Brahman asked: 'Who are you?' I am the god of fire,' he said, the god who knows all things.'
What power is in you?' asked Brahman. 'I can burn all things on earth.'
And Brahman placed a straw before him, saying: 'Burn this.' The god of fire strove with all his power, but was unable to burn it. He then returned to the other gods and said: 'I could not find out who was that being that fills us with wonder'
Then they spoke to Vayu, the god of the air. '0 Vayu, go and see who is that being that fills us with wonder.'
Vayu ran towards him and Brahman asked: 'Who are you?' 'I am Vayu, the god of the air,' he said, 'Matarisvan, the air that moves in space.'
'What power is in you?' asked Brahman. 'In a whirlwind I can carry away all there is on earth'
And Brahman placed a straw before him saying: 'Blow this away.' The god of the air strove with all his power, but was unable to move it. He returned to the other gods and said: 'I could not find out who was that being that fills us with wonder.'
Then the gods spoke to Indra, the god of thunder: '0 giver of earthly goods, go and see who is that being that fills us with wonder.' And Indra ran towards Brahman, the Spirit Supreme, but he disappeared.
Then in the same region of the sky the gods saw a lady of radiant beauty. She was Uma, divine wisdom, the daughter of the mountains of snow.