Saundarya Lahari

Saundarya Lahari

SAUNDARYA LAHARI - VERSE 86

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SAUNDARYA LAHARI

 

 

VERSE 86

ONTOLOGY MEETS TELEOLOGY RATHER ABRUPTLY
CONCEPTUALISM REDUCED STILL FURTHER IS NOMINALISM

 

मृषा कृत्वा गोत्रस्खलन-मथ वैलक्ष्यनमितं
ललाटे भर्तारं चरणकमले ताडयति ते ।
चिरादन्तः शल्यं दहनकृत मुन्मूलितवता
तुलाकोटिक्वाणैः किलिकिलित मीशान रिपुणा

 

mrsa krtva gotra skhalanam atha vailaksya namitam
lalale bhartaram carana kamale tadayati te
cirad antas salyam dahana krtam unmilitavata
tulakoti kvanaih kilikilitam isana ripuna
 
On having inadvertently defaulted in respect of Your family name,
While stooping in shame, Your husband's forehead as
You kicked with Your lotus feet,
That enemy of Shiva, wholly giving up his rancour, his victory
celebrates with clamour of many jingle bells.
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In Verse 86, the counterparts are the lotus feet, which are meant to be cancelled out against a mistake made by Shiva in referring to the name of the clan of Parvati´s father. In other words, name and form are meant to be cancelled out to help us to attain the Absolute. There is no Tantric secret at all here, as some would try to find in every one of these verses. It is not impossible, however, to see the verse in a Tantric perspective if we should so desire. The divinities Shiva, Parvati and Kama enter into the composition of this verse, which might remind us of the Tantric tradition. The picture of Shiva stooping in shame, also reminiscent of some structural features belonging to the Tantric context, has to be seen side by side with the lotus feet, which have to reach the forehead to be able to kick it.
 
This could happen only if the feet are placed in a bent position, corresponding to that of Shiva. They could be imagined to be in contiguity within a circle or better still within the figure-eight formation at the core of the total situation. There is a kind of second- or third-dimensional loop or circle to be understood here. As we have said in respect of Verse 7, solid geometry and conic sections of more than two or three dimensions could be pressed into the service of this structuralism. Pythagorean geometric or trigonometric and differential mathematical forms or calculations could be applied also.
 
The jingle bells have also to be located by us in the total structure, without violating conventions proper to the language of Tantra, Mantra or Yantra. Evidently, they must be treated as the same as the jingle bells of Verse 7 on the waist belt of the purushika, represented there in the full dynamism of all her possible motions put together into one living form. Here the negative or horizontal feeling, which is not a virtue at all and thus not ornamental even to the God of Love, is the element of long-standing rancour which Kama has been keeping repressed within himself against Shiva, whom he considers to be a rival obstructing his own intentions and free functioning. Shiva stands defeated in this verse, at least for a moment. How does this enhance the beauty of the Goddess to make it attain the Absolute? Here the same argument as in the previous verse should hold good. Every kick on the forehead of Shiva by Parvati makes the erotic sentiment circulate more freely. The God of Love thus feels that he is not fully useless. Shiva is against him normally, because he represents the heated or lighted side of reality, which has also a corresponding cold and dark side. The circulation of erotic values in the core of the Absolute, whether positive or negative, takes place because of a slight mistake in naming the clan to which Parvati belonged. This slight error has had the disastrous consequence of causing eroticism to begin to function, although indirectly, stimulating the sentiments that can bridge the gulf by cancellation of dark against bright instinctive dispositions. The victory belongs directly to the beauty of the Goddess, in whose borrowed light or glory the God of Love is also jubilant. It is again the occasionalism that justifies such a temporary defeat and humiliation of Shiva. The beauty of the total picture is not marred by this slight blemish; just as one can prove the opposite by the same token. This way of proving the opposite is a favourite method adopted by wives for arguing with their husbands. It is negative but not false. An awareness of such a possibility might avoid many quarrels in everyday life.
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ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.

 

WORD FOR WORD
Mrsha krtva gotra skhalanam - having inadvertently defaulted in respect of Your family name
Atha vailakshya namitam - then stooping in shame
Lalata bhartaram - on Your husband's forehead
Charana kamale tadayati te - when the two lotus feet are kicking
Chirat - what is long standing
Antah shalyam - rancour
Dahana krtam - caused by the burning of Shiva
Unmulita vata - having wholly abandoned (plucked out) his rancour
Tula koti kvanaih - by sound rising from the end of ankle
Kilikilitam - with jingle bells
Ishana ripuna - by the enemy of Shiva
 
This is an example of cancellation, i.e. the kick on the forehead.
The jingling bells are tied to the feet of Eros - his being burnt means that he was pushed to the negative side.
The Devi kicks Shiva and Eros dances happily because of it.
Shiva did not pronounce some other woman's name - it had something to do with pride in the origin of Her family (gotra skhalana).

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Another version:
 
WORD FOR WORD
Mrsa krtva gotra skhalanam - inadvertently having had a family-disrupting thought
Atha vailaksya namitam - then recumbent with lost face
Lalate bhartaram - on the forehead of the husband
Carana kamale tadayati - when he is being kicked by her lotus feet
Te cirat - your (feet), long prevailing (nourishing)
Antah salyam dahana krtam - the anger caused inside by the consuming fire (of Shiva)
Unmulita vata - by him who has awakened out of it
Tula koti kvanaih - by the sounds of many bells
Kili kilitam - is jingled (in triumph)
Isana ripuna - by the enemy of Isana (Shiva)
 
The Alpha point of one - Her foot - touches the Omega point of the other - Shiva's head.
The family honour of Parvati is at stake here.
The kick is caused by the nominalistic indifference of Shiva.
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Another version:
 
TRANSLATION
1) Shiva made a mistake in vertical reference to his wife (mistook another)
2) Becomes ashamed about the mistake about family descent
3) Is kicked on the forehead while he is bent over in shame
4) Absolute negative value of the lotus-coloured feet, she kicks
5) Refers to Eros hiding near the waist of the Devi
6) Long prevailing fire on the head of Eros, caused by Shiva's enmity
7) Eros wakes up and sees that Shiva is being kicked
8) Bells, and
9) jingling sounds occur when the Devi kicks, and when Eros realizes it (the bells could be around the Devi's ankles)
10) When the enemy of Eros is kicked
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Another version:

TRANSLATION
1) Inadvertently having had a family-disrupting thought
2) Then recumbent with lost face
3) On the forehead of the husband
4) With the lotus feet she kicked, your
5) Long prevailing
6) The anger caused inside by long prevailing fire
7) By him who awakened out of it
8) By the sound of jingling of many bells
9) Is jingled
10) By the enemy of Isana (Shiva)
 
Shiva made a mistake, forgetting that the Devi is a daughter of the Himalayas and his proper wife, since he is also prone to horizontal errors.
The Devi is obliged to straighten him out with a kick in the forehead.

SANKARA IS SAYING THAT THERE IS ALSO A VERTICAL NEGATIVE POWER
- NOT JUST A POSITIVE POWER.
THE NEGATIVE POWER IS REPRESENTED HERE BY THE DEVI KICKING SHIVA IN THE HEAD.
 
Gotra skhalana (disrespect of Her family): the Devi kicks and Eros celebrates with the jingling of bells in a circle. The kicking also takes place in a circle.

Kicking is justified in the rarest of absolute circumstances: when the Numerator shows a lack of respect for the dignity of the Denominator.

It means that, for example, in the Bible, the son of David and the son of God are the same: it make no distinction - they are equally dignified.
 
Make it into a tambourine, in which circle the Devi kicks Shiva; Eros applauds with crescendo jingling and drumming.
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SAUNDARYA LAHARI - VERSE 87

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SAUNDARYA LAHARI

 

 

VERSE 87

A FOURFOLD CIRCULATION OF VALUES BETWEEN TWO PAIRS
OF LOTUS FEET
A QUATERNION OF LOTUSES, DIFFERENT STATUSES OF EXISTENCE
SLEEPING AT NIGHT = RIGHT HAND
FOUR EPISTEMOLOGICAL TYPES OF EXISTENCE:
CONCRETE, VIRTUAL, CONCEPTUAL, ACTUAL
 
हिमानी हन्तव्यं हिमगिरिनिवासैक-चतुरौ
निशायां निद्राणं निशि-चरमभागे च विशदौ ।
वरं लक्ष्मीपात्रं श्रिय-मतिसृहन्तो समयिनां
सरोजं त्वत्पादौ जननि जयत-श्चित्रमिह किम्
 
himani hantavyam himagiri nivasaika caturau
nisayam nidranam nisi caramabhage ca visadau
varam laksmi patram sriyam atisrjantau samayinam
sarojam tvad padau janani jayatas citram iha kim
.
Capable of being killed by snow, and fully at home on the snow peak;
Sleeping at night, and in bloom both at dawn and after;
Making Lakshmi's bowl overgenerous to Your Vedic worshippers,
Such the twin lotus of Your foot, it triumphs: what wonder herein?
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In Verse 87 the twin feet are treated together, and not as “one plus one”. With this secret in mind, we can grasp the intended meaning more easily than if the theory of ensembles involved here is not duly respected at the very start. In order to treat the twin feet as an ensemble consisting of two items of the same class, it would be helpful for us to put a circle, or even the three circles of the Sri Chakra, round them, placed at the bindusthana (central locus of meditation).
 
There are three sets of lotuses in this verse which have to be arranged in pairs to fulfil the requirements of the correct structuralism intended in this poem. A hierophantic lotus is likely to be killed by snow, but a golden lotus placed at a high hypostatic level would thrive even at a very low temperature. These two lotuses have thus to be placed on the vertical axis at different levels. There are two other lotuses in the second line which are to be placed horizontally because of the alternation of day and night, and which are not as generalized and abstracted as the first pair of lotuses.
 
In the third and fourth lines the ensemble represented by the two feet compared to lotuses has no horizontal or vertical duality implied between them. They are compared to the bowl of Lakshmi, though placed at a lower level in a more ordinary, workaday world, where hedonistic and relativistic interests are still natural and permissible. We have seen that Lakshmi is the Goddess of Wealth whom those who want to become rich in this life naturally treat as their chosen divinity. Sankara is evidently thinking here of the Tantric school of Samayins, who belong to the revised and more respectable Vedic context, as against the Kaulins who connive at certain disreputable practices; though perhaps in a manner more correctly fulfilling the requirements of Tantrism in other respects. There is, however, one respect in which the description here does not fit the Samayins. Over-generousness is an absolutist virtue which cannot strictly apply to a relativistic or hedonistic context proper to a Vedic school such as the Samayins. This distinction, between just granting prayers and granting more than what is prayed for, has been brought into its correct revised perspective by Sankara as early as Verse 4, where the feet of the Goddess alone were considered to be expert in yielding “more-than ­asked-for boon”. This is a touch of revaluation coming from Sankara of which the Samayins could be taken to be ignorant.
 
We have to further note that the Sanskrit language has singular, dual and plural numbers, and not merely singular and plural as in most languages. Here the twin feet could be treated as a singular ensemble, or as being dualistic when each foot has a distinguishable characteristic of its own. Both of these syntactical requirements are meant to be respected in this verse, as we can see by scrutinizing the antecedents of the words padau (your twin feet) and jayatah (they both triumph) where the dual verb agrees with a dual noun. Strict syntactical requirements would demand a separate verb to agree with what should be treated in the singular. Amends for this kind of grammatical discrepancy seem to be made quickly by Sankara at the end of this verse, when it says “what wonder herein”. This is as good as saying that, even if there is an impossibility hiding here, the absolutist status given to the two feet treated together, when understood in all its uniqueness as an ensemble with a unity of meaning in itself and for itself, should not be treated as anything unexpected. In other words, one should not wonder. There is still room for miracles in this world. The Absolute itself is a miracle, and one should not be surprised to find it so.
 
The reference in the second line to two kinds of lotuses could be treated as referring to a sensitive lotus, like an ordinary lotus, and to one that is not sensitive and does not change, whether it is day or night. The sensitive lotus would correspond to the virtuality or subjectivity implied in a dream state. Ordinary flowers, which have no such sensitivity to light, are like the waking consciousness, lacking subjectivity altogether. This is a horizontal difference between the positive and negative aspects, quantitatively understood, as between plus and minus numbers in the context of Cartesian correlates. They do not refer to the imaginary numbers of incommensurables, which have a deeper and more theoretical transfinite reference. Complex numbers belong together as understood here.
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(Cartesian correlates or coordinates, which allow reference to a point in space as a set of numbers, and allow algebraic equations to be expressed as geometric shapes in a two-dimensional coordinate system (and conversely, shapes to be described as equations) were named after René Descartes, French philosopher, 1596-1650. The structural methodology used by Nataraja Guru couls be seen as a three-dimansional revision and revaluation of Descartes. ED)
 
(An imaginary number is a number whose square is less than or equal to zero. For example, \sqrt{-25} is an imaginary number and its square is -25. ED)
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ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.

 

WORD FOR WORD
Hima nihantavyam - that which gets blasted by frost or snow
Himagiri nivasaika caturau - the (twin) that are expert in living in the Himalayan region
Nisayam nidranam - which go to sleep at night
Nisi carama bhage ca - at dusk as at the point of death of darkness
Visadau - clear
Varam - desired boon
Laksmi patram - the receptacle of (the goddess of) prosperity
Sriyam ati srjantau - which spreads around wealth with extra readiness
Samayinam - to votaries
Sarojam - the water-born (flower lotus)
Tvat padau - your twin feet
Janani jayatah - o Mother they (both) reign victorious
Citram iha kim - what wonder herein
.

Another version:

WORD FOR WORD
Himani hantavyam - capable of being killed by snow
Hima giri naivasika chaturau - (Your twin feet) fully at home on snow peak
Nishayam nidranam - sleeping at night
Nishim charama bhage cha vishadau - and in bloom at dusk and day
Varam lakshmi patram - as a desirable seat for Lakshmi
Shriyam ati srjantau samayinam - overgenerous in gifts bestowed on Your Vedic worshippers called Samayins
Sarojam tvad padau - such Your twin lotus feet
Janani jayata - o mother , they triumph
Chitram iha kim - what cause for wonder here?
 
 
.
The Devi's lotus is the subject here; it is a lotus which is absolute and thus is not blighted by anything outside itself and horizontal - it is by itself, for itself, in itself etc. It is above the O Point in the numerator domain.

But, lower down, from the O Point to the Alpha Point on the denominator side, is Lakshmi, who is not always the same; she is affected by the weather and by night and day, etc.

.

Another version:
 
TRANSLATION
That which gets blasted by the frost (or the snows of the Himalayas)
The (twin) that are expert in living in the Himalayan peaks
Which go to sleep at night
At dusk as at the point of death of darkness
Clear (which are both clear)
Desired boon
The receptacle of the Goddess of Prosperity
Which spreads around wealth (with extra readiness)
To votaries (devotees)
The water bound (born ) (flower lotus (lotus flower?)
Your twin feet
O Mother, they (both) reign victorious
What wonder herein?

.

Another version:

TRANSLATION
Frost in the Himalayas which blasts a lotus flower
"Expert" because they are Absolute Beauty - they cannot suffer from frost
In the night this flower will go to sleep
At the end of the night, just as at dusk
It is clear (as a flower) at both times
(The Absolute is eternal, not blasted by cold, even though it closes)
 
A person who worships Lakshmi will have all the boons that are desired - She is a Denominator goddess - but think of Her in a revised, more absolute terms.
(Lakshmi is a relativistic goddess who bestows relativistic gifts - the Devi grants the gift of wisdom - of becoming the Devi herself. ED)

Around the numerator lotus of the Devi, the gift is beyond the normal limit - it is absolute.

Those who know how to worship the Goddess in the right way win much more than just a mediocre boon from Lakshmi.
 
Sankra is saying: "The conventional goddess, Lakshmi, gives you profit, but I am talking about extra prosperity - something more - is there any wonder in this?"
 
 
 
 
 
In the Himalayas there is a beautiful lotus which represents the beauty of the Devi, the negative absolute principle, living in the frost of the Himalayas.
 
 
 
 
This flower is blasted every day by cold.
But it is not an ordinary flower, it is absolute and resists the frost by its expertness.
It is very different from the ordinary lotuses that people worship.

However, it sleeps at night - even in the Absolute there is an alternation between night and day - it too sleeps at night, just as does any other organism.
 
.
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Lotuses are placed in different position on the horizontal and vertical axis of the structure.
 
The Absolute is placed between sleeping and waking.

A woman is supposed to be tender, like the feet - the ontological negative Absolute on the Denominator side.

If she did not sleep, she would not be the Absolute.
 

She is clear at night, just as at any other time.

How can you have any benefit from contemplating the Absolute?
Every kind of value which is prayed for will be given.
This wealth is thrown out with extra force by the cup or container of the lotus
It is not ordinary gifts, but the Big Bang of the Absolute - something worth while.
To whom are these gifts given? To votaries. The ordinary devotee gets a good house; the man expert in Absolute Values will get wisdom.

"Water bound", describing the lotus flower, means Denominator - not afraid of the frost.
Your twin feet, they are both victorious - what is impossible about this?
You had better find out what I am talking about.
 

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Why twin feet? He has built an image in abstract terms, now do not forget that the two feet are real, the ontological Absolute.
There is a difference in quality, depending on how much of the vertical and horizontal are involved.
 
The epistemological status of the four elements of the quaternion.
"Lakshmi's bowl overgenerous": on one side put a Jaina or Marwari religious person who accepts the Hindu Goddess without qualification as a relativistic object of religious worship.

(A Jaina is a follower of the ancient Indian religion of Jainism. A Marwari is a member of the Marwari ethnic group from Rajasthan, now spread across North India and often associated with money-lending. They are often devotees of Lakshmi, as Goddess of Wealth. ED)
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The pair of feet are better than the lotus representing Lakshmi's bowl or seat.
Cancel the duality between the feet, which are both transcendent and immanent.
The Advaitic God is a wonder and a paradox. "What is the wonder here?"
Do not be surprised that there is a wonder.

 

 

Put a lotus between the two heels to mark the upper and lower levels: but only one of the heels is touching the ground, the other is raised slightly: thus suppleness is retained even in the universal concrete.

 


This alternation is most important, as in the representations of Nataraja.


 

This rhythm applies particularly to the sex organs of both men and women.
"How did you treat the twin feet as singular?"
"Shut up! I told you it is a wonder."
The feet are better than a lotus, as a Guru is better than a book or idol.
Worship the Devi, not a lotus.
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Sankara wants to cancel the whole thing out into a beautiful gem.
Read this verse with Verses 71, 88, and 89.
 
Reduce the horizontal alternations into a vertical, and view it as a flux; this is the methodology to be adopted.
 
Below are structures relating to the three verses above:
 

 

Structure of Verse 71

 

Verse 71:

 

Shining by the brilliance of Your fingernails that mock the colour of
Just-opening lotus buds, how could we speak of the beauty of Your hand?
Granted be, o Uma, that the lotus could have one shade less of parity with it
If at all, and that, alas, only when touched by the magenta paste of the sole of Lakshmi as she plays thereon.